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AUGUST 15, 2008 re: previous entry | U.S. vs Canada Olympic women's soccer quarterfinal Man, what a messed up game. Torrential rain, waterlogged field, thunder rattling the stadium, U.S. took a 1-0 lead, Canada's goalie was injured and hauled off on a stretcher... And that was just the first 15 minutes of the game! Then the game was stopped in the 20th minute and delayed an hour and a half due to lightening, but once the match resumed Canada tied it up via an amazing goal by Christine Sinclair (woot!). Then the game went into overtime and both teams were fighting for their lives, but the U.S. scored and, even though the goal was offsides (ie should not have counted) the ref still deemed it good and that was the end of the game. And like I said before, I knew there was no way I'd be happy come the end of this game, what with my favorite players being on opposing sides, but this was a total heartbreaker, what with the 'winning' goal being offside. Because there is nothing worse than seeing a team not just lose, but be eliminated from a major tournament due to a bad call by the ref. But, like it or not, that's the way it goes sometimes, which is why soccer fans have chants for bad refs. Granted, those chants never get a call changed and are deemed offensive by uptight soccer moms, but they're cathartic for fans and the team so it's at this point that I'd like to say: I'm blind, I'm deaf, I wanna be a ref! Ok, I feel better now. So, Canada lost and was eliminated from play and now the U.S. moves on to the semifinals, where they will face Japan.
AUGUST 12, 2008 When the final Olympic team rosters for women's soccer were announced, I was thrilled to find that 3 University of Portland players were going to the Olympics. Stephanie (Lopez) Cox, a defender who graduated in December, was named to the U.S. Women's team. Christine Sinclair, who graduated in '06 and is one of the best strikers in the world, was named to and made captain of Canada's team. And Sophie Schmidt, a current UP player and one hell of a midfielder, was also named to Canada's national team. So as the Olympics were approaching, I was in soccer heaven, what with having 3 UP players to root for. Sure, they're playing for different countries, but I was optimistic about that and, rather than fear a face-off between the two teams that would pit UP player vs UP player in the Olympics, I instead focused on how great it would be for both teams win medals. Yeah, my big hope was that Steph, Christine, and Sophie would all make it to the medal stand and do so in a way that would not require their respective teams to play each other. I didn't even care which team won what medal, just as long as all three UP players got medals. That was my big hope. But now, the awful situation I tried not to think about has occurred. The U.S. will play Canada in the quarterfinals, which is single-loss elimination and not a medal round. The team who wins will advance to the semifinals and have a chance to medal, but the team that loses will be eliminated and get squat. Now I feel like beating my head against a wall because there is no way I'll be happy come the end of that quarterfinal and, what's more, who the hell do I root for in that game? Some might say I should root for the team with my favorite player, but I love all 3 and have reason to want each to win a medal. And when I posed the "who the hell do we root for now" question to Ross, he was pragmatic and elusive about it and said we should root for the winning team. Of course, that makes the actual game a bit difficult, what with not knowing who the winning team is until afterwards, but that's the approach we'll have to take... Live and die a thousand heartaches during the match, then root for the winning team for the rest of the Olympics. Oi. You know, in sports, when they talk about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, I had no idea both the thrill and the agony could somehow be one in the same, but that's definitely the case with this one. Sigh. The U.S. vs Canada game will be played Friday at 3am PT/6am ET and broadcast on both the USA Network and the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel, just in case you want to thrill and agonize along with me.
