20110220

Leyton Orient 1-1 Arsenal

It seems everything in life is connected. It may not be obvious at first, but give it enough time and it will become connected.
Arsenal faced Leyton Orient in a FA Cup match today. It was a draw even though Arsenal probably should have dominated a bit more and won. My soccer love, Tomas Rosicky, scored Arsenal's only goal today. It was good to see him on the field after not a lot of activity, sickness, and pulled muscles. I'm beginning to prep myself for him to leave Arsenal soon just because he is getting old, isn't starting as much, and Wenger doesn't like to keep older players.
But back to connections. Leyton Orient is a League One team. The FA cup is about the only time they'll face someone from the Premiership. But unlike some other League One teams, I was slightly familiar with Leyton Orient.
Why? Because of Nick Hornby. Author of the great memoir Fever Pitch. For a while in Hornby's soccer fan career, he follows a small team from Cambridge. And Cambridge just happens to play Leyton Orient. And one of those games ended up as a chapter in Fever Pitch.
The final result? I have heard of Leyton Orient. It really is a small world...

20110214

Grammy Time Once Again

Last night was the Grammys. It's one of the three annual shows I can't miss (along with the Macy's parade and Ryan Seacrest's Rockin New Years Eve). Last night was definitely a memorable night for the Grammys. I'll share my impressions.

First off, why did they START with the Aretha tribute? Usually stuff like that is billed for later in the show, but maybe with some other big performances that was the only place to put it....

Lady Gaga.... I think they always put her early in the show so everyone will forget how weird and awful her performances were. And I wanted to punch her when she gave her acceptance speech. She was all whiny or something.

The Bruno Mars performance was great... except for a little pitchiness in the beginning. And I was impressed with the girl he performed with too even though I had never heard of her before. And the same goes for The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons.

Ryan Seacrest. If you know me, enough has been said.

Justin Bieber (I'm on a bit of a JB kick right now) was good, but I was especially waiting for the part with Jaden Smith. It was better than expected.

Speaking of Jaden Smith... did you see Will and Jada? They cut to them a few times during the performance and after it. The look of pride and joy on their faces was so cool to see.

Pauley Perette, of NCIS fame, presented an award.... in green. I'm not used to seeing her in that color.

The Cee Lo Green performance was interesting, colorful puppet-y, and actually very good. The addition of Gwyneth Paltrow made it even better.

Katy Perry's performance was better than I thought it would be.

Eminem's performance was great. He may not always be appropriate, but I have respect for that man. And it went up after the Chrysler Super Bowl commercial.

Seth Rogan's "I was backstage getting high with Miley Cyrus".
I think that comment made my night.

After that my feed started slowing up, so I bowed out gracefully and went to bed, but it was still a good Grammys.

20110206

45

My team wasn't technically in the Super Bowl this year. Their stadium was, but I don't think most people count that. To celebrate the fact that I don't care about the result (Packers 31-25 Steelers), I made a list of why this Super Bowl was awesome. I'm good at making lists.

1. Cowboy Stadium hosted the big game. They also host my Cowboy's home games. Go figure that one.

2. Troy Aikman was one of the commentators. Former Cowboy. One of my childhood heroes. He was right up there with Mia Hamm, Shaq, and George of the Jungle. And he's on the front of my Super Bowl XXVII shirt. Because the Cowboys won that year.

3. The Black Eyed Peas did the half time show. There's a couple pluses to this one. First, it wasn't old guys performing. Even though I am a fan of Sir Paul and the Boss. Second, I like the Black Eyed Peas. Some people hate them. Some people misunderstand them. I think they're pretty cool for the most part. And they have Fergie. One of my top 3 favorite celebrities.

4. I didn't get to see all the commercials, but the 3 I have seen on youtube are awesome. I just want to know why Eminem picked this year to show up in commercials.

5. I am in Oklahoma. In Central time. This means I get to watch the Super Bowl and still go to bed at a decent time because everything is an hour behind the wonderful Eastern Standard Time.

20110204

He Went Where?!

One of the several reasons I was drawn to Arsenal when I first became a fan was a certain French player known as Thierry Henry. Actually, his skill was probably the only reason I started tracking Arsenal and then I fell in love with other aspects of the club.

Anyways, a few years ago the legendary Henry moved to Barcelona, a semi-favorite team of mine, and although he was good, Barcelona has a lot of stars and Henry didn't shine like at Arsenal.

This summer I was in basic training for the army. A soccer fan stuck without soccer news in a World Cup transfer window. I knew I was bound to miss some transfers, but I thought I had been pretty much caught up back in September (had a few surprises there, but none too drastic).

Yesterday I found out I had not been completely caught up. While I was learning to be a soldier, Thierry Henry transferred to Red Bull New York. The MLS. The US. There must not have been a lot of fanfare about it because it took me six months to find out.

I guess Henry's move shows that US soccer has a long way to go. Yes, we can get excited over David Beckham, but Henry's career is just as illustrious. And he's actually won a World Cup Trophy.

I don't know if I can accurately describe the shock that came over me with the news of Henry's transfer. I now finally realized why I hadn't been hearing about him at Barcelona. He wasn't there. He's in the US. You can probably figure out what I'm gonna try to do with some of my summer with Henry playing in the MLS......