2010 World Cup Group Draws

Quick, name the #1 sporting event in the world? Okay, just read the title of the post . . . yep, the World Cup soccer tournament. In 2010 it will be in South Africa and is a tournament where national soccer teams compete against each other (like the olympics, which is another reason I like it).

I have three favorite national teams: the USA obviously, England since I just love that country and my mom lived there for awhile, and Argentina. A coach of my club team as a kid that was from Argentina and our shirts were blue and white striped like the Argentina national team, so I have supported them since then.

The first round of the tournament is to take the 32 teams that qualify for the World Cup and put them into groups of 4. The 4 teams in the groups, play a round robin mini-tourney and the top 2 teams in each group moves on in the World Cup. The groups were determined today so I thought that I would give my input on them and my opinion on who will advance from each group.

Group A: South Africa (host), Mexico, Uruguay, and France
The host country usually gets a big boost, but I just don't see it happening in this group.
Advancing: France and Mexico

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, and Greece
Korea would have a much better team if they were unified. No doubt, there are clearly two top teams in this grouping.
Advancing: Argentina and Greece

Group C: England, USA, Algeria, and Slovenia
I'm concerned that the US players will not adapt well to the environment and we don't have the most experienced team. However, I don't think that Algeria or Slovenia really provide a great test to the top two teams in this group.
Advancing: England and USA

Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, and Ghana
This is the first group that I think that the African environment will really help one of the teams — Ghana. Australia and Serbia are probably better teams overall, but I'm picking an upset and having Michael Essien playing for Ghana and Chelsea (the club that I support) helps them in my book.
Advancing: Germany and Ghana

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon
The Dane goalkeeper Sorenson could make this interesting, but not enough to change my pick.
Advancing: Netherlands and Cameroon

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, and Slovakia
Slovakia is an interesting team to me, but Paraguay plays such tough competition in South America that I think they are more prepared for this tournament.
Advancing: Italy and Paraguay

Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Ivory Coast, and Portugal
This is by far the most difficult group and one of the good teams will get knocked out in the first round. North Korea is the poor team that will likely get beat up in this group and Brazil is the clear favorite in the group. Portugal was one of my favorite teams to watch in the last World Cup, but I am hoping that Ivory Coast advances out of the group.
Advancing: Brazil and Ivory Coast

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, and Chile
Spain is one of the best teams in the world and to many the favorite to win the tourney. Like North Korea in Group G, poor Honduras doesn't have much of a chance in this group.
Advancing: Spain and Chile

So, there they are . . . my picks for the winners of the group stage of the 2010 World Cup in South America. So, what do you think?

Chelsea at Cowboys Stadium

Wow, what a time!! On July 26th, Collin went to watch Chelsea (my favority soccer club) play Club America in the new Cowboy's Stadium in Arlington. Our tickets were in the Chelsea section and only 8 rows from the field in the corner of the pitch. My buddy was able to make it available to us to see the whole stadium (you are only supposed to access one section of the stadium upon entry) and we got free snacks and drinks.

When we moved into our house in Grapevine we got a new TV package that included Fox Soccer Channel and that finally enabled me to watch more soccer. I've always been interested in English Premier League soccer and I have watched the World Cup pretty closely since 1986. But this new opportunity allowed me to actually get into the English Premier League on a consistent basis.

After watching many Premier League games, I really wanted a rooting interest so I contacted several of my friends who were from the UK and knew soccer. At first, I didn't want to support one of the "Big 4" teams (Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea) and considered teams that were close to the Cotswalds where my mom lived for over 5 years. But after much discussion and research, I settled on Chelsea. There are many reasons that I support Chelsea including their colors, the rampant lion and roses on their badge (reminders of the Enright coat of arms), thier players, and their location (close to a great part of London so I might actually be able to attend a home game sometime). After watching Chelsea for two seasons, I've become quite "obsessive" in my wife's opinion.

