An Inter-ruption?

I was reading this guy's blog about Serie A club Inter Milan and this guy made some outrageous claims about the winning cycle of Inter is going to end. This is the same club that has one the last three scudetto titles (one by a forfeit) and also we are talking about a manager who has won a Champions League title with a surprising FC Porto side and took Chelsea over the hump with two Premiership trophies. It is pretty surprising that a statement like that is being made and look at the team's they have to go against. They all have holes in the back. I mean AC Milan just signed Senderos for some odd reason they think that this guy is actually the answer. He will have trouble making the first eleven there. I just don't think you can write off this side yet.

I kept on reading and he begins to complain about Mourinho playing a 4-5-1. Is that really a problem? Yeah most Serie A clubs play it and it isn't the most original thing in this league but other teams don't have the players that Inter has and they 4-5-1 can easily turn into a 4-3-3 in a hurry so I don't know what your complaint is there. If they can find a way to buy Quaresma already with the addition of Mancini then you can definitely play the 4-3-3 with Ibrahimovic up top.

I am getting upset with the fact that people are hating on the Muntari signing like he is just a scrub. I do not think Mourinho would want a player that isn't going to do anything. I think he has an "Essien" feature about him that the Special One just might like. Plus you can't trust Patrick Vieira most recently because of his injuries. But step off of the Muntari signing and get off of him until a couple of months and then you can make your opinions about the signing.

The only thing I agree with this character about is the football director who seems like he's an looney tune like this writer. He somehow dragged Roberto Mancini out of the club because he couldn't get them over the Champions League hump. The guy won you two scudettos where it's been since 89(?) where Inter last won the title. It is possible that Mourinho and this guy bump heads if things aren't going his way. I believe that's the only way that there will be trouble in paradise but other than that I can't really see them losing. Nobody made an important signing (Ronaldinho??? shit please) and all the teams Roma, Juve, and Milan have holes and are a year older themselves. Even though I like Juve I just can't see anybody else winning it other than the Special One (man I hate saying that)...

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/blogs/gs12.html

"I need surgery....but there's nothing wrong with me."

Now I just don't understand football players. They are loyal to their team to a fault. They want to show their toughness and their machoness (don't think i spelled that wrong). But now I've seen at least two guys who they were told or said that they need surgery and they are going to start the NFL season (Chad Johnson and Shawne Merriman). This is one of the most taxing of the American Sports, because in every play it's more than likely that you are going to get hit and obviously coaches and others will tell you to go after the spots in where the guy is hurt. It won't be said publicly but we all know in NFL locker rooms that is what's being said.

The loyalty issue comes into account. They feel like well I should play for the team because they need me and the whole organization needs me so in term I need to repay them. But what happens if you get even injured any worse, what do you think is going to happen? They are going to keep you around? They are going to continue to pay you? Both of those are laughable because that hardly ever happens except maybe with catastrophic accidents. But these organizations are going to ask you 'well what have you done lately for me? I see that you haven't had as many sacks as you did years before.' If you tell them I was hurt they are just going to say that it was your choice and the doctors told you to have surgery and they'll either cut you or pay you less. For a potential Hall of Famer in Merriman he needs to be careful because if he does get hurt worse then he can kiss that and his career goodbye. I understand that you want to play the game but your contract runs out after the 2009 season. You could have easily had your surgery took the 08 season off, get back healthy for 09 and have a killer season and GET PAID LARGE. Now you run the risk of getting hurt missing the 09 season and then having to wait it out in free agency where you aren't going to get paid as much as you have before.

I just wonder who is making the decisions. Is it family? is it friends? is it the agent, or is it just themselves wanting to play the game and not disappointing anybody. Pride can only take you so far, if you are too prideful and go across the line, you will be another guy that said what could have been? Be smart. NFL organizations aren't loyal to you. The contracts aren't guaranteed and you can get cut at anytime. Just be smart but then again most football players get their brains knock out so I can kinda understand why they aren't...

the shit that's in my head

Yo! what's up. Sitting here lookin at this damn rain. It's pouring out there, trust me I know. I was out there at 9am getting drenched on and having to have to go back to my place and changing right afterwards. I am not regretting not making my 2pm class cause I know I would get poured on once again and that would be one too many. Also i am not going to these guys soccer practice, nah i don't think so, I feel like it would be a waste of time in this rain, playing on the turf, really don't feel like getting hurt doing this nonsense. So I'm laying here about to nap for a while.

Alright I know I'm not much interesting but whatever. What do you want me to talk about then?
Something I don't understand about people, when they say things on their away message or status on facebook I don't understand when another person tries to make them feel better but then they shun them and just ignore. If you don't want everybody to see you unhappy then don't say shit. I knew I was at that stage and luckily I got out of that stage, but really either keep your thoughts to yourself or as a matter of fact block my ass cause I don't like people feeling shitty cause I know I feel shitty and I would like for people to see what's going on or at least make me feel a bit better but if you don't want me to then that's fine. Let me know, which is hard for some of you anyways.

Man my shit is getting wet outside. I don't even give a f to drag that shit back in. Am I that lazy.

Apparently The Recession sounds like one big track to one of my boys, I'm going to figure it out when I finally get to listen to it. But doesn't most of Jeezy's shit sound the same. I mean honestly I know I get songs mixed up all the time and especially when most of the lyrics have ad libs in them. I guess it's that the boy's style plus he's makin bucks so why is he going to listen to me. I mean he's got his black bandana and his boost mobile phone. He's straight.

What am I going to do with the rest of my day? Let's see probably nothing, be wasteful and just sit on this couch and watchin whatever nonsense that comes on this tube. That's how I've been feeling lately. I still haven't bought in books for my classes. It kinda helps when I haven't really had that much homework or anything. But yeah I guess I'm still in the summer mode where all I've been doing is playing soccer and doing nothing else afterwards. I'll probably need to run later on so I can keep some sort of fitness. I can't really tell, I haven't played a "real" game in forever so I don't know how my fitness actually is. So I'm going to keep on running until I get into one, which will be in forever.

