AC D.C. Year in Review

Parham's and Carlos's comments to the Christmas message made me think of all the highlights and low-lights of the year.  In addition to the low-lights already mentioned by Carlos, I'd have to add: 1) my own-goal that killed the semi-finals of the CBT, and 2) Toussaint's diving header into the defender's show-laces (ugh!). The image of Brian coming up spewing blood from all pores is not something I will forget for a long time.  Plus, the black eyes and nose guard the following week. Yuk.

There were many highlights for the team during the year as well.  My personal favorites were: 1) reaching the semi-finals of the CBT (which, again, I killed with an own-goal) and 2) playing in the new tournament in Columbia during the summer.  The first game for the latter was just so impressive, especially given the number of new players we had on the pitch playing together for the first time.  

Looking ahead is perhaps more fun.  What do we want for AC D.C. in 2009?  It'd be too easy to say we want 15,000 goals, win all the leagues and tournaments and have no injuries.  I'd like to look like Brad Pitt but that ain't happening either.  

Other wishes?  Hm... I'd personally like Jeff to go less out of his way to piss me off.  But, then again, I also wanted an invisibility cloak for Christmas.  Stupid Santa!  

More realistic, perhaps?

OK.  I hope we can win more games in WISL, so we don't have to stress about being relegated.  I hope that Mumbles can keep his goal-scoring form and that Robb can remain practically impermeable.  I hope the team has more fun together and we all have an outrageous time at "Le Luge Deux," and a whole bunch of you get reeeeeetarded.  No, not Brian or Jeff; that's just too obvious. But someone unexpected, like Erika, or Whitey, or Mumbles.  And next year may be a good time for AC D.C. to think about an away tournament: South Beach? Vegas?  Can you imagine how much fun we'd have?

And above all, more than goals and championships and tournaments, I hope that in 2009, the team has more and more fun playing football together.  After all, that is the passion that we share.  

What were your highlights and low-lights of 2008?  What do you want for the New Year?  Don't be shy (and you all have been), share your thoughts in a comment...please.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everybody!

Christmas Message

With the Christmas spirit pervading the air, my thoughts turn to family, brotherhood, peace on earth, good will to men, and all that stuff. Since AC D.C. was founded six years ago, the team has turned from a fly-by-night organization, to a family of sorts. The picture you see here is the first "family portrait", circa 2003 (look at Jeff's goatee!). Many of our brother and sisters have left the team over the years to pursue careers and family. For this Christmas message, I've asked them to tell us about their life away from the club. (And they've responded with their usual tardiness that they used to respond to our Evites!). Here's what they had to say...

The incomparable Ben Nelson (picture seated front & center) writes from Boston:

I miss playing with the team. I finished my pediatric residency and started a fellowship in pediatric pulmonology. I just celebrated my 30th birthday, and Meghan and I took the first step in becoming parents - we adopted a dog last year!  I look forward to welcoming a former AC DC player to my family next year. Mike Kaschak is marrying my sister-in-law! 

I last saw Ben at Thanksgiving, and let me tell you, that damn dog is the center of life right now.

Sergio Jaramillo was the latest player to leave AC D.C., and he writes from Florida:

I am still playing Mr. Mom. I plan to start work after the holidays. As far as moving my feet, I decided to train with a personal trainer before I start playing ball again. Hopefully, one day, I can play with the old black and red in the Cherry Blossom Tourney or something. Say hi to the entire team. I miss you guys. I'll keep tabs through the new blog.

Mike Reilly is in sunny California doing a one-year fellowship, and has an eye towards returning to DC:

While having temporarily hung up my soccer cleats in exchange for a surfboard, I'm looking forward to being back in the action with you guys next year. By the way, it is 70 and sunny here, suckas! :-)

Our founding midfield general, Jonathan Lachman, was recently back at home in D.C., but just missed the team happy hour. If you’ve played with him, you’ll recall that he performs optimally in the temperature range of 55-75 degrees, from 10am to 4pm (we called those “Lachman conditions”). So, he writes:

My stint with Wigan athletic didn't pan out, not able to play in cold weather. Hoping to return to ACDC during January transfer window, but only if owner agrees to pay in t-bills. Off the pitch, am now staffing an expert working group for the Congressional Commission on the US Strategic Posture in addition to consulting to state and local governments. Turning 30 in Feb; Opus, does that mean you're 50? Hope you are all well.

