June 16, 2008 at 10:08 am · Filed under soccer
© Howard C. Smith/isiphotos.com
It took the US just over a minute to break the seal in its first World Cup qualifying match of the 2010 cycle. Captain Carlos Bocanegra played a long, diagonal ball that Clint Dempsey chested down and then drilled through the legs of the onrushing Barbados goalkeeper. From there the floodgates opened. In addition to opening the scoring Dempsey tallied the fifth US goal. Brian Ching also had a brace while Michael Bradley, Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson and an own goal accounted for the other goals. The highlights are posted here.
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June 8, 2008 at 10:34 pm · Filed under soccer
If the US continues to improve at the rate it did over the course of three powerhouse friendlies, it should be the hands-down favorite to win the World Cup in South Africa in two years. In a wildly entertaining match the US created numerous scoring opportunities, pinged the crossbar and reduced the world’s top-rated team to a chasing, hacking ragtag bunch over the last 10 minutes. Argentina created its fair share of chances as well and was unlucky to not have gotten a penalty when it appeared Tim Howard clipped Sergio Arguero when Arguero was in alone. Howard also stood on his head to make two other saves in difficult moments.When asked to comment on the team’s improvement from match to match, Tim Howard said, “Tonight it was about standing up for ourselves, believing we can get a result…We stood up to the challenge…If we can take those performances into CONCACAF qualifying, I think we’ll be alright.”
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June 5, 2008 at 12:42 pm · Filed under soccer
© Scott Bales/isiphotos.com
A technically superior Spain defeated the US 1-0 on the strength of a late Xavi goal. The US played much better than it did a week ago against England but its players lacked the confidence and technical ability to compete with one of the best teams in the world. Only Freddy Adu consistently displayed the characteristics necessary to win at this level and he was substituted at half-time after two harsh tackles–one ill-timed, one cynical–left him hobbled. Adu sought out the ball and distributed it efficiently and dangerously, partnering well with Eddie Johnson. Johnson should have done better in his three clearest opportunities, the best a relatively free header from five yards that he sprayed wide. I haven’t given up on Johnson but I don’t think he is the best choice for the US right now. A healthy Landon Donovan partnered with Brian Ching should be the first choice tandem. The purpose of these friendlies is to see who is able to stack up against the best. In that regard, yesterday’s match was a success.
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June 3, 2008 at 10:55 am · Filed under soccer
During last week’s England/USA friendly John Harkes broke the news that Brian McBride has decided to leave Fulham and return to Major League Soccer. I’ve always been a big fan of McBride’s commitment and fearlessness. My favorite goal of his was, of course, the first goal against Mexico in the 2002 World Cup round of 16 match.
After returning from a devastating knee injury this season, McBride led Fulham on an unprecedented run to avoid being relegated. In a classy move Fulham posted a tribute video set to the tune of the Foo Fighters’ My Hero. Check it out.
http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2008/May/McBrideSalute.aspx
May 28, 2008 at 8:14 pm · Filed under soccer
Today’s 2-0 loss to England at the new Wembley was a difficult match to watch. It reminded me of the old egg frying commercial: (”This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs”) rather than making a statement about drugs, the lesson learned was about Landon Donovan. This is your team. This is your team without Landon Donovan. There was no real outlet for quick play and fast counterattacks which can do so much to unbalance a team. England was able to congest the midfield and apply high pressure and the midfielders and forwards of the US were unable to absorb the pressure and maintain possession. The quick interchanges that were so successful against Poland, that are the hallmark of Bob Bradley teams were absent for large stretches of the match. The high pressure, up-tempo style was also missing.
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May 20, 2008 at 11:16 am · Filed under books
Saturday my wife and I celebrated our fifth anniversary by going to Bluepointe, an Asian fusion restaurant in Buckhead. We thoroughly enjoyed all the best Bluepointe had to offer. Inspired by advice I read in Tyler Cowen’s book I ordered something I’ve never ordered before: duck. In his book Discover Your Inner Economist Cowen makes some peculiar suggestions regarding what to order at nice restaurants; he suggests ordering the item on the menu that you are least likely to order. The general idea is not to order food you will dislike, but to order food that the chef at the particular restaurant where you are dining prepares well and will take care to prepare well. He implores you to never order chicken: anyone can cook a chicken. On this first occasion following this advice I was very pleased with the result, a delicious dinner of melt-in-your-mouth duck. The fact that the duck was served in a Panang curry, my favorite, made the decision easier to make. Even with this positive experience behind me I don’t plan on taking much more of the advice that Cowen offers in his glorified self-help book.
