Your Body: Tossed Pasta
July 24, 2007
I’ve been thinking about some new things to do for the Your Game, Body & Mind sections and thought sharing a few new dishes to prepare prior to games or tournaments would be cool and resourceful. For the soccer moms out there this might be a good thing or a bad thing. More importantly, for the players its gotta be a good thing so, if they start bugging you to make a dish they found here well, you’ll have to get mad at me. However, if you get mad at me then shame on you!
Here’s a scrumptious dish packed with carbs:
Tubular rigate pasta (e.g. penne or cavatappi, shown above)
Tomatoes, chopped
Black olives
Fresh basil, chopped
Basil and garlic pesto
Mozzarella, cubed
Cook the pasta pasta like penne or cavatappi (shown above) to your taste. I like mine al dente, which takes about 10 minutes for cavatappi, 8 minutes for penne. Drain the pasta.
Toss pasta together with remaining ingredients. There you have it: my favourite quick meal.
Sometimes I substitute shredded chicken for the mozzarella, use different cheeses and herbs, add chopped artichoke hearts, or use another type of pesto or sauce. But the original version remains my favourite. I am a basil fiend.
Cheers,
Jason
ESPN Ratings for Galaxy v. Chelsea
July 24, 2007
Well the numbers are out and ESPN has now announced a 1.0 ratings share, which equals about 1,468,000 viewers. Does anyone else think that ONLY 1.5 million people watched the match on ESPN Saturday night? There was standing room only in the stadium, there were thousands of reporters and a circus like atmosphere, but we only drew that type of viewership on television? Jeez - you would think there would be more than 1.5 million Chelsea fans wanting to see their team!
If thats the case - I am extremely disappointed by that # (if in fact it is true, which I dont think it is). Especially since it wasn’t like Beckham played the first few moments and then was subbed - which meant that all viewers left once he left the pitch. He didn’t enter the match until the 77th min and no one knew when he would be subbed in. So you would think that people would watch the entirety of the game, through the final whistle.
I was thinking that there would have been a much larger share for this event. I know its a cable channel, but hell, almost 90% of people who have a TV have cable these days, and almost 100% of basic cable packages have ESPN as a channel. So I would think that almost anyone with a TV has ESPN, which makes these figures even more disappointing.
Im still not sold that its accurate…thoughts?
Until then, Get Stuck In!
Copa PanAmericana Final - Boca v Cruz Azul
July 22, 2007
Had the opportunity of covering the Final of the Copa PanAmericana, which pitted Cruz Azul against Boca Juniors. The match was at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ and probably had a few thousand people in the stands. I would have to say even though there weren’t that many people there - their energy could have filled two stadiums. The stadium rocked with horns blaring and screaming fans….I do have to say that it was pretty loud for only a few thousand fans.
On the pitch - Cruz Azul pulled a shocker by beating Boca Juniors 3-1. Israel Lopez scored twice (45, 83), and Cesar Delgado beat Pablo Migliore in the 73rd. The match was a little slow in the first half, but things opened up and we saw a bit more of a counterattack from both teams.
All in all it was a great match and a great opportunity to cover this event. A big thank you goes out to Armando of Forza Football, who took the trip from LA to assist in covering the match with us. He had the opportunity of covering the Friday evening games, and also covered the final today with me.
So for all of you Cruz Azul fans, and even you disappointed Boca fans - keep an eye on our site you will see about 100 pictures uploaded for your viewing pleasure, if your not already a member, come to www.zigazoga.com, and sign up (ITS FREE) and join in on the fun!
Until then, Get Stuck In,
Off the Pitch - Beckham’s Influence
July 22, 2007
For those of you in the soccer community, I would assume that 99.5% of you were in front of a TV (if you weren’t one of the lucky 27,000ish in the stadium during the Galaxy’s match vs. Chelsea last night. The buzz in the "air" for this match was quite palpable.
Before I go into the influence that Becks will have on the league, I did want to make one point to the media (for which I am theoretically a member of, but wouldn’t act the in the manner which was shown last night). Before the match, when Becks made it to the bench - there had to be hundreds of photographers, reporters and the like surrounding him, with barriers and security holding them off. I have never seen this happen in Madrid or Manchester where Beckham is an even bigger superstar. We do NOT want to make his arrival to the MLS a circus and I tell you what - I truly felt that last night it was when I saw this gaggle surrounding the players area. This is absolutely ridiculous - lets cover the sport for what it is - a football match and not act like a bunch of crazed paparazzi. Ok - let me get down from my soap box now!!
You could tell that the Galaxy was pumped to have Becks on their team - the team played respectably for a team that is on the bottom of the table…Even Jose Mourihno stated how well the team played because of the motivation given by Beckham. Donovan actually had a chance to equalize, but missed a header that should have been a goal, so the Galaxy lost 1-0. Many of the players, including Ty Harden and Kyle Martino commented on how awesome it was that David suited up and played for 15 mins, even though he wasn’t completely fit. It shows his dedication to the team and to his teammates. You could see him on the bench (considering we had 4 different Beckham Cams and views shown to us every 30 seconds) that he was getting into the game, complaining about calls, giving players high fives when they left the pitch, and even getting the ball when he was warming up. He is acting just like one of the guys, and I think that is VERY important.
