Spaces is getting ready to kick me off as well. I cancelled my account, so I don't know if this ID goes with it as well as the space or not. We'll see what happens in a couple of days.

I've made a promise to myself to write more often, especially since cheesecake61 will be reading it as well. Yet, she still hasn't written anything. Any suggestions for her? I've told her to just sit down and type just to get something out, then go back and edit it if it needs it.

R.S. -- early, early bird. "Farmer early."

Kristi, you're part of a real trend, it seems, leaving msn spaces.  I know whenever I tried to visit your old site this week, it wouldn't let me in.  Now I know why.  The new place looks good -- and it features my favorite caption contest, I see.

R.S., your new site looks great, too.  You've been so productive with your posts I can't keep up.  Funny how that works now that your spring semester is over.  I'll hope to catch up on all the Euro 2008 pre-tourney news this weekend.  Then maybe I can keep up with you a bit better. 

Yes, I signed up for wordpress I can't seem to resist a new thing. I haven't learned everything yet which is probably why I didn't have a link to the blog from my comment. I forgot to put it in there or something, it's [http://onelife84.wordpress.com].

I've been so caught up in the anticipation of the Euro 2008 Championships and the UEFA Champions' League Final, I've forgotten about the MLS. It seems as if Kansas City are still in the process of finding themselves in the first month of play. They got rocked at Los Angeles the other day 1-4. That's the most goals they've allowed in a long time. It looks like Chicago and Kansas City have reversed roles from last season, for the meantime.

I think Spain has to come out of that underachieving slump they've been in. They have quality players, though I'm too sure of who is in their starting 11 may be as I am almost sure of Portugal's. But you have to figure that Fernando Torres will be there, Iniesta as well, Cesc Fabregas, David Villa, , and of course the man who is one of the best keepers in the world, Iker Casillas will be the starter. I'm totally clueless about who will play defense for Spain at the moment. I've been a little obsessive and hopeful about the squad Luis Felipe Scolari has and can't wait to see how well they'll play. My attention has been there, but... 10 days...

R.S. aka adam84 @ wordpress

About basketball, I think Chicago should use their #1 pick to take Beasley. Beasley is an impact player and was one for KSU, I don't follow the NBA, but Beasley should make some sort of noise. He set all sorts of Big XII records as a freshman [44 points in a single game (Big XII record), 28 double-doubles (most by freshman nationally), #3 (nationally) in average scoring, #1 (nationally) in rebounds per game, and in his debut game he had a conference record 24 rebounds]. I'm sure there are more. As soon as he hit the floor for the Wildcats, they won, and won against great teams (including KU). He also should have been player of the year but wasn't because Hansbrough was on a team that had a better record (my opinion). Beasley can do it all, but that is probably his weakness. Sometimes he has tried to do it all likely feeling that the team was relying on him, which can and has hurt the team. A couple of years in the NBA should mold him into a really great player, reluctant to use the word dominant. He's so big (6' 9" and 235 lbs) and he knows how to use his size against opponents, almost every team KSU played against had to double team him which left Walker open to score...he'll draw attention. Anyway, about Rose, Beasley does have the size factor on him, though I didn't pay too much attention to Rose (even during the tournament, or against KU) so I can't say much about him. I wish Beasley would not have gone to the NBA after his first season, because I wanted to see KU play him again and again. Imagine how scary-good he may have been in his senior season.

On to football, Euro 2008 (btw 2 years left). On Friday's I play a little screw around game of indoor and two of the regulars' nationalities are Polish and German. They were commenting on the luck of the draw of their two nations, obviously in 2006 they were paired in the same group, and now in Euro 08' they are once again together in the same group. Also as I was told from one of them, this is Poland's first time qualifying for the Euros. News to me. Group A looks very strong from top to bottom.

Time for foot-in-mouth predictions for group stages:
Group A -- Portugal (biased) and Czech Republic
Group B -- Germany and Croatia
Group C -- France and Netherlands
Group D -- Spain (biased) and Greece

What do you think?? I'm so glad that ESPN360 is going to have so many games shown, and even ABC will get into the act for the latter stages of the tournament. Perhaps American interest is growing for the ABC network to show it on their airtime. Hopefully soon we'll get enough interest to have the MLS on ABC a frequent occurrence during the summer along with tennis (Wimbledon). Instead of baseball, golf, and NASCAR.