Let's see. I've got nothing. I'm going to take a nap and maybe run later on today or tonight. Don't really know what my next topic is. I guess I will just stay talkin about junk in my head

You're Right TottenWho?

Well we had this discussion about Tottenham trying to break into the title chase. Although I doubted the credentials of that. I didn't know that they would start this slow in the beginning of the season. When most of the top four teams lose only one or two games in a whole season, it seems like Tottenham is far away from that especially with losing both of your games. When you see them on paper, you should say well they should be able to challenge with signings of Dos Santos, Modric, and Bentley then they should be able to challenge at least on paper. But there are many flaws that have been exposed during the first two games of this season.

We all marvelled about their preseason performances where they just steamrolled teams even I was a guilty of believing this, but the Premiership has a way of finding your flaws even when you are playing against teams who are in the middle of the pack like Middlesbrough and Sunderland. When you play in this league, you need strong midfield play to be success. When you look at Chelsea and Liverpool, who are the current front-runners they have very strong midfield play with the likes of Deco and Steven Gerrard respectively who both picked up game-winning goals this weekend. When you look at Tottenham, they have solid players, but they aren't the midfielders who put fear in the oppositions eyes. I mean David Bentley can serve in a good ball and he's one for the future but in all honesty he isn't a matchwinner and the same goes with Jenas and Modric. Also with Jermain Defoe leaving early last season and Robbie Keane heading to Liverpool for this season and the impending departure of Berbatov. The only out and out "proven" striker is Darren Bent who had one great season with Charlton, (I remember that cause he was my MVP for my fantasy league team hahaha) but I believe that they need a couple more strikers to help out. I don't know with the addition of Dos Santos and maybe Arshavin will help with that cause because they aren't the strikers that is needed in the premiership. Plus it is kinda hard to replace an almost 50 goal partnership of last year with Keane and Berbatov all but gone. I believe that they will have to pick up the strength and character of Ledley King and Woodgate who are their rocks in the back, but they both also have injury problems so if one or the other has to spend long times in the stands then it could spell trouble and they could be back in the relegated zone as they were last season.

So as for Aaron and the coach that claims that Tottenham will make the title challenge, you can laugh at him real quick and just hate on him for no reason like you do.

What Up Me?

I'm back at it again. Just going to go through the random thoughts in my head and junk like that. I had an adult league game yesterday at WRAL Soccer Park. We gave them a huge thrashing, it wasn't really funny after a while because there is no reason that these guys should be in the same stadium as us. I think they would have trouble with most co-ed teams honestly. The thing that got me was the intensity of some of the guys. I mean they argued over everthing and most of the arguing was done by the team who was getting thrashed by seven or eight goals. I mean I feel bad for the girlfriends and wives who was on the losing team. I mean what must they be thinking, they thought that, my man's team is going to win his game and my baby's going to make me proud. HAHAHAHAHA RIIIIIIGHT, hey you keep thinking that okay.

Hmm I think I've discussed how incredibly bored I am when I'm on campus so I won't discuss that.

I'm sitting here watchin this MLS soccer game. It's Houston at New York. They are playing at Giants Stadium or whatever they call that junk. I hate turf. I just find it horrible to play on cause first of all the ball most of the time bounces up on you alot. And then you have to deal with slipping on it and it's not like grass and you can put your soft grounds on. No, instead you just have to deal with the sniper in the stands making you fall every second. So yeah I'm not a big fan of it in fact i'll probably stop watching it after while and the fact that I don't like neither of the teams as it is. Oh well

I wonder how much money do I have in my bank account. I don't really want to check it for the fear that I have hardly nothing in it. I'm going to have to check it sometime anyway right? I mean I don't want to overdraw. I guess I'll check it when I head out and see if I can buy some textbooks for class.I don't think I can get into the Academic Center now as it is. I don't have to pay for books and I need to fill out a form to get my books for free and then once I'm done with it I can trade them junks back in and get some paper off of it. WHAT UP PROFIT?

I really don't feel like doing anything today. I might actually clean a little bit today. Yes just a little bit and I don't know what else. I finally got cable and internet so I don't have to worry about the contact with reality. I can get on my news websites and see what's going on with the world and don't forget to talk to my amazing amount of friends I have on facebook hahahahaha. But yeah I don't see myself doing much today. Call me lazy, call me boring. Hate! Hate! Hate! Hate!

I love to see true haters though. You know those guys that will hate you in front of your face. I like them because they don't pull the same punches as the fake haters who sit off somewhere making fun of you at a distances and pretending to be your friend. I'd rather know you are a hater so I don't have to worry about bothering with you and then I can also return the hate back on your ass, because there is honestly nothing better than two people hatin on each other. So all you fake haters excuse me, some of those people who call themselves my friend. Take notes, release your hate, it will make you a better person because of it

Alright off to make some ramen and clean a little bit. I think the hungover's gone away so I might as well do a couple of productive things today. So into I get back to you. Peace Out and HI HATER!

Mr. Don't Tread on Me

So I was watching the United States-Guatemala World Cup Qualifier the other day and I noticed something when Clint Dempsey came out the game, you can tell he was visibly upset about being taken off. Him and Bob Bradley had some worse with each other and you can tell from him sitting on the bench that he was upset. I would like to say something to Clint from a gangsta rapper to another one.

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? I mean yeah you are still good enough to make the national team camp and all but we all thought of you as our next big hope. The guy that doesn't fear anything, who doesn't "get treaded on". Watching last year's World Cup it was obvious that you were our best player. Now I mean you still have the tricks but it doesn't do much and in the important games that I've seen. I have not seen much from you. In Guatemala you should have taken the substitution for what it is, We needed fresh legs in a swampy muggy place where we haven't won since 1980 until wednesday. You have been shit for a lil while now and now I am questioning whether you should be in our eleven.

