Deja Vu

Before I go into that one, you may want to read the previous post. Woke up Sunday morning and could barely walk, my calf hurt like a mother f---er. Some Icy Hot, Motrin and just walking it off made it feel better. Jesse and I decided to ride up together despite the fact I had a double header and Jesse was scheduled for one game.

We arrived at the polo fields and had this overwhelming need to hit the head. As I was just going, a certain National Referee called me over in the manner of "Here boy!" His first mistake. I was scheduled to AR for him on my second game. He wanted me to take his center. There were a few reasons I wouldn't do this for him. One, I'm injured and by all rights I shouldn't even do lines that day. Two, one team I issued a red which is still fresh in their mind. I told him I barely had enough for my AR spots and my calf was sore, and my groin muscle was nagging. He said he had a nagging, not excruciating pain. He had a pro match he wanted to save himself for. He tried, but I bottom lined it for him. I made it clear I was not taking any centers. He asked me if I was handicapped. His second mistake. I just replied, "Look who's talking." It's not the first time he pulled this crap. Last year he was scheduled to be in Alaska and he missed his flight which caused an uproar in the car rental department, not to mention money spent down the drain. There are also rumors he does crap like show up to MLS matches in less then 30 minutes. Needless to say, I don't respect him. Great referee, but not who I would call a respectable referee.

So Jesse decided to do back to back centers. I felt bad for Jesse. The first game was Sons of Italy and SF Celtic. Turned out to be a good game, and Jesse had the teams well under control despite the complaints from the Italy coach.

The second game, I'm not going to name teams, but call them Red and Black. This is the same Red team I had a month ago in the middle. Jesse kept things pretty much under control for doing back to back games. Late in the first half Jesse pulls his first yellow. Unfortunately I couldn't tell if it was #10 Red or #6 Black. A minute passed and Jesse shows #10 the yellow then the red card. I guess it was # 10. I couple minutes passed and then I thought wait a minute! That's the same guy I sent off a month ago. The deja vu was in my match he got a yellow, and then got his second yellow in the next minute, just like Jesse's. Apparently it was still fresh in their minds because the other AR mentioned one of the teams asked Jesse, "Did you guys talk about us prior to the team?" as they realized I was the one who sent #10 off earlier.
Second half, Red got a goal despite playing with 10 players and the Black team was demoralized. Red scored another goal and Black was basically "dead man walking". According to Jesse I was adequate enough for him, but he said he noticed I was limping the second half of the second game.
Even though the WCYWS policy makes the referee who issued a red buy the beer, I broke the rules and insisted on treating.

Limped my way through a CPSA match

I'll get to the meaning of the title in a moment but I would like to start at the beginning. Saturday night I had a center on a CPSA match. That alone gets me nervous. Now add the fact these are the top two teams where I have a history with one of them (not the best kind), who can be very volatile and add the fact that I have one AR I can't completely trust, well let's just say my wife told me, "Honey, I love you but I wouldn't want to be ya."

So the game was at Shorty Garcia (I nickname it Shorty McShort Short). My 2nd time there but the first time I actual got to referee the match. Very nice field, but to me, it seemed rather small in length. It was easy to keep up with play and trust me that was another challenge. You see I am currently nursing a calf injury. 600mg of Motrin 4 hours prior to the game and then just before the game and I was doing fine.

My plan prior to the game. Show up an hour prior (I never understand the referees who show up less then 30 minutes). Pray that the "kid" scheduled to be AR2 shows up before AR1. Then use every legit excuse in the book to put AR2 to AR1 and AR1 to AR2. Why you ask? Because I had a heads up from the big man who assigns my games that he was confrontational in a previous game and to keep an eye on him (though I wonder what he was doing assigned to this match to begin with). Shows up with stripped socks after I took a leap of faith when the 30 minute mark hit to put on logos. I asked him if he had logos, he said no and "What is the big fucking deal?"

I explained to him we have to look alike. So I take off my logos to put on stripes. Then he starts swearing regarding my switch. Nothing makes him happy.

Well as it turns out AR1 shows up slightly less then 30 minutes prior. Dammit to hell! AR2 shows up just when we were about to check in the teams. He informs me he was in a car accident and is shook up and didn't want AR1. I had two evils and decided against my best judgement to leave things as it was. AR1 decides to be proactive and check in the other team and I sent AR2 to make sure AR1 stays out of trouble.

So I hit the opening whistle and Red seemed to be in rare form as the fouls happened. Green was playing good ball, but was getting hacked quite a bit. Then the cards come out flying. Their captain told me to "be fair". I got annoyed with that comment and I looked him right in the eye and said, "You calling me a cheat? No, really, are you calling me a cheat?" He didn't want anything more to do with me at that point. The fouls were 75% Red and 25% Green as a rough estimate. I was able to keep up with play until they decided long ball was cool play. Fortunately it didn't happen all the time, but the field was short enough that it was a punt, to the forward who tries to score.

So how was AR1? He didn't bury me completely but he started to make a spectacle of himself. He called me over because defense was giving him a hard time and was swearing at him, but didn't give me specific numbers. He kept repeating like an insulted drunk and finally I said, "I got it." twice. I went to the Green and said, "Please don't swear at my AR1."
One Green defender said, "We weren't"
I said, "I'm not saying you did, I'm not saying you didn't, just don't do it."
He smiled and said, "Fair enough."

At half time the assistant coach came up and demanded I deal with the spectators. Now it could be the stress of the importance of this game, in combo with a rogue AR1, and the pain in my calf nagging a bit, I didn't take to kind to his way of asking. I called him on his rudeness and I said, it's a fair request, but ask me, don't demand me. Him being the ass said, let me remind you we pay you guys. My response to that was, "Let's go earn our money then." My friend Jesse told me it would have been a great opportunity to ask for a raise.

So I went to the Red coach first and asked him to move his spectators to the other side. He took this as a good time to tell me what I am missing and how much I suck. I said, "Fine but my request still stands and I will not start the half until you comply." I went to the Green head coach and made the same request. Now mind you the green coach called me an idiot when I may have missed a foul (he may have been right about the missed foul to be honest with you and myself). He told me who is staff was and asked if he can keep his daughter with him. I said no problem as I'm a dad and would be reluctant as well. I said help me out and I'll ignore the idiot remark. He rolled his head like he realized he was caught and shook my hand and said, "Fair enough."

Unfortunately they were slow on the compliance so I looked at a few shivering players on either side and said, "Hmmmmmmm." I went to one of the players and said, "Feels like hell froze over, huh?"
He said, "Yeah, can we get this game started?"
I said sure, "As soon as your spectators move to the other side." Players couldn't help me any faster then that.

The second half was much like the first, but Green managed to earn 3 bookings to almost catch up with Red. Red still thought I was unfair. By all rights I could have sent a couple of them home for all the dissent they gave me (at least 3 had a card already). But I managed to finish and nobody was sent home prematurely.

Raising a special needs child

I read this article and it hit me as if I wrote it myself.

For the record....Gabriel is doing fine. Best way to describe it is, his therapists set goals and he meets them far sooner then expected.

Viewing Perspectives.

Saturday night I spent time with a friend. He was disappointed, no upset about the performance from his son at State Cup. So I stood there patiently listening to him telling how upset he was that he spent all this money on his boy, only realizing now he may not have the drive to continue the sport.

After my games on Sunday I spent time with my fellow referees. One of them I learned teaches a coaching clinic. One of the thing he sees is there are plenty of coaches that took the course 10-15 years ago, but never come back for a refreasher. Sounds like several referees I know. Another ref works in the CYSA office and said something profound: The city leagues are giving so much attention and money to the division one program and the players who play for the city, are not even from the city. Having my daughter in Division 4, that really doesn't sit well.

I read a blog where the parents were really getting into the "spirit" of things in a State Cup match. I have a feeling it was not only for winning, but about the investment the parents made in winning things like State Cup and regionals. Or how so much money goes to the technical directors whom the player sees not nearly enough. But to the TD's defense, there's only one of him.

To the parents who invest that much money in the player, need to know this: You can shell out thousands of dollars, have the best trainers, coaches, and what not. However, when it comes down to it, there are two teams, and one winner. Which means there is one loser who invested a lot of money just to lose. That's alot of pressure to put on your kid.

Broke the Red Card Streak

And it was about time. I was getting sick of those send off reports. Mind you there were a couple of yellows and it took most of my personality to keep one of them in the match. That and it took took even more skill to keep one player from doing something stupid as it turned out he got off of a red card suspension....because of me. Their captian decided to inform me he would write a letter regarding my performance. Hope he spells my name right. I hate it when the screw up the spelling. Anyway he confronted me after the game regarding the caution. He thought it was for dissent. It was for delay of game, but I also told him his constant bitching didn't help his case.
Doing my next game I was AR. The white captain complained about an offside I called. And I informed him he was there the whole frigging (yes exact words) time. He told me to watch my language. Frigging? Dude! If he was overly sensitive on that one, then to stay away from me after the game. He hasn't heard anything yet.
Ended the day with a beer, pizza (been eating too much of that), and a winning game of poker.