So, when I found out that Chelsea was coming to play in Dallas I knew I had to go! We got to the stadium early to watch the pre-game and check out the stadium and really enjoyed the environment. It was great to really be at a "football" match with my team on the pitch. I only regret two things: 1.) that we were not in our seats close to the field during Chelsea's goals but were watching from the suite while getting snacks and 2.) it wasn't an English match so we didn't learn that many chants and cheers.

The match was a pre-season tournament and I knew ahead of time that we wouldn't see many of the star players such as John Terry (the captain), Drogba, Anelka, Lampard, Ballack, and Cech was not in goal at all. It was still a thrill to get to see them and watch them play. They won the tournament and displayed their greatness beating some of the top teams from Italy and Mexico.

Opening of the 2008 Olympics

I just can't wait! I love the Olympics! I love the competition, the nationalism, seeing all the different countries represented, and watching sports that I normally wouldn't care anything about.

Getting ready for the Olympic games, I wanted a good schedule of when the various sports would be on TV. I was very disappointed in NBC's online TV schedule, but I did find a great page of the sports and their schedules.

Speaking of sports that I don't care anything about, here is a list of the sports that I won't watch unless nothing else of interest is on -- Badminton, Equestrian, Handball, Field Hockey, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Sailing, Shooting, Synchronized Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Trampoline, and Weightlifting. Now, this is just my personal opinion in an Olympic setting!
* Badminton and Table Tennis should just be recreational sports and not played competitively ever.
* Admit it, in Equestrian the real athlete is the horse not the rider so why not have Horse Racing also?
* Rhythmic Gymnastics and Synchronized Swimming are done by very talented people and some of it is really cool, but they really seem more like art done by athletes.

The sports that I really like to watch in the Olympics are -- Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Gymnastics, Judo, Pentathlon, Soccer (which has already started), Swimming, Tae Kwon Do, Track & Field, Volleyball, and Wrestling.
* I don't know why I like Basketball since I don't like the NBA much. But, it is a very international sport and it's fun in the Olympics.
* Beach Volleyball and Soccer are sports that I just like to watch but don't feel very much like Olympic games. I like them anyway though.
* Gymnastics, Track & Field, and Wrestling just scream Olympics to me and I have many happy memories watching them in the past.

What do you think?

Yes, I like the Olympics so much that this is my first blog post in awhile even before writing about our trip to Hawaii!

Reminded of Derek and Jim Redmond

I can't believe that it's time for the summer Olympics again. It's been crazy watching all of the controversy surrounding the torch relay. I would like to dwell on something more positive. I was recently reminded of one of the most personally inspiring moments in all of sports -- the story of Derek and Jim Redmond at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

I remember watching track and field on TV and getting ready to watch a typical runnng event, the 400-meters. However, the race was anything but typical! Derek Redmond from Great Britain seemed to be running well! However, coming around the turn, Redmond's hamstring suddenly pulled and he hit the track. I remember thinking how sad it was that a world-class athlete worked so hard to make it that far only to be injured during the race of his life. I saw him get back up and wave off the trainers coming to try to help him and it was obvious that he wanted to cross the finish line . . . to finish what he started. Then, his Dad came up to him (who had made his way onto the track from the stands) and put his arm around his struggling son and helped him hobble to the finish line. I've got tears in my eyes just typing this (once again proving beyond doubt what a softy I am).

It was an amazing show of determination by Derek Redmond and an outstanding show of love and support by his father, Jim. Lord, please let my kids know that their Dad loves and supports them! Hopefully, some day I'll get a chance to show them I support them even if it's not as dramatic and with the world watching.

March 2008 Scattershooting

I've wanted to write for awhile now, but I'm so busy! I decided that I would write here until I got a certain amount of things accomplished. Tonight, goal completed! Various things to write about, so here's some scattershooting . . .

The main thing keeping me busy at the moment is getting our house to sell! Lots of minor repairs, some yard work, painting, etc. Boy, I'm ready for this to be over. We're hoping to stay within our school district with a little more room for the kids to roam.

