giggle pop

Keeping with the tradition of Monday Manmeat, I am not going to go into all of his accomplishments just going to focus on the hottiness. Quick background, he is known simply as Xavi, plays for Barca and Spanish NT and is one of, if not the best midfielders in the world.

I cannot begin to describe my feelings for this pocket-sized Spanish hunk of man. I don't know if it is his puppy-dog eyes and always perfectly spiked hair...


Or the confused/pouty expression that is always on his face...


Maybe its his magical passing skills and perma-5 o'clock shadow...I don't really know but I do know the Xavster does things to me I could never explain


And one more time I will post the ultimate Xavalicious picture...stumbled upon this beauty and still have not breathed right since. Maybe its because it is the only sans-shirt pic I have found of him, or the cascading water, the look on his face, the fact that there seems to be a hint of chest hair (a rare sight amongst Spanish ballers)it could be any of the above things. However, what I think that really makes me melt in this picture is the fact that even while showering in a random village his hair stays perfectly spiky. Oh Xavi.

This pint-sized bundle of magical passing sexy is not for everyone, but there are a special few of us who see it.

I am sitting here, glass of wine in hand watching the replay of the Barcelona v. Manchester Untied Champions League final. This was a beautifully played match NO thanks at all to ManU, it was all Barca today. I have spent the day being the most avid Barcelona supporter I can be...for one day only. It is a rare sight seeing a Madridista cheering her heart out for the blaugranna, but I did it today. I am also a die-hard Chelsea fan, and did not think I could cheer for a team after the way Barca beat us to get into the final but here I am and feel like I should explain why.

I mean there is the obvious reason, being a Chelsea supporter and reasonable human being, I hate Manchester United. Not just because they are our league rivals, looking at the current squad it is filled with a lot of unlikeable players. Most of their players would barely be above average if they did not have the puppet master Fergie in charge. Not to mention it is pretty hard if not impossible for me to like players like Ronaldo, Berbatov, Vidic, etc. Mine opinion of course and so I am sure some disagree. Anyways this post is not about why I hate ManU, but that was a factor in my cheering for Barca.

While hating ManU explains me wanting Barca to win, it does not explain why I really really wanted them to win and why I was cheering for them almost (and I mean almost) like I was watching one of my teams out there. When it comes down to it there is a ridiculous amount of arrogance surrounding the EPL and the “English style” of play. It may win games in tournaments but it sucks to watch. Because it works well in tournaments people use it as justification that the English style is best and the EPL is superior to the other leagues. However, I feel like if you took even some of the best English teams and dropped them in to La Liga or Serie A they would be struggling a bit day in and day out. While they may do well being great teams it would not be sheer dominance that people seem to award them automatically. So when I was cheering for Barca today I was cheering for the beautiful game, La Liga, and Serie A.

On one hand I sit and watch Barca and think they should not be there and am gutted at the thought Chelsea is not. But as I have said before I don’t blame Barca or think they cheated or anything like that for how that game ended. I blame that d-bag of a useless man they called a ref and UEFA, but not Barca. Also as I have said before if Chelsea was going to get fucked at least it was for a team that can represent the beautiful game well. In the past few weeks I kept hearing bullshit comments like “well Barcelona can score a bunch of goals in La Liga but they can’t do it against a real strong English defense.” Well Chelsea’s incredible defense could hold them, and I take a small bit of solace in this watching the game today. As a Chelsea fan it makes me feel a little fuzzy inside knowing that my boys in Blue were able to contain Barca heroically and seemingly effortlessly and Man Utd was not only unable to do this but they were also embarrassed when they tried to. And yes it still hurts like a bitch knowing how well Chelsea played and knowing they should be there.

And the last reason…as much as I dislike Barcelona and always will, the current squad has some class players. Messi, Xavi, and Iniesta are just incredible and players I cannot help but have a lot of respect for them. Especially the later two they get out there and get the job done and done amazingly well…exceptional talent carried out with class is hard to come by. If you need proof look at Ronaldo, got the talent and no class. And let’s not forget the fuzzy heart warming comments of Pep dedicating the victory to Maldini.

For some people who seem to think me, and a lot others are bandwagon Barcelona fans because of today or just cheering for them because of some cute players that is far from the case. I know I was cheering for a lot more a lot more than Barca today and cheering against a lot more than ManU. I have no problems with anyone’s alliances in this game no matter what the reasons but this is why mine were what they were.

Oh yeah and man of the match Xavi does make me think dirty things…

*dries off spiky-haired pint sized Spanish ball of sex and places him back in pocket*

Well, well, well. The initial trauma of Chelsea's last minute loss to some idiot bald ref, I mean Barcelona, is starting to fade and I can think somewhat clearly again.

For those of you behind the times, my beloved boys in blue lost after a last minute goal by Andres Iniesta of Barcelona and were denied a spot in the Champions League final. I am not going to get into the controversy (there was plenty, and I am sure you know it all) but long story short Chelsea were denied many penalties they clearly should have received and by all means deserved to win the game. Most people did not want Chelsea in the final for many reasons. I am not just talking about footie fans who dislike Chelsea...I am talking about UEFA, FIFA, Commentators, Pundits and so on. I am not saying the match was fixed, I am just saying. I am sure some of the stuff I say will piss people off, even some Chelsea fans...this is not my aim, so if you have any questions about what I have to say, please let me know so I can clarify.

