Bob Bradley with US Soccer thru 2014

All the Bradley haters are having a bad day - Bob is on until after the 2014 World Cup. I'd have to say (with all due respect to the people who I have talked to about this in the past) that I am not convinced that this is a bad decision. Feel free to fire away with why I am an idiot but the man has accomplished a lot with the team. Read the press release from US Soccer here.

(Link updated)

Longing

How Jozy spends her day in my office when not sleeping...

The Naked and the Famous - Young Blood

Got this one on a little bit of repeat this morning - nice pick up for a Monday morning from this New Zealand band (The Naked and the Famous) set to release their first album in September. This song opened up on the NZ charts at number one this past May.

The Naked And Famous - Young Blood from The Naked And Famous on Vimeo.

Coach

Player 1 to Player 2: Yo Tyler, you pitting?
Coach: Pitting?
Player 1: Yeah. Pitting.
Coach: What's pitting?
Player 1: You know, sweating. Your armpits.
Coach: Oh yeah? You guys made that a verb?
Player 1: It's always been a verb.

One Man, One Guitar, One Foot in the Grave

Well I worked all summer couldn't save a cent
I gave all my money to the government
I don't know quite how it got spent
but the banks are coming for my deed though
Man at the mill can't see though
Let me get my feed for free though
Ain't that the way it is

Charlie Parr is from Duluth and plays a National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back banjo, and a 12-string guitar in the piedmont blues style. I don't really know what those are necessarily (except for the obvious parts), but I do know that his music scratches the Americana, blues, folk itch that I get a lot these days.

Here's Charlie in an interview where he talks about the source and passion for music that he has. It is followed by some sick banjo playing that is totally worth listening to.

NORTHERN OUTPOST - Bonus #2 - Charlie Parr from Northern Outpost on Vimeo.

Go to his website to download a bunch of free tunes and learn more.

First heard about him on songs:illinois - great source for new music finds.

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue - Backatown

Here's a little N'awlins for you - Trombone Shorty's Backatown. If you watch Tremé you may have seen him on HBO. That's where he grew up. This tune is all funky and good vibes. Love it. Check out his website for more music.

Extremist Makeover

Thought provoking, funny and incisive all at the same time. Great work over at The Daily Show.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Extremist Makeover - Homeland Edition
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Kudos to Berial for posting the video. I had missed this piece and it was just too well done to not share in this forum.

Waiting Game

We are chilling on the couch, listening to The Shins, playing with the camera on my phone while Jozy relaxes with us. Actually, right now we are playing the waiting game to see who cracks and starts making dinner first. My money is that the dog starts cooking the steaks any minute now.

Brian Ching vs Chicago Fire

Great goal by Ching this past weekend "..out of the theater of the imagination."

Bou-Dat? Dat-Man.

Football season is right around the corner so it's time to queue up the Who Dat nation to support the Saints. Last spring I stumbled across this Dat-Man t-shirt in New Orleans while at a soccer tournament and made sure to pick one up.

This weekend I was at a local Smoked meat/BBQ place called Johnson's Boucaniere and saw this Bou-Dat shirt. For you yanks, boudin is a famous type of cajun sausage so this t-shirt pretty much rocks as well.

Free Energy - Bang Pop

These guys (Free Energy) are from Philly and this track rocks the retro vibe big time. I like it.

Everton's Pink Kit

Happened to be watching some EPL this past weekend and did a double take when I saw this on TV. At first, it was just shock. Then dislike... and slowly, I might be getting convinced. Not that bad after all. If you're gonna wear this though, you better have a good team and some "out of the box" thinking fans like these guys.

In related news, the Belfast Telegraph has a great set of photos of bad football kits. This pink one is the first in the list. Here's a couple more to tempt you into checking out the rest. I swear that these are real uniforms (unless BT is lying). I'll take lightning pink over these two any day.

8v8 Coed Champs!

So we won our last 8v8 game tonight with the game winning goal occurring in the last 20 seconds. We capped off the undefeated season with the ritual weekly Sunday night team dinner at Deano's, along with the huge trophy that mysteriously appeared at the table. The league definitely did not supply that...someone just happened to have one in their car.