Gearing up for March Madness? This Oregon Urology clinic has a genius idea that some guys should gear down. They're pitching that guys need to get a vasectomy before the tourney starts so that you have 4 days of non-stop NCAA basketball watching without hassle! Genius! Here's the news article, here's the link to the actual clinic's news item. I was hoping to get the audio of the commercial that ran on the Eugene, Oregon sports station but I can't find it anywhere.

Collin got promoted to the rank of Bear in Cub Scouts -- way to go Collin!

Also, getting ready for fantasy baseball season with my buds in the northeast. I love reviewing the teams and players. I also like ranking the players in their positions. However, I sure miss live drafts! Everything in online now which makes the season so easy, but the automatic drafts where you have to rank every player in one big list is a whippin'! I don't want to decide now between Jake Peavy and Carlos Beltran -- I'd rather wait and see which top players are available at all of the positions and then pick the one I like best. After the automatic draft last year, I was left scratching my head over some of the picks wondering why it drafted the way it did. Oh well, it's still a lot of fun.

Kids Bike Riding

Boy, do I miss writing on this blog -- I've got to try to make more time for it.

Anyway, Collin has been riding his bike on two wheels now since this Spring -- I meant to write about it here but . . . . We got a really good tip that helped Collin and I wanted to pass along that really helped us -- start off riding downhill! It helps them not have to pedal and they can focus on keeping their balance. It worked like a charm for Collin.

What made me think about this now was a video from DadLabs.com about bike riding. I like the site because they are encouraging participation in parenting from Dads and they're from Texas.

Cub Scout Camping Trip

After a Spring and Summer full of rain, we finally got to go camping last weekend -- well at least Collin and I did. This was the first of hopefully several Cub Scout camping trips.

Did I forget to mention here that Collin was a Cub Scout now? I was a Cub Scout for about 6 months when I was a boy, but my den was boring and I didn't have many friends that were in it. Collin has a great den with several of his friends participating. He is learning a lot, and frankly so am I.

This campout was a Rocket Academy at Sid Richardson Scout Ranch on Lake Bridgeport about an hour and a half away. The kids all got to make a rocket and shoot it off on a neat launch pad. Collin also got a bull's-eye with a BB gun and got to shoot a bow and arrow for the first time. We went on a long hike through the trees and brush and climbed the rocks along the bank of the lake. On our hike we saw a snake, several cool spiders, frogs, and neat rock formations. It wouldn't be a proper campout if we didn't have a campfire and look at the stars. The weather was perfect -- warm enough for shorts and T-shirts during the day (high of 71) but cold enough for needing to snuggle into your sleeping bag at night (low of 39).

Collin's favorite part was being with his friends and archery. My favorite part was the Council Campfire and especially the flag retirement ceremony led by the Boy Scouts. The Council Campfire is always on the last night of the campout and all of the boys and leaders are there. Packs can sign-up to lead a song or perform a skit and awards are given out for the various activities. There is generally a Boy Scout Troop that helps coordinate the camp as a service project. The Boy Scouts that helped us was Troop 32 and they did an excellent job.

Baseball and Fireworks

I hope you all had a happy 4th of July! We had a great 4th. We even got to take naps in the afternoon because we went to the Ranger's game last night -- complete with fireworks after the game. I always enjoy teaching the boys some more about baseball and Collin kept score (see previous post about that) a good amount during the game.

The fireworks and the music were great and it was fun seeing the stadium with the big lights turned off -- it looked so cool! Caris was very scared at the beginning but I got her in my lap and covered her ears. After a few minutes she was fine and enjoyed the sights if not the sounds. Leaving the stadium she said "dos tings dat care me, dey was pwetty dough" (those things that scared me, they were pretty though).

I was a little conflicted because Jered Weaver was pitching for the LA Angels and he's on my fantasy baseball team. He got the loss, only struck out 2, and gave up 3 earned runs in 5 innings. Chone Figgins got a run and hit .500 for the game. K-Rod didn't get into the game since it wasn't a save situation. Mark Teixeira is the only Ranger on my team and he's still on the DL. Forgetting the fanasty baseball -- the Rangers won so that was fun!

