Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

The outdoor soccer season is upon us!

On Sunday afternoon I played soccer with a Co-Rec team made up of people from our office and some folks at The Globe (a British soccer bar on the north side.) We even wore actual Chicago Fire uniforms and I was able to get my #11 jersey! After being lost in the shuffle of an incredibly large roster, I finally was able to make my presence felt late in the second half at my natural position (outside right midfield.) We ended up tied 0-0 with the Irish Pub we were playing against, but I managed to start the best scoring opportunity of the day for either team.

After a corner kick in our end I saw the ball come free to our right back. I immediately turned upfield and opened up wide for him so we could quickly counter attack. His outlet pass hit me in stride as I turned upfield. I looked up to see that only Kristen (a girl in our office who was an All-Big XII selection at Mizzou) and a defender were there. I played the ball through the right wing, giving her space to run onto it, and then made an all-out sprint to get up field and in position for her return cross. Nobody tracked back to mark me, but the ball she sent in was a bit high. I laid out to try and head it home but the ball went just wide as I came skidding to a stop inside the 6-yard box on my face. Had the ball been 6 inches lower we may have had the go ahead goal. So close.

After the game, I played in one of the final practice sessions with my men's team before the season begins. Unfortunately I tweaked my left knee a bit. I think I may have strained my lateral collateral ligament a little bit (that's the ligament on the outside of your knee.) I iced it a bit Sunday night and have been taking some pain killers, which is something I NEVER do, but it really is unbearable at times. I hobbled around most of Monday as the team doctors listed me as doubtful for this coming weekend. After resting and icing it again Monday night I think I've been upgraded to day-to-day. Today it's feeling much better, but still very sore.

I made a doctor's appointment for Friday, but if it continues to improve I may go ahead and cancel that. Frankly, I don't like the doctors. And furthermore, I don't really have a regular doctor that I've been to in Chicago. I made an appointment with someone at the University of Chicago medical group, but it's way on the south side.

Does anybody know of a good doctor a little closer? Getting shot wouldn't be the worst thing in the world since I'm already headed to the doctor, but I'd just assume go somewhere that wouldn't scare the hell out of the Grim Reaper.


*Note: For anyone interested, which will likely be NONE OF YOU, we're hosting a viewing party for Chicago Fire Soccer's season opener at The Globe on Saturday, April 1st. We're playing for the Brimstone Cup against FC Dallas at 3:00 pm CT.

Four more cents (since I missed a couple weeks)

1. After a great regular season, the Miami Redhawks concluded their late-season plunge on Friday. We spent nearly half the season ranked in the top five in the country, but a loss to Michigan State in the CCHA Championship Game and then a first round NCAA Tournament exit at the hands of Boston College ended our run prematurely. It was a fun ride and I can't remember ever being excited to go to Milwaukee like I was over the past couple months. Too bad I won't get to go now.

2. I won't give you too much info on the other NCAA tourney that is currently going on, mainly because you've probably already seen it. All of the #1 seeds are gone as #11 George Mason, #3 Florida, #2 UCLA and #4 LSU have made it to the final four. Clearly, I have to root for George Mason since I used to live in Washington, D.C. and since they are the major underdog. But, realistically, I think I have to hope LSU comes out over UCLA and, potentially, Florida. I have always rooted enthusiastically against teams from Florida and California and now is not the time to change that principle.

3. Some good news from the hockey world: The St. Louis Blues have finally been sold! After 10 months of cost cutting and trading away every great player that we had left (aside from Keith Tkachuk) the Laurie's finally found a group to unload them to. Dave Checketts, who owns the MLS franchise Real Salt Lake and a minor league hockey team, will take over and plans to keep the team right where they are despite rumors to the contrary. Thank God. Background on Checketts brings us this: he became the youngest person to ever run a professional sports franchise when he took over the Utah Jazz at age 28. He then managed the New York Knicks to NBA Finals appearances in 1994 and 1999 before they turned the reigns over to Isaiah Thomas, who has effectively run the team into the poop depository.