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May 1, 2008 at 9:01 am · Filed under life
I read a fantastic Reuters article that was picked up by one of my favorite online magazines this morning. It just so happens that my lovely wife was interviewed for it.
Desensitization effective for women with metronidazole hypersensitivity
http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/reuters_article.asp?id=20080430clin005.html
From the article:
“CDC currently recommends either the IV or oral desensitization protocols that are reproduced in the paper,” Donna J. Helms from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia told Reuters Health. “These are both also referenced in the 2006 STD Treatment guidelines (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. MMWR 2006;55:No.RR-11:52-53).”
Helms and her colleagues investigated the effectiveness of the metronidazole desensitization protocols as well as the alternatives to nitroimidazoles for the treatment of trichomonas infection in women with suspected metronidazole hypersensitivity.
April 15, 2008 at 3:45 pm · Filed under life
This morning I got a root canal. I slipped and banged one of my front teeth on an icy driveway about 16 years ago; as the result of some endodontical phenomena the tooth has been getting darker and recently had darkened enough for me to feel compelled to get it checked out. I saw a dentist last week and he referred me to a specialist. I learned a little bit about what was to be done before going in for the procedure but was largely ignorant about the process.
After the specialist confirmed that I did indeed need a root canal, he stuck a bite guard in my mouth and told me that often the hardest part about the procedure is keeping the mouth open wide for an extended period of time. He said the procedure was similar to a filling and many patients fall asleep in the middle of it. I haven’t had a filling in about 15 years and the guy who did it my family nicknamed Dr Hurt, so although my dentist today didn’t know it, comparing the impending procedure to a filling was pretty terrifying…and at no time in the past when receiving a filling was I ever close to nodding off. Dr Hurt earned his reputation. He once told me to raise my arm when the pain was getting unbearable and then after I raised my arm the first time proceeded to tell me to put my arm down, that I needed to be willing to bear a little pain. That said, I like to think I’m pretty tough so I played it cool.
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April 11, 2008 at 10:37 am · Filed under books, life
I finished reading Timothy Keller’s book The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism over a month ago but have put off posting my thoughts on it because I did not think I could articulate them in a coherent post. (this disjointed post confirms my worry).
A day after I finished the book on a flight home from Chicago I coincidentally listened to an NPR Fresh Air podcast which analyzed the arguably dichotomous relationship between science and religion. Within this framework evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion Richard Dawkins presented an argument for atheism while geneticist-physicist Francis Collins, leader of the Human Genome Project (HGP) and evangelical Christian, presented a scientist’s case for God. Listening to the brilliant scientists talk about God and Christianity in particular gave me the opportunity to reconsider, or reexamine what I had just read. It was serendipitous timing for sure.
While reading Keller’s book I often thought about a powerful scene from ER that I strongly identify with that beautifully illustrates a reason for the Christian God. The pervasive relativistic, post-modern ideals of modern western culture can be so convenient. As the video clip illustrates, the ideals are impractical in real-life situations: we need more. In fact it was only after a friend posted the video on facebook that I was moved to write this post.
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April 9, 2008 at 1:15 pm · Filed under technology
This morning I received an email from Dropbox that invited me to download and install its python-based desktop client for online storage. The client creates virtual folders that automatically sync to an Amazon S3-backed storage ‘facility’, what TechCrunch author Mark Hendrickson esoterically calls ‘the cloud’. It was his blog post last month that motivated me to register with Dropbox. In my first day using the app there are two things that I find really cool: (1) it is wicked fast and (2) the ability to upload a file to a public space and then right-click the file to get a public link is a simple way to share files with multiple machines or friends. In fact, the Dropbox image in the header of this post is hosted in a public Dropbox folder which can also be accessed here in a photo gallery format (Dropbox provided the three stock photos). It sure beats emailing files or uploading everything to my ahelms.com server.
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