Friday, August 31, 2007

The "Hooped Ninja" - Shunsuke Nakamura

Because I dont't know anyone who can root for a team and not have a favorite player, here's mine:Shunsuke Nakamura (中村 俊輔, born June 24, 1978) is a Japanese football player who currently plays for Celtic in the Scottish Premier League. He is one of the most prominent and successful Asian players to have played in Europe and on 13 September 2006 became the first Japanese player to score in the Champions League and the second Asian player to do so.

He has won the Asian Cup in 2000 and 2004 with the Japanese national football team, and was named Most Valuable Player in the 2004 competition. He has also appeared in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, and the 2000 Summer Olympics as a member of the Japanese Under-23 team.

In his first season with Celtic, Nakamura helped the club win the Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup. His contributions to the Japanese national football team are represented by 16 goals. His former clubs include Yokohama F. Marinos and Reggina, for whom he scored 38 and 11 goals respectively before moving to Celtic on 25 July 2005 for a fee of around 1.25 million pounds.

Club Career

Yokohama Marinos (1997-2002)

In 1997, 19-year-old Nakamura joined Yokohama Marinos of J. League (later merged with Yokohama Flugels and renamed 'Yokohama F. Marinos), a club whose youth side he had played for when it was known as Nissan Motors FC. He made his début with Marinos on April 16 of that year against Gamba Osaka. Nakamura finished the season with 27 appearances and 5 goals.

In 2000, Nakamura had his best season in Yokohama, recording 5 goals and 11 assists, and winning the J. League Most Valuable Player award.

Nakamura left Marinos during the 2002 season to join Reggina of Serie A, after the clubs agreed to a US$3.5 million transfer fee following a 6-month loan period.

Reggina (2002-2005)

Following the disappointment of being omitted from Japan's final World Cup squad, Nakamura joined Italian club Reggina, newly promoted to Serie A. Expectations for Nakamura were high, as he was given the prestigious number 10 shirt from the start, and he responded by scoring in three consecutive matches early in the season.

However, Nakamura struggled with injuries, appearing in just 18 matches in the 2003-04 season, while the club struggled to avoid relegation all three seasons he played there. After three seasons in Italy, he felt it was time to move on.

Celtic (2005-present)

Nakamura expressed interest in playing in Spain and media reports linked him to Atlético Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña of La Liga as well as Bundesliga teams Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer of 2005, but Nakamura ultimately chose to join Scottish Premier League champions Celtic.

Although Japanese football observer Jeremy Walker warned that Nakamura's lack of pace and stamina may be a problem in Scotland, he made an immediate impact with Celtic, as he was named Man of the Match in his début against Dundee United on August 6, 2005. His creativity, as well as his work ethic and composure under pressure has won praise from teammates, manager Gordon Strachan and Celtic supporters.

In his first season with Celtic, Nakamura won his first major club titles, the Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup. On 13 September 2006, he played his début Champions League game against Manchester United at Old Trafford. He scored a freekick to bring the game level at 2-2. However, the game ended with the home side winning 3-2. On 14 October 2006, he played in a league game against Dundee United at Tannadice Park and went on to get man of the match as well as score his first hat-trick of his Celtic career. The game ended 4-1 in Celtic's favour. On 21 November 2006, Nakamura scored perhaps the most important goal of his career to date with a 30 yard free-kick against Manchester United at Celtic Park in a crucial Champions League game. The goal resulted in Celtic progressing to the Champions League knockout stage for the first time. On 26 December 2006, Nakamura chipped the ball over Dundee United's goalkeeper Derek Stillie at Celtic Park (He won the Goal of the Season award by this. It was Nakamura's performance in the final 20 minutes of the game which allowed Celtic to escape with a point, prompting Gordon Strachan to proclaim him "a genius".

On 25 February 2007, during the Scottish Cup quarter-final between Celtic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Nakamura broke a bone in his left hand after an Inverness player stepped on it. However, Nakamura played in the next game on March 3 against Dunfermline Athletic. Gordon Strachan, said that they couldn’t play the second leg of the Champions League match against AC Milan in San Siro without him. He played in both legs of the fixture, the first was at Celtic Park where the Celts were held to a 0-0 draw and the second-leg finished 1-0 to Milan after extra time.