4. So Karen, "Auuuuuuudrey" was totally the mole, huh? I will admit I was a little worried, but I didn't think they could ruin that love saga before Jack dies. Okay, so Jack isn't likely to die. But their lack of showing him in the previews sure was unexpected, huh? Like I'd fall for that one!

I think I'm going to make some wrist bands that say, "WWJBD?"

Who's in?

My new office

Open for business on June 11, 2006.
As you can see, there will be ample parking.

The Sixth Cents X (Dime Bag Edition)

Well kiddies, it's been nearly four full weeks since I've posted and I felt I owed you some news. Surely most of you have received the email newsletter updating everyone as to my new job with Chicago Fire Soccer and the new Bridgeview Stadium. Needless to say, I've been way too busy in both my professional and personal life to do any posting, though I have kept myself up to date on the happenings of the sports world. Amy is a part-time nanny while she's in grad school and is currently in Hawaii with one of the families she works for. She's been there for a week and won't be home until Tuesday, so you'd think I'd have had time to write. You'd think. To make up for my crappy posting habits lately, you're getting an expanded Six Cents this week with (some) much shorter stories. We'll call it a Dime Bag. Hopefully I'll be able to get back on schedule and give you real posts soon....
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1. Fire! Fire! Fire!

I'm a corporate account executive here and I'm trying to sell some suites. If you know the decision maker of your company for something like this, please pass along my information, or pass theirs on to me. This stadium is fantastic and is a dual purpose soccer/concert venue. We're excited to bring you world class soccer such as (major press release coming Monday) the MLS All-Stars versus English Premier League leaders Chelsea.

We'll also be bringing you Dave Matthews, U2, and a number of other big bands to our stage. The suites are ridiculously close to the field and run about the same price as a suite in the rafters at the United Center. The price also INCLUDES all the concerts; no other stadium currently offers this.

You can check out my department and renderings of the suites we offer here.
You can check out updated pictures of the construction site here.

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2. Speaking of soccer...wait, that wasn't soccer....

The USA got drilled Wednesday by the Germans in our final road tune-up before the World Cup by the score of 4-1. Lucky for us, Germany brought their entire first team and we used mainly a bunch of scrubs, so I'm not as worried as some people will be.

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3. Speaking of the USA getting drilled...

Japan won the inaugural World Baseball Craptastic. A surprising number of people actually watched this event and it made between $10-15 million. Amazing. The USA finished a fantastic 3-3, losing games to Canada, South Korea and Mexico. I found it nice to know that we have invented another game (let's not forget USA Basketball) that the rest of the world kicks our ass in. Next thing you know our football teams are going to be getting killed by people from Singapore. Okay, that's not going to happen, I know, but maybe someday it will. I'll admit that I did catch a little of the championship game and a little of the Japan-USA tilt in the second round. I must say, these others countries (and their fans) really got into this thing. I guess it may have just been that our players and fans were too arrogant to care?

This, my friends, is the primary reason that the rest of the world hates us!

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4. Speaking of getting drilled....

Ohio State basketball. Now there's a debacle, eh? Not only did the Buckeyes get spanked by a Big East middle of the pack team in the Georgetown Hoyas in the second round (as a #2 seed mind you,) but the LADY Buckeyes, a #1 seed, went down in the second round as well. They lost to Boston College, a #8 seed. This was just the 6th #1 seed in Women's tournament history to go down before the Sweet 16. Unreal.

Thankfully, we have the best recruiting class (for the men) in the country, so this year may have just been a teaser anyways.

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5. Miami Hockey

After losing to Michigan State three times in the past month, including the CCHA Championship game, the Redhawks have dropped to a #2 seed for the tourney and will have to play (most likely) two Boston schools in the first two rounds. They open against #3 seed Boston College on Friday night in BC's backyard of Worcester, Mass. If we win, we'll take on the winner of Boston University and Nebraska-Omaha in that same venue on Saturday. This will likely be BU, the #1 team in the country right now. However, if NO wins, they also have the front-runner for the Hobey Baker award on their roster, which is given to the top player in college hockey. Good luck boys! I hope to see you in Milwaukee.

"Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."
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6. While we're talking about hockey...

