Chivas USA (Los Angeles, CA) vs. LA Galaxy (Los Angeles, CA)
4pm CST. ESPN2.
Sure, there is another game going on in the Midwest at this time, but for the soccer fan that enjoys battles of epic proportions there will be only one place to be. The Sweetwater Bar and Grill.
See you there.
New York Times Article On The Game/Living Arrangements
I am cheering for Chivas USA.
Sacha and Bornstein will lead them to victory.
Today was a good day.
I got to race at the Red Barn cyclocross race in Taylor’s Falls. While I didn’t fare as well as I would have liked I am fairly happy with my race. The costume was a bit hot and I quickly found a nice rhythm and stuck to it. I caught a few riders on the last couple of laps and despite getting bogged down for a little bit when another rider fell in front of me the race went okay.
The highlight of the day was being able to announce all of the races (except mine). I enjoyed dropping knowledge bombs, kidding around with racers, and being a general resource for the happenings of the races as they unfolded. It also allowed me to be in the general vicinity of the costume judging! I was fairly thrilled to get 3rd place this year in my field. I went as “Coach Tim” and it worked fairly well. The costume consisted of an old suit that was passed on to me, but is a little awkward and a red tie.
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Stopped by the National Sports Center on the way home and scoped out the grounds for the 3rd annual VeloCross presented by Behind-Bars Bicycle Shop. The race is going to be awesome and I can’t wait to do it all again. Oh, the seven day forecast shows 50degrees and sunny!
I love it when Clint Dempsey (my favorite US National Team Player) rocks the line–”Soccer got me flashing more ice than a hockey skate.” Sure, this video is from the build up to the disastrous 2006 World Cup, but it shows the true flavor of the US National Team.
Plus, it is MLS playoff time! This weekend we get Chivas USA vs. LA Galaxy in the first round!
That, my friends, is a game that I would not want to tread on.
The first link brings us an update on a very disturbing case in Kentucky. Some of you may be aware of the story of Bill Sparkman a rural census worker in the Southeastern part of the state. He was found dead near a tree with a noose around his neck and the word, “Fed” scrawled on his chest. Who are these people?
Coroner, medical examiner confirm census worker died at tree where found in KY
The second link is once again about the Minneapolis Police Department. Yeah, they screwed up once again. This time the city had to pay $100,000 to a couple that claimed false arrest and racial discrimination. Naturally, the cops claimed they were attacked by the couple, or something like that. Well, they just plain out lied on their report. Too bad that cameras caught the entire thing.
Seriously, how ridiculous are some of these police officers? What do they get away with if there are not any cameras around?
Tape tells the tale that cops didn’t. (video included)
I just saw the Zagat list for best restaurants in the Twin Cities. All types of fancy places littered the top of the list. I must admit that I was fairly disappointed that they include True Thai on the list. While the food is good the service and attitude of the owner is enough to make Sarah and I stay away. We have given the place numerous chances, after all, it was the site of our first date, but enough is enough! Instead, we love going to Pad Thai on Grand Avenue. Why? Because it is the best Thai place in the Twin Cities. Hands down.
This list was missing one important piece of Twin Cities culinary expertise. Yes, the Shaw Burger, was not included. How could the best $7.95 burger in the Twin Cities not be listed? Yeah, you have to go to one of the worst bars in Northeast to order it, but it is so darn good!
P.S. If you are trying to get a hold of The Proprietor aka Monty Byrnes aka The Hairy One you can just head to Shaw’s. He is on a first name basis with Mr. Shaw.
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I have resigned to the fact that I am more than likely going to catch H1N1. In fact, I think a majority of Americans are going to get the virus. History has been littered with many of these viruses, and there just isn’t a cure for a virus. I just hope that I don’t get it within the next few weeks as I don’t have health insurance until the weekend after Thanksgiving. Student teaching is cool and all, but not getting a pay check or having insurance really, really, really sucks.
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Last spring I had the opportunity to paddle the Mississippi River with kids from my Special Ed assignment. The experience was a lot of fun. When I heard that my current school had the opportunity to go I was very excited for the kids. Since I had been on the trip before I was willing to let my cohorts go, but with some schedule changes I was able to go once again! Here is a Star Tribune story about our trip. 16 total boats on the river filled with 130+ 6th Graders!