JULY 10, 2008
Fun idea, right? The little pigs they gave out at half-time were cute and squishy and we had fun playing with them while waiting for the game to restart and it still hadn't dawned on anyone that this promotion could go terribly wrong. But it was cheap beer night, hotter than hell, and the Timbers weren't playing well, which meant that by the second half fans were drunk and angry. So there we were, singing and trying to rankle Puerto Rico's goalie, who was playing the north end, right in front of the Timbers Army. And we love giving goalies hell when they're in the north end because, well, we're soccer fans and that's our job. But tonight, we were dealing with a goalie who couldn't be flustered. If anything, he fed off our heckling and even decided to goad us back. I can't remember what song we were doing, but we somehow inspired the goalie to turn around and very obviously grab his balls at us. And I don't mean his soccer balls. And that's when the first pig took flight. It arced over the field from the west side of the stadium and landed with a bounce at the goalie's feet. And then another pig flew. And then another. And before you knew it, fans were throwing pigs like there was no tomorrow and hundreds of the little pink pigs were flying through the air and bouncing all over the field. The ball kids looked scared and were diving for cover, what with an angry throng of soccer fans hurling pigs in their direction. Meanwhile, field security was running around waving their arms at the crowd trying to get them to stop, but security only succeeded in being moving targets. And Puerto Rico's goalie, the guy who started it all, just stood there watching pigs rain down around him, looking like he didn't know whether to be pissed or laugh his ass off. So once the great pig debacle finally subsided, all the pigs were cleared off the field and the game resumed, but throughout the rest of the match pigs would randomly fly out of the crowd and onto the pitch, making goal tending a new challenge for Puerto Rico's keeper. In fact, it may have been the only time in soccer history that a goalie's had to contend with flying pigs during a game. Puerto Rico still won, but you have to give them credit for that. To win on the road in front of a tough crowd while being pelted with pigs? That takes some doing. And PR's goalie, who we first thought was twit for grabbing his junk, also turned out to be an ok guy. Because, it turns out, his crotch grabbing antics were in response to some fans who were razzing him during the game by making the wank wank wank jesture at him, so he just responded in kind. True, he could've been more mature about it and not responded at all but, seeing as Timbers fans were the ones who stopped the game by throwing hundreds of pigs on the field, we're not in any position to be giving lectures on maturity. And after the game, when PR's goalie was asked about the pig toss by the media, he was a good sport about it and even commended Timbers fans for their passion. Of course, there was worry over how Timbers management would respond to the fans totally losing their marbles and throwing pigs on the field. After all, we're not supposed to pull crap like that and we know it so there was concern management would come down hard and revoke the privileges we'd worked to earn back after the flare debacle. But, to our surprise, management took responsibility for the whole thing saying they should have known better than to give drunken soccer fans anything that could be used as projectiles. So it was an absolutely nutty match and, normally, we'd leave the stadium totally bummed after a loss, but the pig throwing jamboree was so damn funny that most everyone left the game with grins on their faces, Ross and I included.
JUNE 28, 2008 The fight against gay marriage continues and it's as hypocritical as ever. Case in point: the Mormon church is asking its California members to join the effort to amend California's constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman "We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to ensure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman. Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage," church leaders said in a letter. Gee, Mormons, didn't your religion practice polygamy for many years? Didn't your church fight against making polygamy illegal back in the day? And didn't your revered leader and prophet Brigham Young, in fact, have 56 wives? And doesn't your religion still believe that polygamy will be practiced in the afterlife? Preserving the sacred institution of marriage, my ass! How utterly hypocritical of the Mormon church to support an amendment about marriage that is contrary to their own beliefs on the subject! This is just an easy opportunity for them to hop on the homophobia bandwagon and try to make it look righteous, like so many other churches have done. But what I don't understand is why Christians are obsessed with homosexuality. Jesus didn't say anything about homosexuality or gay marriage in the gospels, but he did preach against things like divorce, intolerance, and being judgemental, and yet based on the religious right's campaign against gay marriage you'd think fighting homosexuality had topped Jesus' agenda. Odd, don't you think? I mean, if people are going to call themselves Christians, shouldn't they base their lives and views on what Christ actually said and taught?
JUNE 16, 2008 Hilarious video about John McCain supposedly calling his wife a c*nt. But be warned: the video uses the C word a lot, so you might not want to watch it at work/in public or around people who have no sense of humour.
JUNE 05, 2008
It's hard to know who to blame more for the Timbers recent slump... The team itself for their off kilter play lately or the abysmal refs they've had to deal with. Because last time I checked, strangling an opponent is, in fact, against the rules in soccer. Granted, I'm sure a lot of Americans would be surprised to hear that, but it's actually just the fans who are allowed to beat and maim each other. But in the incident pictured above, the Minnesota player who blatantly has one of the Timbers in a chokehold wasn't even issued a foul when he should have been immediately red carded and thrown out of the game. But the ref also didn't card another Minnesota player who screamed at and angrily chest bumped the ref, which also should've been an automatic card and ejection, but the ref did nada. So while the Timbers have been playing off kilter lately and have looked unsure of themselves, you can't help but wonder how much of that stems from the awful officiating. Because when the refs are inconsistent and all over the map with their calls and allow games to get out of control it really makes it hard for the players because they have no idea what an inept ref is going to do in any given situation and they end up playing a hesitant game as a result. Of course, it always sounds like an excuse when fans blame the refs for their team not doing well, but the awful refs aren't just happening to the Timbers and other teams are complaining about the problem as well because it's affecting the outcome of games. And hopefully the USL can get the officiating issue under control soon, otherwise irate fans are going to start using the refs as pinatas. And I have no idea if candy and goodies will actually come flying out if you beat a ref hard enough but, if the Timbers are cost one more win by a bad ref, I'd be more than willing to find out.