On one hand I am of course pissed off, but on the other at least this happened when playing a team like Barcelona. I know some people may be angry at me for saying this, but this years Barca squad does deserve to be in the final. I do not think they deserved to win the game last week by any means I think they were outplayed by Chelsea. I am just talking about this season as a whole, they have been playing some amazing football and I always assumed they would make it to the final (This was before I knew they had to go through Chelsea to get there). I of course wanted them to lose to Chelsea, and think how they got there was a disgrace (on the part of UEFA and the Ref) but if Chels were going to get screwed like they did at least it was a to a quality team. If this same thing happened against Man Utd or Liverpool I probably would have been vomiting after the game, well I still was pretty close after Iniesta's goal. It just would have seemed a lot worse against teams like that. Now I just hope Barcelona can go to the final and humiliate Man Utd, because as far as talent and class goes I think Barca is the superior team of the two. Chelsea deserve to be in the final, but if we were going to get screwed out of our rightful place at least it went to a worthy team. And in the end, I am still beyond proud of the boys for keeping Barcelona from playing like themselves for both legs, no matter what you think of Cheslea's tactics in the first leg. Also lets not forget just how beautiful Essien's goal was, I mean my god, it was amazing...but then again Essien is all around amazing, how could you expect anything else?

Now on to the players reactions. As I am sure everyone has seen Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba freaked out just a teensy bit, okay they freaked out a lot. I keep hearing from a lot of people how unprofessional it was and it was a disgrace they acted the way they did. I think that is just bulls***, they were just robbed of a spot in the final of one of the biggest tournaments of their life, and one in which they had some serious things to prove after the way it ended last year. Chelsea has had a tough season with instability because of manager drama and have been fighting with everything they have to stay in the CL and in the title race. This is a team of world class and passionate footballers and I do not blame them for how they reacted. Much of this criticism is coming from fans of a certain team in northern England *cough* ManEww *cough*, a team that has no frickin clue what is like to get screwed over because of horrible officiating because generally if a team is getting screwed over this team is the one benefiting. Sure some Man Utd fans will disagree, and I was making an unnecessarily broad statement, I am sure they have had some bad calls against them, but not to the extent most other teams have. Rafa Benitez may be a wack-job imo, but he made some valid points earlier this season. I think these certain fans of this certain team need to think before bashing Ballack and Drogba like they do, because if Man Utd had been in that situation (not like that would EVER happen) their players would have reacted the same way. Ronaldo throws a tizzy and goes to ground if a stiff breeze blows on him, and Rooney is not exactly the king of being Mr. calm and collected on the pitch...I could go on and on.

Here is the short version of my thoughts. 1) Chelsea got screwed, it sucks, made me cry...but if we were going to be screwed I would rather it be in favor of Barca than most teams. 2) Props to Ballack and Drogba (and the rest of the boys) nothing wrong with anyone's reactions. 3) That game made my love of Chelsea grow even more...if it was possible 4) I am pretty sure Andres Iniesta is actually Casper the friendly ghost...and needs to go away.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Okay I am going to begin this with a little rant. Unless you watch American football, and even then, ESPN has to be one of the worst sports networks on the planet. The powers that be should stop these idiots from getting the rights to ANY sporting event. I am not going to even begin to talk about their champions league coverage, all I can say is THANK-GOD Fox has the rights for next year and PLEASE do better, not that it would be hard.
I am sitting here 11:00 on the first day of the masters, and there is golf being played. Am I seeing ANY of it, NOOOO? Nope, ESPN thinks they should just replay sportscenter fifteen times and start showing the masters when the day is almost done at 2:00pm. OH they are also showing NFL live, ummm WTF didn’t throwball end months ago? ESPN has about 10 channels they could show it on, but nope ALL are replaying their crappy shows. I am currently getting all my updates on the leaderboard (ESPN is not even showing that!) on the golf channel. Btw I think the golf channel has great coverage, and if they had the rights to the first few days of the masters (like they do with most tournaments) I would be watching live golf right now. Sorry had to get that out. AM I wrong on this, or is ESPN the WORST sports network imaginable?

On to happier stuff—FOOTBALL!!
Arsenal drew with Villareal and ManU drew with Porto in the first legs of their champions league quarterfinals. Barca dominated Bayern 4-0, and now I am praying for a miraculous Bayern recovery in the next leg. On one hand the longer Barca stays in the CL the more tired they will be in La Liga and the better it is for Real Madrid. On the other hand I do not want Chelsea to have to face Barca in the next round of the CL, and well I am also cheering for Bayern for the prospect of a naked Luca Toni, mmmm.

