And

For those wondering (and that means none of you), Fulham played Tottenham Hopturds this past weekend, and somehow managed a 3-3 tie after being down 1-0, 1-1, 2-1, 3-1. I think. Our man Clint Dempsey was a major player in the match, scoring goal 1 and assisting on two others.

In other news, I didn't watch too many other games - I'm sort of turning my attention to MLS, actually. Weird.

Premiership Weekend 4

Fulham v Aston Villa - Fuckin' Fulham. Dempsey scores, Fulham lose 2-1. Kasey Keller was decent in net. The refs were horrible again. I hate complaining about referees.

Also watched Liverpool v Sunderland - Torres is awesome - and the end of Tottenham v Man U - I didn't know who to root for. Fulham has Tottenham next at Craven Cottage, I think Fulham can win, but the way things have been going, I dunno. It feels like last year all of a sudden.

* * * * *

Gina and I headed down to Madison, IN for a random Saturday afternoon trip - not a bad drive. I got the idea from my Day Trips from Indianapolis book I picked up a year or so again. We probably should do this more often.

While in Madison we walked around a bit, ate at a restaurant, and then got back in the car for more driving. Sort of a blah day, but better than sitting on the couch.

Last night we saw Knocked Up at the $1.50 theater, and stopped in at Shallos beforehand to get a beer to kill an hour. The beer was blah, but I'll put that in my beer diary later.

Yippee!

the weekend

Friday, Gina and I went to Brugge for dinner - I can't say enough about Ted's beers... the guy just gets it completely right every time. I haven't had anything ever remotely questionable out of a Brugge tap. Everything is just dead on.

Saturday I decided to Tivo the Fulham match and get a bike ride in. My friend and I did 56 miles north of Eagle Creek Park. It was alright.

Then I got home and watched Fulham - expecting a loss, because that's just the way things have gone lately. Liverpool played a bunch of guys I've never seen before... Clint Dempsey didn't start (a mistake, I thought), and the game dragged on and on in the Fulhamish tie/loss sort of way. Then this:



I jumped off the couch, screaming, accidentally kicking a plate of General Tsao's chicken off the living room table and all over the carpet. Gina was nice enough to clean it up for me.

What a way to start your EPL goalscoring, though - A game winner that keeps Fulham from being relegated.

Gina and I then got in the convertible and headed out to get lost, which we did for a while, but eventually we ended up somewhere south of Bloomington, where we ate at a random roadside restaurant. It was good, I had the salsa/talapia.

I did not watch RSL, because it was on a channel I don't get. Even though I'm paying for the DirectKick package. They tied 3-3. A surprise.

Sunday Gina and I rode 43 miles - She didn't seem to like it.

I now have a really wonderful sunburn.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are floating in bbq sauce

I'm working on titles that actually make sense... maybe next time.

So Fulham lost yesterday - no surprises there - but they played with more spirit than we've seen in a while. Part of this was due to the spark that was Clint Dempsey, who came on in the second half and actually looked creative and energetic. So there's that.

Although I'm still coughing a bit, after watching a bit of the Versus network cycling coverage yesterday I couldn't keep off the bike. It had been over a week, and there's really no excuse for that. It really is easier to just sit around and watch television.

But after you get back in the swing of things, you start to crave it. I haven't gotten there yet this year, and it's almost frightening. I remember what happens when I don't exercise. So somehow I've got to find that mojo back.

I bought an Ipod mini a couple weeks ago with the intent of getting into that Nike+ thing (which is some sort of running software that works on Ipod), but so far I've just not done anything. I've got a nice car for nice days - why bother putting the work in myself?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to not doing anything this weekend. Not doing anything meaning I won't have to drive back to Illinois (it's been 3 times in the past four weeks), and I can get on a bike and waste a day. Now if the wind will just settle down..

RSL's on tonight. I don't know what to think.

Oh, called IU Dental School. IT'S JUST MY MOUTH.

Cookie Sacked

Cookie would be the nickname of Fulham manager Chris Coleman. And sacked means fired. I'm English.

