A Great Atmosphere, But the Crew Disappoint. LA Galaxy 1, Columbus Crew 0 9/24/11

It was great to see a sold out match at Columbus Crew Stadium. The Plaza in front of the stadium was packed. There was a huge line to get into the Crew store. The Nordecke was in full throat! And the weather was perfect.

The Nordecke Was Awesome Last Night!

I would like to think the crowd came to cheer on the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew against the Western Conference leading LA Galaxy. But I do understand that the casual fans who came out wanted to see the Galaxy's Landon Donovan, David Beckham and Robbie Keane. As it turned out, David Beckham flew back to Los Angeles earlier this week as he was being rested, Robbie Keane had a minor injury that kept him out of the 18 for the match, and Landon Donovan didn't start.

But the fans were absolutely treated to a very exciting match that ended with the Galaxy scoring a second-half extra-time goal to give them a 1-0 victory. I hope the fans make it back to more Crew matches!

Crew Coach Robert Warzycha started the match in a 4-5-1 formation, which didn't make a lot of sense to me when the Galaxy's two best midfielders, Donovan and Beckham weren't in the match. Predictably the Crew couldn't produce quality chances in the first half, although they played very well defensively.

It was only when Coach Warzycha brought on Emilio Renteria in the second half, switching to a 4-4-2 formation that the Crew started getting great chances at goal. But ultimately they couldn't finish.

And when the Galaxy's Chad Barrett knocked in a deflected Landon Donovan shot in the 93rd minute (both were second half subs) the Crew were left with a home loss, and find themselves in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference.

Left defender Shaun Francis had a horrible match, giving the ball away on multiple occasions. The Crew also missed the injured Eddie Gaven as a stabilizing force in the midfield.

The Crew are in trouble and may not make the MLS Playoffs. They are currently playing worse than all of the other MLS Clubs based on their last five matches. They have four matches left, with only one of those at home. They will be lucky to get 4 points total out of those matches if they don't play better.

I'm an optimist when it comes to my favorite sports teams (the Columbus Crew, the Cincinnati Reds, Ohio State and Purdue football) but I'm not real confident we are going to see the Crew in the playoffs come the end of the MLS regular season.

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The Columbus Crew Will Get a Much Needed Victory Against the Houston Dynamo Tonight! 9/14/11

Admittedly I am not real confident with this pick, but the Columbus Crew should win tonight against the Houston Dynamo based on it being a home game for them. That's pretty much the margin in this one. These are two evenly matched teams.
That's my pick, and I'm sticken' to it...
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Lordy, Lordy, I've Dropped 40! My Weekly Weight Watchers Update, 8/30/11

I weighed in today and lo and behold I have dropped 40 pounds since I began Weight Watchers!

I'm writing this while I'm on a flight from Cleveland to Milwaukee for some business meetings the next two days. What's the best part of losing weight? (At least this evening.) Being able to sit comfortably in coach, cinch up my seat belt and cross my legs.

It's the simple pleasures, really...
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Weight Watchers, Tracking My Progress, 7/12/11

For the first time since rejoining Weight Watchers I'm not going to make a meeting this week.

For me, the meetings are a critical part of the program. The accountability of going to a meeting, weighing in and celebrating both mine and other's success helps to keep me on track. I also find the meetings to be very informative. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the leaders I have interfaced with at the Weight Watchers location in the Liberty Towne Center in West Chester, Ohio are excellent.

I am traveling out of town all week, so I will have to wait till next week to weigh in. It is the first time I have been on an airplane since joining, and I feel much more comfortable in the seat! I am really noticing a difference physically due to my weight loss.

I exercised 6 of 7 days this past week. All were brisk walks. I walked a total of 14.3 miles.

Next week I will get the tale of the tape!

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Weight Watchers, Tracking My Progress 6/28/11, Gained .2 Pounds

Well, I weighed in today and actually gained .2 pounds this week. I weigh 259.4 pounds and have lost 25.6 pounds since I started the program 13 weeks ago.

I didn't do as well exercising this week. I exercised 5 of the past 7 days. All of my exercise consisted of brisk walks. I walked a total of 11.7 miles this week.

Everything I have read about healthy weight loss advocates for no more than 2 pounds per week weight loss, so I feel good about losing 25 pounds in 13 weeks. More importantly I physically feel great! Sunday I bought a new belt, as my waist has shrunk to the point that my old belts are way too large.

I followed the program diligently this past week. I will chalk up my very slight weight increase this week to the fact that I was wearing my work clothes to my weekly meeting rather than shorts and a t-shirt the last two meetings and not getting as much exercise as usual.

Hitting my 10% loss of body weight milestone is within reach. Should be within the next two weeks.
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My Blackberry Addiction Got Me in the Cincinnati Enquirer!

Not in a bad way-DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE!

After attending Opening Day at Great American Ballpark, I saw a Tweet from the Cincinnati Enquirer asking for people to respond if they were annoyed with cell phone coverage in the ballpark.

I responded, and now I am newsworthy! Click the link below:

Stadiums rush to improve cell phone reception