How odd....

...that post number 208 is the first post of...2008!

Anyway, Happy belated New Year to all five of my readers!

Welcome back...my apologies for the prolonged absence. Things at work have been quite chaotic lately, which, to my amazement, has not led me to the precipice of any local bridge or high rise building.

Anyway, if you're like me, (God help you) and you like to read, I recommend "The Ball is Round". I discovered this little 982 page book while perusing the sports section at the local Barnes and Noble just before the New Year, and after whisking the book away to the nearest reading chair and reading the first chapter, I was quite enthralled. But as a smart consumer, I did not purchase the book on the spot. Instead, I made a mental note to do some price comparisons, and found it on Amazon.com 30% off the retail price.

But with a large sum of post-Christmas bills to pay, I decided that I would return to the bookstore, locate the book once again, and read chapter 2. Then, the following week, read chapter three...and so on, and so on, until I finished sometime in November 2009. In the back of my mind, I was hoping to actually read a 900+ page book, averaging one chapter per week, and never have to pay for it. Alas, my intricate plot was ruined when I failed to locate said book this past weekend, and was thus relegated to reading the latest issue of World Soccer at the cafe.

So the Official 2007 MLS Cup DVD has been released, and with a few copies of it on the demi-god known as eBay, I placed a bid on it before bedtime last night. Yet, as is typical of many a eBay bids, I was outbid in the AM, and thought better than to place another bid on an item that promises the action from kickoff to celebration (or if you are a Revs fan, devastation).

You may ask yourself - "why would you want an account of the Revs latest tragedy?" I don't know. Honestly, maybe in the deep recesses of my mind, I secretly hope that if I watch it enough times, the Andy Dorman actually ends up scoring in the 82nd, drawing the teams even, and then, just before stoppage expires, Michael Parkhurst comes up, completely unmarked and launches a rocket from just outside the box and affixes it top shelf for the game-winner. Revs win! Revs win! Parkhurst, with the electrifying goal! Can you believe it !?! (For some reason, I have Joe Castiglione making the radio call, rather than Brad Feldman).

Ok, so maybe that won't happen...but it's fun to imaginize, isn't it?

With my limited access to global soccer, I've been feasting on Portuguese Liga matches telecast on Radio Television Portugal (RTP). While it's difficult to understand the play by play man (when the ball is passed from Ricardo Quaresma to Bruno Alves, it's funny hear "Quaresmsa...Brunoalves"), the telecast is helping me improve my hold on the language, which I have resolved to learn this year.