renaissance

Home sick today, don't mind if I do.

I have never seen illegal handling called on a goalie, but thought it was warranted against Barca earlier.

Very exciting game so far. Cheering for an all German final.

Can you dvr it???

I'm really starting to like Barca more. I watched a special on the club. I knew quite a bit about the club and its rivalries but there's just so much to that club its amazing. The history of struggle, near failures,etc.

So you're now a fan of the current EPL champs, the reigning Bundesliga champs, and the reigning champions league champs.

If you weren't a DCU fan I would have a lot more to say about that....=P

Granted it was in a different league, but when you've already been punished once for something and you repeat that action, I think a bigger penalty is warranted.

I just don't even understand the thought process for biting someone. Slapping or punching or even headbutting, sure. But biting? Are you 3?

Well, DC United sucks so far this year.

Absolutely zero killer instinct on offense. It's as if they don't even want to score goals. Terrible all the way around. Pajoy should not start another game and I can't believe he continues to see the field. Pontius has been a complete non-factor thus far, and we really miss Andy on the wing.

Looks like it's going to be 2010 all over again.

Gideon Zelalem of Bethesda, MD (15 YO) debuts for Arsenal (U21) against Liverpool (U21).

Buzz is he's legit and that they hope he can continue his development through the senior team. But, like that other traitor Najar, he's choosing to play for Germany at the moment.

Man what I would do for the prospect of Najar's speed and skill on the US wing right about now....

:mad:

I say offsides you say offside?

I say hand ball you say handling?

Just watched the Dortmund Malaga game. LOL @ 4 players from Dortmund being offsides on the 3rd goal. Tit for tat I guess.

And Malaga had 3 defenders literally just standing there while Dortmund scored the 2nd goal.

Link isn't working for me.

North Korea warns foreigners to leave South amid new threats of war

(Reuters) - North Korea intensified threats of an imminent conflict against the United States and the South on Tuesday, warning foreigners to evacuate South Korea to avoid being dragged into "thermonuclear war".

Click on the link for the full article

---------- Post added April-9th-2013 at 01:26 PM ----------

Shall we play a game?

http://meisterblogger.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/wargames.jpg

Funny because that's what some of the computers in some of their photos look like

Except of course for the imac in Jr's office.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Nen9UnM5_lU#!

---------- Post added April-4th-2013 at 04:38 PM ----------

The treadmill idiot reminds me of a time I was at the gym, minding my own business running on the treadmill when all the sudden the back of the treadmill jumps up and the band stops moving. I look back an see a ****ing exercise ball jammed up underneath the thing. I guess the doofus lady behind me just left the thing sitting there, and the energy from the treadmill sucked it in.

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr01/2013/3/26/20/anigif_enhanced-buzz-28077-1364345496-1.gif

I feel bad for him, but I definitely laughed.

Not sure I follow you with this reply.

The way I see it, the ultimate decision will come down to do we take proactive military action or do we sit and wait. The backstory and justifications may be different, but it's a really similar conflict.

War is horrible. I wish North Korea would understand this. Nothing good is going to come out of this. Why do they even want to start?

I suspect they want to go back to the post Korean War era when they were at their economic and political prime and countries like China and the Soviet Union were competing to ally with them while South Korea fell behind in every aspect. Problem is, they no longer have the Soviet Union on their side, and I don't think they really have China on their side when it comes to any kind of conflict with the rest of the world, and at this point they are so far behind any global superpower in terms of development it is ridiculous.

The idea that Un would get into a war that would likely lead to his death is laughable.

I think part of the question is whether he is rooted deeply enough in reality that he understands what they and the rest of the world are capable of.

Agree that we should tread lightly and in no way would I want a war to start. Certainly there will be casualties, but I guess I'm thinking long term for their people. That is dummy did start something and we could get him out of there, then maybe their people get a fresh start. Don't mistake me for a warmonger as that was not the point of my post. I'd always like to see a diplomatic way out, but then again like others have said, how long to you wait, while their military capabilities get better and better? It's definately a delicate balancing act that I for one would not like make that decision.

I feel like I've gone back in time 10 years.

