Cuauhtemoc Blanco is still, um, feisty

When MLS brought in aging Mexican soccer star Cuauhtemoc Blanco last season and allocated him to the Chicago Fire, they knew what they were getting - a world-class player on the downside of his career who has courted controversy wherever he has gone and has just as many ardant fans as people who hate his guts. Think of Dennis Rodman, but not as much of a one-trick pony.

There's no question that he's been worth it for the Fire - he's been revitalized since coming to the MLS, and looks as good on the field at 35 as he has in years. But he's excelled at the things that most people hate about soccer: diving, dirty fouls, whining to the refs, trying to instigate and provoke opponents. Basically, he's the symbol for a lot of US Soccer fans of why we hate Mexican soccer.

Well, he was up to usual antics earlier this month during a US Open Cup match versus DC United. In the span of a few minutes, Blanco:

Punched United midfielder Clyde Simms in the stomach and poked him in the eye
Refused to leave the field after receiving a red card
Head-butted a United team official who tried to guide him off the field

So for all of this, Blanco was suspended for two years, which might seem harsh but certainly there is no place in soccer for...wait, he was only suspended from the US Open Cup for two years and not all US soccer? The US Open Cup - a tournament that 90 percent of soccer fans don't even know exist?

Good thing he didn't go "Last Action Hero" one someone with a revolver at the end of the game - they might have really come down hard on him then - maybe even a fine as well!

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 5:36 PM 0 comments  

"You boys sure are drinkin' fools": a YFIASB Fan Fest Recap

As mentioned last week, this Saturday night was the inaugural Your Face is a Sports Blog Fan Fest, held at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix. I'd like the thank all of the fans who came by the booth to see it - I know the lines were kind of long, and I'm sorry that we couldn't sign for everyone. But rest assured we'll be doing more of these in the future, and hopefully we'll have better crowd control then.

Actually, I'm lying: the "fans" consisted of McLane's brother Rob and the blog's No. 1 commenter Clydesdale. But regardless, I can report that the evening was a total success. The races were pretty darned good - even without the big sprint cars (rescheduled for some reason), there was a lot of good sporty racing. The mini-sprints put on a good show, and there were even a couple of cool looking (but benign) flips.

But what really sold everyone on the races were the $2 beers. In a can.

Manzanita Speedway has a running promotion where their beers are half-priced from when the gates open (about 5:30 p.m.) to the first race (about 7 p.m. or so). Needless to say, our crew arrived early, headed to the beer stand and each order a tall, cool MGD. After heading to the bleachers and quickly finishing our first round, McLane decided to go make a beer run, and try to bring back extras so we wouldn't have to keep going back and forth.

Now normally, you can't order more than two beers per customer - in fact, there was a giant sign at the beer stand stating as much. Thankfully, the women working the counter seemed to take a pretty...liberal?...view of this law, as judged by the follow conversation:

Beer Lady: "What can I get for you?"

McLane: "How many beers can I get?"

Beer Lady: "How many do you want?"

(McLane starts grinning from ear to ear.)

McLane: "How about 8?"

The Beer Lady then proceeded to grab eight beers and put them into a plastic grocery bag along with a bunch of ice. McLane said that he had the sense that she had done this exact thing before.

Thus, "Bags o' Beer" became the phrase of the night, as in how many we would get. The first race was delayed for a variety of reasons, giving us more time to pound down beers and then make a "last" run to the beer stand for a Bag o' Beer. We wound up getting four Bags o' Beer, which is amazing considering that Clydesdale was driving and stopped drinking after maybe two. Using my math skills, I can tell you that left a lot for the three of us.

On a related note: loading up on Jack in the Box tacos afterwards right before going to bed might help avoid a hangover, but the trade-off is basically feeling like you ingested Drano the rest of the night.

Posted by The Duke of Everything at 9:57 AM 2 comments