long long time

almost two years later, i've decided to return to blogging. nothing terribly exciting, just a little update/love every once in a while.

i will continue to comment on my boys in red this next season - only 3.5 weeks til the first pre-season game v barnet! we just made a nice little signing, getting the 23yo young belgian center back thomas vermaelen from ajax. should be a nice addition since our defense has been shaky the last couple years...

i'm back at school finishing the phd after adventures in running a tutoring company and then teaching high school in inner city denver. if you ever want to hear some horror stories about our public education system, i've got enough to last me two lifetimes after teaching for a whopping 10 weeks.

i heart julio baptista

in the final of the copa america today, he scored a brilliant goal in the fourth minute to help brazil to a 3-nil win over argentina. perhaps arsenal *will* be better off without thierry if it means this boy gets more playing time...

4 weeks and counting

it's been a decent weekend overall. i mean, aside from tweaking my knee at our indoor soccer game friday and therefore missing my tri this morning (no worries, this one was kind of a "practice tri"), things went pretty well. i scored twice in the indoor game, which shocked the hell out of me. i over-indulged in sleep, getting a whopping 21 hours over two days. i even made it to the farmer's market saturday, only to be disappointed that all the fruit had sold out. but that's what happens when you don't show up til 1.

it's been a bit since my last arsenal rant, so here's an update on my boys in red:
arsenal won their first friendly of the pre-season, tho it was only 2-nil and the opposing side Barnet were pretty hopeless (they even had a 40-something guy pay 10,000 pounds to be named as a substitute, sit the bench, then be put in with a minute or two remaining). vp is back from injury, but the brazilian wunderkid denilson had to be stretchered off during the match, tho they're now saying the injury isn't serious. thank god, cuz we're going to need him this year. sir alex has said arsenal will be better off without henry, and i must say i agree - the boys tended to rely on him too much this last season and it became pretty apparent that thierry was starting to give under the weight of his team. 4 weeks to the opening game v. fulham! anyone who wants to come watch it at my place had better bring java porter - it's the only way we'll stay awake after the 5am kickoff...

disaster!

i got home last night from a fun and relaxing weekend visiting mikey in seattle to the following email from my friend rob:


"Erin what happened to Henry? I can't believe he signed with Barcelona, he and Ronaldinho are going to be unstoppable. You must be pretty pissed about it I would guess... "


pissed doesn't even *begin* to describe my reaction. i hadn't been online or checked sky sports news all weekend so i was completely blind-sided by this information. at first i thought he was just playing a cruel joke on me, and seeing as how it's rob, i wouldn't put it past him. so i checked sky sports - sure enough, there was the headline. but there's always been speculation about henry moving and this could be more of said speculation. so i go to arsenal.com to see if they agree, because they'd be the first to deny any wayward rumors. here was the first article:

Thierry Henry transfer to Barcelona agreed

nothing could possibly describe the sinking feeling in my heart any better than agony - pure agony.

then agony turned to anger. thierry, how could you?? where's the loyalty? arsenal made you the player you are today, gave you the best years of your career, and you abandon them? for *barcelona*?? bastard.

for those of you that don't understand how this makes me feel, try this exercise:
- think of your favorite sports team
- think of your favorite player of all time for that team
- think of a team you truly despise
- imagine that player transferring to that team

yep, that's about how i feel right now. way to ruin a perfectly good weekend, thierry. i forevermore vow to root against any team you play for.