My beloved St. Louis Blues lost for the 48th time last night (11 of which were in OT or shootout.) Why is this significant, you ask? Because St. Louis was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention,even though they'd actually been out for a long time before that. The Blues had reached the playoffs for 25 consecutive years, which was the active streak over all professional sports. It was also the 3,000th game in franchise history.

In other Blues news, my second favorite hockey player of all time (and favorite St. Louis Blue,) Al MacInnis, will have his #2 hung in the rafters at the Savvis Center on Sunday, April 9th. Mac played the final 10 seasons of his 23 NHL seasons with St. Louis, finishing his career as the 3rd highest scoring defensemen in league history behind only Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey. He won the Norris trophy for the league's top defenseman in the 1998-99 season with the Blues and also the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP in his Stanley Cup Championship season of 1988-89 with the Calgary Flames. MacInnis had one of the hardest slap shots in NHL history, but was forced into retirement at the age of 42 when he suffered severe eye injuries, including a detached retina in 2003.

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7. Prince gets sued...it's about time, isn't it?

Carlos Boozer, former Cleveland Cavalier that became ridiculously overpaid with the Utah Jazz after playing with Lebron James, is suing Prince. Apparently the little purple weirdo was renting a house from Boozer and painted the exterior with purple stripes and put his symbol on the front of the house. Okay, so I understand wanting the tenant to return the property to it's original state when you leave it, but sue him? Come on. And here's a better question: why the hell is Prince renting a house from a basketball player for something like $15,000 a month (or so I heard?) Don't you think he could just BUY with that kind of money? Hmmmm.

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8. Newsflash

This just in: Barry Bonds took steroids to break the home run record.

Also, Gary Sheffield may have started taking steroids in 2002.

Anyone who is surprised by either of these repetitious statements....WAKE UP!

Dear ESPN, Can we stop reporting about this? Please? You mean to tell me that there is nothing else that is newsworthy?

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9. K-State = CFU

Former Cincinnati Bearcats basketball coach Bobby Huggins has just been hired as head coach for the Kansas State Wildcats. K-State was already full of thugs, now they will be the new Convicted Fellon University. Awesome. At least an Ohio school won't be the laughing stock of graduation rates anymore.

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10. March Madness

Since my bracket was completely destroyed after the first day, I am now rooting for all of the underdogs...except one. Gonzaga. Quite frankly, I'm sick of these clowns. It's nice to see a sschool from a mid-major conference rise up and compete with the big boys, but if I hear one more announcer call them "America's team" I'm going to vomit. Seriously, they only had one year where they actually outplayed expectations. Since then, they've been kind of a disappointment. They haven't outplayed their seed since that Elite Eight run a few years back, and last night they blew a 17-point lead to lose 73-71.

I'm also very glad Duke went down, but not for the same reasons as the Duke haters. I just wanted everyone's brackets to implode since mine already had. I'll be honest, I had Duke in the finals of every single bracket I filled out, but so what? While I do get a kick out of listening to the Dukies and their fans cry like babies, I especially enjoy all the Duke haters out there that trash talk and then STILL have them in the finals of their bracket. Very amusing.

Tonight I'm rooting for Washington, Wichita State, Villanova (because I can't root for a Boston team) and Georgetown.

Broken losing streaks, noses, and arms

Team Toe Bash (as my indoor team is affectionately known) finally came through with a victory last night, finishing the regular season at 1-7. We fought from behind twice, erasing 2-0 and 3-2 deficits before taking our first lead with just over two minutes left to play in the match. We held on for a hard-fought 4-3 victory. I managed to assist the game winner after narrowly missing a full volley from just a few yards out. The rebound came right to me and I placed a centering pass directly in front of the net for Christian to slam home. Christian, a former club team player for the Green Weenies in Athens, Ohio, will also be joining me on Arsenal this summer.

