sports fever

so i said in another post that march is the best sports month of the year. and i think i stick by that statement/post. march madness is an incredibly exciting time and european soccer and the champions league soccer really gets exciting in march. but fall is such a magical sports time. the baseball season is coming to a close. its always exciting especially when the angels are in the playoffs. normally i would say that as long as we dont run into the red sox then we have a chance, but i dont think anyone could beat the yankees this year. they have better pitching and probably a better offense. the angels offense is better than previous years, but i still dont see how we can get past the yankees. regardless, playoff baseball is just fantastic. last year before we had cable, i would drag nellie out to restaurants with tv's each night so that we could watch the games. im sure we spent more money on food than what a cable bill would have cost. watching games on the couch isnt nearly as memorable as sitting on bar stools at lucille's in long beach though.

another great part about fall is the start of european futbol. matt and i are flirting with doing a soccer podcast. why? because its fun to 'play' radio dj and we have nothing better to do with our lives. we have actually recorded two podcasts, but we haven't put them up on itunes. part of that is due to the fact that we dont have a name for our podcast. last season we practically spoke each week on the phone about the happening in euro soccer. i also found myself having conversations with various friends each week about soccer, so we figured we should record the conversations and pretend that people care to listen to them.

im not sure who reads this blog, so i dont know if any futbol fans even read this. real madrid had a typical start. lots of offensive fire power, no defense. they won their opener 3-2. still vulnerable in the back. granted, they dont have pepe 'the back scratcher.' they also are missing sergio ramos who is out with injury. they are two key parts to the defense, but you cant win with just offense. hopefully xabi and lass solidify the midfield and keep things under control.

the epl is exciting. man u had a cheap win against arsenal. man u is vulnerable this year, not quite as much as liverpool, but i wouldnt bet on them over arsenal or chelsea right now. granted, its far too early to make too many predictions. im telling you, this futbol stuff is exciting.

but speaking of exciting, a little on the pigskin and the start of the football season. i guess i dont have too much to say but i was thinking about boise state v. oregon on thursday night to kick off the season and it got me excited. there is of course the cougs. last year the expectations were off the charts, which made us ripe for big disappointment, which is what happened. 'quest for perfection'? really? who thought of that. i understand the desire for an undefeated season, but to put that on all your t-shirts, you are just setting yourself up for a let down. anyways, i think that expectations are toned down this year. i dont know how they cant be when you open against oklahoma and the returning heisman trophy winner. no matter the result of that game, i think its a great game to start the season. there is a chance we could catch them by surprise and pull of an unbelievable upset, which i dont think we could do later in the season. if we do beat them, that would be a huge confident booster. but if we lose, i think it will help keep our expectations in check and remind us that we arent invincible. in years past we start off well and beat chumps like utah state or wyoming in september and early october, but then november rolls around and we fall apart. id rather take an early loss to oklahoma if it meant we then went on to win the rest of our games.

nellie is just as excited as i am. she cant wait for football on mondays and thursdays and saturdays, more futbol on saturdays (and sometimes late on sundays) and baseball on the days in between. as it is she is making cookies to celebrate sportscenter being on right now. she said its for mutual tomorrow night, but she jumped off the couch so quickly when sportscenter started that i know she was just bursting with excitement for the hour of sports coverage. its only september 1st and she can hardly contain herself. its gonna be a great fall.