Weekend musings

- First off, since I know Shoe as a pretty humble guy, I wouldn't expect him to brag about himself, so I will. Obviously the best thing to come out of the weekend is his Liga Lawrenceville U-23s winning the USASA Region III Tournament at the Polo Fields up in Cumming. Amigo Numero Uno of Cupcake Nation, Head Coach Ricardo Montoya and his trusty sidekick Shoe coached this team to the title, which was sewed up after just three of their four games, winning those three with an 8-0 aggregate. Not even a loss in the last game could dampen the spirits, as the boys head to Seattle in early August for the national finals. I've got to try and find a way up there, now everyone knows Oswaldo as the team's #1 güero fan. Make sure you pick up a copy of Estadio or Contraataque later this week if you're in the Atlanta area to read all about it.

- This also turned out to be my birthday weekend, and after the normal celebrations last night (hey, I was celebrating Shoe's title as much as my birthday), it was great to hang out with the old man and watch the US-Mexico game. Last weekend I remember talking to Shoe about what he got for his Dad for Father's Day, and he started telling me about how his Dad got into soccer by watching him play and watching games with him on TV. In the brief periods I've lived with my Dad over the past few years, I can remember watching a handful of games with him. The one that sticks in my mind is the 2nd leg of the D.C. United-Universidad Catolica Copa Sudamericana tie. I know he watched a lot of games during the World Cup, but with work and the Brewhouse, we didn't get to watch a lot of games together. But for Father's Day I bought him the new USA Copa America jersey, so it was great to go over and watch the game with him and see him wearing the jersey. That jersey is so sweet, even I'm going to have to get one. Bornstein or Kljestan, I haven't decided yet.

- This thread over on the Silverbacks board is awesome. I find it amusing that there's one person who is steadfastly standing behind Jason Smith. Hmmmmmmmm.........I wonder who that could be?

- I'm pretty shocked to read about what happened in the Columbus locker room after last night's game against the Galaxy. For those who haven't heard, everything is over at Sideline Views, one of our blog friends. As a former sportswriter, I've been in many locker rooms before and never had any problems. But I'm also not a woman, and I predominantly covered men's teams. It's one thing to have a problem with a woman being in the locker room, but to put your hands on her is another thing. And everyone else in the locker room who didn't react to what happened and didn't help Andrea, you're cowards.

- Another extremely busy week ahead. I'm going to take it easy Monday and pop out the Power Rankings. Tuesday we'll be at the US Open Cup game, and the rest of the week we'll be busy watching Copa America (which starts on Tuesday, US kicks off on Thursday) and MLS.