I will give you a chance to use the excuse that the English Premier League doesn't allow you to show your freedom how you want and you feel like your game has digressed since then. But I've seen many others who have been able to use their skills to their advantage, are you trying to say that you aren't good enough for it? That would be okay to say also, nobody can fault you for that it is one of the hardest league's to play. I don't know about you. You are good for a header goal or two but we need some guys who goes at people and doesn't do tricks that don't amount to nothing. Maybe you aren't on form as of yet and once you get to play regularly then you can find yourself in the same form that got you into the EPL, maybe but I just want to say get the stick out ya ass and play ball. Now I've treaded on you a little bit. Do something about it.

So to anybody who really wants to listen

So I am continuing to have a problem with people. It is kinda big problem because it happens almost everytime and when I warn them that it might happen they still do the same shit. It really doesn't make any sense. So this blog goes out to the people that listen, drizzle, the con artist formerly known as the Son of Prince and my ipod because it at least does what I tell it haha

Like anybody all I wanted was to be liked by everybody. I'm sure every one of us have had our times where you feel like you actually need people. I think I am slowly crossing over to that point where just F everybody and it isn't really hard to change. I find myself repeating myself and repeating myself and repeating myself with hardly or even worse absolutely none attention paid to. Instead it's about your distorted view about what I'm thinking about. You have no clue what's on my mind. There are times where I don't have a clue what's on my mind. There are times where I just do things just to do it and learn from my mistakes because if you think your life is perfect then that's a big mistake in itself that you need to look at. I keep on hearing just tell me the truth and all that nonsense well it's obvious that it's not the real truth that you are looking for, it's the truth that you want to hear so you can feel a bit of clarity for yourself because for some odd reason most of you can't handle the truth and the real problem is that you think that i can't handle the truth and there's the problem again, perceiving that I am thinking about shit when you have no earthly clue. I mean shit I've once went to somebody's house that I didn't know at night with sunglasses and rang their doorbell (sober aaron if you are thinking otherwise haha). I don't know I just have this feeling that you don't want to hear me talk. You want to hear yourself and that's fine you can do that, i mean yeah just talk to yourself that works more than talking to me and telling me what is in my head. You don't have no damn mind control box and if you did wouldn't I do everything you tell me. Retardnation in the building.

So what do I have to do to end this? I don't know write a novel (well not novel i don't feel like writing for that long) in my notepad killing off the retardnation and cleaning myself from it all together. Well that might have to do you know. It's better than letting it simmer cause I don't need that stress in my life. I don't need any stress in my life. I just need to live it cause it can end any moment now. I've walked on the same streets late at the night that unfortunately caught some great people and taken their lives, I've driven lots and lots of hours in my car and I have yet to find a problem or be taken to the hospital or anything bad happening to me. So I know he's up there looking over my shoulder and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I will just live life the way you want me to..... With recklessness abandon. Now back to the Hate!! hahaha

I mean come on honestly?

Hello, I'm back. I know it's been a while but you know with school and training going along, It's kinda hard to get to write up here and the fact that i have to go outside to get internet. Anyways, I didn't do much of either today because when I was going to head to class my car didn't start for the third time (we got it jumped the two other times and not forgetting one of the times was in the middle of durham at 8pm. yeah i'm not messing around with that one). But my dad was already up here to get his car fixed so we searched around the area looking for a car battery and nobody had the battery we were looking for, even some of the guys were like I never even heard of this battery.

I got to go aside right quick: What do you mean you haven't heard of this battery? You work at an auto parts shop. You should know every kind of battery. It's very different if you say you don't have it, but when you say that this is strange and never seen it. It kinda makes me wonder about your auto part skills. Don't get me wrong, I don't have much neither but I find it interesting that all the time you spend around cars you haven't seen one.

Well back to the story, After an unsuccessful day of trying to find it, we decided to give up and my dad had to go to work anyways. My mom luckily found a battery at the place where we bought my jeep in Greenville. So while i'm in class they will hopefully fix it

And school, I don't know what about it, but I just find it boring. I'm not in the stage yet where I hate its guts but I am just incredibly bored by it. And I find the whole class day just retarded, don't know why I walked around yesterday just walking because I know not many people know me around here which is cool. But I just watch the interaction of these people, this is a big school, you don't have THAT many friends. I feel like if somebody gives you a big hug on campus then are they really your friend, because if you were a good friend they would have tried to track you down before school starts to hang with you. But hey that's just me. I don't know maybe I'm just tripping right now by the fact I don't have a car at the moment. I think that's what it is, I will stop for now and let everything be. See ya later Peace.

So our track and field has gotten that bad?

You remember the time when track and field use to be our sport. When we were guaranteed medals in mostly if not all the sprint events. I mean for the women's 100 meter dash it was an all-Jamaican medal stand. And the Americans got fourth and the other two got last and second to last. And in the men's 100, our gold medal hope, Tyson Gay couldn't even make it to the finals, meanwhile Usian Bolt is practically moonwalked into a gold medal and a world record of 9:69 (imagine if he didn't celebrate the last 20 yards where he already knew he won). And I don't know who will win 200 yard dash but I hear that it is Bolt's favorite race so we can chalk another medal to the Jamaican and I believe at least we should win the 400 yard dash with Jeremy Warner I believe, but other than that I don't believe that there is anybody good enough.