Another one bites the dust..

..make that two. I was refereeing a Major Division match. I'm just going to call them red and green. I anticipated a problem between these two teams but for 40 minutes things seem to be going well. Then at the 41st minute I had a green play after he knew he lost the challenge, tackle a red player from behind, chopping a player from behind (both legs in the air chopping the back of the opponents legs). So I sent him off with the red card. Unfortunately that is where hell broke loose. At half time the green captain came to me and told me how unfair that call was.

Then in the second half, despite the Penalty Kick for the green, which was blown with a great save by the red keeper, the green captain still didn't know when to quit. When he brought up the red card situation, I informed him, he was not to continue about that. He then shouts, "Hey guys, we can't talk to the referee about fairness." At that time, I let him know he well deserved this yellow (without going into the 3 P's of dissent which by then he reached all three).

I thought by then things were calming down, I tightened the calls a bit. Then a red was fouled. My AR had the best view. Flagged it, I whistled it. I went to the AR to ask what he saw. He said, "green fouled, but then #10 on the red retaliated with an elbow. I would give him a caution." I cautioned him a minute earlier for kicking the ball away after being called offside. I gave him his second caution (it could have been a straight red). In 20/20 hindsight, I should have given green his caution for grabbing a jersey. I was just told my AR initially he held the red. Had I known it was a jersey pull at the time, I would have given him a yellow and some justice would have been done.

The Post game wasn't so much fun as he wanted to confront me. After saying "What a fucking horrible call." I replied with, "Can I quote you on that on my send off report so you can get a few more Sundays off?"

When you are friends with the enemy...

...you tend to look in a diffrent perspective, even when you don't agree. Still confused with the title? I'm just mulling over how to make more sense of it. Again I leave names and some details out just because I don't want anyone figuring out who it is.

I was seeing a friend that I hadn't seen since november and we were catching up. His son played on a high school team last winter. I asked how that went? He said he did fine. Then he asked me if I reffed high school. I said "No, I took the high school season off to fully recover from my injuries."

Now here's where a good conversation went bad. He said, "The referees out there sucked. They were terrible." Now I am used to hearing that from one degree to another so usually it doesn't phase me anymore. Then he had to go and say, "I enjoy harrasssing the referee because they suck so much!" My first thought was WTF? This guy actually got off on giving the referees a hard time. Unfortunately I was a captive audience literally so I had to endure this. So I finally said what many referees have said before, "Well then....You should sign up as a referee and then you can show them how it's done." I never seen anyone shut up so fast.

The rest of the conversation was pretty stutter-stepped and well after watching a game and trying some of my indoor photography out I decided my camera sucks on action shots in a gym. Out of 100 shots, I managed to get 4 decent (and I say that too loosely) shots. We were able to talk about how well the team we were watching spank the other team.

Everyone has a natural tendency of wanted to be liked by many people as possible. As a referee, you tend to make that tough, because what you do, if you have any friendships on the sidelines, you tend to put those aside and do your job, no matter how wrong you may seem in the eyes of your friends. I usually, for the close friends, tend not to do their games for I like to still be invited to things. I certainly will not so any relative's games, with the one exception I made with the blessing of the assignor, to referee my nephew's game, well two of them, one on each team. It's still talked about around the family get togethers.

Problem is as a former player, a coach, and a referee, the lines tend to get blurred from time to time. I do have a reputation of being tough, but fair most of the time, so usually the coaches I get are more than supportive of my calls, even when they disagree.

Getting back to the harrassing referees. Last year when I finished the high school season I was having a conversation with a friend of mine (a referee of course) and he was telling me he was done doing high school. He just got his grade 5 as well and his response was he was tired of dealing with the parents on the sidelines. Can't says I blame him. An ex-National referee that same year did the NCS semi-final and was subjected to an angry mob. Now he no longer wants any part of high school soccer. Still think it's okay to harrass the referee for the fun of it? Still think it's part of the game?

And Justice for all.

You may have remembered my post regarding "Referee with sailors mouth". Well turns out the coach who accused the referee got a 2 match suspension for his part.

My thoughts? My use of harsh language is reserved for those cases where I would feel I would get through to a guy vs. carding him. Of course you won't hear it from me in a youth match because....well it's youth.

However, if you have to use harsh language, then you would be hyppocritical for carding someone for nearly the same thing. Something to think about. I hope the big wigs in the MLS have read the article.

It was a happy St. Patties

Saturday was fun as my daughter was in the Dublin Parade for her school. I have really grown to like getting involved in my kids activities. Before it was just going through the motions for her sake because I didn't have that support growing up, but these days I tend to make it interesting enough to not count the minutes that it's over. Perhaps it could be my daughter takes great pride that both her parents are involved. Of course anything I do, my wife does 10 times better...well most of the time. I make a great weenie.
After the parade, we hit the fair and I had my fair share of Guinness. Marlena got to go on the bundgy ride which was cool to watch. My friend's daughter made the most of her time on it and did even some forward flips.

Sunday the family decided to go back, but I was sunned out due to Saturday and then refereeing on Sunday. I ran line both my games where it was a miracle I didn't get lynched.


Game 1: The center I ran line with showed up less then 30 minutes prior to the game. I was tempted to take the center from him, but I was not mentally prepared to run the middle. Prior to the game we were checking the teams in and the center was demanding they tuck their shirts in and jewelry. Mind you I have no problem with what he wanted, but I had a problem with the way he demanded. It was like, "Let's piss off two Latin teams before we kick off." I'm just going to call them Red vs. Blue. So we're about to kick off, he decides to do the pre-game. He wants to talk about throw ins. WTF? I had to look at my game card to make sure we were doing Major Division and not U12 girls. Then he wanted to change me from AR2 to AR1. I said no because I had an AR1 assignment next game. That was translated to: No I am not going to stand close to the benches of two teams you pissed off before kick off. When that torture was over I went to my line. It took 3 minutes to get them pissed at the center. That was one foul per minute. The comment was, 'You do a great job checking our jewelry and making sure our shirts are tucked in but you can't call worth Sh--!" Basically was having trouble controlling the game. Surprising that hardly anyone tried anything in front of me. Could it be my rep is growing in this league. I have been noticing.

Game #2 I thought I was going to work with my buddy Norm. I was disappointed where he was replaced by another guy where I would rather have a root canal. As usual he was unorganized. Late checking teams in. I checked Black in and ran into their captain who remembered me. Asked me if I was doing the center. I said, nope, I'm a line. He was disappointed. He was complaining that the good referees are getting lines while the centers are not good. I took this as a complement for 1 of 2 things. One, it's the 3rd straight week I have received such a complement. Two, the guy who paid me the complement was a guy I sent off last year for head butting another player, ironically from the team they were playing in this game.

As the game went on here's where it "jumped the shark" (hi honey). I saw a push from behind. I flagged it. It was 2 feet in front of me. I pointed one way. The center pointed another way. He was 25 yards away. He accused the "fouled" player of diving. He added more insult to the player by saying, "You're lucky I don't give you a yellow card." My thoughts: If he dove and "fooled" me, but was caught by the center, I think it warrants a yellow card. What sucked was at half time, I wasn't even going to talk about it. He came to me and said, "I saw that he was pushed but he embellished the fall." I'm thinking hmmm....he was pushed. Isn't pushing a foul? I just responded by saying if you felt he was diving, he sure fooled me and he should have gotten a card for it. I walked away disgusted. The other AR who befriended me first thing since he was new, said my call was correct.
Well second half it wasn't too bad until the center called a PK. I can't say it was a good call or bad call. According to AR2 it was a good call. Before the PK the White was beating the Black 3-1. Black took the PK and made it 3-2. Then the forward and GK were fighting over getting the ball out of the net. If it were me I would have been the first one to the ball to prevent anything.
So while the center was now taking care of that, I had to deal with the White coach who said, "Why you give Penalty?" I told him to get back to his side and that I didn't even want to have a conversation with him. He said, after slumping like a kid who grabbed his toys and went him, "Neither do I!"
Was still bitching even after they won.

My favorite scene in the movie Rounders

Sunday's game

Had a good AR assignment at Boxer Stadium this weekend. Two good San Francisco teams played each other to a 2-2 tie. The center, Mauricio was good as he always is. Every time I work with him, it's always a pleasure. Could be we're both Italians too. :-) While on weekend #2 of a 4 month layoff Maurico had better comments on my line then I did for myself. I still felt like I was shaking the rust off. He said I was flying up and down the line. I know my knowledge kept me a float. I felt good in the end. Game was in control for most occasion as I did watch Mauricio's back on at least 3 occasions. One was cautioning a player for leaving the field. Only my 2nd one in my long career.

