Jules

A fire has broken out in the AZ Alkmaar stadium during their Europa League game. In the 59th minute the game has been postponed and they are evacuating the stadium rapidly. Fire is apparently getting worse and firefighters haven't reached it yet. Power is out, because apparently it's in the stadium control room. Bizarre scenes, really.

They blew.

I just remembered who Napoli signed as a striker... Higuain. :D

Ajax and Arsenal draw two really tough groups, while United and Chelsea get easy peasy ones. Figures.

Kicked off the team? WTF.

Grace booked a ticket to see me in two weeks, I was called back to interview for a temporary job with some potential and I got to interview a Dutch Olympic gold medal winner in speed skating because he's going to consult the San Jose Sharks this pre-season (he worked with Joe Thornton at HC Davos during the lockout) and the guy agreed to give me an (exclusive) interview when he's back from the trip. Today was a fucking good day.

The response (as in, the tifo action) is awesome, but the blatant racism they were punished for is not. Eastern European soccer leagues are riddled with right wing violence and racism. There are teams afraid to sign black players, because of backlash from the fans. Morons.

Teams don't prioritize the national Cup tournaments. They play their "B squad" for the most parts, giving some playing time to younger players or bench players. Occasionally it means they stumble early or just don't care at all. It's pretty common for mid-table teams to win the Cup.

Up 7-0 barely into the second half.

SHE WON AGAIN! This time she won the double's race, which is somewhat against the odds and - to their great annoyance - was scheduled just ninety minutes after the previous event. This is fan-fucking-tastic. :happy: :chug:

CANADIAN HENLEY GOLD IN THE FOUR! :cool: http://i.imgur.com/aYxoahj.jpg Grace is the girl holding the wooden plaque. :)

THOSE AREN'T BOOOOOOS... :o

Fortuna with another strong showing in second game. After beating a clear title favorite at home last week, they now played 0-0 away against another good opponent. 4 out of 6 possible points to open the year. There have been seasons where acquiring 4 points took them seven games.

Because their qualifying was tougher, they were actually number one for a while, despite Spain taking all three recent tournaments.

Colombia, Greece, The Netherlands? What are they doing there. How The Netherlands is currently ranked over Brazil, England en maybe even Belgium shows how skewed this list usually is. The Dutch team is in absolute shambles, hasn't beaten a meaningful opponent in a meaningful game in forever and they are fifth? Laughable.

Grace took third in the single scull final today, qualified for the double's final as the fastest boat and easily peddled to a spot in the semis with the four. Not a bad day. I was nervous as hell for it though, my goodness, it sucks not being to watch the race from the shore.

There were three semis, top 2 from each advances to a final of six, which will be held tomorrow afternoon. Grace rowed the second fastest time of all 18 competitors across the three and that one girl who was faster is a teammate, who was in a tighter finish, which suggests that Grace could conserve some energy and not show her cards at full sprint yet to qualify. Second best time gives her a priority lane, so that's pretty neat as well. All in all, she has a good shot at gold now that this is over. Semis are usually the scariest, because several competitors have nothing to lose once they are out of the heats.

As a follow up to this... she actually won the semi final. Holy fuck, this is awesome.

I'm nervous. Like, Rangers are in the playoffs nervous. Grace is racing a big regatta in Canada (Canadian Henley in St. Catherine's, Ontario) this week and has her first legitimate shot at a major final in a single (she usually races team boats). Damn, time goes slow and to think I'll just have to hit F5 for a few minutes later int he day (race is at 2PM your time) and to see those digits appear and hope hers is fast enough. It's tough being far away from an event this big. I can deal with it much better being in the stands.

This is the life of so many people outside the popular sports world. Hockey fans often see the AHL is a step down, but the income of many AHL players is a dream pay for most athletes, especially those in a sport that only get good TV ratings at the Olympics. I mean, I see it everyday, because my fiancee has to work a job outside of her full-time sports career, despite being around a top 100 athlete in her sport worldwide. The drop-off in the financial value of being an elite level athlete in a smaller sport is enormous.

A common complaint is that New Yorkers don't greet people in the street and are very acknowledging of other people in their everyday life. Reading this, it all makes sense, because one nod to the wrong guy and you're stuck listening to a sales pitch or a song.

The cheapest things aren't very durable, but who buys their furniture for life or for a first place immediately? IKEA is a fine stop gap between just furnishing your first places casually and then saving up the cash to buy something really awesome. Which in turn can be found at IKEA, if you buy the more expensive things. It ain't all bad.

Really exciting start to the season for Fortuna Sittard, as they beat a legitimate championship contender with 2-0 at home. It was a really hot night (over 90F degrees) and the coach has specifically trained on endurance in pre-season, so they consolidated the tie in the first half (0-0 at HT) and then when the opponent became more tired as the game progressed they started pushing up more and scored two goals in the last twenty minutes. It makes Fortuna the first table leader of the season. Always a good start. :)

One of the best game series ever made, even though AC3 had a mediocre ending at best. Absolute love it.

Glad I'm going to move with no more than two suitcases next time up.