texanspaniard

Here is my Real Madrid starting XI off the top of my head: GK: Iker Casillas DF: Manolo Sanchis DF: Fernando Hierro DF: Roberto Carlos DF: Sergio Ramos MF: Guti MF: Zinedine Zidane MF: Xabi Alonso FW: Emilio Butragueño FW: Raul FW: Cristiano Ronaldo And here are some I really wanted to fit in there but ultimately didn't: Michel Hugo Sanchez Juanito Fernando Morientes Luis Figo Gonzalo Higuain I went back and forth the most about El Buitre and Hugo but El Buitre was probably my first big football idol as a kid so I went with him even though Hugo probably would put more goals in. This is tough off the top of my head, I may have to revisit this later if I have time to research but off the top of my head, from the time I've been following which is roughly 1980-81 to present this is what I came up with.

I know I had mentioned a while back that I wouldn't be home for the final but yeah, I was out for the final and recorded it to watch when I got home. I was so nervous all day. The closer it got to getting home the more nervous I was getting to the point of suffering physical pain. And then the match.. For so long it was just horrible agonizing suffering. That goal for Atletico, just crushed me. And as the match went onto Stoppage time I was just so devastated that Atletico were going to win and La Decima was going to be again so far away. And then... THAT HANDSOME MAN SERGIO RAMOS!! HOLY MOLY! From despair to dreams and hopes kept alive at the DEATH! And then extra time, Di Maria, the bounce, Gareth Bale.. WORTH EVERY PENNY! Scores the winner in the Copa del Rey final and now this! I must be dreaming! I MUST BE DREAMING! And then a bit later... MARCELO!! 3-1?!! The tears began here, small tears but tears. The full on bawling hit with Ronaldo's Penalty! LA DECIMA EXISTE! LA DECIMA EXISTE! I MUST BE DREAMING OUT OF MY MIND GLORIOUS UNBELIEVABLE DREAMING! LA DECIMA EXISTE!!!! I cried like a baby for a long while. It was such a hard reminder, much like the World Cup in 2010 at first, of my mother's passing. Lots of tears and besos with mi amor and then trophy time, SAN IKER LIFTS LA DECIMA and.. it is just flying! Flying in a dream! It's irrational, it's purely emotion, but it is just amazing and unbelievable and just.. flying in a dream! So please excuse my babbling and everything right now, I just can not believe this is real and this has happened! LA DECIMA EXISTE! HALA MADRID! HALA MADRID!

Those two Benfica PKs were so bad. The fact that one did almost the same approach after seeing how badly it went for the player before him was just mind blowing. As the 2nd half came to a close I pretty much knew this was going to PKs 'cos you could just tell, if neither side had made the crucial mistake yet to open it up it wasn't going to come now. Congratulations to Sevilla, their 3rd UEFA Cup, if memory serves me right.

I watched Hausu (1977) a bit ago for the first time. YOWZA! I don't know what I watched but it was like nothing I think I've ever seen before! I did enjoy it but I am not sure how to process it. Very interesting film!

This has turned into a potentially disastrous day for La Decima dreams. Ronaldo out after 8 minutes due to injury, the extent of which not yet known but he did not look happy at all. It looked like Pepe and DiMaria were struggling with potential injuries as well. If we lose those three for the Champions League final.. I just don't see it happening. I don't care about the 1-1 draw with Valladolid in terms of La Liga 'cos I felt we lost La Liga a while back between the Atletico draw, the Classico loss and the loss to Sevilla. I really only want La Decima, that is the only thing I want and it looks so close yet even further away now. EDIT: New Papa Ramos' free kick goal was great though!

I was rooting for Valencia myself so yeah, after making that big comeback after the 1st leg it was pretty sad for it to get taken away in the dying moments. I have nothing against Sevilla, I just have a softer spot for Valencia over them through the years. I agree with Death From Above that I see Benfica winning this. They made the final last year and here they are again. Yesterday they went down to 10 men and then later down to 9 men due to Garay's injury and all the substitutions being used up, yet they managed by guts and the skin of their teeth to keep that score 0-0 and make the finals. I was hoping for a Valencia-Juventus final myself but an all Iberian final is good too. Benfica-Sevilla should be a fun game. All the European finals are Iberian affairs this season (Spain vs Spain, Portugal vs Spain).

