Rekindling the Incineration

If my plug didn't convince you to download the new Green Street album, check out this old video that was released a couple months ago.




GSTV ep 3 coming out soon, stay tuned.

The Boys are Back in Town

Not sure if you heard the news, but the US shocked the #1 national team in the World, Spain, with a 2-0 win in the semi's in the Confederations Cup. The Confederations Cup is a makeshift cup that was established a couple decades or so back, bringing in the winners of various FIFA tournaments (Euro, Gold, World Cup, etc) to one big winners tournament. As the Confederations Cup unfolded this summer, the US had a very unconvincing group stages campaign. I thought they weren't going to make it past the group, let alone past Spain, who had been playing phenomenal as of late.

All that changed today. I have to be honest, I gave the US little chance of beating the Spaniards today. I thought the difference in skill, creativity, and the Spanish's ability to hold possession would be too much for the US to control. But the US finally stepped up and played their style that brings them success. From what I heard in the commentary and watching the highlights, the boys gave it their all. They might not be as skilled as the Spanish (actually they aren't by a huge margin, see: Torres vs Dempsey, Puyol vs Bocanegra, Xavi vs. Donovan), but they relied on what gives them success: teamwork, hardwork, and solid defense.

Will this spark interest into soccer? No. Will this trend of pulling off upsets (1950 vs England, 2002 vs Portugal and Mexico) lead to a more consistent winning results vs top teams? Most likely not. But we can definitely enjoy the night. Not sure if we can pull the same effort against Brazil, but it shows the potential of the US team. We may not be the most skilled, but these guys work their tail off, and they never give up. This is the true definition of a team, who will give their hearts and bodies and throw everything on the pitch for the success of the team. Guys who will take that boot to the knee for their teammates. Guys who live and die by the whistle.

Its a shame that Bradley won't be able to play in the next game, but we can only sit back and see how far the US can go from here.

Re-Evaluating Life's Priorities

Before I begin, here is my plug for my boys from Green Street Records. Download their new album, "Chess Moves", now for free. I've been listening to their new stuff for the last day or so and its definitely an album to listen to, real nice blend of hip hop and jazz. You can check out their blog by clicking on the picture below.

Anyway, with that aside lets get to other things.



Just said goodbye to my friend James who will be traveling to Korea tomorrow night and eventually going to Kazakhstan for a 6 week missionary trip. I was there to help him out with a little philanthropy before his travels. I wished him the best before I left, and made sure that he knew that I respected what he did.

In a time when the finding a job is tough, struggling to make ends meet is even harder, James quit his job to do this mission trip. Moreover, the guy cleared his checking account to support his own trip, which is a volunteer trip. For him to give up the stable money payment and do something that he has a passion for may be considered stupid especially a time like this, but I totally respect the man. I respect him for giving up everything to pursue something he feels strongly for, whether its by god, conscience, or any other motivation. To take a risk like this should be revered, when 90% of us would never even consider doing what he is doing.

So as James leaves on his flight, I wish you the best of luck in what lies ahead for you. I know my donation for you is not much, but I hope you can get at least through the first 4 weeks with food before you have to get creative. I support you in what you do, and though I may not be religious, I'm glad that you've found something that drives you so strongly, something that I can confidently say the majority of the people in this world haven't found. Be safe, come back with stories, and may you spread your word.

From one brah to another:

Safe trip my man!

Day to Step Back and Recognize

Hope all of you got the time to take some time today to say what up to your dad. Give them a ring and let them know you appreciate everything they do for you. Got a chance to call my dad today, always nice to talk with the guy. For sure the most intelligent, resourceful, creative, driven, and inspiring person I know, along with being one of the funniest people I know.

If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to get the money from work to afford getting these:


Got a pair of those bad boys this past weekend from Best Buy. The sound quality coming out of these things is absolutely unreal. I just wear it now and listen to music regardless of if anyone is in the house or not. Its like a dance club in your head, no lie. Noise cancelling too so I don't hear anything outside, not even thunder.