Thanks to Dr. Timbo for the tickets!

Skiing and Dogsledding

Well it's Spring Break and we are loading up the minivan and heading to Colorado! When my wife and I were young with no kids in tow, we used to drive straight through but now we generally stop in Amarillo or Dumas. The kids love the hotel and we get a break and split up the travel time. I respect my parents even more knowing that we did road trips without a portable DVD player.

My mom lives in Denver and we spent some time hanging out with her. We got to see my sister play volleyball since she was here for a tournament and it was great to be able to support her. We went to the best brunch ever at the Brown Palace in downtown Denver.

After spending some good time in the city we went up to the mountains. Mom bought into a great time share house near Breckenridge. The timeshare is with an individual that she knows not a huge corporation. The house is totally great -- 4 big bedrooms, large couches, and several foutons (sp?) so it sleeps lots of people. It's literally on the mountain but not ski-in and ski-out. Breckenridge is a great town to with lots of shops, restaurants, and fun. The skiing was really good with a huge mountain with all types of terrain. My oldest boy did well skiing once he got his confidence up but my youngest boy wasn't that into it but he went up a few times.

It my youngest boy's birthday so the last full day we were in the mountains my mom planned a special event for him -- dog sledding! Who knew that dog sledding would be his thing and not skiing! It was so fun! My little girl could not go since she is too young so Coop picked me to go along with him and Mommy to stay back with sister. The place we went furnished a body suit for all of us and helmets for the kids. We went out and met the dogs which were so sweet. Most were huskies but one was a normal dog (a mutt that looked kind of like a hound and spaniel mix). The other neat thing about the dogs was that they belonged to a lady that was in the military and was deployed to Iraq. During her deployment, she loaned the dogs to the place we went and asked them to keep the dogs running and happy.

We walked through the basics of driving -- say "hike" to go and hit the brake to stop since they don't really want to stop. The "brake" is basically a flat piece of metal that you step on and it digs into the snow and the dogs feel the resistance. You have to stay on the brake when you switch drivers or the dogs will take off they are so eager to get moving. The sled was like you would expect but they had padding in the "cargo" area and one rider sat there during each driver's turn. The guide was on a snowmobile that was pulling a sleigh with bench seats for the other members of the group. There were four from our family (my mom, two boys, and me) and one other lady along with us. We went through really cool trails through the trees and thick snow and a few more open areas (that's when the boys would drive most). The kids did great and loved it. Coop was really in his element. He was hilarious sitting in the passenger area of the sled eating snow (not the yellow kind) with his legs crossed and his cool sunglasses on. Everytime we would stop he would get snow for the dogs to eat and they loved it.

The most intense moment was the time when I was driving with both boys in the sled and I flew off the back and went head first into a snow drift. Yep, visualize a cartoon where one side of the sled hits a rock hidden in the snow and it throws me (think "arms flapping and feet barely touching the snow") into the snow bank on the other side of the trail. My legs were sticking out up in the air and it took me a few seconds to dig out and run after the sled. Literally a few seconds because I was worried about the boys -- they were on the sled by themselves and the dogs were running fast! I was really afraid that the sled had tipped over and the dogs kept running pulling the sled over the top of them. Blessedly, what actually happened was the rock threw me off, but the weight of the boys kept it steady and it fell back in place. In our training, the guide said that if the driver fell off for the passenger to stick your feet out the sides and dig your heels into the snow and act like a break for the dogs to slow down. My oldest boy did exactly that and performed great in a scary moment under pressure. After we realized that everyone was okay and I thanked God that there wasn't a tree where I landed, off we went again and got some good hot chocolate for everyone!

Indoor soccer

After the World Cup last summer some of us guys in the church decided that we wanted to play soccer together. Some of us just thought about going to a park to play once a month or so but we threw around the idea of starting a team to play in a not-to-competitive league.

