Seedorf Out?

I just got the news. Seedorf is not playing for Holland in Euro 2008. Seedorf is a fucking awesome player for AC Milan. Both defensively and offensively, he is a superstar. But really suprised me is how upset I am. I really fell in love with that country this past summer. And their national soccer team is such a great team to support. I mean you have this really small country and have made 2 world cup finals. And that through the inventiveness and greatness of Johan Cruijff. He came up with Total Football. From wiki:

In association football, Total Football is a system where a player who moves out of his position is replaced by another from his team, thus retaining their intended organizational structure. In this fluid system no footballer is fixed in his or her intended outfield role; anyone can be successively an attacker, a midfielder and a defender.

And then breeded players who could do this. Play ANY position on the field as you flow through a game. Imagine a team of players who can do that against a team that just plays defined positions. And then defending against a team that you have no idea who is attacking. Just brilliant.

I always knew the name "Cruijff" as a soccer move where you fake a big kick, step over the top of the ball and pull it back. A fun move, relatively easy to do, and very effective. And the one move I have really mastered. So yeah, he invented that to. Really a hero of mine before I ever knew who he was.

I like all the guys they have on professional teams. One of the best players on the US team has far less athletic ability than the other players on the team, He is only on the team because he went to Holland when he was young to learn the game.

And yeah, I love that country and look forward to returning. I would really like a lifestyle where Christina and I can live there 4 months out of the year.

Bowling disgrace

It is official. Christina is a better bowler than me. 4 games in a row. Some day I hope to overtake her, but it will probably take years of pumping iron, ballet, and therapy.

Come on already

We are quickly approaching March and my Wolfpack are running out of games. Sitting at 4-5 in conference and 15-8 overall. This is not at all where I thought we would be at this point. The team was picked to finish third in the conference. Losses to New Orleans and ECU? What? This team has the most talent I've seen on a State team since the last glory days of Corchiani and Monroe. We seemed to kind of turn a corner when we established Gonzalez at point. 2 excellent first halves at Duke and Maryland, but then really faded in both games losing by 20 and 14.

So now we need to go 5-2 in the final seven to have a winning record in the ACC. Probably win a game or two in the ACC tourney and hope for a NCAA tournament bid. Here is the schedule:

2/14 @ BC 7:00 PM
2/16 CLEM 3:00 PM
2/20 UNC 7:00 PM
2/24 @ UVA 4:30 PM
2/27 FSU 7:00 PM
3/01 DUKE 12:00 PM
3/08 @ WFU 12:00 PM

Duke and Carolina at home jump out. Maybe a 10% chance of victory in those games. These are the most likely losses making all other games must wins. The road games are against the bottom of the conference, but they are still road games. I give us a about 60% chance of winning those games. The most difficult test outside of Duke and Carolina is Clempson. It wasn't even a game at their place. 23 to 10 turnovers pretty much tells the story. But since then, we found a point guard. So I don't know, maybe flip a coin. This game is already huge with my hatred of Clempson and the potential to really hurt their tournament hopes.

It is just so frustrating to watch us play. You never really know you're going get. Sometimes we play really hard, other times we are asleep, sometimes smart, other times stupid and many times seem to forget about the game and want to fight. All these versions can also show up during one game.

Anyway, it is now the best time to play their best basketball, so I'll hope for the best. Go Pack

Snow in Boise

When I moved to Boise, I sold my RX-7 and bought a Nissan Xterra. I thought I would need 4WD to drive from December to February to deal with all the snow. The last 5 winters has probably had a total of 6 inches snow fall in Boise. And most of that snow would be melted by the afternoon. There has been more snow back home than here.

That has all changed this winter. There has been snow on the ground since December 15th. And January has brought about 3 inches every three days. If you add up the amount of snow I've seen this winter, it is probably more than all the snow I've seen in my life.

A lot of the people at work are sick of it and ready for it to go away. Not me. I've been conditioned my whole life to love snow. Sledding, snow ball fights, but most importantly no school. I'm loving every part of this. The Xterra is so much fun. Watching the beagle trudge along and get snow on her nose. Hilde still hasn't figured out how to stop, or maybe she likes sliding. I even enjoy shoveling snow off the driveway.