Man... how quickly do I realize that as quick as you get that cheeze you blow it, so gotta get back on that grind soon.

Buena Suerte Carlito

This is a post just to wish you a good farewell, Carlos Tevez. You were a fantastic player for the Red Devils and scored some of the most important goals in the last two campaigns to secure Man United's success in winning trophies. Its a shame that we didn't show you as much respect as you deserved. Your work and dedication to fighting until the end was appreciated by every single United fan, and your work ethic is hard to match. Though you will be sorely missed, I hope that the next team that you find can give you the respect and appreciation that you rightfully deserve. Its a shame that we had to get some bloke with a horrible slick back comb and useless drive and energy, but you will always be a Devil in every Red Fan's eyes.


Cheers and good luck.

Curious Tidbit for the National Past Time

So here's a very interesting tidbit for you all:




WATCH OUT FOR MY BOYS.

"Running down the wing, here United Sing, 'au revoir Ronaldo'"

I haven't been able to put any posts down in a while, main reason due to work. In a nutshell, work is busy at times, its loose at times, but the people are always very nice. I like what I'm doing and I'm excited to see where my project takes me. But anyway, onto more important issues.

Along with the rest of the world, I have witnessed the horrific, conniving, classes Ramon Calderon step down and Florentino Perez take over. Once I saw that happen, and the discussions he had along with his ambitions to sign all the best players in the world, I knew that United's hold on Ronaldo would be slipping. Once Kaka signed for £56 Million (roughly 80-90 million USD), I knew that Ronaldo would be next.

And I wake up this morning with dismay to see the numbers posted up by Los Blancos in order to grab Ronaldo. £80 million pounds for the former Ballon D'or winner, 40 goal scorer. It looks like The Galaticos is returning to the days of Zizou. And while Ronaldo's skillset will definitely be missed in the next season, there is plenty of positives to look at with this transaction.

1. For one thing, Ronaldo near the end of the season was a cancer to the team. Much like Terrell Owens to all the teams he played for, Ronaldo was becoming less of the team player and more of the attention whore that his off-field antics warrant. I thought his fit he threw at the Manchester Derby was because he wanted to stay on and prove to the gaffer that he could play, a fighting spirit. But his attitude after that was just trash, and much like to Beckham's end at Old Trafford - if you mess with the gaffer, you're out. Its better to have him out than stay.

2. Lets not forget that Ronaldo didn't leave on a Bosman Transfer. Thats when he leaves for free, when the contract is over and the player freely moves between teams. £80 million pounds, in the words of Lupe is a lot of "cheese". With that money we can definitely reinvest in the team and recruit some fantastic players that can more than compensate for Ronaldo's absence. Lets consider the players that United could spend that money on.

- Carlos Tevez: he is the first player that we need to absolutely sign and get in a long-term contract. I was never happy with the signing of Berbatov, he just doesn't fit in with our quick, free-flowing attack. He's too slow, his tempo slows the entire rhythm of the team down, and he's not tough in the air and given his role as a target man he's useless. Tevez is a workhorse, and fits so well together with Rooney, who will now be the go to number 10 (and considering his performances for England I am so excited to see him play). He may not have scored as many goals as Ronaldo, but he has scored so many important goals for United at the most crucial times (goal against Liverpool at Anfield in the 07-08 season) he is the new Soklsjaer. I know he's frustrated, but we must show him the respect that he deserves and sign this fan favorite. Spending the required £25 out of our £80million will be crucial if Fergie wants to win the League for the fourth year in a row.

So that leaves us with £55 Million left to spend. Lets go with the most likely signing for Fergie if he should sign Tevez to a long term deal.