Lachman’s fellow Kennedy School graduate, and midfield magician, Pablo Quintanilla, is the farthest away from D.C. He writes:

I miss you all and I'm delighted to know I can follow your every move through the new ACDC blog. As you know, I recently moved to Beijing with my wife, Silvana, and we are doing very well. I miss playing futbol with you, yet I'm staying in shape with Wednesday night basketball, lifting at a local gym, occasional badminton matches with random people on the street, and the much renowned "whip the top as hard as you can." Older men in parks use a leather whip to keep a large wooden top rotating hour after hour.

Many warm regards to you and your families. Silvana and I would love to host you in Beijing in the next couple years.

Pablo also included his vonage phone number, which I don’t want to publish to the entire internet. If you are visiting Beijing any time soon (gee, how many games will you be missing?), check with me to get Pablo’s number.

The irresistible Mercedes Dullum, for so long the “spirit” of AC D.C., writes from Cincinnati:

Hey guys! Things are going really well here! I love my residency program, although they have been keeping me very busy. Somehow I have managed to find a few spare evenings to play some local pick-up, and also the residency has a co-ed team that plays indoor and outdoor, so I have made a few guest appearances. It has been a pretty crazy fall, but I am very happy here. I hope you are all doing well, and I miss the team so much! Keep up the good work, and kick butt in the playoffs! Happy holidays! Vae Victus, Mercedes :)

And finally, Graeme Ramshaw was back from England visiting AC D.C. last week. Although he didn’t write anything for this Christmas message, he did personally visit a co-ed game, just to re-capture that overwhelming joy of yelling at the referees.

I’m incredibly happy and proud that our players still think about AC D.C. after they leave Washington. Whereas all these players have left their mark on AC D.C. with their talent and skill, the team has clearly left a cherished mark on them as well. During this holiday season, as you share your love and good wishes with your family, I hope you will include your AC D.C. brothers and sisters in your warm thoughts.  Please also share your thoughts by adding a comment to this message below.  As always, I feel privileged that you all share your talent, camaraderie and passion for the game with me and with each other. I wish you happy holidays and peace.

News Flash!

Exciting news out of UEFA this morning! The Champions' League draw took place with much anticipation. The most exciting outcome of the draw is no doubt Man United v. Inter Milan. This marks the first time "the Special One" will return to England. Barca escaped the Gunners this round and will play Olympic Lyonnais (ZZZzzzzz). Real Madrid, in poor form at the moment, will play EPL leaders Liverpool. I doubt the Madridistas chances, to be honest. Chelsea draw Juve. In that I hate both teams, this is the game wherein I would like to see both teams lose. Bayern will play Sporting.

OK, you're wondering who the Gunners are playing. Well, for the second year in a row, Arsenal drew Italians, this time, AS ROMA. I hope Mr. Totti is healthy, and Aquilani is in good form. There was talk last summer about Arsenal buying Aquilani, so let's see what we are missing.

The first leg will take place 24th and 25th of February. Time to buy my plane ticket to London!

For more on the draw, go here.

If you haven't already signed up for feeds from this blog, please do so ASAP. The link to do so is to your left.

Announcement

I love our co-ed league (see: heavy sarcasm). Commish Larry just told me there's a ninth game yet to be scheduled. And then, I suppose we'll have playoffs....which we will play in February....or something! I wonder if Nike makes the T90 Lasers for "snow conditions."

Monday Morning Report: December 15

Chess Match & the Penguin Brain

Our co-ed squad continues to surprise. This weekend, we managed to lose ignominiously to the 6th place team (UMFC) in a sleep-walk performance, but then turned around to beat the 1st place team (Half-time Orange Slices) in a superlative 1-0 game. How is that possible? I am at least partially to blame because of the way I set up the rosters. To give you a sense of the method behind the madness, or just the madness, here’s the chess-match that I played in my head last week.

First thing I do is look at the strength of the opponents. It’s obvious that, on paper, the Sunday opponent is stronger (+13 goal differential). With that, and with the entry into playoffs in mind, I calculated that a win + a draw/win is a satisfactory result. Now, a less agile mind, like a Captain-Cruz-brain would simply set up a “B team” and “A team” for the two matches. Ah, but the Penguin brain is a lot more complex (Helloooo?….1450 on my SATs!).

With the win + draw/win in mind, I set up the Sunday roster against the stronger opponent first. The next decision is whether to be offensive-minded, or defensive oriented. That solution was easy. I took the player in the best form at the moment, and planted him solidly on the roster. I think there are few who would argue that Robb is playing out of his mind right now, essentially unbeatable. With him in goal, I started picking players for the Sunday 4-4-2, taking into account such factors like seniority, skill, who paid dues on time etc.

