Goal!!!!!!!

That was the first goal scored by the Palestinian football team on Palestinian soil. First recognized by Fifa in 1998, they didn't play their first match on home soil until 26 October 2008. The match, with Jordan, ended in a 1-1 draw.

The Ball is Round

I'm currently reading David Goldblatt's thus far excellent The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football.* In the section about the game's spread to South America there is this report from a Brazilian journalist watching one of the first organized games in Rio de Janeiro:

"In Bom Retiro, a group of Englishmen, a bunch of maniacs as they all are, get together, from time to time, to kick around something that looks like a bull's bladder. It gives them great satisfaction or fills them with sorrow when this kind of yellowish bladder enters a rectangle formed by wooden posts."

Not really too far off, was he?


*In North America it's published as The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer. That said, the publishers did not change the text to read soccer in lieu of football each time.

Alton Ellis R.I.P.

Levi Stubbs R.I.P.

Champions!

The Vancouver Whitecaps are your 2008 USL champions!

They beat the Puerto Rico Islanders (we hate them!) 2-1 on Sunday, thanks to two second half goals by Charles Gbeke, in what was, by all accounts (well, by my account) a thrilling encounter.

Some photos from the day:

We all dream of a team of Justin Moose!


There's only one Eddy Sebrango!


And finally...the trophy. And the Moose! (And Me!)!


Bring on the MLS!

Credit Crunch?

This American Life is an excellent radio show on National Public Radio in Chicago. Another Frightening Show about the Economy is their attempt at explaining what is going on with the economy right now. It's worthwhile listening, as are all of their shows which are, thankfully, available as podcasts.

Souvenirs

This photo, taken by photographer Michael Hughes, is from a series of images of various types of souvenirs photographed in their original context. Here is the flickr pool from whence they came. I'm just not sure if my favourite is Don Quixote or the pickle.

Pizza of the Day

Today's pizza, the "Last Day of September but That Has Nothing to Do with the Name Pizza" has tomato sauce, tomato, pesto, olives, onions, and mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. "Wait a moment," you ask, "what are those round things on the pizza?" Very observant you are. They are chickpeas.

Pizza o' the Day!

Today's pizza, a pizza I like to call the "I have a lot of leftover basil so I should make pesto pizza pizza," has green peppers, tofu, olives, mozzarella, tomato sauce, mushrooms, Parmesan and, of course, pesto. Home made pesto, by the way. (Yes, I'm bragging about my ability to make pesto.) Now, I have to go eat...

Norman Whitfield R.I.P.

Crowd Control

All of the hard work I put into bringing out my inner hooligan, and now this:

On This Day In History...

Thirty five years ago the democratically elected government of Chile was overthrown by a U.S. backed coup led by Augusto Pinochet. President Salvador Allende died in the coup, and seventeen years of military dictatorship and political repression followed, with at least three thousand people murdered or disappeared and many more imprisoned and tortured.

The End is Nigh? Part Deux...

Well, we're still here. At least I am, I can't vouch for you. And according to news reports, turning on the LHC was a success. What those reports don't tell you, but what I'm here to tell you, is that a black hole did appear and it swallowed up the earth. So, let me be the first to welcome you to bizarro alternate reality world on the inside of a black hole. How do I know this, you ask? Easy...England beat Croatia 4-1 in World Cup qualifying today.

The End is Nigh?

This could be the last blog post I ever write. Hell, this could be one of the last things I ever do. For in a short while, if you don't already know, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is going to turn on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It has been called the world's largest science experiment and is designed to create the conditions immediately after the big bang, in order to gain a better understanding of our universe. And while CERN asserts that it is perfectly safe, there are those who believe that turning on the LHC could result in any number of doomsday scenarios, my favourite being the creation of a black hole that could swallow up the earth. And while I would take much amusement from the fact that the earth had been swallowed up by a black hole of our own creation were I still around to do so, and I believe that if we are stupid enough to turn on a machine that is capable of destroying the planet on which we reside then we probably deserve it (isn't there some kind of precautionary principle in science?) my fervent hope is that the naysayers are wrong and that I'm still here tomorrow. Check back...if you can.

Writer's Rooms

I came across a great ongoing feature today on the Guardian website. It's called Writer's Rooms. Basically, it's a photograph of the room and a description of that room, usually by the author in questions, assuming they're still amongst the living. I haven't looked at them all and so haven't chosen a favourite yet, but as someone who loves books and as someone who wishes he wrote more and wishes he made more time to write, I enjoy the glimpses into writer's spaces.

Yummy yummy yummy!

I have food in my tummy. You're looking at what is one of my favourite meals available in this city. It's Vij's Portobello Mushroom and Red Bell Pepper Curry on Paneer with Beet Salad & Naan.
So good. Eat it. Unless you hate food. Or yourself.

A Math Problem in Four (4) Parts...

There's Only One...

Tomorrow evening, in what is one of the more anticipated fixtures of the season, the Whitecaps play the Portland Timbers. (They know what they can do with their timbers.) As an extra bonus, the Whitecaps will pay tribute to David Morris. David, a long time player and fan favourite, is the inspiration behind such songs as "There's Only One David Morris," and "We All dream of a Team of David Morris." I'm hoping that if he isn't going to be playing in every position then at least he'll be the referee.

Picking Blackberries

As I was leaving the studio where I work yesterday, a man at the guard house offered me some freshly picked blackberries from a bowl. I had a few...so tasty. He told me where he had picked them, in a nearby field, but also that there were some along the railroad tracks. I normally bike along those tracks, for a short way where the road runs parallel and there are no blackberries there, but I knew where they would be. I went a different way home, so I could pick some myself, along a dirt path near those railroad tracks. The pathway is being flattened and levelled so I think before long it'll be paved; this may have been one of my last chances to bike on that path as it is now, that way I'd never gone before. Sure enough, there was a long stretch of barely picked over blackberry bushes, rich with shiny, ripe, bulging berries. I set my bike down in the dirt, crossed the tracks and started picking. I had no container with me, so I just stood there picking, eating and sucking the juice from my stained fingers. I love blackberries for a number of reasons. First of all, and most obviously, they are delicious. They are somehow an embodiment of summer for me, a marker and a result of long hot sunny days. And as they are a marker of a point in time, a moment in the season, I am reminded by blackberries that, as asparagus leads to peaches and plums and nectarines which in turn lead to blackberries, before long Concorde grapes, which I truly love, will be ripe. As well, around here at least, they are ubiquitous, one of the few wild foods that are readily accessible to be harvested by us city dwellers. But like the inevitable pricks that come with sticking your hand into a thick blackberry bush, or the disappointment that comes with biting into a hard and sour one, there is something bittersweet about the arrival of blackberries. As sure as blackberries ripen at the height of summer, so too will that moment pass. Those long and lazy days will shorten, the sun that has sweetened those berries to perfection will diminish, the berries will fall to the ground, and before long it will be autumn.

A Gift from the Mail Fairy!

There were two packages in my mailbox waiting for me this evening. The first one I'd been expecting for some time.

It is, of course, my Eh! Steve! T-shirt. If you don't know Eh! Steve!, he is a Homestar Runner character, and can be seen here. Click on Eh! Steve! on The Cheat's monitor at the end for a treat.

The second package was unexpected. About a month ago I was listening to Rough Guide Radio's monthly world music show and there was a trivia question which I answered correctly. The question was, "What is the closest South American country to Trinidad & Tobago?" When I listened to the August show they hadn't yet updated the page where they announce the winners so I was unaware I had won. But I had. This is what I won:


And:I don't have any trips planned and no vacation coming up, but if I get one, I just may be heading to the Caribbean. Mon!