Jim R

Lonesome Sundown Alvin Dark Wells, Dawn

Dema Kovalenko Hristo Stoitchkov Peter Nowak

Like the Venezuela match the other day, I watched this one twice. Scott, you basically said everything I was going to say. Johnson was up and down. He got screwed a couple of times (bogus offsides call when he was through for a breakaway; a couple of fouls that weren't called), which I think threw him off balance a bit. Still, he didn't time his runs well enough. WAY too many offsides calls (legit ones) against him, and his shots weren't good enough. Also, there were a couple of occasions when Johnson failed to make a pass that would have sent a teammate into the area. He either doesn't have the necessary vision, or he's too selfish with the ball at his feet sometimes. I thought it was very interesting the comment Balboa made regarding who will likely start on June 12. He said Onyewu will likely be in (in place of Conrad, who played tonight), and I agree. He also said Reyna will be in if he's healthy, and that the other player from tonight's game that would likely be on the bench on June 12th... Eddie Johnson (he suggested that Donovan might play in a very high midfield position, essentially as a 2nd forward). Pretty interesting comment from someone who may have more behind-the-scenes knowledge than the average person in the media. He also said that Convey was pushing Beasley hard for a starting midfield spot, and I agree- that's a toss-up right now, especially since Beasley had a weak game tonight. DeMarcus was too indecisive when he got into good attacking positions, his two (?) shots on goal were extremely weak, and he didn't pass the ball particularly well. Just didn't look very confident, imo. As you said, Convey wasn't as good tonight either, but I thought he was better than Beasley. O'Brien is kind of a puzzle right now... he looked pretty sharp at times, dictating the pace and creating direction in Reyna's absence, and putting some nice balls into the box. At other times, he looked tired and somewhat lost. He doesn't look as physically strong as he did in 2002, and he definitely doesn't seem to have enough stamina to go 90 minutes (but maybe he can still contribute some valuable minutes anyway). I was a little disappointed that Dempsey didn't get into the game tonight. I have a feeling that Arena really sees his relative inexperience as a big issue, despite Clint's aggressiveness and solid performances this year. I still think he deserves to get significant playing time in the WC, and our attack will suffer without his creativity and energy in setting up attacks and set pieces. I thought Cherundolo and Pope played well tonight, while Conrad and Lewis were both kind of shaky at times. Bottom line re tonight's match... (to echo what you said) it's really pretty sad that we could only score one goal with that kind of midfield domination. It was almost as though Latvia knew they could just sit back and let us come at them, without worrying that we might score. Our build-up is too slow and predictable, even if it appears to be efficient at times. I think we'd be better off mixing up our attack, doing less crossing from the flanks and playing more combinations up the middle (and the occasional attempt to have Donovan or Beasley simply try to run at the defense alone when an opportunity presents itself). You have to keep a defense off balance, and "keep them honest". As good as McBride's finish was on the one goal we got, that's basically a very predictable play, where a lot of defenders had time to pack in and try to stop it. A top notch defense is going to prevent that goal most of the time. There were at least three or four times tonight where one of our players (Beasley, Johnson, Convey come to mind) had a clear opportunity to shoot from around the edge of the area, and didn't pull the trigger. Some of them were loose balls, and some were great passes that went to waste. As the old saying goes- if you don't shoot, you can't score. As I said after the Venezuela match, I'm concerned about our chemistry (especially as it relates to creating attacks). I'm just not seeing much of the kind of quick combination play that takes a defense by surprise and sets up good scoring chances.

Same here. I remember what player I bought, because I still have it (Sony CDP-C705, 5-disc carousel). However, I have very little memory of which CD's I bought first. I'm pretty sure there were a few Miles OJC titles in there... Dexter's "Our Man In Paris" was an early purchase... oh shit, I probably went crazy buying Bird, Monk, Trane, Wes, etc etc etc... I shudder to think about how much money I was spending (probably before I had a lot of cash flow from LP sales )

The original was on Argo. It was reissued on Cadet circa 1965 as "Man At Work".

