steve’s posterous

TOTAL FOOTBALL: Orange CRUSH!

NOW THAT is how soccer is supposed to be played. Wow, what a game. I've been a fan of Dutch soccer for a few years now- it started with just noticing their bright orange jerseys, then learning about "total football" a style the dutch invented in the 70's which was like a "controlled chaos" of attacking soccer. I picked up this book:

Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer, and read it. It tied the cultural revolution in Holland to the soccer revolution Johan Cryuff inspired as a player. Ever since then, i've watched them in 2 world cups, and rooted for their fun, elegant style of soccer, which seems so great, yet has not produced a world champion yet.

I hope some day to visit. However, today I at least got to witness (on HD projection!) an amazing display of some of the best soccer I've ever seen as the Dutch destroyed Italy 3-0! They were up 2-0 and STILL were attacking. Finally, great soccer is rewarded- and against the worst of soccer- the Italians (although you got to love their passion- for playing- and for flopping!).

I'm inspired. Here's a shot from one of the most amazing goals I've ever seen!

Simply awesome. GO ORANJE!

not to mention- one of the BEST kits i've ever seen. Great jersey (love the collar)- and awesome light blue socks.... 

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Culinary Adventure II: BBQ Oysters w/ cole slaw, mango salad and firehouse DBA beer

       

Tonight, inspired by an enthusiastic fish monger, I tried BBQ oysters. You just plop em on the grill, take em off when one opens. Take em out, put some lemon, salt and Tapitio hot sauce, and get a brew. Also served was Amy's amazing mango salad and coleslaw, and i tried out Firestone Double Barrel Ale. Really good stuff!

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Culinary Adventure I: Parmesean Risotto

Made Risotto for the first time! Did the classic Parm version, with some parsley, then later we ended up putting some broccoli in it. AMAZING. I had risotto a long time ago, but it was over cooked and i thought it was much. This you can cook perfecto to al dente. Amazing! Whoever you are, you should come over for some. Not hard, but time consuming and uses cooking wine, which i never seem to have (need to go load up). Any suggestions are good, cheap cooking wines?

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Monopoly

A few friends were over saturday night- and we decided to go retro and play a game of monopoly. It was surprisingly fun. I got really unlucky in the first few rounds, and in monopoly, as in life- if you get behind early (think early childhood development) its really hard to make up for it later. I did my best, wheeling and dealing as much as possible and took some pretty big risks. And it didn't turn out. But it was better than dying a slow, predictable death. I'd rather go down trying than not.

Anyways, it was such fun, we're playing again. I guess that's were monopoly is not like life- there's always the next game. Although, I suppose there's always another day. Got to pick yourself up and try again!

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EL MADMO

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Curse you Achilles!

Ugh. Sprained (hopefully) my ankle real bad like 2.5 months ago. Its been slowly getting better (I still play soccer on sundays and bike most days). But now, strangely in BOTH legs, my achilles tendon is really inflamed. Today at soccer, it felt really tight- which was bad because I'm really fit cardio wise, so my body and mind (I was feeling a bit competitive today, mostly because i'm a 1/4 step behind where i need to be, prob b/c of my ankle) want to push it a whole lot harder.

Ugh. Anyone have achilles problems? Any tips? I can't stretch it much b/c of my ankle (in one foot). Silly Achilles, he should have gotten his whole body dipped into the river. Or maybe i should just rest it... Nah, that's not going to happen. Can't wait for Sunday for the next Sunday Soccer. Playing Ultimate tomorrow too (if you wanna play, 10 AM at Springer Elementary in Los Altos!).

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They're Back!

Last night I went to Santa Clara's Buck Shaw Stadium to watch the New San Jose Earthquakes play the Houston Dynamo, the former San Jose Earthquakes, whom I loved while they were here. It was an awesome game; San Jose beat Houston 2-1 and really dominated the game. Very surprising for an expansion team.

It was a strange experience- I missed some of my favorite players, who are now Houston players. De-Ro, Mulrooney, Onstad... sad but good to see em. But... it was strange too now- they were not my team anymore. The new quakes played really well, extremely hard, and won! And, one Dynamo player- Brian Mullan- was such a punk. And i realized, he was always a punk, but you just don't care as much when he's not on your team!

Fun night. Go quakes!

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Soccer as Drama

Wow. What an amazing game. What drama. Amazing goals, amazing shots hitting the post (like this picture of Drogba's shot), fights, red cards, cramping players, penalties. Ronaldo's miss. Terry's slip and miss. Vander Saar's block.

Amazing.

I'm going to see the Quakes play the Houston Dynamo (former quakes) tomorrow. Should be fun!

Soccer is truly the most best sport. God must have been pleased when his creation started kicking a ball around.

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The Dude

Today is a sad day. Paul Ruel, whom i've known for about 6 years passed away and went to be with the Lord at 4 am. Paul was just an amazing guy- he battled through 3 bouts of Luekemia- basically he was a living miracle to have survived so much cancer and so much chemo. And all through it he maintained a peace and faith in God and in the trueness of the Bible and what it promises. He died in his sleep, surrounded by his family and girlfriend. God granted Paul a merciful passing.

Paul was the ultimate servant, always willing to lend a hand, push a cart, pick up a BBQ grill for others. He was a community magnet. Wherever Paul was, a cloud of people followed. I had worked with Paul while he was in college, and I was leading our college ministry, and had gone to Honduras with him in 2004. This picture is of him after trying to push a car out of the mud.

Today I had just finished reading "the Road" by Cormac McCarthy. If you've read it, and if you knew Paul, you'd agree that Paul carried the fire till the end.

Farewell Paul- I'll see you in heaven. We can play RISK there and you can bug me while I'm trying to work on something and we'll laugh about it.

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how i feel about tonight

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