Soccer Poet

Because I hate loose ends… In the Sept. 30 entry, CANNONS, I mentioned the case of Ryan Ferguson, who was wrongly convicted of murder and has spent roughly a decade in prison. Well, on November 12th, Ryan walked out of that Missouri prison as a free man, his conviction vacated. If justice has a to-do list, it can scratch this one off… finally. Now, not for nothin’, but being as Ryan Ferguson was sent to prison almost solely due to prosecutorial misconduct by the District [...]

Okay, I’ve finally succumbed to the reality that trying to be a dedicated blogger during the fall season is an unreachable fantasy. There just aren’t enough days in the week. I feel good about finally reaching a conclusion that any objective and logical observer would have reached years ago. I’m freeing myself of the stress of letting down the Poetheads. As a blogger, I can let you down no longer, because… I quit. Okay, not entirely. I’m just not obligated to you [...]

On Saturday morning we took our three points and skedaddled out of Columbia on a charter flight to Lexington for a Sunday match against the Kentucky Wildcats. There’s a lot I love about charter flights, but the way that the plane parks about 30 feet from the bus we have to board is near the top of the list. Jill Maloney is one of our goalkeepers and she certainly leads a life less ordinary. In addition to traipsing across the Atlantic Ocean every few weeks to represent Ireland at the [...]

I’m going to begin with a little shameless self-promotion as Soccer iQ was named as one of the Top 5 soccer books of the year by the NSCAA Soccer Journal (otherwise known as the Best Publication Ever!). It’s been quite a month for Soccer iQ. In addition to the laurels bestowed by the Soccer Journal, September was also a record sales month, more than doubling the amount of copies sold on Amazon during its previous best month, which incidentally, was August. I thought I might mention [...]

Well the Dawgs got a big result as we knocked off the previously unbeaten South Carolina Gamecocks in front of 2,500 very enthusiastic fans on Friday night. The stadium was buzzing and the atmosphere was absolutely electric and two teams put on a great show. The ‘Cocks had a stellar start to their season, rattling off seven wins and one draw in non-conference play, a run that included a marquee win over Duke, a 0-0 tie with Boston College, seven shutouts and a single goal conceded. [...]

So here I am, fat and getting fatter. In an odd twist, my current density dilemma hasn’t swayed me to forgo sweets or red meat or my daily vat of coffee (mmmm coffee). Instead it has motivated me to give up Facebook.  It seems a good many of my Facebook friends have been working hard to lose the pounds and can’t stop themselves from posting their good fortune to the world at large. Look, I get it. You’ve done something your proud of and you want to announce it. [...]

Well this week is getting away from me in a hurry, so I’m going to try to make up some ground to catch y’all up with the Georgia Bulldogs and other events that keep the world spinning. By in large it’s been a week full of good news, so let’s begin by saying Happy Birthday to Bella, Nikki, Torri, Gabby, TD, Jill, Kara and Angelica!  Busy birthday month here in Athens. Congrats to Coach Mark Richt and the Georgia Bulldogs for their AMAZING performance and convincing [...]

Izzy is now a full-fledged fourth grader which is obviously fantastic. The academic work is significantly more advanced than it was a year ago, and I’m excited to see her try to tackle some more difficult subjects. One of the subjects her class is currently exploring is the elements, and of course that goes hand in hand with the periodic table. To help the students get excited about the periodic table (Yay Science!), the teacher introduced them to the Element Song (Yay music!). [...]

SATURDAY So the Texas game didn’t go exactly as planned. Or, to be more precise, it went exactly the opposite as planned. We knew the Horns were going to be big and athletic and that they would play straight ahead. We knew they would be excellent in the air and that would make them dangerous on set pieces. In our pregame meeting at the hotel on Friday morning we mentioned a couple of key points. One of them was that we had to win the set piece battle, and to do that, we’d have to [...]

This afternoon we arrived in Austin, TX to prepare for our season opener against the Longhorns on Friday night. The stadium at UT is utterly massive. I mean this thing is enormous, and when it is empty, like it was today, it becomes enormous in a post-apocalyptic way. It’s the place where the survivors would congregate when the zombies rose from their graves. When I first started coaching I had no real ambitions other than to keep coaching so I could keep eating. I was never [...]

I started this entry a while back, but for some reason I just kept holding back on completing it.  I really didn’t know why until a few days ago.  It’ll be pretty easy for you to connect the dots. I spent last weekend on the left coast, taking in some ECNL action as part of my recruiting duties. It’s interesting, the perception ‘outsiders’ have of our job. When I say I was in San Diego, the person I’m speaking with immediately gives a heavy [...]

It was a U-12 game. A striker had checked back from an offside position to receive the ball at her feet. The assistant referee (a.k.a linesman) raised his flag to signal the offside infraction and the play was whistled dead.  Immediately some parents who were sharing the AR’s sideline began protesting with an array of snide and patronizing remarks.  One of them figured he was obligated to point out that the offside call is contingent upon when the ball is played. Because they [...]

So not much happening on the soccer front, unless of course you count a 9 year-old hitting a ridiculous BICYCLE KICK. Here’s the thing… most fans are just going to go Wow! Look at that bicycle kick! But soccer people, particularly coaches, are going to appreciate the entire maneuver because this little prodigy actually does three very advanced things here. He wedges himself between the ball and the opponent to protect the ball. Trust me, that’s not just by accident. [...]

Well look who’s been slacking again. Same ol’ story. Yeah, yeah, YAWN. You know, I’m not even sure if I should say this out loud, but the blog has been MIA for so long I doubt anyone checks in these days, so I’m gonna take my chances and confess: The worst thing that happened to me as a writer was publishing that book. I once heard a story about dog racing that stuck with me; if any of those greyhounds ever catch the electronic rabbit (let’s say the rabbit [...]

"I promise you one thing. A lot of good will come out of this. You will never see any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. You will never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season. You will never see a team play harder than we will the rest of the season." Tim Tebow Let me begin by correcting any misguided assumptions about the hiatus of this blog. You’ve probably noticed that its absence [...]