This is what it is all about. The taxi will be here in 5 mins but i'm still blogging! Actually it is pretty lame. I should be chillin and actually going over my luggage but I've been more preoccupied with the game today and making sure this shit is all up to date. Wow. Oh well no captions today but you can make up your own!
Dry game = BOOOOORING Where is everybody? OH YEAH OUTSIDE LINING UP BAAAAAAAH
COME ON LADS!
Serioux injured - Dichio on annnnnnd
GOOOOOOOOOOL
"Just in case anyone has forgotten that we are dicks, if you stand we will throw you out. No standing and cheering, it could lead to a home field advantage and we don't want that. Just money. More money. Yours."
Ohhh shit
MY CAB IS HERE GOTTA RUN SEE YOU SUCKAS IN 2 WEEKS GO REDS BEAT PUERTO RICO SEE YOU TEAM CANADA AT THE AIRPORT!!
Ok well obviously not until tomorrow after the game - I do have my priorities in order!
#1 - TFC. #2 - Self Well Being.
That is right I am off for Dos Semanos, to return with football inspired backlog of blogs, so worry not. I am pretty down about missing the Puerto Rico game, but what can you do? Things will carry on for the time I'm out of here so watch out for big tings happenin wit RedNation UH!
Worst part - will be checking in luggage while the Canada game is going on. Hopefully it'll go quick and I can see it on the bar somewhere in the terminal. Anways, a bit of a pointless post but want to get it out of the way so the blog doesn't look dead. There'll be one tomorrow after the game and then it's time to get a sunburn!
La satgione e lunga e dura. The season is long and hard. Although the statement is specific to one, this is an expression that can be said of any season and league in football. We have all read about, followed, or possibly even been a part of an amazing season in sports. When it is all said and done, you look and think back to how it all began, perhaps ten months earlier, did you know this is where it would have ended up? In the case of The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro, it is the mantra for the 1996/97 season of Castel Di Sangro and their ascension into Italy's Serie B. In just over one decade, this team rose from the very lowest division in the country, in a town of just 5,000 people, to gain promotion into the division below Serie A, which at that time was arguably the top league in the world.
I carry a note in my wallet that has a list of books I add onto whenever I come across mention of one that sounds like I need to read. It's gotten pretty long and for the most part they aren't in stock at Chapters or Indigo, or even if they were I probably would keep looking in a smaller shop until I found it there. One that I had on the list for a long time was The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro. I don't even remember when I would have jotted this down, possibly a few years back and the only way I would have probably found it was through my #1 way of choosing new books - "people who read this book also read ..." on amazon.com.
Pretty much every football book I've read recently has been with the purpose, or result, of gaining historical knowledge of a time, league or team that I knew nothing about or missed out on. I really never cared much for Serie A, always focusing on the Premier League and La Liga. But like the last book I read, Brilliant Orange, after getting through this one, my appreciation for the game, specifically this league, has grown immensely - or possibly where it should have been all along.
The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro is an account of this 96/97 season as seen through the eyes of the American writer, Joe McGinness. Instead of writing a book on O.J. Simpson (for a million dollars), he decided that he would spend the next nine months in the Abruzzo following this team's first season, their miracle season, in Serie B. McGinness at this point is what some would call a nOOb - having only started following the sport during the '94 World Cup. However, he genuinely becomes obsessed and passionate about football and after the World Cup contacts fellow American Alexi Lawless to stay in Italy and get his first taste of a domestic football league. As some of us know, nothing compares to seeing a live football match, and certainly after watching a game at the San Siro, that would be it.
Only a year later, through reading La Gazettea dello Sport, he finds out about this team that against all odds, against all logic, has climbed up to Serie B in the span of just over ten years. Their promotion was dubbed "Di Miracolo in Miracolo!" - miracle of miracles. Castel Di Sangro would be playing one step down from the top of Italian football - against teams who only last season were IN Serie A! McGinness had to be there to witness this season, and tell the story. We see him mixing his first hand account with the history of the team, the history of the owners and the history of the players. Since he is relatively new to the sport, and possibly because the target audience for the book might have been American, he takes care to explain thoroughly the rules, and situations as they apply to the team and to events that play out during each game he follows. So it ends up not just being a linear "A to B", September to June journey, but an overall trek that has dozens of side stories, seguays and tangents that make up one of the most insane, bizarre seasons you'll hear about ... or very possibly this could have been just another year in Italian football.