- Antonio Valencia: the winger from Wigan will be a solid replacement in the right side. He definitely can't replace the offensive attack of Ronaldo in one go, but he could definitely provide more cover on the right side in defence and back tracking. The guy has good potential, and though he may not have the goal-output he poses a dangerous threat on the right side and can deliver those killer balls through to Rooney or Tevez to run onto and finish. With his valuation at around £17 million, Steve Bruce would be more than willing to at least give his prized winger to his old manager. But now he's at Sunderland, so they will probably bump up his valuation. Lets assume that because everybody knows about Man United's purse, he gets sold for £20 million.







That leaves us with £35 million to spend. Now here's where we can get creative. That amount of cash is enough to buy the top players around the world. Lets take a look at the two we should focus on.

- Franc Ribery: We know this guy can play. After being discovered in in Berlin while playing for France in the World Cup, he has tore it up in the Bundesliga for Munchen. He is that attacking midfielder that we need, who can realy control the tempo of the game and change it entirely with one strike. He would be a great player, a better team player, and a better passer than Ronaldo. However, rumor has it that he's in talks with Madrid (Perez definitely is spending more this summer), and his valuation set by Munchen is £63 million (apparently set by a bid that United launched for him a few weeks back). Doesn't look possible that we can afford him.

Lets then take a look at how else we could spend the £35 million.

- Karim Benzema: If we could sign this guy, it would be a blockbuster trade for United. The striker has so much upside its just unreal how he is still in Ligue 1. In the games that I saw where he played against United in the Champions League last year, the guy has so much strength with the ball that he even held off Vidic. And the strike that he scored with against United at home in the first leg was a superb and sublime shot, being able to slot that shot with such a little window between Vidic and Ferdinand showed the potential of this great player. This guy is still young, only 21, he should be the priority in new signings once we lock down the other guys. It is true that he is a striker, but he is more than capable in playing on the wing, or we can switch our formation to a 4-3-3, even though we haven't had much success with it in the past.






So with these players, say we are able to sign Tevez, Valencia, and Benzema. I was thinking about this all day, and look at the potential line up that we could throw at opponents during the season.


Now look at that. Brown can still be a solid defensive right back, not as attacking as Rafael, but once that player develops he will be the next Gary Neville for the team. I really liked the way Fletcher has turned into his own this season. He's become a great defensive midfielder and it was unfortunate he wasn't able to play for the Champions League final last season in Rome. He can pair up with Carrick quite well. Benzema can play well with both feet and can be that winger, or slide up and be that third attack in front with Tevez and Rooney, who will be running circles around the competition. If Berbatov plays, he can probably fill in Tevez's role, but like I said before, I really don't see how his style fits into United's attack. Valencia can be that great passer on the right delivering great through balls or taking players on down the line.

That lineup is still very, very competitive without Ronaldo. We won't have those 40 yard screamers or those crazy set kicks (think goal against Portsmouth last year at home), but this team can play better together and attack together, and will score goals.



Lastly, for Madrid, they've spent so much money (and will spend another 37 million for David Villa) for attack they have forgotten about their defense. Sergio Ramos is not a defensive player, he is a attacking wing back. Pepe is not the type of center back that can anchor a defense like Cannavaro could. They need help in the back and in the midfield, and with the spending they are doing right now all teams know that they can get inflated prices for their players. A player like Xabi Alonso could cost up to £25 million thanks to Real's inflated prices.


Last note, the last time a big player for United was sent to Madrid - David Beckham - United picked up a young 17 year old from Sporting Lisbon who would later take the Red Devils to their third European cup. Now that Ronaldo's taking off to play for Madrid, there is also another young 17 year old that started appearing on the United First team this past season, including scoring that crucial 3-2 game winner against Aston Villa. His name is Fredrico Macheda.


over and out.

Humbling Gratitude

To everybody who wished me a good day I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I wish I had more time to add posts but I'm getting really busy now with this work thing and just enjoying the outdoors since its finally nice out. But thank you, thank you, thank you. Really lucky to have made so many great connections and friends these past 3 years in New York City and to be able to keep connections back home.