It's been mopnths since I posted to this blog. And what months! I got to see Oregon build a dream of football dom ination, then see it crash about their ears. I'm watching the New England patriots have a season for the ages while Tom Brady puts up monstrous numbers for my fantasy team. I'm seeing the Seahawks be just good enough to tantalyze and just bad enough to frsutrate. I saw the mighty Oden felled by microfracture surgery and his team find the road a cold and lonely place without him, while showing glimmers of hope at home. I'm in a basketball sim league and a hockey sim league, not doing great in either. I'm hoping I can scrape together enough money for a 360 over the holidays (donations welcomed). I haven't figured out how to score on a wraparound in NHL 08 on the PC. I'm finding things that I used to relish merely exhausting and many people I enjoyed talking with in the past dull as paint.

In short, Slappy's getting old.  And I don't like it.

One thing that has made me feel better is people pointing me towards unusual events. For example, did you kjnow Rugby has a World Cup? A friend sent me the final match, as well as an earlier one where I got to see the famous All-Blacks Haka (a display which really is as intimidating as it sounds, if only because New Zealand plays the game so well and so physically). Now I don't know much about rugby, but thqat didn't stop me from appreciating some of the points of those games,

I'm also looking for ways to expand my horizons further. My limited budget limits me substantially when it comes to some of my favorite pastimes; no cable means I don't get to watch much English Premier League action. I still think the league as a whole (not just Manchester United) needs a better US TV contract; seeing the passion the British hold for the game can't help but encourage American fans to go to games and American clubs to improve their quality of play beyond "just good enough to win". I learned that Major League Soccer is expanding to Seattle in 2009, and that Portland is high on the list of cities for another exmapsnion club. Ah, the good old days.

 And don't look now, but the Pilot women are making another run for a national title. I just wish I had the money and time to go to their upcoming home third-round match and cheer the ladies on.

I just want something to help me get through this year of anxious waiting in Portland. Something to tide me over until college baseball season begins.