But before I can finish the Sunday roster, I had to start the Saturday one. Remember, I was expecting a “win” on Saturday, so certainly I didn’t want to send out a “B team” for the game. I also wanted a handful of Sunday players to be completely fresh, so I also considered whom to exclude on Saturday, in order to keep them fresh for Sunday.

In the end, players’ availability, quickness to respond to Evites (Jeez, Peter…OH MY DEAR GOD…can you please make up your mind faster?) etc. also played a factor, but I was quite pleased with how both rosters looked by Friday evening.

Ah…and then all hell broke loose.

When UMFC scored on us in the second half on Saturday, we lost a knight in the chess match. And by the end of the game, we had lost our queen. The only way left to salvage the weekend is if we pull out a “win” against the 1st place team on Sunday. Luckily, I had confidence that the group on Sunday could do it. I knew that our other knight, both bishops and both rooks were still in play.

And so we did win….in grand style. Peter “slow on Evite” Strand finished the goal, which was created by Mumbles. And Robb was his usual impermeable self between the sticks. Everyone played patient, error-free football. Oh, and whoever it was who filled in behind Robb to clear the ball off the line in the first half… please identify yourself to receive our applause. We are currently in first place with a 6-2 record. The “Orange Slices” have a game in hand, so the final result of our division will have to wait ‘til their game next week.

In other news, a bunch of us kept getting drunken messages from Luis “I broke my leg” Campillo during the “classico” on Saturday between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Whoever he was watching the game with must have wondered who he was talking trash to on email! It’s a real shame that Barca fans like Luis (sore winners) can’t hold their tequilla. We even got the pathetic “I miss you guys! I love you guys!” line….Oh Luis….BE A MAN!

Relevant to Barca and the upcoming week, all eyes on the UEFA CL draw on Friday. There is a one in five chance that my Gunners will draw Barca, and I’ll be there in person to watch Thierry Henry return to Arsenal for the first time in another uniform. Who will I bring with me to that game in London 2/24? Who’s been nicest to the manager this year? Ah, you’ll find out.

To end, good win on Sunday. Let’s forget Saturday. It was good to see Graeme back today yelling at the refs for one game, visiting us from England. Our thoughts are with Capt Whitey as he climbs Kilimanjaro. We are off until the New Year. Christmas message will appear anon. Follow the link in the "Pick-me-up" section to the left.

Monday Morning Report: December 8

First of all, how’d you like the new-look banner, huh? Not to shabby, eh? Please sign up for the RSS feed for this blog. I only have one “follower” right now, and that’s kind of pathetic.

I’ve already talked about Saturday…sort of….so we’ll talk Sunday now. On a freezing Sunday morning, the co-ed squad faced the Red Devils. Sheesh, another team taking after Man United! We jumped on them for an early 3 nil lead, thanks to goals from Morgan, Khalid and Paul, and went into the interval with that score.

The second half was quite a bit more nervy. They came at us with their tall and speedy strikers, and even though Robb was his usual self, being the “wall” in front of goal, we still conceded two goals to them. The second one was particularly egregiously, as the ball bounced straight over my head at left-back, right into the path of their speedy striker. I have given myself ten lashes for that error.

Fortunately, after that, we settled down and ran out the clock. We could have been a lot more patient in the second half, using up the minutes much better, but all-in-all, it was a scrappy win…the sort of victory that we have to bag if we are to contend for the championship….in the deep snow of February! The final score on Sunday was 3-2.

Several of you made a point this weekend which I want to emphasize here with a story from, guess who….Arsenal.

On Saturday, something happened at the Emirates Stadium, which I never thought would happen in professional football: a manager pulled a player off the pitch as the crowd was about to riot, calling for his head. Nasir went down with an injury in the first half, and Wenger replaced him with Emmanuel Eboue. Now, if you haven’t heard me talk about Eboue before, you should know that I think of him no differently from most Arsenal fans: that he’s a good-for-nothing c*#thound who should be shining boots, not playing, at Arsenal.

Whether it’s because of his own injury/recent recovery, or whether it’s from the really putrid sukiyaki wifey fed him the night before, Eboue came out even more awful than usual. He gave the ball away to the other team at least 5-6 times….and I mean directly to them. The last one, the one that caused the stadium to riot, was the worst. He ran into the path of his own teammate, took the ball, and poked it to the opponent. As he was substituted by the manager to avoid a stampede onto the pitch by the rabid fans, the commentators lamented the poor behavior of the Arsenal supporters.

Now, AC D.C. doesn’t usually have fans in the bleachers. And as much as I would ask you to join me in calling for Eboue’s testicles whenever he’s on the pitch, my point is that we have to behave in the opposite way when AC D.C. is playing. We have to be positive with each other.

