Sunday, April 27, 2008

Micha, Micha, Micha

No, I haven't seen "The Brady Bunch" in ages, why do you ask?

In another example of "too lazy to watch a match," I refused to even attempt to see Chelsea-Manchester United this morning. I couldn't have made it to the Phoenix Landing even if I'd woken up in time, but I slept until halftime anyway.

I went to Lir in the afternoon to catch a rerun of the game on Setanta, and got there at about 40 minutes in the first half. There were two men watching the game and they asked me if I knew the score. I said no and that I didn't want to know. One of them told me anyway, saying after I mentioned that I was a Ballack fan that I'd want to stay and watch the game.

I thought he was pulling my leg because I was a girl, until I saw the first goal. Then I saw the ticker on Sky Sports News and realized that Herr Ballack scored a brace!

Of course Ballack scored his second goal late in the game so I had to wait for almost the entire second half, but it was totally worth it. I wish I had been awake to see the game live.

Today's incomprehensible soccer-related personage: Avram Grant aka the Toad.

Friday, April 18, 2008

My online namesake and inspiration

For some reason, I have been thinking about Rusty Greer a lot tonight.

He's the former Texas Ranger who I developed a crush on after seeing/hearing him beat the Red Sox in 1994. He was my favorite baseball player basically his entire career. He's the Rusty behind my screenname, website and blogs. For my high school senior project, I wrote an Elizabethan sonnet about his crashing into the wall in Cleveland and separating his left shoulder. (Which I somehow didn't think about when the sports medicine doctor pulled my left shoulder out of its socket and it didn't hurt.) He was evidently the inspiration for my body's penchant towards having the same injuries as my favorite athletes, who are often injured.

I remember when I learned that Greer was hitting third, a position generally reserved for the best hitter in the order. That was before the term "squee" existed.

When ESPN switched its coverage to Kenny Rogers' perfect game, I ran upstairs from the basement to tell my father, and I was of course not watching when Greer made his famous catch.

I saw him play in Boston, New York, Toronto and Arlington, met him three times, and almost fell into right field at SkyDome (it is NOT the Rogers Centre!!!) trying to take pictures of him. Looking back on it, I was a bit obsessed.

I have an autographed hat, an autographed jersey and at least three autographed baseball cards, and I don't wear the hat or the jersey; they're both in my closet at my parents' house.

I think there's a point to this post, and I think it explains my favorite types of athletes. I've never liked people who drive in tons of runs or score lots of goals. I'm also not a fan of anyone who's particularly demonstrative (Cristiano Ronaldo, this means YOU!) I like players who play hard and do well on defense. This is the reason I give for choosing Khalil Greene as my new favorite baseball player four years ago even though I barely pay attention to him. Well, that and the picture from ESPN the magazine that was so smokin' hot it made me whimper.

Well, I just saw fairly recent pictures of Greer, from August 2007, and he has not aged well, though I've heard redheads go white quickly. And I also found out that Greene got married after the 2006 season, and Padres fans were wondering how the ring managed not to break his finger. I haven't been able to find any more smokin' hot pictures of him.

It's time to start following baseball again. More on Red Sox Nation later.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Why I hate Memphis

I am DVRing the Final Four tonight (I now have DVR, obviously), and I wasn't going to do that except that I heard that a TV crew interviewed one Mr. David Padgett last week. Otherwise, I don't care except that I think I figured out why I hate Memphis.

My theory: as a UConn fan, I am theoretically opposed to anything UMass. And since John Calipari used to coach there, and now he's at Memphis, I hate him and everything associated with them.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Boring boring Final Four

I know, I haven't posted the last few days. I was indeed away for much of the time; it's not as if I've been mourning the end of anyone's basketball career.

Anyway, the idea of an all number-one-seed Final Four depresses and bores me. It's too perfect, and I don't like any of the teams left. In fact, I despise Carolina so much right now that I achieved the level of hatred necessary for me to join the Duke Basketball Report message board. I think the least offensive team for me right now is Kansas, but I don't understand why I don't like Memphis. Hopefully, Carolina will lose now that they're no longer playing in their home state.