We had an all Spain CL Final before Italy, England and Germany so we had to up the ante somehow since so many copied us. Joking aside, honestly I would have rather Real Madrid face Chelsea than Atletico in the final. The thought of possibly being denied La Decima by our city rivals and their supporters joining Barcelona supporters in taunting us with "La Decima No Existe" chants because they have denied Los Blancos the 10th makes me very sad. I know me, personally, I was glad I did not celebrate (ie imbibe) making the final, as only winning finals is worth celebrating. It will be the toughest match of the entire season, but of course it always was going to be. Another twist for me personally, I actually will be away most of that day and will miss watching the Final live on the 24th. I'm going to do my best to avoid any news that day so when I get home that evening I can sit and watch it (recorded) and let it play out. So I may have a delayed reaction on the 24th but I'll have some kind of reaction. Whatever happens, win or lose, HALA MADRID! Excited to see who makes the Europa League finals from today's 2nd legs. Should be good.

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! Am I dreaming?! Real Madrid are in the finals again! HALA MADRID! I have no words or logical thinking or anything right now, just crazy spazzing out going nuts! La Decima is possible! LA DECIMA IS POSSIBLE! HALA MADRID! HALA MADRID! HALA MADRID POR SIEMPRE!

Goodness! My heart was in my throat for both halves! I wish Los Blancos had made good on the 3-4 goal scoring opportunities they wasted but the 1-0 aggregate lead will have to do. It's not a good lead, I know, especially going to Munich for the 2nd leg, but any lead is better than no lead. Bayern can easily overturn this in the 2nd leg, so I'll be even more tense and anxiety filled next week! Whatever happens, HALA MADRID!

HALA MADRID! Oh man, that was an intense game! Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona! Gracias, ReiseReise! If it wasn't Holy Week I'd go all out on celebration! HALA MADRID!

I had some password/log in issues for a few days but I have it all sorted out now. I just wanted to say that the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Hillsborough tonight was incredible, intense, heartbreaking, gutting and powerful. I hope ESPN replays it often because everyone needs to see it. Incredible documentary!

It's only half time but the score and the way the Dortmund-Real game is going I think there is a very sad evening awaiting me tonight.

First off, HUGE props to BL88 for putting this together and doing a great job of it! And here is my Top 25 Ballot:

I knew Real would drop points still in this season, I could just feel it. I didn't know it would be the very next game. *sobs* Things may still play out very interesting as I wouldn't be totally surprised if Atletico and Barcelona dropped some kind of points going forward as well. If nothing else, it could come down to the last day between Atletico and Barcelona, when they play each other on the last day. That'll be something. As for Bayern, yeah, I think they will most likely repeat as Champions League winners this season. I don't want them to, I want La Decima, but I'm being realistic. Bayern will probably repeat the Treble, which will be unprecedented.

I didn't get to see El Classico til late last night via this or that on the internet. I enjoyed the first half more than the second half. First half was great football with two sides really going for it. Second half was ugly, at times a bit of a farce, with dives, undeserved PKs for both sides, a red that should not have been a red, Busquets raking Pepe's head with his studs, but lots of drama and fight and fire from both sides. It was like lots of El Classicos to be honest. Los Blancos made some dumb defensive mistakes and the ref was bad both ways. There is at least one more El Classico for certain left this season coming up on April 19th for the Copa del Rey final. The way La Liga looks at the top is pretty nuts though after this game. Atletico is on top w/ 70pts, Real are in 2nd w/70pts and Barcelona are in 3rd w/69pts. Atleti have the top spot via the win over Los Blancos earlier in the season despite being tied on points. So many things can and probably will decide this season over the next nine games are left (I think it's nine games at least?). There is a scenario though where Real & Atleti could be tied going into the final day, a day that Barcelona face Atletico. If Barca & Atletico tied or Barcelona won then Real Madrid could win the league provided they win that day. If Real Madrid win that day, in this hypothetical scenario, and Atletico beat Barcelona then Atletico would win the league. If Real Madrid lose or tie that day then Barcelona could win the league by beating Atletico in this scenario. So there is a potential insane last day scenario that could play out in La Liga but I think one, two or all three of the teams will drop some points before that last day and things will probably not be that dramatic on the last day of the season. The last time I saw La Liga this close with more than just Real & Barca up for winning it was the 2006-2007 season, which was an amazing season.

I've always believed in bogey teams my entire life when it comes to football ie always afraid of France & Italy at international tournaments though the last six years have seen decades of that get smashed. I still fear German clubs 'cos our history is not good against them, the results against Schalke not withstanding. We'll see.. I'm hoping for the best though!