Minutes earlier I was drilled in the face with an attempted clearance by my teammate Chris, another OU grad. In 21 years of playing this sport, this is the first time I've ever been hit in the face with a ball. Elbows, forearms, fists, feet, the ground, goal posts....never the ball. Kinda stung a little big, but after a brief pause I continued playing and finished the game. It did start to bleed, but thankfully the referee didn't notice because I would have had to leave the match. After heading to the team's bar, Durkins, with Iowa and the team last night, I didn't really feel a thing. However, I looked in the mirror this morning and my nose is more crooked than it was before. It's also a nice shade of black and blue. It's also pretty hard to breath out of my right nostril, but I can't tell if that's because it's broken (I really don't think it is) or because the blood clotted up. A couple more days and the new medical insurance kicks in, so if it doesn't get better maybe I'll get it checked out.

Anyways...so the Buckeyes clinched a share of the Big Ten title last night with a win over Northwestern. They struggled most of the game, but Ron Lewis drove to the hoop and made the eventual winning basket with 14 seconds left. After a turnover on the other end, Lewis missed the front end of a 1-and-1, giving the Wildcats a chance with 1.5 seconds remaining. The inbounds pass went directly out of bounds and the Buckeyes Je'Kel Foster iced it by hitting two free throws with just one-tenth of a second remaining for the 56-53 win. Ohio State closes out the season on Sunday at home against last-place Purdue. A win would give them the out-right Big Ten title. Ohio State's women's hoopsters have already won the regular season title, so a men's win would make the Buckeyes the first school to win the Big Ten championship in both during the same season. Awesome.

In other news, it looks like Iowa's roommate is going to be okay. She had surgery yesterday to repair her shattered arm from her accident on Sunday. Her left arm is now plated with titanium and her wrist is made of plastic. She was getting nauseous from the pain killers, but seemed to be holding herself together okay. The word is that the passenger in the taxi that hit her is still in critical condition. They told us that if he lives, he'll probably never walk again. Sad. Very sad. I'm just glad Cailin came out okay.

Just a quick update...

This is just going to be a quick update before I head out for the day...

I start my new job with the Chicago Fire on Monday, March 6th. Anyone interested in going to a game at the new stadium had better let me know now. This isn't like the Bulls tickets when I got 100 for the entire season and there were 45 games to choose from. I know this is soccer and all, but there are only 16 home games, almost all are on weekends, and there could potentially be All-Star game tickets involved...we'll see. The venue is going to be gorgeous and will definitely be a fun environment, even if you aren't a big soccer fan.

Tonight is the regular season finale for my indoor soccer team. Hopefully we will get our first win of the season before the playoffs start next week. My outdoor club team, Arsenal, will also be in action this weekend (weather permitting) up at the Montrose Fields on the lake in our first of many "mini camps."

The Ohio State Buckeyes are in action tonight at Northwestern and control their own destiny in the Big Ten. With a win tonight they can clinch at least a share of the regular season title with only a home date against bottom-feeder Purdue to play. An outright title is definitely within reach my friends. The Bucks moved up to #8 in the country after their win over that school up north on Saturday.

Miami hockey has moved back up to #2 in the nation behind only Minnesota heading into the CCHA Playoffs. They will have an opening round bye and then host the lowest remaining seed in a best-of-three series at the Goggin March 10-12. Potential opponents include (in order from lowest seed): Bowling Green, Western Michigan, Ohio State, Alaska-Fairbanks, Notre Dame, Ferris State, Lake Superior, and Nebraska-Omaha.

Miami hoops suffered a setback at Kent State and can no longer win the MAC East. They have two games remaining against Bowling Green and Buffalo before the start of the MAC Tournament. They should be at least the #4 seed for the conference championship tournament.

I'll be out the rest of the day leading up to my game tonight. Amy's roommate, Cailin, was in a pretty bad car accident on Sunday so we're heading out to Oak Brook to see her. She is having surgery to repair some shattered bones in her left arm. Apparently a cab driver ran a red light and t-boned her pretty hard. The guy in the back seat of the cab was also badly injured and last I heard was in critical condition. Please keep her in your prayers and also continue to curse and flip the bird to all cab drivers. If you are in the cab, you might want to wait until you get out to curse and flip him off.

And as funny as the Old School line is, "I suggest you stop being such a faggot, you're in the back seat," you might want to buckle up the next time you're in a cab.

Later kids...