Yo si le voy, le voy al Columbus

Since soccer is BIG in our house, we have been loving the recent success of the Columbus Crew. For his birthday, we were able to take Grandpa Keller to his first Crew game. This night, the black & gold were playing in the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Kansas City Wizards. Columbus won in dominant fashion, before a rowdy crowd. I think Dad really enjoyed it.... I know we did.

On November 13th, we attended the Eastern Conference Championship, featuring the Crew versus the Chicago Fire. This will go down as the most fun I've ever had at a sporting event. The atmosphere was electric. The crowd of 16,000 was much louder than the 100,000+ who attend Buckeye football games. Ian brought his friend, and soccer teammate, Brad Hakim.

Nathan watched with interest, since he had trained with the Fire goal keeper, Jon Busch, for a few summers. Busch won the Major League Soccer goal keeper of the year award this season, and is still the goalie coach for Team Ohio FC (Ian's club team). Regardless, Nathan rooted against Jon and for a Crew win. His wish came true, as the Crew won 2-1 with a come from behind victory.

After the game, there was a HUGE party in the tent next to the stadium. Inside the tent, we saw Ian & Nathan's old soccer coach, Mark McMahon, with some of his fellow Irish buddies. We stuck around and talked soccer for awhile. Until.... the Crew supporter groups [Hudson Street Hooligans, Crew Union, Local 614, and La Turbina Amarilla] came marching into the tent. After this, we were stuck in the middle of a drum beating, singing, chanting, jumping, and dancing mob. As Nathan said, "dude, it was AWESOME!"

As for the title of this post... this is a chant [among many others] sung by the supporters groups at every game. "Yes I go, I go for Columbus." GO CREW!! Beat New York for the MLS Cup on Sunday, November 23rd.

Seasons End I

Nathan has had a fantastic fall.... and I'm envious. Through his connections with the Dublin Coffman High School 'Rocks football team, he has met a few famous people. Some of the folks with whom Nathan has had conversations this year:

Kent Mercker (Cincinnati Reds Pitcher)
Jon Busch (Chicago Fire Goalkeeper)
Chinedum Ndukwe (Cincinnati Bengals Safety)
Brady Quinn (Cleveland Browns Quarterback)
David Archuletta (American Idol Runner-up)

Nathan [#88] finished his first season of "American" football a few weeks ago. He developed into a very good player. His coaches loved him, and made him a captain. He played center, and was a true leader on the field. By the end of the season, he was dominating play at the line of scrimmage.

While Nathan played well individually, his team [Cowboys] did not fare so well. His team did not taste victory on the scoreboard this season, although there were many other victories to celebrate. Nathan learned to find the "game within the game" for these victories. This included preventing his assigned defender from participating in a single tackle for an entire game. That's him, fourth row, second from the right, with a scowl. He was very upset that some of his teammates smiled... there's no smiling in football!

For his final game, he was able to play on the turf at Dublin Scioto High School. Here he is [black sleeves & socks] starting the play against the Titans.

Short post....really

OK....so my last few posts were kinda long. This one will be short, I promise. Hope you enjoy these comics, from one of my favorite blogs - toothpaste for dinner. WARNING: it can get a little crude at times, but I find it to be funny...and the comics are written by someone [not me] in Columbus, Ohio.

Proud to live in Dublin, Ohio

Something amazing happened in Dublin this past week. Something that made me very proud to live in this community....the most popular kid in school was voted Homecoming King at Dublin Coffman High School. This story was cheered in our family, as we have each been affected by this young man.

A few years ago, Ian played baseball in the Dublin Youth Athletics league. His team wore the uniforms of the Detroit Tigers. Even though he initially had no real connection to any of the players on our team, Matt Storey became an unofficial assistant coach. You see, Matt loves the Detroit Tigers, and would show up to games to sit on the bench to cheer on the "farm team," which just happened to be made up of 12 year old boys. The boys quickly accepted Matt, and began calling him "Coach Storey." After wins (and losses), Matt would lead the team in a trip around the bases, running with a huge Detroit Tigers flag and an even bigger smile. Matt had gall bladder surgery during the season, and to see the genuine concern of a bunch of 12 year old boys was touching.

