OK, I don't watch American Idol. Let's get that out of the way. Nor do I own any Britney Spears' albums. But in our pop culture-infused society, it is difficult to escape notice of the cultural shrapnel left behind by these phenomena. (Yes, I know Britney is in her 3rd rehab stint this week). So, unwittingly I have become aware of a scandal (or should I say, the annual scandal) involving an American Idol contestant, this one having posed for some racy pictures and posting them online.
What I find interesting about this incident is this piece from a MSNBC online article about the scandal:

The fallout has many young people here thinking twice about posing for photos they thought were just to be shared among friends.

“It’s
the way this town is: Everybody knows everything about their friends,”
said Mark Dillon, 17. “At least half the people in this town have
pictures of their friends on the toilet. I’ve personally seen at least
20. It’s only because she’s on TV that they’re online.”

Really?! Is this what the digital revolution has brought, the ability to photograph your friends on the toilet and post the pictures on the web for the world to see?!

Maybe it's time for parents (who knows, maybe we should also have required media and PR training for kids) to explain to their kids that employers today will Google you and check your MySpace page rather than check your references. One picture of you on the toilet could very well cost you a job.

Speaking of the toilet, that's where I'd like to send the Carling Cup Final. From what I hear (since the game wasn't broadcast in the States - Rupert Murdoch, how could you abandon us this way?!) the Young Gunners put on a great display and had Roman's RMA on the run, but for the excellence in form of one Didier Drogba. The end result is that Arsenal lost and that sucks! And the outbreak of handbagging at the end was really disgraceful. Not that I'm condoning violence but aren't footballers supposed to be tough.

The only really violent blow was the horrible, unintended kick to JT's head. That was awful. Thank God he's OK.

Alright, on the the Blackburn replay. Gunners better win or I'm going to be put on suicide watch again.

Well, the daughter's soccer team, like Arsenal, did not play up to their usual standard. It mattered little as they waltzed away to a 2-1 win that wasn't as close as the score indicates. The outcome was pleasant to see. And the little princess played again for the first time in over a month due to a hip flexor injury. She acquitted herself well and had fun.

Nonetheless, I had to watch the tape of the Arsenal V. Bolton replay - now, that was a game! Both teams played hard, thoughtful soccer and Arsenal was simply amazing in their command of the field. And, you can't argue with the 3-1 extra time win, with the excitement of a 92nd minute equalize by the Blunderers.

And then there was the Champions League match with PSV Eindhoven. Ugh. More uninspired soccer from the Gunners. I'd say they're definitely in a slump.

Hopefully, they'll knock out of it by Sunday's Carling Cup final with the RMA (Roman's Mercenary Army, AKA Chelsea). There is currently no greater prize in professional football than to be able to make Jose Mourinho whine and pout during his postgame press conference and beating Chelsea Sunday - oh wait, never mind. He does that after every game!

Fortunately, the gaffers are getting into it in the lead-up.

Nonetheless, a win would be a nice breaker to the current run of poor form. John Terry is out for the Blues, which is always good news for the opposition, though I hate to see him out of the game. He is one of the best central defenders on the planet and you might as well play the best.

Not that Arsene is going with his strongest side. He looks set to reward the young players who got them there. Even Thierry Henry will be sitting this one out. That's good. It's a great way to give the young players a real taste for big-time competition.

Arsenal posted financial reports this week. While they lost some dough, the numbers overall look good. The new stadium is cashing in on its expanded capacity from Highbury. Once the one-time debt losses are done with, Arsenal's financial picture looks bright. And management has said they'll give Arsene some spending money for the transfer window.

It's hard to think who they'd target. I wouldn't touch the midfield. Assuming Henry's staying, and I've seen nothing to really worry me, I think they're set there with RVN and Adebayor filling the strike partner role. They'll likely need to replace Lehmann, and I do think it's time. Almunia has done well in limited duty this year, but they would really need to go after a top keeper to fill the crazy German's boots. So that's one place to spend. Fullback is in great hands with Eboue and Clichy. Central defense, though, is one spot to look. Senderos is still a vulnerable player. If they could spot a world class center back, that'd be worth the money.

Other than those two positions, though, I'm not certain there's a lot of holes to fill.

Unfortunately, the Man U CL match against Lilly was not televised this week. It was apparently, the most entertaining match of the week. In France, they apparently do not know about quickly taken free kicks. (Where Thierry Henry learned his sneaky FK skills, I have to wonder?). Now, there's a shouting match back and forth between the two clubs over the kick, the protest and the Lilly mess-up with the crowd. And, leave it to master diplomat Gary Neville to smoothe things over:

"Obviously I was pleased with the result, it was a somewhat contentious goal, but I'm obviously pleased with the points (sic).

"But the last time I scored a goal like that, no one thought about walking off the pitch.

"I was just amazed by what was happening around us, we didn't know what was going on, but that's the French I suppose."

That's just the French! Oh, they're going to love that. I hope the return leg at Old Trafford is televised!