I was comfortable as I knew players on both sides. One of the players who used to play for the A league Seals, was wondering when I was going to get a center at Boxer. I told him it was hinted I would get an assignment this season. He was hoping it would be sooner then later. I thought that was a nice complement. On the other team, I recognized a player who was a strong youth referee up a Sacramento. Took him a while to remember me because I had less facial hair the last time he saw me. It wasn't until I reminded him of a center he did for an U17 boys game where a fight broke out and he got physical with the players when separating him. I gave him a pep talk on how that could have went against him, but was entertaining to watch (yes I can be a sadist).

The third and final thing that made it interesting, the other AR is from Southern California. He has done Amateurs there and told me he would be doing 3 games a Sunday, whereas up here people are happy to get one AR assignment. My lesson for those who are complaining about the AR assignments. If you are bored with the AR assignments you are getting, then you are not challenged enough in the AR level and should do whatever it take to get to a level where you feel challenged, unless you're a National doing MLS, and then well...there's little hope for you.

Dealing with Dissent

I read a nice blog regarding dealing with dissent. It's NISOA, so just so we're clear: In USSF/FIFA you do not show the coach a card. Here is the article.

GP is back on the pitch...

...and I haven't missed a beat since I was gone. Okay that is not entirely true but as far as game management and control, I gave myself an A. For covering the field, I gave myself a C. Obviously I need to get back in the full swing of things but I was off for 4 months which is the longest I have taken off from soccer.

The game was a Major Division and I knew both teams pretty well since I have done both since they were in First Division. I took control of the match early, calling the hard and getting unfair advantage. I had great assistants, Brian S. and Craig S. which bailed me out a few times. Unfortunately I had to pull my first caution in the 41st minute for a tactical foul. Any closer to the goal and it would have warranted a send off, but in my opinion, he wasn't close enough to the goal. Had that been the case, I would have sent him off. Red had no problem when I explained my logic for just a yellow.

In the second half Red and Blue decided to play a little more physical but clean for the most part and when I had to step in, it was accepted by most. Then by the 72nd minute I whistled a guy for taking a player down with both hands. While debating on cautioning him, he took the ball and spiked it away (just think of your typical kicking the ball away in frustration). I told him, his last action made my card issued an easy decision.

Just when I thought that was all the cards i was going to get at the 86th minute, my ball spiking friend decided that if he loses a challenge when he fights for the ball, he's going to kick the player. I didn't see it, but I heard the very familliar thud. My AR, Brian saw it and was giving me the high sign to caution. It was an easy red. Craig saw it and asked me why I just didn't do a straight red. I spent the next 10 seconds pondering, but found it was just easier to give the yellow, then red. He was gone none the less and both sides accepted that.

In the end, I felt good, but I know I left room for improvement. According to my wife, I got out of there in record time dispite having to write a send off report.

In other news, Gabriel is doing fine. In the past week I could have sworn he did is first word. I was helping him up the stairs and by the time I got him to the top he said, "Heeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyy!!" Then he started crying. I wonder where he got that from (hi honey).

Marlena in the last week has made me proud. Her homework was done in record time and I think she for the first time discovered that if she does her homework for the week early, she can enjoy the weekend better. She also had Destination Imagination. She's been at this since almost the beginning of school. I have to confess, in the middle of it, I hated it. I hated the time it was taking, not for us parents to take her and back, but how much it was taking from her schoolwork. However watching her perform with the skit, I couldn't have been more proud. I was also told by the DI advisor for her group that Marlena went from an "easy going with the crowd" person to insisting to everyone a way something should be done. She didn't win the crowd over, but she stood her ground and that I told her is the makings of a good referee. Never the less I was proud to hear that story about her. It was a good saturday.

Vista sucks

Message to anyone considering upgrading to Vista. Don't... Wait until at least a year for them to get rid of bugs and for your peripheral manufacturers to update the drivers. You'll be glad you waited. If you decide not to wait because you are one of those dudes that has to have the latest and greatest of everything, you heard it here first

Busy Saturday, spent sunday recovering.

My Saturday started with a trip to San Bruno to attend a soccer clinic for Referees. I got to listen to Chris Strickland speak and he provided very good insight on how much more involve an Assistant Referee can get to help control the game. It was good because I can reflect back to the days where I would at times, withdraw from supporting the referee when I could get a lot of flack and no protection from the center. And there were times I would get involved and hope the center had my back.

Moral of the story: Centers take care of your ARs and your ARs will take care of you. Especially when they make a call to save your butt.

Then we had Abe Rameriz give us a testing tool on what to do with a certain play. Call a foul, yellow card, red card, no card, no foul. I did okay. There were quite a few disagreements.

After the clinic I went home and prepped for the poker party. Had 13 players. Took first which has me 4/5 games where I have won. The good about that? My bankroll has increased. Bad news is people may not ever want to come back because I tend to win most of my games (the one I did lose, I took 2nd place). At first it was just my friend Rudy complaining. Then another, and then another.
Most people stayed for the loser table and when it was announced that I won I kind of heard groans. Kind of made me wish I broke even or even busted out. There were many times I thought I was going to bust out, though I was confident I was going to the final table. It went down to a final table of 7 and two guys, who are both friends, were on life support.
As it went down to 5, things got interesting. I thought I was dead when I went all in with pocket 6's and ran into pocket Q's But I had more chips. But I got him back when i went for a 3 way all in with doug and Marty. I caught a straight and sent him packing. Then Mark and I did a dance for a while, but then I managed to over come him, and then Marty. Then Jeff, who has been the silent sleeper decides to go heads up with me. He picked the wrong time to say all in because I had pocket kings with a king that hit the flop. Needless to say he was down to change and he decided to concede.

Another good night of poker.

So I was playing last night and had 18 players. I'm starting to get out of my poker slump I was in the last couple of month. Did the cards change? No, but the way I play, I'm back in my own game.

The opening hand was disappointing for me. You see I was on the button and I had pocket 7's. I was debating on doing the all-in or do the raise dance. Well one raised, then the other went all in. When the cards were turned up, the All-in guy had pocket 5's. That pissed me off, then I saw the pocket 9's and I started to feel better knowing I wouldn't have gone in with the best hand. Then the flop came out. A 7 hit the board and I was pissed because I would have had a set. Neither one hit theirs.

Instead of getting mad I just played my game. With a little luck, some good cards, and a lot of patience paid off. When we were down to the money, the chip leader was bullying. I noticed he was going all in far too much. I was SB at the time and decided to call with a K-6. No raise before the flop. A Q-6-3 showed up. Everyone checked. Another 3 showed up. I bet. I was called by the chip lead. Then a 5 showed. I bet. He went all in. I debated it thinking he's been going all-in far too many time. I smelled a bluff and I called. He had a 7-2. He was pissed. Couldn't believe I called that, but I knew he was bluffing so I called..

After a few more rounds it was just him and me. The final hand was I had pocket 8's. I was going to slow play, but he called All-in. I called. He showed pocket 5's. I thought I was going to win the hand but the 5 came out at the turn. That's poker and nothing no matter how good of a starting hand is for sure. I was happy with 2nd.

Never a dull moment in poker

During the US port law drought, I have had to use other means to play. I have discovered Poker Academy through a post at homepokertourney.com. For the most part it has great reviews, but I wasn't willing to spend 120 bucks for it. I did discover they had a standard version which I decided to download a couple weeks back. I'm glad I did.
I did try the Pro version and after dabbling with the two, it turns out I wasn't going to miss the Pro features. So for 19.95 I downloaded and paid for the standard. It has nice bots which has different charactoristics. I have made my homegame simulations based on my games.
If that wasn't enough, they have PA online where you get to play for play money. Now on the surface that would seem boring if you have played with play money, but later graduated for real money accounts. This one is different though. Let me count the ways.

1. You are playing with like minded players who are trying to improve their game. Yes you have your guys who are stupid enough to go all-in with 7-2 unsuited, but they are far few.
2. In the poker sites like PokerStars, Pokerroom, or PartyPoker, you automatically get 1000 of play money. You can refill as much as you want, although PokerStars has improved on this. PA has it that you have to earn PAX (PA money). You can't sit in a ring game or sit n go on the fly? You have to start with the freerolls and earn your PAX that way. Once you earn some, you can play the other games.
3. Just because you can earn money in Freerolls, doesn't mean you can stay in freerolls. That's right folks, they have a cap on your PAX. Once you earn 50 PAX or more, you are kicked out of the freerolls until your balance goes below 50. Are you beginning to understand why I am having so much fun?