As waterboy for the Dublin Coffman football team, Nathan gets to roam the sidelines with "Coach Storey" each Friday night. Matt is the team manager. Last Friday, Nathan came bursting through the front door after the game with the big news. It was not that Coffman had beaten Thomas Worthington by a score of 49-6. Instead, his first words were "Matt Storey was voted Homecoming King!" I'm sure this was a scene repeated in many homes around town.

In many high schools, the most popular boy is voted Homecoming King. This scenario was no exception in Dublin this year. However, the fact that Matt Storey truly is the most well liked and popular kid in school is the real story here. CONGRATULATIONS, MATT...and well done, Dublin.

From the DUBLIN VILLAGER
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 2:52 PM
By CANDACE PRESTON-COY
ThisWeek Staff Writer

Dublin Coffman student Matt Storey is all smiles as he gets help with his sash after being named homecoming king before the start of last Friday's football game against Thomas Worthington.

Matt Storey is known as the "No. 1 fan" of Dublin Coffman High School.

He received a new title from his peers last Friday, when he was named king of Coffman's homecoming court.

Tears streamed down Kim Storey's face when her son's name was announced. They fell from several other eyes as last year's king, Andrew Talle, placed the crown on Matt Storey's head and handed over the scepter. Though smiling, Storey kept glancing at the Shamrocks football team that was waiting to run onto the field. A kiss for mom and a hug with dad Ken were all he had time for as he handed over his royal garb and ran after his teammates.

Matt Storey is a football team manager, Coffman principal Tracey Miller said. In fact he's a manager of several teams and for those he isn't, he's there cheering them on. Storey is developmentally handicapped but doesn't let that stop him, his mom said. "He loves sports, loves being part of the team, any team, but he especially loves football and the kids all embrace him," she said. "He is so pure in his feelings and his emotions," Miller said. "He loves this school so much. He is our No. 1 student in terms of spirit and connection to the school. I can't think of too many home events that he is not there when I arrive, leading cheers, encouraging the teams. "He's incredible. He typifies student spirit and the kids all recognize that," Miller said.

Zach Bott, who has known Storey since seventh grade, bet "he had 98 percent of the vote" for homecoming king. "Everybody voted for him," Bott said. "He's a lot of fun." Only seniors vote for the members of the homecoming court, but the entire student body votes for the king and queen, Miller said. "It has nothing to do with his disability," said senior Haileigh McClure. "When I think of Matt, I think of him for his school spirit. He's just really well liked." "I definitely voted for him," said senior Jess Phelan. "He's the No. 1 fan at Coffman. We're fans of him."

What did Storey have to say about all the attention he received at the game and at the homecoming dance the next night? "It was very cool," he said. "It was fun and I enjoyed hearing everyone yell my name when I was on stage (at the dance). It was a lot of fun."

Ken Storey credits the school district for his son's progress. "The support system is tremendous," he said. "This speaks volumes for the school system and the student body." "It's such a wonderful thing. It says so much for the students here at Coffman and for Matthew, too," Kim Storey said. "Matt came home this summer and told me the boys (on the football team) told him they were voting him for homecoming king," she said. Not wanting to get his hopes up too high, she told her son, "I don't know buddy. You never know, but it could happen."

Was he surprised? "I knew it all along," he said, smiling. "I think this means the world to him," his mom said. "For Matthew, this will stay with him forever."

Culture...Detroit Style

This past weekend, Ian's soccer team played Midwest Regional League games in Michigan. Michele remained back home in Dublin, so as not to miss Nathan's football game. Traveling with Ian and I were two of his teammates, Alec and Rajat. Therefore, this was very much a guys weekend...full of farting and lots of general bathroom humor. Unfortunately, the Sparta team didn't fare too well, but I thought that Ian, Alec, and Rajat played exceptionally well against some of the best competition in the nation.

After the final soccer game of the weekend, the boys were hungry and dejected. Since we were near Detroit (one of the more colorful cities in the U.S.A.), I decided it was a good time to treat the boys to a little cultural diversity lesson. So, we headed for Detroit's Greektown...which happens to be the location of one of my favorite restaurants anywhere - Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen Cafe.