But the real excitement?!?! CHELSEA beat Liverpool 3-1 ATTTTTT anfield. I get happy chills even saying it. Fernando Torres scored in the first 6 minutes, but then it was one way traffic from the Blues. Two headers from Ivanovic, I cannot describe my love of him right now. Didi put a pretty one in as well, and also had a few other nice chances. Captain JT got a bs yellow card, and since he had one from a previous game so he is out for the return leg at the Bridge. Ricardo Carvalho *sigh* should finally be back, so he can help hold down the back line, and Frankie will captain (I assume). I can’t say I won’t enjoy Frank Lampard in the armband. Anyways, it was a great performance from the boys in blue, and I am beyond proud of them. It has been a tough season and they deserved this!!

The masters started today. I have not seen any of it yet (see above). I am of course cheering for Camilo, I bet he looks good in green, and he is my favorite to watch. However, I think above all I am cheering for Sergio Garcia, I want to see him win a major one of these days, and am sad I have not been seeing much of him lately.
Oh and I recently found out the tour championship is being played in Minnesota!! I am working on getting tickets. If I do, Camilo, Sergio, Adam, etc…prepare to be ogled. Mmmmm.

I just watched the reply of Barca-Atletico game in another failed attempt to finally see this weeks Real Madrid game. After seeing Kun Aguero’s goals once again, he is quickly jumping onto my list of Argentine footballers I just cannot get enough of. He is in good company with the likes of Fernando Gago, Gonzalo Higuain, and Lionel Messi. I know they are a tad young, but I just am weak for the ridiculous talent mixed with adorableness.

Also Pep Guardiola is starting to nip on the heels (just a little bit) of the special one (Jose Mourinho) as hottest manager on the planet.

Not to worry this is a slight fascination with barca right now, coming out as love of Pep and Messi and by no means a fanship. I can say with confidence you will not see me running around in the blaugrana anytime soon.

I am sitting here with a perma-smile on my face after an absolutely fabulous weekend in sports for my teams. I enjoy sports a lot, mainly football (soccer), ncaa basketball, tennis, and am getting into golf as well. I just kind of write what I think, and it will often have more to do with the hottness of the athletes as opposed to anything really insightful into the games.

NCAA Basketball

Yay the Zags once again went undefeated in the WCC conference (which we had already clinched a week or so ago). I have been a die hard Gonzaga fan for about 10 years now, which is making me feel quite old. Even with some questionable performances this season I am still remaining optimistic for a good tourney performance by the boys this year, and yes I am aware it is more often than not a futile task. But hey it is March and the begininngs of March Madness are sweeping through me...counting down the days until the tourney!!!

On a related note…I just cannot get enough of Matt Bouldin and his arms. Mmmmmm.

Football

Yes I watch far too much football, it is a bit of an obsession for me. My teams are Chelsea for the EPL and Real Madrid in La Liga.

Let’s start off with the Chelsea game, which I sadly could not watch, but that did not stop me from yelling out in excitement in the bar I was in at 11am (long story) while checking the score on my phone. First off our fearless captain John Terry gets his first goal in a long time, then other team equalizes, and then in true dramatic fashion Super Frankie Lampard scores a last minute goal to win. This puts the blues back at #2 in the league still trailing the ever pestilent Manchester United. Oh I was a happy happy girl. I still have not been able to watch a game since Guus (who I like to call “Goose” because it reminds me of Top Gun) took over a few weeks ago. This win coupled with a win in the first leg of the Champions League game against Juventus and Liverpool losing to Middlesbrough HAHAHAHAHA (sorry ‘pool fans) including an own goal it was a good day in the Premier League.

Moving on over to espana for some La Liga fun. My beloved Real Madrid won 2-0 over Espanyol on Saturday, another game I had to miss but was yelling with excitement upon seeing scores come up. That is about a million league wins in a row for the boys in white and Captain Raul scored his bazilionth goal or something like that. Then today Barcelona lost in an absolutely wonderful game against Atletico. I spend about 90+ minutes a week being an avid fan for whatever team is playing Barca. Now, I have respect for Barca and a bit of a crush on Little Leo Messi and Xavi, but I want nothing more than to see Los Blancos win the league yet again, and that involves the once invincible looking Barcelona loooosing, which they are doing a wonderful job of doing lately. A few weeks ago, all you would hear about is how Barca had La Liga locked up, but now that Real Madrid is only FOUR yes FOUR points off the lead things are getting exciting.

Last but not least, watched a great draw between Inter Milan and Roma over in Italy. I still can’t decide what team I am going to support in Serie A. Right now I am cheering for Inter, but pretty much only because Jose Mourinho is the manager. I am still telling myself everyday that once he takes the trophy in Italy the special one will be packing his bags and coming back to Chelsea where he belongs!!! However, this still leaves me with a need of a team in Serie A to cheer for, maybe I will stick with Inter maybe not….any suggestions?

Ray Hudsonism
Anyone who watches games on gol tv in the states gets to experience the colorful commentary of Ray Hudson. I would give just about anything to have this man narrate everything because he cracks me up. Today he had a particularly great line about his man crush Little Lionel Messi. “He’s got the swivel hips, like a Turkish stripper.” BTW the goal that prompted that comment was beautiful.