JUNE 01, 2008 en-nui (noun) - a feeling of weariness and discontent; dullness and languor of spirits, arising from satiety or want of interest; tedium. Ennui. It sounds like such a pretentious word, but I can't think of another that really describes the funk I'm in. This definitely isn't depression. I don't feel down, sad or hopeless. Just bored, restless and uninspired; a general sense of malaise. Or, as Ross put it the other day, everything just seems meh. Really, really meh. But regardless of phrasing, the cause of this languor is undoubtedly the weather and the fact that it is still just as grey, dreary, and rainy as the middle of winter. Summer, even the faintest hint of it, simply refuses to show up and the eternally grey, oppressive weather is really taking a toll on peoples moods. Like the other day, I was walking to my cafe when when a woman, who was huddled with friends out on a bar patio having drinks, suddenly yelled, "I can't take it anymore! I'm from Alaska and even I can't stand this weather!" And when people from Alaska start losing it due to the weather, you know it's bad! Of course, whining about the situation doesn't really help, but it does explain the lack of motivation seen here in my journal as of late. It is, after all, hard to write when you've had your ass kicked by the colour grey and are currently in the process of de-evolving into a mole due to lack of sunshine. Current weather: rainy and 55° with wind at 18mph, gusting to 30 mph. Meh.
APRIL 24, 2008 Two big problems that factor into my ongoing battle with writer's block: 1. I'm anal retentive and feel as though I have to explain everything in regards to what I'm writing about - the entire back history of the situation, every minute detail about what happened, and all the emotion and significance involved. 2. I'm a perfectionist and end up writing and rewriting over and over again, making countless attempts and trying different approaches only to deem them all no good. In the end, I don't get anything finished and feel so frustrated that I give up, thanks to the part of my brain that feels that if I can't do something well, there's no point in doing it at all. Suffice it to say that being an anal retentive perfectionist produces little, if any, positive results and is much more a one-way ticket to failure and this weird phenomenon is the number one thing that hinders my writing. How one gets over being an anal retentive perfectionist, I'm not sure, all I know is that I need to figure out how to deal with and tame this part of my brain because it adversely affects many parts of my life and I'm sick of the frustration and failure it produces. But something tells me that getting over, or at least taming, this may not be as difficult and complicated as I think. It may be as simple as forcing myself to write and posting it regardless of how good it is. That and allowing myself to post short blurbs or silly things, just to get back in the habit of posting would also help. So maybe what I need to do is chuck fear out the door and allow myself to have fun and experiment. Or, in other words, I need to approach writing the same way I did college. Except with less alcohol and sleeping around.
APRIL 22, 2008 Doesn't feel like this redesign is ready to post, it's still at the point where putting it online feels like going out in public only to realize I forgot to put on pants (I'm not the only one that happens to, right?), but I've tweaked images to the millipixel and combed through code like the posterkid for anal retentiveness, so there's not much more I can do other than post it. Or start working on a new design but, since Ross would strangle me if I deemed yet another design no good and started working on my 5,547,292 attempt, I'll stick with this. For now. That said, I've tried to ensure my site can withstand the grueling series of tubes that is the internet, but there are still possible issue, like the fact that the only browsers I can test this in are Safari and Camino, so I'm not sure this will display ok for people using microsoft operating systems and browsers. But if you're a pc/ie user and this doesn't display right for you, a good way to fix that is to get a Mac. Or you can email me about the problem, but a Mac is the better solution. As for the Prague theme, it happened by accident when as I was working on a different, more complex design but got stymied so I took a break and started toying with photoshop and that's when Prague coyly took over my design. But when the Golden City comes calling what are you going to do, say no? Ah, if you think Prague allows you any say as to her place in your heart, you've obviously never been there (or you've been there but have no soul). Because Praha "grabs and burns with her sly glances, bewitches and transforms the unwary who enter her walls. I too writhe bewitched inside her crystal ball." God, I love that city, feel like I left part of my soul there, which is why I love the photo up top of this page. That's Prague's Old Town Square and the purple star just to the left of the white church on the right marks the apartment Ross and I stayed in the two weeks we were in Prague and, in a city known for taking hearts hostage, nothing will do that to you more than living on Old Town Square. With St. Nicholas on one side of us, the Astronomical Clock on the other, and the Tyn Church, Jan Hus memorial, and Kinsky Palace right across the Square... Swoon. So this new design is literally a snapshot of one of the best times of my life and perhaps that is the reason I inadvertently went with a Prague motif. With the northwest having one of the most dismal springs on record (it actually snowed last week!) and the news constantly yammering on about war, high gas and food prices, and the economy taking a nosedive, I've very much been needing a shot of brightness and cheer and Prague very much delivers on that account.
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It was CPA night at the game, which perplexed us at first because what does accounting have to do with soccer? But it turned out an accounting firm decided to promote their services at the game by giving out 5000 little foam pigs that had numbers on them and the fan who got the pig with the winning number won a savings bond.
