It’s the second weeeked of the new premiership season, but the first time that Arsenal are on Fox Soccer Channel.  I’m pumped and may even wear my new Fabregas jersey, even though he’s still out with injury :(  Go Gunners!

In other news, it’s been a very busy two weeks.  Work has been filled with setting up new computers, going into the ceiling to wire cat5e cables to rooms and moving other employees computers and desks in a massive office shuffle.  It’s all in preparation for 3 new employees starting over the next 2 weeks.

When I get home there’s no shortage of sporting options.  There’s the Olympics, NFL preseason, MLB baseball, EPL soccer, etc.  It’s been particularly disappointing to see the US Track & Field team underperform after watching them at the Trials here in Eugene. Phelps was quite exciting, even though the west coast never gets to watch anything live.  So, I had to avoid all media outlets during Phelps’ 8th gold medal try and then watch the 3 hour tape dealy on NBC.

The fantasy baseball playoffs are approaching fast.  There’s only one more week fo the regular season and I’ve been holding 5th place for quite some time.  The top 6 make the playoffs, but i wouldn’t mind slipping into 6th so that I could avoid the 1st place team, who I’m losing to this week, if I make it to the 2nd round/semifinal.

3 weeks ago was Lollapalooza and it was a great weekend to be in Chicago.  Great weather and great music, what more do you need?  Radiohead were that Friday night’s headliner, playing all the new songs and other classics from In Rainbows and providing a great light show throughout.  Saturday night was Wilco,  who played a very nice set while tricking out their suits with Hello Kitty patches and lots of other stuff.  Sunday night was NiN, who I had never seen before.  They had a great rock show and a very cool stage setup that included a screen that comes down in front of them that Reznor can manipulate with lights.  Their bassist is JMJ, aka Beck’s bassist, and he definitely added a lot to the set.  All in all, great headliners choices so that made it easier to avoid Kanye and Rage Against the Machine. A few other great shows during the days were: Girl Talk, Explosions in the Sky, The National, The Foals, Bloc Party and The Black Keys.

The weekend also gave me the opportunity to see TDK at the Navy Pier IMAX late in the morning on Sunday.  It was fantastic and IMAX really helped the action scenes.  I’ve now seen the movie twice and it is easily the best movie I have seen this year.  I really noticed some of the screenplay subtleties the second time around that gave hints to things that would happen later on.  Ledger’s Joker is truly great with so many memorable scenes: the bank robbery, the pencil trick, the Nurse uniform, the interrogation, it’s goes on.

The Netherlands v. Russia

The Dutch have been the hottest team of the tournament so far, easily winning all 3 group stages matches in the brutal “Group of Death” (France, Italy, Romania).  Russia secured a place in the Quaters after finishing 2nd in Group D, behind Spain, by handily beating Sweden on Wednesday.

It’s the 41′ and the play has been fairly even.  Each side have had a few scoring chance.  Russia has had the most chances, although some have been long range shots (30-35 yards).

Since starting to type, the Netherlands had an edge-of-the-box chance but the shot was straight at the Russian keeper.  It looks to go into the half drawn at nil-nil.  I see at least two goals during the second half, and hopefully it won’t end in penalty kicks like yesterday’s match Croatia-Turkey match.

Arsenal took a 1-0 lead against Chelsea with half an hour to.  And it’s a Sagna near-post header.  Almunia has been great in goal as well.  Chelsea responded in the 73′ with bullet from 15 yards by Drogba.  Drogba whipped in a second at the 80′ mark from 6 yards out.  It was a long free-kick pass and Drogba wasn’t even marked.  Arsenal end up losing and they drop to 3rd place in the table.  Manchester United beat Liverpool 3-0  earlier this morning, stretching their 1st place lead and Chelsea takes over 2nd.  The race to the finish should be quite intense.

The NCAA tournament has left my bracket in tatters. I knew Oregon probably wouldn’t win, but it was a homer pick.  My sleeper Final Four pick was Pittsburg (4) who didn’t even make the Sweet 16, losing to Michigan State last night.  Some of the Pac-10 games have been very watchable though, namely Stanford v Marquette and UCLA v Texas A & M.  Washington State blew Notre Dame out of the water, holding them to 41, even though most analysts predicted Notre Dame to win.  They had predicted Notre Dame would have a similarly stingy defense, but they must not have seen any Wazoo games this year.

The Thanksgiving weekend is almost over and it was a very nice 4-day break. It’s over just in time for me to fly to San Jose for software training, where I’ll be learning TeamTrack, another application I will need to administrate. San Jose is quite close to San Francisco, so I’ll be able to visit Oculon on his new home turf. I may even drive by the Google’s headquarters for giggles.

