Entropy On Highway 228

Taken midway between Brownsville and Crawfordsville.

Rage To Live: Enough Is Never Enough

Why this song, why now? Cause I'd just played the wonderful Luxury Condos Coming To Your Neighborhood Soon album earlier this week. Also, this one one of my first song purchases on iTunes, now that I've overcome that resistance recently. (There's still a whole lot more that I'd like to see available on that venture, but that's another story entirely.


I also used to read New York Rocker regularly, so I was not unaware of Glenn Morrow's band back in the day; what I had totally forgotten about was that there was a video for this classic track. Thank you cheapguitar for putting this one up, this song never gets old.

Luka Modrić's Goal Vs. Chelsea: Spurs 1 Chelsea 0

Watching Aaron Lennon on the right side mesmerizing part of the Chelsea defense left a wide swath of midfield open, more than enough space for a cross to a wide open Luka Modrić to quickly blast a shot by Petr Cech. It could have been 2-0 to Spurs a couple of minutes later on a similar play, but Modrić drilled that one straight into the turf. Still that goal was enough to give the home side a well-deserved win at White Hart Lane today in an exciting match for Spurs fans.



Heurelho Gomes played a critical part in the win, with some vital saves throughout the game, though the one-handed swat of a John Terry shot late in the game will be the one fans recall. Luck was also on Spurs side as Alex had a wide-open shot hit the top of the woodwork moments later. After all of the crap Spurs have been through this year, it felt great to have the three points as a reward for a job done, for Spurs were the dominant side for the majority of game, and it took the last 15 minutes or so for the Blues to get untracked.



Undefeated against Chelsea for the season, gonna have to do some research to find out the last time that happened. COYS!!!!



GUARDIAN REPORT , SPURS REPORT

Zoltran Gera's Goal Vs. The Red Devils

Just wasn't their day, was it? Too bad, so sad.

Fulham 2 Man United 0: Hands Up If You Hate The Reds

Very pleasing day all around for the rest of the Premiereship as a nine-man United stagger at Craven Cottage. Of course, coming on the heels of a 1-4 hiding from Liverpool makes this one even better, and the petulant antics of both Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are just the cherry on top of the cake. Best quote of their antics came from the Telegraph report:


Indeed, United could probably count themselves lucky that they aren't losing Cristiano Ronaldo for a couple of games because, on a day when he too lost the plot with his posturing and moaning, he could easily have been sent off himself just before the end.

It was bizarre; amid laughs and chants of outrage, Ronaldo kept showing off the top of his thigh to Dowd to suggest that he had been assaulted by Fulham's defenders. If it had been one of his female admirers, it might have been different; the official was so unimpressed he gave Ronaldo, who had already been booked, a final warning.



Paul Scholes, pictured above, had been sent off early in the match for the handball on the backline. Danny Murphy then converted on the subsequent penalty kick, and Zoltan Gera settled the matter in the dying minutes with an acrobatic kick that had the home crowd roaring with delight.




For Spurs fans, hearing the news that a totally ineffective Dimitar Berbatov was taken off at half time will was just an added bonus on a lovely day of football, the London derby of Spurs/Chelsea to be addressed on another post.






TELEGRAPH REPORT , SOCCERNET

Aston Villa 1 Spurs 2: Good News, Bad News

Good news is that Spurs garnered a well-deserved victory over Aston Villa in a place where Spurs have failed miserably in recent years, it was the first Spurs win in Villa Park since 2003. The bad news is that with the loss Villa continued their recent poor form and have slid to fifth in the EPL, allowing a resurgent Arsenal to gain the coveted fourth spot. Still, there's lots of football left to be played, so let's see if Martin O'Neill can find a way out of this rough spot.



On to the game itself, Spurs found themselves up a goal rather quickly as an Aaron Lennon cross into the box, but unfortunately goalie Brad Freidel didn't punch the ball out far enough, allowing an alert Jermaine Jenas to head the ball into the net in the fifth minute.



Villa regained their composure fairly quickly, and they had a lot of decent movement, getting a few good shots on goal, but for those were quickly neutralized by some good defense, some good goalkeeping, and the woodwork on one shot. However, Villa's Ashley Young was turning Didier Zokora around on the left side, leading Spurs coach to replace him in the 35th minute with Vedran Corluka, who did a better job keeping him in check.


Spurs put the game out of reach, for all effective purpose, early on in the second half when a Robbie Keane ball headed for the goal from the right side was tapped in by Darren Bent. It looked to me that the ball might have gone in anyway, but Bent did not do any harm by making sure of that fact.


That goal kind of shocked both the Villa team and fans, and for most of the rest of the second half, Spurs were the more confident side. However, the home side finally had something to cheer about in the 85th minute when John Carew out-leaped Jonathan Woodgate for a fine goal off of a long cross from near the right sideline. That galvanzing moment was not further capitalized upon though, and in the end once again, Spurs were clearly deserving of all three points.



Chelsea at White Hart Lane is up next, also on television, things are certainly looking up for Spurs at the moment as they move up the table and away from the relegation zone.