Now again it doesn't mean you have WTF moments? Take last night for instance. I was playing in a freeroll (getting close to the 50PAX cap). Out of 21 players I placed 2nd. When it was down to 4 of us, we were a bit looser with our all ins. I did go all in on a low pocket pair. Was called with an A-5. He caught his ace on the flop and I was chasing my card. Still had money to do damage. I went all in and I had an AQ while he had pocket 5's. All I had to do was catch an Ace or Queen. I didn't. Now I was 200 left. Blinds were so high that I was forced all in on a 10-5 unsuited. Caught my 10 with a KK on the board. Managed to triple my winnings. On my next hand I had a Q-8 but I didn't want to go in so I folded. Then the next hand was one for the books. I had the button with 200 and change (they had antes in this game). The 3 other players decided to go ALL-in. Seeing the possibility of at least placing 3rd instead of 4th, I decided to fold. Well the man with the monster chip lead won that hand and I took second with 200 and change.

A Referee with a sailor's mouth

That may be a bit of an exaggeration or is it? In the USA I have been "raised" to believe that the Laws of the Game should be used as a guideline and not as black and white. I was also shown the way the book is flexible and we should be flexible with the book. That works to a point.

There is a story where a referee is being investigated for swearing at his players. Apparently the short story is he told the players to f-off after the game. Now I personally don't condone that action should it be true. However, I have been on plenty of game where the swearing has been at my direction for me to be lient with that player (perhaps a yellow vs a red).

I will be following this story for I am interested in the outcome. If the referee is reprimended for swearing (in morality sense he should be if guilty), then it's going to open a can of worms to the players all over the world. If a player told me to f-off (I'm thinking like I'm doing the amatuers, not youth), I may think twice about being lient and just send him off. I know in youth I have the mind set that if I don't take it from my own kid, I will not take it from someone elses.
I have been guilty as a referee of flirting with swear bomb. Now I haven't said anything like f-off to the player, but I have been guilty of saying, "Knock this sh-t off!" or "This bullsh-t needs to stop." Strong? Yes. Would you hear that from me in a high school match where language is watched closesly among players? No. In a youth game? U19's perhaps once in a great while.
Only once I have been called on it and looking back they were right because they never said it to me first, therefore, what right would I have to say it back.
If the outcome of this hearing makes the referee tighten his language skills, then perhaps, it will force us to tighten the language skills of the players.

Being sick blows chunks

I spent the entire weekend in bed watching monk reruns. Missed the instructor clinic which I feel bad about. If this means I don't teach this year then my wife will enjoy the time off. I recall a certain instuctor who was not at the clinic, but teach none the less.

Poker cheating methods.

Have I mentioned how much I can't stand poker cheats.

Did I take too much of a break?

As you viewers have probably noticed I have not been on the pitch since early November. One would think I miss it. It could be that I have been on call during my absence I have trouble stepping on the field knowing someone could be trying to get a hold of me. Partially why I took the entire high school season off. The other reason was to make sure my legs healed up so I was 100% when I stepped on the field.

By the beginning of march I'll probably be turning in my easy money pager as someone else wants to jump on the money train. So I can referee pretty much without a conscience.

Why am I not celebrating? I sure was celebrating when I got my 5, but it was like since I came back from the absense almost a decade ago, I pushed to upgrade every other year and then of course the higher the grade, the more tough it was. The Grade 5 was my greatest accomplishment for the simple fact I had fun on the way and never gave up. Now I have the year coming up and I said I was going to guage the next couple of years to see what my level of assignments was before I decided if I was going to go for my National badge or just reside as a grade 5 until I couldn't do it anymore and go emeritus. Emeritus, that is a scary thought. There is only one younger then me that went Emeritus and there are several in their 40's and 50's that are still holding on to that State badge. Some grade 5's.

Hmmm perhaps I should have done more research

I'm referring to Direct TV. The nice part is we have our DVR and it works like a charm. What I didn't realize was they use phone lines, but it's not to clear what for except when they want to contact us or PPV. The guy shows up, pretty much leaves messes everywhere he goes, but then again we are shifting things around for Paula's new sewing center (which is coming out quite nicely). Things seem to come together 5 hours later and then I notice on my modem, the lights are not in proper sequence indicating a problem. Turns out I have new phone lines that are unflitered. Pretty much resolved the issue.
Now I'm called this morning that our downstars TV wigged out. I'm hoping this isn't a making of a comcast commercial.

In other news, I went to my local comic shop a day early (I was thinking yesterday was already wednsday). The guy that had to leave was there and asked me "So are you here to lose again?" I smiled, Jim had his laugh about me showing up a day earlier. Then I mentioned I would not be there the next couple of weekends. He said, "Oh we have had games postponed for months." sigh

If there was one reminder, this should be it. Always have a set of rules when you host a tournament. I have my house rules, and if there isn't something covered by my house rules, and we can't come to the good of the game (wow you think I was talking soccer), then we have Robert's Rules of Poker to fall back on.
Works for me.

Comcast...You're Fired!!!!

We decided after much debate to switch to Direct TV. As it turns out, we're not really saving a whole chunk of change but we are getting some features we didn't get with Comcast. We are getting two DVRs installed where we can record shows on the fly. No more stacks of video tapes. Our book shelves in our room will look like bookshelves. We can record two shows at the same time while watching one show we previously recorded. Is that cool or what? It also means my wife will not be night after night setting VCRs. One thing we will miss is In demand that comcast did have. Now we didn't do the premium channels but we did get some good movies. However we will get Starz for free for one year.

In other news I haven't talked about my family much as to what has been going on. Paula is going to get her sewing room. She has big plans. Marlena has been improving on her Ice Skating. She is having fun in the process which is the most important thing. I mean if it's not fun, why do it. That was the pep talk I gave her when I told her how long it took me to get my 5. Basically 5-6 years. She has levels she needs to go through. Sometimes she breezes through them and sometimes she needs to repeat. Repeating a session on the ice seems to be the norm though which I think takes a little pressure off of Marlena and just opened it for me to just ask, "Hey, are you having a good time?" She said yes. That was all I had to say on the subject.
Gabriel's head is in the 70th percentile. I can see the dumbfounded faces asking, "Is that good?" Yes it's good. He contineus to go the right direction. His new thing is to yank his glasses and throw them across the room. We call that attitude!

I have clinics coming up next month. There is one on Feb 3-4th. One is for the instructors/assessors and now assigners. The other is for the rest of the referee world. If it's like last year, it will be the same stuff. As least they got this one right. Have the instructor clinc first and the rest last. I only have to show up for one. Which is good because I really didn't want to give my entire weekend up. We have the SFSFL clinic the same day as my poker night. Still it's a better deal.

Jaded in poker

I was playing a 5 dollar buy-in. There was 4 of us left and I was on the short stack. One of the guys who was really low had to leave. He pulled his all in for the last hurrah. I had a good starting hand and I decided to call. Unfortunately I got another caller. One the flop I was in the lead and then I drowned on the river card.

Not the reason I was jaded. I was still in the game, but this dude now tripled up. Then he took out someone who beat me in a previous all-in. Now he quadrupled. Now he really had to leave. If you read your general poker rules, anyone who has to leave can do so, and his stack will be blinded out. The suspended the game until "another time"

Hmmm just when was the other time supposed to happen? Next week? Hmmm I'm busy. No really I am. The following weekend? No, I am also busy.

See why I am jaded?

When I see the host wednsday for my dose in comics, I will inform him to blind me out. Perhaps he will get a clue.

Helping a host at a poker tourney

I found this site www.homepokertourney.com and while it's not really a place to play good poker advice (well there is some), it's an excellent resource for organizing a home poker game.

I've been organizing poker games at my home for 2 years and every time I do, I learn a lesson in some shape for form like I have said in a previous post. I did find an interesting post which talks about helping the host.

Some key things to remember when hosting a tournament:

1. In many cases you may know more about poker then the one who doesn't. If you don't know as much, you're going to have a tough time hosting.
2. Make sure you have enough chips. I can't stress this enough. My very first poker game was a ring game and I had 300 chips between 7 players. Needless to say I treaded water with a 5 dollar buy-in with a 5 dollar re-buy. In my next game I had more chips now totaling 800, but pay particular attention to the weight of the chips. 11.5g gives the feel of a real casino. I had 8g chips. They were playable, but a couple of people noticed. It wasn't until last year I upgraded my chips. Now I have 850 chips that are 11g which is good for a 16 player tournament. I haven't felt the need to go beyond this. I still use the 8g chips for my side ring game on tournaments.
3. Have food for the players to snack on. You can either designate a list where people can pick off and bring something or do it yourself. I usually have things for my guests. I will stock beer, but I always say BYOB so they don't expect it. This is going to bring me to number 4.
4. Do not expect your guests to chip in. Meaning, take a buck or two from guests. This can be construed to making a profit for playing in a "home casino" which can be illegal, definitely in California. People offer to drop money, especially when they won. I don't expect this and usually turn them down like an Uncle who took third did. Basically he doubled his buy in and wanted to give me the profit. I didn't feel comfortable with it because he was giving me his winnings. I was going to get my money back and then some (I took first, but even if I took second, I would have made money)
5. Finally you should be hosting because of the love of the game.

