Pissed Off

Blogger must be pissed off at my lack of activity. The Rogue Wave post on BOB was suddenly deleted this afternoon. Either that or someone stole my online identity. If so, and you are reading this, please help me post more often, I think people are getting upset with me.

Frankie Hejduk, the Caffeine Pusher

Gather your strength fierce warriors, for today we battle
like the ocean, no talk and all action

- Bob Marley

For some reason, I decided to watch this profile on Frankie Hejduk from the US Men's Soccer Team. It's pretty interesting from a few perspectives.

1. There are a lot of Hejduk Haters out there and for folks who appreciate the finer skills of professional soccer players, I can see why. He is not an elegant player by any means. Ever wonder how his touch on the ball can be so bad? Well, he stocks up on espresso before the opening whistle...and pretty much all day. Seriously, watch the first minute of this and be amazed.
2. Furthermore, Frankie goes on to describe how the team dopes up on caffeine before the game! Holy cow. For those of you who might question this, you are right. Caffeine is one of the substances that the NCAA tests for (or used to at least) back when I was in college.
3. Frankie is a Marley fan, and writes Marley quotes like the one above on the team whiteboard. Pretty cool quote actually.

Coach

We ended up in the tournament final this weekend and went to Penalty Kicks yet again. We were down 2-0 in the game and came back to tie it 2-2. The following short conversation happened as I was picking my 5 kickers for the PK's.

Coach: Hey (Player 1) so last week you said you've never missed a PK in your life? Get on the line.
Player 1: Well, I've only ever taken 3. One was in the state finals though.
Player 2: ...and that was 4 years ago.

We ended up not winning this round of PKs. So we were second best this weekend.

Ha Ha Tonka - St. Nicks on the Fourth in a Fervor

Bluegrass + Southern Rock is always sure to peak my interest so when I heard of Ha Ha Tonka (from the Ozark region of Missouri) I needed to check them out. Lucky that I did, because this tune may become one of my favorite songs pretty quickly. Not only does it rock, but the lyrics are pretty damn good as well.

Lets get one thing straight from the get-go
This glimpse of brilliance is better than a long look at mediocrity

Tournament Update

This weekend is the second tournament of our fall season. We had two games today and won both. We looked strong in the first game and weak in the second. For the second time now, we have scored a goal within the first minute of a game, only to let our guard down and take our opponent lightly. It was a beautiful goal, but when you go up 1-0, 36 seconds into a game, it is hard to stay focused. So we gave up a goal just 2 minutes later.

And when I say "for the second time" I mean it literally. We have played two games where we have scored in the first minute, and we gave up a goals in both games 2 minutes later.

We Are Scientists - Inaction

Emotions in a Security Line

Not sure how I made my 5:45 am flight out of Baltimore this morning...I was running pretty late. Either way, I really dislike the emotions that I feel in a security line when there is the risk of missing your flight and the line stretches down hallways and around corners. From nervousness to anger to sheer impatience, frustration and fear, it is not a pleasant way to start the day. And then, when you get through and you realize you're going to make it, you try to put that all behind you and go back to being normal. I am not very good at packing away emotions after they surface.