On April 22, 2007 Celtic won their 41st league championship, and second in a row. The title was won by a free-kick from Nakamura in a 2-1 victory against Kilmarnock. The result left Celtic 13 points clear of Rangers with four matches remaining. Later that day Nakamura was recognized by his peers by him winning the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association's player of the year award for 2007. This was followed in May by the Scottish Football Writers' Association player of the year award and both Players Player of the Year award and the Fans Player of the Year award at Celtics' own end of season awards ceremony.

Hail! Hail!

TomC

Thursday, August 30, 2007

UEFA Champions League

In honor of Celtic FC making it to the group round in the tournament, I thought I oughta do more research about what the tourney actually is!

The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal club football competition organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 1955 for the most successful football clubs in Europe. The prize, the European Champion Clubs' Cup, is considered the most prestigious club trophy in the sport.

The UEFA Champions League is separate from the less prestigious UEFA Cup and the defunct Cup Winners' Cup.

The tournament consists of several stages and begins with three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds. The sixteen teams emerging from the preliminary rounds take part in the final knock-out stage, which starts in late February and ends with the final match in May.

The UEFA Champions league is open to the league champions of all UEFA member associations (except Liechtenstein, which has no league competition), as well as to the clubs finishing from second to fourth position in the strongest leagues. Since January 2007 the two lowest-ranked league competitions (currently the Andorra and San Marino leagues) can also represent their domestic champions in the Champions League.

Qualification

The number of places in the competition depends on the association's rank in the UEFA coefficients table:

* associations ranked 1 to 3 have four positions,
* associations ranked 4 to 6 have three positions,
* associations ranked 7 to 15 have two positions,
* associations ranked 16 or lower have one position.

An association's rank also determines the stage at which the clubs enter the competition. For example, the three highest-ranked associations have two places in the group stage (for champions and runners-up) and two in the third qualifying round (for third and fourth-placed teams), whereas the lowest-ranked associations have only one place in the first qualifying round for their champions. Nine highest-ranked associations have at least one automatic place in the group stage.

An additional place in the group stage is reserved for the title-holders, in case they don't qualify via their domestic league. However, an association is limited to sending at most four clubs for a season. This means that if the title-holders come from a league given four positions, but finish out of the top four, it will take the place of the fourth placed team. The fourth placed team will go to the UEFA Cup.

In addition to sporting criteria, any club must be licensed by its national association to participate in the Champions league. To obtain a license, club must meet certain stadium, infrastructure and finance requirements.

The Stages


The tournament consists of several stages and begins with three preliminary knockout qualifying rounds. Different teams start in different rounds, according to their position in domestic league and the UEFA coefficients of their league, while the sixteen top ranked teams spread across the biggest domestic leagues qualify directly.

In the subsequent preliminary round, participating teams are paired, with aggregate winners proceeding into the next round. Qualifying rounds span from mid-July to late August. The losers of the third qualifying round are transferred to the UEFA Cup, while the sixteen winners of the final qualifying round are joined by the sixteen teams who have qualified directly, to participate in the group stage.

Teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams, each team playing every other team in the group twice (home and away). The group stage is played between mid-September and early December. The teams finishing third in their groups are transferred to the UEFA Cup, while the top two teams from every group qualify for the next round. Here the sixteen remaining teams take part in the knock-out stage, which starts in late February and ends with the final match in May.

All qualifying rounds and knock-out ties are two-legged, with each team hosting one match. The team which scores the greater aggregate number of goals qualifies for the next round. The away goals rule applies. Extra time and penalty kicks are used to determine the winner, if necessary. An exception is the final, which is a single match played at a predetermined venue.

The draws are currently structured to ensure that clubs representing the same national association cannot play each other until the quarter-finals. In addition, seeding of the teams according to their UEFA coefficients is used. The competition system has been undergoing changes since the 1991/92 season (see history). The current system was adopted in 2003.