That’s the point that Khalid made at halftime on Saturday, that some of you reiterated after the game, and I want to emphasize here. We are not paid any money to perform on the pitch. Playing footie is not our job. We play because of our passion for the game, and we play to the best of our ability and for each other. Now, if a teammate is lazy and not work hard enough for the team, then by all means, make your point emphatically. But being negative towards an AC D.C. teammate under any other circumstances is counter-productive. It will only erode the teammate’s confidence and harm the squad’s morale. If you have alternative ways to make the play, encourage your teammate to do so in a positive way, like “Opus, put a foot to that ball next time” or “Opus, grow 5” and head the ball out!”

The alternative of “Opus, what the f@#k were you thinking letting that ball bounce over your head” would not be the “preferred” way of communicating on AC D.C. These examples are, of course, theoretical. :)

OK, until next episode, boys and ladies.

ACDC Sacks Manager! Fans Response: About Time!

(Washington DC) From the Arlington VA practice facilities of AC D.C. emerge reports that the ownership of AC D.C. has fired their long-time manager, who goes by the various aliases: Opus, The Penguin, The “Retarded” One. AC D.C. has been struggling this season on the men’s squad, having netted only 7 points the entire season, and once again, only narrowly avoiding relegation.

The Chairman of the Board, evil brain surgeon, Dr. W. Chong-Yuen Jean, famous for his invention commonly known as the “Infectotron” which has maimed and crippled many people, spoke to the press after the final game of the season on Saturday morning when AC D.C. lost 4-1 in a lackluster performance.

“It is time to make a change. Opus has been the manager a long time, but the team clearly needs to move forward under better leadership. When you lose to the last-place team in the league by 6 goals….when we have brilliant attacking players and only manage 11 goals all season, clearly it’s not the players’ fault but the manager’s,” said Jean.

Fan reaction has been mostly in favor of the ownership’s decision. Said Hugh G. Organ of Centreville, “It’s about f*$king time! That wine-soaked, pompous c#*t has run this team to the ground. How can you win only 2 games with the best players in the league?” Amanda Huginkiss of DC offered a differing viewpoint, “I liked the Penguin. He’s cute.”

This season has also seen AC D.C. face other controversies off the pitch. Aging striker Parham “The Assassin” Farid was caught carousing at his newly opened bar, at one time, 7 nights in a row, while missing several team functions. Newly acquired forward, and top-scorer of the season, Justin Peabody was caught in a name-change scandal, during which the team wanted him to “be Brazilian,” and be known by the single moniker “Mumbles.” The player continues to refuse.

Clearly, the clubhouse is need of a leadership change. Opus, pictured above cheering at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, was not available for comment, but did send his agent, the infamous Drew Flowerhaus, to talk to this reporter. He said, “Opus clearly regrets the results this season. He wants everyone to know that the players are not to blame. They are skillful, and they work very hard. The fact that they cannot play together effectively is the manager’s fault, but he regrets that he won’t have the opportunity to affect change in the future.” He further adds, “Losing 6 nil to the last-place team was a big deal to the ownership for some reason. For all sorts of reasons that game, AC D.C. players were not available, so I’m not sure what the Chairman wants the manager to do in that situation.”

The game in question took place in mid-September against the Vin Rovers. A win in that game would have put AC D.C. in a much better position with a point-total equal to their first season last fall. However, the bench was decimated at that time. Goalkeeper Todd was out with a mysterious syphilitic infection, and forwards Groblewski, Peabody and Mazzuca were all abducted by aliens, only to be returned the following week. Defensive stalwart Lominska was also unavailable because of diaper-changing duties.

As to the question who will replace The Penguin to lead the talented players of AC D.C., Jean was uncharacteristically reticent. Rumor has it that AC D.C. will replace The “Retarded” One with the “Special” One, but Jose Mourinho has already denied that he will manage AC D.C., saying, “I will not manage AC D.C..” Another speculation has captain Jeff Cruz becoming once again player-manager, but the ownership has denied such consideration. Jean said, “Cruz already has a job and it is to be captain. Who will manage our great players in the spring? We’ll just have to see.”

Jean then gave a strange wink to the cameras, as if to hint that he, the evil brain surgeon, will try his own hand at the managerial task. God save the players and fans of AC D.C.!

'Tis the season to be thankful...for few injuries

No AC D.C. rosters to think about this week, and busy all week in the hospital. My thoughts turn to: what am I thankful for?

