RSL Loses

Instead of ranting about the game, a 2-0 loss, I'm going to complain about other things I see in soccer games and broadcasts that drive me nuts.

1) "The Mixer" - I've been alive 31 years, and in 29 of those years I've never heard the 18 yard box called "the mixer". Last summer Dave O'Brien, a clueless (though well intentioned) hack announcer gets the World Cup gig, starts calling the 18 yard box "the mixer" (because I'm sure he has no idea that it's 18 yards), and now EVERYONE is calling the 18 yard box "the mixer". IT'S THE 18 YARD BOX.

GO FUCK YOURSELF IN THE MIXER.

2) If you've got a free kick, and can put the ball into the 18 YARD BOX, why are you making an extra pass to get it there? Same thing with corner kicks... the short corner kick is a fucking waste. DON'T THROW AWAY OPPORTUNITIES.

3) If you play cautious formations, like the 4-5-1, and you don't have Thierry Henry sitting up top, you're going to end up losing. Because 1 striker never scores when he's playing four fullbacks. Unless he gets lucky.

4) If you're up by a goal with 30 minutes left in the game, and you sit everyone back and play in a shell, you're going to end up in a tie or loss. IT ALWAYS HAPPENS. No one wins by playing half-assed.

OH FUCK IT.

RSL has the undefeated NY Red Bulls next, and at some point you just have to say "well this isn't fucking working". 4-5-1? Sure the midfield is having fun. Freddy Adu can run by guys all day. Mehdi Ballouchy is all over the place, but isn't going to work as the up midfielder, because he won't shoot, or can't create his own shots. I know the defense was a mess last year, but they were a lot better in the second half of the year... the team was the best team in the second half. So why not build on that? Why change it up? Why are they playing a 4-5-1?

I just think they're too loyal to their guys. Sure, Jason Kreis has a million goals, but that was 5 years ago. Carey Talley is a nice guy, but someone's gotta sit. It's time to do something different. It ain't working.

This RSL team reminds me every team I ever played on... things not going your way? Foul and bitch at the referee. I don't like it when I'm playing, and I don't like watching it on tv.

the ol' stomach punch

Up until the time I was about 25, I had never known anyone with cancer. And then the floodgates opened. My father, a family friend, an uncle we buried less than a month ago... and now it appears that my 86 year old grandmother has cancer.

It'd be laughable if it didn't kill everyone. It's still almost laughable, but that's probably because I don't know what else I can do.

When my uncle passed I had an email conversation with a cousin in which I wrote that being here in Indiana while everyone is sick back in Illinois is almost a blessing*, because I don't really see all the much suffering. I just hear the news, see the family member a few more times, and then it all ends. From my standpoint it's a cleanly and almost routine exit; family members get to say their goodbyes and make their peace, and then everything just stops.

But this one is different, and somehow feels less fair. I'm just so fucking angry.

* * * * *

*The word I'm looking for isn't exactly "blessing", because I'm not really a person who buys into blessings and god and all that crap (and can you blame me?). That's a different post for a different day.