So what's up? Did performance enhancing help so much that we can hardly medal in these races that we dominated easily in the past? Or has the Jamaican spicked up on these drugs and know ways of hiding it. I cannot really point out a reason way it's gotten this bad. I mean one has to wonder about our last generation of runners who some haven't been tested positive for steroids in this tainted sport, like Carl Lewis, Maurice Greene, and Michael Johnson. These most decorated athletes somehow either didn't do them or didn't get caught doing them. Now all of our best athletes are steroid users. Justin Gaitlin and Marion Jones are prime examples, but there are others who win events then end up testing positive and disappearing forever. I don't know what the answer for this is. Maybe coaches actually being coaches and not just giving their athletes pills, injections, or cream? or maybe we need to get back to apparently what got us good in the 90's and early 2000s. Don't get me wrong I don't feel sorry for the US Track and Field Team at this state, they put it among themselves to do these wrong things. I am just wondering because swimming has just taken over as one of my favorite sports over track and field because I don't see many Americans even making the finals for that matter. All I got to say is that something's got to change and fast before we fall into obscurity and Germans or French runners start beating us and I don't want to see that well unless it's David Odonkor or Thierry Henry beating us but that's a different story all together

The Last Couple of Days

Well, Yeah I've been doing alot of talkin about myself and size and other crap. But I haven't discussed how my days been going along. Thursday was my final day in Atlanta. I went to training and then packed up all my shit that I bought and put it in a small van that looked like it was a 15 passenger van. But anyways that junk was difficult especially cause we had to carry stuff downstairs which made things tricky and mom would always have something to say right in the middle of me lifting a huge couch or something. Except for the couch which was the most difficult of the lifts. Everything else wasn't too bad, It was me and my dad lifting everything. But that took around two hours or so, then I went to the final Chevy dinner of the season. Chevy is one of the guys on the team, him and his wife would cook for any of the guys that would show up to eat. I am pretty much a regular there, I went to each and every one of them. It was a thanksgiving theme this time around, they had turkey, ham, stuffing, and mash potatoes (my grandma would have cooked me some fried chicken, but maybe i'm expecting too much haha). It was a good time, kind of sad that I'm leaving these guys, but it's all good i will stay in touch with them.

Well after that, I got about three hours of sleep because we left for Chapel Hill at 4am. Yeah 4am and my jeep was filled all the way so yeah it was difficult. I was cool and jamming until we got past Charlotte and then they stopped and that stopped my whole momentum and about 30 minutes later I had to ask one of my parents to drive my car cause i was tired as crap. When you feel like you're dreaming. Not a daydream but really dreaming and then you realize that no you are driving your car, that's when you know you need to get out of the car. So I went to the van and slept on the passenger side, my dad was having problems with my car and all that, he claimed that he put it on sports mode by accident and it was making all kinds of noises. I think my car missed me and wanted me to drive, so with all that and my parents trying to find a gas station, I could not really sleep..I only got a 20 minute nap. Then I got the keys to my house and went to it. At first I was kind of worried because there is no door between my living room and my bedroom. I was actually trying to find the door to my bedroom and to my surprise there was none. But it started growing on me and it's not like I will be having a whole bunch of friends over or anything, plus it's awesome for me since i'm a lazy kid and all that. So we moved all my stuff into the place and it wasn't as bad as the move out because my place was on the first floor and it was closest to the parking lot so that's cool. After all that I hung out with Sara for a lil bit, since she wanted to see my new place. We watched a couple of dvds (since i have no cable) and she made fun of my reno 911 dvd until she started watching it and started laughing. See I knew you would like it hahaha.

Today, I am back home just for the day. I am probably heading back up to the Hill later on this afternoon or so. I got a temporary phone so at least now I can see who's calling me, which is always a great thing. Now I'm watching the start of the new EPL season and just enjoying some time with home cause i haven't been here in forever... Well that's about it for now, I will holla at ya later! Peace!

Size doesn't matter

I'm trying to figure out what is the deal with having a certain size for some athletes. I don't get it. I have heard that I was too small to play center back and that I should play a different position. Since when was there a size requirement for playing a sport. I mean look at Fabio Cannavaro, oh he has done just fine with himself being 5'9 and all, haven't we forgotten that he helped lead Italy to a World Cup Title in 06? and he was named FIFA World Player of the Year? I am not saying that it isn't helpful to have size but we all aren't born with the same traits. If I had the chance to be a little taller then I would definitely jump at that chance. Everyone should have a chance to play any position whatever the size is. Maybe except for basketball where size is kinda needed.

As for basketball, what is there problem with small point guards? Most aren't asked to shoot the ball 10 to 15 times a game, they are called on to run and manage the game. There are players who have done well and are doing well with the size they have. There's Earl Boykins who was the smallest player in the NBA (until he went to Europe this season coming up) and everyone had respect for the little man because he went out there and showed those giants that he can ball with them. Also Chris Paul, who is turning into one of the most dominate point guards in this league. He has worked on his shooting game, he can get to the basket against anyone, plus he can pass his ass off. He has all the tools that most 6'8 to 6'11 players do not have.

I don't know I feel like there are many ways to argue about why size doesn't matter, but I guess I'll leave this debate alone for now. All I have to say is that you should be able to do whatever you want whatever the size is, maybe except for rollercoasters, we have to draw a limit somewhere.

My Mission

I want to be held responsible for what I do, so these statements are from me now. Note that some may be shit that i've already said:

1. Graduate from college
2. Work on my game everyday that I can possibly can so when that chance comes for me to get back on a team, i won't disappoint
3. Be as fit as I possibly can, I need to work on myself physically and definitely MENTALLY cause that's my downfall
4. whenever I feel crappy about shit, just lay on the floor, relax all your muscles and meditate for 15 to 30 minutes..
5. Eat better than what i have been eating (by the way that's going to be hard as shit)
6. TRY to read a book or two if I can.
7. Don't worry about too much of what people say
8. Go out to a park or forest or something just to spend time by yourself
9. Stop driving too much
10. limit my facebook, myspace, AIM, and any other chatting to those that really do care.
11. NO UNNECESSARY TEXTING (when i get a new phone)
12. Just relax and be free with yourself.

Okay that's about it for me haha. Hopefully I can keep my end of the bargain for at least more than half of these things which I believe I can do.

A letter to myself?

Dear Andre,

Hey, it is your long lost pal. How are you doing? I'm doing fine, you know stuck in hibernation while you do who knows what. I got somethings that you need to stop doing.