Maximilian Schell George Szell Matt Snell

I basically agree, it's just that possessing the ball and being "OK" are not enough. I thought they could and should have created more scoring chances in the first half. I remember thinking at about the 30 minute mark that they hadn't really gotten off a good shot yet. I used to be a forward when I played, so I'm more critical about (and actually pay closer attention to) the overall attack and finishing, as opposed to defense and midfield buildup. So, yeah, if we had been better in terms of our final few passes, we would have created more good chances. But we weren't, and we didn't. With only one more tune-up match to go, I'd like to see us start to shift into high gear. As you've pointed out before (and I've always agreed), we need to have somebody step up and score goals in the WC. Creating good chances has to be more of a routine, so that we don't have to rely on clinical finishing every time we get a good look at the goal (since we lack that type of player up front). Since we don't have that one great goal scorer, it's going to have to be via good chemistry and creative play around the area that we create chances, and frankly I think we're behind the curve in terms of being ready for June 12th in that respect.

I agree Scott, much better performance than the Morocco game (of course). Even though we got a 2-0 win, though, I'm still a bit concerned about our overall team chemistry and sharpness. I thought most of the first half was dismal. After about 30 minutes, I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be a repeat of the Morocco game. We put together some passes and got some crosses into the box, but as you said, nobody on the end of them. We were givng the ball away far too often, and players were not reading each other very well and not making good runs. The goal seemed to give us a confidence boost, but I would still have liked to see more creativity and coheshion in the attack. I thought the second half was better in terms of our passing and getting into an organized attack. It was really nice to see EJ get an assist (definitely not his strong suit, imo), and Dempsey's finish was great. Ching looked sharp throughout the game, and I think he's beginning to regain his old form. It will be interesting to see how much playing time he gets. I still think McBride can be very good for us, but I wonder how willing Arena will be to insert Ching if McBride slumps during the WC. I do like Convey, and he's definitely improved his confidence after the experience with Reading. To me, maybe the most impressive thing about Convey last night was his stamina. That should earn him some points in terms of being considered for a starting role in Germany. That will largely depend on Arena's strategy for each match, though. Convey will be a valuable weapon whether he starts or subs. I thought Dempsey looked good last night, but I wouldn't quite say "magical". I think he can play better, in terms of taking on defenders and earning free kicks. Olsen is still inconsistent. I think he's still an "energy" guy, a player who has more enthusiasm than anything else. With the number of quality midfielders we have now (and barring any further injury problems with Reyna and O'Brien), I really doubt that Ben will get to play much if at all in the WC. I've been fairly impressed with our defense as a whole lately. A large question that's looming is where (and how much) Bocanegra fits in to the scheme of things. Obviously, he can play on the left, but it seems that he's going to be splitting duty with Pope at left central. I would like to see Lewis back in action against Latvia, Cherundolo back on the right, and see how we look with a true "1st string" defense in this final tune-up. Also, speaking of our defenders, the one thing that I've been looking for but haven't seen lately is Onyewu getting involved more (with his head) on set pieces. There was a stretch of qualifiers where that seemed to be one of our most dangerous weapons. Maybe Arena decided to put that card up his sleeve. Anyway, I'm more relieved than impressed in terms of our effort against Venezuela (relieved that we didn't lay another egg). I think we need to do at least as well or better against Latvia tomorrow. We need to be sharper and quicker with our passing and decision-making; and accurate in terms of finishing. Oh- I'm not at all happy that we've now lost both Hejduk and Gibbs. Albright is okay, but he's not as quick as Hejduk, not as good with the ball, and of course less experienced internationally. I think Gibbs was still in the process of improving his ability to read the game, but his athleticism was impressive. Berhalter is of course very experienced, but he's a bit slow and prone to mental lapses. Hopefully the rest of the cast will stay healthy, and Albright and Berhalter won't be called upon to face too much pressure. One last thing... I've been watching some vhs tapes from 2002, and one thing that strikes me is how good Reyna was. I think maybe we've taken him a bit for granted (and it's easy to do, considering the type of things he does well). I heard an interview with Donovan the other day, and he was talking about Reyna, his experience, and how he taught Landon the art of knowing when to "go" and when to lay back. It's a subtle thing- not necessarily translating to "go forward" and "stay back", but more about exerting yourself and taking chances vs relaxing and letting the game develop around you. I think Reyna really does have that ability to be aware of the ebb and flow of a match. It's also about field vision and leadership. The way he set up that first goal against Mexico in the 2nd round in '02... that was special. I'm really beginning to think that we will need him if we're going to succeed in Germany. It's great to have Mastroeni to make a lot of the same kinds of plays, though... I just wonder if either of them are going to be as strong and as durable as they were in the later matches in 2002.

