Victory!

Redskins dominated Detroit. This is exactly how Washington needs to play. Its been a long time since they played like they did today.

Flying Elvises picked up their first win. 2-1. All around great team effort. The quad is done though. Don't know if I'll be able to go much more this season. I'm thinking about taking the next two weeks off to rest it.


Two great wins.

Football today

Big day for the Skins, need to bounce back from an ugly loss to the NY Giants. Probably the only thing worse than seeing your team lose, is having to pay to watch your team lose, after it was winning early in the game. They can make things better today with a win over the Lions.

In my humble opinion the one thing that kills the Redskins more than anything - conservative play calling. They had the Giants on the ropes, and they go ultraconservative. We know they can move the ball. They move it when they need to, like when they were down at the end of the game. Similar visions in both the Eagles and Dolphins games, and in the preceding years. We need to finish a team when they're down - go for the jugular! When the Skins are able to do this we'll see a bunch of W's! Until then, its going to be a lot of close games, and a lot of heartbreaks...

Kudos to Maryland to holding off Georgia Tech... but that was way too close. No need to let them that much back into the game. Still good win. We'll enjoy it for now...

Ok so I'm 1-3 in the SMIBFL, and facing the top team. Peyton is the only one doing anything for me, but some others were able to chip in and get the points to get W#1 last week.

Last but not least, looking for a few good men to strap on the boots and play in our Turkey Bowl Tourney. We'll be wearing red and facing off at Kiwanis Park in Hampstead. Interested, let me know, games are Thanksgiving morning.

Enjoy today's games!

Mike's Tri

Congratulations MIKE CRITCHFIELD! Ok, so this is a week overdue but Mike competed in his first triathlon last Saturday finishing in 2:16. Awesome! I know this is a great accomplishment for him. Here's to many more Mikey!

Here we go again...

Ok, so here's to a commitment to be better at this blog thing. Debi's well again, its a nice sunny day. Skins are playing the Lions this afternoon. Flying Elvises have a game at 3:30, it could be a win-able game, should at least be enjoyable, more so than the last few games. Last week we had a 9-0 thumping courtesy of Hurricanes FC - they've been together for years, and all of their boys are like 6-4, 210, and really good.

Red Lights

So I finished my long day (work + 4 hours class) and I'm coming home after a quick stop at the grocery store, stopped at a light... and I'm waiting there like 15 seconds... and then I notice theres traffic stopped coming the other way, and I notice there's traffic stopped on my left... and a few seconds later I realize that the light has been green for traffic from the right for like a minute now... only problem - there was no traffic! What flippin idiots design these traffic signals?

There's another signal on my way to work, coming off a interstate exit, and it leads into a GE complex - I'll be you know what if GE didn't design the light - as soon as one car comes down that ramp that light is turning so they can come across into GE. The worse part, there's two lights so after I'm done waiting at one light I'm getting up to speed and some privileged engineer comes off the ramp and I'm stopped again...

Update

Ok so Debi's sick, went to doctor today and he referred her to a neurologist and a GI specialist. She'll probably be out of work another 2 weeks... yeah

not much else... running is going well countdown to Battleship Half-marathon - 2 months and a week to go. MB is as you can see on the right, a little over 160 days.

Catch-Up

OK, so the wife's been sick, but I'm gonna try and pick this back up...

Debi's been sick for a few weeks now, and taken a leave of absence from work. Hopefully we'll know something soon...

DC United continue to exert their dominance over the rest of MLS. They will be the team to beat come playoff time. Fred has picked up his play increasingly over the last month, and he's beginning to silence my initial criticism of his play near the beginning of the year. DC downed Dallas in overwhelming fashion on Saturday night. With a game in hand, they are tied with New England atop the Eastern Conference, with an impressive +17 goal differential. Its good to see the defense shut these teams down. Troy Perkins has really upped his play recently and is once again looking like the premier keeper in the league, as he was last year...

Six days and counting... the Skins wrapped up pre-season play the other night with a 2-2 record. Its a quiet 2-2 though, as Jason Campbell has played progressively well, and the defense looks eager to be a top ten unit once again. The icing on the cake for me is that the game against Miami will be on the local CBS station, so I'll be able to watch in the comforts of home. Can't wait!

More coming tomorrow... until then: Live simple!