First of all, I'm thankful that few of you this season have been injured. Luis' tibial plateau fracture is basically healed, and Captain Jeff's foot is in fact not broken (this is his actual X-ray, which I have used without his permission...so sue me). Once the swelling and pain go down, he'll be able to play as long as he is not a sissy. Luis "Juggernaut" Campillo should be back in time for Futsal.

This is an opportunity to show you all the nastiest AC D.C. X-ray of all time. About two years ago, Georgie came to me saying that he broke his hand during an indoor game, and his orthopedic surgeon wanted to put pins across the fractures through the tip of the fingers. Needless to say, that's just crazy, so Georgie was directed to our team orthopedics department. This is his actual X-ray after the surgery, and notice the metal in his hand! As you all know, our senior keeper is insane, so he played with that hand one week about the implantation of the metal. Yay!

So, I'm thankful we have a lunatic for a keeper, and that his left hand is still functional, if only marginally (doh!). What are you thankful for? Share it with us. It could be anything, like:

materialistic: "I got a new car."

sanguine: "I got rid of a loveless relationship."

childish: "I got my Wii!"

sugar sweet: "I have a new lover in my life."

alcoholic: "I found a new Martini recipe!"

patriotic: "I got tickets to the inauguration parade!"

and finally, "I'm the luckiest person in the world cuz I play for AC D.C."

Whatever it may be, share it with your teammates. I'll close by saying that I am thankful that Arsenal won yesterday, having started a new era with a new captain (Cesc! Cesc! Cesc!). And I am always grateful that I have all of you sharing your time, talent, and camaraderie with me on this our team.

Monday Morning Report: November 24

From the First Book of Armaments, sub-section: football

“And the Lord spake, and He made the beast of the earth after his kind, and He created ACDC after the images of the great clubs of Europe and South America. And on the sixth day, he watched them play, and God saw that it was good.

And on the seventh day, the Lord rested. But He watched ACDC play. And it was Faaaaa-noooooomenal!”

(I’ll probably burn in hell now, but it had to be said.)

In the bitter cold on Saturday, our co-ed squad played Don Dada. And although the ball was moving all sorts of funky ways because of the cold, we managed to put one in the ol’ onion bag for a one nil victory. Lominska’s free kick was the highlight of the day, but Aaron and Peter both had open chances as well.

On a warmer Sunday, we played the erstwhile first place team, and it was, again …..Faaaa-noooomenal! Personally, I approached this game as if it were the championship game, and our players delivered a masterpiece. We tore our opponent apart en route to a 3-1 victory and even this score line is a bit flattering for our opponents. We took charge of the game from the first whistle, and the movement of the ball in the first 10” minutes was pure quality. It was mesmerizing.

The first goal was all Justin, catching them napping on a counter-attack, and the second was all Jamie, carving up their defense with magical foot-work. The third was pure class. A spectacular cross from Peter met with Mumbles’ header of equal quality.

Throughout the game and especially during certain spells in the second half, I was jumping for joy making yummy noises, or as Georgie put it, “orgasming” on the sideline. It was just tasty. I don’t play for AC D.C. much anymore, but I live for moments when I can watch you play attractive, nay, delicious, football. Um. I know I’ve done my job properly this week.

Look at what Captain Whitey said about his post-game celebration:

“I made myself lunch and poured a large mug of water with crushed ice. I got some chocolate covered cherries and put them all within arms reach of the bathtub. I sat in a hot bath reading the Economist eating my food with the biggest grin on my face. We played well....and it felt spectacular.” Next time, I will count Matt as one of the 3 women required on the pitch!

When we are focused, and we have everyone in the right places, the results can be mind-blowing. I certainly look forward to more of that. “Thank you” to our guest Jamie, who drove from Baltimore to play with us the first time since the summer tournament. Thanks also to Kelley and Laura who spent their weekend away from school with AC D.C.

There are no games next week, so everyone please have a safe (Georgie!) and happy Thanksgiving. Your manager is working/on call all week (yes, even Thursday) but looks forward to sharing Thanksgiving dinner with AC D.C. Founding left fullback, Ben “Lord” Nelson who is visiting from Boston and MGH (Man’s Greatest Hospital). I hope you all find something to be thankful for.

Finally, the first annual AC D.C. Turkey Award. What a great idea! There have been many candidates this year: Luis' double red-card day; me, putting in an own goal to eliminate us from the semifinals of the CBT; Erika's nudge in the box in any tournament semifinal. But the clear, clear winner is Georgie "Big House" Todd, Jr. for his performance in Miami. Without colorful friends, life would be boring.

Happy Turkey Day, everyone.

