Entries from July 2004 ↓
July 22nd, 2004 — Arsenal FC
There was no broadcast of this match, so I can’t tell you anything about it in my own words. Here’s what Richard Clarke of Arsenal.com though of today’s friendly:
From Arsenal.com:
By Richard Clarke at the Ljudski Stadium
Arsenal began their pre-season tour with a 3-2 win at Maribor on Thursday night.
The visitors stormed into an early lead through Dennis Bergkamp and Jeremie Aliadiere but they were pegged back in the second half through Milan Rakic.
As the game wore on, Arsenal became a little ragged - they are over here to get fit after all - but they deserved their victory. Substitute Robin Van Persie’s late header seemed to have sealed the win before Rakic popped up with a second just before time to make this friendly interesting until the end.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger named a young side, similar to the one that secured a 10-1 win at Barnet on Saturday. The Euro 2004 players are yet to return to training.
The visitors were ahead after only four minutes. Jose Antonio Reyes whipped in a near-post cross and keeper Tomaz Murko, under pressure from Jeremie Aliadiere, could only palm the ball out to the edge of the area. Bergkamp collected and finished with aplomb into the top of the net.
The Dutchman is just starting, what is expected to be, his final season before retirement.
It is doubtful he will be afforded the send-off Maribor’s Marinko Sarkezi received seven minutes after the goal. The 32-year-old defender was playing his last game after joining the Slovenian side seven years ago. He was substituted in the 11th minute and, as he trotted off, he posed for photographers holding a large framed pictured. It held up the game for several minutes but the crowd did not seem to mind and roared their appreciation.
Despite the interruption, a pacy, sharp-looking Arsenal side were well in control. In the 17th minute Jermaine Pennant sent over a rising right-wing cross and Aliadiere leapt high before meeting in with a powerful downward header. Murko got a toe to it but could not prevent the ball tricking over the line.
Midway through the half, Reyes was fouled in the D of the Maribor area. Bergkamp cheekily planted the ball in the unguarded net and the home defence organised themselves however referee Peter Sart order a re-take and this time the Dutchman fired wide.
Bergkamp was starting to pull the strings. In the 33rd, he flicked the ball over the Maribor defence for Francesc Fabregas to collect. His shot was half-smothered by Murko and the ball looked like running out for a corner. However, the lively Reyes raced through and flicked a dangerous ball across the face of goal before Zikica Vuksanovic cleared.
At this point, the sum of Maribor’s effort had been a ninth-minute free-kick that flashed well wide of Manuel Almunia’s right-hand upright. On the stroke of half time Milan Rakic sent another free-kick well wide of the other upright.
Wenger made changes at the break. Stuart Taylor, Sebastian Svard, Marco Ne and Emmanuel Eboue came on for Almunia, Gilberto, Fabregas and Gael Clichy respectively.
There was no sign of a comeback at the start of the second half. Bergkamp nearly added to his tally five minutes after the break but Vuksanovic blocked his near-post volley.
However Maribor came back into matters after that. Vuksanovic nodded over a free-kick from Peter Franci. Then, just past the hour, Rakic stooped in the area to plant home a close-range header from Ales Ceh’s corner
The home crowd, who had been quiet in the first half, were awake again. Six minutes later, the comeback was almost complete when Andrejs Kvas thumped the base of Taylor’s left-hand post with a snap-shot.
Aliadiere should have poked Arsenal back in front soon afterwards but his effort drifted wide. The Frenchman made way for Van Persie with 21 minutes left and the Dutchman got on the scoresheet late on to seal the victory. Pennant, as against Barnet looking penetrative, sent over a steeping cross from the right and Van Persie guided his header just inside the post.
However Maribor were not finished and Rakic thumped home a low free-kick in the 86th minute. They pushed for an equaliser in injury time but Van Persie came closest to scoring his rising half-volley flew narrowly over the bar.
July 22nd, 2004 — News
Taken from Delaware Online:
Bomb scare stops ship in Delaware Bay
Associated Press
7/22/2004
BIG STONE BEACH — The Coast Guard forced a Turkish merchant ship heading into Philadelphia harbor to turn around today after being told that a bomb might be on board, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
A Coast Guard boarding team stopped the ship in the Delaware Bay shortly before noon for what was described as a “routine search,” the spokesman said.
But when a member of the ship’s crew told the boarding team there was a bomb on board, the boarding crew called for backup.
The ship, which was carrying coal, was ordered to head to a safe anchorage point near Big Stone Beach in the Delaware Bay where another boarding crew can conduct a more thorough search.
In the meanwhile, the crewman recanted his story.
