loss
such an ugly word, loss. i can't think of many words ending in 'oss' that are good: gloss, moss (the kate variety) and that's about it. yesterday was the first real test of the campaign, manchester united at old trafford. it's big. it can be intimidating. for some reason many of its attendees like to sing a song that makes them look/sound like assholes regarding wenger. for some reason we were considered the favourites, even though we were without fabregas of all people...madness was around the bend.
the first half saw little of any worth from either team. the only thing we saw a lot of was yellow cards. the refereeing was so poor that i refuse to learn the referees name. steven fletcher deserved at least 2 in the first half alone, to go along with his 2 controversial penalty worth actions: tackling arshavin in the box and handball in the process. quite the player, arshavin didn't bother hounding the ref for the no calls and 24 seconds later sent a cannon of a beauty into the upper corner to give arsenal a 1-0 lead. did manu even get a shot on target that half?
the second half started with a bit more liveliness. 15 minutes in and wayne rooney 1-upped eduardo in the dive for a penalty claim. yes, almunia did touch rooney...after rooney had already left his feat and started his flailing diving motion. rooney didn't even have possession of the ball as he had previously kicked the ball out of bounds.
of course, rooney makes his penalty and the score is 1-1. we almost took the lead on a van persie free kick but it clanged off the cross bar to safety. a minute later a easy foul was called and manu had a close free kick near the corner. giggs sent in a cross to the wrong team and diaby headed it right into his own net. damn....i've yet to read anybody elses words that can begin to describe the look of horror on his face or what was going through the collective gooner mind. manu up 2-1 with 25 minutes to go.
diaby almost got it back a minute later but sent the shot just wide after some nice dribbling/moving through the united defense. eboues dive for a yellow didnt help so wenger subbed him off for bendtner and arshavin was tired/out-of-shape so in came ramsey and eduardo came in for denilson as we needed attackers at this point.
5 minutes of stoppage time. that is a fair bit. ferguson and the old trafford peoples did nit like that number. with about 90 seconds left we had a goal called back, correctly, due to offsides on gallas. wenger kicked as a water bottle in the arsenal technical area in frustration and was summarily sent off the pitch for this infraction, with considerably less than 1 minute left.
the following minute will go down in infamy due to the iconic image of wenger standing in the stands above the tenchnical area with his arms widespread being abused by the fans immediately behind him and their incessant offensive song. is this enough?
who were the better team that day?
overheard earlier today:
"there will always be winners and losers, but when the top earners make hundreds of millions a year and those at the bottom can't see a doctor something is inherently flawed..."
Labels: flawed
today is the beginning of the end.
actually, that should read last saturday...i'm in the future baby! last weekend the english premier league started back up and dc united finally stopped their free-fall out of the playoff places.
did i mention that phish played what many of us feel is their worst show ever?
arsenal has raced into the season obliterating everton away 6-1, 2-0 @ celtic in the 1st leg of champions league qualifying and 4-1 to portsmouth. 12 goals in 3 games while allowing 2. i'll take these stats. normally i would wait to wax poetically on how arsenal will win it all this year until they have at least played one of the top teams and that will happen next weekend! i'm assuming we will beat celtic in leg 2 this week. the following 2 games will be at the manchester clubs. i'm hoping for at least 4 points.
over the last 6-8 weeks dc united has fallen down and skidded its knee. we have slipped from 1st in the division to 4th and barely clinging on to a playoff place. there are, what, 6-7 games left? we can't be playing with our points now... up tonight is la galaxy with a certain mister david beckham in tow. oh joy.
there are many ways to ruin a phish show. the two easiest ways are, in order, bad playing and bad song choices. i witnessed the most egregious offender of the latter last weekend at merriweather post pavillion. i can deal with a first full of new songs even if it includes what has to be one of their all time worst songs, time turns elastic. first sets are meant for the band to finish loosening up to unleash the nasty in set 2 and it appeared as if that is exactly what was going to happen when set 2 started off with tweezer. at around the 10th minute the jam started to turn the corner into what i can only hope most/all true phishheads are really there for. ten seconds later trey decided instead to stop and play taste. now, i am not a hater of taste and i find it perfectly acceptable in a set2 scenario if it is say between the biggies...kind of a breather. to purposefully kill a tweezer to start taste is just criminal. ok, trey must be saving energy for something else. next song = alaska. ok, this song is just pathetically boring. let me lie...now they are just being cruel and seriously starting to piss people off! 46 days was a rather uninspiring choice but at least it has potential for the jam and this one did. the jam out of 46 days was my one lone non-low point. i can't even call it a highpoint everything else was so low. going through the motion versions of oh sweet nothin and harry hood killed off the last remnants of a horrible set. the obligatory tweeprise didnt even have mike bombs...yeah, we're still laughing.
wtf?
david v goliath.
tomorrow we get real madrid at fedex field. unless injured, ronaldo, kaka, benzema, alonso, etc will all play a part. i admit it will be cool to see these guys in action, even a friendly. i still hope we win though; i want to see olsen put in a crunching tackle so i can see him wince and cry. of course olsen would get booked for it, but isnt it worth it? is this mean spirited on my part to wish these things? if not there are plenty more things i can wish for...
ear candy.
i like the music coming out this year. i can't keep up with it as fast as most. i estimate that i am about 25 days behind...or something...anyways. take this yo la tengo 'popular songs'. i'm having my first listen as i type this. nice...very nice. this postmarks 'memoirs at the end of the world' is groovy in that 1960s lounge cum 007 theme music kind of way. the years 'years' has a few anthemic bursts, sonic youths 'the eternal' fills my noise void and the american dollars 'ambient one' wafts me to sleep with its gentle tinkle. and that's just from the last month!
i'm sure there is someone out there saying "no, that was released 2 months ago" then exhales loudly turning away with hands on hips...
i don't know how anyone can truly keep up with everything that is out there, and volume is overwhelming for a part-timer like me. of course, a lot of it is junk. no offense anyone, but it really is crap. hey "lofi"-ers - i can appreciate the efforts/talents in getting a good group dynamic and mix utilizing under 4 channels. i do. my hobby is audio engineering/recording. but it gets to a point when you are going overboard trying to push the limits and it comes out almost non listenable. please, think of our ears. you are not neutral milk hotel. you are not recording 2009s 'in the aeroplane over the sea'.
Labels: the precious