Leila Countdown Extravaganza!

Handel’s “Messiah”! Joshua Bell! “Missa Solemnis”!  Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project!  Steven’s new Minnesota Orchestra Season ticket package has been confirmed!  Oh, and in case you thought I had forgot:

It is 199 days, 16 hours, 2 minutes and 20 seconds until the Leila Josefowicz show, and I have tickets!  She will be playing this:

A Praire Home Companion 35th Anniversary Street Party

I went to the street party for A Praire Home Companion on Exchange Street in Saint Paul on Sunday.  The blurry white thing on the stage in the dark photos would be Mr. Keilor.

Major League Soccer: The Only League Desinged by Chimps

DC United would throw in the towel for the season… but the towell is already playing up on the right.  DCU’s designated player Marcello Gallardo, is out for the rest of the season, denying us any chance of seeing whether he is an actual person, or just the latest money funneling scheme in Washington, DC.  Fred and Emilio are also out for the near future. Which is too bad, because United does not appear to have a long-term future as a successful football team.

As Gallardo cost almost 2 million bucks, never really played and is guaranteed his money for next year – it is time to raise a ver serious question: why are teams in MLS allowed to spend 1.9 million dollars on one player and not 1.9 million dollars on, say many players in order to have squads large enough to cover their schedules?  It seems odd that the club is allowed the money, but not really allowed to decide how to spend it. It also seems odd that the league believes it is more valuable for the league to have one “marquee” player at a high price rather than clubs that are of a decent enough size to be GOOD AT SOCCER ON A CONSISTENT BASIS.  It seems like a much better investment to have squads deep enough to go to the CONCACAF Champions Cup or to Copa Sudamericana, or maybe even one day the Libertadores and the World Club Championship and develop the credibility of the brand of soccer we play because we have complete and competent sides.  Maybe not.  Columbus and Chicago have done well by their DP’s, but Columbus and Chicago did not have to play anything but the US Open Cup and the MLS Season.  Maybe some sides would think a DP is still a good investment, but for the clubs that would rather have more depth, why not allow it?

Sickest. Goal. Ever.

Who’s the world’s most underrated striker?  In my view, it’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He’s never mentioned in aocnversation as one of the world’s best, but he should be.  Here’s proof.  There is no way that you could move your leg like this at any speed, much less do it that quickly and time it to hit a ball moving that fast towards your body.  Incredible.