Well, a few of the guys took it seriously and did some research. We are now playing indoor soccer in an Over 30 division. It's exhausting but very fun! We are horrible right now but I'm sure that we'll get better after the learning curve.

Our team name is LED Feet. The LED stands for Laymen, Elders, and Deacons and the fact that we get tired easy after running around!

Boise State -- what a story!

I watched the best part of the Rose Bowl between Oklahoma and Boise State last night -- what a game! Some people thought that a smaller school from a smaller conference couldn't hand with a big school from a big conference. I read this post this morning and this very much sums up my feelings about the NCAA Football Playoff meaning of this game. The following is from Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated in his recent blog post.

On paper, the 2007 Fiesta Bowl was nothing more than a minor upset -- the No. 9 team beat the No. 7 team. In reality, it was so much more than that. Boise State beating Oklahoma in a New Year’s Day bowl game is college football’s equivalent to George Mason reaching the Final Four, with one extremely significant difference: George Mason had its chance to compete for the national title; Boise State does not. Like it or not, Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 just became the single biggest argument to date for a college football playoff.

You’re going to hear it a lot in the coming weeks. If Boise State can beat Oklahoma, why shouldn’t it get a shot at Ohio State? And while the BCS commissioners can offer any number of general arguments against a playoff, the fact is there is no reasonable answer to that specific question.

I was rooting for Oklahoma since they're in the Big 12, but man what a story and what gutsy calls. I'm glad that I stayed up late to watch this game!

Orange belt in Tae Kwon Do

Well, we did it! Collin and I passed our orange belt test today with Mamaw, Papa (my dad), Heather, Caris, and friends Jake and Suzanne in attendance. What a workout!

They started us on the Chon-Ji form (kata in other martial arts) which took the longest for us to perfect for this test so that was perfect. Then, we did all of the punches, kicks, and combinations. We broke up with partners next and demonstrated self-defense and one-step sparring. One-steps are a basic set of four movements to defend against an attacker (one block with follow-up counters). It's like a mini-form, not really fighting.

Before putting all of our pads on and really sparring (touch fighting), we did board breaks which is the most fun part but mentally challenging. We don't ever practice it except for the tests, but it's really fun because you have no idea if you can really do it! I was so proud of Collin! For our last test, the Gold belt, we only were "required" (really only required for age 13 and above) to break one board with your hand. Last time, the board really intimidated Collin and he kept stopping his hand at the board instead of going through it for the break. For our Orange belt, we were "required" to break two boards -- one with our hand and one with our feet. Our favorite instructor, Mr. Garner, worked with Collin very well and told him exactly what to do. Collin broke both boards and was walking on air! It was so fun to share that with our family and friends who were there. Collin broke his boards with a hammer fist (think of using your fist like a hammer) and an axe kick (coming down on the board with your heel). I broke my boards with a knife hand (think karate chop) and a side kick (using the outside edge of your foot toward your heel).

Sparring is Collin's favorite part, it's so fun to see this sweet, gentle boy really going at it! It was a lot of fun, but exhausting! Thankfully, we went out for a great lunch afterwards to celebrate. It was a great lesson to both of us in hard-work paying off and the rewards of self-discipline, practice, focus, and giving our best effort.

Tae Kwon Do update

Collin and I are working toward our orange belt in Tae Kwon Do on August 26th. I was a little worried about our progress until our workout on Saturday when lots of things really came together for us and now we have all week to practice.

The order of the belts is White (beginner), Gold, then Orange. In order to get a new belt, we must demonstrate all of the requirements for an instructor individually and then pass a formal belt test. The requirements are various punches, kicks, self-defense, forms (or katas, simulated fights), and in our class scripture memorization. The belt test itself consists of the demonstration of all of the requirements in front of multiple instructors who evaluate your mastery of the skills. Also, you must spar (or fight) with an instructor using the skills that you have learned.