As you know - he did play - didn’t really do much (although he had a beautiful 60 yard pass which was like a laser right on target), but the few minutes he was on the pitch just again showed his dedication to the team and will do wonders to increase moral, confidence, and motivate this team to start winning. This is why his being in the MLS will help the league from the get go. Beckham, however, isn’t the only piece of the pie to increase awareness in the US, nor will all the the celebrities in the audience who are now watching the Galaxy because Beckham is the latest COOL fad, like the latest liquid diet, restaurant, or chi-chi fashion label, It will be him and the other BIG names from Europe that will be coming over, exciting the kiddos and young fans that can actually afford to get tickets for the MLS (rather than the NFL, NBA, etc), that will start watching week in and week out and will begin the transition of making the MLS the league that will be in their families for generation to generation. It will be the transition of the other teams from temporary stadiums to soccer specific stadium that allows them to receive all concessions and revenue from their games, and its continually playing these EPL, and Euro teams well (Real Salt Lake beat Everton 2-0 last night as well!). Beckham is a start (a major step) toward this, and if the league continues being smart, I don’t see the league going anywhere but UP!
Until next time - Get Stuck In
Chris
www.zigazoga.com
Beckham Friendzee - Are we making too much of it?
July 21, 2007
Don’t get me wrong I am happy that Becks is here in the US. Its’ great that soccer is getting all this press - it’s a very good thing. The game needs more of it and Becks can bring it however; I think we need many more high profile players. Hopefully, the players will follow and the media surge gets bigger and more fans come out to the games. It will be interesting to see how all things develop and I hope its all for the best.
What we saw tonight really needs to be consistent for a popularity stronghold to take shape here. Unfortunately, this was just a spectacle and could pass by the wayside but I hope not. Personally, I would love for the media to give the sport as much attention as it did tonight on a more consistent basis. I’ll bet that there were more TV viewers to watch Becks play 15 minutes tonight than there has been for all the previous MLS Cups (not saying combined but that would be interesting to know).
I can remember an email conversation with Randy Tinfow that started on the blog here. We got to talking about the comparison of NASL to MLS. Randy was pretty adamant that if MLS could just get big guns it would produce big crowds and heck, is’nt that what we all want. So, what are the considerations for this to happen?
On Vacation: National Lampoon’s Deja Vu
July 21, 2007
The Cronkhites & Carses (my family and Julie’s) left for family vacation yesterday and I just had to tell ya’ll this story even though its unrelated to soccer.
So, I went to the office yesterday for a couple of meetings and left about noon to get home to load up The Family Truckster, which was an event of its own.
It started raining in San Marcos bout 11 am. As I got home it was pouring and we figured let’s just wait a bit to let it pass since it has been doing here in Texas for the past couple of weeks. But, it didn’t and we decided to pull the Truckster up in the garage to load up. The Cronkhites load was a bit easier to say the least and we headed over to The Carses. Its about 2 PM and its been raining heavily for 3 hours straight.
We turn into Rich & Arlenes’s neighborhood, after passing the first entrance because of standing water that looked to deep to take the car through. Before I know it Julie is freaking out. “What are you doing….we are gonna flood the engine….OH MY GOD….the water is gonna come in the car”, Julie says.
We went down a backstreet into the neighborhood and down a small hill that we go through ever so often and were basically in a shallow river. Needless to say I got through it but it was crazy how much water had swelled in this area (think after looking back it was about 2 feet). We had never seen such a thing it was crazy but wait.
So we got to The Carses and backed the Tribute into their garage and loaded it up, tieing down luggage on top of the car and packing everything in the back. But, I had to take our luggage bag, which looks like a huge body bag from Cabelas, off the car to drain it out. Getting it down with all the water pretty much flooded the garage door floor…so Rich, my father in law, broke out the brooms to push out all the water. We eventually got it all loaded.
About 4 PM now, we all jumped in the car to head for I-10. BTW, we live in New Braunfels a small city between San Antonio and Austin and we’re headed to New Orleans and then to Orange Beach on the Alabama/Florida Boarder.
We travel about 10 minutes and come to a traffic jam, Traffic is very slow coming the opposite way so we think maybe its a wreck but, about 30 minutes later we find out after nudging our way closer and closer that one of the creeks had over flowed and was running over State Hwy 46. We turn around and head to I-35 to go North toward Austin.
We eventually took HWY 80 from San Marcos to get to I-10, stopping at the Whataburger drive-thru to eat on the road and to make up some time. Now its about 5:30 (4 1/2 hours later than we planned to be on the road) we got to I-10 and we’re about 1/2 hour away from our house. We thought is this a sign that this vacation is doomed?
