ON TO THE QUARTERS

Barca played a brilliant game of football yesterday en route to a spot in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League.

This was the second of two games between the Catalans and Manchester City. We won the first game 2-1, and we only needed a draw to advance. Unsurprisingly, Barca won the second match yesterday and did so in style.

Lionel Messi was simply majestic. He had his way with the City players and seemed to dance around the pitch at will. On several instances he dribbled the ball through the legs of City players and made them see like schoolboys among men.

All of the players contributed, and it was one of the most entertaining Barca matches I have ever seen despite the 1-0 scoreline, which could easily have been 10-0.

I am running out of words for this team. Simply put, nothing brings me as much joy as seeing the masterpieces Barca creates week in and week out. Let's enjoy these players for we may not see a team as great as this for some time.

Visca Barca!

STILL ALICE

This weekend Kathleen and I saw the film "Still Alice." The movie is about the struggles of a college professor named Alice with early Alzheimer's disease. Julianne Moore play Alice, and she deservedly won the Best Actress Award for her performance.

I was touched by Alice's descent into forgetfulness and mental feebleness. This was especially troubling and sad because so much of Alice's identity was tied to her intellect and her academic achievements. This was akin to a professional footballer losing a leg. However, one can live without a leg. One cannot live without one's brain.

After I left the theatre, I felt lucky to be alive and to have my full mental faculties. I realized that these things can be taken from me in an instant by disease or by an accident. I pledged to live in the present and to be thankful for what I have and what I have achieved. It is easier said than done to keep this up, but I will do my best.

Go see "Still Alice" and see what you think!

THREEPEAT!

Tonight, the Arbor Boys futsal team Monster Mash won its third consecutive title in style.

In the past three season, this team has been dominant, winning 24 games and losing only 3 games for an 89% win percentage. That is unreal, especially when you consider that they put guys in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame for missing two-thirds of the time. :) 

Three straight titles is something that only a select group of sports teams has ever achieved, and it is rarely achieved without adversity. This season there were many bumps along the way for us. Indeed, we had already lost two games this season, giving us a 5-2 record going into the final match.

However, this title was decided in style on the last game of the season with a 9-4 win tonight against Salmon Creek, who had been in first place with a 6-1 record. Salmon Creek had beaten us 10-1 last time, but we had also beaten them 6-5 earlier in the season. If you asked 100 people who watched our 10-1 defeat to Salmon Creek who was going to win this rematch, most people would have bet against our guys. I guess that put me in the minority.

Our win tonight - our second of the season against Salmon Creek - vaulted us into first place on the head to head tiebreaker rule. It was fittingly one of the most dominating, beautiful games of football I have ever seen. We never trailed, and our guys played a near perfect match. We went into half up by four goals, but we did not take our foot off the accelerator. There was no sitting back and defending. Like Barca, we believed that the best defense is offense, and this strategy paid off big in the end!
When our team focuses and plays their hearts out like tonight, nothing can stop them. There are bigger teams, stronger teams, and perhaps even more-skilled teams. However, our guys play for the love of the game and for love of each other. It is just like the current crop of Barca players who began playing together in their youth academy at the age of 9 or 10.

Simply put, brotherhood is what explains our guys’ success and how beautiful their football is. It also does not hurt that our guys have been friends for over half their lives and spend five days per week together for nine months of the year. That is the intangible that this team brings to the court every game. No amount of practices or training sessions by the other teams can ever make up for this!

I have written about Coach L previously in this forum, and I will come back to him tonight. I had invited him to the game, but he was too weak to come. His son (pictured in the middle) and daughter-in-law did come tonight though. His son used his iPhone to FaceTime the game to his dad. Coach watched the whole thing. Apparently, he thinks our guys bear a strong resemblance to Barca. He even singled out the "blond boy" (Quincy- first row far left in the picture above) as “Little Messi.” I guess we know that the iPhone reception was good and that Coach was paying attention! :)

At moments like this, I cannot help but feel “Arbor envy” about having gone to school elsewhere. However, I am grateful that our boys get to experience Arbor and that I get to experience a little bit of them as Arborites and spend time together with the other Arbor families through this team. 

I cannot wait until next Fall when we get to experience more magic from these little Monsters on the court! I will leave you with a video that reminded me very much of tonight’s dominating five goal win by the "Little Barca" as Coach L called us.