Monday Morning Report: November 17

I like and respect you all as AC D.C. players, but I would rather not get the call from Captain Whitey ever again, at 6 in the morning on a Friday, to discuss issues of bail money for one of you! Part of me felt lucky I missed the trip, but another part so wanted to be there…so that I can include this story in my groomsman’s speech at GT2’s wedding….”back when he was in JAIL!” (crickets, crickets, chirp, chirp…) I guess Carlos can still use that in this best man’s speech, but all I’ve got is “finishing a litre of Grey Goose with him at 4 in the morning”….boring, you have to say, compared to “prison!”

Anyway, on to football:

The Men’s team game on Saturday really can be dissected into three parts. I’d like to start backwards. The second half was under our control. We had the right formation and all the players in the right places. We played my favorite “Christmas Tree” formation 4-3-2-1, and we played brilliantly. We beat the third place team 1 nil in the second half.

OK. Backwards. The second part of the first half. During this period, we had all the right players, but we didn’t get a chance to put them all in the right places. We got a bit overzealous on offense and gave up a goal on their counter-attack. All-in-all, if you add this period to the second half, we drew the third place team 1-1.

OK. The beginning. This was “just a mess.” We started the game with 10 men, and mostly in unfamiliar positions. We looked like the Washington Generals playing the Harlem Globetrotters. They beat us 2-0 in this period. So, there you have it. Final score was 3-1.

The good news is that the second half, when we had all the pieces in the right place, was brilliant. It showed the character and capabilities of our team. The bad news is I have nothing further in my power, to get everyone to the game at the “meeting time” to focus ahead of the game. And lacking personnel and focus, we’ll concede goals every time.

You should all know that Matt, Jeff, and I spend an enormous amount of time and energy when we put together the evites for games, making sure we have the right players and just the right number of them, so that you all have adequate minutes. Not to be preachy or anything, but if players don’t show up at the “meeting time,” it nullifies all the work we do during the week.

Outstanding news:

Vin Rovers lost, and there is no chance for the men's squad to end the season in last place. But there is no way AC D.C. deserves to be in 8th place! In the second half of our game, we beat the third place team 1 nil. We are a solid mid-table team! If y’all have ideas how we can improve our fate, please share it. I understand, when life intervenes, footballing is relegated to second place. I just hope that with better planning, that both life and football can co-exist for all of you and that “relegation” is out of the picture.

Announcements:

The co-ed team will be in full swing the next several weeks, including Thanksgiving Sunday. Please pay close attention to the evites, as there will be several active ones out there at the same time. We will utilize all our resources and players to maximize our results in these next several games.

Final thought on this, now, Monday evening:

We all have imperfections and demons. If you’re lucky, you also have friends like the ones reading this. Be nice to them. Friends who pay bail money…friends who plan fun vacations for you, drive you from the dentist, replace your worn out football boots, get your birthday presents….those are rare in life. Celebrate them, and don’t be mean to them….cuz you never know when you’ll need their love….and bail.

Good night.

Tactical Vignette

Gunner fans like me watch Arsenal play, not just because we love their red-and-white uniforms. It’s really because when they are “on,” they play the most attractive football anywhere in the world. I think ACDC has a lot to know from last night’s Carling Cup match, so I’ve posted this tactical vignette.

If you want to learn how to play a proper through-ball from the midfield, there is no better example to watch than the first goal.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/1755062/

Sixteen-year-old (16!) Jack Wilshere played the laser pass to his striker, eviscerating the defense, turing the Wigan backline into a Laurel and Hardy act, making Jay Simpson's finish a foregone conclusion. Obviously the player of the pass, and the receiver (the one who makes the run without the ball) have to be on the same page. But it is an error to think that the passer is reacting to the run-maker. It is the other way around. The passer is leading the receiver on his run by playing into space.

The second goal is pure speed. You can’t teach or learn that. You either have it (in this case, the Mexican rabbit, Carlos Vela) or you don’t (uh, ok, me). The third goal is more traditional. A Ramsey pass played at Vela, who loses his defender to chip 6’4” Chris Kirkland. The look on Kirkland’s face was priceless.

So, watching EPL is not just so that you can talk smack when you're drinking with Georgie boy. It is also to learn. We'll be anxiously awaiting laser-like through-balls from Paul, Peter, Mumbles et al. coming out of our midfield.

Enjoy.

Share your thoughts...

This blog allows you to comment on any post. To do so, locate the "Comments" hyperlink at the bottom of the post and type your comments. When you're done writing you can "publish" it to the blog. Please keep in mind that the blog is public and can be viewed by anyone on the internet so please use self-censorhip when considering innapropriate comments.