However if you do get invited to a game, people tend to leave the house once they are eliminated (which hosting a side ring game would keep them around). What would be nice to help the host would be to help pick up beer bottle which are laid out around the house. I swear I was picking up beer bottles for two weeks, I would stumble on to odd places like land mines after my last game. You can also help out with changing out smaller chips with big one as the blinds go up. You can player permanent dealer. Just little things to make the game go smooth.

Beckham signs with LA Galaxy

Since the MLS has lifted the salery cap, things have gotten interesting. The most interesting thing that has happened is Beckham signing up. As on article it was calling instead of Bend it like Beckham it was called spending it like Beckham.

One of my concerns is MLS is following the old cliche', those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. NASL went into a spending spree and not many years later, went bankrupt. It pretty much caused us not to have quality soccer for nearly a decade.

Of course financial discipline is not the only thing MLS needs to do to get their act together. They need to be more accordance to FIFA. They tried their marketing BS like the shootout and letting star players get away with murder.

It's true. It seems that when a referee for example goes national and has MLS opportunities they need to conform to MLS, not USSF, but MLS or forget about refereeing that league. I seen two cases of this first hand.
I won't name names, but the first time I was on the AR spot and noticed a few players that were playing out of control. A few cards I felt should have been given and the goalkeeper for one team, I swear he was on something like PCP because he was complaining but not making a lot of sense. When I asked why he let so much go, he said, "He needed to cater to the fans who want to see action." I had my opinion on that statment but since I was new in the division I was AR in, I bit my tongue.
Years later I was on the line for another National Referee. Another one who didn't clamp down on dissent and let things go, including potential cards. I was not a vetren now and didn't hold my tongue too much. When he said he should have giving that one player a second yellow for the reckless challenge I said "It should have came sooner" as the guy was heckling me most of the game. He also let a goalkeeper come out to challenge me after I saved the referee's butt in a PK call and later finding out almost cautioned the wrong man. I didn't get that card until after he was scored on he said something in spanish in regards to my mother.

Back to the MLS, the question lies to: Are we signing up a quality player or are we getting a used farrari which has some problems that will haunt him and the MLS? He's had a fair share of injuries over the year. His performance in the world cup was sub-par with just a free kick.

If this doesn't work out we'll never see the San Jose Earthquakes again. Why? Becuase the MLS will be bankrupt.

Home Poker Games

If you ever want to throw a home poker game don't do like I first did and just throw one on the fly with knowing the minimum. If you did like I did, you would find yourself in a world of trouble. Drinking more than my fair share of beer didn't help matters as it made my temper fly when someone was being an ass.

On my next ring game I got a little smarter. I didn't drink so much alcohol. Not only I doubled, but everyone had fun.

When I threw my first home tournament, it was after Thanksgiving. It was basically friends and family tournament. That one ran smoother but one lesson I learned was posting rules on late players, and players who invite others without so much as asking the host if there is a seat available as one did. However in the grand scheme of things, the good side, bigger pot. Down side of having 9 players on a 8 player table is one doesn't get a rack and it's crowded.

Since people had a great time with that one I held a tournament after mulling it over with my office. Had 12 people which was a good turn out. Evite is good for these kind of invites. You can get your yes, no, and maybes. You can even tell if someone has even read the invite. Two drawbacks is not everyone is email savvy and there are those who don't even have email (shocking I know). You can limit the amount of guests (you don't want 20 showing up when you are prepared for 16). You can also control whether or not they can invite guests or not. I recommend you control this aspect because I tend not to play poker with anyone I don't know. Just follow the if a friend is a friend of an initial invite then it should be good enough for you. I read though one guy who runs tournaments said if there was cheating involved and it was a friend of a friend, he would cut the stranger's thumbs off and the person who brought him.

You also want to control the time it starts. I will say, no game starts at a certain time on the dot unless you are playing the WSOP. So what to do? Request people show up at 7pm but the game starts no later than 8pm and stress to them that they may lose their seat or playing rights by showing late. More on that later.

Another problem was the game went slow. Be aware on how the blinds are set. If you want to give a large sum of money ( I did 1200) then make it so the blinds are sizable by the 3rd hour. Otherwise it will take a while and my first game of hold em ended at 2am. I now do 1000 and I keep the blinds small in the beginning but make dramatic jumps in the end..

My next game was my birthday. We only had 7 players. Not certain what happened there but it was fun none the less. However that was due to a last minute add on and a last minute drop out. The add on was a pleasant surprise but soured by a cancellation. Not so big pot. But people still had fun.

In August I did another and I had 7 (seemed to be my lucky number). I nearly had a cancelation but thanks to my stern lecture on how this affects everyone, I got her to show. I added a re-buy option in this game which increased the pot. It was used quite a bit as there were 3 re-buys. I cut down the amount of money and as a result, the game ended in a decent hour. By the way, if you have a laptop, for timer purposes I go to www.pokerroom.com. There is a poker timer software which organizes the time and blinds schedule. It's a great piece of software and it's free. It also makes your tournament look professional as I have had nothing but great comments on my timer and it automatically restarts vs. a kitchen timer which dings. You can pause if need be.
Lesson Learned: Need to clamp down on flaky people and not count on them. If they reserve a seat and don't show then there should be consquences for that. I don't me never invite him, but make it known it's frowned upon.

On my Novemeber game in many aspects, it was the best ran tournament I have had yet. We had 15. We would have had 16 but a last minute cancelation blew that. This time I had poker rules. Very important and it's a miracle that I survived this long without them. Have them posted in the room and given to the players prior to the game so they know what they are walking into. If they choose not to read them and then say "I didn't know that." then you have something to fall back on. Willful ignorance is not an excuse.

Few examples are in my game in betting, you just have to meet the minimum blind (or all-in) to play and you can bet any amount after that big or small. In other games, they enforce the minimum bet. There are pros and cons to this.
Pro for not enforcing the minimum raise amount is the game is more lax, people are having fun without the intensity of meeting this and that. Many have stated this. However I read in some published home poker rule that if you announce Raise, but don't (you put in the minimum bet for just a call) then what is the minimum? So before my next game either I have have a clause for people that does this or I have to enforce the minimum bet. Problem is it's not posted and in my first poker game, I had one cutthroat player on table 2 (I was on table 1) who was enforcing it. Worked to his advantage too. See the problem? Nobody hemmed or hawwed but it could have been worse.

Another recent problem was dealing. People were having an issue on how some were burning the cards. Maybe cheating. However, I may need to state all burn cards on the table, face down, no peaking.

If you need good poker advice go to www.homepoker.com. This has made things simple.

Blatter is a buffoon.

I know it may be bad politics for posting this, but since I am never going FIFA, I can care less. Basically I read that Blatter apologizes to the Italian team for not being there to present the World Cup trophy himself like FIFA Presidents are supposed to. That didn't sound to be as his reason for not going.
It seems in the opening game he got boos and whistles for well....being Blatter. And because of this he was afraid he was going to get boos and whistles for this one too. Well Mr. Blatter, you know what the referees have to endure when the set foot on the pitch and to bitch about them doing this or not doing this, it's easier said to do the right then, then to do the right thing.

I wonder if the jackass ever apologized to Valentin Ivanov . The russian Referee who booked 16 yellows and 4 reds (coincidently doubled my last game of 2006).
If you look in his Bio, he has no referee experience. It would explain some of the stupidity behind his comments. Remember the the game where Grahm Poll and his english squad was on and gave 3 yellows to one player before sending him off? Blatter wanted the forth and fifth officail (USA referees) to run on the field and yell stop to the center. Apparetnly Stott had his hands full with the bench and I don't know where Lawery was at the time. But again, it's easier to say what the right call is and harder to make the right call.

It's amazing...

..after ten years of doing technical support that the same habits have still taken place. People do not do enough research on product before purchasing them to do the things they want them to do. They see a cheap price and it's buy now and damn the consequences later.

If you are reading this, my suggestion if you are buying any kind of computer equipment is to do your research on it and the system you are adding too. Write a list of your requirements and then your secondary desires. When you look at this piece of equipment whether it be a scanner, hard drive, printer, software, see if it will do this.

Example, I can tell you Adobe Acrobat Standard will create PDFs for you, but will not let you create fillable forms like Adobe Acrobat Professional does. But people expect them to.

Then their pissed they can't return the opened product. Do your research beforehand, it will save you headaches later on.

Outted first for the first time

Played poker at my local comic shop and I went all in on pocket 6's and walked into kings. I had a better chance of hitting a straight. Need to use my head more.