Cookie seemed like a good guy - he seemed to really like American players, he may or may not have been sleeping around on his wife, and he kept the team out of the relegation zone for a long time.

But Fulham won one road game in the past two years.

So it was probably time. They're hired Northern Ireland manager Lawrie (not dirty) Sanchez to replace him, and by what I've read, it seems that Sanchez does a nice job. We'll see if he's up for playing Clint Dempsey - Cookie didn't.

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Indiana University plays Notre Dame in Indy this Saturday.. but it conflicts with my RSL viewing. I don't know what to do. Anyone going to IU/ND?

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Neko Case put on a nice show last night.

Who are these people that go to shows to have loud conversations with other people? You paid $25+ to not pay attention to the performer?

I don't get it.

indy soccer is dead, long live indy soccer

I've had it with the state of soccer in Indianapolis. I recently attempted to reach a bunch of teams through the Central Indiana Amateur Soccer Association, and even though I managed to come up with like 10 contact email addresses (for teams spread all over the place - I was willing to drive pretty much anywhere), only 4 responded, and none of them had any room on their teams. At least they responded though.

So what's a guy to do? I don't know 15 people in the city who play soccer, or at least I don't know 15 reliable people who play soccer, who would be willing to fork over the initial cash outlay to put together a team. I even considered throwing the money out myself in order to have a team to play with forever and ever. But I still don't know 15 reliable people.

I'm discouraged. I'd say at this point I'm almost completely beaten. I'm going to attempt to forget it ever happened.

* * * * *

Oh, Fulham lost to Man U this weekend by way of a Christiano Ronaldo goal somewhere around the 87th minute of a game that Fulham really probably deserved to win. Brian McBride scored. Of course. Clint Dempsey came on in the 70th minute and failed to impress. It really appears that he's not up to speed, or maybe that he's sort of stuck in slow motion. I don't expect much out of him yet this year, to be honest. I wasn't that familiar with him (aside from his World Cup performance) before the transfer to Fulham, and I thought he was probably going to be in a fight to get in games. Fulham has faster and more aggresive options out wide (the Canadian Tomas Radzinski), so Mr. Dempsey is going to have to be awfully creative to get work in. He hasn't started a game since coming over.

I've only watched 10 minutes of the Newcastle match, so I don't know how Gooch played. I've been trying to catch all his games now. I do know he started.

Is it April yet? I'm ready for MLS action.

A whole lotta not much

Although I was invited out Friday night, a severe lack of budget meant that instead Gina and I went to see Old Joy at Key Cinemas in beautiful south Indianapolis.

I don't think I can do the movie much justice; I found it fantastically accurate and honest, to the point that the dialog seemed almost based on former conversations I'd had myself. I'd like for all traveling friends to see it themselves.

Then again, they might think it's not any good.

Saturday morning was a Fulham tie (that's like ) and Clint Dempsey's debut in a Fulham shirt. He looked confident on the ball and helped in the effort to secure Fulham's goal. It's also quite possible that he fell asleep on the defensive end and allowed for Tottenham's easy goal. Here's a little article about Dempsey's debut.

Saturday afternoon was spent watching the National Team v Denmark. Not much worth reporting there; nice work by some MLS guys, but the game didn't mean much. I'm much more interested in the Mexico game.

After the game I made a pasta/arugula/olive salad that turned out ok, though a little light on taste. Then again, it was a Cooking Light recipe.

Saturday evening I caught the end of the replay between the US under-20's and Guatemala. I'd say the US team was less than impressive, and the 0-0 final score was a fitting result for the poor effort.

Sunday I spent the early part of the day watching Manchester United/Arsenal, and was glad to see Wayne Rooney score. Of course Arsenal ended up winning the match in the 93rd minute.

I then went out and shoveled the driveway; it was good to get some sort of exercise. I've been spending my time away from work exclusively on the couch. As a result I'm 5-10 pounds heavier than I should be.

I spent the better part of the afternoon cooking up Farmer's Market Chicken, a chicken/squash/carrot/tomato conconction. It was also underwhelming, though the chicken part of it was quite tasty. I finished in time to catch the second half of the Bears game.

