Fawkner Park, St. Kilda.  Saturday 3:30pm.

At this time and place, two disparate groups composed of mixed nationalities, a spectrum of ages, and a variety of skill levels gather to engage in the sport of kings, proper football, soccer.  One group represents all that is good in mankind, the hope for future peace, and the ambivalence of a trans-world understanding.  The other … assholes.  Pure and simple.

It’s good soccer vs. evil soccer. [Read Column]

For some reason this week I feel a prepossession to talk about my favorite sport, soccer.  Maybe its because I had a good game on the weekend and I’m still convinced that my crippled knees can sustain another ten years of running in place and hacking shins.  Maybe its because I’ve discovered a strongly Bavarian heritage and have selected Bayern Munchen as the team from my homeland.  Who knows and quite frankly who cares?

Point is … I’m writing another soccer article.  This one focuses on assembling the best squad from the history USA Men’s National Team.  Thankfully its not as daunting as it might be for Brazil or Italy, digging through the archives of 100 years of futbol.  For example, our talent is so lean that the USA has the most Centurions of any country (100 caps, aka appearances).

But there were some hard choices … [Read Column]

Are you having a bad day?  Life not treating you kindly?  Perhaps you find your current circumstances unfair?  There are times when you try your best, but due to blind misfortunte or serendipity only failure results?  Well, well … on those days when you are feeling low, I want you to remember the story of a man named Kakhaber Kaladze. [Read Column]

A lot of news has recently come up over a young lady … um … young person named Caster Semenya.  Basically, there is a dispute over the South African sprinter’s gender after she/he/it dominated in the 800m in the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.  During the championships, other sprinters claimed that Caster Semenya was … wait for this … a dude.  I’ve got some thoughts on this and like Sherlock Holmes, I believe I can solve the case of the missing baton with deductive reasoning. [Read Column]