I was awfully excited to head out towards Marine on St. Croix this weekend for the inaugural Jackson Meadows cyclocross race hosted by The Bikery. I had heard about the development for sometime as it has won many awards and the Preservation Society has discussed it in a few of their publications, but I had never seen it up close and in person. With Little Guy carpooling with me out to the race, Team Armchair Architecture critic was ready to go!
While I don’t have 100% of the information about the place what I have gathered is that the development has about 300 total acres, but the allowable land for living is approximately 60 acres total. This falls in line with the conservation focus of the developer and architects. All of the homes are required to be white and feature metal roofing. I was told by one of the residents that residents have been there for about 10 years and the grounds are limited to 64 total homes and roughly 25 have been constructed. Naturally, the interior lots are cheaper than the lots on the perimeter, but the trail system (which doubles as a xc-ski paradise) is phenomenal and long prairie grass adds a nice touch to the facility.
Upon entering the development you feel as if you have stumbled upon an M. Night Shyamalan movie set. The large white buildings–all architecturally unique–are clustered together in the interior lots with a large field to the south still waiting to be purchased by land owners. Yet, when you see the differences between all of the houses you begin to understand the idea behind the complex. After all, as was pointed out by a resident, most suburban communities have a two-toned color pallet to choose from (beige and beige).
My favorite house on the complex is for sale:
You can buy it for me for $500,000
I don’t know if I could live out there, but the houses were pretty damn cool and the neighborhood was awfully rad for letting a bunch of bike racers come through and race on their trails. Kudos to Jackson Meadows and thank you!
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I got 20th in my race…out of 20.
I popped on the first lap and my back seized up on the run-up never to recover.
Bagged it early in order to save myself for tomorrow.
Since when did (dis) start running a political campaign?
Just a glimmer of the disaster that is the NYC mayoral campaign of William C. Thompson Jr.:
The Democratic candidate for mayor, William C. Thompson Jr., is chronically late to campaign events, at times failing to show up at all. His press releases misspell words, even getting his own name wrong.
I could run a better campaign with the State Cyclocross promotion committee.
This is a fun little youtube video about getting people to take the stairs.
The clever part is the sponsor at the end of it all.
Well played.
Many of you already know that Behind-Bars was recently listed as the best bike shop in the Twin Cities for the second time in four years. Some of you know that they sponsor my pretend racing team. Now, all of you will know that it is hands down the best shop in the Twin Cities.
I sent an email to Chuck (the owner) this morning telling him I needed to get a two-bolt seatpost for my cross bike. He blew me away with this reply:
I will have the post for you in the next few days. Read about your problems and already have one picked out for you.
Now, if I would have just listened to Chuck in the first place and gone with the Thompson instead of the super-fancy Campy Record post I more than likely wouldn’t have this problem. Nonetheless, everything is going to be taken care of by this weekends racing and I couldn’t be happier.
As many of you know I love promoting and helping out with cyclocross races. Heck, just thinking about producing a quality event makes me a little excited, and nothing is cooler than seeing all of your hard work paying off. I also love looking at race data and noticing trends and other cool things.
2003-2009 Cyclocross #’s:
2003 (7 Races):
2004 (7 Races):
2005 (8 Races):
2006 (13 Races):
2007 (14 Races):
2008 (17 Races):
2009 (8 Races to date):
*It should be noted that these numbers are not 100% exact, but random result checks reflect a margin of error +/- of 5 racers.
*I know that these numbers are not 100% perfect, but they all we got in recording the history of the attendance at cross races in Minnesota.
The largest races in 2008 were:
The smallest races in 2008 were:
Obviously there is a huge difference between the top end and the bottom end of the attendance spectrum. While many of the events with lower attendance were further away, that is not the only reason for low attendance. Red Barn proves that a quality event will draw specatators, and more importantly, a good weekend date determines race attendance as well (Darwin went up against Theo last year).
I also want to point out that Lake Rebecca went from a 2007 attendance of 171 (3 largest–bigger than Boom Island) to a dreary attendance figure of 98 racers! While, the weather wasn’t perfect, it was no worse than the weather confronting the 156 racers at VeloCX the day before, and . Why the decline?
Thanks to Dan Cleary for sharing some of his historical data.
