Tuesday Night Five-Pack

I've been MIA from the blogosphere for a few days now, but have no fear - I'm back and coming to you from the Oregon coast. Here is a five pack of thoughts for your consumption

1. I'm really interested to see what happens to the Sounders during the July transfer window. Soccer a sport of constant rumors, but sometimes when there is smoke, their is fire. I have the feeling that the Freddie Ljungberg rumors are more than just rumors. Call it a total gut feeling, but I think there is a 65% chance he is transferred overseas. I put Montero at 50%. If either or both happens, expect to see some new faces in Sounders land
2. I have never been a George Steinbrenner fan, but his passing is a sad day for baseball. Say what you want about the Yanks and George (I have definitely said a lot over the years), you have to been impressed with how much he cared about winning. And while I hated the whole corporate aspect thing (you know, how Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon had to cut their hair and shave their beards), it was his way or no way. Gotta appreciate it.
3. My boys over at Netsarescorching.com have done a great job of getting me into full-blown hope mode recently. I must be crazy to be drinking the cool-aid given their free agent signings: Jordan Farmer, Travis Outlaw, Johan Petro and possibly Anthony Morrow. It is honestly mind boggling how little they got. That being said, the foundation is still there and these new signings give them a distinct flavor - tenacious defense turned into fast break offense. At the very least they will be exciting to watch.
   
4. Pat Reilly continues to defy all the odds with his signings. Everyone assumed the Heat would have 9 minimum salary (and minimum talent) guys playing with them, but instead he has gotten Juwan Howard, Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem and Zadrunas Ilgauskas to come to South Beach. Not a bad group of veterans I would say.
5. I was saddened to watch the type of soccer played by the Dutch over the weekend. The final had the potential to be a free-flowing game, but a MMA event broke out instead. It was brutal. It was ugly. It was a bad representation of our favorite sport. I hope that the record breaking audience did not come away with a bad taste in their mouth as a result.

I am super stoked for the next two days as I have tickets to both a Salem-Keizer Volcanoes game but an Eugene Emeralds game as well. They will be the 3rd and 4th minor league stadiums that I will have visited in my 6 years out here. That is way to low...and something I hope to remedy in the coming years