My Focus is Elsewhere

Last night, around 10 pm, the best battle buddy I ever had texted me to turn on a news channel. My half asleep brain decided it would be best to look outside the window to see if it was storming and then considered the possibility that it was storming back east. It was quite logical to me since it is tornado season.

Next move was to get on the internet. As always, first comes up Facebook, then UK Yahoo sports, then the news tab in my bookmarks.

Nothing interesting was on the sports and the news was still loading, so Facebook it was. And the news hit me in just about every form imaginable. Osama bin Laden was confirmed dead by President Obama.

I’ve had several reactions to this news. The first, and best, was my text back to my battle buddy. The basic concept was that it happened because I just finished reading Tom Clancy’s latest Jack Ryan/John Clark book. They got their bad guy captured and Clancy’s stuff can be eerily like real life.

My other reaction is one of pure frustration. To me, Osama has been just an ideal for a long time. Our beef may have started out just against him, but it is not the endgame. Our real battle is in the ideals, like how most battles in American history have gone. Osama was just the tip of the iceberg. It may bring closure to families who have lost loved ones, but Osama out of the picture does not mean the fight will magically go away.

My frustration also extends to the fact that I really, really, love soccer and with real summer competitions, this is the best time of year.  Arsenal beat Manchester United yesterday, Championship teams are finding out who will be promoted, and the Champions League is heating up with some INTENSE Barca/Real rivalry. To top it off, Arsenal just released photos of the 125^th anniversary home kit. It’s still growing on me, but I’d much rather focus on that than people debating and celebrating a dead guy that still has the possibility to cause as much damage dead as alive.

Perspective Check

Sometimes you just need a little perspective check. Arsenal’s Wednesday loss really did a number on me. It sounds stupid to be so upset over a league game loss, but all Thursday I was pretty depressed.


Pain like that usually lessens with time, and it has. But I’ve also had a bit of a perspective check that has reminded me that while I have a pretty big love affair with Arsenal, I have an even bigger one with the game they play; football (soccer).

I was in Borders for my family to get something when a clearance book caught my eye. The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the World Cup. It’s about the 2006 World Cup, but that doesn’t mean the book is a piece of junk. It’s 32 essays about the 32 teams that qualified for the 2006 World Cup. Essays put together by a guy who got a lot of prominent writers to write for this. I only recognized two, Nick Hornby and Franklin Foer of course, but the credits to a lot of the others names make it good. I’m only a couple chapters in, but it’s interesting, engaging, and exactly the kind of thing I like to read.

I love the game. I can get goose bumps just looking at a picture of a wonderful pitch. The book I got has reminded me that it is bigger than just Arsenal. I can remember the 2006 final. Italy v. France. I didn’t get to watch it, but I tracked it online. I remember the rage I felt at Zidane for his head butt. And I remember my excitement even then for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. I love soccer. And sometimes I need a perspective check to say that while some things may be bad, it’s not the most important thing out there.

I’m not gonna kiss it goodbye

Last week I read I Kissed Dating Goodbye be Joshua Harris. It seems like half the world really loves the book and follows it to the letter. I figured I had better see what the fuss is about. I didn’t like it.

I can see where Harris comes from. He makes a bunch of good points about things. He has good concepts. I just don’t agree with them. I think some of that is we both define different things different ways. What he sees one way, I see another.

I Kissed Dating Goodbye is great for some people. It’s just not great for me. I guess now I know what the book is about. I don’t have to wonder anymore. And I can legitimately disagree with it instead of disagreeing and not knowing what is really covered in the book.

The Beckham Experiment

I’m not much of a fan of David Beckham. I consider him on my list of least favorite players along with Christiano Ronaldo. But reading the book The Beckham Experiment changed my point of view some. Becks may not be totally to blame for the problems surrounding him.




Grant Wahl followed the Beckham story around since before Becks actually got to the LA Galaxy. He interviewed many key players in the saga, including Beckham himself and Beckham’s not as famous teammate Landon Donovan.



The book chronicles David Beckham’s attempt to crack the US soccer market wide open. It explains the good, the bad, and the ugly about everything that happened.



Based on the first half of the book, I gained a bit of sympathy for Beckham. There were other forces besides him getting him to the US, and those interests did not always look out for what would be the best for Beckham.



The problems in the second half of the book, I would like to place the blame more on Beckham. The forces present in the first part of the book weren’t as prominent, and it seemed like Beckham gave up on soccer in the US.



Yes, Donovan, US’s most famous player, slams Beckham at times for his lack of leadership or work ethic. But he also is complimentary to him at times. He is not totally anti-Beckham. He’s just a lot closer to seeing the problems and not idol worshipping a famous man.



I still don’t like Beckham as much as a lot of people. But Grant Wahl’s book has given me an insight on the going-ons of David Beckham in the US. The story is still not complete and it’s ending is anticipated.


Definitely a book that I was looking forward to reading. I thought it would be a bash Beckham book, but it turned out to be a book with amazing insight to a sticky situation.