Number 1: stop trying to use facebook and the computer strictly for friend-making. It does not work and it kinda makes you desperate in trying to do that. So could you please stop using facebook and myspace for those purposes. I mean you can still get on there, but please by no means try to make friends on it. So pathetic.

Number 2: This actually kinda goes into number 1 also. Don't talk to people on AIM that have no desire in talking to you. I mean I hear people talking about how other people are very annoying and junk like that and you can bet your bottom dollar that they are saying the same about yo ass. Talk to few number of people that want to talk to you because they like you enough to talk to you so they are your true friends.

Number 3: Don't feel like you have to go out and be busy all the time. You can watch tv or play your video games. You don't have to feel like going to a bar to have a good time. Sometimes it's good but you don't necessarily need it. You have your music and some friends that won't mind chilling with you at your place and watchin tv, playing video games or whatever.

Number 4: I haven't been released out in a long time. You need to let me go, you need to be confident in yourself and what you do because you have all the ability and not just the raw abilities that you have. You have more.

You don't have to impress people or anything like that. If they don't like you how you are then F those guys. You remember the time when we were together in MS. We were rough, tough and didn't give a damn. Getting cussed out for being too confident and all that. I don't want you to be cocky because that doesn't get us anywhere. But you took penalty kicks like it was your job. You went at soccer players even though you were a defender. We did all we had to do make sure we won at all cost. You let me out a couple times here in Atlanta and you know we had a good time. All I ask of you is don't forget where you came from. Let me out a lil more often please.

Your alter ego,
Dre aka Dreman aka Drizzle

Well if u want to get back to Europe....you better hurry, time is running out!

I'm going to try this and sometimes I will break out in letter form from time to time

Dear Landon,

Well i know that you are depressd after what has went down with your current club. I mean yeah your general manager (who was crap to begin with) and your manager are gone and the other manager that you loved so much has headed back up north to San Jose (which you didn't want to play for anyway). So now you believe that you should head back to Europe and to the EPL for that matter. Now I questioned your judgement before saying that the best didn't need to play in Europe and they could do just fine in the MLS, which I find a bunch of BS. But now if you decide to head back which is a good idea, then you better get it done soon because you are 27 years of age now and you are going to hit that decline in your ability and you were quoted in a goal.com article that "The older I get and the more I play, the more I'm yearning for that highest level I can play at," Well I think that is the opposite of what is suppose to happen, because when you get old, your speed starts to diminish and there are younger guys who are ready to knock your block off in anyway possible. Now I understand that you might think well, basketball players and baseball players start to peak when they are 27 well I believe soccer is a bit different and that the peak is hit when you are 24 or 25 because most pros start when they are 18 or 19. So I am all for your challenge but just make sure it is too late

And as for the quote let me tell you why you might need to head to the Serie A instead of the EPL. The EPL is one of the fastest leagues to play in. I mean man the ball just zips even with 5 to 10 yard passes. I don't know in your advancing age that you can handle it, but I believe that you would do just fine in the Serie A. As of now I don't know how many defenders in that league can handle your pace and yeah it is physical there but not as physical as the brute EPL. Also they have been able to have players who should have retired a long time ago playing to the best of their abilities. Think about Paolo Maldini, Filipo Inzaghi and Alex Del Piero, who was one of the leaders in goalscoring. Just think about it, you trying to go to the EPL and you thought Germany was bad. You have no idea what you are getting into. I mean at least some German teams try to play at times, if you are on one of the mid-table teams then you might just be doing wind-sprints trying to catch up to the ball. As for the Serie A and maybe even the Spanish Primera which I also recommend for you. At least you will be able to see the ball and have some sort of space to do your magic. But you are grown and it is your call.

Sincerely yours,
Dreman

http://www.goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=817426

Why aren't we good?

I am replying to the Con Artist formely known as the Son of Prince's article about our the inherit flaws of our national team system. I believe he has some good points. We don't have the great players like the other countries have all around the world. Italians have Sebastian Giovinco, Brazil have Pato, and of course Argentina has Lionel Messi. This is the reason why all these countries are the best in the world because they have the players with the individual talent to take over games for club and country. Meanwhile we have talented players but like aaron said they have not shown their greatness that they have yet and I have an idea about why this is so.

Most of these young players for us have the talent and ability to do big things and they usually take over their youth games and most of these players are identified by the youth national team or other bigger clubs around. When they get to these places, they are taught how to play the game with grit and determination and not necessarily to enhance the skills and abilities of the talented players. I mean they are worried about what testing they are going to do for fitness and all that. Even with MLS training, most of the teams train in short sided settings in which they play only one and two touch games and that doesn't help to make the player's game much better. These young players game continues to be bogged down and they forget what has gotten them there and all they know is playing one and two touch and being afraid to take guys on because they are taught not to take them on.

Also the final point I have about the young players are that they should ply their trade in Europe than being in the MLS because I believe that the American game is kinda about politics and all about helping the veterans than growing the youth. It takes them four to five years to finally play and then they might be a bust by then. I remember a player that I played against when I was in 16 and I played against Guillermo Gonzalez and he was one of the best players on the team and then once he decided to play in the MLS, I can say that I don't know what he is doing right now. I know he doesn't play for the Galaxy anymore or even in the MLS. The vets don't want young kids to a) take their spots and b) just plain embarrass them. I believe that the youth academies in Europe would be great starting points for players than in the MLS. Kenny Cooper for example, even though he is in the MLS now, he started out in Manchester United in their reserve squad and I believe that he is one for the future and he is eventually going to go back to Europe. I don't know what is the sure fix but I don't know if the MLS "development" plan is working well for our players. So no wonder you have one of the dutch coaches saying that we have no impressive players on our team. I mean as far as I'm concerned they are a pretty good judge of talent aka Sneijder, Robben, Van der Vaart among others. So I would listen

I wanna be...