The Champions League final is the most important match of the season in European club football. The stadium to host the final is selected by UEFA two years before the match.

The winning club gets possession of the trophy at the awards ceremony, but must return it to UEFA headquarters two months before the following year's final. UEFA gives the winners a scaled-down replica of the trophy to keep permanently, and winning clubs are free to make replicas of the trophy as long as they are clearly marked as replicas and are no larger than 80% of the size of the actual trophy. However, the current competition rules also specify that the actual trophy will be permanently awarded to a team that wins three consecutive years or five times in all

Sounds Like a Fun Autumn Awaits!

Hail! Hail!

TomC

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

MikeD's Scary Rock Chicks (Part Deux): Amy Lee















Amy Hartzler (born Amy Lynn Lee and best known as Amy Lee, December 13, 1981 in Riverside, California) is an American singer-songwriter and classically-trained pianist. She is a founding member and lead singer of the Grammy Award winning rock band Evanescence. Her influences range from classical musicians such as Mozart to modern artists like Björk, Tori Amos, Danny Elfman, and Plumb.

Discography

Evanescence

* Evanescence EP (December, 1998)
* Sound Asleep EP (August, 1999)
* Origin (November 4, 2000)
* Mystary EP (January, 2003)
* Fallen (March 4, 2003)
* Anywhere but Home (November 23, 2004)
* The Open Door (October 3, 2006)

Collaborations

* David Hodges featuring Amy Lee - "Breathe" - The Summit Church: Summit Worship (2000)
* David Hodges featuring Amy Lee - "Fall Into You" (2000, Unreleased)
* Big Dismal featuring Amy Lee - "Missing You" - Believe (2003)
* Seether featuring Amy Lee - "Broken" - Disclaimer II (2004) and The Punisher Soundtrack (2004)
* Korn featuring Amy Lee - "Freak on a Leash" - MTV Unplugged: Korn (2007)

TomC

Sancho Panza Double Maduro - Thwarted Review


Well as you can see by the stunning pictures above I had every intention of doing a review of the Sancho Panza Double Maduro Rothchild, one of my favorite go to cigars, this evening. They are generally great values, a cigar of good construction and superior flavor for a fabulous price! You can even see from the picture below that it started off pretty well.
But soon afterward every thing went horribly, horribly wrong. The wrapper started to unravel beyond the ability to repair and not too long afterward, THE WRAPPER FELL COMPLETELY OFF!
This definitely puts a cramp in my plans to review the cigar. That said, I did smoke the rest of the cigar without the wrapper, and it was actually pretty good. I suppose this says that they used good binder and filler tobacco as well, which is good. Oh well, I suppose the review will have to be another day.


TomC

Monday, August 27, 2007

The Celtic Football Club Of Glasgow

(My favorite Celtic player, Japanese Midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura.)

Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club, competing in the Scottish Premier League, the highest form of competition in Scotland. The full name of the club is The Celtic Football Club. Until 1994, the club's full name was The Celtic Football and Athletic Company Ltd.

Celtic play home games at Celtic Park commonly referred to as Parkhead, which has a capacity of 60,832, and is currently the second largest club stadium in the United Kingdom. In 2005-06, Celtic Park attracted an average attendance of 58,149, making the club second only to Manchester United in average attendance for any football club in the UK.

Together with their rivals, Rangers F.C., they form the Old Firm which is one of the most famous and fiercest rivalries in sport. Celtic has historically and traditionally been synonymous with its founding roots which stemmed from the Irish Catholic immigrant community in Glasgow.

In 1967, Celtic became the first British team to win the European Champions Cup, which had previously been the preserve of Italian, Portuguese and Spanish clubs. Celtic won every competition that they entered that season: the Scottish League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the European Cup and the Glasgow Cup.