What about Sir Alex's decision to step down as manager of Manchester Untied? That blew me away yesterday when I read it. Also, would you happen to know about Chelsea's manager issues? They ousted Avram Grant after he was supposedly on the hot seat after taking over for Jose Mourinho, who I still don't know why they got rid of him. I addressed this question to Susan to get her take on it as well. What is Chelsea looking for? I'm not understanding their logic, though it's probably just business.

That wordpress that Susan uses looks pretty good, I might use it since blogger can be transferred to it.

R.S. -- Early Bird...

Well, well, well...I'll bet someone had a mild stroke yesterday after watching their team win in penalty kicks in the Champions' League Final. Cristiano Ronaldo got his goal early on and what placement! Cech had no chance. In the penalties, I thought sure as day John Terry would score his penalty and end it, but he missed. Ooof, I felt really bad him though, he was in a spot that kids dream of, and the surface gave out on him. I never would have expected Ronaldo to miss his penalty either. Anywho it was a fantastic match and Van der Sar came up with a magic save to win it. Congratulations!! Now I can rest a little bit easier knowing Barca was beaten by the best team in Europe. :-D

Barca gets a new coach and despite what some may say, Rijkaard had 5 great seasons with Barca, Milan will not be in the Champions' League next season (that's just strange), Chelsea bought Porto defender Boswinga, what other changes and transfers will the summer hold for European football?

Well, Summer classes will be without Calculus (somewhat of a bittersweet thing) JCCC wants me to have a college level Trigonometry class before I can take it there which I thought was strange. But, I will be "enjoying" a Summer class of Western Civilization I (the most popular class and somehow always closed class in the fall) to get that out the way. So, for the mean time no Implicit Differentiations, dy/dx or d/dx (trying to find dy/dx), Chain Rule, and no more 2x cubed = 6x squared through derivatives.

I have also realized (today) that dogs can be great soccer companions. While practicing, in my 2nd or 3rd hour, a guy with his two dogs came running by, when out of nowhere one of them comes barking and bolted for the ball. The dog tried to put its mouth around it and once the dog felt that he had successfully "gotten" the ball he stood near the ball and waited for me. So I took it and started dribbling with it and the dog chased the ball trying to get it again. I guess after seeing how much fun it was the other dog joined in and it became 2 on 1. It was so much fun! So much so that one dog did not want to go back with the guy running! Those two dogs wore me out in the five minutes or so they played!

R.S.

Okay, finally, after stopping by several times and reading your comment telling myself, "I'm gonna get to a response, I'm gonna get to a response." all this week. The surprise in all of that is the fact that religion plays a part in who someone cheers for. I would have never imagined that Catholics in Scotland would choose Celtic to root for and Protestant's choose Rangers...

(BTW highlights from the national media here of the UEFA Cup finals were not of the match but of the riots that ensued after Rangers lost, typical. Just like during the World Cup, when Poland lost in the fleeting moments to Germany, no media here showed the game-winning goal, they just showed Polish fans rioting). Continuing on the off-topic, I don't know about you, but the 2-0 result put in by Zenit St. Petersburg was a surprise to me. I thought Rangers would have secured the win for sure. I've never even heard of Zenit until the UEFA Cup this year.

Back to topic...

I wonder if hardcore Portuguese fans have the same idea about foreigners outside their league who cheer for Benfica, Porto, Sporting, or Nacional, seeing us as "inferior fans" who don't deserve to share in the glory and pain of a team? I was just curious about it because we all know here, location is a big determinant of who you cheer for especially in American football. It's almost a Cardinal sin to enjoy watching the K.C. Chiefs suffer and be open about it as I do and I am (go Broncos!). I thought the 4-12 season the Chiefs had last year was beautiful :-D

Summer is going to be "fun" (he says sarcastically). I have to retake a calculus class I didn't do so well in, this Spring. All other classes were As and Bs and one C, then there was Calculus. For some reason, understanding numbers and concepts like in calculus and physics don't make sense to me. Yet at the same time, statistics makes almost perfect sense to me. So starting 2 June, I'll be in summer school re-learning calculus (yay). Then...it's one more year for me! One more and a semester if I want to continue doing research with the professor I'm going to do research with in the Fall! I cannot wait!