Another very nice feature is the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed to the blog. You can add the feed to newer versions of Outlook which will automatically receive news posts as messages or as a toolbar in Internet Explorer or Firefox. (I'll defer to Parham and Walter for Macs)

If you need help with any of the above please email me at cmaceo@verizon.net

Here's a little comedy for your day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW2uT5LNcf4

Cheers!
Carlos

Monday Morning Report: Nov 10

Remember the controversial call that led to our exit from the Columbia Tournament this summer? Well, we got one back from the footballing gods on Saturday. What comes round, goes round.

Faced with a "must-win" game, our men's team pulled a rabbit out of the bag with a one nil win over "Brighton Our Day." The goal came in the 27th minute when we received a free kick about 25 yards out. Parham floated the ball to the far post, and their keeper caught it. His entire body was definitely inside the goal, and after our protest, the ref decided that the ball was in the goal as well.

From there on, we played solid defense and held them to nothing. Parham suggested that the whole defensive squad, including Robb, our keeper for the day, should be awarded "men of the match." I tend to agree. Chris and Matt were the usual "wall" in front of goal, but everyone who played on the defensive side of the pitch, Alex, Peter, Khalid, Robb, all contributed tremendously.

It was difficult to "get going" on the attack because their defenders were very speedy and particularly good at taking the ball away from our feet. Having said that, there were three brilliant moments on offense:

1) a nice cross from Carlos out of the right wing into the six-yard box, which nearly got Justin killed…but he also nearly scored
2) an outstanding cross from Matt Welch, also out of the ring wing, to the far post. If Amjad's subsequent header were just inches lower, we would have gone up two nil
3) Justin…excuse me…..Mumbles' one-on-one with the keeper, when he chipped the keeper, inches too high

It was a solid team effort, but I have a feeling that our best games are yet to come. It wasn't a particularly "pretty" game to watch, but the tenacious defending was certainly something to be admired.

The prettiest game to watch was of course the Arsenal victory over Man United Saturday morning. No Jack Daniels shots for me this year, watching the game in Carlos' basement with our morning coffee. But the buzz from the victory was better than anything Mr. John Daniels can offer. Samir Nasri for king. Hip hip, harrah!

Back to the blog for a second. Imi drove all the way from Ohio to play in Saturday's game, having campaigned in that battleground state for our new president. When he arrived, I didn't have time to explain to him our "Christmas tree formation." It dawned on me that this new blog maybe the best place to discuss tactics (yes, our opponents can read it, but honestly, do you expect that they will?). If anyone knows of a good drawing program for the Mac, please let me know.

I’ll leave you today with this: Matt, Carlos and I ran into one of our opponents from Saturday’s match at a Sunday pick-up game. If you could have seen the steam coming out of this man's ears! He was still pissed! He told Matt, on this beautiful, tranquil Sunday afternoon, when the leaves were falling and the bird chirping, that he should have been ejected from the game because of a particular poor tackle.  What an incredibly sore loser! "Let it go! It's recreational footie for f*@k sake." Some people just take this way too seriously. Ha ha ha ha ha (why is everybody suddenly looking at me?)

Til next time….playas!

New Blog, New Captain, Old Captain

Welcome to the new blog site for AC D.C. The announcement and set up of the blog were all done by Carlos. Thank you, Carlos! But next time, can you spell "Vae Victis" correctly? In fact, the translation of vae victis really should be on the top banner. We'll work on that.

The reason for the blog is several fold. It gives us a forum for discussion better than email lists. And it is much simpler to maintain than the website. Although Kevin Bednarski, Nicole's husband, has done an amazing job with our website, I have found that over the years, with all the players coming and going, with all the tournaments we play etc., the website is impossible to keep up-to-date. Let's see what we will do with the blog.

I want to talk about our captain for a second. As you all know, Jeff has been the captain of AC D.C. for three years. During that time, he has helped to create and build the men's squad from ground zero. In the meantime, he has also led the co-ed squad. With his sabbatical from AC D.C. this fall (returning this week), Matt has done an amazing job leading both squads. Since we only have but 2 games remaining in the men's season, Matt will retain the armband for the men's team until the end of the season. In the spring, Jeff will return as men's team captain.

Jeff has long talked about giving someone else a chance to lead the co-ed squad on a permanent basis. And this seems to be the perfect time for this transition. Matt will retain the armband for the co-ed squad on a permanent basis, having done an excellent job this fall with that squad.

With these two clowns in charge (god help you!), I'm going to park my ass on the couch all week, and just show up to games with my coffee! Yippeeeee.

