Frankfurt Beginning

I'll keep this one short but first night in Frankfurt. So far the weather was nice, country is lovely, spoke German to maybe 50% of the people I talked to and made it safely to my room. Considered a success in my books. Everyone is friendly on a general basis. Excited to see how this little mingling thing will go tomorrow.

Sidenote. Television in German is entertaining. I actually quite like CSI in German.

Anywho, more to come later.

Daniel

That Crazy Ladotelli: Legend in the Making

I would like to point at first that I am not a bandwagon Balotelli fan. Also I do believe he has been a very immature player a lot of his very early career. The timing of this post is because this could be the biggest weekend of his career to date (even bigger than all those league wins he's been a part of). Still reading? Let me explain then.

Racism in football has been one of the biggest battles. This is especially true in Europe because of immigration problems. During low economic periods especially, Europeans tend to get xenophobic. Mario Balotelli has been very out-spoken in his opposition of racism which is one of the many factors responsible for his move from Italian club football. The thing is, he is still playing for Italy nationally and he is being cut no slack by people that are supposed to be supporters.

The reason why this will be such a big weekend/week/tournament for Balotelli, for Italy, and for black football players is as follows: At 21, Mario Balotelli is the first black player to play in a major tournament for Italy. He scored the two goals to send them to the final. Scoring a goal and Italy winning, or even him just playing a significant role will be monumental for his fight against racism. Then the ball is in the court of his "supporters." What we have seen over the course of the tournament is a player that is finally maturing. He was truly inspired in the match against Germany with a work rate that we have not seen from him to date. Though I am not a Manchester City fan, it would be nice to see this translate to a consistent performer.

But going back to the bigger picture, since I am not a Spain nor an Italy fan, I am hoping for an Italy win solely to see what happens next for Mario Balotelli in Italy if he wins them a trophy. I see a bright future for the guy and hope that his fans can be at least partially won over so they don't ruin what could be an exciting career in the making. There are no guarantees though as we've seen with the recent Ashley Cole and Ashley Young saga. Mario is different though because he is committed to not simply allowing supporters to be condescending and will do something as drastic as leave a match if he doesn't get some respect.

So here's to hoping Super Mario can make a difference!

Daniel

The State of Chelsea F.C.

Now I have been a Chelsea fan for a few years (just past the beginning of Mourinho era) and what initially drew me to Chelsea was the die hard defending and great long range shooting legendary mids. Drogba grew on me but it had never really been about the strikers. The last couple years have been an awkward time of transition for the club. The revolving door of managers, young players stalling in reserves or going on loan, random new transfers not fitting to any strategy. This will be the most exciting season in a couple years and couple be a start of the RDM era. There is a lot riding on this season.

First off is now that Roberto Di Matteo is not in the pressure cooker of saving the club, it will be interesting to see his policy on things like rotating new players and if (with his great man management skills) he can make what old guard players are left feel wanted even if they may need less play time. What is making this easier is that a lot of the fring old guard are dropping out so it really becomes play Cole a lot and rotate Bertrand, play Terry a lot with Luiz and Cahill learning from him, rotate Lampard but put him in big matches at least.

I am excited for Mata to finally not have to be almost solely responsible for the pace on offense (granted Ramires has been wonderful too). Hazard-Torres-Mata have the ability to work a lot like Gomez-Schweinesteiger-Ozil. A lot of pace and creativity in midfield to a striker who makes good runs and is eager to work with the ball.

This will be the biggest year in Torres' recent career. He will have a tirade of opportunities now with the assist kings he has in behind him. If he survives this season (no serious injury or transfer) Torres must hit 15-17 goals this season. There will be no excuse. Unless he turns those to assists and allows Mata or Hazard to have at it. It will be interesting to see this.

I will be happy to at least for a while not be considered a fan of the club that "killed football" but to play the attractive football that Roman has been craving.

These are the main reasons I can't wait for next season.

KTBFFH,
Daniel

London At Last

First of all, I have tabbed all my posts so you can read the one's relevant to why you came to the blog. This one is just an update (me being me if you will). Just got back home to London. Should have slept on the plane but watched 21 Jump Street and The Woman in Black. Watched TWIB first and it did give me the heeby jeebies (spell check). 21 Jump Street though was funny as hell. But yes, as expected, things are changing for the Olympics and banners and construction are everywhere. So it goes.

Also, super excited to take my first step into Germany on Saturday. Excited about meeting all these other people interested in interning in Germany. Hopefully will meet some cool people and get some good references for my eventual return. More on the Frankfurt trip is sure to come.

Daniel

Last Post on American Soil

Until late August that is. Hope you all will stay tuned as there is a lot more to come. Thanks to all who have already checked this out.
Daniel

Shout out

I would like to give a shout out to to guys I went to high school with who are on the way to big things right now.

First is Kenrick McFarlane. He's an up and coming Chicago artist who makes some amazing work. Got the chance to go to a show of his last year and ran into Common (yes the rapper). This guys career will only get better with time. You can check him out at: http://www.kenrickmcfarlane.com/

The second is William McClam (known as TooSmooth). He is a singer/rapper who currently resides in Florida. He started Lights Out Entertainment and has two albums on iTunes under "TooSmooth". You can catch him at:

http://www.facebook.com/L.O.ENTERTAINMENT

@lightsoutentloe


Just thought I'd put them out there.

Daniel

My love of 3-4-3

So my first real post will be about the sport I talk about the most. Do not read if you have no interest in football/soccer. With the new found free time I had between the term ending and my coming travels I played a lot of FIFA. This included online which gets pretty brutal in higher divisions. After a while I started thinking a lot about formations. I have always been a proponent of 4 defenders because especially being English, playing in America, that is normal and what you are taught. In recent times though (especially watching Napoli this season) I have become a fan of the 3-4-3. This naturally led me to wonder, "Does anyone do this in lower level football/soccer?"

I played through high school (not on varsity due to a bit of politics) but in all my experience there was never even a questioning of the use of 4 defenders. It may be different in higher levels of youth play that I never encountered but I think it would be interesting to try out on a youth team regardless of level. Naturally, the fine details depend on the stamina and endurance of those wide mids and the exact formation of the top 3. This is one thing I think would be interesting to try out one day.


If anyone does have any feedback on this or other formations (like God forbid having 5 defenders) let me know.

Daniel

So it begins...

To avoid clogging Facebook and Twitter I have decided to make a blog. I figured now would be a good time since as of tomorrow I will be doing quite a bit of traveling. I will probably eventually move to a full on blog with proper domain name and whatnot but this will be fine for now. I hope to talk a bout a lot of things sports, music, politics related. I'll probably post a lot of music since music and sports are probably the things I talk about the most.

I will be in London tomorrow then Frankfurt for the weekend, Palermo for a week shortly after then lastly Munich for a month. I hope to see and do as much as I can and talk about that as well as things that just have generally been on my mind. There will be no super inclusive theme but just me being me. Tune in at will.

Good day,
Daniel