Countdown to takeoff...

All the commercials and warm-up matches are making me hella excited...yes, I used the word hella and no, I’m not from Cali.  Its just a simple word that captures many levels of intensity into five simple letters - one of the many things I take away from my Boston University education.

June 9th, papa Condren and I set sail on our voyage across the Atlantic!  Mama Robinson and Mighty Joe will be joining us two weeks into our journey!

Hartford  ~  JFK  ~  Amsterdam ~ Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa - Table Top Mountain in the background...Don’t be jealous,

 if you continue to read my blog, its basically like you are coming with me.

One of the nike Ads i alluded to at the beginning of this post.

USA - Turkey

This afternoon I sat alone in my home and watched the US national team beat the decent Turkish national side on my beautiful Samsung LED (no - 3D yet) 46” television.  I am convinced that the man pictured below is the best American soccer player in the world...

...well maybe not as good as Clint Mathis once was.  I also think Donovan is somewhat of a pansy (reference Beckham saga and the sour scowl always on his face), but aren’t we all.  But seriously, I was pretty impressed with his play - he assisted on both of the American’s goals as they snuck away with a win against a competitive Turkish squad.  The first half was fairly hard to watch as the US couldn’t really pass well and was lucky to only give up one goal after some suspect defending and defensive positioning.  I am happy to have Howard in goal though...the vein popping out of his bald head as he yells at his teammates for questionable defending even motivates me to mark my chips and salsa a little tighter in fear of another tantrum...

...Michael Bradley is turning into one of my more favored US players, not quite yet on Cobi Jones level yet, but he is getting there.  He always runs and tackles hard.  Bradley is solid.  He is the foundation of the team.  Without him, I think the midfield would get torn apart, however, with him in there, Lampard and Gerrard will be uneffective come June 12th...hopefully.  

...more suprisingly, Jose Torres and Robbie Findley were a breath of fresh air in the second half.  Torres’ great passing and Findley’s speed (much welcome seeing as we will be missing Charlie Davies for the competition) were key to the Turkish defense opening up in the second half, allowing the Americans to score two goals.  I look forward to seeing more of these unfamiliar faces in a couple weeks.  

...I’m hoping for lots of goals from Josey Altidore this tournament and hopefully his score today is a sign of more to come...and I expect nothing less from Clint Dempsey moving forward (probably the most dangerous American player on the roster - with the most international success minus Tim Howard) as Deuce is definitely a thug...

...maybe he should stick to soccer for now...I’m definitely a fan of hip hop, but we should let Jay-Z rap and Dempsey play soccer for now...

USA - Czech Republic

Yesterday, the bearded brothers plus Prab, with prohibited charcoal grill in tow, stormed Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT for the first team USA warm-up friendly against the Czech Republic.

More to come....(Pending Funksta Fleming sending photos that will dictate what direction this post will go)

...I really need those photos to jog my memory...we tailgated pretty hard...