Don't get sick

It throws your entire schedule off and you may not like the consequences when you get better.

One more week of this.

We can do this

Whipped 3-0 in the first round. Lost Michael Bradley in the semifinal to a red. Playing a still recovering Carlos Bocanegra. Using a roster that contains talented players everyone knows will never get playing time in the final. Playing the same team that whipped us 3-0 in the first round.

If you don't believe, then don't watch. But this team has a chance today. We could win. We can do this.

Sorry, Giuseppe Rossi is not a traitor

Now he's just a loser.

End of message.

Giuseppe Rossi is an American traitor

End of message.

This is your national team coach, dammit

Now STFU and get behind the idea of supporting this team already.

USA 2-1 HON

I say thank God. Otherwise, after CRC 3-1 USA and DC 2-0 NY, I was ready to throw myself into oncoming traffic. Then, after Mexico's loss, I feel it's Christmas morning! Textbook bipolar disorder?

Call our guys extremists all you want

At least ours don't throw hissy fits like yours.

So after six weeks...

I really have only this to say. Without Internet at home, I've turned to reading books (my former co-worker Clif can attest to the same trend). I've torn through three books, going on four thanks to the long commute to work. And I've become quite the dilettante of Paul Krugman's writings. Not that I wasn't leaning left to begin with...

A life in infinite deferral, in a temporary blackout

Who'd have thought that in Tokyo/Yokohama, it would be really, really hard to find a wireless Internet connection.

I will be in an Internet fog for the next few weeks until I have a stable connection in my new apartment. If you need to reach me, I believe my cell phone number and email are somewhere in my Facebook profile for those who are friends with me there.

Stand by.

Year 28, Day 1

"We've gone too far to turn back, we're just too close to quit" - Gin Blossoms

And how did Year 27 go?

• saw some amazing stuff
• found one potential place where I'd like to build a big house someday
• discovered eating cabbage isn't that bad
• got tired of being a showman
• reaffirmed desire to become, well, an actual teacher
  
• risked everything on one move to Tokyo

Next twelve months should be fun.

Just finished watching "the interview"

You know, the much-hyped interview everyone's been spending a whole week to ramp up for. And it was worth every second watching.

I'm not much of a player in the markets, but I know enough to remember that Cramer was sorta Kudlow's foil and vice versa when they co-hosted the same show, and "the enemy of my enemy" rule is always in effect. So I like the guy. I know he voted for Obama and insisted that, while economically he leaned toward the right, he was more centrist than a lot of the business commentators you'll listen to (look how Lou Dobbs Tonight turned into CNN's most conservative show; "neutral" business commentators were, overnight, turned into immigrant bashers), and socially he was liberal as they come. So I like the guy.

Which makes me sad, because he should've never gone on TDS. He shouldn't have been the face of CNBC last night. But once he took on that role, Jon Stewart had every right to take Jim Cramer to school with the business end of a baseball bat.

Just to brag

I am scheduled to present "Random Elements in the Language Classroom" at the N.E.A.R. Language Education Conference in Niigata on Saturday, May 30th. This will be an abbreviated talk of the long-form presentation I gave last September to the JALT Fukui Chapter. Information from that presentation can be found on inDef. I will be making additions and revisions to that presentation in the coming weeks.

Information on the N.E.A.R. conference can be found at their website.

H*** L***** ****

I have defended MLS time and time again, but today...

**** ****.

Are the Galaxy and the league serious? Europe got what they wanted. The rest of us, well, we got played like a cheap kazoo.

Tonight is forever

There are friendlies against the Argentinas and Englands of the world. Then there are Gold Cup matches. Then the Gold Cup final. Then maybe tune-up matches right before a World Cup.

After that, the only real matches more important than US-Mexico at home would be World Cup matches hosted by the US.

Columbus Crew Stadium, capacity 22,555, will likely never have that honor, making this once-every-four-years competitive World Cup qualifier between the top two nations in the region the most important match it will host.

In a country still looking for national tradition in the sport, the US hosting Mexico at Crew Stadium is one of those up and coming traditions we Americans look forward to. Perfect record against the Mexicans at this venue, undefeated against all opponents in the history of the stadium (perhaps the old Foxboro Stadium can rival Crew Stadium's track record as an American safe haven), and witness to some of the most important events in American soccer. That tradition continues tonight.