A response to the hooligans...it's called my opinion.

To all of those friendly people who posted comments in response to my MLS post,

Wow. Your responses, with the notable exception of two reasoned posts, were just as pathetic as the game you love. Since you don't have facts on your side, you resorted to personal attacks on me. Very mature. So what if I'm a college student and I'm here in DC interning this summer. Does that make my observations invalid?

I'm entitled to my opinion. You are entitled to yours. There was nothing "uninformed" or "communist" about my post . It was my observation after going to one game. There were not 15,000 people in RFK. We all know that. They may have sold 15,000 tickets, but that's very different from 15,000 people being there. The place was almost empty.

The MLS is not very popular in DC or across the United States. That is a fact. In DC, they are the fifth team behind the Redskins, Wizards, Nationals, and Capitals. Sure you can say the sport is growing, but that's what unpopular sports everywhere say (see Major League Lacrosse). Even with Beckham coming to the MLS, it's still an afterthought. Wow, a washed up European star. I'm impressed.

So keep attacking me or my writing. That is your right. If you enjoy going to the games and can defend the MLS rationally, good for you. I respect that. But if all you are going to do is go to the games, get trashed, act like a moron, and then launch ad hominem attacks on me while responding to my post in the middle of the work day, shut up and get a real job.

Scooter Skates

This was the headline the other day on CNN.com. Yes, President Bush let his buddy off the hook so he wouldn't have to spend time in the slammer like Paris Hilton. But wait you say, he only communed his sentence so he would not have to go to jail, he still has to pay a $250,000 fine and cannot practice law since he's a convicted fellon. Big deal. Realistically, Libby won't spend a cent from his pocket for that fine and I fully expect a Bush pardon to follow (probably early in the morning on January 20, 2009). Libby got away with perjury. But then again, so did Bill Clinton. They both should have gone to jail.

This is just another example of Bush & Co. thinking they are above the law. Cheney claiming his office isn't part of the Executive Branch and therefore he doesn't have to archive his documents, domestic wiretapping (over the objections of John Ashcroft...you know it must have been illegal if he wouldn't have signed off on it), torture, signing statements, etc....the list just goes on. Mr. President, you may be the decider, but even the decider has to follow our laws and constitution. Letting Libby off is just another example of the disrespect our President has for our country and laws.

Major League Soccer is Pathetic

So last week I went to my first and last Major League Soccer (MLS) game. It was an enlightening experience that helps to explain why no one cares about soccer in this country. First of all, RFK stadium was nearly empty. There couldn't have been more than 5,000 wasting their money to watch a bunch of soccer players not good enough to play in Europe. It's not cheap either. Furthermore, soccer is terribly boring. Worst of all, there are a small, but annoying loud number of wannabe soccer hooligans.

It started on the Metro when a moron started screaming about DC United. It was so lovely to have some idiot yelling chants in a packed Metro car. But when I got to the stadium, it got worse. There were probably 250-300 people drunk off their asses, standing on their seats yelling chants, jumping up and down, throwing beer in the air when DC scored, yelling the most vulgar things at the referees (F*ck the ref, etc), and acting like British soccer hooligans (but unlike Britain where lots of people care about their teams, these people are in a very small minority). They were extremely annoying and hurt the appeal of the MLS because I sure wouldn't take my kid to the game to watch them act like that. Oh well, the MLS is a joke. No one watches, no one cares. Americans like their baseball, football, and basketball (and even hockey) more than a bunch of second-rate soccer players and their obscene, drunken faithful.

Space Travel is Dangerous...Thanks NASA for being Paranoid

This post is tardy, so it will be short. Space travel is dangerous. It always has been dangerous. It always will be dangerous. Many astronauts have died these dangers. It's part of the deal with space travel, there's an inherit risk.

But ever since the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in 2003, NASA has been overly paranoid about space travel to the point where every mission is scrutinized in orbit and it makes news daily. The Shuttles that have been launched since the Shuttle started flying again (after an ungodly amount of time) always have some issue with foam breaking off and hitting the Shuttle. So it makes the news as NASA tries to figure out if the Shuttle is okay. It seems to me that NASA is so paranoid that they are more focused on if there is anything wrong with the Shuttle than if we are accomplishing anything in space. I'll be honest. I'm sick of hearing about foam breaking off the Shuttle. That's one of the risks of space travel. The Shuttles have been successful on 116/118 missions. That's 98.3%. The two accidents were of course terrible, but even without all the paranoia, the Shuttles have proven to be safe and effective nearly all of the time.