But, there's one more thing about our captains. They are there, out on the pitch, to lead the team. They are there to tell me the problems and talk to the refs. You must listen to their instructions. Yesterday, we got into an argument with the ref, and a player was booked. Discussions with the ref in conflict situations should ideally be handled by the captain. And if the captain tells you to "shut up," you must comply.

During the game at Stoke City two weeks ago, an Arsenal player defied captain Toure's instruction to stay back for a corner kick. The captain, a center-half with excellent head skills, wanted to go up himself, and told the other player to stay back. This youngster did not comply and captain Toure had to stay back himself.

This behavior will not be tolerated on AC D.C. (nor would it have been tolerated in Arsenal during the Adams, Vieira, Henry eras) I am confident that I will never have to deal with this situation with you all. And I'm further confident that Matt and Jeff will lead you to many victories yet to come.

Vae Vicitis

-Walter "opus" Jean

Happy Hour Success

Thanks to everybody who came out for the happy hour today! Apparently, Parham has a reserved spot for the ACDC ice luge on the upper level. February, people. Georgie, you and me, Grey Goose, on the luge.

Massive week....for all mankind!. No, I'm not talking about the election. C'mon people, the economy delivered the election to us...foregone conclusion when Wall Street tanked.

I'm talking about Man U vs. Arsenal, and ACDC fighting for survival.

What can a 30 million GBP striker do against Arsl? What can "Brighton Your Day" do against ACDC? We'll have to see. 7:40 am Saturday morning. JD shots. Be aware!

-wcj

MMR

Both squads were in action this weekend. You win some; you lose some. Oddly enough, it is the game that we lost that I want to talk about in most detail.

The Men's squad was awfully unlucky playing against the Cavalier Conquistadores, the team with the unbelievably loud and obnoxious player-coach. (Actually, Ramon makes me look so kind and gentle, I really should pay him.) In typical ACDC fashion, we conceded in the fourth minute. But unlike recent games, we hung in there with them and equalized early in the second half with a brilliant strike from Justin.

We had our chances to win the game outright near the end, but I'm afraid our zeal to do so left us vulnerable to their speedy strikers. We conceded in the 84th minute, despite outstanding play from our defenders and George all game.

Though the result left me gutted like a hunted bison, the game made me proud to be your leader. Against a team that we've had difficulty with, time-and-again, you passed well, and made sensible runs. You left everything out there on the pitch, and as we left the pitch for home, the overwhelming emotion was pride. If we continue to play like that, I have little doubt that we will gain 6 more points in the last 3 games, to equal our best point-total in WISL so far.

One tactical point. If you played co-ed on Sunday, you would have heard me say this already as it applies to both squads. Often, when we are attacking full-force, there exists a no-man's-land between our attackers in the box and our defensive line near the center circle. As our attack fizzles, it is commonplace for the ball to find its way into this no-man's-land, giving our opponent the opportunity to mop up the ball and counter-attack us. This is how we conceded the late goal on Saturday. If you are a defender or defensive midfielder, and you find an empty zone between our attackers and the defensive line, please consider occupying no-man's-land, such that when the ball trickles out of the box of our opponent, you can mop up to generate the next wave of attack. An empty zone behind out attackers means an opportunity for our opponents.

The co-ed squad got back into winning ways on Sunday morning with a 2 nil victory. The most notable thing from this game, during which we were never truly threatened, and captain Matt got his goal for the season, is that it was Sergio's last game with AC D.C. Serge has been through a lot with this team in that last four years: 2 indoor championships, semifinal at the Cherry Blossom Tournament and an injury, which left him out of the team for a full year. We'll always remember Sergio for his magic on the ball, and we'll miss you a lot, Serge.

Don't forget: Happy Hour this Thursday at Parham's club. Our founding midfield general, Jonathan "Loxly" Lachman will be back for one night only at this event. I'll never forget when Jonathan and I designed the uniform for AC D.C., sitting with the Eurosports catalog in Grapeseed, enjoying a glass… or four, of Merlot. Ah, the good old days!

Finally, I wanted to share with you something more….say….touchy feely. After the Phillies victory in the World Series, hall-of-famer Mike Schmidt was asked on Mike-and-Mike in the morning, what it is like to be under the pile of teammates, when a baseball team celebrates a World Series championship. His response was brilliant, "It's all about love." He elaborated by saying that athletes in general, and male athlete in specific, have trouble expressing love for their teammates. After fighting with this group of men in game after game, through battle after battle, the pile is an outpouring of love for the comrades you have shared the experience with.

I doubt AC D.C. will ever have a pile-on, World Series style. But I love this team.

Until next week, children.