Monday, October 06, 2008

Listen to Revolution Recap, or carry on to the after life.

I was up to my regular bag o' tricks yesterday. Mass at 9:00am. Breakfast with Abbey* at 10:00am. Breakfast(2)/brunch with Mario at 12:00pm. Trip to the mall to purchase a sweater for work and to gaze upon the many jerseys and sneakers that I intend to purchase in bulk once the winning numbers on my Powerball ticket appear.

(*This is the working title of the first non-soccer book that I intend to publish shortly after I accomplish putting together a respectable, non-sleep inducing volume pertaining to soccer. You heard it here first. Spread the word. Pepper the news in among your favorite interweb chatrooms.)

However, this sequence was the just prologue to the icing on the cake. The cherry on top. The mini-marshmellows in the Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate.


For the past year or so, Sean Donahue has invited me to appear as an in-studio guest on his Revolution Recap radio show. I'm always happy to oblige not only because Sean's a good guy, but because he knows his soccer AND he puts together an excellent production. And let me tell you something you probably already know as well: it's a darn good show.

So, at the appointed hour of 7:00pm, I appeared on the show. We had Brad Feldman, he of Revolution broadcast fame (his official position is Revolution Broadcasting Executive), and three of us talked about Revolution soccer. In fact, Brad even gave us the heads up on the new "I Want the Cup" feature on revolutionsoccer.net.


After Brad departed, Sean and I got to talk about the Revolution, their final three matches, the playoffs, the imminent Chicago Fire playoff rematch, and the questionable officiating of Saturday night's Revs-RSL match. Talking about the Revolution for more than five minutes? It was my lucky day! Seriously!

Here's why: now, this may shock you, but among My T-Mobile Five, I am the only soccer die-hard. I have a few friends I run into every so often that can talk soccer/Revolution for more than a minute. Hence, the majority of my non-business banter is reserved for college, pro and fantasy football, playoff baseball, politics, philosophy, and school. So whenever Sean asks me to do his show, I almost always say yes because it allows me to say what I've been wanting to say all week. You know, like, four man backline sucks. Wells Thompson is the poster boy for the sophomore jinx. Steve Ralston is actually a sophisticated, highly-skilled robot sent from the future to teach his teammates how soccer's played in 2099.*


(*Unfortunately, I cannot confirm this without finding the actual time/space porthole he used to get here. My sources say it's located near the old Wrentham State School, which - not coincidentally - is right next door to where the Revs have been known to practice during the summer.)


I swear, just being on the show increases my soccer IQ by at least 20 points. Mind you, I've had people tell me that I already know way more about soccer than a common kitchen utensil. But I'm always amazed how many times I drive back to East Providence thinking things like, "Wow, I never thought of Kheli Dube's age (25) and experience (played at Carolina Coastal College) as being a factor in how much better he and Twellman partner up rather than Kenny Mansally (19), even though Dube and Mansally are essentially first-year players." Or, "Gee, the whole idea of having Ralston (he of a team-high eight goals) in the middle isn't such a bad idea."

In short - Revolution Recap is not only good for the soccer brain, but personally, it also allows me the chance to sit down talk with Sean about the Revs - and on broadcast radio/downloadable podcast no less! So by all means, I encourage the remaining six or seven Revs fans to who haven't done so already to check out Revolution Recap.

*******

It was close, but I almost had to sprinkle some ketchup on an 8 x 11 1/2 sheet of paper and digest it this weekend. That was the dare outlined last week to the Revolution if they claimed three points from Real Salt Lake on Saturday. And since they didn't lose, I didn't eat a Tim Horton's doughnut. Alas, there were no conditions outlined for a draw, and I am left without a device to entertain my cluster of loyal readers.

Therefore, I will open the floor for ideas and suggestions for what I shall eat* in light of the Revs 2-2 draw to RSL. Post your suggestions in the comments box below.

(*No booger sandwiches, please. Culpae poenae par esto - 'let the punishment fit the crime.')

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