Seeing the Beatles in Person...Almost

I am a lucky man. I have seen Jordan many times. I have seen Tiger Woods many times. I have seen Gretzky many times. I have seen Favre many times (ok. Maybe you don’t think he is in that same class, but may I remind you who owns this blog?). I saw MJ score 50. I saw Mike Tyson in the ring. I saw Dale Earnhardt win a race. I saw David Beckham score a goal. I saw Barry Bonds hit a home run. And I saw Brett Hull score a goal to win a Stanley Cup. All of these I have seen in person. Seeing the best sports has to offer with your own two eyeballs is one thing that we all enjoy about being a fan. I have been very lucky and have made quite a list.

And this morning, I am proud to report that I can add to that list.

I have seen Ronaldinho with my own two eyes. And he is amazing.

It is safe to assume that many who read this will have no idea who I am speaking of. I wish you could have joined me last night. It was like seeing Jordan for the first time. 92,000 humans were there to see one man. And he knew it. He put on a show and demonstrated why many consider him the best soccer player on the planet.

All Hail, Ronaldinho!

LA Times Report ….

Their name and their fame preceded them to Los Angeles, none more so than Ronaldinho, who caused camera flashes to sparkle like gold dust in the Coliseum twilight Sunday evening.

For months, soccer fans in the area had talked about the summer visit of FC Barcelona, the defending European and Spanish champion, and its game against Mexican power Chivas de Guadalajara.

A more mouth-watering clash of club teams could hardly be imagined, which is why a sellout crowd of 92,650 showed up at the Coliseum.

That number set two records. It was the largest crowd to watch a club match in the U.S. and the largest soccer crowd ever at the Coliseum, surpassing the 91,585 who turned out to see Mexico play Argentina in 1999.

The game didn't quite live up to the billing, but both coaches pronounced themselves satisfied with the 1-1 tie.

Press Telegram’s Report …

Yet for 45 minutes it felt precisely like the exhibition that it was. Barcelona forward Samuel Eto'o created some dangerous chances, but little else interested the crowd.

Then Ronaldinho entered to a standing ovation and a sea of flashbulbs.

"I don't think the atmosphere could have gotten any better," Guadalajara coach Jose Manuel de la Torre said.

Almost immediately the tenor the game changed, with Barcelona creating myriad chances often with Ronaldinho at the center of them.

Midway through the second half, a cross landed at Ronaldinho's feet, but his shot was knocked down by goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera.

"It was great to play in the United States," said Ronaldinho, who exchanged phone numbers with Kobe Bryant when they met Saturday. "The reception from the crowd was exceptional."

And yet one more report that properly captures the entrance of the great one …

Ronaldinho, the Brazilian offensive phenomenon, set up FC Barcelona's only goal in a 1-1 tie against Chivas de Guadalajara in front of 92,650 at the Coliseum. It was the largest crowd to watch club soccer in the United States.

Ronaldinho, the two-time FIFA player of the year, made a dramatic entrance after he spent the first half on the bench in a team polo shirt, shorts and sandals before trotting to the locker room one minute before halftime.

When he trotted onto the field in full uniform for the start of the second half, Ronaldinho received a loud ovation amid the popping of thousands of camera flashes.

The following is amazing. So, back in January, on texags.com, a poster knew about Rhett Bomar’s issue at the car dealership. Of course, he was doubted at the time, but now “Aggiegrant06” is the man at The messageboard for his work …

aggiegrant06
posted 1:30a, 1/30/2006

I ill try to be as discrete as possible, because i din't want to implicate someone and then get sued. My girlfriend works in the office of a large dealership where we live. She has only been there about a month, and she was dealing with handing out payroll checks. She didn't recognize several of the names, and asked her boss. Her boos told her that she would take care of them, and that it was no big deal. She thought it was fishy and asked me....the checks were made out to football players of the local University, and even though they had never actually been to work there, they were recieving HUGE!!!! pay checks. On top of this a player was in buying a car recently, and when she say the finance stuff, he had only paid about 1/100th of the sticker price. Is this legal?

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ColleyvilleAg06
posted 1:44a, 1/30/2006

dude go away.

i hope your ip address gets banned.

Let me get this straight she didnt recognize the names but knew they were football players....riggggggght. Wouldnt you think it would be better for a paper trail to not give out a regular check and perhaps just pay cash?? idiot.

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agg98
posted 2:04a, 1/30/2006

1) you didnt name the school

2) your story is 99.9% bull****

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aggiegrant06
posted 2:27a, 1/30/2006

I am not lying, and I am not bull****ting. The school is OU, and the specific player is Bomar.

Wow. Surely if you are going to get paid by a car dealership there is another way to pay you without leaving a pay-stub paper trail, right?

Meanwhile, Just when our hopes were up, The Rangers tank in amazing fashion over the weekend …

There probably have been worse ways to end the first week of the pennant race.
But if not the all-timer, Sunday's 9-1 loss to Los Angeles certainly will be in the photo finish.

The Rangers lost starter Adam Eaton just 18 pitches into the game. One pitch after Garret Anderson blasted a three-run homer, Eaton threw a fastball behind Juan Rivera, earning an ejection from home plate umpire Rob Drake without so much as a warning.

"It was a comedy of errors," Eaton said. "It was just a situation where a lot of things happened to come together in a bad way."

Eaton was talking just about the game. He offered a pretty good summation of the Rangers' last 24 hours and even their week.

The Rangers lost today's starter before the game was over. Kip Wells is headed back to Dallas to have an achy shoulder examined.

Oh, and the Rangers somehow managed to lose ground in the AL West race despite carving out a 4-3 record for the week while playing at the two teams that share the league's best record since July 1. The Rangers trail division leader Oakland, the next stop on the Masochism 2006 Road Trip, by 4 ½ games. It's the biggest deficit the Rangers have faced all season.

The Mavericks are pleased with their summer …

Not everything came together like the Mavericks planned.

Top free-agent target Mike James spurned similar offers from the Mavericks and Houston to go to Minnesota.

But Anthony Johnson, brought to Dallas in a three-for-one trade with Indiana, is a tough-minded complementary point guard with enough talent to score 40 points in a playoff game last season.

Free agents Greg Buckner, once the Mavericks' defensive conscience, and Devean George, who has been to four Finals, were acquired under the $5.2 million mid-level exception. As a bonus, first-round pick Maurice Ager showed he has an NBA future in the Las Vegas summer league.

Backup power forward Austin Croshere, obtained for enigmatic Marquis Daniels, could be at least as productive as Keith Van Horn. Undrafted rookie Pops Mensah-Bonsu is a 6-9 athlete who will be given time to develop.

The lingering question: Do the Mavericks believe the team they have now is better than the team that finished the playoffs?

"I do," owner Mark Cuban wrote in an e-mail. "We have more depth and athleticism, and we have a lot more flexibility. I think our free-agent signings were the steal of the summer. We never expected we could get both Buck and Devean with our mid-level. We thought both were at least full mid-level, if not higher, players."

Finally, After Aggie and Longhorn both got to celebrate their school’s big hits in this space last week, Red Raider has complained. So, apologies to Tech and Here is Slay killing a poor QB from Kansas State. Poor Quality video, Tech Fan.



I assume you know that Troy and Rayfield were inducted over the weekend, right?
Good. Because I don't have more time to post it.