Cajun Signs: Blue Moon Saloon

Best venue in town. If you are in Lafayette on a weekend and you do not head to this back porch, you are missing the point.

Multi-Tasking

This business is a lot of things to a lot of people.

Comments

Blogger has implemented spam detection on comments so I have turned off moderation and word verification features. Fingers crossed that the spammers who found BOB don't get through the filter.

Cajun Signs: Taco Sisters, Fresh Gulf Fish

We've been getting lunch on the weekends at Taco Sisters - they make a great smoked tuna taco and a pulled pork one as well. Can't recommend this place enough, both tacos are incredible, tuna is fresh from the gulf and smoked on the premises.

Save Our Shore (SOS) Beer from Abita

Cool bottle. Good cause.

Under a Blood Red Sky

Trust

Action sequence shots of our friend Katie and Karl's son playing the trust game as he jumps from the top of a golf cart into his fathers arms out at the soccer field. Super cute to watch.

St Joseph's Diner

Stumbled across this team photo from last spring that I never shared. This is my U-16 (now U-17) team after an afternoon of some charity work at St. Joseph's Diner in Lafayette, LA. Good kids. Our Fall 2010 season has just started.

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill

Enjoying this mellow track from the Gorillaz these days. Interesting video as well.

Well you can't get what you want
But you can get me
So let's set up and see
'Cause you are my medicine
When you're close to me

8v8

We've been playing 8v8 for the last month or so and it has been a blast. The team is filled with a lot of people who are out there having fun and we happen to be winning while we do it. In fact, we have played my old U-19s and a ton of other teams with too many young guys and girls to count but we have yet to lose (touch wood). The wisdom of old age must have its benefits....

We're missing a few players from this photo so I may be obligated to replace it if we get a better shot during the last game of the season next week. Hoping for one more win!

Play Like an American

Get ready for US vs Brazil tomorrow. Your tradition is no match for my ambition.

J Roddy Walston and The Business - Don't Get Old

Good old-fashioned head-banging floor spitting and falling off pianos rock

- New York Magazine

Ayoba! (A World Cup 2010 Music Mix)

Made this mix a few weeks ago and never got around to sharing it. This one is unique in that it is all songs related to our World Cup experience in South Africa, whether it be official World Cup songs or artists that we found as a result of our trip. Two other unique things about this mix:

1. This is the first cover I've made with my own images, photos taken from our vacation.

2. The first track is actually a creation of mine (albeit a basic one) where I used our Mac to overlay the Ian Darke call of the Landon Donovan goal vs. Algeria (almost impossible to find this audio) over the start and end of the Wavin' Flag song by K'Naan. It was fun to play with the GarageBand application to get that to work and sound right. I had a few different versions of this tune with selected cuts from Ian Darke's call but in the end I opted for the simple one where it fades in and out at the start and end of the song.

1. Wavin' Flag (Ian Darke Celebration Mix) - K'naan
2. Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) - Shakira Feat. Freshlyground
3. Doo Be Doo - Freshlyground
4. Shosholoza - Overtone & Yollandi Nortjie
5. Represent - Weezer
6. Carlos Alberto Goal 1970 World Cup Final
7. Sina (Ao Vivo) - Grupo Revelação
8. T\'e1 Escrito (Ao Vivo) - Grupo Revelação
9. Beauty in the World - Macy Gray
10. Football is Coming Home - Three Lions
11. Andrés Cantor - US vs Algeria, Landon Donovan
12. Game On - Pitbull, TKZee & Dario G
13. Rock El Casbah - Rachid Taha
14. Wakwami - Abafakasi
15. Not Afraid - Eminem
16. One Day - Matisyahu Feat. Nameless
17. Muthaland - Jozi
18. Sign Of A Victory - R. Kelly Feat. Soweto Spiritual Singers
19. Pata Pata - Miriam Makeba
20. Awungilobolele - Udokotela Shange Namajaha Udokotela Shange Namajaha
21. Oh Africa [feat. Keri Hilson] - Akon
22. Nkosi Sikelel'iAfrika (South African National Anthem) - Soweto Gospel Choir

