Former Swedish national team captain Fredrik Ljungberg has signed with the Seattle Sounders FC. He’s the fourth player signed by the expansion Major League Soccer team. The midfielder previously played for Arsenal and West Ham United in the English Premier League. He’s a two-time player of the year in Sweden and has played in two World Cups.

I heart Freddy. He is a dynamo to watch, and I know he’ll make a great addition to the team.

The original choices were, gag, “Seattle Alliance, Seattle Republic and Seattle FC”. WTFF are those names? Totally bland, no connection AT ALL to the area. Absolutely retarded.

This quote made me laugh:

“It was a groundswell,” majority owner and Hollywood producer Joe Roth said of the Sounders sentiment.

No KIDDING… what the hell did you think the public would do when presented with such lame-ass choices?

Still, near-name fiasco aside, I’m glad to see Major League Soccer coming to Seattle. Can’t wait to see the games live.

Technorati Tags: MLS, Seattle Sounders FC, Soccer

Lachlan isn’t able to make the trip with us so those of you who are close, try to make sure she eats more than grapenuts. You know I’m talking to you, Uppity!

Uppity replied that she’d try to make sure neither of us ended up with scurvy or rickets. Well, I think what I’m experiencing is way worse than either of those thankfully now-rare diseases.

Tuesday night I had my usual weekly soccer game. I wasn’t really feeling the desire to play, but after the last game’s debacle of people not showing, I decided I’d tough it out. What could it hurt, right?

Proving once again that I should watch my phraseology like a hawk, it hurt me pretty damn bad.

While going full-bore towards goal, I got tackled and I went flying, landing on my chest with my left arm caught underneath me. It was a very, very hard impact and I never really felt right afterwards. I left before the end of the game and went home, my neck and upper back throbbing.

When I got up the next morning, my chest felt like someone had stepped on me repeatedly. By the end of the day Wednesday, I was in agony. I made an appointment for first thing this morning.

Along with my diagnosis, I got a stern-but-gentle lecture.

“I think it’s time you consider another sport.”

A pregnant pause ensued while I pondered this.

“You’ve separated and cracked cartilage in your sternum. Do you realize how lucky you are? You could’ve broken your neck, the way you landed.”

“I worry about you. You’ve got one speed- 100%. You can’t play or work without doing it 100%. And you can’t change this any more than a tiger can change its stripes. But you have to consider trying something else- if you injure yourself badly enough times, you are looking at an elderly lifestyle that includes a lot of inactivity- something I know you can’t stomach.”

So two degrees this way or that, or a few more pounds-per-square-inch of force and I’d be typing this by blowing through a straw. What a thought.

Dr. G ordered me to lay off work, and as I started to protest, he cut me off. “NO. WORK.” I grumbled under my breath, took the scripts, and left.

I’m pondering this concept of ‘retiring‘ from soccer. It doesn’t fit all that neatly in the folds of my consciousness, needless to say. Neither does not working- but given how I feel day-to-day at this point, I think I am willing to burn the personal hours in order to rest.

Retiring. I can’t quite wrap my brain around the concept. I guess he’s right; I’m a tiger who can’t change her stripes. This will not be easy- the healing or the retiring.

Technorati Tags: soccer, hurt, tackled, cartilage, sternum, play, work, retiring

God, I’m pissed off. And I don’t even have PMS to blame for some of my anger.

We pay to play, if I’ve failed to make that clear in past posts. We don’t have the luxury of just showing up to play anywhere and having a field open for our use- we have to pay (a LOT of) money, deal with the schedules given to us, and play the teams we’re told to play. That’s what being in a league is about.

And being part of that league, and that team within the league, means you show up when you have games. It means you know where the fucking hell the fields are, or make sure you have directions.

Playing is about leisure time. It’s about running and being with people you enjoy and having fun. It’s NOT about playing short and having to beg two passersby to play. It’s not about having to run your ass off ten times harder because 3 or 4 people couldn’t be bothered to A) let us know they weren’t coming and B) god forbid, find their own subs.

Thanks for nothing, you lazy bitches. I love you all dearly, but DAMN. The rest of us who make the effort, week in and week out, deserve to have advance warning if you can’t be there.

We still won. 5-3. With no regular goalie, a half-assed defense, and an offense that had to play way too much defense. And with two college-age passersby who wanted to have a little fun.

Thanks, ladies. You were life savers.

I’m glad we have a bye next week, otherwise I might still be mad enough by next Tuesday to rant in person.

And yes, I maintained my season-long streak of a goal and/or an assist every game so far, thankyouverymuch. One of each tonight, in fact. No thanks to the aforementioned lazy bitches.

Technorati Tags: soccer, team, schedules, league, fun

Or, more accurately, what do you do when it tears your body to shreds, no matter how much love and adoration and effort you shower upon it?

The past few months have been another bout of Injuryitis for me. In January, I was beginning to get my soccer legs back after having contracted the Death in November. I really, really had/have been feeling sensitive about my weight since I developed hypothyroidism last year, so I was eager to play a lot and boost my metabolism.

Too bad I didn’t think that decision through a bit more.

On 1/21, I got tackled by a woman we’ll call Angry Abby, who plays enraged about 70% of the time. My ankle -which had already played 2 games earlier in the week and been kicked several times- was hyper-extended and rolled laterally. It hurt, but the pain wasn’t so severe that I didn’t think twice about treating it AND continuing to play.