Got offered to referee in a Tournament in Las Vegas

It would be a nice opportunity to work on my Texas Hold em skills, but after a few hours of considering it, I did promise I would take time off to help my wife with her sewing room (Since Gabe was born I no longer have a full fledged bat-cave). I bought her this cool, but collapsible sewing table for her embroidery machine and sewing machine. She's got plans, I'm excited about her plans enough to help her see this through. More excited then a trip to LV.
Since I have reffed in the State of NV already it would not be new to me (if you didn't know, my goal is to referee a soccer game in as many states as I can).

Back to normal

Well today is the first day I have set foot in the office since before xmas eve. It's been busy as the company I work for decided that January 2nd was also going to be considered a holiday. Because of this we are flooded today.
Xmas holiday was good. I really couldn't complain except I was sick for most of it. My wife spoiled me with good presents. I managed to come through with my "something romantic" which was nice, funny, and on the side we both could joke about in the process leading to xmas morning. I know she didn't see her presant coming, but observing her the following days, I know she was pleased.

Happy New Year 2007

My resolution? To have a better year then 2006.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a merry xmas and happy new year. Here is a clip of my daughter ice skating.

Filling in for Batman and Robin

You know for a multi-millionare, Brucie was too cheap to give us costumes.

The hanging out of the GP's

Just us boys hanging out.

I hate Xmas shopping

Now don't get me wrong...I like buying presents for my wife, kids, and anyone else that is on the list. What I can't stand is the stuff surrounding it. Example I went to pay for a couple presents and these days most are smart to ask for my ID. Taking for granted they can read the "Please see California driver's license." Well the clerk looked like he wanted to see ID after looking at the back of my credit card. So taking cue, I showed my ID. Not a problem. Then I asked him, "You were going to ask me, weren't you?"

Clerk: "Huh?"
Me: "You were going to ask for my ID, right?"
Clerk: "Well, uh, you don't look like a guy who would engage in credit card fraud."
Me: "Umm what does a guy who engages in credit card fraud look like?"
Clerk: "uhhhhhhhhhhh"
Me: "Dude, to put it short, I got burned a few years back because someone didn't do their job. Now I don't shop there."

This was Macy's back in the year 2000 when I lost my debit card somehow and it took 3 hours to realize that I had and them 3 hours to make, not one, but two big purchases in Macy's. Basically had to swear on my family's life they were not my charges and I even contacted Macy's loss prevention to reprimand the two clerks that charged my account without checking ID.

Then you have the crowded malls. You have the sales, long lines. Basically I am done unless something catches my eye for the wife or kids.

Had a good christmas party/

Stayed at the Sante Clare in San Jose. Bueatiful hotel.. As a coworker said this morning though, "Free booze get me into trouble."

Just when you think a certain coach is a win at all costs...

...that coach surprises you. Basically was just told a story by a fellow referee who ran as AR for a soccer match. I don't want to give specific details since I am getting this second hand, but there is a point to this story.

Basically a team we'll just call Red, is on the attack and Blue is defending. Ball sails over to the Blue keeper which should be easy to pick up, which he does. Red is on full momentum, with slight hopes of getting the ball before the keeper. Keeper has the ball in hands, and then as the Red forward runs by, the keeper throws an elbow to the Red forward hitting him in the mouth.
The center referee decides to be nice and award a penalty and give the keeper a yellow card. Red converts a goal as a result and it's the only goal of the match. Awfully nice of the referee to give a PK and a yellow card.
The coach of the Blue team saw the AR offsite the next day by just chance and the coach said he suspended the keeper for 6 games and the school is reviewing the incident to see if he can be pulled from the team. Basically the coach finished the referee's job for him.
Now one may read this and say, "Justice is served." And I agree, it was. However, it was the referee's responsibility to administer the justice to being with. Deliberate elbows in the mouth are serious and need to be taken as such. Had the referee given the red card with the PK like he should have, maybe the coach wouldn't have felt inclined to take action on his own.
What is the point of the story? Am I giving kudos to the coach? Yes, I do give the kudos to the coach for trying to make a slightly correct much more politically correct that if I stepped in the middle, did my best and called a fair game, I would be confident he wouldn't give me too much grief for my efforts. However, the referee thought he was doing the keeper a favor by not sending the player off, and now instead of nature taking its course with a red card suspension, and have a chance of returning to the game, he now risks losing out the entire season. And it's his last year in the league.
We have heard of stories where the MLS has stepped in when an incident happens out of the referee's view (or worse in the referee's view) and dole out their harsh punishment even if the referee didn't issue a red card.

In summary, things can happen due to referees calling stuff such as a PK and a Red card. A team gets a goal most likely and a player gets suspended. However, you do nothing because you are trying to be nice then you may think you are avoiding a bad situation, where in contrast, you made a bad situation worse.

US Soccer is taking a turn for the worst

It turns out that Bob Bradley will be the US MNT interim head coach. This was shortly after Jurgon Klingsman turned down the position, even though geographically it would have been a dream job for him. The man lives in Southern California where the Home Depot Stadium is. I guess USSF is still pinching their pennies to bring in a man who brought Germany in the Semi Finals and was a top player back in the 1994 world cup.

So the main question is will Bob Bradley get the job. My vibes are telling me it's not that great of a move. This is a guy who has been known to lose it more than Arena did in his tenure of the MNT. I do know for California referees, two of them, both FIFA at the time have given Bradley his walking papers. In an international setting, he's going to run in to much less tolerant referees.

What I wish is for Klingsman to reconsider taking the position. He would be much better in the running then Bradley.

Day of struggling

It seemed like everything I did today was a struggle. Tried to put together a scanner and it was a struggle. Tried to take a test and it was a struggle. Tried to solved all of other people's technical issues and it was a struggle.

On the flip side of things, my darling daughter has been doing great in school. I got three spelling tests handed to me, two of them she scored a perfect paper and got a 90% on the other. Nice to know the extra help we have given her has paid off.

USSF registration is fast this year

I thought it was amazingly fast when they got my referee license in about a month's time of submitting the paperwork, doing the check vs. the new referee registration electronically. I was afraid my upgrading paperwork would slip through the cracks. Turns out my instincts were correct because the www.d3refs.com web page now suggests registering this way for grade 7 and higher since we have additional paperwork to turn in. Well with my instructors license there was no paperwork involved with the reg form so I decided to give the electronics a try. As it turns out I got my license for 2007 in even half the time. Looks like there is a lot of improvement on the process to get it out in such a timely fashion.

Spent the better part of my day tearing down a scanner and bring it back up. Not really what I wanted to spend the day doing, but maybe the first hour or two was worth while. The rest I don't know about. I have to do the same tomorrow while chasing a call down to make sure he is up and running even though I think it's his program doing the problem because it works on another system.

For fun and entertainment my sister sent me this

Winning streak finally shot down

Well after a few tournaments where I have walked away with cash, it turned out last friday I finally got the boot with no cash. Placed 4th out of 9th and what got me the boot was I went all in on pocket 8's knowing that one player was left. As it turned out, she had pocket Aces and I never hit my card.

Find myself missing an old passion.

No, not an old girlfriend. I've been finding myself more and more missing my old passion for fencing. I fenced in De Anza College . When I first took it, it was more of a "hey this could be fun to do between classes."

I remember my first instructor, Elmer Gates. He was an old gentleman from Indiana. You could tell from the way he says Italian (He pronounces it Eye-talian). I remember slow learning the first class. That was because we were spending much of our time learning the footwork. A lot of it without the foil. So it was no surprise when I was at the class I was screwing up the parries. I remember he stepped in to help me on many occasion.

When we got into bouting, I found myself wanting to be a director (they now call them referees). By then I was getting the hang of the fencing. Then I was so stoked, I wanted to fence in the summer and then in the fall. Then I was taking fencing every quarter by the fall, I was a teacher's aid for the beginning class. Even bought my own mask, foil, and jacket.

I then was started to get bored with the class because I wasn't learning anything new. But then a friend I made in the class found a maestro who was teaching at nights at my old high school. I decided I was going to take a few classes. His name is John DeCesare. He was an interesting fellow. Gave me a few finer points in fencing which was different with Gates and a few new moves that I hadn't learned before.

It was then that I started competing. I took second in my first competition. Then there was the De Anza/West Valley fencing bash twice a year. I made some friends there. I also placed 2nd on the inaugural and first from there on out until I left.

Thing was I was also refereeing soccer and it got to a point one of them had to go. I chose the refereeing. See my post of how I became a referee for details. Problem is when you get to the pinnacle of a course, then you can only tune up what you know.

