Gooch!

SPORTING GOODS

Oguchi Onyewu, probably the US player who showed the biggest ability to be a world class player at last year's World Cup, is joining Newcastle United.

This is a great move for him, and for US soccer, as he moves from the relative obscurity of the Belgian League to arguably the best domestic league in the world. As the US looks ahead to the next World Cup, getting Gooch significant time against some of the best talent in the world will only boost the US backline.

Now if only we could get some scorers, then we'd be in business!

Keep an eye out for Gooch on Fox Soccer Channel on the weekends.

PS - Interesting quote from the article. How much do you want to bet that Eddie Johnson didn't really say this about Gooch: "I just don’t like playing against him, full stop." Unless Eddie Johnson always speaks in British idioms when interviewed about his US national teammates.

Classy

MANIFESTO

I hate President Bush as much as the next guy, and I think he is a fraternity boy punk (and I mean that in the best way as a former fraternity boy). But you have to admit that he started tonight's speech with a lot of class, with his public praise of Pelosi and comments for the currently ill representatives.

I'm sure I'll hate 90% of the rest of his words, but he showed some class as he took the podium tonight. I'm surprised and happy to write that.

Compassionate Conservatism

MANIFESTO

I guess George Bush’s social policy is built around convictions. Who would have thought that in 21st century America the life expectancy of the average citizen actually increases when sent to prison? A DOJ study claiming just that was released, ironically enough, on “National Sanctity of Human Life Day”; which, coincidentally, seems to fall on the Sunday before the anniversary of Roe v. Wade every year.

Why the Pats are still playing

SPORTING GOODS

The Patriots were 4.5 point underdogs this past weekend when traveling to the home of the best team in the NFL. And in the end, they somehow won. And it wasn't because the Charger kicker is a choker, or because Tom Brady sprinkles himself with magic fairy dust, or because Bill Belichick has no class.

And although these things didn't help, it wasn't solely because the Chargers lost their cool or made a couple dumb plays, or wasted a time out with a dumb challenge.

LaDanian Tomlinson, the best football player in the world in 2006/2007, and the best player on the field, had only nine touches in the second half of the game.

I expect that I was joining Pats fans across the nation who got a terrible feeling in their stomachs every time LT touched the ball, as we helplessly yelled, "Get him! Please stop him!"

Tomlinson averaged 5.3 yards a carry, and took the ball all the way to the end zone twice. He also averaged 32 yards a catch. The Pats could not stop him, and only seemed to slow him down when he ran directly at the pile in short yardage situations. But he only got the ball nine times in the second half (compared to 16 in the first).

The funny thing is the talk is that Chargers head coach Schottenheimer may lose his job, and one of the lead candidates to take his job is offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. Cameron put together a hell of an offense this year. But in the end he only called #21's number 9 times in the second half, and that is why the Pats are still playing.

A New American Idol?

SPORTING GOODS

I have never thought about what Simon Fuller does during the time he’s not being an ass, or at least being as ass on Fox's American Idol. That is until a paragraph in this story caught my eye:

Beckham's pay packet far outstrips what could normally be afforded by a team whose stadium holds just 27,000 spectators, and it has taken some creative thinking from American Idol creator Simon Fuller, who represents Beckham, to achieve such a huge sum.

The part of the story more relevant to sports is what side Beckham has decided to join when his tenure with Real Madrid is up: the L.A. Galaxy, as in Los Angeles, California. The deal is worth £128 Million, or roughly $245 million US. A number which represents a little over two-thirds of the $350 million the league has lost over the last 10 years ...

Acting out of character

WHATEVER

Apple is peerless when it comes to creating products, perhaps better still at marketing those products. Elegantly clad, eminently functional, sleek enough, shiny enough, and always just plain “cool” enough to make me overlook the fact that my MacBook just runs too damn hot to rest on my lap. It doesn’t matter that my iPod’s battery/hard-drive isn’t really built to last; by the time it dies they will have released something I want more. (When it comes to digital music players Apple’s only competition is itself.) End this codependent relationship? Never, the “Jobsian” notion of creating the consumer-electronics equivalent of an ecosystem just works too well. This week Apple seems to have bet the farm on this model, and expanded its digital ecosystem with its first foray into the living-room (iTV) while simultaneously redefining the mobile phone. Apple dropped the “Computer” from its name to underscore the transition away from being just a PC maker, AAPL is up over $10 and marketing groups are reporting that 75% of Cingular sales-people report customers inquiring about the new mobile device 6 months before it’s released. Oddly enough, after years of development, rumored personal involvement by Steve himself, and so much hype, I wonder what they’re going to call it. You know that new mobile iThingy.

Number Two with a Bullet

MANIFESTO

While Feckless Leader may have looked into his eyes and “gotten a sense of his soul” or been reassured with his “trustworthiness,” European heads of state seem far less comfortable of late with Vladimir Putin. After a 3-day halt Russian oil was once again flowing into Germany Wednesday, and an energy crisis in Europe seems to have been staved off. With oil prices once again on the downward slope Americans are sure to feel comforted at the pump and this incident will fade into our collective unconscious – much like Putin’s penchant for political killings. However, taking a quick look at the numbers shows that when it comes to oil exporters there aren’t many reliable Western allies in the top five. The gap between number two and number three is pronounced. This fact is surely not lost on President Putin as he consolidates his control of Russia’s natural resources with little regard for the tenants of democracy or free markets.