Additionally, Celtic remain the only Scottish club ever to have reached the final, and are the only club ever to win the trophy with a team composed entirely of home-grown talent; as all of the players in the side were Scottish, and all were born within a 30-mile radius of Celtic Park. Celtic again reached the European Cup final in 1970, only to be beaten by Feyenoord in extra time. In 2003 Martin O'Neill led the team to the UEFA Cup final in Seville where they lost 3-2 to F.C. Porto after extra time. Around 80,000 Celtic supporters travelled to Seville for the final.

The club's traditional kit colours are green and white hooped shirts and white shorts with white socks. Celtic are one of the best-supported clubs in the world, with an estimated fanbase of approximately nine million.

Celtic won the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Cup in 2006-07 season.

Read More about Celtic FC HISTORY.

Read about recent seasons past!

Celtic FC Official Website

A Celtic FC unofficial Web Forum.

WHY I FOLLOW CELTIC

Sometimes I've been asked by one man or another,
Why do I follow Celtic, why do I take the bother,
But he must be a fool, who would ask me such a question,
So then how can I explain, try to tell him what he's missing,
And it's 1, 2, 3, Celtic for me,
Not a team in the world like the Celtic.

If a man has never seen Glasgow Celtic when they're playing,
He mustn't have a soul, mustn't know what he is saying,
And if he's never heard when the Celtic crowd is cheering,
Then there's nothing I can say but he must be hard of hearing,
And it's 1, 2, 3, Celtic for me,
Not a team in the world like the Celtic.

When Celtic are in Parkhead I am proud to be there with them,
Soon they play again but sadly I do miss them,
They're the team for me, their could never be another,
And then some fool wil ask, why do I take the bother,
And it's 1, 2, 3, Celtic for me,
Not a team in the world like the Celtic.

So if anyone should ask and you want to give a reason,
Tell him go and find himself a ticket for the season,
And when he's been to Parkhead and seen the Celtic playing,
Well it won't be very long until you will hear him saying,
Why do I take the bother,
And it's 1, 2, 3, Celtic for me.



Hail Hail!

TomC

Don Pepin Garcia "Blue Label" Firecracker

3" X 50, Natural

Appearance
:
This is one distinctive looking cigar. This little bad boy actually looks like a firecracker, complete with a little fuse! (Mine lost his little fuse due to mishandling on my part, sorry for the abuse). This cigar is impeccably constructed, in the vein of all the other Don Pepin Garcia cigars, which had to be hard considering its diminutive size. Another interesting thing that needs noted is the shaggy foot on this cigar, as shown below, adds a very cool little touch.

Pre-Light: Clip was easy as could be with the spiffy Credo Synchro Cutter. Because of the extremely small stature of this cigar, I took extra pains to take as little off the cigar as possible. The prelight draw was all spice and pepper.


Burn/Draw: The burn and draw of this cigar were surprisingly consistent considering the unusual size of this cigar. That said you have to take pains to make sure to smoke this cigar slowly or it will get too hot too quickly. This was a bit of a problem toward the end of the stick regardless, unfortunately. Overall this aspect of the smoke was surprisingly pleasant, if way too short (more on that in a minute).Flavors: This cigar started out as a true pepper bomb! It will attack you with a force that might just surprise you upon lighting. After that initial burst fades (which is about a third of the way in to this short little smoke), the power doesn't really let up. the pepper abates a bit but the spiciness and intensity stay for sure. Over the last 1/2 inch of smokable cigar it starts to refine just a little, becoming richer and cedary but by then its time to pitch the smoke.

And therein lies the problem. This smoke is too short. This is a nice blend of tobacco and it needs more space to develop. Its a shame cause it was a pretty good start for a possibly great cigar, it is just woefully too short. Alas these cigars make better humidor decoration than smokes at this point. Sorry.

TomC

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Sox Sweep Doubleheader, Gain 1.5 Games!

This is just a quick post to show exactly what the Red Sox should be doing. The Sox took care of business sweeping an inferior opponent fairly easily in a doubleheader on Friday. the first game featured Josh Becketts 16th win (though he wasn't terribly impressive by his standards, giving up 3 ER in 52/3 IP) and a slew of late scoring.