Not Dortmund again! AIEEEEEEE! I am very scared of that match up.

I did indeed enjoy the game & result yesterday between Schalke & Real Madrid! I think Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo worked really well and I'm excited to see what happens. I can't imagine, outside of crazy red cards which is not out of the realm of possibility, that Schalke will overcome the 6-1 aggregate, so I think Los Blancos are safe for the Quarter-Finals. No idea if they will advance beyond that, we'll have to see what the draw comes up with. I suspect Bayern Munich will have the most to say about who will win the Champions League this season. If Bayern make the finals, I think we're getting our first back to back repeat since AC Milan (1989, 1990). But we'll see, like with all sports anything can happen. Now about those Europa League games today? I only saw Napoli vs Swansea and Tottenham vs Dnipro and clips of other matches but looks like there were a lot of exciting games today. EDIT: Forgot to mention, this past weekend both Barcelona and Atletico had surprising losses that allowed Real to take top spot in La Liga. We'll see how long that lasts but it's exciting to be into the Copa del Rey final, top of La Liga and seemingly one foot into the quarter-finals of the Champions League. I wasn't sure how things would go with losing Ozil this season but it seems to be working out!

Sorry I haven't been around, just been very busy! Last weekend was very frustrating in that Real Madrid had a chance to go top of La Liga with a win and a loss or draw by Atletico because of Barcelona's loss to Valencia at the Nou Camp. Of course Athletic Bilbao are a tough club and we drew with them while Ronaldo was dumb and got a pointless red card, and Atletico won their match. So this weekend, Atletico lose at Almeria and both Real and Barca win their games so now the three teams are all tied at 57 points with Goal difference separating them. This is shaping up to be one of the more exciting La Liga seasons in some time! In the Copa del Rey, Real defeated Atletico 3-0 in the 1st leg, 2nd leg is tomorrow. I suspect we will get an El Classico final though.

Not sure if anyone would be interested in this but I started a podcast project titled "Homemade Noise" that features unsigned, aspiring, amateur, hobbyist musicians & songwriters who record their music from home. The blob address is: http://homemadenoise.wordpress.com/ And it's also on Youtube at: Thanks for any views and/or listens! It is appreciated!

I still have tons and tons of VHS tapes full of wrestling in bins and boxes. I have very slowly been trying to transfer them to DVD via connecting a VCR to my DVD Recorder but it's hard to find time for it.

I recently read Haruki Murakami's "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running". I enjoyed reading this a lot. I used to run lots and lots when I was younger so I connected with a lot of that content but there is also a lot of great stuff about his creative process and philosophies towards work and structuring the daily routines of one's life towards greater goals and so forth. It's very short but it doesn't feel lacking in content at all.

ReiseReise, yes this could be a good move for Ozil and I know that Real have players to step up and are currently not even using a formation that makes the most of Ozil and his abilities and potential at the moment. I am just sad because he's been great in the club these past three seasons. We have Isco and he is working out great in the current formation and I'm sure Bale will workout great as well. I hope we hold onto DiMaria at least. Also, haven't watched all of this, but during the Bale presentation the crowd began chanting that "Ozil was not for sale" and Florentino Perez shushed them. Yikes! HALA MADRID!

I'm soooooooooo unhappy with Real Madrid selling off Oezil. He and DiMaria have been so great for the club. Oezil has been the biggest supplier for Ronaldo's gazillion goals for the club. I hope the Bale thing is worth it, otherwise they're gutting the engines of the squad a bit.

I watched the Granada-Real Madrid game online (I don't get BeIN Sports on my cruddy cable service), Real Madrid dominated possession and chances by a lot but while they created lots of great chances their finishing was not up to it. The Benzema goal probably should have been ruled off sides but it stood so I will take it since it was the winner. Granada didn't show much offense wise most of the match but they have a very scrappy defense. Late in the 2nd half Granada really should have had a penalty kick but it wasn't given and the crowd reacted accordingly. This seemed to energize the home team and the last three minutes of stoppage time were very tense and nervy because Granada was really pouring it on trying to score and looked likely to do so at least twice. But Los Blancos held on for the 1-0 win. Very glad for the win but I am concerned that Real Madrid looked a lot better in the Pre-Season than they do now in the regular season. Diego Lopez was in goal yet again, so the GK drama continues. DiMaria was really great in the game today, I hope the rumors of him leaving to possibly Arsenal or anywhere else are false.