Haha, While I was trekking back down to Atlanta, I was thinking about things that I would like to do if and when I hang up the boots from soccer and of course coaching came up as number one on my list. Now it is a great idea, I can stay in the game and help kids to learn the game so they can love playing it like I love playing it. The only drawback that if I tried to coach the kids then I would have to go through the processing of cutting players and that would be painful because you know that there are parents who think their children are the best and that they deserve to be on the team and also you don't want to break a kid's dream of making the team and all that I know it would be painful to them also

So more than likely I would like to coach college but I doubt I would be able to but If I did here is how I would go about it.

Recruiting: This is a big important piece of making your team up of the players that will get your program a winning mentality. Now many have their philosophies of how to make their teams. Some don't need to even go outside their state to find the best players (i.e California, Texas, Florida, and hmm North Carolina). So some teams would like to get in-state players. Wake had about at the least five players( it is probably more) who contributed in their national championship run. And the most successful run that my university had was when we had a whole backline full of North Carolina players and others feel like that that is the way to go. Many others are going the youth national team route. Trying to get the most national team players as possible. Well that could possibly work but you have to know what you are getting into, you don't know if they are going to be there the whole time or maybe going for one year. Also you might have to question their winning mentality, because i mean let's be honest (and it would be my mentality if i was on that team too) if you are on the national team then more than likely you would be or should be going pro so college is just a stopping gap. So you have to be careful, but most of these guys are good, solid guys who want to win wherever they are at but most time they aren't reliable to be there for four years.

Now what I would do: During the spring, I would be all over the recruiting trail for the best juniors all around. Trying to make all the tournaments that I could. And what I would be looking for are guys who fit my system and who just fit my character. Also I will try to find straight-up winners. I want to find the guys who are thirsty for winning and will do everything that they possibly can to win at all cost. Also I will look into their schooling and see if they are doing well in their studies and if possible I will try to sneak into a couple of training sessions, because you aren't able to see everything you know about a kid in a game, you'll definitely see his habits in training where noone is around and that's what I want to see about him

My Training Sessions: Now I know everyone dreads the preseason and just training in general, well I would try to do my training sessions a little different than my college coach. Let me say this NO COOPER! I would never subjected anybody to doing that test. I feel like it is just useless to me. What I would do is do some fitness at the end of training, progressively going from real hard fitness towards the end making fitness just about maintaining it until I wouldn't need to use it anymore. As for the training sessions. Of course we'll do the normal warmup with possession and all that then we would break out into small-sided games for the rest of the day until at the end will do some finishing with the attackers after the fitness. Also I will get rid of the two-a days during preseason, because something I learned being in the mls is that you can do alot of work in the one training session that you have so I don't want to kill the kids over it. Maybe have some two-a-days with the second session just being a scrimmage against each other but that's it

My Formation: Now I will be somewhat short on this topic cause i know it will be boring. Now I will try to go with the 4-4-2, with a diamond midfield. Because I love that defensive midfield that just hold and does the business while the other midfielders and forwards do their offensive job also I would like but no necessary that my wing backs are able to get up and back because it would help our offense and help us be a lil more dynamic and it would also help will my second formation that I would go with. I would in some cases like to go with the 3-5-2. With three strictly defenders in the back because if you use your wing backs as backs then it might be difficult because they aren't the greatest defenders they are good but not the greatest. So definitely three strictly defenders who will stay back there and the backs will play the outside mid positions which are basically outside backs because they have to keep our defensive shape on the weak side, but that's about it. I will love for my #10 to be the attacking mid also I forgot all about that.

College Life: Now I know that these guys are young men and they are in college which means PARTYTIME. And I'm not going to be the one who says dry season or any nonsense like that because I think it is just stupid plus the fact your team can resent you if you try to take away their college experience. I would just say. Don't do anything to embarrass yourself and the program and If I don't hear about anything or don't see it then I won't do anything about it unless it is affecting the team's play or training session. When I say that, I am saying I don't want to read about you in the newspaper getting in trouble or seeing pictures on the internet of you embarrassing yourself. What I am saying is if what you are doing is affecting the team. I will make sure you pay for your indiscretions. Just make sure you don't affect the team and your overall fitness because if it does, don't be surprise about being on the bench because your playing time will depend on your training performance mostly.

Well that is about it. That's what I thought about at least for the last three in a half hours of the trip and luckily I got back safely and soundly. I need to do that more often. Comment if u wish

Interesting Weekend

Yo, I'm back at it. I had a pretty good weekend. Alot of it was on the road obviously.

On Friday, my team had a game. We played Miami and we tied that game 0-0. Yes we finally got another shutout, our first shutout since when we played Carolina and that was in May and by the way those are the only two shutouts of the season. We've been scored on the most of the league. Well at least I can say that I didn't have anything to do with it hahaha. Afterwards I just chilled out watched a couple of dvds and went to sleep to get ready for the ride up to richmond.

Saturday, I made the trip up there. I tried to zone out for the majority of the trip but unfortunately I zoned out too much cause I didn't really pay attention to the trooper who got me for speeding. Eek. Oh well he got me and yeah I have to pay a ticket. He was nice about it, reduced the amount that I had to pay and all that. This happened in South Carolina and I just hated getting stopped because I know that I would have to slow down and obey the speed limit because I know that I would catch bad luck and get another ticket on the same damn trip, but that didn't happen luckily and I made it safe and sound. I stayed with my good friend Ben and his roommates who are on the Richmond Kickers pro team. They had a game against Crystal Palace Baltimore and they beat them 5-0. I think I'm good luck because the last two times I went up there. They won 6-0 and 5-0. I think they need to pay for my next trip. And afterwards....well let me tell ya all I can remember is going up to their official post-meal thing and then going to the first bar that we went to which was the chill bar that they go to before they go to the club. I don't remember much about the rest of the night all I know is that I didn't get my waffle house which really upsets me haha, but I'm going to leave it at that.