Thomas Jefferson Norton Buffalo Liberty Valance

Little Luke Kate Pepino

Dear John John Deere Farmer John

EKE John Wayne Duke Kahanamoku

Seemed rude to me, especially since the disagreement was about something subjective. The "point" was to defend myself while attempting to get you to understand that there's really no need to lecture anybody here (regardless of skin color- and by the way, you DON'T KNOW what color I am) about racism. You still don't seem to get it, but whatever. I'll now open the floor to all of the black musicians here who were around in 1952... Why, I'm not sure, but take it away... (Just milkin' this a bit... I accept your apology). Peace~

No black person has the "inside skinny" on this particular debate. The point here is that this specific discussion is about opinions as to the severity (or lack thereof) of the behaviour of one man in this one film clip. That's all it is- it's about our perceptions about how he comes across. He may very well have been a racist bastard, but that's not exactly the point. As I said, I don't claim to know one way or the other if I'm right. On the other hand, you do, and in addition you had to get rude about it. Maybe if you read the whole topic again, you'll understand better. Jack said it very well, and I'm not sure why you can't accept what he's saying as a reasonable opinion. In other words, there's no way you're going to prove you're right on this, so what's the point of preaching at us?

I agree 100% with what Stereojack said. It's an intuitive reaction, based solely on what the video shows, so I'm not claiming to know. I don't have any knowledge of that host or his history, and although I think I've heard that quote from Chan before, it just doesn't really ring true for me. Maybe Chan was actually more pissed than Bird? Wouldn't surprise me.

Ronaldinho Ron Reagan Dubya

Right- it's been available for many years. So why chop it up when uploading it to YouTube? I haven't done any uploading myself... maybe I'm missing something.

Btw, I've seen this over and over on YouTube- people chopping up videos and presenting bits and pieces of the complete originals. I'm not sure why this happens so much, but if you search their site, you can often find a more complete version (or in some cases, the missing portion). In this case I simply searched for "Charlie Parker", and found the above video on the first page of links.

Scott, be glad you didn't watch. I watched it live, and again on tape this evening (although it was painful, I wanted to look again closely to see what- and who- went wrong). The U.S. came out flat, and basically stayed that way throughout. Morocco played with twice our intensity, energy, and creativity. We played okay on defense for most of the match, but our attempts to go forward (which were slow and predictable) were consistently stifled by the swarming Moroccans. Our passing was rarely sharp, and we constantly gave the ball away by holding it for too long. Mastroeni (who replaced Reyna after he went out with a strained hamstring) and Beasley played pretty well, and that's about it aside from decent defensive efforts by Pope, Onyewu, and Gibbs (who started at left back). McBride had a very bad game, as did Donovan (he was in his timid, tentative mode), and Wolff (who was in the starting lineup) was Wolff. McBride failed to even put the ball on frame on two occasions when he was set up beautifully and had great opportunities to score. O'Brien sent Donovan into the area unmarked with a nice chip, and Donovan whiffed. It looked like he was afraid he was going to collide with the keeper, but he had plenty of time and space. He could have settled the ball and picked a spot, instead he tries a weak, timid full volley toe poke and comes up with nothing but air. Eddie Johnson (who subbed in late) also whiffed once, on a rebound from a Donovan shot, and also failed to even hit the target on a header that he should have put away. Steve Cherundolo, who was yellow-carded in the early going for a clumsy (very late) challenge, lost the ball on several occasions, and made a bonehead play that set up Morocco's goal on a counter-attack after a failed U.S. set piece. Arena stated that he thought the Cary training camp left us worn out. Pretty obvious that this was part of the problem, but the bottom line is, we looked like shit in most phases of the game, even before we had faced any serious exertion. Arena and most of the players downplayed the problems in their postgame press conferences, and offered the usual b.s. that the only game that matters right now is on June 12. Well, I say get your act together soon, or you're going to be totally embarassed on June 12.

This is the performance that followed that spoken introduction: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q7mjfZ9owzY&sea...harlie%20parker

I hope I won't be reminded of this every time I see an image of Yosemite falls...

Not mentioned because it dates from 1969. I'm with Chuck and BFrank. SWISS NIGHTS is insanely good Dexter, and pretty much the whole Steeplechase catalog is worth getting if you're a DG fan. I know it's not his greatest work, but I'm actually pretty fond of the ROUND MIDNIGHT and THE OTHER SIDE OF ROUND MIDNIGHT. It has its own vibe, its own beauty... kind of a poignancy to it, imo. My favorite track is "Tivoli", with Dexter on soprano (it cuts off too short, unfortunately).

Gladys Kravitz Glad, The Man From Vlad

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