NOTHING BUT OWLS!
May 20th, 2010

they do what with a ball?

there’s something that totally makes me roll my eyes to the point that they fall out of my head – the “sports? what’s that?” thing people do when they are compelled to watch a sporting event against their will. it always smacks of some smug “aren’t i cute/special because i’m too good to care or understand what adults do with a ball,” sort of thing. it probably doesn’t help that i’m a librarian, and therefore work with a lot of people who are very proud to express their disdain for sport because it’s defiance against pop culture. (i think this is a corollary to the “i don’t own a t.v.” argument.

the thing is i don’t really care if people don’t like sport. i can understand the eye rolling and the moaning to a point during the superbowl/nba playoffs/whatever (though i will be as obnoxious as i can be about the world cup). i know that it’s just letting off some steam and making one feel good about themselves. we all want to feel good.

so now i need to find something equally obnoxious to me to moan about. it might be dr. who. or these new super hero movies that are made just to make supposed geeks feel supposedly geeky. (since when did being a geek/nerd become something desirable? i think people need to belong and feel extreme in some way.) any suggestions? i would say those crappy new crime shows that are really just another ploy to make people feel clever, but i’m too upset about them cancelling law & order to go there. let’s say sci-fi/fantasy stuff which is just really dolled up romance? i’ll start with that.

by kendra | Posted in rants, sport | 2 Comments » |
October 21st, 2009

bloody face, bruised ego


last night i was playing soccer with my indoor team from work, mclaughin. the name is a pun on the building we’re in – mclaughlin, but the second l is missing on one entrance. it’s great.

anyhow, i was playing left back, my normal position, and i had some good steals, a could of nice headers, and i was feeling good. then i had a bad header. actually, my header was fine. i got the ball. the other guy had a bad header and got my head instead. this was within 5 minutes of starting. we stopped, made sure we were both ok. he seemed fine, but i guess i wasn’t. there was blood, and lots of it. it pooled in my goggles which made everybody think i had an eye injury. i had to get a towel, call dr j, and pack up, all whilst holding the towel to my head to slow the bleeding. it was apparently freaky to all involved but me. seriously, it didn’t really hurt and i was just annoyed i had to leave the game early.

we went to the kaiser emergency room in oakland- my first trip ever to an emergency room. i wanted to take a picture of my bleeding head, but i figured that would be wrong. so here it is the morning after. it’s tender, but ok. no stitches or anything, just a little scab. it hurts but it’s all superficial.

the wait in the emergency room was very interesting given the health care debate. lots of people there with flu-like symptoms. is it h1n1 in oakland? or do people just not have regular care so they just have to go to the emergency room when every they get sick? here’s hoping we don’t get sick.

by kendra | Posted in personal stuff, sport | 1 Comment » | Tags: ,
October 18th, 2009

fabulous orange!

on the field

on the field


larry took this picture of of playing soccer at one of my games a few weeks back when he was in town. i am the rightmost orange speck in the picture. (team captain patrick is the second orange speck from right.) we won that game. actually, this team, fabulous orange, has been on a winning streak. yesterday we won 4-0, which in EBOTS is a blow out. clean sheets are very rare. of course, as a left back, i take pride in that score because it means i did an OK job. it’s weird when people compliment me on my playing, because i still feel like i’m the worst player on the field. i guess even if that’s true (which it probably is), then it’s not such a bad thing since many of the other players are really good.

i don’t want to jinx our 5 week winning streak, though i won’t be there next week (internet librarian, yo!) so i won’t have any thing to contribute. i really like playing on this team and i have to say, winning feels all right. last night at gilman, we were telling people of our awesome game that afternoon, it was clear people lose interest pretty soon. if you ever want me to tell you all about my love of the beautiful game and to tell you about my exploits in the back field, just ask. i’m not quite as good at telling people about what others should have done, but i’m getting there.

my indoor team is in the play-offs. we play tomorrow night. maybe i’ll talk about that a bit? i’m terrible at indoor though, so let’s just talk about outdoor.

by kendra | Posted in personal stuff, sport | No Comments » |
May 27th, 2009

barca are champions


remember when i used to post all the time about football? the season may be over, but i can still post about some things.

