Monday morning: Whole lotta stuff going on . . .

1. Wow, it's nice to be able to post some good about high schools and GLBT kids. And local to boot.

Albany Times-Union

On June 5, what began as a lark turned into a celebration of their courage to attend high school as openly gay young men. Seniors Charlie Ferrusi and Timmy Howard were crowned Hudson High School's prom king and queen in an open vote of their classmates.

More here.

2. Quote from the script of the Flag Day ceremony I covered yesterday:
"Heraldry is as old as the human race."

Was that when man lived in harmony with nature?

3. There's actual so much stuff going on that I am working on two other blog entries. That'll give you something to look forward to later in the day. Sports and patriotism -- two separate topics.

4. I got to see a lot of friends Saturday. artistic_phoenix and ogedei hosted an engagement party for theresat and l3arcelona. Too many folks to list, but it was great to see some folks I had not seen in a while and to get to have real conversations.

5. The New York Times has an excellent piece about why we see so many movie sequels made.

6.  There are new photos up at flickr, including Theresa's graduation and Elvis Fest!

7. My nephew Brooks graduates from high school and poses with my mother. He's headed for Lehigh University. Nice young man. Probably smarter than his uncle, but not nearly as good looking.



If you think about it, that may be what evilnicola's gonna look like around in the mid to late 2050s.

Monday morning: All World Cup, all the time . . .

1. I hear the vuvuzela in my sleep.

That’s the buzzing horn that South African soccer fans play. I hear it from the TV as well. One of the nicer things about working from home right now, is that I can listen to or watch a good chunk of the World Cup. I have been hearing it from the TV all morning. Netherlands 2, Denmark 0. Netherlands looked great, but not as good as the Germans did Sunday.

I am totally sucked in by the World Cup.

2. Full disclosure: I am not a huge “soccer guy.” I am a baseball, football and wrestling guy, and I actually enjoy rugby more than soccer. But soccer’s not a hard game to watch, and I find myself learning more and more as I watch it. As a sports writer, I tend to suck up details like a sponge, and I am really paying attention to this.

3. The basic information right now is that there are two or three games a day from now until June 25. Eight groups of four teams. Top two advance to what Americans would call the quarterfinals and the rest of the world calls “the knockout stage” or the Round of 16. Most matches on ESPN at 7:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. (If you live in the Albany area, I highly recommend taking in a match  at Wolff’s Bier Garten. Great place to watch). If you live in any kind of ethnic neighborhood, get out to watch a game in a bar or anywhere else showing it. It’ll be amazing.

4. Soccer, or “football” in most other places, fascinates me. It’s such a world-wide game, and the World Cup has a history even more rich than baseball, and you know how I feel about that. It’s a game that makes political statements and economic statements. It’s a simple game that becomes much more complex when you get to this level. You kick the ball into the goal. Even simpler than baseball.

5. There’s a great book called “Soccernomics” that applies “Freakonomics” theories to soccer, pointing out things such as the fact that the vast majority of English footballers are from working-class families. That’s an even bigger issue in South Africa, in which soccer has pretty much been the “Black” sport and rugby has been the “White” sport. The Springboks, South Africa’s national rugby team, pounded the heck out of France over the weekend. Always a good thing. I highly recommend “Invictus,” the movie about Nelson Mandela and the South Africans hosting and winning the 1995 World Cup rugby. Many parallels to this year, though a different era.

6. I think this may finally be the turning point for soccer in America, especially is the U.S. team can get out of group play and maybe win a match in the next stage. This is something I h ave been waiting for for about 35 years. When I was in high school, in the mid-70s, was when soccer was just getting started in our town. At that time, it was still a big deal when a really good male athlete chose soccer over football. There was no youth soccer there at the time. That, in my experience, is the key to success. When Joe Morrone got to UConn in 1969, he immediately got the local town to get youth soccer going, and for many years, the local high school dominated boys’ and girls’ soccer in Connecticut and regularly sent players to UConn, which won national championships.

I think the massive publicity for this World Cup, and the great job ESPN is doing, will really raise even more consciousness here.

7. Recommendations on games to watch (remembering what I said in No. 2). Catch any game involving an African team, especially Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana. Those will be exciting games. Want to see the best in the world? Brazil, Spain and Portugal are the three top-ranked teams. I love to watch the U.S., of course. It’s fun to be an underdog. Team to avoid? North Korea. Bad, bad team. The South Africa matches will be really intense. I like Germany a lot at this point. Tomorrow's best game: Portugal-Ivory Coast at 10 a.m.

Looking for help to help our soldiers out

I  seem to have become the "Patriot Guy" at the paper. I went to the re-dedication of a local war memorial in May, covered two ceremonies on Memorial Day, and did the Flag Day gig yesterday. I really enjoy it. I learned a lot. I did not know that it was the Elks who actually got Flag Day to be a recognized event.

Anyway, that means I have been thinking a lot about the folks overseas, in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places, both people I know and people I don't know. They're doing something very special and important.

When I was teaching, I had kids write letters and send stuff, but I have not really done much lately. I have pulled together a lot of books that could go over, both from library book sales and by having them given to me. I also have some other items -- the stuff you see on lists of what to send -- and I would like to get more.

I am mailing a couple of packages of books out today, but frankly I could use help with mailing costs and with donations and/or some funds to buy the thing they specifically need. I have some addresses, and I am looking for more. I would love to get some Canadian addresses to go with the American ones I have.

If you know anyone serving overseas, and you feel you can share the address, please e-mail me at liamstliam (at) gmail.com

You can also make arrangement with me for pickup of items, either locally or at an event.

If you would like to donate, please use that e-mail address at paypal, or send me an e-mail, and I will send you my address.

I feel sorta guilty that I not been doing this steadily, but now seems like a good time to start.