Stumbled on this website recently, a tribute to some of the worst album covers in the history of mankind. What is it about failure, that at it's worst, when it isnt fatal, it's often brilliantly funny?

Dennis Johnson Passes Away
This is really sad news. Former Seattle Supersonic Dennis Johnson
passed away yesterday, after collapsing during a pickup basketball
game. He was only 52 years old. As a boy, I was basketball crazy. And I
idolized the Sonics and all the players, particularly as they reached
the pinnacle of success with an NBA Championship. Dennis Johnson was
one of the key players for the Sonics, one of the great all-time
defensive guards and a workhorse at all ends of the floor.

Boring Boring Arsenal (V. Blackburn)

How bad was the Arsenal-Blackburn FA tie? Well, let's just say that in order to get clearance to televise the game, Fox had to get an interpretation from the President that subjecting Gunners fans to 90 minutes of this did not constitute torture. Nonetheless, after watching this frustrating match, I am ready to name names and tell everything I know. Please, just don't make me watch another Arsenal match like this.
Now, they didn't lose, so it's not all bad but this was as boring an uninspired a match as I've seen the Gunners play. They looked tired. And it's not as if Blackburn played an inspired game, either. They just looked like a bad football team that was really quite lucky to be in the Premiership.
How best to sum up this drab affair? If you fielded a team of middle aged auditors to play a team of middle aged bookeepers you might see something its equal.
I'm going off to watch my 12-year-old's team play a tournament match. At least I'll get some quality football today.

Young Guns and Spanish Soap Opera

Arsene Wenger enthuses about Aliadere and young gunners. I have to agree that the farm looks stocked for Arsenal. I know Brits get upset about the number of foreigners on sides like Arsenal and the impact it has on English player development, but as a Yank, I don't care. I want to see a quality Arsenal side and from this vantage point, the Gunners look like they have huge growth potential.

Adebayor lets goals go to head. The Togoese striker predicts all wins at home next season. I love the lad's enthusiasm!

What's up with Spain? Every year, there's more intrigue, pathos and twists than a season of American soap operas. The Club Formerly Known as Los Galacticos and Barcelona are jostling for Manchester United star CRon. (By the way, note to TCFKLG, please keep JAR. There's a critical shortage of hair gel and mirrors in Britain!) Reports from Camp Nou are that the club has decided to jettison Ronaldinho to clear room for CRon. What?!

...meanwhile, Manchester United keeps on winning...

Arsenal Trump Bolton

Arsenal beat Bolton 3-1 in the 4th Round of the FA Cup at Reebok Stadium. The match sounds like it was a great one. I was tracking it on the ESPN Gamecast. I hope to watch the tape tonight. But, wow, 120 minutes of football, a 1-0 Arsenal lead, a last minute equalizer, 2 missed Gunners' penalties and then Arsene throws in Freddie Llungberg and faster than you can say game winner, the Arsenal boys are moving to the 5th round against Blackburn.

weekend soccer

I watched two games this weekend: Man United V.  and Arsenal V. Wigan. Somewhat similar matches in that both teams played well below their ability for much of the game, but when it counted, shifted into another gear and made quick work of their hapless victims.

Manchester United let Charlton (Charlton?!) make a game of it for the first 45 minutes. Ji Sun Park's brilliant beastly header for the first goal really was counter to the run of play. But I'm sure that at that point the 'Latics realized it was all over. (The RDs really missed CRon on the pitch, BTW)

The game was most notable for 2 plays by the Monster of Manchester, No. 8. In the 1st half, Rooney collared a ball played over the top, by trapping it up over the 2 defenders, who then ran themselves out of play, brought the ball down, and somehow managed to get a shot off prior to the arrival of a sliding defender. It just missed wide, but it was play of remarkable agility and presence of mind.

So, was the 2nd, but it produced a goal. Rooney collected a pass, moving to the left in the box. He found space and shot left-footed. The keeper blocked the ball, which carommed back to Rooney, now clearly far post, as were the keeper and 2 or 3 defenders. MOst players would've cranked up for another shot. Without a moment's hesitation, Rooney chipped the ball up over the defenders into space on the far post, where Fletcher and Larsson were. Fletcher headed home one of the easier goals of the season. Not to get too Shao Lin on you, but this what I love about Rooney. For a bruising goal scorer, he has a remarkable passing instinct and an ability to be that linking player between the set-up and the goal. Brilliant stuff!

Arsenal-Wigan was another ho-hum game from the Gunners: go down a goal early, get religion, then pour a few in the back of the net towards the end as if you can score whenever you get interested in the game. The Gunners looked really rusty against Wigan. Even Cesc Fabregas was awful by his usual standards of play. Silva was anonymous in the midfield. The introduction of Adebayor was what really sparked The Arsenal to life. The spark grew larger with the subbing of Mathieu Flamini.

Wigan fans and Paul Jewell will complain about the reffing on this one, but they've got little real to gripe about. The referee was well within the usual EPL standards of awful, and indiscriminately so. If Emile Heskey did not dive on the disputed play (In which little Flamini supposedly took him down in the box with the gentlest of touches) then they need to get Mr. Heskey's knees examined. Hesky could carry Flamini and Fabregas on his back up and down the pitch at Emirates.

