Stage Is Set

The New York Red Bulls have had a busy preseason so far. 

They started by hiring a new braintrust with the appointments of Eric Soler as GM/Sporting Director and Hans Backe as Head Coach, while reacquiring the services of former interim head coach, Richie Williams as assistant coach and longtime goalkeepers coach, Des McAlleenan.

The staff: (L-R) Ritchie Williams, GM Erik Soler, Hans Backe and Des McAleenan. (Red Bulls)

Then they selected a talented core of young prospects in the draft. Red Bull New York added five players to their roster at the 2010 MLS SuperDraft, held at the Philadelphia Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA. New York selected University of Virginia midfielder Tony Tchani and Wake Forest University midfielder Austin Da Luz in the first round (2nd, 14th overall, respectively), Saint Louis University defender Tim Ream in the second round (18th), University of San Francisco forward Conor Chinn in the third round (34th) and University of California - Irvine midfielder/forward Irving Garcia in the fourth round (50th).

Currently, the team is in La Manga, Spain participating in the La Manga tournament.  On Monday, February 1st, the Red Bulls complete their stay when they take on Norway's Stromsgodset IF at 9AM EST.  On January 25th, The Red Bulls took on 2009/10 Russian UEFA Champions League participants, CSKA Moscow and played them to a hard fought 1-1 draw. 

They followed that up by defeating a talented Lech Poznan of Poland  by riding an early Juan Pablo Angel goal, and a staunch defensive effort to a 1-0 victory.  They are scheduled to return to the US on February 4th. 

Meanwhile, on this coast, the stage has been set for the Soft, Grand, and Home Openers for the new crown jewel of MLS, Red Bull Arena.

The Soft Open will be a match on March 13th which will feature the Under-18 Red Bulls Academy team against the Under-17 US Men’s National Team.  Admission is free.

Red Bull Arena soft open set for March 13

Match will feature U18 Red Bulls against U17 US MNT

Red Bull Arena will host the Red Bulls U18 Academy side against the U17 US MNT side on March 13, 2010. (RBNY)

The Grand Opening of the new stadium will be on March 20th, when the NY Red Bulls take on Pele’s old team, Santos FC of Brazil. 

Grand Opening event
Saturday, March 20 (Time TBD)
Red Bulls vs. Santos FC (Brazil)

The Home Opener will be on March 27th at 7PM, when they take on division rival, the Chicago Fire.

Home Opener
Saturday, March 27 @ 7pm
Red Bulls vs. Chicago Fire

The Stage is Set Ticket Package includes admission to both events, and the prices start at $35.  I’ve ordered mine. Order yours now.  Don’t miss this event.

For tickets to the Stage is Set 2-pack, go to http://www.mlsnet.com/t107/tickets/2010/stage_2pack.jsp

or call (877) RBSOCCER.

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Peace
G

Feeling the Heat

The video below of the Head of the Met Office in the UK getting grilled on the BBC is absolute gold…

The Met Office in November predicted that the UK would be getting a mild winter.  Meanwhile, in the real world, the entire British Iles are covered in snow…Many English Premier League games had to be postponed, and the thermostat has been below zero Celsius for nearly a month.



He is asked, repeatedly and pointedly…given the Met Office’s track record of poor predictions…”Why did you get a massive performance raise?”

You could almost see the shit flowing out of his mouth as he was talking.  Quite hilarious.

“Don’t buy the hype, think for yourself!”

Peace
G
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Credit to http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/01/08/all-of-england-covered-by-snow/

and http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2010/01/on-hot-seat.html

Socialism 101

Pretty self-explanatory…Get the Message!?!

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This Professor is a Genius

 
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.
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That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, 
we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan". 
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. 

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.  
The second test average was a D!

No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, 
blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. 

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.

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“Don’t buy the hype, think for yourself!”

Peace
G