More Beginning Housekeeping Stuff

Ok, so I'm typing like I'm speaking to a bunch of people, all though I've had like one visitor. So anyway... I wanted to list some stuff I hope to blog regularly about - I've touched on 2 - Soccer and Running. Other future topics I plan to include are: Washington Redskins, ACC (FB & BB), UNCW, Education, God & devotional discussions, Fatherhood, and Local and National News.

I hope if you stop by you'll drop me a message and check back to see how the site evolves. Spread the word and engage in debate.

Tomorrow's my first day back at work, I've been fortunate to have the summer off, and its been busy. A lot of administrative turnover in the last two weeks with PCS, so it'll be interesting to see how the school year starts.

Superliga Follow-up...

Ok, so it wasn't meant to be for DC tonight as they fall to LA. Beckham scores a brilliant goal from a free kick about 25 yards out, and then assists a ball to Donovan for the second goal. Unfortunately Beckham, #23, should have been removed from the pitch for a violent tackle on Jaime Moreno, current league leader in career goals for MLS. If any other player tackles like that, they're sent off, the powers that be tend to be a little lenient when its their expensive star/league savior. If Beckham goes off for the violent tackle, who knows?

Now just so I'm not whining about losing, Troy Perkins makes a horrible read on Beckham's shot, and Joshua Gros makes a horrible attempt to break up the Donovan goal. McTavish even gets a foot on that goal, and 9 times out of 10 it goes wide, but not tonight. It wasn't meant to be. For the most part DC had the better of chances, but couldn't finish.

LA will now have their butts handed to them by Pachucha of the Mexican League, and they will end up missing the MLS playoffs, so no harm done tonight.

More comments on European action coming later...

Superliga Clash!

DC United vs LA Galaxy - 10pm ET - Home Depot Center in LA on Telefutura

BECKS! OK I'm a die hard soccer fan, but I know Beckham is not going to miraculously put soccer on top in this country. I don't mind it not being on top - it keeps the arrogant, punk-@$$ sportscasters from whining about it all the time. (They're in the top three reasons why soccer's success is limited in the US - I guess they're just pissed American Football, Basketball, and Baseball aren't the number 1 sport in the world!) It's great Becks is here. Hopefully more high caliber players will come (and come sooner than their retirement age). But the success of soccer in the US depends on the already loyal soccer enthusiasts. That is the factor that matters most. Support the teams, and support the leagues! (Yes MLS is not the only professional soccer league in the US - www.uslsoccer.com)

GOLAZA! If you have never seen a soccer game broadcast in Spanish, then you are truly missing out on the passion of the game, the passion of sport in general! Nothing and no one in American Broadcasting comes close to capturing the passion of sport, success and heartache as the Hispanic broadcasters do. (The one exception I might consider is Al Michaels call of USA-Russia in 1980, "DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?") Only this happens during every goal during a Spanish broadcast. You don't have to understand the words to understand the intensity and beauty of the game.

Even though Becks promises 45 minutes, its not enough for LA to overcome my beloved Black-and-Red. DC puts on a clinic tonight to go through, though I would pay to see #23 curl one in from about 25 out. (As long as DC comes out on top that is!)

Training Update

Ok... so a pretty new thing I've been into is running - for the heck of it. The causes are twofold - last year I needed something to do for a PE class I was taking in college and a good buddy and colleague of mine (CW) is a run freak! So to this point I've done 2 5K's, and a half-marathon. I have another half-marathon on the horizon (Nov. 11 in Wilmington - Battleship Half-marathon) and my first full marathon (Feb. 16 in Myrtle Beach).

We just back from NJ last week, and my lower back has been sore from driving (10 hours + last Friday) so I ended up missing a long training on Saturday, and an easy run on Monday. But I sucked it up today and did 3 miles at a decent pace. I was hesitant because my back was still sore and it was HOT - close to 90 and near 100% humidity. But it turned out to be a good run and I was glad I got out there. Next run is Saturday, and should be about 4.5 miles to keep on pace with my training.

One of the things I hope to get linked to this page is my training log. So coming soon.

Topics upcoming: Superliga thoughts: DC United and LA Galaxy tonight at 10.

Initiation

Ok... so lets start with this blogging thing. This is something I've wanted to do for awhile and finally stumbled upon this place late tonight and got started on a whim. Of course now I can think of nothing to start ranting about so, check back soon to see what I've hit on. Thanks for visiting!