Well, the rest of the ride into Sulfur, Louisiana went well. We stopped at a Winngate Inn to stay. Everyone was pooped but Julie has been talking about the release of the supposed last Harry Potter book for weeks so I went to Walmart at midnight to pick up one for her and went back to the hotel and crashed.
To say the least, it was an interesting beginning to the family vacation but we got to Madsionville, LA, ok and today has been much better. I just had to share this story. Since, I’m on vacation I might share a few more things this week while on the beach and will get back to the usually soccer talk when I get back. Although, Chris, Ed and Steve may post a few items and I’m really happy to see that Chris got Ziga-Zoga updated with the new sections.
Ciao for now….. Jason
Your Body: Bastille Day Dinner
July 19, 2007
Mmmmmm …. mmmmm. Now that looks good. This is, as the title says, Bastille Day Dinner. Ej Wines furnished this photo on Flickr and I thought what a scrumpltous meal before a big game. Although, I would probably add a little pasta with the lemon & herbes.
So, here’s what the meal includes:
Grilled game hen based with white wine, lemon & herbes de provence
Smashed red potatoes with boursin & truffle oil
Grape tomato & goat cheese salad with white asparagus ribbons.
Your Body: Fuel For Competitve Players
July 18, 2007
What exactly does a competitve player eat? Nope, not doughnuts but hmmm they look pretty good huh, especially the French Swirl…yumie.
Well, some things may surprise you but if you want to add that extra edge to Your Game you need to pay attention to the fuel you put in your tank. To remain competitive in the last 15 mins of the half, you need have that extra fuel to burn.
Players and coaches that have not had a lot of nutrition advice, the simple answer is - you need lots of calories and carbohydrates. How much you ask? Check out this article:
Download fuel_for_soccer_players.pdf
It covers specific calorie intake by weight, specific foods, nutritional supplements and the need for sports drinks. Soccer players should eat a little extra from the bread and cereals and fruits portions on the food pyramid the night before a soccer game, for breakfast before a soccer game, and after the game is played. Soccer players need high energy foods, which come from carbs and stay away from soda water. But, be sure to pick your favorite sports drink and drink a lot of it especially before and during a big match.
Here’s another download guide for good foods and nutritional supplements and a link to a great blog post on Expert Football — Download soccer-1.pdf .
Your Game: Relentless attacking
July 16, 2007
I’m a big fan of small sided games especially 4 v 4 but, I am also a big fan of relentless attacking players. So, how do you become a relentless attacking player? Well, you practice attacking as much as possible. You have to spend a significant amount of time handling the ball and taking defenders on. It requires an attitude and almost cocky nature. Bottomline, as an attacker you must have faith in yourself that you will beat your opponent consistently.
A great game for practicing attacking soccer is of course 1 v 1 but, I am not just talking about regular 1 v 1. What I am referring to is a high paced battle with lots of intensity. Imagine going at your opponent 120 mph and throwing 3 jukes in less than 2 seconds - can you feel the energy?
Set up a 20 x 10 yard field with two goals at the end. Grab as many balls as possible and as many friends that want to have a 1 v 1 tourney. While the two guys on the pitch are going at it the others can provide the proverbial trash talk with the Oooos and Ahhhhs. Just have one player serve to the other and take ‘em on.
Throw your moves if you got’em… juke his hips right outta socket and have fun. Heck bring your favorite tunes and Get Stuck In!
Larry Warnock on Helping Athletes Thrive
July 10, 2007
Jason has invited me to help out with this blog and I feel honored to be a part of this great effort.
I’ve been involved in soccer in one way or another for the past 30 years. My son, now 35, has played soccer since he was 5. It was soccer that got me involved in sportsmassage. I became licensed as a clinical massage therapist many years ago. I did massage with family members or friends once in a while, but was too busy with my career in rehabilitation and teaching to pursue that avocation actively.
One day, my son, a middle schooler, came home from a soccer game dragging one of his teammates who had injured his hip flexor. "Dad, can you fix Gary’s leg?", he asked. I called Gary’s parents for permission and then proceeded to get rid of the spasm that had crippled his leg. A few minutes later, they both bounded out to the yard to kick the ball around. Gary was amazed. The next day, I received 4 phone calls from parents asking me to take a look at their son…and the rest is history.
I retired from my professional career in rehabilitation in 1995 to open a full-time practice in massage therapy. I had worked in the field for more than 25 years and had served as Asst. Commissioner for the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission for the eight years prior to my retirement. At the same time, I left my second career as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Graduate School at Assumption College.
I work primarily with athletes at all levels. I’ve had the privilege of working with professional athletes in soccer, hockey and other sports as well as college and high school athletes. I have provided sportsmassage at the Summer Olympics and work with many club teams.
My contributions to this blog will primarily be in the area of injury prevention and conditioning. I think it is vitally important for athletes to understand their bodies, to be able to read the signals the body gives when it is about to suffer an injury and to undertake a solid conditioning program aimed at improved performance, safety, and injury prevention. I hope to ansswer questions; provide some advice for coaches and players alike and to contribute to this effort Jason has started.
– Larry Warnock
