Snowy Interlude

In a rare treat (or curse, depending on your view) for our temperate Puget Sound climate, we were treated Monday to a snow flurry that left a 5-inch layer of powdery, white snow on the ground. Amazingly, it fell in all of about 90 minutes.

I had just finished my run at my daughter's soccer practice, when there was a flash of lighting, followed by a thunder burst. It was as if a snow dam had burst. Immediately, snow began falling steadily and within 15 minutes, there was nearly a half inch on the ground. By the time they called practice and we headed home, there was mayhem on the streets.

It's well known that Puget Sound area drivers cannot handle snow. In fact, Puget Sound drivers have been known to fishtail into a ditch at the mere forecast of snow. I negotiated my car past numerous spin outs on the way to deliver my young charges home and get myself and my daughter to our home. This was the first time I'd driven our Odyssey in the snow and I was delighted at how well it handled.

The next day School was called and I stayed at home. To the good, too, as I got the opportunity to become involved in a hotly contested snowball fight. I will say, I was winning, until one sneaky young lady, crept up behind me and dumped snow down my back. Kids today...no respect.

Back in Gunner Land
Things are not well in Gunner Land. After getting their heart ripped out and stomped on by Bolton's Blunderers, they were facing a Fulham team that should've been a gimme 3 points. Instead, the lads from London left the points at the Cottage.

Does it get better? No. Now, Henry is out with that persistent neck injury, for the Derby match against the gits from Tottenham.

With Wednesday's loss any realistic hope of competing for the title is dead, though I'd already concluded that awhile ago. It's a 2-horse race between the Blues and the Reds. Sunday's match was a slight disappointment. Manchester United thoroughly dominated in the first half. I thought for sure that they were going to walk away with the win. But the crafty bastard from Portugal made some adjustments (and must've made a hell of a halftime talk) and Chelsea came out and cominated the Red Devils nearly as much as the reverse in the first half. Even then, the Red Devils came close to, and should've put another goal or two in the back of the net.

A tie is a decent outcome for both but favors Chelsea the more. If the Blues can keep nipping at the Red Devils heels until the return leg at Stamford Bridge, then the advantage is theirs. All else being equal, winning the home match would give Chelsea the inside track back to the championship. Despite my past disdain for Manchester United, I am going to be a fan of theirs this season in chasing the championship and keeping Roman's mercenaries from winning a third league title.

Most Expensive Goals Ever?
Chelsea payed $30 Million pounds for Andryi Schevchenko. The striker has scored a walloping 3 goals in 13 league games so far. I'm not a walking calculator, but that looks to be about 10 million pounds a goal. At that rate, they'd better have a good defense.

Big name signing Michael Ballack has also been a disappointment in my mind. I have yet to see much from him, and I thought he was awful in Sunday's match against Manchester United.

Karen Fant

I'm saddened to note the passing of one of Washington's pioneers in protecting our irreplaceable wilderness, Karen Fant. Karen founded the Washington Wilderness Coalition, where I worked as executive director from 1991-1994. This was my first job as an executive director and Karen was wonderful, ecnouraging me and teaching,while ever mindful to keep an arm's length and allow me the freedom to learn on the job.

Most nonprofit founders have a hard time distancing themselves from their "baby" and often make life miserable for the person who succeeds them. In fact, it's such a common occurrence there's a term for it, Founder's Syndrome. Karen was very interested in seeing her organization survive and thrive, but was ever gracious and ever mindful that it needed to stretch its legs and grow without her.

Karen was one of handful of people who without their help, we would not have treasures like the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Glacier Peaks and Pasayten Wilderness areas. While Karen is gone, her gift of wilderness activism will live on in the spectacular wilderness lands of Washington.

Losing Losing Arsenal

Not a bad effort by Fulham...Caught the last half of the Fulham-Reading match. Fulham was down a man and a goal, but they by and large outplayed Reading in the 2nd half. Not that they could get any closer than a Brian McBride screamer that just whistled past the right post, but they held the edge of posession and intensity for the half. They were perhaps unjustly defeated, but they held nothing in reserve in trying to secure the equalizer

....and Arsenal, well this habit of giving up the early goal has got to stop. Sure, it's more thrilling to come from behind, but you'll note that MU and Chelsea have been ruling the top 2 spots the past 3 years by just focusing on scoring the winner and preventing opposition goals.

Anyhow...on to the game (which i'm watching right now)the goal by Bolton was another crap piece of defending on a set piece. The Bolton attacker was left free to roam in the box. Probably one of the easiest goals he'll ever score.

Lucky for the Blunderers because Arsenal is dominating the posession, despite playing poorly in the midfield, losing more balls on bad touches and poor passes than I can recall from them.

Some excitement: Kevin Davies raises both hands to push over Eboue. Should've been sent off but only gets a yellow. Jens Lehmann getting himself a yellow card for complaining to the ref about...well, nothgin. Replays show he tripped over himself.

