Really?!?

A few days ago, I was speaking to PBA (Patrick Braxton-Andrew for those of you poor, misinformed souls who don't have the pleasure of his acquaintance) about my blog. To my surprise, he suggested that I email Goal.com about the advertisement they had listed on the website asking for new contributors. I decided there was nothing to lose, and emailed them, not expecting a response. I received an email back the very same evening from none other than the site director of Goal.com, Greg Lalas, the brother of the United States' very own Ginger Prince, Alexi Lalas. In the email, he thanked me for my interest and requested some samples of my work. I sent in a couple postings from the blog, and went about my business in the usual manner, with hopes of receiving a response in a week or so.

The very next day an email appeared in my inbox from Mr. Lalas, inviting me to write for the website I have basically lived on for the past two or three years. I have of course accepted tentatively. With this new role, I will be writing a weekly column that follows the progress of American players plying their trade in continental Europe. This list includes the likes of Jozy Altidore in Spain, Freddy Adu in France, Michael Bradley in Holland (for now), etc.

I feel incredibly blessed to have been chosen to do this, and I really appreciate all the love (and hate) I've received in response to this blog so far. I will continue to write, and hopefully I'll find more of an audience as I continue and mature in my writing.

I-Am-No. 1

Having been inspired by good writing from manically brilliant minds such as Patrick Braxton-Andrew (also known as PBA, Pibba, Pibs, Pax-baby (which I just thought up)) and the socially conscious folks at Topics Education Group, I have decided to "bless" the world with my thoughts. Let us be clear from the outset: I will not address any of the issues important to the world, try to affect any change in said world, or follow any set thought pattern at all. This is simply a forum for me to dump the excess thoughts conducting a Ben Hur-esque race in my mind into the open where the world can gape at them and scream in terror. Keeping in mind that this is my first real foray into personal writing in the English language, please be brutally and dishonestly positive about my offerings. My ego is an Oxford oar: it must be stroked often to be of any use.

Now that I've got the introduction out of the way, I can settle into the real reason for beginning this blog. This is my way of venting about the issues I think about often: namely soccer, keeping my focus at work, and random thoughts (which goes hand in hand with keeping my focus at work). I have found that I am approximately 39% more efficient at work if I break up the day with random spats of web-surfing. Therefore, I decided if I'm going to dedicate myself to breaking up the day, I will use these breaks to do something that has the semblance of being productive.

As a final note I'd like to say that as this blog progresses, the language will undeniably begin to steadily deteriorate into simple "newspeak" with no SAT words. Enjoy the intellectual stimulation (what little there is) while it lasts, and please refer to this post often as more are added so as not to be disappointed with the quality of subsequent offerings.