It took me about a month to realize that I just couldn’t do it. The pain was growing daily, and becoming a deeper, bone-throbbing ache. A visit to the doctor yielded some scolding (he had seen me when I had the Death and I didn’t tell him about it then), an x-ray order, and a PT Rx. The scan showed no breaks or tissue calcification. Angry Abby managed to stretch everything, but not tear it. Great. A tear would’ve probably been better.

All of this is really mundane and not all that earth-shattering, and it’s been so frustrating that I’d not blogged about it lest I relive my own stupidity over and over. But something happened yesterday that has refocused my thoughts yet again.

Yesterday was my yearly physical. We went through the usual hoops- weight, BP, blood work, etc etc. Lastly he asked me about a few things, like the knee pain I reported. A standard test for knee integrity is called the McMurray test. Dr. G did the test on my left, surgically-repaired knee, and it was fine.

The right knee was another story. He held my knee steady and turned my lower leg at various angles.

Click-catch-pop.

He looked at me, and I at him, and he said “You already knew you had a tear, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I had suspected it. The pain is minimal, but it just feels funny.”

“We won’t know for sure without an MRI, but it feels like a lateral meniscus tear.”

Damn, damn, damn. I think that catching sensation just signaled the end of my soccer career. Or at least the start of a sticky dilemma. I have options, and I’m not sure which is the best to pursue. There’s only one thing I know for sure:

I’m an athlete, and my being revolves around testing myself frequently in all ways. Whatever I do decide, it has to allow me to continue to strive physically- even if the ways I express my physicality change.

Decisions, decisions.

Technorati Tags: sport, ankle, lateral meniscus tear, soccer

I get dressed and ready for soccer.

I tell my lovely not legally recognized but certainly socially recognized wife I’m leaving.

She looks at me, smiles, and says “Hat-trick.”

I smile, and sometimes sigh, and say “Yes ma’am.” I always try to deliver, of course. Tonight was no exception. Two goals and two assists. Not bad for an aging weekend/night warrior.

Should’ve been three, but I hurried myself a tad and pulled too hard to the left, missing the inside of the post by about 3in.

Next week. And I guarantee you, the same conversation will happen again, as it does every week. This is one routine I love.

Technorati Tags: ritual, soccer, Hat-trick, goals, conversation

Juventus formally notified an administrative court in Rome that it will appeal its sentence in a match-fixing scandal — despite the Italian soccer federation warning it could trigger more disciplinary action.

The news agency ANSA reported that Juventus had filed its appeal on Thursday, but club spokesman Roberto Patriarca told The Associated Press that the club had only notified the civil court.

“Juventus has sent a notification of its intention to appeal,” Patriarca said. “In the next few days the physical appeal will be lodged.”

FIFA on Wednesday threatened to suspend World Cup champion Italy and all Italian clubs from international competition should Juventus appeal to a civil court, prompting the Italian soccer federation’s warning.

I hope FIFA does it; they got nailed, demoted, and disgraced. Now it seems they’re bent on screwing every single Italian player out there. Good job, guys. Seems like a brilliant way to handle things.

Technorati Tags: FIFA, Juventus, soccer

For the first time since I had my near meltdown in Janauary, leading to this post in March, I played soccer. And it felt great.

Despite six months off, I had my usual deft touch on the ball, good shots on goal (scoring once), and accurate passes. Not bad for someone growing silver hair and recovering from a bout of ill health. Which brings me to the update.

I haven’t really talked about how I’ve been feeling, as it seemed like a good time to tuck that part of my life outside the bloglights and let it simmer. A lot has been going on in that area, however, culminating in about 1000 more blood tests and heart-to-hearts with my doc. In the end, we decided to ignore the standards on a common endocrine disorder, and treat me as though I had it. So for about 3mo I’ve been taking medication for low thyroid, aka hypothyroidism… and wouldn’tcha know, I feel human again. No more hair falling out, no more skin weirdness, no more lethargy, and (aha!), no more depression. And no more weight gain, THANK GOD. If I had to move up another pants size I would’ve had to go to a monastary or something.

It’s nice to be back to my former glory and awesomeness self, after a winter of discontent. Onward and upwards!

Technorati Tags: pitch, soccer, endocrine disorder, hypothyroidism

My luck with all things physical has not been good lately. In fact, I have felt downright cruddy for a few months. Nothing a vacation, a change in diet, and a hefy payraise wouldn’t fix, but that’s neither here nor there.

No, last night, I was face to face with my own ball, and not in a pleasant way. I pressured a defender to get rid of the ball, and she did- right into my lips. I felt my jaw crackle-pop like a knuckle and pain shot into both my ears. And that was before I did the face-plant.

Today, I am not particularly talkative (imagine that), and have been ribbed mercilessly by my coworkers. Joy. I can dish, and I can take it, but I don’t like taking it quite so silently.

I think perhaps it is time for me to go back to martial arts. I never got hurt doing that!

Technorati Tags: soccer, ball, martial arts

Sorry, Ace. Looks like my prediction of a Steelers-Seahawks Super Bowl came true, after all. Despite many naysayers out there in the media. Like a certain writer at a certain online mag who shall remain nameless.

I’m still kinda in shock, really. Seattle has been waiting a very long time for this day, and I know the entire city is whooping it up as I type away.

Way to bring a classy A-level game tonight, guys. And Carolina- you’ve had a helluva season. You should be proud. You were a worthy opponent, and I look forward to seeing what Jake & Co can do next year.

That said: Detroit, here we come!

Technorati Tags: Seahawks, Steelers, Super Bowl, Carolina, Detroit