A spokesman said that there was “no evidence whatsoever” that there actually is a bomb on board the vessel.
July 22nd, 2004 — New York Yankees
Two Yankees notes today:
“Teflon Shortstop” Derek Jeter will reportedly be back in the lineup as early as tonight’s game against Toronto, despite suffering a fractured right hand in Tuesday’s game against Tampa Bay. The small fracture occured when Jeter was hit by a pitch from Victor Zambrano. This has been quite the year for the 30 year old Yankee captain, who first suffered through a terrible slump to begin the season, and most recently, needed seven stitches on his chin after diving into the stands to catch a foul ball during a game against the Red Sox earlier this month.
Speaking of tough seasons, as if the BALCO investigations weren’t enough to give him agita, Jason Giambi has been suffering from intenstinal parasites for several months now, which has caused him to lose a significant amount of strength. The problem is now so severe that the first baseman was tested for cancer on Wednesday. Thankfully for the 33 year old, all tests came up negative. He’ll be tested for infectious diseases today. Our prayers go out to you Jason, get better soon!
July 22nd, 2004 — Arsenal FC
Lots of stuff going on Arsenal-wise, so let’s get to it:
First of all, the Romford Pele, midfielder Ray Parlour, has been transferred to Middlesbrough at a fee of £1.7 million. Ray only had one year left on his contract at Arsenal, so it was pretty much a guarantee that at 31, he’d be on his way out. Rayzor is Arsenal through and through, so it’s sad to see him go. I wish him the best of luck at ‘Boro.
Secondly, there have been various reports today that Arsenal have signed Marseille midfielder Matthieu Flamini to a four-year deal. Arsenal didn’t have to pay Marseille anything for the 20 year old, as he hadn’t yet signed a professional contract with the French club. Needless to say this has left Marseille feeling a bit cheated; and who can blame them? Flamini plays central midfield, and speculation is that he’ll serve as cover should Patrick Vieira make a move to Real Madrid.
Which leads me to my third topic. The Patrick Vieira to Real Madrid rumors continue to circle wildly. “He emptied his locker at the Colney Training Ground,” “He’s not made the trip to Austria for the pre-season training tour.” All of this on “good authority”. Well, as far as I’m concerned, I’m not going to believe anything until there’s an official statement released from either Patrick or from Arsenal FC. Until then, I will say no more on the matter.
July 19th, 2004 — WebMaster Ramblings
I wrote a little script that imported nearly all (about 98%) of the old posts. All the ones with a damn apostrophe in the title caused it to not import. I will work on a fix for those. BUT all of them are back and they look ok to me. Let me know if you see any craziness.
They have all been added to a catagory called Archive
UPDATE: NOW all of the posts from the old blog are here and present. Damn Apostrophes. I kicked their lame-ass punctuation ummm.. ass . Lucky they wern’t semi-colons. 
July 18th, 2004 — Film
At long last, I finally got to see a film that I have been waiting for since I saw the first one. I am probably the last person on earth to see this who has actually wanted to see it, but in case I’m not, beware of spoilers that may lurk below.
My immediate reaction to the film was as close as I think I have ever gotten to a cinematic orgasm. This film seems to build from the last one mostly in the area of visuals. The CGI action sequences seemed more real than #1. The battle scenes were what every comic book reader envisions when they encounter the sequence still shots on the flat paper pages. My favorite fights took place on the buildings. The knock-down drag-out fights between Spidey and Doc Ock were awesome. I enjoyed those battles more so than the much balleyhooed Matrix scenes, because this movie looked like it was lifted right out of those ink and pencil pages. Gritty. Epic. Fantastic, no amazing.
While #2 exceeds #1 in the effect department, it still retains the heart that existed in the first film. Peter is still pathetic. Mary Jane is still tormented by Peter’s ambivalence as much as he is. I am glad that it was resolved in the end though because I don’t believe that they could sustain that through a third movie. This is not Ross and Rachel after all. I think the characters as well as the audience would not have the patience for this much longer. Case in point, MJ is tired of it midway through this film. Also, the villian so to speak, Doc Ock is incredibly simpathetic. Molena’s performance is Oscar worthy I dare say, but who am I kidding, this is a comic book movie. Raimi and Molena took a Spidey nemesis who has never been simpathetic and created someone almost more tragic than Spiderman himself.
Since, these films have a way of condensing Spiderman’s history, it will be interesting to see where the third picks up. I am most interested in where the triangle of friends Pete-MJ-Harry stands in #3. By the way, how MJ found out about Spiderman’s ID and her subsequent reaction was beautiful and priceless. Anyway, that’s enough rambling for me. I even waited a few days to compose my thoughts and I am still a little vaklempt.