With the clear intent of minimizing casualties, that ex-Pentagon official recommended "surgical strikes" on NK missile(s) as they were being readied. How feasible a course of action would this be? They dust off their old nuclear reactor...bomb the building. Avoid the major population centers, etc. Are we at the point where China/Russia and anyone else would no longer be offended if we took this course of action, so long as it was military targets only, with an eye on reducing civilian damage?

Our radar and surveillance capability is superior in this regard. I saw someone else say that we would never strike first, but in this situation, if our intent is clearly just to hamstring them militarily, would the objections be that loud? Hell, we could follow up each strike with a surplus grain drop out of good faith, right

The fact is while we may know where their nuclear facilities are, we have no idea what kind of arsenal they have hidden elsewhere within the country. Any proactive attack is really going in partially blind at this point.

Edit: And I think there would be objections from their neighboring countries who could very easily be directly impacted by any sort of action. China doesn't want to deal with a million NK refugees, and SK nore China don't want to risk any response to our attacks (it doesn't take a North Korean nuke to do serious damage to South Korea).

Their missiles supposedly don't have the capability to reach deep inside the US, but they might be able to hit Alaska, and definitely Hawaii. The West Coast is the most vulnerable.

We do have the defenses necessary to fend the missiles off, but they're not 100% reliable.

Um, fantastic for main land USA. Now what about China, Japan, SK, Russia, etc, etc, etc.

Right, it's the "Truman Show" effect. Which is actually pretty unsettling understanding the weaponry now possessed by NK. Don't expect much pushback from the citizens on that one. With the technology of the present age, their has to be a way to crack the information block. Drop cases of Iphones from 50,000 feet up. Send a satellite feed directly down to that region. Get them connected to facebook, cnn.com, espn, whatever it takes.

EDIT: BTW, if I was an NK citizen and was told that the president shot a 35 on his first 18 hole round of golf, with several holes-in-one, my BS meter would go off. Sorry, but there has to be a line somewhere.

I don't remember where, but online the other day I read that as Chinese citizens started making the switch from VCRs to DVD players, a lot of the tossed VCRs ended up in NK, allowing an increasing number of North Koreans to watch outside media. But let's be realistic here, when your country looks like this at night

It's not like everyone is flocking around the TV to watch last week's episode of Dancing With the Stars that your long lost South Korean cousin sent to you.

What really stands out about that goal is the pass by Dani Alves to Messi with the outside of his foot with such precision is ridiculous.

I don't disagree. I've tried to strike it like that on PKs before just ****ing around and am lucky to get the shot on goal, I can only imagine being able to do it in a game and send it perfectly to someone else.

Just watched PSG v Barcelona. That first Barca goal holy ****.

Not sure where else to put this:

http://media-cache-ec2.pinterest.com/550x/de/84/18/de841808e8711a47024bd6196a4cf6f3.jpg

Compilation of then and now photos, where someone recreates a childhood photo. These are the best ones I've seen and some are actually really cool.

Freed of a Secret’s Burden, a Soccer Player Looks Ahead

The computer document was named LetterOfLife. Robbie Rogers, a former member of the United States national team and a professional soccer player in England, wrote it one night last December, pounding on his keyboard while sitting in bed. When he finished, he saved it on the main screen of his laptop and it stayed there, for more than two months, while Rogers alternately pondered it, ignored it and agonized over whether he could make it public.

Rogers noted, too, that it is easy for others to say he should simply keep playing or to say that the sports culture is ready for a gay male athlete to play in a major team sport. Yet of all the e-mails and texts he received, none — zero — were from other active soccer players revealing that they were gay.

“I don’t think football is homophobic,” Rogers said. “But clearly there is something there. Because no one reached out. Not one other player said he was gay. So there’s definitely still work to be done, right?”

“I’ve played in Olympics and won championships,” he said, “but I’ve told people, forget all of that: telling my family was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. And posting that letter was second.”

Not sure where else to post this...

NASL's Minnesota Stars have rebranded and I love the new look: http://www.zeusjones.com/blog/2013/giving-our-home-states-soccer-team-a-new-identity/

I didn't see the game and can't really tell from the photo - was the card for studs up?