Sunday, I went back to Chapel Hill and hung out with Callahan and some of the guys on the team. They are getting ready for their preseason. I am not envying them on that. They got two-a-days and a bunch of fitness testing to do. No thank you, I'll pass on that. I do go out to the turf and kicked the ball around for a little bit and then I went out to the track and got some running in before I left. I showered at the soccer center and just hung out a lil bit more bf we went to pizza and pasta, which was one of my favorite places to eat. I haven't ate their in ages. It was delicious as always. After that, we went over to shriver and chad's new place played a lil wii, watched the olympics and then passed out on the couch.

Today I woke up at around 8ish and saw all the guys just scrambling around because they have meetings today. They have a new dress code for meetings. They had to wear a collar shirt and khaki shorts or pants. Why you may ask? Well last year when we had meetings, everybody was wearing "thug material" according to the coaches. They had backwards hats and not clean shaven and all that I was guilty of that. But I didn't know that hats were thug material and all that. They wanted to have a good image for their team and all that nonsense. Whatever. So I made my last trek to Atlanta for the next four days to pack up and get out. I officially got my new apartment here, It's in between Durham and Chapel Hill, a far way aways from campus unfortunately. Got my one-room place and I'm set.

I don't know when the next time I will be blogging up here. I got to think of some more shit. My brain is pretty wrecked right now from this weekend. I'm going to sleep, eat, and play soccer for the next four days and then I will maybe get back to you in North Carolina or I may get back to you sooner who knows.

I'm done being addicted to you...for the rest of this week

Well, like I said, I'm done being addicted to blogspot for the week not because I don't like it anymore. More because I am going to probably be gone for the rest of the weekend. We have a game here against Miami and then the boys are going to go to Vancouver and play a game on Sunday. I don't think I will be travelling on that trip but if so I will try to take pictures of it and all that. But I doubt I will be going on this trip cause I haven't been going on any trips before this one so yeah it is what it is.

So Andre, what do you plan on doing instead of travelling with the team if that's the case. I think the "Con Artist formely known as the Son of Prince" is probably just hangin out with his puppy this weekend so I'll probably skip pass Charlotte this weekend. What about Chapel Hill, all the guys are getting ready for preseason training, which starts on the 12th for those guys. I don't really feel bad because those preseasons had to be the hardest preseasons ever. So I think I would not like to do those preseasons. But I do have many other friends other than those guys around so I could possibly hang out with them right? I will think about that. The final place that I could go is all the way up to Richmond and hang out with Ben for a couple of days. The last time I hung out with them I had a good time and enjoyed myself. Even ate all their waffle house because they said I wouldn't even finish mine. I don't know where they got that nonsense from. But yeah I have many many choices to do whatever. Maybe just maybe I'll travel with the team and that will cancel out all that but it kinda hurts your chances when your coach asks what you are going to do this weekend acting as if I'm going to chaperone somebody around Atlanta. Uhh Yeah like I plan on doing that. So whatever it's cool.

This is going to be my final home game that I will be able to watch because I plan on leaving the ATL next week to head back to Chapel Hill and finish the rest of my degree (that reminds me I need two more classes to sign up for ha). I mean it is no use sitting around here just training away and not even playing and this season ends in late september, well at least the regular season and by that time that will be a waste of another semester so I might as well get it done before I am too lazy to get the job done so I am leaving next week.

I've been clowning with some of the guys that I'm doing my "college workout". The "college workout" contains as many situps and pushups that I could do during the day all day 24/7 because I figured it out that lifting in my apt. complex was not doing the work so I decided to just do pushups and situps all the time and to say the least I am feeling the results. The reason why I call it the college workout is just silly, I call it such so I can impress all the ladies :-), with my abs and 20 inch pythons (as hulk hogan would say) hahahaha. Maybe I won't be huge but they will see an improvement hahahaha. Nah I'm not really too concerned about it actually the guys have been giving that name so I succumbed and took it as it was.

Also I got a new nickname from these guys. They call me dre 2000, which I can understand because let's be honest I can't be better than dre 3000 unless I win a World Cup or something, which isn't probably happening haha. I don't think anybody can be better than him so I thought it was okay for them to call me 2000 from now on. Haha.

So well, this will be the last post of the week. Next week I will try to discuss more soccer and some transfers and other random shit that comes to my head like marrying wayyy too early among other things and hopefully I can respond to the "Con Artist formely known as the Son of Prince" in his mcdonalds argument. You know a lil something new

That White Boy can play. better than hotsauce?

I've been a fan of the And1 streetball series ever since Mixtape Vol. 4 (they've made 10 of them) and they have a season series of streetball on espn2 and they started to make a contest of who is going to be the next streetball legend. And there this was a small white boy from Oregon who was going through the tour trying to keep his spot on the bus and making the team. He made it all the way to New Jersey, where they had their final game in the place where the first official And1 game was started and I thought okay he did hit a couple of game-winning shots and all but he's back on the streetball court with all these legends trying to get in his head. But he preserved and he was able to take over the game and beat everybody in the contest to be the only white boy in the streetball tour.

Now forgive my skepticism but I didn't know how much he was going to last. I'm not trying to say a white boy can't hang and all but he was very small and he did have handles but you know there will be a lot of guys gunning for what he's got and they will be underestimating "Da Professor". I'm sorry I did not think that this experiement will last long and I don't know if they will keep him for the long haul.

Ever since then, boy am I mistaken about this white boy. He's been embarrassing cats ever since he got on the tour. With his handles and a steady jump shot, there is a reason why they say that he is the future. Plus he is not afraid to get down and dirty to play some defense or just crossing up guys who think he isn't up to snuff. The thing about it is that he has just begun to peak and I keep on watching to see what he is going to do next.