And then, in extra time they're down 2-0. A great Kevin Davies cross finds Nicholas Anelka, who strikes an incredible shot over Lehman. Game over.

Wrong! 10 seconds later, Cesc's cross finds a flying Gilberto, whose completely free header puts it back in reach.

And after dominating for most of the 2nd half, Arsenal let the match out of reach. A beautiful through pass from Campos to Anelka (who was a touch offside, but oh well), a deft touch and 3-1 to the Blunderers.

Too much posession and passing but not nearly enough net action. It's an old story this season.

Anyone Remember the Godfathers?

On my run yesterday I listened to the Godfathers self-titled album most of the way through, which I haven't done for some time. This was an absolutely great hard rock album. Smart ass, tough, blue collar British rock. Everyone who was alive in the 80s will remember "Birth. School. Work. Death." While that's a great tune, there's plenty more. My favorite track has to be "Cause I Said So" a driving rocker with sharp lyrics, about the joys of being stupid:

"Every day's a gas when you're living like me
Don't read books, write poetry
and I don't need no PhD
'Cause I'm 10 times smarter than you'll ever be
'Cause I said so!"

I believe the 70s were the epigee of rock music and the 80s were the nadir. (BTW, the 90s acquitted themselves nicely, and the 00's are building quite the category of awesome music) That being said, there was still some great music created in the 80s and the work of the Godfathers has to be at the top of the list. If you don't have this album, you should.

So, I'm running on a gravel path in a wooded park, with the Godfathers blasting in my ears. It's almost 5 PM and it's getting dark. On my way into the woods, I saw a woman with a St. Bernard crossing the street toward the park. It looked like she was headed into the park. THe dog was not on a leash but I assumed that she'd put it on leash, since she saw that I was running in the park.

Well, on my second pass around the gravel loop path, as I'm entering into a turn, with no line of sight around the corner, I see this large, white st. Bernard on a tear, barking, headed straight for me. My first thought was "that dog is going to attack me." So, I stop and start yelling at the dog and ready myself for combat. The dog turns and runs back around the corner to his master. She gets the dog on a leash, and is very apologetic, but Christ, what a thrill that was!

Anyhow, the Arsenal-Bolton match is on in an hour. I'm going to get some breakfast and watch the Gunners take down Wanderers with aplomb.

Soccer Wrap-Up and Other Things

Lots of soccer yesterday. I was on the road for 7 hours, covering 160 miles to watch two soccer games. Fortunately, both were victories. Littlest Princess and her team got the day started right with a morning game that had lots of meaning. If they won and if another team beat their rivals and scored two goals, they would clinch first place. Our team did its job and our rivals gave up 2 goals in a loss, so we ended up champs. That was welcome compensation for all the driving and hanging around, waiting for the whistle.

Older Little Princess and her traveling troupe of bad news bears played another league bottom-dweller, with each team at times trying to win and trying to squander the results. We kept getting the lead and then giving up the lead. The team has lost or surrendered a tie in the final minutes of games 5 times this season, the latest occurring with 4 minutes left, as the defense parted like the Red Sea for the 2-2 equalizer. The difference this time, is that we somehow scored the winner with 20 seconds left! It made me forget the futility of the previous 69 minutes, if only for a few moments!

Overseas, the Gunners again struggled at home to a team they should've handily dispatched, tying woeful Newcastle 1-1. I haven't seen the game, but the stats suggest another round of football domination across all areas of the pitch...save for the goalbox. Arsenal outshot Newcastle 26-2. Twenty. Six. To. Two. !!! They had 10 shots on frame for Newcastle's one! How can they keep doing this?!

Just when they give me hope with last week's results, they remind me that they're not ready to challenge for top. You cannot drop 2 points at home to Newcastle if you're serious about running with Chelsea and Man. U.

Shocked. Just Shocked
Ok, Suzanne Somers (remember "Three's Company"?) is promoting health cures. Now, She has been found out to be promoting the health cures of an "expert" who doesn't even have a college degree in her supposed field of specialty. While I'm shocked, I'm more surprised at those who think this is an issue. Anyone dumb enough to look to Suzanne Somers for medical advice is really to dumb to save. Shouldn't we let evolution run its course and weed these folks out of the breeding population?

If you stop them tfrom taking Somers' cures, they'll just be on to the next fad wonder treatment. Funny, how these people are never in the market for a cure for stupidity, eh?

A Keeper is Born

Well, maybe not really, but I played my first keeper position in last night's game. Our regular keeper was out and I have a cold and haven't been feeling quite up to snuff, so I volunteered to play the 2nd half with the gloves on.

And it was a good thing, because after a couple of hard runs in the 1st half, I was dogged! Playing keeper was fun! I wasn't particularly great at it, but it was a different way to look at the game. There is something exciting about having 20 players moving in your direction, picking out the offense and thinking, "Oh, shit! They're coming for me!"