today i’m working from home so that i could watch barcelona beat man utd for the champions league title. over the weekend my friend, with whom i’d watched many of the semifinal matches, asked if he could come over to my place to watch the game. (we have a nice tv.) i then invited myself over to see his dog. (it’s a great dog.)

the match itself was unexpected. people were talking about how it was supposed to be one of the best matches in the history of sport. really? that’s not what i watched. iniesta was brilliant. basically, the whole barcelona side was great and they played fantastic for the whole 90 minutes. what happened to manchester united? they were crap. they looked so out of it and boring, it was just not fun to watch. i was surprised ronaldo didn’t explode in some massive strop. he was frustrated that man utd were squandering so many chances. it was nice to see scholes get a yellow card a few minutes on the pitch. i dont know why, but i love seeing that ginger runt foul people.

so the champions league is over. man utd didn’t repeat, thankfully. i was happy for barca to win, especially since i was watching it with a barca supporter. now i’m just hunkering down for the fa cup final this weekend. come on everton!

May 12th, 2009

wigan… part of what?


i was looking at world soccer shop for white football shirts to wear for my league games. i was thinking an everton away kit, but probably will continue to wear my old janky punk rock shirts. anyhow, i saw this wigan t-shirt which made me laugh. “wigan: greater manchester.” now wigan is part of the borough of greater manchester, but that implies it’s mancunian like bolton. after reading stuart maconie’s pies and prejudice, i really wouldn’t consider wigan to be greater manchester. western lancashier.

this of course begs the question, why do i have such a strange fondness for lancashire. i’m still trying to figure that one out.

by kendra | Posted in anglo crap, sport | 1 Comment » | Tags: , ,
May 7th, 2009

champions league fun and nonsense


i was a surprised to see photos from chelsea v. barcelona on sf gate last night and this morning. does this mean the champions league has gone mainstream in america now? i also thought it was a bit weird that #ucl was a trending topic on twitter yesterday. i couldn’t figure out if this was a good thing or the same sort of nonsense that gave us “epl” for the premiership.

anyhow… yesterday’s match was interesting. more so than arsenal and man utd. the other day. i do feel for my friends who are chelsea fans, but… not that much. i think barcelona v. man utd. will be more interesting that a rematch of last year. that game was terribly dull. it was also good because a friend came over to watch. dr j supports and indulges my desire to watch as many football matches as possible, but very rarely does he watch them with me. i can respect that, but it’s nice to talk to somebody about what’s going on and it really helps calm my nerves. (i tend to make myself physically ill otherwise.) it was also fun because this friend is a barca supporter, so it was somehow better to root against chelsea. i did sort of want chelsea to win so that they would be tired for the fa cup final, but… not that much.

oh and a flag about snoop drog was pretty funny.

February 8th, 2009

more on the derby


here’s the highlights from yesterday’s match. tudgay’s goal is a classic. thanks egoboss!

by kendra | Posted in anglo crap, sport | No Comments » | Tags: ,
February 7th, 2009

after 95 years, owls win the double


there’s tommy spur scoring the owl’s first goal in the first minute of the match.
today was the derby between sheffield united and sheffield wednesday at brammal lane. the owls won. as any casual reader may be able to guess, i’m absolutely delighted by this. did you know that it’s been 95 years since wednesday won the double against the blades? for those of you familiar with moneyball, united’s payroll is one of the largest in the championship, but the owls still won.
you can read more about it here.

it’s funny. i feel happy, yet i didn’t even watch the match. i need to sort this out. it’s hard following a small club nobody else seems to like, but well… i guess that’s the point. i, like many other sport fans, like being miserable. wednesday often make me miserable, like last week, but this week i’m on air.

both my clubs, wednesday and everton, won their derbies this week. i feel lucky.

by kendra | Posted in anglo crap, sport | 1 Comment » | Tags: ,
July 16th, 2008

owls around the world



waddle, originally uploaded by kendrak.

sheffield wednesday have posted something on their website that got my eye today. they’re soliciting pictures of fans wearing wednesday kit in front of global landmarks to be printed in the program. unfortunately i don’t think they’d care about the campanile, but the golden gate bridge is close by.

with that.. i also will join wednesdayite so i can vote on the take over. huzzah!