This comes to my next topic. Everyone that has a little knowledge of the streetball game know about da professor and hotsauce. And those that I talk to believe that Hotsauce is the best out of the And1 group. Well I do not agree with that (before all those OG's left I thought AO was the best but that's a different story), in fact I believe that he's probably the worse on the team. With his entertainment factor, he is the best but honestly I am over all the tricks with nothing to show for it, just throwing it off a person's face or making them fall and then just throwing the ball into the stands. Hotsauce reminds me of an episode of the Boondocks where Riley would just do a bunch of moves in a game and then he would try to shoot and he would either air-ball or throw it over the goal or something crazy. Hotsauce is a part of the And1 stereotype where all they do is tricks and do not get buckets. Luckily he isn't on the tour this season.

So who's better Da Professor or Hotsauce? You already know what I'm going to say. The lil white boy from Southern Oregon. I'll give that Hotsauce has better handles then Da Professor, I mean we all know that Hotsauce stands in front of a mirror for five hours at a time training on his moves, but that's not all I am trying to fiure out on who is the better streetball player. Da Professor's handles actually can equal to Hotsauce's in a few years. But let me tell you why he is a better streetball player. Da Professor goes out every time out and does his thing. It does not matter where he is, he got a whole bunch of moves but at the end of all those moves he hit a steady jumper over anybody and the crowd can respect that. Meanwhile Hotsauce only goes out once in a while in the game and just does his lil tricks for about 30 seconds or so then he passes the ball off and goes back on the bench and signs autographs or practice on his moves. My final straw with him was after last year and the And1 guys where at Barry Farms in DC and he did not even strap on the shoes and played with the team while all his other teammates strapped up and played the best players in DC on a streetball court and you can hear the crowd saying "Hotsauce wears panties" hahaha that made my day. This is while you see Da Professor going out there hitting his usual three pointers proving more that he can play.

So Hotsauce, Here's what you should do. Start your own tour. And when you have a scoreboard you score everytime you make somebody fall, hit them in the face or just make them look plain foolish and that is your point system because you don't really want to play the game, you are too busy practicing on your jump shot. Ooooh Actually that is a good premise on a tour just making people look foolish I should start that tour, but I got no damn money. Oh well...

Opinion of a free mind: Pt. 1

I've had this question posed to me a lot. What are your long-term goals? what are you looking for in your life? Now at first I thought I knew what I was looking for. To play soccer, have a lady-friend, and have bunch of friends to hang out and have a good time with. But for some reason or another some of those things aren't meant to be. I don't know maybe i'm over-hyper about making friends or maybe i'm trying to be friends who seen me one night and probably don't remember me the next. I know it is a fault that I am trying to rid of but hey it's hard to get rid of bad habits.

I was this close to going out by myself and just hangin by myself at a bar today. I don't know what stopped me, I was at the parking lot and I was ready to get out but something told me that nah, you just need to go home. It wasn't like I was sad or anything. Of course I just didn't want to sit by myself while all the others just sat their and have fun with their friends. I only have a couple of true friends left. It's hard, It's hard. People tell you that you are their friends until they either take advantage of you but using you just as an outlet for their problems and not concerning themselves with just having a conversation with you and those that tell you that they are your friends and then just ignore you. I'd rather you hurt my feelings and tell me the truth. The truth is better than lying or telling people other shit. I listen to soo many people talking about how others are annoying and bother them on facebook and it just hits me. Hey! others are probably sayin the same about me. But that is okay if you just want to fake it and tell me shit but then on the other part of the screen or your mind you say "gah why is he talking to me" then that's okay to but hey remember the faster you tell the truth that faster you rid of me from your whole life and that's what most of you want. Right? Right? Right?

I understand. but why?

Okay, I am a huge soccer fan. I can watch games all day and night. Also I learn from them but the Olympic tournament started this morning and yes I actually stayed up all night (by accident actually) and watched the 5am game with the United States and Japan. For those who don't know about it. It is an u-23 tournament but you can add up to three overage players. For example, Brazil could bring Ronaldinho to the tournament if his club allows it (I don't know why he's on the decline but that's another issue). Anyways I like this team we have, some of the guys I know and have played against in the past and I like our chances we have guys who don't have any fear. But....

When I started watching this game there was one overage player that I don't think belongs on this team or at least on this particular starting lineup and his name is Brian McBride. Now I understand that he has done A LOT in his career and by all means he's a good player but what forward tandem would you be scared of? McBride and Adu or Jozy Altidore and Adu? I'd take the latter you should have seen them in qualifying they were dangerous together and even Charlie Davies is much more dangerous than McBride.

I understand that well you brought him as an overage player for him to play and not sit on the bench. It would kinda be a waste of an overage player. But he is just a one dimensional player in my opinion. He can win headers and flick balls on but honestly anybody with the will and the competitiveness could do that. We need guys beating people on one v ones and able to get shots off and threaten the defense with their speed. I just feel like our game is going to be bogged down to trying to chip to mcbride and then Adu or Rogers or Holden tries to run on and do things. I feel like this one of the most talented teams we have and these guys can keep the ball on the ground and play with the other teams in the world. That long ball crap just doesn't work (you can ask England about that). But who knows maybe he will work out, but all I know is if or as I would say it when we make it to the quarterfinal rounds then I would like to see the young guys do the business like I know they can.

So let's give this a try

I've done this many times on myspace and facebook but I felt like it would be better on a forum like this so I'm going to give this thing a try. I am Andre Sherard from Greenville, North Carolina (ECU for those who don't know). I'm at the age of 22 and I play soccer for a living. I play for the Atlanta Silverbacks, I'm not a superstar, I don't even play for that matter but it's cool, I could be wearing a suit which I do not like. I'm easy to get along with, I try to speak my mind when I can and I just love life.

Why am I doing this? I don't know I just saw my good friend Aaron West start one and I always complain about being bored so I decided to start my own to get my ideas out. I plan on talking about the random stuff going on in my life and in the world today like everybody else. I don't know how unique I'm going to be nor really care I'm just going to be me, that's all you can ask for right?