I've written a lot but not given much away as to details and that is the way it should be. Maybe you know this story already, but if you don't this is worth a read regardless of the fact it's about a little town's season in the second division. This is a book that you should check out for yourself, and despite it being ten years old (yeah yeah late pass) it holds up as one of the best. It's these kind of reads that actually find ways to encapsulate and remind you what the game is all about (passion!), so you can take a step back from $80 million dollar signings and the latest "he said he said" gossip books. If anything it's worth it to follow these players for a season then try to find them on wikipedia to see how their careers panned out.
One thing that I'm sure we can all relate to as TFC fans, or Team Canada fans (not Leafs fans though) that The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro epitomizes, is La Potenza della Speranza - The power of hope. Definitely something worth remembering in a city where we so easily give up on our team, or players. La satgione e lunga e dura, so make sure you are there at the end to witness something amazing.
Whoo-Ah! Top of the group to ya! Wow what a difference a year makes. Now I won't get into theories and all that hippy mumbo jumbo but I'm sure if we all thought real hard we can figure out why Canada is doing well this Gold Cup. But it doesn't matter to me. I'm a "what have you done for me lately" kinda guy and right now it's winning!
The one thing that has sucked for the last two games was I've had to watch them on my computer. What a pain in the ass. My roomie was watching Eastern Promises on Tuesday night and tonight, unless I am a complete moron (there will be NO COMMENTS allowed on that subject, thank you) I did not see it on sportsnet. So I was subjected to the absolute worst commentating on this Setanta feed I was getting. These guys had no clue who was on our team or what they played. I mean, apparently our keeper was none other than body building guru Paul Sutton.
If that wasn't enough, I had no idea that our starting striker was none other than former WBC Middleweight Champion, Julian Jackson. That is right, never mind that he is now 48 years old, the guy can score! How many footballers can say they beat Terry Norris AND Thomas Tate?!
And let's not forget about the El Salvador game that I watched on some latino feed. At least I wasn't subjected to fake players. But I was subjected to this amazing commercial.
Guys I know what you're thinking - I WISH THEY MADE THIS FOR MEN!!
BEHOLD!
In conclusion, TV on the internet is fabulous. Team Canada are a real motley crew, but get the job done. And in future Setanta commentator, this is Simeon Jackson:
So over the last ... month? there's been plenty of chatter on the potential whereabouts this guy will end up next year. Not trying to break any news but yesterday I was told about one potential destination that really piqued my interest.
Everyone knows of the usual suspects: Benfica, Tottenham, Osasuna, of course Toronto FC, but yesterday I read a small article that listed Espanyol as a possibly suitor. But of course! Not that there was any reason for it to dawn on me but there a few reasons why this could be the place we could see De Guzman next season.
Most of us might have kept an eye on La Liga this past year, if really for one reason and that was Barcelona. But there was also another interesting story happening south of Camp Nou on the '92 Olympic grounds, in Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc, where Espanyol were for most of the season in a tough relegation battle. Now normally this wouldn't be a HUGE story, teams with history drop into or stay the second division all the time (Leeds, Newcastle, Genoa, Torino, etc ...) but the reason why this was a bit of a bigger story was that Espanyol are moving into a brand new facility, Estadi Cornellà-El Prat on August 2. Up until the 32nd week of the season, they were all but certain for relegation. Imagine if in their first game, the stadium opening against LIVERPOOL, was in preparation for their 2009/10 season in division 2!!!
So anyway, that little scare is how my brain works at rationalizing that they know that given this is an important season for them, they need to make some moves and significantly improve their roster to ensure they remain not only in La Liga, but are legitimate contenders in their brand spanking new stadium. Well what better way to rebuild/solidify your team then with our very own Julian De Guzman, who was Deportivo's MVP for 07/08. But what about on De Guzman's end? Well some super sleuthing (aka FACEBOOK) recalls a status update along the lines of "I'm happy as long as I get to play Barcelona twice a year". Well what if you played against but also LIVED in Barcelona??? I think the waters are slightly warmer in the Mediterranean than the Atlantic. And the girls are smoking hot. I know the word on how much TFC has splashed out there, but I gotta say if I got 1/3 of that and got to play and live in Barca for a few years - play in La Liga which is clearly making a claim to being the best league in the world ... it's a no brainer.
Sounds like we'll hear what the word is in the next week or so, and how Canada fares in the Gold Cup could also play into how this story wraps up.