The second game featured Curt schillings best start in months and good early run support, lead by David Ortiz (4-5 3R 2HR 3RBI). Neither game was terribly in doubt. The Sox look to continue the trend against Chicago this after, with Time Wakefield facing off against Mark Buerhle.


GO SOX!

TomC

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Rocky Patel On The New Bullshit SCHIP Tax

Rocky Patel: Facts On The New Tobacco Tax




Rocky Patel and Christian Eiroa: More on Tobacco Tax



Important videos every cigar lover should watch. The retail end it fighting to preserve our rights, you should be active as well.

TomC

Gurkha Class Regent Nepalese Warrior (4/1/07)

6" X 52, Box - Pressed, Cameroon

Appearance: This was one pretty looking box pressed cigar. Dark and rich looking, and with that slick looking severe press. Not a vein in sight. Promising.

Pre-Light: Clipped easy. Prelight draw was woody and cocoa. Again, promising.

Burn/Draw: Draw was easy and produced a good amount of smoke. The draw was ridiculous. The second half of this cigar was marred by various problems, canoes, runs, and a generally uneven burn that needed repeated touch ups. Very Disappointing.

Flavors: Another disappointment. This cigar really did not live up to its promise. There were some basic notes common to Cameroon Wrappers here, but nothing special. Some tangyness, some leather notes, some cocoa, and some wood. Very straightforward, and no real development over the course of the cigar. This cigar wasn't bad per se, but I guess I was expecting more.

TomC

PS *EDIT AUGUST 23, 2007*

I had another one of these cigars, and so I thought that I should bump this review to the top with any updated impressions. Well I have to say that this time around the burn was much better, and was not any issue at all. The ash was firm and held well. the burn was long and cool and created a decent amount of smoke. The problem is, the cigar was still boring and bland. too bad.

Per MikeD's Request: Cristina Scabbia

Mikey seems to like his women kinda scary! There you go man, ENJOY!

(Well look at that! She's a cigar smoker! How Appropriate for my Blog. Hmmmm......)
Cristina Adriana Chiara Scabbia (born June 6, 1972 in Milan, Italy) is one of the two vocalists in the Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil. She also has an advice column, alongside former Pantera and current Hellyeah drummer Vinnie Paul in the popular rock magazine Revolver. Scabbia has said that the biggest compliment that a fan could pay her would be to remark on her vocal abilities.

Scabbia grew up listening to music with her family, which included two brothers and a sister. Though her siblings' musical preference differed from Scabbia's, her first influences were from bands such as Genesis, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and traditional Italian music. She began to take interest in metal music in her 20s as well as 1980s music, which also included dance music. Scabbia has said it is difficult categorize what influenced her as a musician and she feels that any type of music has had an influence on her.

Scabbia first began using her vocal abilities to back up Lacuna Coil's then lead singer Andrea Ferro. The last member to join the current line up, she was friends with the members previous to joining. When Lacuna Coil recognized her interest to sing in the group, they planned to record a demo with Scabbia that would be sent to record labels to get the group a record deal. Scabbia was initially asked to sing parts of the choruses, but the band liked the sound duality of the male/female vocals and asked her to be a permanent member.

Soon after recording the demo, they were signed on the international label Century Media. Originally signing with the Century Media branch located in Germany, Lacuna Coil joined up with the American branch of the label. Even before the first album's release in 1997, they began to tour.

She made a duet with the important Italian songwriter Franco Battiato in the song "I'm that" (2004) and she sang with him in a concert in Milan in 2005 (the concert can be watched on the DVD "Un soffio al cuore di natura elettrica"). Also she can be heard on the single "Can you hear me" of the Italian rock band Rezophonic. In 2006 Scabbia and all her bandmates appeared, with many Italian bands, in Rezophonic's videoclips "L'uomo di plastica" and "Spasimo".

She appeared on a remake of A Tout Le Monde on the Megadeth album United Abominations. The song is a duet with Dave Mustaine and was to be the album's first single but was later replaced with Washington Is Next!.

She will appear on the upcoming Apocalyptica album.



Hmmm....

TomC