As for the offsides on Flamini on the 2nd goal. Yep, it was offsides. But Adebayor wasn't off on the goal he scored that was disallowed. So, it all balances out.

Special mention goes to Tomas Rosicky who really stood out among the Gunners in this game. Rosicky was aggressively pushing posession into the attack and looking for goals in a hungry way that I had not seen before. His 2nd goal was just pure energy and desire. Let's see more of that.

Jens Lehmann. Jens, there are days you are just an embarrassment (in addition to being a fine keeper). The Jens Lehmann vaudeville show resulted in a 5th yellow card for the season for ridiculous time wasting and results in Arsenal being without a back up keeper for the Carling Cup final. This, more than his age, is why Arsene Wenger is going to replace him.

I liked Thiery Henry's exchange with time-wasting goalkeeper Chris Kirkland. Yes, a captain should probably show better sportsmanship, but it showed a fire that also sets an example for the team.

And while Big Ass correctly points out that Arsenal are a wee bit hypocritical with their complaints about time wasting, he is still a Big Ass.

Ronaldo wants out? No player is bigger than the club. A player this talented belongs in the EPL. Stay tuned for this one.

Former New York Times reporter WIlliam K. Stevens with an excellent commentary on
the latest round of scientific evidence on the "unequivocal" warming of
the planet. Good luck to you and your descendants, indeed.

And China, whom many point to as reason #1 why USA should go slow on climate emissions, counterjabs. Hey, you guys messed up the atmosphere for the last 100+ years and now you want to pin the responsibility on us. Good point.

I get the feeling that we're eventually going to have reach the point
where instead of pointing fingers, we're realizing that this is not a
crisis like any we've seen before. We need to get to the point where we
realize we're trying to save our own habitat, and that blame and
responsibility is really not a germane debate when the house is on fire.

And, is intentionally misleading the public and public policy on the serious, unprecedented threat of global warming an impeachable offense? John Nichols makes a persuasive case

Tottenham Demolition

There was a decent football game yesterday. However, it involved a round ball and was in White Hart Lane, not Dolphin Stadium. Manchester United thrashed Tottenham in 45 minutes of 2nd half superiority. During the first, the Red Devils looked as if their minds were on other things than good football, but still played well enough to have scored goals. CRon brought them on top with a penalty kick converted to the farthest point left possible. Some say he dived to earn it, and he may have. But it was only just as the referee ignored Henrik Larsson clearly being brought down in the box earlier.
After some discussions at the half with SAF, the Red Devils came out and played as if they had just learned that Chelsea was a bare 3 points behind them in the table. As easy as you can say Matt Busby, they'd slotted 3 more in the back of the net. The final goal was an absolute beauty. With Ryan Giggs running behind the defense to catch up to a Louis Saha through ball. Very nice work, indeed.
As close as this game looked in the early going, Manchester United showed that Tottenham, at the least, is not that close in quality to SAF's boys. That may apply to the rest of the league, as well.

Randomly, Saturday Morning

The Arsenal are matched up with low-lighters Middlesbrough in a few hours. Shouldn't be a tough task, but the Gunners have struggled somewhat with lesser clubs this year, while taking it to the other clubs in the top 4. This one's on FSW so I'll be recording and watching later this afternoon.

My daughter's enrolled in the Manchester United Soccer schools program here in the Seattle area. It appears to be a top notch program. It's been a bit of a challenge getting used to my girl wearing a Red Devils shirt but hey, it's all about player development and Arsenal does not have a training program in the states. Actually as I've written earlier, I've warmed quite a bit to Manchester United this season. The coaches with the school are great guys. The team itself is top drawer and has played spectacularly this season. Wayne Rooney is my 2nd favorite player next to Henry. And how can you not like the Red Devils taking the championship from Roman's Mercenaries?

Of course, if some spectacular miracle occurred and the Gunners overtook the top spot (I know. I know. Thick fiction, that one.) I'd begin rooting against the Red Devils in every match. But for now, I've been catching a number of Manchester United games and cheering for them.

My hometown recently had a (limited) debate about municipal forms of government and whether we should keep our city manager-council form or switch to an elected mayor form. We - wisely, I think - chose to stay with what's been working. However, in the con debate, I present San Francisco. Their mayor is clearly the hottest mayor in the US and is a fixture on the society pages for his many dalliances with hot, under-21 models, wacky TV stars, and hot employees who are the wife of his good friend and campaign manager. I'm not sure how the government is run down there, but who cares?!

As an athlete, I try to eat a fairly healthy diet (though an extended stay at the Betty Ford Center for my ice cream addiction is still a possibility). I've never been on a "diet" nor needed to, but I try to pay attention to nutritional needs and values of different foods in my menu. Michael Pollan has an informative and persuasive article in today's New York Times about the errors of nutritionism and how Americans could get so fat while obeying the dictates of nutritional scientists over the past 2 decades.