As referenced in teh title, Arsenal beat Wigan in a very close match to take the top spot from Manchester United. Arsenal were without Cesc Fabregas due to suspension, and it showed, but they still prevailed with a great run and header by Gallas in the 83′. Rosicky finished it off for a 2-0 victory. The win was made even more enjoyable when I read that Man Utd lost to Bolton!!?!? Now Arsenal is 3 points up and still have played one less game than the Red Devils.

In Fantasy Football, my team slipped again and as I watch this week, both of my starting QBs (Bulger and Garcia) have gone down and are out of the game. In a two QB starting league, I will surely lose. By the end of the weekend, I’ll be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Now I’ll just get to enjoy the games on TV and wait for the college bowl games.

Readers and viewers can look forward to a new workspace video, as I will be moving   again at work.

It’s been a while since the last blog post. The Fall TV lineup has been in full swing. So, I’ve been watch lots of 30 Rock, Heroes, Weeds, etc.

In sports land there has been the MLB playoffs. The Cubs lost to the Diamondbacks, who look even worse since the Rockies swept the Diamondbacks last night. Who knows if the Cubs will ever get it together. Their hitters always seem to be swinging for the fences, which does no good against the Brandon Webb’s of the world. The pitching is Carlos Zambrono (volatility) + Lilly, Hill, Marshall (mediocrity). The bullpen isn’t very good. Maybe Hill and Marshall will get better, but this hitting (Soriano, Lee, Ramirez) has probably already peaked, even though Ramirez will have more years left than Soriano and Lee. It’s almost like Boston Red Sox-lite. They don’t spend enough money to get the great pitching and good role-hitters, but have the few power guys (Ramirez, Ortiz, Lowell), at the same positions too. Problem is, Boston-lite won’t win the World Series, and it won’t get you out of the NLDS.

Onto better news…

My fantasy teams are starting to turn around. I had some bad luck early in the year with Bulger under-performing, and then injured. I made some trades to be better in a few weeks, and now I have a bye week. After that, barring injury, like always, I could make a run for the playoffs after being down 1-4 after week 5.

College football Saturdays, NFL Sundays are great. I have to balance that with the EPL. But the English have been off TV for two weeks with Euro ‘08 qualifiers and a weird TV schedule. This Saturday was quite crazy in college football with the #1 and #2 teams losing. Now Ohio State, South Florida and Boston College are 1, 2 and 3. I don’t think any of those three would beat LSU or Florida.

Finally. The biggest news of all. The new Radiohead album In Rainbows was released through digital download only. You choose the price, so it’s been getting more press than normal. I got the download after buying the disc box (vinyls: LP + B-sides, cds: LP + B-sides and artwork), so I paid a flat $80 fee. I’ve listened to the album about 15 times now and it is pretty great. Like all of the other Radiohead greats (OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac) it doesn’t get old. It ranks up there with Neon Bible and Boxer for my favorite albums of 2007.

6:30 AM PST.

I usually wake up at this early during the weekdays, but not the weekend.  Today is not just any Saturday, it’s the start of the English Premier League!

With the wonder of Fox Soccer Channel I can watch two, 2, TWO, live matches this morning.  The first match is between Manchester City and West Ham.  This isn’t likely to be the highest quality of games as both teams were in the bottom flight last year.  Analysts have predicted that both will probably do much of the same this year and some have even said that West Ham will be relegated.  The Hammers probably will be relegated because the only thing that saved them last year was Carlos Tevez and he went to Manchester United.

The next match is the real one to watch, Liverpool at Aston Villa.  Liverpool finished 2nd in the Champions League and 3rd in the Premiership last season and they should continue with similar, top-flight success.  Aston Villa were hanging out in the lower-to-middle part of the table for most of last season and finished in 11th.  Many analysts are predicting a top-6 finish since Patrik Berger is back and ready to play.  So, I’m really looking forward to this match.

FUTBOL! GOAL!

People, I just ate some Chicken Tikka Masala and it was delicious. It’s the first time that I’ve eaten Indian food since coming to Oregon. There are apparently a couple of Indian restaurants in Eugene, but not near my office. We are rife with Mexican, Thai, Pizza and Burger joints, but BBQ and Indian are low in quality or sparse. So, tonight while in Portland, da big city, I chose Indian and was not disappointed. It was definitely on par with the India Buffet in Iowa City, but this was dinner so I couldn’t go back, like the pig I am, for a third plate. There was plenty of food anyways with each component, rice, entree, yogurt, vegetables, desert in separate cups and the nan, oh the nan.