I then moved a bit up north after Gates retired. Before Gates retired, they needed a successor. Unfortunately I didn't have a degree or I could have taught the class easily. So it went to a rookie. She did one smart thing and take individual lessons from Connie Yu. Her daughter Jennifer, placed very well in National Competitions. I went to seek a new fencing place. I found Sword Play Fencing Academy. I actually discovered it during my college years as I was competing in the amateur level. It was a nice set up I remembered and the host, George Platt was pretty cool. I decided that was going to be my stomping ground where it could gear me up for better fencing and competitions.
At that point I had a wake up call. My competing in college was nothing compared to SPF and USFA competitions. There were kids who were better then me. It was discouraging, but after a while I just rolled with it and tried to be the best I could be. Before I hung up the equipment I did finally get ranked. By now the rank is gone since it lasts 4 years from last competition where you would earn the ranking.
What prompted me to write this was I was in Fullerton visiting my wife's family and my nephew and I were playing with light sabres a little aggressively and then it just brought back memories. As my nephew was wailing away with his sabre, it took little effort to parry his and then my daughter's at the same time. I was once told by old timers, fencing is like riding a bike. Once you get back on, you don't forget how to ride. I didn't believe it until that day.

Letter to a soccer parent

I was surfing the web blogs for some new material and this letter caught my eye. I took the name of the individual that wrote it, but I back up every word that is written here:

"Dear Soccer Parent:

I meant to say something to you Saturday. There you were at Skypark in Scotts Valley, watching the 1:00 PM game on Field #3. I had just finishedworking a couple matches as a center referee on the adjacent field. I letmyself be in too much of a hurry-- trying to get on with my day, so we didn'tget a chance to chat.I think that the game you were watching was an Under 11 boys game. Thereferee had apparently award a penalty kick that was being taken at theopposite end of the field -- nearly 100 yards away from where you werestanding.The first thing that I noticed, even from that distance, was that the centerreferee on the match looked only five or six years older than the playersaround him. Unfortunately, that didn't surprise me. For all the parentsthat come out to watch a Saturday morning soccer game, very few get involvedwith officiating. These games are dependent on a relatively small poolofficials who receive a little bit of training and typically get assigned tothe highest level of soccer game that matches their experience. They don'tget every call right, but every one I've run into tries very hard to do so.I was thinking about the maturity of that young referee. He has to use hisbest judgment in a situation where a number of adults will disagree withhim. I can't imagine that would be a comfortable situation for any youngboy or girl. I could just imagine how tough that would be if that refereeknows any of the parents around that field, as a neighbor, or maybe even ateacher -- how difficult would that be! Maybe that's why for all therecruiting of young referees that gets done Santa Cruz County, there isstill a growing deficit of officials, meaning we lose a lot of new officialsand the remaining ones must work more and more games.Anyway, I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't come over for a word withyou. I hope the Positive Coaching Alliance hasn't had the opportunity to visityour club ­ because if they have, there's probably a team full of parentsembarrassed to be at the same game with you.By the way, the next time I hear you say, "Ref, you suck" to a human beinghalf your age, I'll stop by to let you know how gutless and pathetic youappear to me.

Signed....

The Referee

The american dream is dying.

I was once raised that you went to school, you got a good education, and you get a good paying job. Well I went to school, I never finished college, I have a decent job. I watched the cost of education rise in the community college level. I have to confess, I didn't go to the four year college and I was afraid to look and see what the cost per semester would be. I was afraid for what I would do, I would go, get a student loan, and be in massive debt.
In fact I did get into debt on a trade school student loan. After going to this school I didn't land a job in the field. It took 3 years and more schooling (this time on a full ride scholarship) and then I landed the job I trained for. I was still paying off my student loan and it took another 3 years for that. Oh it was for less than 10K but I also was deep in debt until I hit a small windfall.

That is when I read this article about a Chiropractor, just out of school, is working two jobs, less than 50K a year. I'm not putting down the power of education, but the cost of it is getting so high, I fear for my daughter to have a fighting chance.

Woman fined for peace wreath

If the neighbor nazis (home owners association) have nothing better to do, they can fine some poor woman for putting up a peace wreath.

What I am thankful for

I know thanksgiving weekend is over, but I think it should be a time of year to reflect what I am thankful for during the past year:

The top of my list is, I'm thankful I have a loving wife who has stood behind me, even when I haven't always deserved it.

I'm thankful my baby Gabriel has gone a year with no seizures as the docs predicted he would have. I'm thankful he has not gotten worse but better with him hearing better, seeing better, and he is off the oxygen. We even went on a 5 day trip without the tanks. Not because we forgot them. Because we truly felt he didn't need them. And he is weening off the Phenobarbital quite well.

I'm thankful that I have a beautiful daughter inside and out. Outside she is just a pretty girl, but inside, she is unselfish, loving, easy going, and loves her baby brother so much. I couldn't ask for a better daughter. Well she could score a goal or two, but that would just be gravy.

I'm thankful the soccer season is over and even through my U8 team didn't have the best record, they had the best heart.

I'm thankful I got my grade 5 and even more greatful I have the card stating I am a grade 5 before the 1996 year is over (a first). I know next year will be interesting, but it will not be as tough as this year. I'm futher more greatful I had several upper referees watching my back in more ways then one. I honestly can say, I could not have done it alone.

I'm thankful I'm financially comfortable dispite all the financial set backs we have had. I was able to take a vacation with my wife without worrying what it costed.

I'm thankful we got a vacation with just the two of us. Made us realize we need to do that more. I almost forgot how fun it was to hang out with my wife even when doing nothing but watching a Dr. Phil scam.

I'm thankful for the support my friend and family during the emotional hardship we had with Gabe's health in the beginning. Without them, I don't know how we would have gotten through half of the things we endured.

I'm thankful I have a great boss who I can come to for problems, solutiions, or ideas without feeling shot down, even when rejected.

Crossroads was fun to watch

Spent the good part of the day yesterday watching District 3's finest youth referees. I will tell you, the majority of the youths were the most appreciative that they had someone to watch them and tweak their refereeing skills to make them better. Saw two of those youths keep a cool head when confronted (non violently) by coaches.

After watching some of the games and talking with the locals, a Dublin referee was asking when Dublin referees would get some mentoring. I agree as I'm trying to offer my services to DUSL for referee training. My goal...get it so they would have a meeting on say every first Wednsday of each month starting from Aug to Nov. We'll see if that flies.

A relaxing getaway

My wife and I spent the last couple of days relaxing in Calistoga. It was my first time there and I let my wife do most of the steering. I did my very first mudd bath. That was an odd, but relaxing feeling. The only thing is you tend to wash mudd out in places I didn't think I had. Then we did a 50 minute massage. After the whole ordeal we didn't want much to do of anything so we relaxed until dinner time where we downed a few beers and ate good food and dessert. The night before we hit a nearby sushi bar.

When I got home, in the mail greeted me my packet which contained my 2007 badge and grade 5 card. No more waiting for the paperwork to either complete or slip through the cracks.

Wednsaday night I had dinner at the Radsison. It was nice and I got to sit with the Mayor of Danville and of course her hubby Tony.

MLS cup 2006 analysis of the Referee

In the first 8 minutes there was a miscommunication with the AR prematurely bring up the flag and then a advantage take back after 3 seconds of the foul.

More mentioning on how Kinnear emulates Yallop's style. Will Dom ever be his own man?

11th min DeRosario is fouled.
12th Reis having a good game despite the sun in his eyes.
16th minute. Franchino gets a card for a late tackle on Mullen. Ref again showed late call, waiting to see if an advantage materialized.
Seruioux did a risky tackle in the 18th minute. No call in the box. Nice no call.
So far so good for the referee.
23rd minute Davis gets a card for a late tackle on Heaps.
Announcers mention how Twellmen has been having a difficult year in soccer and personal life. For the record, I believe Thelma should have been picked for the US National team. He was also passed over for
24th minute. Great save by Onstad from a great shot by Twellmen
32nd minute. Joseph took a love tap to Davis after Davis fouled him. Nothing done. Davis already has a card.
33rd. Chastain wanted to know if Dempsey will play. Nicohol said he does
DeRosario took a hard hit from behind. No call. DeRosario is pissed off.
35th minute. If soccer were like Texas Hold em, Dynamo started off with a chip lead but NE took it from them. Nobody is out yet though.
38th minute, the announcers love to make it a point for the 3rd time that Ricardo Clark is out due to a yellow card suspension.

39th Great save by Reis by DeRosario.
40th This is a goal keepers game as both keepers are coming up big.
41th Bloody hell!!! Danglish is not making any waves last the conf championship.
42th Joseph's getting fouled. May me a matter of time that someone gets a card for a PI
43rd. Heaps commits the foul. Heaps holds up the ball to delay the restart. No card. Didn't the referee read the same memorandum as the rest of us?
45th minute. Two players take each other out off the ball and the referee saw it because he raised his arm to it, but no call. Nobody is making a thing of it.
1 minute of stoppage
I fail to understand why referees have to wait until the ball is in play until the whistle for half time.
Half time stuff…

They showed Brian Ching's goal of the year and I have to say I did vote for him. This year was a tough choice, they thought Deosario would get it because he scored 50 yards from the line. Truth is the keeper's position or lack of helped him. Where Ching's goal was all skill and a lot less luck.
Day Break series premier sounds good.
So Don Garber stating they want to have one player per team without a salary cap. They are scoping on Beckham. Basically were looking at Bawling like Beckham the sequel. Also looks like it's going to be a lopsided season next year as Toronto is going to be the only ones coming in the fold. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I want to see more teams. Don't get me wrong. I just hate so see a lopsided number. What happened to Seattle? Or San Jose?

