I may be getting too old for this

A couple of times every year (OK, maybe more than a couple) I get an idea in my head that I may need to hang up the "open league" boots and make the permanent move to the "old man" leagues and co-ed. Think of the Matthew McConaughey quote in Dazed and Confused except referring to something completely different, "I get older, they stay the same age".

I've even decided a couple of times that it was my last season. Never told anyone besides my wife all of this of course (no Farve-itis here).

It never sticks. I still try and contribute to the team as much as I can, even if I've got less than two years to the big 4-0. I get out there as a back-up forward/midfielder for about half the games and give the Celtics second division team as many minutes as they need that day.

Today though, it was a rough one. The game was fine actually and I played reasonably well. The aftermath though, was brutal. One o'clock kick-off, 83 degrees, humid. I sweat a ton and afterwards was fairly overheated.

The following steps were taken: half a banana, water, a few pretzel sticks, some juice, a popsicle, and a few minutes with an ice pack on my neck. After that I was finally feeling a little bit normal. A luke warm shower and a shave later and I was ready to get back to the whole parenting thing.

So again, those thoughts are running through my head. This might actually be it, however you may need to ask me again in the spring. And if I do back out...well then the Farve reference may start to fit a bit.

The DVR is your friend.....unless....

As I've previously noted in this blog, I am a big fan of the DVR and feel it really makes the life of a soccer fan in the States a lot better.

Of course all of that assumes that you actually remember to confirm you set the DVR to record the game before you leave the house. I didn't and only found out later that Fulham-Manchester United would not be on tap for my viewing pleasure this evening.

Oh well, Premier League Review Show is now set up to record all new episodes so I can at least see all of the goals I missed.

EPL Week 1

We are now in the middle of August which brings us to the start of that nine month marathon of soccer viewing ecstasy known as the EPL. A great start that saw me catch three full games and parts of two others, a rarity now that we have two little ones roaming the house.

I saw some excellent performances, Drogba and Chelsea dismantling West Bromwich Albion, Spurs dominating City (but somehow not scoring) and a gritty Liverpool almost stealing the win after playing a man down for a half.

All of that said, the highlight was in a dull, dull game from a neutrals point of view, the nil-nil affair between Bolton and Fulham (if you are paying attention, they are my team in the EPL). The action (or lack thereof) non-withstanding, my favorite moment was realizing John Pantsil had continued his WC trend of wearing one long sleeve and one short sleeve on his jersey. Couldn't find one from this weekend, so this shot is from the WC.

Pantsil is a crowd favorite at Craven Cottage, and this just confirms how weirdly awesome he is.

On reading....

To the best of my recollection this is an accurate statement: For the first time in my life I am reading two non-fiction books back to back. Which is really bizarre I guess. Or a statement on my penchant for science fiction and graphic novels over the years.

I'm about half way through The Last of the Tribe: The Epic Quest to Save a Lone Man in the Amazon by Monte Reel. Good stuff so far, definitely recommended. Full disclosure, my wife used to work with the author years ago, however that doesn't impact my review.

Prior to that was Soccer Against the Enemy: How the World's Most Popular Sport Starts and Fuels Revolutions and Keeps Dictators in Power by soccer writer Simon Kuper. I read it after thoroughly enjoying his more recent work over the winter, Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey--and Even Iraq--Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport, written with Stefan Szymanski.

The challenge for me came in that Soccer Against the Enemy was written in the early 90's. My Goodreads.com review is below, but the bottom line is Kuper can write and he's worth a read.

Reading this one was a weird experience for me. First off Kuper is an excellent writer and the stories he tells are very compelling. I enjoyed his writing here every bit as much as I enjoyed it in Soccernomics.

What kept throwing me was that I read this book about 15 years too late. Many of the people, places, and events that Kuper details are very much "of the time". That being the early 90's, the fall of the eastern bloc, the break-up of the Soviet Union, the recent end of apartheid in South Africa, and the infancy of the recent explosion of soccer in America. I can only imagine the stories would have resonated more if I had read them in the early to mid 90's.

As it is (as Kuper himself details in new parts of the book), many of the countries have gone through several cycles of change since his original journey through the soccer world.

Still, I have to recommend it if you are interested in the intersection of sports, culture, politics, and crime in the modern world.

Back on the juice

It took around three weeks for me to recover from the World Cup, but I am officially back at it, watching an entire 90 minutes for the first time since July 11th.

The Chicago Fire, my "MLS team", knocked off the LA Galaxy 3-2 for their third road win of the season. An enjoyable game with some excellent finishes from the Fire and a desperate holding effort to hang on for the win. I have two main thoughts on the game:

1) When will MLS settle on a time slot for their games? From week to week I have no idea what the "Game of the Week" will be on. There is (usually) a Thursday ESPN game and a Saturday Fox Soccer Channel game. Beyond that though, please check your local listings. Case in point, this past weekend's FSC game was on Sunday night at 6:30 - random enough for you?

Now I know that it is a bit silly to compare MLS to other soccer leagues or other American sports leagues, but I will anyway. The EPL games are on at the same time every week. All season long. The NFL? I've been watching for more than 30 years and kick-off has always been at noon central.

What does this mean? For the diehard, maybe not a lot, they'll find the game anyway. For the casual fan or lapsed due to kids diehard? It means I don't think about the game until the day of, and then can't watch half the time because it is on at a bizarre time. Contrast that with the Packers, if I want to watch, I turn on the TV at noon on Sunday.

2) How is the walking red card known as Dema Kovalenko still in the MLS? This guy has been breaking legs (literally, no really ask Ronnie O'Brien) for five different teams in this league for more than a decade. He dishes out some of the nastiest fouls you will see in a soccer game, including last night's studs up lunging challenge on Krzysztof Król.

He's a competitive player, works hard, plays for the team, all good things. But he's also a guy that appears to play without any regard for the safety of his opponent. And that type of behavior is a bad advertisement for any team in any league in any sport.