I am currently digesting the food and keeping track of fantasy baseball stats. Baseball has been quite exciting. The Mariners still stink, the Cubs are still hopeless (Prior to have surgery) and the East has the only exciting divisions in MLB. I’ve been doing more calculated research and statistictioning (is that a word?) with the help of Baseball Prospectus. The NFL Draft is coming up, but I won’t even be tuned in for highlights since I get to help a coworker move tomorrow. It doesn’t matter though since the most exciting sport right now is soccer or futbol or real football. I’ve been quite keen on Premiership and Champions League happenings. I watched my first Champions League match last year around the same time and I saw a brilliant and crazy finals between Arsenal and Barcelona. I’ve been hooked ever since, watching the World Cup as often as possible and now watching Premiership matches whenever they are broadcast live. The matches usually start around 7:30 am PST on Fox Soccer Channel on Saturdays. The only way to keep track of Champions League games is to watch the live text via the BBC. It’s pretty crazy that the EPL, Champions League and FA Cup could all come down to the Chelsea and Manchester United. Very exciting indeed!

In other news, I’ve continued the Netflix journey.  I won’t give full reviews, but I can recommend: Borat, Who Killed the Electric Car? and The Squid and the Whale.  I HIGHly recommend: Elizabeth I and Empire Falls, both HBO miniseries with fantastic casts and great storylines and execution (no pun intending Mary Queen of Scots).  I am eager to see Pan’s Labyrinth and Volver.  I have Volver sitting at home, but I’m waiting for the right moment to watch an Almodovar film.  After previous gems such as: All About My Mother and Talk to Her, I am stoked.  Plus, Penelope Cruz is hot.

Lastly, Music.  The Arcade Fire show is less than a month away, so that’s great.  I got the new Modest Mouse and Bright Eyes CDs.  Both very good and fairly main stream for Brock and company and more folky from Cono.  The new Wilco album arrives next week, so that’s a must buy.

Btw, if another one of my closers blows a save, I’m gonna have to break something.

World Cup Finals:

Allez Allez Allez! Golllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!

In the sixth minute it’s a PK and Zizou chips it off the crossbar to make it 1-0 France. Some will say that the PK was unwarranted, but Italy tapped the streaking Frenchman and back of the leg. There was a little acting, but the foul was made.

15′ - A free kick on the right side from 20 yds and it takes a great header by Thurman to clear for a corner.

19′ - A corner won by Italy, a high bending pass from Pirlo, Matterazzi heads it past Barthez. 1-1

Halftime - After the equalizer there were a few more opportunities for Italy. In about the 30′ an Italian corner kick almost put les Azurri up 2-1. The header over the crossbar was eerily similar to the 19′ goal by Matterazzi.

On a side note, a UI buddy (U of Iowa and User Interface) was found out as an Italian supporter. Hopefully persistent blogging during the match will be the deciding factor in the match.

55′ - Les Bleus are attacking at will. Henry took on three defenders at one point and passed across the goal, but no one was there to help. Ribery has also been excellent, streaking down the sides and making things happen. On the flipside, Italy is playing fantasic defense, as usual.

73′ - The Italians have had a few counter-attacks but les Bleus continue attacking and controlling possession. Cannavaro has been brilliant on defense, clearing balls and taking on Henry or Ribery in 1 v 1 matchups.

75′ - Zidane sends a wonderful, bending free-kick across the box. The ball was untouched, but France does well to put strikers near the ball.

77′ - That was a scare for France. Italy won a free-kick at about 25 yds and Pirlo bends the ball over the wall, sending the ball to the lower-left corner. It’s just wide, but Barthez was there anyways.

Final Time - The score is still 1-1. Both teams look exhausted, but Italy is particularly drained, and out of subsitutes. France has two substitutions left to make. Will Trezegeut come on in overtime? Ribery looks spent, so a switch for another striker would probably be wise. Thirty minutes more, at least.

104′ - Zidane plays it off to Sagnol on the wing and moves into the box. Zizou is unmarked and Sagnal bends a beautiful pass to the top of the box that meets Zidane. Only a great save by Buffon keeps it tied.

110′ - and… Zidane is sent off! He butts his head into Materazzi’s chest after a verbal altercation. The main referee didn’t see it, but a confirmation from a side judge gets Zidane the red card. France is now a man down with 10′ to go. If it goes to PKs, France is at a serious disadvantage.

Full Time - OT - It’s to PKs now. Buffon and Barthez will have to be at their best.

It’s all over! Italy wins 5-3 in PKs. Grosso scores the deciding PK.

Congratulations to Italy, can’t wait until South Africa!