Recently in Sports Category
I don't blog as much or as regularly as I used to. The blog used to be a great way to keep in touch with people, but other folks started using twitter and facebook, and most of the blogs I followed kind of started drying up. Then, I took on this house project that takes up almost all my free time, and my own blog has suffered.
Still, there are people that only keep up with me through my blog's feed, so I wanted to share some sad news with you guys--last week Brooklynne and I lost the baby we were expecting to be born later this year. We don't have a real explanation for it... the heart just stopped beating for some reason. Obviously, we're wrestling through a wide range of emotions, but time will bring healing, and we praise God's faithfulness even in these tragic circumstances.
On a more trivial note, this week also brought sadness to my heart in the firing of Butch Davis--not that I disagree with the move, or care one iota for Davis's situation--but because I feel very pesimistic about our chances for success after this season. We'll probably do alright this year before recruiting tapers off and the NCAA penalties come down, but don't expect to beat state, and don't expect a bowl game. And I'll go on record now... we may be competitive in any given game, but I predict we will not be competitive for the league title for another 10-15 seasons. Everett, please prove me wrong, but I'm afraid we have been consigned to 3-8 football hell for the all of the foreseeable future.
I didn't get to see the game this weekend, but I've watched the compressed version. I was going to rant about our latest soccer woes, but this article says all that I would have liked to have said.
I do have to admit though, as poorly as our defense played, Mexico's 4th goal by Gio Dos Santos is probably one of the sweetest goals I have ever seen. The play started with the US defense serving the ball up to Mexico in the middle of the field, and three US players--besides Howard--could have made a play on the ball, but stood frozen like deer in the headlights. Still, the setup pass was beyond perfect and Santos showed incredible control before picking his spot. You don't see this every day. Check it out below.
I always lose any NCAA pools I enter. I never do well. But this year, I stumbled on a site that allows you to chose your picks from a general description of their pros and cons, without seeing the names of the teams or their exact seeding. So click the image below for my "bias-removed" picks for the tourney. (One note: as a personal rule, I ALWAYS pick the Heels to win no matter what, and I could tell from the generic description which team we were, so my selection of the Heels was not unbiased, as were the rest.)
Last night was a tough game to watch. I have two suggestions for the Heels: start making your free throws and stop taking 3-pointers. An ill-advised 3 is essentially a turnover and we left a lot of points at the line. I don't remember who I was talking to yesterday, but I said if we hold smith to under 30, we'll have a chance to win. Unfortunately I was right.
Silver lining--we still control our own destiny. Win the rest and we still win the ACC, and I would rather win in March than in February.
Just for a pick-me-up, here are some pics of the kids.
We had another full weekend highlighted by more home rennovations, church meetings, and football.
Now that I am a fully-credentialed homeower-plumber, Brooklynne and I finished off plumbing the drain to the new master shower and poured the bedding mortar for the shower pan. If you want to see what we are doing, you can watch this video, which is what we're using to guide us through the process. Our show will be very similar to this, except maybe twice as big.
Besides working on the house, I also attended a meeting detailing our church's budget from last year and the one for the coming year. Last year, due to the economic downturn and a poor year in 2009, we adopted a very conservative budget. The move paid off and the church did very well in 2010. We ran in the black by quite a bit, and despite ongoing economic worries, the congregation was very generous with their tithes and gifts. Praise the LORD that He has provided and we can continue sharing our blessings to further His work.
Finally, the Steelers came through for me. I now have a date with my TV and my favorite NFL team on February 6th. My invitation to join us at the new place stands, so come one and come all! (No Green Bay colors allowed.)
Another 4 years of waiting for the US to make a strong showing in the WC. We looked like we didn't have much left in the tank during the overtime. I guess emotional, all-out comebacks eventually take their toll on a team. It didn't help that we had to sub for Clark in the first half. We could have used that pair of fresh legs in the end. Note to Bradley: 11 in the box for the first 20 minutes. So who do we pull for now? I'm a free agent fan taking bids.
The World Cup began today with a surprising tie between South Africa and Mexico. South Africa scored first and almost held out, but a botched offsides trap handed an equalizer to Mexico.
In other news, I found some great (and sad) pictures of the continuing devastation in the gulf. Click "continue reading" to see the rest.
Of course ET and I were in Wales during the 1998 World Cup (when the much-hyped English bowed out against a solid team from Argentina, think), and during that time, the unofficial world cup pub theme in the UK was "Vindaloo" by Fat Les (here's the link to the video). I was thinking today about how the US needs a good pub song for the games this year, and low and behold, I found out there is one that is gaining traction. It's called "Over There" and it is derived from a WWI-era war song. I'm embedding a video to help you learn it for this weekend. Obviously, just as in soccer, England has a leg up on us in pub songs, but this is a good first effort. If you find yourself wondering what you would do with such a song, it can generally be sung arm-in-arm with friends at a bar whenever the US scores or makes a good play. Enjoy.
The World Cup starts Friday and I'm excited about it. As usual, the US will bring a competitive team to the tournament, though we will be fortunate to make it out of the second round of the knock-out stage. We have some key injuries, and our defense looks sketchy, but unlike years past, this team looks like it is capable of scoring a few goals. If Tim Howard comes up big (because he'll probably get plenty of tests), we could pull off a couple surprises.
If you are uninitiated, here is my own World Cup primer: the playing surface is a field (not a pitch), a team is a singluar noun, a win is a result--but so is a loss, and players show speed and quickness (not pace).
You will hear foreign announcers and commentators make these mistakes repeatedly, even in American telecasts, but please remember where you are from, and take pride in your culture. We can play exciting, competitive SOCCER without sacrificing the distinctive quirks of the sport's heritage in our country, thank you.
Now here are some links for your reference: the complete schedule and a fillable bracket (courtesy of Evan).
**Update: the bracket is broken, but I'll fix it tonight.**