Gina and I then watched the Colts. By halftime I found myself looking for something else to do, convinced that they had another loss on their hands. But my internet connection was down, so I kept myself on the couch and rode out the thrilling victory.

As good as the game way, the postgame local news coverage was even better: A 50-something female newscaster said "Get R Done" during the broadcast, the footage from a northside bar showed a bunch of drunk people posing and dancing for the cameras... I actually turned the tivo on to save the footage for later. What a parade of retardation.

But it was understandable. I don't think anyone here thought the Colts had much hope of actually winning the game. It was nice to see it happen.

The next two weekends should be good; first my birthdayish celebration next weekend, and a Colts Superbowl the next. Good times to come.

bring out your dead

I can't handle it still being dark at 8:45 am.

So I suppose you might be wondering how the Clint Dempsey Fulham era started. Although Directv didn't have the game listed, thanks to my good friends at SoccerTV.com, I knew that the game was going to be shown live on Setanta Extra at 10 AM. So I got up and took my usual spot on the couch, and prepared myself for an awesome display of "We Hungry" (he should fit in wonderfully in London).

But alas, the starting Midfielders were Captain Michael Brown (who, honestly, I'm not that fond of), Tomasz Radzinski (Canadian), Wayne Routledge (on loan from Tottenham. Shifty. Small.) and either Mortiz Volz (a past winner of My New Favorite German) or Carlos Bocanegra (American. Scores the occasional big goal. Sort of clueless.)

If you're wondering why I couldn't tell if Boca was playing defense or midfield, you haven't seen Boca play for Fulham.

In any case, Dempsey didn't play (or appear on the screen at all), McBride scored (as usual), Boca and the other central defender fell asleep at the wheel and gave a goal away (twice this year now), and Fulham came back to earn the tie (as usual). Good game, anyway.

* * * * *

Friday, John and I went down to the MLS draft. Prior to the draft Steve had told us that it was a 3 deep draft, and that unfortunately RSL had the fourth pick.

But as it turned out, RSL got the guy they were after, Columbus' traveling fanshow got punched in the crotch when Columbus' braintrust traded away their first round draft pick for future considerations, and I got freaky with Maurice Edu's posse of Nubian princesses. Two of those three statements are true.

The draft is sort of dull, to be honest; there's not much drama in watching a bunch of guys you've never heard having their names read off. But it was a very nice looking production, and I'd go again... Unfortunately John and I left before the call for Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville's Mike Banner... and it's a good thing because I may have yelped with joy - I am also a SIUE alum.

* * * * *

And the Colts won and get to play the Patriots for a chance at the Superbowl. Hold on Indy, you're about to get Belichicked again. The last football game I watched was the Colts' victory over the Patriots (which took place while I was out in Vegas) - I told my co-viewers that the Colts were getting the win out of the way so they could lose in the playoffs.

That said, I'd like for them to win. I just don't have any faith in Payton at all. He's got the constant look of "I just pooped my pants and I have to wear them for another 3 hours" on his face. At least when Elway was blowing games he had the decency to smile about it (which always drove me nuts). Elway did get over, eventually...

* * * * *

One last thing... I'm hearing rumors of Gooch to Chelsea? Please god, no.

* * * * *

Ok, another last thing:

Dave will then take a ceremonial free kick from 30 yards over a wall that is the Jackson 5 (Michael in the middle) and the ball will magically curl up and over the Jackson 5 and into the top corner. Then the goal will split in half like in the opening ceremony for USA 94. Then James Brown's "Living in America" will boom over the loudspeaker.

Interesting to hear what folks thing about the Beckham deal on the other side of the pond. Thanks, Football365.com mailbox.

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Hot Dog

Clint Dempsey gets his UK work permit.

Three US Nationals at Fulham, let's make it an even four.

Clint Dempsey in a Fulham shirt?

Clubcall.com is reporting that Fulham has worked out a deal for Clint Dempsey. That's 3 Americans (Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Dempsey) and four former MLS players (McBride, Simon Elliot - Columbus Crew, Carlos Bocanegra - Chicago Fire, Dempsey - NE Revolution) on Fulham's squad. And they're competitive!