SOCCERNET , GUARDIAN REPORT

Because You Can't Spell LOSER Without OS: B**V*RS To The CBI

The inaugural College Basketball Invitational had some decent teams in its 16 TEAM FIELD last year to be sure, but I don't know anybody who actually managed to watch even one game last year. And just as occasionally once in a while a team with a losing record manages to make the NCAA Tournament, it might seem inevitable that a such a team would be found in the CBI after the NIT makes its picks. Last season the CBI had the Cincinnati Bearcats, who finished the regular season with a 13-17 record, although that was in an admittedly strong Big East conference.


Can't quite figure out what the attraction is for that team across the valley, who have no wins against ranked teams and just one against a Pac-10 team playing in the NCAA, which would be USC in the opening weekend of league play this year. I'm quite certain that none of my coworkers will be overly bragging about being selected to play in this year's tourney, so at least I'll be spared that. And if the shoe were on the other foot, I know that I wouldn't be thrilled backing into a tourney like that with a losing record playing bad basketball.


Here, then, is to a good tournament with the lesser teams being quickly vanquished, and hopefully for some more recognition for the tournament and its sponsors; we've all got to earn a dollar these days.



OREGONLIVE STORY

Thanks Mike!

With the somewhat surprising news today that Oregon football coach Mike Belotti is STEPPING DOWN to become Oregon's Athletic Director, the speculation begins as to how this will affect the upcoming season in terms of coaching changes, player roles, recruiting, etc.


What I will acknowledge here is the great job Belotti has done in his 14 years, with quite a number of highs balanced with some devastating lows. What Duck fan will ever forget the home debut of Belotti, the incredible come from behind victory over Illinois in 1995, the astonishing rout of a good Michigan State team in 1998 in Autzen, the magical season of 2001, or the satisfying double whammy to end his tenure this season, a blowout of Oregon State to deny them a Rose Bowl berth followed by a beatdown of an explosive Oklahoma State team in the Holiday Bowl?


Some of the low points include the Cotton, Seattle and 2006 Las Vegas Bowl debacles as well as regular season losses to the likes of Indiana. Through it all, Belotti has been a calming presence on the sideline. In this day and age, it was certainly refreshing to see that on display here for so long.


Hard to say what the b**v*r whiners in loserville will do now that their favourite punching bag is gone, but on second thought, such speculation on lower life forms is ultimately a futile exercise.


The pic is from the 1995 football poster, autographed by Belotti on the first fan day. That event took place after practice on a hot day in August of 95, on the turf of Autzen.


Thanks again for so many magical memories (there really are way too many to mention) Mike, it's been a pleasure!

He Said, She Said, Part Two: Radiohead Vs. Miley

Following the "NEWS" of the reported exchange between Steven Taylor and Cristiano Ronaldo comes a tale of a "snubbed" teen "star". This would be referring to what supposedly happened between Miley Cyrus and Radiohead, "the reason I love music" in her own words. The English band apparently failed to comprehend the magnitude of the chance to meet the teen "idol" at last month's Grammy Awards.


Her additional qualifier at her disappointment that entailed the quote of Stinkin' Radiohead! I'm gonna ruin them, I'm going to tell everyone." is what gives this story a sad twist; much as the words of a Newcastle defender will fail to impact Ronaldo's love life, so too will the words of a teen "star" do much to impact the popularity of Radiohead around the world.


STINKIN' RADIOHEAD!

Taylor Vs. Ronaldo: He Said, She Said Drama Apparently False

Reports are out now that the half-time tunnel tussle between Man United's Cristiano Ronaldo and Newcastle's Steven Taylor that consisted mostly of"You're rubbish!" "Yeah, well you're ugly!" didn't actually happen, according to Taylor. I'd sure hate to think that's what passes for trash talk these days, but with all of the girls falling for Ronaldo, I seriously doubt he's troubled in the least what the Newcastle United defender has to say about anything.

Scattered Showers In Albany

A lovely warm-ish day today brought the threat of thunderstorms all over Oregon today, this is a shot of the Albany area today around 1:30 p.m. looking north on 99W, just south of Halsey.

Man U. 0 Spurs 0 : (4-1 Pens)

Pretty good match for the "worthless" Cup today, both sides not at full strength but both of them giving their all for another piece of silverware. The feed I watched was pretty good, it only gave out at the very end when the Reds had converted three penalty kicks to just one for Spurs.


Aaron Lennon and Luka Modric were men of the match for Spurs, whilst goalie Ben Foster, who made a couple of excellent reflexive saves, was Man Of The Match for the Reds. John O'Shea was lucky not to have been given a second yellow card midway through the second half, but Spurs also got the benefit of a non-call on Ledley King's tough challenge on Cristiano Ronaldo just inside the box a couple of minutes later, much to his displeasure, and for which he was given a yellow card. I got a laugh from one of the announcer saying "that for once, Ronaldo is right" in the context for his propensity of diving.


With Spurs misfiring on their shots on goal, the thought came to my mind of the last time Spurs faced Foster, when the goalie was playing for Watford. Of course, that was when goalie Robinson launched a free kick that bounced over the heads of a couple of Watford defenders and then over the head of Foster into the back of the net.



GUARDIAN, SOCCERNET

Mike Says no mas To All-Bacon Diet

Checking in at RiffTrax for an update on Mike Nelson's pledge to eat NOTHING BUT BACON for the month of February, the news was bad as Mike proved to be all-too-human by failing in the challenge. On the brighter side, my faith in humanity hasn't been damaged, and Mike looked healthy at the press conference announcing the results from his attempt.







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