by kendra | Posted in anglo crap, sport | No Comments » | Tags:
June 9th, 2008

the real american hero


yesterday the u.s. men’s national team held argentina to a 0-0 draw. who was the man of the day? not landon donovan, who earned his 100th cap in the match. tim howard. who? the u.s. goal keeper who also plays for everton. of course i’m biased, but he’s my favourite player on the american team. of course it’s annoying that donovan’s mere act of showing up to play is making more news than howard’s performance, but it shouldn’t surprise anybody. oh well.

by kendra | Posted in rants, sport | 2 Comments » | Tags: , ,
May 22nd, 2008

facts about the farm.

this week is was brought to my attention that not everybody knows some basic facts about stanford university. namely- the are the stanford cardinal, as in the deep colour red, not crimson. that’s harvard. also, they don’t really have a mascot, which is why they have a silly tree. i’m not saying this as a cal alum who cares about the sports rivalry between the two. cal’s mascot, oski the bear, is a real mascot, unlike the tree. he also drinks beer through his eye. it’s just facts.

sort of like stomper’s the name of the oakland a’s elephant mascot, whilst everton’s elephant mascot is named chang. sheffield wednesday’s owl mascot is named ozzie, ollie and baz.

May 5th, 2008

celebration!



celebration, originally uploaded by mardy1.

today is michael palin’s birthday, which is fitting that i should post about sheffield wednesday staying up in the championship, since he’s the reason i picked this forsaken team when i was 10. whatever, yesterday was brilliant and they showed some life. way to go, owls!

by kendra | Posted in anglo crap, sport | 2 Comments » | Tags:
April 2nd, 2008

opening day



Oakland, originally uploaded by kendrak.

yesterday was oakland’s domestic opening day. it was my first ever opening day for baseball after years of being passed over for giants tickets when i was a kid. it wasn’t super special, but i got there really early to make sure i could hang out in my preferred seat. the whole right field bleacher crew was there and they were happy to see me.

the game itself was ho-hum. neither team was amazing but it was nice to watch all the same. i forgot how much i hate red sox fans. the ones in the bay area tend to be wealthy, white, and totally clueless. every so often, one can take a joke, but for the most part they seem shocked that fans in oakland of all places would be loud and obnoxious. i guess i could see this if we were all sitting in nice, field level seat, but these were the bleachers! they’re cheap and known for being a little rowdy. it’s why i sit there. you’d think if they can afford to drive their bmw suv from santa clara or orinda, they can afford not ot sit by me. one asked us why we had to be like that, and i asked him and his lady friend if they’d ever been to a baseball game before. she hadn’t, he’d been to a few.

one of my friends said she won’t sit with me in the bleachers any more because she said the bleacher people were too distracting. she also said it’s nothing she’d bring her mom to. it’s funny because i wouldn’t want to sit in the bleachers with anybody else’s parents, but i wouldn’t mind being there with my own. yeah, i’d tone it down a little, but i’d still let the opposing right field know he sucks.

by kendra | Posted in personal stuff, sport | 2 Comments » | Tags: , ,
March 27th, 2008

always in love with the big four

AJ calls it!
i’m not talking about that big four, but rather this big four. this morning on espn first take they had america’s leading football commentator, tommy smyth, on to discuss the premier league and how it’s different than american sports. first of all- smyth is an idiot and despised by most football/soccer fans. the segment only discussed the big four since they all met up this weekend. the only highlights they showed where from this weekends match ups between arsenal and chelsea and manchester utd. and liverpool. (it’s always nice to liverpool play terribly.) then they just showed the standing of the top four teams without points, which makes it look like liverpool’s hanging with the other three. of course, being a pseudo-toffee, i was miffed because looking at the standings, the kopshite are 8 points behind arsenal and only 2 points ahead everton- their place at fourth is less than assured. (it’s also remarkable how arsenal has tumbled.) did smyth say anything about that? no. he made it seem like liverpool were on par with chelsea and arsenal and that manchester utd. was just like the yankees- better than god and no pitch outside of old trafford is worthy of them. it’s crap, really.

he also tried to explain the concept of promotion and relegation, which mystified jay crawford. if american sports had that system, the kansas city royals would be gone, and probably the knicks as well. relegation is nasty- just look at sheffield wednesday.

moral of the story- tommy smyth is an big fat moron, and everton are better than liverpool.

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by kendra | Posted in anglo crap, rants, sport | 1 Comment » | Tags: , ,













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