Stay the Course, now with Extra Crap!

MANIFESTO

Is it because I think of many things in sports terms, or is there really some parallels between the current Bush strategy and that of the Giants' owners? (And yes, I realize the importance of the two things are incomparable.)

In the face of one-sided public opinion (see: recent chants at a Giants home game, any current political poll) the brilliant men in charge decide that they are not going to change direction (keeping Coughlin, no troop drawdown). But not only that, in seeming defiance to everyone who claims to know better (the American public and the new Democratic majority, the fans and the press), they actually decide the best thing to do is add on more of the suck (new troops, an extra year extension).

I guess that makes the Giants "America's Team!" Sorry Dallas.

Monday Dog Blogging

Whatever

Here's my obsession of the New Year, our little Coco in the doggie hospital with pancreatitis. Despite the pathetic look, the doctor says she is doing great. I think she was just mad at us and really wants to go home.









Here she is in happier times. May they return soon.

Breaking News

Universal Remote

Looks like Cingular is going to provide service to the highly anticipated Apple Phone, and that an announcement detailing the phone may be made tomorrow. I can't wait.

If only Cingular worked in my apartment and I wasn't tied to another year with my service provider.

Check this out

Sporting Goods

I didn't notice this before because I stopped watching SportsCenter months (years?) ago, but the Lakers have completely dimmed the house lights at the Staples Center this year, leaving only the floor lights on the court. Check out the ESPN Motion clip to see it. Man does it look cool. Now if only the Knicks would do the opposite at MSG.

Seriously

Manifesto

How is this a good idea?

The Bush administration is expected to announce next week a major step forward in the building of the country’s first new nuclear warhead in nearly two decades. It will propose combining elements of competing designs from two weapons laboratories in an approach that some experts argue is untested and risky.

The announcement, to be made by the inter-agency Nuclear Weapons Council, avoids making a choice between two competing designs for a new weapon, called the Reliable Replacement Warhead, which at first would be mounted on submarine-launched missiles. The effort, if approved by President Bush and financed by Congress, would require a huge refurbishment of the nation’s complex for nuclear design and manufacturing, with the overall bill estimated at more than $100 billion.

I'm not going to go on an anti-nuke weapons tirade here but are we really developing more advanced nuclear weapons? This technology hasn't been perfected yet? Seriously, how can you further develop bombs whose sole purpose is to destroy everything? And spending $100 billion ... c'mon guys, if you want to give another handout to your buddies in the military/industrial complex, fine, but can't we at least do it with something that could actually help us with the wars that we are fighting now and not the Cold War? How about $100 billion for advanced body armor or even maybe some kind of super advanced explosive detector.

Query

Sporting Goods

Why should I care about a national championship game where:

(a) one team hasn't played a football game in over 50 days;

(b) the game is taking place more than a week after New Year's day and a day after a long weekend of playoff football, and long after I stopped caring about bowl games; and

(c) the game is broadcast on a network that hardly covers college football during the regular season, which means announcers whose analysis of particular players sounds like they are reading from a press guide. It wasn't enough that I had to listen to Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long (who was actually decent) for the 20 minutes that I could stand watching the Notre Dame debacle, now I have to feel like I'm watching the Little League World Series? Seriously, before the end of the night I expect to know that Troy Smith's favorite food is hot dogs and his favorite movie is Gridiron Gang.

Somebody please wake me up when spring training starts.

Remaking Iraq in Our Image

Manifesto

I have to say that I agree with Monocle that the I don't really care about the hubbub surrounding Saddam's execution.

That said, I still think the whole thing has a couple of interesting elements that sum up many aspects of both the Bush Presidency and our little adventure in Iraq.

First, you've got the generally poor timing with the Ford funeral, effectively knocking that off the front page for a couple of days.

Second, you've got the clearly political nature of the timing, like all decisions of this administration, coming as it did just before the President is going to propose an escalation in the number of troops in Iraq despite the fact that only 11% of Americans support such a policy. (Hell, even the troops don't support it.)

And, of course, you've got the degrading conduct of the executioners, who, as many have noted, with their ski masks looked much like the terrorist killers of Daniel Pearl, but, in my estimation behaved more like the torturers at Abu Ghraib.

But the thing that strikes me as the most amusing corollary is how the actions of the Iraqi government in responding to this crisis have almost exactly mirrored the crisis management strategies employed by the Administration.

As soon as the video surfaced showing the degrading treatment of Saddam, the Iraqi government began an investigation ... into how the video got out. The problem isn't the degrading treatment, but the fact that evidence of that treatment made it to the public. Sure, it looks like one person may be publicly reprimanded, but the stories make clear, the problem that needs to be addressed isn't the bad conduct but the fact that those responsible got caught. As such, the messenger needs to be discovered and properly punished.

We've seen this story too many times over the last six years to count. From the aforementioned Abu Ghraib scandal to the warrantless wiretaps to Richard Clarke to Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, the Bush Administration has made such behavior their calling card.

Well, at the very least we can consider this evidence that we really are exporting our brand of democracy to Iraq. Way to go!