I was scrolling through some friend’s blogs this morning, and realized how much I missed writing on  my own blog. I haven’t written anything in a long while. But towards the end of my illustrious blogging career, the focus of my pieces were sports-related. My two fans were up in arms: “Why do you keep writing about sports?”. “I don’t understand all this soccer stuff!”.

So a friend recommended I channel my sports energy to the BleacherReport.com website. It has been a blast writing articles about the English Premier League and even covering some Olympic water polo. But, now, I have little time for any extracurricular writing at all. My attention has been to my school work. I have written a sermon Widow of Nain in Luke 7, an overview essay on the message of Acts. Now my attention is turned to exegetical papers on Exodus 19:1-6 (treasured possession, kingdom of priests, holy nation) and the uses of hesed (loyalty/lovingkindness) in Deuteronomy 5:10 and 7:9-12, and possibly writing another sermon on Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38.

So for now, just maintenance blogs. To my two fans, thanks.

In light of Fenerbahçe’s dramatic penalty shootout aggregate goal victory against Sevilla in the knock-out round of the Champions League, I thought I’d repost Episode 5 of Carson and my Journey to Istanbul.

Here’s my predictions for who will be atop the Premier League come May:

1. Manchester United

2. Arsenal

3. Chelsea

4. Liverpool

Everton and Aston Villa will just miss out on the Champions League.

18. Sunderland

19. Fulham

20. Derby County

Just missing relegation will be Bolton, Birmingham City and Newcastle United.

Saturday afternoon: Liverpool loses by a 90th minute goal at Anfield in the 5th round of the FA Cup to Barnsley, currently ranked 14th in the Football League Championship.

Tuesday night: Liverpool pulls off a late match two to nil victory at home vs Inter Milan, who are currently ranked #1 in the Italian Serie A and #1 in the world by Fox Soccer Channel.

So what gives? How could a team loose to a nobody and then beat the top dog 3 days later? I admit, Anfield is a special place on European nights. While I watched the Inter match this morning, it was easy to sense the unique vibe that pervades the fans when a European team comes there to play. It didn’t feel the same way on Saturday when I watched the Reds play at Anfield vs. Barnsley. I told my friend that I was watching the Inter match with that Liverpool’s repetitive attacks on goal seemed like a balloon being filled with water…soon it would burst and Liverpool would score. But one could also argue that Liverpool didn’t take advantage of an Inter Milan team that didn’t really show up and played a man down for most of the game. Liverpool had significant more possession time, corner kicks, and shots on goal, but they didn’t pull a goal out until the 85th minute and then again in the 90th. Still, I’ll take the Liverpool team that came out against Inter any day. They were aggressive, took advantage of Inter’s weaknesses, and kept the ball away from their goal.

But I wonder what gives at Liverpool? Is it the trouble between Rafa and the American ownership? Rafa says that there are no problems, but reports keep coming out that there are. Is his job on the line? Should it be on the line? I don’t think so. I hope he gets one more year. And I hope the face of Liverpool that showed up last night verses Inter Milan shows up for the second leg of the knock-out round in Italy.
Other UEFA Champions League Scores:

Schalke 1 – Porto 0

Olympiacos 0 – Chelsea 0

Roma 2 – Real Madrid 1

Today:

Celtic 2 – Barcelona 3

Arsenal 0 – Manchester United 0

Fenerbahce 3 – Sevilla 2

Lyon 1 - Manchester United 1

I’m intrigued to know the political climate on my campus. Select the links below to show where you stand. Please only vote if you attend Covenant Theological Seminary. Thanks

What is the most important political issue to you? Which issue is it most important that you align with a candidate on in order to vote for him/her?

What is the second most important political issue to you?Which issue is it second most important that you align with a candidate on in order to vote for him/her?

What is the least important issue to you? Which issue do you care least about lining up with a candidate on?

Which is more important to you: foreign policy or domestic policy?

Democrat, Independent, or Republican?

Liberal, Moderate, Conservative

View from the hallway of our hotel.

Chillin’…

Sunset in the Bay of Banderas.

    

I’m still not exactly sure what these guys were doing, but it was cool…

Food prep on the streets and in restaurants of Puerto Vallarta.

Guacamole at our hotel…we ate boatloads of this stuff.

This parrot whistled at Virginia as we walked by.

In the market.

Food off the street…you have to believe that you won’t get sick, and then you don’t…its all in your head.

Out to eat…

On the streets in the central district.

 

A couple of things we bought: that sun painting right in the middle, and a flowery lamp.

We didn’t buy any devil masks.

