Picture of the day - how Sidney Crosby spent his summer vacation

In case you didn't notice, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings to win the Stanley Cup finals this year. Each player gets to have the trophy for a little while.

Abandoned Books and/or Movies #3

Sometimes when you are reading a book, you realize that you want to stop. Sometimes that happens with movies, too. Here are some recent examples:

Peeling the Onion by Gunter Grass. Famous German author admits that he voluntarily signed up for the Waffen-SS as a youth during World War II.

The Black Arrow by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Adventure story set in England during the War of the Roses. I read it once as a kid. I have tried (and failed) twice as an adult.

Rebels Without Borders by Marc Vachon. True story of a Canadian hoodlum who becomes a logistics expert for an international medical relief organization. Not as interesting as it might sound.

Becoming Manny: Inside the Life of Baseball's Most Enigmatic Slugger by Jean Rhodes and Shawn Boburg. Discussed elsewhere.

The Italian Job. Boring movie from 1969 that was remade into another boring movie in 2003. I actually have watched the 2003 version twice but could not quite make it through the 1969 one.

Escape from New York. Way back when, movie director John Carpenter needed to find a place that looked like Manhattan would look if they turned it into an island prison colony run by the prisoners and then the prisoners went wild. He chose downtown St. Louis, which is the only reason I would ever watch this movie. I fell asleep on the couch about halfway through.

Below- downtown St. Louis

The Sixth Man: A Season Inside the NBA Playground by Chris Palmer. Do you know those little, tiny square candy bars that are about two centimeters across? This book has the same relationship to a real basketball book that a little, tiny square candy bar has to a real, full-size candy bar. (The "season" in question is 2004-2005.)

The most hated man in all of Toronto?/Olympic Update #2

Igor Kenk (pictured below) may be the most hated man in all of Toronto, Canada. For years he has operated a bike shop in Toronto, but this summer police discovered that he was the mastermind of a massive bicycle-theft operation - they uncovered more than 2,000 bikes hidden in various storage facilities and garages throughout the city.

Here is one of the many garages in which Igor Kenk and his henchmen hid their stolen bicycles.

Here are some Toronto police officers taking a coffee break during their investigation.

By the way, Maris Strombergs of Latvia did win the gold medal as expected in the men's BMX competition yesterday. The woman who won, Anne-Caroline Chausson, is from France. Her closest competitor, Shanaze Reade from the UK, wiped out near the end.

Brazil 3 - Canada 2

Here are some photos from last Saturday's friendly:

Late Breaking News Flash!

According to today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

"The Seattle Sounders FC and Soccer United Marketing combined to organize the match and brought in a natural grass surface that was laid down over the FieldTurf for the match."

So tonight's friendly at Qwest Field between Brazil and Canada will be played on grass after all, unlike the Mexico - China match a few months ago.

"It doesn't really matter, does it?" some might ask. All we can do is shake our heads and try not to cry.

Brazil v. Canada (friendly) Preview

I'm going to give you a brief introduction to all the Brazil players who will be on the squad for their up-coming friendly against Canada this Saturday, May 31, 2008 here in Seattle.

Goalies-

(Julio Cesar)

Julio Cesar- (Inter), previously played for Chievo, Verona, and Flamengo. He's 28 years old, is married to a Brazillian supermodel/actress and has two kids. PS- we don't like him!

Diego Alves- don't know much about him. He's 22 and he plays for a team called Almeria. I don't even know what country that team's from.

Doni- (Roma), played for Juventude, Curzero, Santos, and Corinthians. He's 28 and one of the best goalies in Serie A.

Defense-

(Maicon)

Daniel Alves- (Sevilla), he's 25 and an attacking winger... hmmm, what does that mean?

Gilberto- (Tottenham), played for Hertha Berling, Gremio, Inter, Cruzerio, Flamengo, and America. He's 32 and his brother are also footballers... but not as good.

Maicon- (Inter), hey, we saw this guy get a nasty bump on the head the other day. He's bald... his name was supposed to be Michael Douglas at birth, but the hospital messed up and named him Maicon Douglas... not sure if I believe this.

Henrique- (Palmeiras) almost no info on this guy. He's 24 and his last name is Buss.

Juan- (Roma), the Champions League announcers said this guy's name really weirdly. He played for Bayer Leverkusen and Flamengo. He's 29 years old and described as a 'consistent' player.

Luisaoo- (Benfica)- he's bald too. He's supposed to go to Portsmouth in the off season.

Marcelo- (Real Madrid)- he's 20 and apparently he once quit football because he's so poor.

Midfield

(Gilberto Silva)

Gilberto Silva (Arsenal)- this guy seems like an interesting guy. He would be a furniture maker if he wasn't a footballer (it's the family trade), and he plays the mandolin.

Josue (Wolfsburg), formerly of Sao Paulo. He's 28. That's about it.

Diego- (Werder Bremen), he played for Porto and Santos before. He's 23 years older and he's 5ft. 8.5"

Elano- (Manchester City), he's 26 and is known for scoring from a distance

Anderson- (Manchester United), played for Porto and Gremio before. He made his penalty kick in the Champions League. Darn.

Forwards-

(Pato)

Luis Fabiano- (Sevilla), he's played for Porto, Sao Paulo, Rennes, and some team called Ponte Preto. He's 27 and apparently his mom was once kidnapped for 61 days!

Alexandre Pato- (Milan) formerly of Internacional. He's they're little prodigy... his nickname means the duck... when he was 10, he broke his arm in training and they found a tumor... ooooh... (oh, and he's like my favorite player in the world)

Robinho- (Real Madrid), played for Santos (didn't everyone), he's 24 and had 15 goals this season. Oh, and his mom was once kidnapped too.

Adriano- (Sao Paulo, on loan from Inter). He's 26 and was sent back to Brazil because of his partying and alcohol problems.

Rafael Sobis- (Real Betis)- he's 22 and has played for Inter (in Brazil), Cruzerio, and Corinthians.

What I'd like to see tonight (4-22-08)

Liverpool over Chelsea

Flyers over Caps

Flames vs. Sharks (hmmm - this is a hard one.) All logic and political sense says go for Calgary - small Canadian city in the middle of god-forsaken nowhere against San Jose (?!?!) But San Jose has some players I really like - Mike Grier, Jonathan Cheechoo (the pride of Moose Factory, Ontario and a religious fanatic to boot), and Devin Setoguchi (pictured above). Plus, the Sharks arena reminds me of some sort of community college field house I probably visited in an alternate universe, and I really like the color blue lately. So I think I'm rooting for San Jose. Maybe.