Member for

13 years 3 months
Points
27.00

Recent Comments

Date Title Body
The classics are called that for a reason....

My top 3:

1) Casablanca

2) 2001: A Space Odyssey

3) Dr. Strangelove

The next tier:

The Godfather (I & II)

Apocalypse Now

Goodfellas

\Woodstock

Pulp Fiction

Jackie Brown

The Bicycle Thief

Citizen Kane

Fargo

The Shawshank Redemption

Apollo 13

The Princess Bride

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

3 personal favorites:

Barry Lyndon

Paths of Glory

Standing in the Shadows of Motown

Like they destroyed Toledo?

Umm... last year's bowl game destruction of Temple by the Rockets suggests otherwise...

PJ Fleck to Purdue?

Seems like an obvious hire, unless Fleck wants to hold out for a better job. But given his N. Illinois and W. Michigan pedigree, he seems pretty wired in to the prime recruiting area for the Boilermakers...

I'd do it...

It'd be worth it just to be be able to access the Ray Hudson Experience (gloriously nutzoid Brit and former coach who commentates La Liga games and South American World Cup qualifiers for beIn). Lots of YouTube clips of Hudson's baroque form of soccer madness...

Off the beaten track...

I'm a big fan of Kubrick's Paths of Glory -- it's a very realistic depiction of WWI trench warfare and an expose of the madness that can take place in war. Of the more traditional flicks, The Dirty Dozen is always an enjoyable watch....

Willis Ward & Jesse Owens

This has been commented on previously, but one of Ward's many claims to fame was besting Owens in a 1935 indoor meet in Ann Arbor (http://mvictors.com/?p=11938). But a couple of months later Owens trumped that in the 1935 Big Ten outdoor championship meet, held at Ferry Field. It was his exploits on that day that have been commemmorated in the plaque there -- it was only perhaps the most amazing hour in the history of sports (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/more/05/24/owens.record.day/index.html) as Owens set four world records in that time frame... an achievement that is actually far more impressive than his more heralded accomplishments at the '36 Berlin Olympics. It takes something of that nature for a Buckeye to be immortalized by a plaque on the UM campus.... 

Check out Bill Archer for the skinny...

Bill Archer's blog over at Big Soccer (http://www.bigsoccer.com/soccer/bill-archer/) is a pretty comprehensive compendium of FIFA corruption, especially the nefarious goings-on in our region (CONCACAF) spearheaded by former CONCACAF head Jack Warner and his various toadies throughout the Caribbean. Warner, you may recall, was at the center of a bribery scandal over payouts distributed at a CONCACAF meeting which were intended as "thank-you" gifts for supporting Mohammed bin Hammam in his contest against Sepp Blatter for FIFA president. Once Chuck Blazer blew the whistle, the scandal couldn't be swept under the rug -- as a result, bin Hammam withdrew from the race and Warner was suspended from his position as FIFA vice-president (though getting rid of Warner completely is about as difficult as killing Nosferatu for good).

Today's game is on ESPN2

Today's game against Spain is on ESPN2 at 4:30; Tuesday's Gold Cup opener at Ford Field vs. Canada (and all other USA games in the Gold Cup) will be on Fox Soccer Channel.

Will Spain be firing on all cylinders?

It will be interesting to see how motivated the Spanish are for this "friendly" -- yes, the Americans embarrassed them in the Confed Cup, but that was two long years ago and most of their players are exhausted after a long club season (the Barca contingent has barely had time to recharge after last weekend's Champions League final). They just want to go on holiday... but instead of time off, the Spanish federation is using them for a North American cash grab. In addition, there may be some festering wounds from the recent set of nasty clashes between Barca and Real Madrid. This excellent column from SI.com's Spanish-based soccer writer spells it out: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/sid_lowe/06/03/spain.us.friendly/index.html

Meanwhile, with the first game of the Gold Cup coming up on Tuesday against the Canadians, there's a good chance that our starters will receive limited minutes today -- so if the Spanish do show up with their A-game the results may not be pretty (think the first half of the recent Argentinian game).

Does anyone remember that

Does anyone remember that before he joined the family business (rasslin'), Randy Poffo (aka Macho Man) was a minor league teammate of ex-Tiger Larry Herndon in the Cardinals' system? Rumor ws that Macho Man was one crazy dude and that Herndon had some hilarious stories...

No way Jose...

Umm... despite your fondest hopes, there's no way Meram is going to have anything to do with the football team. He'll be heading to Florida in January, but not to Jacksonville -- instead he'll be in Fort Lauderdale at the MLS combine: http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2010/12/list-of-college-seniors-invited-to-mls-combine-unveiled.html

During his liveblog of last night's game, Ives Galarcep said he thought Meram had moved into the pole position as the #1 striker prospect in the senior class... meaning Meram has a good shot at being drafted in the first or second round of the MLS draft. Meram may not make serious coin right out of the box (particularly compared to the Generation Adidas underclassmen draftees), but he'll do okay for himself financially paying futbol.