It's 80's Night and It Feels Alright

Now that the weekend is over, I am ready for the weekend. It was jam packed with a ton of things that needed to get done, one of which was attend an 80s Night themed party. Can't say I have a lot of 80s clothing laying around but I was able to scrounge up an old track suit, a Kangol hat and pull off a break dancer with the nick name of Jersey Fresh. My wife went for the classic tight rolled jeans, side pony tail look. Our friend Karen was rocking every bracelet she owned, leg warmers, and (I think) a unicorn scarf...

Here's the end result of our attempt at embracing the 80s.

The party was a blast. Twister being one of the highlights. I love this photo below. It looks like a scene from a broadway play. Notice our friend Ellen kicking into high competitive gear and making sure she knows all of the detailed rules of Twister as Michael reads out the next set of movements. No one followed the rules.


Break dancing did occur at one point during the night, but it did not include me. I was on my best behavior.

Cajun Signs: Julien's Po-Boys

Julien's Po-Boys in Lafayette, LA

Anything you can do one touch, do one touch...

Big fan of the Code Red Manchester United series being releases on YouTube. They focus on random drill snippets, players, and coaching philosophy. This one is short, sweet and fits with my coaching style perfectly.

Are you sure?

Conversation with waiter at restaurant last night.

Me: Mind if we change that TV over to the soccer game?
Waiter: Sure thing.

..Flipping through guide...

Waiter: Oh. It's MLS? Are you sure?

Vidalia Restaurant in Washington DC

Had a great dinner made even better by the surprise that my brother was in town in DC so we got to eat together at Vidalia. This restuarant is awesome. From the bread and butter (with carmelized onion paste in lieu of butter if you want) to the grilled lobster salad to the elaborate entrees all done with a southern flair with the signature side of a baked vidalia onion, it is tough to beat. So good that I'll forgive my brother for getting me lost on the way back to my car...

If you are ever in DC, this place is worth the visit as well as the dent it puts in your pocket book.

Cajun Signs: Pop's Cajun Express

Pop's Cajun Express in Lafayette, LA

Miike Snow - Animal

I usually end up having a few songs playing on repeat when I am on travel - not a habit that is common for me at home all that much (at least not on car rides I guess). This is one of the couple that I can guarantee will be played on the commute into the office and back multiple times this week. Has a little Peter Gabriel to it. Miike Snow is a band from Sweden.

There was a time when my world was filled with darkness, darkness, darkness
And I stopped dreaming now
I'm supposed to fill it up with something, something , something
In your eyes I see the eyes of somebody i knew before long long long ago
But I'm still trying to make my mind up
Am I free or am I tied up

My Niece!

Hard to believe the guy I grew up with in the backyard and fought over toys with is now a dad. Congratulations to my brother and his wife! She's beautiful!!!

The Cosmos Return

Wow. Just saw this story in the NYT.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=637457&f=123

Happy Birthday Mabel!

Happy Birthday to my new niece Mabel!!! And congratulations to my brother James and his wife Janet! Time for me and Carlee to start planning a trip out west...

Cajun Signs: Cheaux Wheels

I think this sign popped up pretty recently, unless I have just been missing it on the ride to the soccer fields for the last couple of years and it finally just caught my attention (entirely possible). Either way, it's a classic Cajun Sign if I've ever seen one. For the uninitiated, the "-eaux" is pronounced with a long 'O' as in as in "show."

The Central Midfielder

I've taken to reading Zonal Marking a lot these days and they had a recent article on the role of the central midfielder that I thought was excellent. The article has a bunch of video compilations in it as well showing all touches in one game by various players. The Sergio Busquets' vs. Arsenal video is one of the better ones. Definitely worth a read if you are interested in learning more about the role of today's central midfielders.

In addition to the scope of the article itself, I like the small insight into the Barcelona philosophy:

“Receive, pass, offer, receive, pass, offer” is the Barcelona mantra for midfielders.