disappointed

it's been 2 days, and i'm still feeling it.  the netherlands lost to spain on sunday in the world cup final, 1-0, in overtime.  i felt like things were going wrong for the dutch in the beginning of the 2nd half.  they amassed 9 of the 13 yellow cards handed out, including a red card handed to john heitinga (who plays for f.c. everton, the english team i support). 

i felt emotionally drained after the match.  i was quite excited to watch it, and was glad to have my fellow soccer dork, rex, join me.   by the end, after watching a great 0-0 game go to overtime, my frustration and hope had collided with each other too many times. 

the atmosphere in the pub we went to was good, with about 70% supporting spain and 30% for the dutch.   the netherlands definitely played a little dirty, which explains the amount of yellow cards they received.  i do still feel that howard webb, the main referee during the match, did a poor job.  he's the same guy who handed out 3 yellow cards to 1 player in 1 match in the european championships in 2008.  the rules state it's 2 yellow cards an you're out.  how he was able to ref the biggest sporting event on the planet after that display is beyond me.  

in the end, i'm not sure if spain were necessarily the better side.  thanks to the ref stopping the game so much to hand out yellows, neither side had a chance to develop their individual styles of play.  the netherlands definitely had their scoring chances, with 2 by arjen robben that he should have capitalized on.  but after heitinga was taken out it was simply a matter of time before spain scored.  the netherlands should have gone into the match with a better game plan than playing as dirty as they did.  i just hope this isn't going to replace the total football they are known for. 

football -palooza

lest some of you think that i'm swinging to the dark side, i wanted to make a quick post about the various football-related events julie & i went to over this past weekend.


i'm sure you've seen julie's recent post about our trip to watch the AZ Cardinals place the smack-down on the MN Vikings on sunday.  i will say it was a great introduction to live NFL matches.  the crowd was crazy-loud from the moment we walked in the stadium, and watching the Cards upset the Vikes was frosting on the cake.  mmm....cake.


but, that wasn't the only football event we took part in.  friday night we joined my fellow CMU alums at buffalo wild wings to watch the CMU Chippewas defeat the Univ. of OH Bobcats.  thanks to that win, CMU now owns their 3rd MAC championship in 4 years.  not bad.  i just wish they had been that good when i was a student there.


saturday was more my style.  as you may be aware, i've become involved with a grassroots group here in PHX called MLS Phoenix Rising.  it's a group that is working to bring a pro soccer team to phoenix.  oh, you know i'm geeked about that potential.  we met with chris from phoenix pro soccer, which is working with some investors to accomplish the same goal.  after that little meet & greet with him, i joined   the group to head to Reach 11 Sports Complex to watch the US Under-17 national team play Brazil.  it was fun hanging out with them & getting to know some of them a little better.  the final score was 1-1.  the US made a good showing against Brazil.


since you already know what happened sunday, i'll skip to last night (monday).  i drove back to Reach 11 to watch another soccer match.   for this one, i had an early christmas present.  the US U17s played the Netherlands!  i couldn't pass it up, even in 40-degree rainy weather.  i was pulling for the Netherlands the entire way.  i even wore my Netherlands jersey.  the Netherlands won, 3-0.  I met a  family from the Netherlands.   their son/grandson (i met the grandpa & mom) is a midfielder for the Dutch side, and plays in the youth division for AZ Alkmaar.  that was awesome.


needless to say, it was a lot of both types of football for 1 weekend, but it was great all the way around.

a page from dutch history

last week julie & i made a trip to the phoenix library. mainly to get library cards, but also to browse their selection. my original intent was to look over the CDs & maybe borrow a few to expand my musical horizons. i've discovered that library collections are great for that.

as it turned out, i borrowed exactly zero CDs and borrowed some books instead. one of them is becoming quite fascinating to me. as you know, dutch history is an interest of mine, as well as social justice issues. the phoenix library had a book that covered both. it's called "Blacks in the Dutch World: The Evolution of Racial Imagery in a Modern Society" by Allison Blakely. it talks about how, even in the historically tolerant society of the dutch, racism still exists. the inside of the front cover has an interesting quote: ""Blacks in the Dutch World" confirms that the existence of color prejudice in a predominately "white" society does not depend on the presence of racial conflict or even a significant "colored" population."

i find this quote interesting, in some ways because it states the obvious. on a personal level, i have never intentionally done anything for or against someone because of the color of their skin, but i know those thoughts of prejudice are in my head. it's a question of what i do with those thoughts when they are there. but, what that quote comes down to is that racism is not something you necessarily see on the surface, but it usually exists underneath. and you don't need to see someone of another color or culture to have prejudiced thoughts/feelings against them. that's something that can be ingrained by the culture around you.

i just started reading this book a couple days ago. it starts out with some of the older dutch history and how they would treat blacks and asians differently than people of european descent, and specifically dutch-based companies & their involvement with the slave trade.

i just finished reading the 1st chapter, which talks about the dutch east indies. the east india company, which did a lot of the slave trade at that time, had some interesting policies regarding the behavior of their workers. the workers were often sent to live in the colonies created as a result of some of this "trade".

"East India Company policy for much of the period was to restrict immigration by Dutch women and to recruit bachelors from the Netherlands and have them marry or take Asian women concubines, who, if slave, were first freed, baptised, and given a Christian Dutch or Portuguese name. This pragmatic strategy, aimed at ensuring the most stable type of service force, is indicative of the pragmatic approach taken concerning racial mixing. A related further measure was restriction of admission into the Netherlands of Asian wives and children of Dutchmen. Meanwhile, within the Dutch East Indies the Eurasian offspring of the mixed marriages became the preferred marriage partners in the society which developed. One result of the combination of practices was that nearly all members of society were raised by Asian women. Moreover, the racially mixed society as a whole was matrilineal, with Asian-born Dutch sons usually sent to the Netherlands for careers and new bachelor recruits brought in for company manpower." page 15 of "Blacks in the Dutch World"

i found this quite fascinating, simply because i didn't know the asian culture played a strong role in dutch culture. i can't wait to get more into this book and find out more.

queen's day

on this day every year, the dutch celebrate queen's day, a national holiday in the netherlands. this year's celebrations turned tragic. as the dutch royal family was parading through a street in appledoorn, a man who was about to be evicted from his apartment wildly drove his car through gathered onlookers. he killed 5 people and injured around 13 in the process. he lost conciousness in the melee and hit a monument instead of his target...the royal family. the video below gives you a good idea of what happened. notice the man getting hit by the vehicle just as the video starts.

i'd rather be dutch, wooden shoe?

i'm killing a little time watching "good will hunting", and putzing around on the interwebs utilizing stumbleupon, which brought me to jardmail.co.uk. that's the website that gifted me with the following Top 10 List, Dave Letterman-style.

TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING DUTCH:

1. You can get arrested for growing plants, but not for smoking them.
2. You can make jokes about the Belgians and still drink their beer.
3. a) You can legally kill yourself, b) You can legally be killed
4. You're exactly like the Germans, except that nobody hates you.
5. You think you are a world power, but everyone else thinks Copenhagen is your capital.
6. You get to insult people and defend yourself by saying it's a national tradition.
7. You can put your finger in a dyke and it will save your country
8. You live in the most densely populated country in Europe, and still you've never seen your neighbours.
9. If the economy is bad, blame the Germans. If a war is started, blame the Germans. If you lose your keys, blame the Germans.
10. Bikes are public property. Locks are a challenge.

in light of the trip julie & i recently took to amsterdam, i found it funny. hope you enjoy, too. oh, and the website above has Top 10 lists for a bunch of other european countries.