To add to the experience, we parked at the Renaissance Center, the headquarters of General Motors. From there, we took the Detroit People Mover, or DPM....an often broken monorail system which was working on this particular day. Since Ian was representing his 'hood (Ohio), and being very much the "gangsta," he seemed to relish breaking many of the laws in Detroit. See if you can find a few broken rules/laws in the photos.... what a rebel.

As soon as we got off of the People Mover at the Greektown station, we were greeted by some of the locals. This group of quirky individuals included a rapper named "Shadow Klan," who claimed to be the next big rap artist to hail from Detroit. He seemed to be a very nice guy, who just happened to reek of a certain herbal substance. He told us that his raps were clean, and that the boys would like his CD because he rhymed about "the cosmic universe, evolution, UFO's, and science." Politely, I told him that we were on our way to lunch, but if we saw him on the street afterward, we would surely stop and talk with him again.

Our lunch at Fishbones was awesome. The place was just as I had remembered it. Although, it's location in Greektown seemed a little grittier than the mental image I had stored in my memory. The boys surprised me with their orders of crab cakes, calamari, gumbo, etc. Since we were in GREEKtown, I ordered the Saganaki...you know, the flaming greek cheese stuff. OPA!! The kids thought this was pretty cool.

.

After lunch, as we walked out the door and back onto the street, we were greeted by none other than our new friend, Shadow Klan. Since it seemed like fate (or maybe he was stalking us), I asked him how much his CD cost. He told us, "whatever you want to give me, man." I gave him $5. By the look in his eye, this might have been generous. Anyway, I thought we could listen to his CD on the long drive home. Back on the street, we stopped to watch a blind blues guitarist, who sang a song in which the only lyrics were, "the power of God," sung over, and over, and over, and over...then we listened to a street performer who played an ancient saxophone. He was actually quite good. We also watched an artist doing portraits in chalk. We all agreed that he was extremely talented. We entered a couple of the local shops, which were all selling little Greek trinkets. The Greek national soccer team jerseys were the only items which really interested the kids. Finally, as we were walking back to the DPM station, I was stopped by an incredibly skinny, toothless, female crackhead / meth addict who excitedly asked me something like, "BARGLE NAWDEL ZOUUS?" I decided that the cultural diversity lesson was over, and it was probably a good time to leave Detroit.

.

So, we hopped back on the DPM, got back to the car, and popped in the new Shadow Klan CD. After about 20 seconds of confused silence, the car was filled with the heartiest laughter I have ever heard. Let's just say that while I have no doubt that Shadow Klan works hard at his craft, he is not a favorite among 14 year old boys from the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. He wasn't kidding though, he does rap about "the cosmic universe, evolution, UFO's, and science." Still, you can get an eye-watering laugh from the boys, just by mentioning Track 4 - Monkeys. Nathan was smart enough to do a google search of our new friend, and learned that this rap style is called trip hop...remember the reference to that herbal substance smell?

.

It was a day we'll not soon forget. However, I will think twice the next time I plan a "cultural experience."

strange, synthesized, organ music plays, while a man gutturally raps the line, "we come from monkeys"...followed by uncontrollable laughter [repeat for 3½ hours or 210 miles, whichever comes first]

Throwin' my hat into the ring

Today, I did something I rarely do....I got into a political discussion with a co-worker. Many people know that I am somewhat of a cynic when it comes to our elected officials and their motivation for being elected to office. This is especially true for the office of President.

The presidential oath is as follows:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Pretty simple.
Yet, Article II http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Article2 of the constitution shows that the Executive Office is really policed by the people, and offers the ability to impeach for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." It also states that the President's compensation cannot be increased during the term. WHY?

It is my belief that our founding fathers were absolute geniuses, who were certainly guided by divine powers. Because of this, they created a government in which the leader can horribly fail, or at best be completely ineffective, yet the country moves forward with little impact. This is due to the fact that the drafters of the constitution knew that ALL of us are flawed as individuals. Case in point, our country has been led by a few known alcoholics, prescription pain-killer addicts, liars, crooks [or not], and many more than just one philanderer. However, since July 4th, 1776 this has continued to be the greatest country to exist on the earth. WHY? It's because of our people, not due to any one of our leaders. Heck, maybe we thrive in SPITE of our country's leaders! In my opinion, only one man has ever been truly qualified to lead in the manner we'd expect. However, he lived under Roman rule, in Judaea, over 2000 years ago.