I have been fascinated with martial arts since reading comic books as a kid. Other than just thinking it's cool, now I can see its value in life especially taking it with Collin. Martial arts develops self-discipline, respect, fosters hard work, and exercise. This is evident in the primary Tenets of Tae Kwon Do (easier to remember using the acronym CHIPSI): Courtesy, Humility, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-control, and an Indomitable Spirit.

July Scattershooting

Not much time to post, so here are the highlights:
* World Cup: I am so glad that Italy beat those Frenchmen! Collin even got into watching it with me.
* Church Budget: I'm on our church's Finance Committee and after a very interesting process (and a lot of work by our staff) we've almost got the draft budget worked out.
* Potty Training: Started yesterday with Caris -- she's so ready and doing great so far. Enough said on that topic.
* New Web Site: We rolled out a new Web site at work recently. Lots of good lessons learned and set up well for another related site in a few months. I'll share the URL next week most likely. I continue to be amazed at how strategic Web work should be to do it right.
* Speaking Engagement: I was asked to speak at a Church Leadership Conference. I'm honored and will post more about that later.

Argentina Messi'd it up

At lunch, I headed straight to a sports bar and watched the tail end of the Argentina vs. Germany World Cup quarterfinal. What a match!! Both teams played very well and the game completely lived up to the hype.

The referee did a good job overall of calling the match by keeping the card count down and letting the teams play. The players ran their legs off on both sides -- Germany's Ballack really needs oxygen and a good massage about now. The stats will likely show that the game was pretty even especially the shots on goal.

Disclosure: I had an Argentine coach when I played as a kid so I was rooting for them. My real problem has to do with Argentina's coaching. In such a key match in the World Cup, where the heck is Lionel Messi!! In the 72nd minute, they subbed out Riquelme (one of their top players) for Cambiasso. Now I understand some of the reasons -- Riquelme was clearly winded and not attacking and at the time they were up by a goal and defensively minded. Also, you could not have predicted the forced substitution due to injury of your goalkeeper which happened right before the Riquelme substitution. However, you're playing Germany in the World Cup Finals get one of your star players in the game. It's criminal that Argentina is going home right now after a match where Messi didn't play at all and that's all Pekerman's fault!! Okay, I'm done venting.

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to watch the final parts of the game where most of the action took place. It was great to be somewhere where we all were yelling, fussing, clapping, and having a great time rooting for our teams. England plays against a surprising Portugal team tomorrow morning so I hope to get to watch some of it. England is the other team that I support since I like the country so much. I like watching Brazil just because they are so talented but they better start playing up to their potential since they don't have teams like poor Japan to beat up on anymore.

World Cup Thoughts

I love the World Cup and one reason is because it's like the Olympics which I also love -- absence makes the heart grow fonder, it's only every 4 years! Also, like the Olympics, it's a national thing and it's fun to see the various countries represented. I played soccer for many years as a kid and really like the sport but I can't really say that I'm a huge soccer fan in every day life. Back to the Olympics, I don't really follow downhill skiing or moguls except during that magical time every four years either.

The US drew a tough group -- Italy and the Czechs are both very good and Ghana has been called the "Brazil of Africa" definitely one of the top teams from that continent. Our match against the Czechs yesterday was a horrible start for our team. Due to work, I only got to watch about 25 minutes of the game at lunch (the last of the game) and we did not look good. Our passes were off-target, we couldn't keep control of the ball, our defenders didn't seem to attack and were too passive, and the Czechs just really out-classed us. Unless Bruce Arena really lights their fires, we have little chance against Italy. I just hope that Ghana upsets the Czechs and we beat Ghana.

Tae Kwon Do

My 7 year old son and I started taking Tae Kwon Do this year and we both really like it! It's a very new experience for both of us and it is both challenging and rewarding. We work out in a local church facility and the program is called the Christian Martial Arts Association. Along with the standard American Tae Kwon Do requirements for achieving a belt rank, we also must memorize scripture. My son and I both tested successfully for Gold belt (the 2nd ranking) and it was a wonderful rite of passage for us. We are thankful for the physical exercise, mental focus, spiritual training, and wonderful people that we have met during our CMAA training.