Oxnard: Year 3, Day 1

Day 1 of The Ticket at training camp means a few things. Let’s refresh:

1) The blog gets up a little later. I will shoot for 10am Central, but 9am isn’t happening.
2) The blog will generally have more Cowboys. (it’s time, buddy)
3) Parcells will knock out 45 minutes of BaD Radio each day for the next 3 weeks. (of course, since we get our hour from Dale, we will still take this!)

I haven’t been to practice yet (am going as soon as I am done here).

Nick Eatman’s Sunday workout report …

Rafael Vela’s take on the Sunday workout …I think I need to meet, Rafael. He does nice work…

Meanwhile, I haven’t written word #1 about the Carlos Lee trade, and since it happened, the Rangers have lost 2 of 3 to the Royals. That has nothing to do with the trade. That has more to do with a team that was already in a funk. In the most crucial stretch in their schedule, the Rangers had 20 of 26 on the road. And yet, they took their dive on those 6 home games. I just don’t get how they could let that happen, but now it is on to Minnesota.

As for the trade, it is genius on every level. This team is about 60 home runs behind last year’s pace, and they just didn’t have a dangerous lineup (I wrote about that last Wednesday) and now they do (for at least two months). Lee and Nelson Cruz are now the two biggest bodies on the team, and they really insert talent to a lineup that was feeble. I like the move even though I hated the results of the weekend.

Rangers salvage one game from Royals …

Texas ended a frustrating homestand by frustrating the Kansas City pitching staff in a 15-2 win at Ameriquest Field. The victory kept the Rangers from slipping into the cellar of the AL West and ends their seasonlong six-game losing streak. They are three games behind division-leading Oakland and a half-game up on last-place Seattle.

The Rangers hitters did the best thing they could for the starting rotation: They made it irrelevant.

Texas jumped all over Royals starter Mark Redman, whose name has surfaced in trade rumors of late. The Rangers scored 12 runs in the second, third and fourth innings – six of those off Redman. It was a much-needed tonic after a disappointing week.
Michael Young and Mark DeRosa led the way with eight hits and six RBIs between them. Young was the designated hitter for the third time this season and is 12-for-16 as a DH. The Rangers converted sacrifice bunts and played fundamentally sound baseball.

Here, Are the plans for the BCS this year ….I really dig the new Fox College Football commercials, too, with the dudes climbing the ladders and all…

There are big changes ahead again, including the creation of a true championship game. But BCS officials are understandably worried. Fans may not grasp the format, and officials aren't sure how Fox will present its multimillion-dollar product.

Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg spent the last two years as the BCS coordinator, a role he was relieved to relinquish. Last week, he agreed that Joe Fan may not know the new BCS national title game is Jan. 8, after the four other BCS games have been played.

Here's how it works. The top two teams in the BCS standings on Dec. 3 will meet in the national title game in Glendale, Ariz., home of the Arizona Cardinals' new stadium. Eight more teams will be selected to play in the Fiesta, Sugar, Orange and Rose bowls.

Once the bowl lineup is set, that's it. The winners of any of the other BCS games do not advance to the championship game.

Remember the Cleveland Library dude? …follow up on his story!

Borat the Movie is coming! …




Samuel Jackson = the voice of God? …

Movie superstar SAMUEL L JACKSON will voice God in a new audio version of the Bible. The taped recording of the New Testament will feature many famous other black actors and musicians. Jackson was given the lead role because producers felt his deep, authorative voice was perfect for the role of God.

Check out this re-edit of Office Space! …

Now, to the story of the day: Here is RomaFC.Net …They are an adult soccer team in Dallas that is shocking the soccer world.

There story is out there, but you need to read it for yourself! From the San Diego Paper …

And, NY Times …

Next week, Schell and the players from Dallas Roma F.C., an amateur team of players who are household names only in their own households, will pack their bags and head for a lower-priced motel nearest the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. They will play the Los Angeles Galaxy, the defending champion, in the quarterfinal round of the Lamar Hunt United States Open Cup.

Roma advanced in perhaps the biggest upset in Open Cup history, defeating Chivas USA of Major League Soccer on July 12 in a penalty kick shootout. Think of the Kamloops Blazers beating the Carolina Hurricanes for the Stanley Cup or the Tulsa 66ers ousting the Detroit Pistons from the N.B.A. playoffs. Around the world, cup competitions, which are contested while league seasons are in full swing, offer the soccer minnows an opportunity to step onto the same field as higher-paid opposition like Manchester United and Bayern Munich. Upsets become the stuff of legend.

“Every year at this time, I get to act like a G.M., like I know what I’m doing,” said Schell, Roma’s 31-year-old coach who runs a company, Audio Systems Plus, with his brother, Dominic, one of the team’s midfielders. “People call it my hobby, but it feels like the big time. So this year, I’m a G.M. competing against M.L.S. guys.”
The first Open Cup was won by the Brooklyn Field Club in 1914, and it is the oldest team competition in the United States. In 1999, the tournament was named for Lamar Hunt, a founder of the American Football League (and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs), the North American Soccer League and M.L.S. (he runs the Kansas City Wizards, a team that is for sale).

Like the English Football Association Cup, after which it is modeled, the Open Cup is exactly that — open to all amateur and professional teams affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation.

Play begins with regional qualifying for teams affiliated with the United States Adult Soccer Association (which includes Roma), then integrates teams from the United Soccer Leagues (First and Second Divisions — minus the three Canadian teams — and the Premier Development League, whose teams are largely composed of college players who maintain their amateur status). M.L.S. clubs have byes in the early rounds.

Players on the winning team split $100,000 and claim the Dewar Cup, with the runner-up getting $50,000. M.L.S. teams have won the competition the past six years and in nine of the past 10 years. Teams from each of the lower divisions that advance the furthest receive $10,000, a prize that Roma will take with another victory.

Roma’s victory against Chivas was the first time a nonleague amateur team defeated a professional squad since M.L.S. teams started to participate in the tournament in 1996, the league’s first season. Roma, which plays in the North Texas Premier Soccer Association, will be playing its fourth game in the Cup after eliminating the Laredo Heat of the P.D.L., Miami F.C. of the U.S.L. First Division and Chivas USA.

Roma’s roster is an ever-changing collection as the team’s success keeps attracting players, some of whom played for the Dallas Sidekicks of the Major Indoor Soccer League, and a few, like Schell’s brother, who briefly played in M.L.S. All of Roma’s players have full-time jobs, which means the club practices at 7 a.m. five days a week.

Please donate to their cause if you can on their website. It is a great story, and it is happening in our little city of Dallas….Good luck, boys.