At Las Animas Beach

On the Cielito Lindo

Me, the bearer of the ring, and the best man.

Adrian and Clay toast and roast at the rehearsal dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stunning is an understatement…

http://studiojblog.com/?p=35#comment-337

Thanks Jake. The pictures are awesome.

This morning, Liverpool drew Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League Knockout stage draw in Nyon, Switzerland. This could be the toughest possible match up for Liverpool, as Fox Soccer ranks Inter #1 in the world right now. These rankings fluctuate a lot, but they’re helpful to gauge a team’s quality and current form. Liverpool is ranked 11th. Following are the other matchups and current fox soccer rankings. Teams listed first were runners-up in their groups. The second team won their groups. Runners up play at home first. This puts them at a slight disadvantage if they are scored against, as the pressure is on them to score the coveted away goal when they visit their opponent several weeks later. This is often how a team is knocked out if each team wins 1 match and the aggregate goals are equal. Ex:

In this scenario, Inter would advance

Match 1 – Inter Milan 1 at Liverpool 2

Match 2 – Liverpool 0 at Inter Milan 1

Celtic (16) vs Barcelona (5) – Barca’s Lionel Messi was up in arms after his team traveled to Glasgow to play Celtic’s rivals, Rangers. Their conservative play lead to a nil-nil draw with Barca, a strategy that Messi deemed not playing football. The Catalans handled Rangers 2 to nil when they visited Camp Nou. I would expect a similar result in this match up.

Olympique Lyon (10) vs Manchester United (3) – I don’t know much about Lyon, but I know Man U has been in good form. These match ups aren’t until February and March, but I would expect that Sir Alex won’t let his team slide much between now and then.

Schalke 04 (unranked) vs FC Porto (14) – Porto isn’t an exceptionally strong team in my opinion, but neither is Schalke.

AS Roma (7) vs Real Madrid (4) – Real Madrid has won the Champions League title 9 times (1956, 57, 58, 59, 60, 66, 98, 2000, 2002). Roma can play well, but I would expect Real to advance in this match up.

Arsenal (2) vs AC Milan (12) – Another English team playing another Milan team. This has the potential to be a great match up.

Olympiakos (25) vs Chelsea (8) – If Chelsea has an off-day, Olympiakos could draw at home. Chelsea has been plagued by injuries lately, but they should be in good form by the time these matches roll around.

Fenerbahce (29) vs Sevilla (30) – This is the best match up for a runner-up to beat a group winner. Fenerbahce showed a decent performance during the group stage, beating Inter Milan 1 to nil at home in Istanbul. If Fener’s momentum continues to roll, they could advance to the second knock out stage.

Who would you like to see Liverpool draw in the knock-out round?  Why?

AC Milan

Barcelona FC

Inter Milan

Real Madrid

Sevilla

After the UEFA Champions League Group Stage ended today, Liverpool and 15 other teams enter the knockout stage. The draw to determine who plays who in the February 19/20 and March 4/5 knock out matches will take place December 21st (5am central time). The conditions governing the draw could lead to some interesting ties for Liverpool:

-clubs from the same association cannot be drawn against each other. So we can’t play Manchester United, Arsenal, or Chelsea, but we’ll probably play one of them later on. We matched up against Chelsea in the semi-finals in both 2005 and 2007. Both ended in shoot-outs, which we won.

-the winners and runners-up of the same group cannot be drawn against each other. So long FC Porto.

-Group winners cannot be drawn against each other. Nothing here…we were second.

-Group runners-up cannot be drawn against each other. No Schalke, Olympiacos, Celtic, Lyon, Roma, or Fenerbahce (good thing. I support the Turks when I’m not routing for the Reds).

That leaves Real Madrid, AC Milan, FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, and Sevilla as possible opponents. While we’re glad to have qualified for the knock-out round, we see the value of having started out strong enough to win our group. Clubs from Spain, Italy or England won all of the eight groups except one, Group A, which was our group and won by FC Porto (Portugal). Arsenal qualified but did not win Group H. Spain had a strong showing as three of their four teams qualified by winning their group. Italy qualified three of their four and two won their group. So by being the runners-up of Group A, we signed up to face a team from Italy or Spain.

Liverpool supporters are crying for a rematch vs. AC Milan, who we lost to last year in the Champions League Final in Istanbul. But www.liverpoolfc.tv reports that Fernando Torres, a childhood fan and former player for Atletico Madrid, would like to match up against Real Madrid. Last year we drew Barca in this round and beat them on aggregate goals. Barca didn’t have Thierry Henry, but we didn’t have Fernando Torres. Drawing the Catalans would be risky for us and might prove to be close like last year (Away: 2-1. Home: 0-1). If we draw any team from Spain, Sevilla would be my preference. They beat Real Madrid at home in early November, but since have had 1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses in the Spanish play. With our experience in this tournament, I think we’d be likely to win.

