TORONTO VS SEATTLE THIS SUNDAY - I'M GOING!

I have tickets to see Toronto FC play Seattle Sounders this Sunday. I am excited about this on so many levels! First, Seattle is an expansion team, whose first year in the MLS (last year) was so successful that they made it to the semi-finals in the playoffs. Second, Seattle has a player named Fredy Montero, a Colombian striker whose career I have been following since he was 18 years old and playing in Colombia. (Everyone who knows me knows I ADORE Colombian football. It's wide open, attacking, and all teams usually play in a 4-2-2-2 formation. The players are technically gifted and fast.) Seattle also has Freddie Ljungberg, late of Arsenal, who has been the team's inspiration since he came on board. The two Freddies, as they are called, are Seattle's best, most exciting players. I can't wait to see them. Oh yes, and the team is partly owned by Drew Carey, the American comedian.

Anyway, some pics of Seattle vs Real Salt Lake from a couple of weeks ago. Seattle is in the green kit. Of note, Real Salt Lake won the MLS championship last year and also has some great players.



( MORE PICS HERE )

THE DEPRESSED AND DEJECTED BUNDESLIGA WEEKEND PICSPAM

There were some good results, some not so good.

This photo is from the Koln-Bochum match on April 16, which wasn't so good for Bochum.



( CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICSPAM )

QUOTES FROM A BOOK ABOUT LIFE AND THE CHOICES WE CAN MAKE

At times I guess everyone thinks about life and whether or not they're happy with the way things are. A long time ago when I was part of the rat race, commuting to work at a high-pressure job with a stockbroker where time and money were the essence of everything, I realized after a few years that I wasn't happy. When I thought about why this might be without being in denial or trying to bullshit myself, I realized that it was because I hated certain things about the lifestyle. I hated rushing, always rushing from one thing to another, feeling frazzled. I hated being tied to a phone...no, being a slave to a phone. Not feeling free. Not feeling like I was the boss of me. And I guess the big lie that we all tell ourselves is that MONEY will make the difference. You know..."once I get enough MONEY things will be better!" Well, truly they will NOT get better when you come into money if other, more fundamental things are wrong in your life. True dat.

Anyway, I am currently reading this book called "On Mexican Time" by Tony Cohan. It is about a writer living in California with his wife who is an artist. She paints and she is an artisan too, who is very much interested in folk art, regional crafts, that sort of thing. One year they took a trip to Mexico, to a place called San Miguel de Allende. They fell in love with it, made the decision to uproot and move there, sold their California house and went to Mexico! Life was now exactly the way they wanted it.

A couple of paragraphs from the book made a huge impression on me. I'd like to share them. They are below the cut. They are not long at all.

( MORE HERE )