Hurrican Ike and Dynamo Basic News

Jeff and I are still recovering from Hurricane Ike. Jeff got almost 2 ft of water plus 1 ft of mold in his place, and I hear my house is fine, but haven’t returned yet. Where we work in our real lives remains closed; so we will either be posting very little trying to clean up, or a lot because we can’t go back to work yet… The Houston Dynamo home game against San Jose was postponed, and they are currently traveling for Champion League games. Before they left, the team did a wonderful thing and helped distribute supplies at a POD (Point of Distribution) for people in need of basic necessities (food, water, ice). Way to be Dynamo!

Hurricanes and Reserves Games

So if you have been following the blog, we have been short on entries recently due to…well…our real lives. Just as that was settling down a bit, Hurricane Ike heads this way, and Jeff and I both happen to live in areas promoting evacuation. So I’m headed out. Jeff might. But for sure he won’t have electricity if he stays. So the blog will continue to languish a bit, but we haven’t forgotten our little blog or the wonderful sport of soccer. Actually, we made it to the Dynamo vs FC Dallas Reserves game today, and it was wonderful as always. If you haven’t been to a reserves match for any team, I suggest you go. It is a bit more relaxed in the stands, you can clearly hear what they are yelling (and one KC Wizards player in particular has a potty mouth, as he was informed by the crowd), and it’s soccer (what could possibly be bad?).

Davis up for Goal of the Week

So it’s time for the Sierra Mist Goal of the Week again – and a Dynamo player is up for it! Here are my thoughts on the nominees:

Dan Paladini (Chivas USA): Against a severely depleted Toronto FC, a power strike between two defenders. It was alright.

Jason Garey (Columbus Crew): Chests the ball down and strikes past Reis, who was doing the splits. I might be tempted to vote for this one, but the Crew wear all yellow, which is just ugly; so I just can’t do it.

Will Johnson (Real Salt Lake): Beautiful little one-two (I think that’s how you type that out) to set up the strike, bounce off the right post into the net, and it’s Real Salt Lake scoring away (which almost never happens). But Johnson seems almost angry-happy about the goal, kinda like an “in your face” sort of celebration. I’m not a fan of that. So no voting for Johnson.

Santino Quaranta (DC United): This one is tough for me because if credit were being given to Dyachenko, I might have to strongly consider this for the grit and persistence he displayed in retaining possession. But since Quaranta would get the credit, and though it wasn’t a bad goal, I’m still going to have to pass on this one.

Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo): First, bad idea to have a game at 2 in the afternoon in Houston. I was sweating like a whore in church just sitting there. But both teams played hard, and Davis had a nice first touch strike around a defender and over Hartman who was making some brilliant saves all day long. I like it (surprise, right?).

Dane Richards Shares the Love

Dane Richards scores against the Houston Dynamo on Saturday, and then what does he do? A celebration dance? Jumps on the back, or the front, of a teammate? Pulls his shirt over his head, revealing ripped abs? No. He gives two high fives to teammates, mainly so he doesn’t leave them hanging, then runs over to the side to hug…the waterboy (really more like waterman, but you get the point). Way to share the love and celebrate with those that keep you from collapsing of dehydration. So my new career (since stretching DeRosario is looking like it might not work out) will be watergirl. Bring on the hugs.

Soccer Overload

There is just so much soccer tonight!  I’m in overload.  I thought I would maybe post about Clavijo leaving the Rapids, but quite frankly, my thought is “eh.” I’m not sure there was anyone supporting him staying; so he’s leaving. Eh.

Then there is the US MNT beating Guatemala in Guatemala in a World Cup Qualifier. Yay!

Then I was at the game watching the Dynamo wipe the floor with Chivas. I actually felt sorry for Chivas; it was that ugly. With so many injuries (I think 11 players were on the injury list), plus Klejstan out with the US, there just wasn’t much to be done. Preki only used one sub for injury purposes because frankly, there was no one on the bench. By no one, I mean no one healthy (Ante Razov was on the bench, and I don’t consider him a “no one”). If you really love the Dynamo (and who wouldn’t), or really hate Chivas (why?), then you might want to watch this game on TiVo if you missed it live.

Then there were like 80 (exaggerating, but not by much…) other World Cup qualifiers today. So I’m in OVERLOAD. A wonderful overload to be in, but overload nonetheless.

Sierra Mist GOW Thoughts

Another wonderful week of soccer has past, and now we should vote on the Sierra Mist Goal of the Week.  To help those of you who will never watch all videos, I think you should vote for Ricardo Clark.  I’m going to claim that it is just a coincidence that he happens to play for the Dynamo. But here are my thoughts on all of them.

Brian Carroll (Columbus Crew): nod for first goal in this MLS season, but that’s about it.

Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas): nod for 100th MLS goal, but then he clumsily falls on the goalkeeper.