Our country has been at it's best when a common cause has been found....like defeating fascism in World War II, or overcoming the Great Depression. Even the immediate moments and days after 9/11 showed our strength as a country...the acts of ordinary citizens, doing extraordinary things, without the direction of our leaders. In contrast, the local, state, and federal agencies reaction to Hurricane Katrina showed what happens when we rely too heavily on our governmental leaders.

Therefore, I am throwing my hat into the ring, and I'm running on the platform that I plan to do nothing but ask for the involvement of the ordinary citizens of this country. Remember, the whole "ask not what your country can do for you" speech? Inspired...so, I'll just embellish it a little bit. Also, I'll promise that I will have little or no effect on whether our economy improves. I will not single-handedly bring peace to the middle east. However, I will ask that we be good to each other.... :)

click the link below:

http://www.news3online.com/index.php?code=36GH2Wel1hjk1T0I3564

A new season begins...

Last May, after a successful seven year "career," Nathan announced his "retirement" from club soccer. Soon after, he began training for a new sport with the same name. Only now, his football has pointy ends and laces in the middle.

In late July, Nathan was drafted by the Dublin Cowboys. Since he has never actually played the game before, [other than flag football or recess ball], we weren't sure what to expect in his first year of this new sport. However, with his duties as waterboy for the nationally ranked Dublin Coffman H.S. Shamrocks, he has really become excited about football.

Nathan is lucky to be playing for some fantastic new coaches who have really instilled a love of the game in him. His coaches are former collegiate linebackers from Miami (Ohio) University. Using this connection, Nathan and his teammates were invited to attend an alumni Back to Camp day, which included a picnic and scrimmage with the current Miami Redhawks team. I went along for the ride...and had a great time!

The team departed Dublin at 7:30am on Saturday morning. Taking the team bus, the kids arrived in Oxford, Ohio around 9:45am.

Immediately upon arrival, the team geared up and headed for the practice field, which was located next to Yager Stadium, home of the Miami University Redhawks. The Cowboys went through their typical drills, designed to develop quick feet and proper technique. Nathan [wearing the blue practice jersey] worked very hard, but hit a cone. In the photo, check out the intensity of Coach Prochko... this guy is awesome.

This is a textbook three-point stance. Nathan's good form was recognized by Coach Hyzdu. Needless to say, Dad was very proud.

Some of the Miami football players came over to watch the kids practice. By this time, the fundamental drills were over, and the Cowboys offense was scrimmaging the defense, where Nathan played linebacker.

After the scrimmage, some of the Redhawk players spoke to the team. I can't begin to express how impressed I was with some of the young people we met at Miami. They each told the team how they continue to play just for the love of the game, and how they have learned that great effort results in great accomplishments. The Miami players were asked which skills are most important in football. In unison, they replied, "quick feet." The coaches beamed at hearing this. Nathan and his teammates were in awe...and the day kept getting better.

Next on the agenda was an opportunity to meet the entire Redhawks team for autographs and photos. Nathan posed for a photo with Clayton Mullins [#9], who is the reigning Mid-American Conference player of the year. He is also a solid candidate for the Butkus Award, which is given to the nation's best linebacker. Miami University head coach, Shane Montgomery, spoke with the team....surprisingly, not about football. Instead, he talked about the importance of "doing well in school." He also touched on the topic of giving great effort, just as his players had earlier in the day.

After a picnic with the Redhawk seniors, the kids went into the stadium to watch the Miami Redhawks fall intra-squad scrimmage. Nathan was sporting the Dublin "gangsta" look.

The team was given a tour of the locker rooms, players lounge, and meeting rooms under the stadium. They also were able to go out onto the field, and up into the press box. Nathan took the camera from me and took some photos for himself. These last two are his...maybe he has yet another talent?

Not much can bond a father and son like football. Therefore, you can be sure that Nathan and I will be glued to the TV (ESPN) on Aug. 28th (Vanderbilt) and Sept. 6th (Michigan), as the Miami Redhawks will become the team that every true Buckeye fan LOVES to root for...that is, the team which is playing against either an SEC team or the Michigan Wolverines.