Have a mention how much I despise Bruce Arena. He's a prime example of a great leader gone bad. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

47th minute. Referee got too close to play. Got hit with the ball. Life goes on. Side note. Bruce is criticizing Dom's line up. Bruce, I screw up at the world cup, is criticizing Dom. Bite me Arena!

50th minute. Smart coaching by Dom. Cut off the interview to watch the game. There was one interview when Lorrie Fair
51st Another Delayed call by the referee. He is consistent. If you read Bob Evans' blog, you would understand why the scrutiny.
53rd minute. Fanchno's day is done as Smith takes over.
55th minute tough call
Not that I am one to talk and I', probably late in the game, but what the hell is with Dynamo players and beards?
58th minute. Bruce finally admits he doesn't always make grear decisions. Wow it took him 5 months to admit that.
61st minute. Dempsey is coming in. Is this a smart move by the coach or just giving the fans what they want?
63rd minute. Cochron caught the announcers attention with a good reading. Not much has been said about him. Did you know he played for the Sounders which won the A league championships? He was a major factor in that game. Also, coincidently, was the day my son was born.
68th minute…Let the players play Arena said. Thanks guys. Give Arena the floor to bitch about the referees in the world cup.
71st minute Dempsey proves how deadly he can be unmarked.
84th minute. Moreno gets an elbow by A. John. No red? This is gonna get ugly.
89th minute. Very slow foul by Mullen. Starting to see a bunch of aggressive, but clumsy fouls
One minute of stoppage time.
Had to feed the baby so I couldn't get into the analysys except Mullen has been fouling enough to get close to a PI.

2nd half OT
Twellman does a nice placement in the corner and then Ching answer less then a minute later with a goal of his own.

PK's This is what I call a goalkeeper's game. Reis guessed right and made the effort, but only saved Davis' Despite the stats of Reis getting more practice, Onstad's average was better and proved it.


In short since this is for the referee's while I'm not impressed with his history, he did a decent job in refereeing. He didn't do a great job. I felt he missed that elbow in the face. But take that out he did a good job.

On a winning streak.

Finally took up my local comic book shop owner's invite and played a tournament with regulars who usually place poker when I arrive. Basically mopped the floor with them all. All in a day's work.

So you want volunteers, eh?

Last night I went to my local soccer BOD meeting. Reason, my team had not one but two women who stepped up (that's an understatement) to be team moms. Both of them for what tasks they took on, did an awesome job. In all my years (not many but a handful) as a coach, I've had team mom's do a good job and some that did the minimum. These two really out did themselves. Where am I going with this? It is noted that there is an unwritten rule that states there is one team mom per team. The board was willing to vote that they could split the work deposit. To their defense, and I have to admit this is sound, they start doing that, then they would do it for all parents. Of course this is where a written rule should be allow.

Next week I'm going to do something I never done before. I'm going up to Calistoga with my wife. She's been dying to do this. I thought of Cache Creek, but one, it's expensive, and two we all know why I would be interested in going. The gambling of course. They even have Texas hold em. Problem is if I'm the one gambling, then were not really spending the quality time we should be and it's her turn, so my eyes are wide shut and I'm just going to try a new experience. Although after what Paula told me about the mud bath (the aftermath) I think I'll stick with the mineral. Perhaps some wine tasting will be in order. I love wine tasting.

Birth of the Joker

In case you wondered.
This little movie clip did a pretty good job explaining it.

Blog may be a bit slow for a while

I have decided I am going to take the entire High School Season off. This may include State Cup and Association Cup. My knee isn't going to get any better if I don't start taking care of it. I also want to train when it does get better so in the early spring I will be ready for whatever soccer throws at me.

Still reeling over my poker winnings. My wife tells me I seem to have an obsession with one player whom we seem to go back and forth. He was won the last one, and now I won this one and he was knocked out so bad that he didn't even take any money home. He usually does, even if it's just a buy in. Me? 95% of the time I at least broke even if not made a profit. At home, I have always made money, which I went in just not caring if I won or not so some other people would have the chance. Yet this round I seem to have taken out many of the heavy hitters this time.

A closing season, big pots, and going out with a bang

I open the post by announcing the end of the U8 Cheetah girl's season. No, it wasn't like U6 where we dominated most games, but for the ones we took in with no soccer playing experience and developed them into playing machines. Hopefully we get the same teams. We ended with great coaches gift as we got rolling duffel bags. I mean these were awesome and it has "Coach Giancarlo" on it. How cool is that?

At night we had my quarterly texas holdem tournament. Was hoping for 16 players but with 2 last minute bail outs and one last minute add on, we had 15 players which made it so we could have 4 places. We also had a loser table which made it so one more person could walk away with profits. Well I opened the first hand on my table with an all-in after I raised. I was looking to just take the pot that was already out there. Marty raised me. Basically a big mistake, because I decided to go all-in. Pablo called me and everyone else folded so one person was going to be eliminated. Cards are turned and I have pocket Aces. Pablo has pocket Jacks. What this means is the best chance for Pablo was to get another Jack without me getting an Ace. Neither one of us hit our cards so I won by default and Pablo lasted 25 seconds according to him. It left me in a good spot because all I did was snipe the rest of the game. When the table was consolidated, Denny had major chips as well as my cousin Danny. I was beginning to think I was short stacked. I managed to slow play my way up to a point where I was a threat again. Long story short, I took out Denny and a few hands later I took out Dan.

Today I had an U17 Boys match. Last game of the season. it was Dublin and Livermore. I knew they were going to play hard being the last game of the season and I had a feeling that they didn't think the red cards would follow them into Association Cup or the following season. For the first 10 minutes they were feeling each other out. Probably feeling me out, but I did call some fouls and already started to talk to Dublin regarding shirt pulls. In the 15th minute, two challenge for the ball. Ball is passed ahead to a Dublin player and then a Dublin player off the ball pushes a Livermore player down to make sure he doesn't get up. Which was a real stupid play because Dublin had a nice break away. I called it back and issued the first caution of the match. I was hoping that would give them the clue, I was not going to put up with any nonsense. I was wrong. 4 minutes later I had a Livermore player go in for a tackle from behind with the studs up, hitting the back of the leg. My red card was out before the Dublin player could say "ouch!" I was hoping that would send a message. I hear this old farts saying, "You need to get something back for the card." I was hoping to get a better behaved game. Well for the most part I got that from Livermore. I only booked a couple more players on their side for delayed restart and taunting. Dublin I had to issue cards in spades. A little delayed restart here, a UB there, and a Dissent here. The coach of Dublin was good to pull them out when I book them. I did even the teams in the second half when I sent a Dublin player off for a DOGSO and called a PK. When I approached him after calling the PK, he looked up and said, "Sorry." before I could get my red card out. He didn't dispute it. Neither did the others. Keeper asked me if it was for the tackling from behind. I said, "No. It was for DOGSO because the fact he was in the goal area when it happened and there was nobody between the attacker and the goal except you." Keeper accepted it graciously. After that I had a taunting, a few delayed restarts where the ball was kicked away after the call, and a player who picked up the ball after the foul to keep the other team from restarting. After the 8th caution the last 15 minutes were good and I had both behaving themselves. I usually don't listen to people after the game, but I use it sometimes to grade my performance. Both teams I got excellent game from both sides. Coaches didn't say anything negative. I had numerous spectators say it was a tough, but fair game.

Life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness

You have this right under the US constitution and in my Political Science class back in college, my teacher who's name escapes me now, said it best. You have these rights as long as they do not infrindge on other people's rights. So when that jackass Bush decided to sign the bill stating online gambling is illegal because we need it to protect us from ourselves, it pure bullshit. Hey I pay my taxes like the next guy. As my cousin and I were talking he said, "Pave the roads, have the police out to protect us, and keep my house from burning, but don't tell me what to do with my money."

If you read the hyperlink above it tells about a lady who gambled 70,000 online. Now that is someone who has a problem. However, guys like me who are to put 50 bucks in and hope for the best, well, leave us alone. Before this law passed, the banks would not approve our credit card purchases to gamble. At first I was pissed, but in that sense, they need to do that so they don't wind up eating 70,000 when the tab comes but the consumer can't even make a monthly payment. But to wire transfer from my bank with my own money is my damn business. I don't need some jackass in the white house to screw with how I do my funds.

I do know when it comes to voting, I will not vote for politicians. I will vote for measures because those affect us. I won't vote for people like Arnold who signed on as a democrat, but is a republican by heart. In fact those parties mean less each year and if it is miserable, why even call it a party?