My career clean sheet lasted about 20 minutes. I made a couple of saves, leaped for several crosses and corners, and found myself woefully out of position! The goal on me was a one-on-one with the striker on the right side. I came out to reduce the angle, and he coolly slotted it far corner. Very professional on all sides!

Anyways, the team is coming together. We've got a couple of new bodies and it looks like we'll have good numbers for the matches, which is oh, so important in the over 40 league! We will still probably not win a lot of matches anytime soon, but we're in it for the fun and for the challenge of trying to play quality football.

W.T.F.

Because of this news story, I'm introducing a new feature called W.T.F?! He's back. It's hard to articulate how wrong, sick, disgusting and greedy this is. If there is a hell, everyone involved in this book and interview are getting their names placed in the reservation book right now.

Crisis at Anfield? Nick Webster thinks so. And after the drubbing administered by Arsenal Sunday, I'd have to agree. Liverpool looked so flacid, a truckful of Viagra couldn't have helped the team. Arsenal was Total 90 and the Reds were Futile 90.

Love the note about Arsenal's style. So true. And yes, Charlize Theron is hot.

And Thierry Henry is satisfied he stayed at Arsenal. Good for us and good for the EPL.

Wayne Rooney involved in an early hours dust-up at a nightclub? Shocked. I'm just shocked.

And Michael Ballack needs a rest? I know these guys play high octane football, but as a 42-year old playing every week all I can say is, give me break! You should've stayed in the Bundesliga.

3 to the Good for the Gunners

Great game from the Gunners today, slicing, dicing and generally playing around Emirates with Liverpool. Wow, whatever happened to the team that won the Champions League? Arsenal passed around them with ease and aplomb, and the Reds hardly looked to make a threat, other than Jamie Carragher breaking people's legs with his rash, from the back challenges.

3-nil for the Arsenal. And the goal scorers would be the usual targets...Not! Flamini, Toure and Gallas.

Had a run today and the rainy weather was kind enough to let up long enough for me to jog around the neighborhood. I was surprised by Foreigner's Cold As Ice on an old iPod mix I chose. I hadn't heard that in a long time. Was a time, when I was in 7th Grade, that I thought Foreigner was it. I probably wouldn't buy that record if it came out today, but there's something about the music of your formative years that you never lose the feeling for. Tomorrow, I'll probably choose something more contemporary for the run, say a little System of a Down. 

Here in the underwater kingdom of Pugetopolis, we're dealing so much water that it's almost easy to forget about soccer and other mundane matters. How much water do we have? Well, the Parks Department actually cancelled our Saturday soccer game due to the pitch being under an inch of water. I said play on, but the powers that be thought it dangerous.

Around the world...despite my better instincts, I'm actually starting to root for the Red Devils. You know the saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Well, it's nice to see a team that looks like it can out-foot Chelsea to the league title. Make no mistake, Chelsea is Satan's team and must be defeated at all costs.

To that end, Tottenham dispatched them 2-1 Sunday, while Man U dismantled Bolton to clearly secure 1st place. (Of course, since they lost, that prompted Jose More-Whine-Yo to kick and scream and threaten to hold his breath until his face turned blue. Can you imagine the time his parents had with him when he was a kid?)

Look, Arsenal is not going to finish in the top 2 this year. They're are a year away from figuring out what to do after they're done with all those glorious passes (Hint: see the white sticks. Aim between 'em!). At best, they're gunning for 3rd or 4th place. So, then, it's up to SAF and his Devils to fight for what's right in football. And, to boot, they're not playing a bad brand of soccer, at all.

Why is it...

...that the most anti-gay people usually turn out to be the gayest? Mark Foley. Now, this Ted Haggard guy. Any freshman psych student can tell you that reaction formation is a common behavior for people to deal with emotions or desires that are disturbing or run counter to one's beliefs. See Dr. Sanity for a discussion on defense mechanisms. But, gosh, when you're leading your state's fight against gay marriage, paying for gay sex is probably just a really bad idea!

So, if you want to find out who's in the closet in your community, I recommend starting with the local ant-gay marriage coalition.

K-Fed!

It's here! Not since the last album by Shaq, has a rap disc been so eagerly awaited.

But seriously, folks, great game by Arsenal in the Champions League yesterday...well, at least it was a great game everywhere but in CSKA Moscow's 18. There, the Gunners' touch betrayed them. 24 shots on goal, something like 65-75% posession and no goals to show! Tomas Rosicky missed a wide open - and I do mean wide open - net. Couldn't find the ocean from the dock, as they say. Still, a beautiful display of flowing, passing football and the Gunners are still alive for a knockout round spot. Nov. 21st is the day for the next game.

Tough match for the Bhoys and especially for Gary Caldwell. But, like Arsenal, still alive.