I'll be tuning in definitely on the 21st and I'll be sporting Red 7.

R.S.

Whoa, what a final week of regular classes before Finals week.

I watched the Chelsea-Liverpool match and that Ryan Babel (Liverpool) has a cannon for a right foot. Petr Cech, I have no idea what he was thinking. It was a great shot, but it seemed like Cech was a little nonchalant about it. A rare mistake from an excellent keeper. Drogba, I've heard he was good, but now that I have this broadband connection I can actually watch him play without the constant "buffering" message, and he's pretty good and on that night was deadly accurate for Chelsea.

I've always wondered how the love-hate relationships work in England. If Man U fans "hate" other teams like Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham just because they live in Manchester or because of past results against those clubs. In Portugal, people who live Porto, are not necessarily F.C. Porto fans (I could not imagine why not). There are many (about 1/4 or so) Porto residents who are, God forbid, Benfica fans or Sporting Lisbon fans. A resident of Porto came to my Portuguese class about a year ago and answered questions about life and culture in Portugal as opposed to Brazil. I of course asked him who his favorite team was, and to my shock and a little disappointment he replied, Benfica. Does that ever occur in England where there are Chelsea fans living in Liverpool or Liverpool fans living in Manchester, etc.? Does it occur in great numbers or are they the overwhelming minority?

R.S.

Well, congrats to Manchester United. Scholes had a fantastic shot off of Puyol's disaster of a clearance, there was absolutely nothing Victor Valdez could do. He was well out of position. I'm a little disappointed that Barca had all that possession and could do nothing with it. Messi and Deco were providing United with trouble and that's about it. It wasn't to be and it still hurts, I thought for sure Barca would have scored. Hopefully that'll make up for the loss to Chelsea over the weekend. I guess I'll continue to lick the wounds and watch the rest of Chelsea-Liverpool (been at school and work all day). I'll be rooting for United against whoever they play, I'll also be looking for a Ronaldo goal.

R.S.

Hmm... 0-0 at the Camp Nou. Playing conservatively. The winds of favor are tilted just ever so slightly in Barca's way. The least they could do is draw with goals which will put them through. Another goal-less draw would be much worse though. Playing in extra time away from the Camp Nou may likely work against Barca if it comes down to that. United plays very well at Old Trafford, and that's a little concerning. Let's just hope (for me at least) United doesn't have one of those matches similar to the 7-1 display against A.S. Roma a while back. I'm just happy Rooney, Tevez, and Ronaldo were held at bay, that's not easy to do.

I saw the missed open net shot I think you're referring to. I'm not too sure if it was Barrett though. If that player would have kept with it, he may very well have scored. Instead, after his miss, he continued trotting past the end line and kicked some air out of frustration. The ball came back and fell right in the general area of where he would have likely been if he would have stayed on the field. I don't suspect that'll happen again. The KC defenders were in the right place at the right time to stop it on the line.

More waiting, until we know who moves on...Barca knows what they have to do, and it's been proven a hard task to do this season.

R.S.

Ronaldo should be player of the year. I don't think I've seen a player on the score sheet in almost every game for his club. Especially for a team like Manchester United, and especially in a league like the EPL. He shouldn't be robbed of the World Footballer of the Year award. Who else is in contention who has been performing consistently like Cristiano?

I don't think Portugal will underperform in the Euro 2008 tournament (I hope they wont). Though the Czech Republic could give them trouble, unless the Czechs played like they did in 06'. 2 players from Manchester United in Ronaldo and Nani will likely be on the squad, plus Ricardo Quaremsa. I know Quaresma is all right foot, but if keepers go to sleep on him, he'll make him pay with that wicked bend that he has. They have many of the old World Cup squad with a few exceptions. Though, I am surprised to not see Porto-forward, Helder Postiga in the current lineup. Hmm...

As for the magician Ronaldinho, if or when he leaves, I'll miss him at Barca (regardless of the 'mooting' I've read that he's received from home fans), and the talent level of Milan will grow substantially. If Milan can reach the team chemistry of Manchester United, they'll be a huge force next season. Of course along with Barcelona, Manchester United, and Porto...I know the last team may have been stretching it, but they are very good. Sleeper team. :-)

R.S.