Ronnie O’Brien (San Jose Earthquakes): One touch over Matt Reis (who I feel is just behind, in my non-biased judgement, the best damn goalkeeper in the league, Pat Onstad) – so not bad

Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo): Beautiful. First of the season. 25 yards out (actually remember being at the game and thinking, what the hell is he doing from way out here…oh…scoring a goal).

Mike Magee (New York Red Bulls): Beats defender in foot race to the ball (good), but not a super exciting shot (no need since he beat the defenders).

Dynamo win, 4-3

Here’s an excellent recap of last night’s Dynamo victory over RSL from the front office over at Forever Orange.

Dynamo stomp the Crew

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Pictured here: Mullan walks all over a Crew member the way Houston walked all over Columbus. Our ball-handling was clean and polished; our Boswell-led defense was down-right cerebral; and our entire team (particularly during the first half) had their eyes open for potential goals, captains of opportunity (rather than formulaic). [Please excuse brevity. & typos; typed this while walking to the car.]

The First Half Was Dynamo!

Two goals: Davis with a brilliant shot, Ching with a simple goal (but they count just as much!). Columbus: nil and clearly being dominated. Having a great game: Jaqua and Mullan; having a PHENOMENAL game: Geoff Cemeron!
I’m expecting half-time subs to rest some of our guys up for Tuesday.The subs came later in the second half, later than I would have expected.
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Starting 11?

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At Robertson Stadium. The starting 11…unclear. Based on the warm-up formation, only nine starters can be clearly identified. A death in the family has pulled me away from the news wires, so without knowing the details of our players’ health, it’ll be interesting to see who DOES end up starting.

Holden Turns 23 in China – was that yesterday for us?

Happy Birthday to Stuart Holden, who turns 23 today. I got to thinking though, if he is in China, then did he turn 23 yesterday? Now my head hurts. Anyways, happy birthday! Evidently he’s super excited about his little cake, and someone named Gloria gave him a card outside the hotel. That’s dedication. And according to USSoccer.com blog, he got “special attention” from fans. Hmmm, what exactly does that mean…

 

Holden turns 23 in Hong Kong with the Olympic team.

And a little birthday present for the rest of us…

MLS Fails to Play-Dead in Semifinals; Mex teams Respond with Punches

After the New England Revolution (MLS) beat Atlante (FMF) last night in a SuperLiga semifinal, Atlante behaved even worse and picked an even bigger fight than Pachuca did when they lost to the Houston Dynamo in the other semifinal, Tuesday night. It’s inexcusable that a Mexican (or any) side would do this after one of the semifinal matches, but that it happened after both is ridiculous! Soccer broadcaster and blogger, Kartik Krishnaiyer, has an interesting (albeit somewhat objectionable) analysis of why it happened.

Dynamo 2, Pachuca 0: The Fights

After the Dynamo won the Superliga Semifinal…well, let’s say Pachuca went down swinging. The events on the field are documented below by Bernardo Fallas over at The Chron. But the fights weren’t just on the field. As my co-author and I were filing out of the stadium, we saw a fight of our break out amongst some of the fans. I snapped these shots on my iPhone…it was happening pretty fast, please excuse the image quality.
Continue after the break to see the photos.

Happy Birthday to my Dynamo Hottie to Watch

 

Chris Wondolowski celebrates goal at the Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii. (Photo: Reuters)

Today seemed like a good day to combine two goals: 

1) Happy Birthday to Chris Wondolowski

2) Mention that I have a hottie to watch on pretty much every team in the MLS.  

I can watch games for the beauty and fun of it, but it’s always a little more fun to have a person in particular to follow along the way.  I think about half are married (I’m sure to hussies that are no good for them), but luckily, they don’t have to be single to be my hottie to watch. So for now for the Dynamo, it’s Chris Wondolowski. Wondolowski has been with the Dynamo since their beginning in Houston, and was with the original Quakes before that. Sometimes called by fans the “King of the Reserves,” he has led the reserve team in goals the past three years. He is a regular substitute with a few starts this year and last. More importantly, he fits the bill of tall, dark and handsome. With a really sexy smile. Happy Birthday, sugar.

Hottest Straight Man Alive

 

Mullan. Sigh. (Photo: Thanks kbhall93)

I don’t know if it’s gay culture or what, but a lot, and I mean A LOT, of gay men are super hot. You can almost see why some women might attempt to “change” them. I’ve learned to accept that they are fabulous as is (like my wonderful co-author) and still amazingly fun to look at. However, there are those men that are inexplicably hot and pretty confirmed straight. Enter Brian Mullan. Evidently he has a wife and two children (though that doesn’t necessarily rule out homosexuality), he doesn’t keep his eyebrows perfect (like all men should), and he doesn’t use much product in his hair (but I don’t think he needs to). But all that makes him more likely to be straight, and thus the hottest straight man alive.

 

 

Mullan, aka Hottest Straight Man alive, can argue with me anytime. Assuming I could get out a coherent thought. (Photo: AP by Bob Levey)