Inter has been hot lately, and our players would come out with a vengeance against AC Milan. All of these teams, if they played good football, would be difficult to beat. I say, if we play for payback: AC Milan. If we play for a good shot to beat the other team: Sevilla. To beat one of the hot teams: Inter Milan. To give another team a rematch: Barcelona. For Torres: Real Madrid. And if Torres gets pumped for the match, then that’s what we need.

Today I would like to honor and remember those who served and those who gave their life 38 years ago in the jungles of Vietnam. Welcome home Pigiron.

Yesterday, my friend Greg asked me to take pictures while he proposed to another good friend, Tricia. It was awesome. Congrats!

Greg sings to Tricia

The proposal

the future Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Baney

Recently I found a website (www.worldstadiums.com) that has information about most of the stadiums in the world. Its made me think about the top ten stadiums I would want to see a game at. Here’s my list and reasons:

Honorable Mention: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, home of AC Milan and Inter Milan

Get a load of this monstrosity. Not only does this launch pad have a huge structure and name, it also plays hosts to 2 of the biggest teams in Italian football: AC Milan and FC Internazionale Milano (Inter Milan). It holds 82,955 people.

10. Cowboys Stadium, future home of the Dallas Cowboys

America’s team will play in this state-of-the-art facility come 2009. It could hold up to 100,000 fans. I figure its worth a visit.

9. Pompey Village, future home of Portsmouth FC

Portsmouth, on the south of England, is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth FC and their fans will move from Fratton Park to this 36,000 capacity stadium. This place lights up like Disney World.

8. Orange Bowl, home of the Miami Hurricanes

I still remember going to the Orange Bowl as a kid. Its a stadium dropped in the middle of Little Havana. You park on a Cuban guy’s lawn for $15 bucks, then buy a shishkabob on your walk to the stadium. Built in 1936-37, it holds close to 75,000 raging Canes fans.

7. Olympic Stadium, home of the 2012 London Olympics

The stadium has been controversial for its design, but I figure: the Olympics…London…what more?

6. Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC

Arsenal is the team I almost supported while I was in London, but… Emirates is an amazing new 60,000 seater stadium to host Arsenal after their move from Highbury a few years ago.

5. Soccer City, home of the World Cup South Africa 2010

95,000 people will see the World Cup in this Johannesburg stadium.

4. Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona

I could very easily support FC Barcelona. Thierry Henry, Rhonaldino, Lionel Messi…and 99,000 screaming fans.

3. Wembley Stadium, home of the English National team and the FA Cup Finals

I used to walk past this stadium when I lived in London. It wasn’t open yet, but you could tell it was going to be a special place. It will be the home where England’s new coach rebuilds the team and 90,000 fans of the Three Lions watch the magic.

2. Stanley Park, future home of Liverpool FC

Look at this place?!? The Reds will get to almost double the size of their home crowd, and that’s a good thing.

1. Anfield, home of Liverpool FC

3 words: THIS IS ANFIELD

Its an amazing place on European nights when 11 Reds and 45,000 supporters face off in the Champions League.

Our first big fight was over whether or not we should register for an ax from Home Depot. I thought an ax was a reasonable, if not necessary, tool to have. Virginia thought I’d chop my foot off. We ended up leaving it on the registry. Low and behold, a few weeks later, an ax showed up at Virginia’s parents house via UPS. The gift giver has chosen to remain anonymous.

One person is happy about this wedding gift. One is not.

The Massey’s and Houmes’ meet

Mr. Massey dips a hot dog into his famous corn dog mix at the fair.

Cheers.

Virginia meets the Brown’s.

Hey everybody! We’re engaged! Here’s how it happened:




During the storm.

The rainbow afterwards.

Virginia and I at dinner after we got engaged.

Having fun at an engagement party.

Virginia with her mother and grandmother.

Virginia and Katherine.

Duane, Dave, Adrian, myself and Mark at the engagement party.

The Angelakis girls came over to say congratulations and Virginia asked them if they would be her flower girls.

for more on Virginia and I click here

Hey all, I finished Greek today with a final exegetical paper. My buddy, Luke, and I made the journey up the stairs to turn our papers in together. Luke and I have studied together for an unbelievable amount of time over the last 7 months

Luke and I about to turn in our papers

My new favorite comedian:

here’s another clip of Ian