What the fuck is going on with the world right now? I mean, we see Farrah Fawcett pass, then Michael Jackson on the same day, and today, word is out that the famous pitch man, Billy Mays, died for undisclosed reasons. I'm not one to normally obsess about celebrity, but in the past few days, we've seen a woman that many of the guys in my generation obsessed over because of her famous poster, we've lost a musician that really put out some of the defining music of the early generation of MTV, and now, one of the best pitch man out there. I wasn't much of a fan of Michael Jackson's music, but it's hard to ignore that his influence over music and early videos wasn't influential. His Thriller defined what music videos could be, and he put out amazing music for many years, until he completely melted down mentally. I can't imagine what demons were floating through his head, but I hope that he's finally at peace with it all. Fawcett on the other hand, fell to cancer, something that I know about very well and my hope that medical science can catch up to this rather vicious killer. And to Billy Mays, well, seriously, man, I watched your commercials with great joy as you sold crap that most people wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole with such enthusiasm and zeal that I almost wanted to buy it anyway. Well, and OxyClean does do a good job in the laundry. But I'm openly wondering if there isn't some sort of weird disturbance in the forces in the world that we have heard about this within a matter of days. I hope it's just coincidence.
EDIT - See it's strange enough that I even forgot about Ed McMahon earlier in the week, he of Tonight Show, StarSearch and Bloopers fame. He made a career out of making others look good
and then some hosting gigs. Seemed like a good guy, and was always laughing. Normally, I'd be concerned about anyone laughing that much, but not this guy. He always seemed to be having a good time.
Just got done watching the Federations Cup soccer match, and for one brilliant half of soccer, the US National Team looked like the best team in the world, putting in two goals and making Brazil look slow, pedestrian, and frustrated. But then reality set in, Brazil got a very nice goal early in the second half, and the soccer world righted itself a bit with Brazil getting two more goals to win 3 to 2. They are the best team in the world, having won 5 World Cups and multitudes of other competitions, but they slept walked through the first half of the match and it almost cost them dearly against an American team that was really playing on borrowed time a bit. The Americans got drilled early by Brazil and Italy in the opening rounds, but then improbably put 3 in against Egypt while they advanced to the next round because Brazil crushed Italy, then the US pulled off the craziest upset over the top ranked Spanish team 2 to nil on Wednesday that shocked the footy world. And for 45 brilliant minutes, it looked like lady luck was going to stay with the Americans, but then the green and yellow clad Brazilians got an early goal, and then just mercilessly chipped away at the American defense, and got the winning goal late off a set piece form the corner. I'm pleased for the moral victory and for playing well, but my hope is that American soccer can move past the moral victories and truly put together some meaningful wins to show the world that we can play on the level of everyone else.
The Timbers kick off in a few hours against Montreal, and I'll be there. Apparently, everyone on the team is now healthy, so McManus, Pore, Nishimura and Jallow are all available for selection tonight. I didn't realize Jallow was hurt, but apparently he has been, but now, we've got a full, healthy squad. And my hope that these guys will mesh with the others that have been playing well, and we keep the hot streak going again. It's going to be an amazing week of footy here in Portland this week, and I'll keep you all posted throughout the events. Enjoy the sun out there, and go Timbers!!!
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