Yes that one felt good. Did the term 'revenge' come to mind for anyone else? All I could think of coming into this game was August 20, 2008. I actually had butterflies in my stomach for that match, something I had never really felt ... maybe ever for a Canadian football team? This was such an important game and to come out 1-1 ... I can't remember who had the quote but everyone seemed to know that those were three points that we 100% needed and one just wasn't going to cut it. It was like we had fallen out after the first game, even though there were five more to go. I ALSO remember how brutal the refereeing was and how I thought it was messed up they had a Guatamalan ref in this game (I'm actually not sure why that mattered but it did at the time!). I don't know the politics but it didn't seem on the level, and one of my clearest recollections is of blatant fouls against Canada that were waved on and the softest bumps gave Jamaica free kicks.
Moving on ...
July 3, 2009 we see FIFA referee Terry Vaughn as the arbiter of this game and to me, this made a huge difference in the kind of match we saw. This guy had no tolerance for diving or drawing soft fouls - which I think is strange the Jamacians pull that business because they are clearly the bigger, stronger more BUILT side. He actually let Canada play the kind of game Canada can play (did that make sense??), which is a mix between gritty and technical.
All that I'm going to comment on that game is I know every TFC fan had turned up a little extra decibel level in their yell when Ali Gerba scored. I'm thinking exactly how I was all, "Klukowski is good man ... whoa that's a bold cross ... whoa that is a PERFECT cross ... oh man he's going to be wide open! ... oh man that's Gerba! ... HOLY SHIT YES GERBA SCORES!!! FUCK MAN THIS GUY'S GOING TO BE PLAYING FOR TFC YES YES YES!!!" Hahaha Seriously that is what TFC has needed is a no-nonsense forward who is built like a truck and just has that heat-seeking instinct for the back of the net.
I'm loving that we got two great nuggets (sorry that's the only word I can think of) from that game - Canada starts off with three points, and TFC's new man scores the goal. I think as long as we see refs like Vaughn calling games like that Canada has a really good chance of making a statement in this tournament.
Wow. Deep breath. Nine months later. NINE. This really was like giving birth. Maybe you know what I am talking about here, maybe not, but clearly you will in a second. Everything you have or are reading here, is all part of a much larger picture that I am pretty stoked to say has finally 'kicked off' (heyoooo!).
It all began sometime at the end of last summer, early fall. I had bought out a friend of a friend of a friend's TFC season's tickets, and had already committed in my head to continuing on with it for the '09 season. As I've mentioned in the past, my background is in design, specifically print and layout. So when I thought ahead to this season I said to myself, "You should really dork out next year and become a total TFC-loser and eat, breathe, and live this team - what is the best way to do it?" ... FANZINE!!! But of course! I had done them in the past, and having the tools to whip it together pretty easily I knew I could pull this off, at least on the production end. When I excitedly told this to my one other work colleague (in web/media/marketing) who follows football he was into it. I felt pretty good and started figuring it out in my head. But like all ideas this one grew and grew. Fanzine? Cut and paste? Think big Spark, think BIG. Oh yes ... magazine! Never mind I'd only need at least $50K to kick it off, this was one sweet daydream I didn't want to end. A Canadian football magazine focusing on the teams, players and clubs that make up the game in our country. It could work. So again I tell the aforementioned colleague who looked at me and said the operative word(s): "Why would you do all that when you could do it online and accomplish the same goals for FREE" Now that term of course is being used loosely, but in comparison to a print job that might run $10K, yes, this is free.
So I, but then with the ear of and eventually help of colleague, made the first baby steps to getting this off the ground. The most obvious first step: BLOG! Oh yes the infamous blog. I am a blogger. Which means self-appointed media/journalist/super important person because people can read what I say (AKA AUTHORITY) on the internet. Check out those early days. Man was I bored. I needed to kick it up a notch. Step 2: PODCAST! You've seen the words, now you can hear the voice! Shit by April 2009 I was becoming the total package. But occasional blogger/podcaster just wasn't cutting it. I needed a bigger title, one that commands attention and power and can be used to pick up women: Comandante!
Eehhhh or maybe Publisher.
Which brings us to July 1, 2009 where the much 'bigger' idea has launched but has again only started to take shape. Imagine the picture at the top, but instead of a full sized adult, it was just a child (monster child though) that is going to grow into a full sized adult monster. It's only day one (well starting day two since it's now past midnight) and up to now what feels like a super long journey, is only just beginning. What you see below has a very simple, clear and honest mandate - to give football exposure in Canada. The pieces are coming together and we are confident that we can achieve this. Kinda overwhelming but I wouldn't have it any other way.
We just came back from a meeting on day one and my head is spinning on the potential this has. Looking forward to tomorrow, watching Team Canada and keeping this up to date.
