Archive for January, 2011

Pat Trick (Get It?)

Posted by Staci on Monday, January 31st, 2011

Pat Healey

MISL Player of the Week? You're looking at him. (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Blast)

Well, if you had any doubts about him, now’s the time to eat crow.

Actually, to be honest, you probably should have done that a long time ago. He’s quiet and unassuming, but he’s making himself hard to miss. So in case you haven’t chowed down yet, here’s what you’re getting from third-year midfielder Pat Healey, your MISL Player of the Week.

-Four goals (two on power plays) and two assists in this weekend’s home-and-home series against the Chicago Riot. Which is partly why I say Chicago hates Pats.

-This is the second time this month (alone) the 2009 Rookie of the Year has been named Player of the Week.

–Who leads the Blast in scoring? Not Machel Millwood. Not Adauto Neto. Not even Max Ferdinand. Healey leads the team with 43 points on 16 goals and 10 assists. He’s third in the league as well, behind Missouri’s Byron Alvarez and Omaha’s Chile Farias.

-Also, he happens to just be a really nice guy. Well done, Pat.

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    Posted in Baltimore Blast, MISL | 2 Comments »

    Attack of the Pats

    Posted by Staci on Sunday, January 30th, 2011

    Pat Morris

    With two fourth quarter goals, defender Pat Morris had five of the Blast's 15 points. (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Blast)

    You kind of have to feel for the Chicago Riot. With a 2-9 record after tonight’s loss to the 10-3 Baltimore Blast, they’re seven games out of first place, and they pretty much spent the weekend coming close to beating the Blast, but not quite getting there.

    You have to feel bad for them, right? Or not. The Blast, on a four-game winning streak, are now tied with the diabolical Milwaukee Wave for first place in the MISL. (Are they really diabolical? I don’t know, but it sounded good.)

    Chicago midfielder Miodrag Djerisilo scored the only goal of the first quarter and teammate Eric Duda scored next in the second. But the Blast picked things up with goals from Pat Healey, Giuliano Celenza and Worteh Sampson to close out the half with the lead.

    Healey got the second half started with his second goal before Chicago scored three in a row. But a contribution from Warren Ukah and two from Pat Morris, one a 3-pointer, kept the Blast on top.

    I’m betting Chicago fans hate the name “Pat” right now.

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    Posted in Baltimore Blast, MISL | 3 Comments »

    Blast Edge Out Riot, 18-17

    Posted by Staci on Saturday, January 29th, 2011

    Pat Healey

    Who's on fire? This guy. (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Blast)

    It wasn’t pretty, but the Baltimore Blast (9-3) wrapped up a nail-biter against the Chicago Riot (2-8), winning 18-17. The Blast remain a half game behind the Milwaukee Wave, who won two in a row last night and tonight.

    The Blast looked…well, a little sloppy when the Riot’s Anthony Maher put a beautiful header in the net 2:48 into the game. Lucio Gonzaga quickly answered with one of his own on an assist from Machel Millwood, who returned tonight from a hamstring injury. But Chicago’s Miodrag Djerisilo (say that three times fast) scored easily on goalkeeper Sagu through a Swiss cheese Blast defense. (Mmmm. Swiss cheese.)

    But then Baltimore got it together and scored an onslaught of goals with contributions from a number of different players, continuing last week’s total team effort. Led by Pat Healey, who had two goals, his first on a power play in the first quarter, and Gonzaga who scored two as well, the 6,916 fans in attendance also witnessed first-half goals from Mike Lookingland, Carlos Garcia, Worteh Sampson, and Pat Morris, bringing the score to 14-6 at the half.

    Baltimore’s offense cooled down (slash melted down) in the second half while the Chicago offense heated up. Midfielder Semir Mesanovic scored a quick 3-pointer for the Riot 27 seconds in. Gonzaga knocked in a pass from Sampson 9:14 into the quarter, and those remained the only two goals of a relatively quiet third.

    “We just got complacent,” said assistant coach and birthday boy David Bascome. “And that’s the most frustrating thing. You can’t get complacent in these games.”

    Djerisilo started the fourth quarter with his second goal of the game off an assist from Maher, who finished the game with two goals and three assists, narrowing the margin to five points. Penalized for pushing, Marco Sullo earned two minutes in the box and gave the Blast a shootout attempt, which Giuliano Celenza easily cashed in on.

    Maher answered with a 2-pointer six seconds later and things got interesting. Chicago’s Eric Lukin scored off a Maher assist, and Sandre Naumoski scored off Maher’s third assist to bring the game within a point.

    “It tends to happen when you get out to a big lead against a last place team,” said team captain Robbie Aristodemo. “You kind of figure you’ve got the game in the bag and in indoor, things happen so fast. You have to give them credit, but we took our foot off the pedal and obviously gave them hope.”

    The Blast hung on, though, to come out on top. They will travel to Chicago tomorrow night for the second game of the home-and-home.

    I’d love to give you a quote from head coach Danny Kelly, but he peaced out before the press made it back to the locker room. Big date, DK?

    P.S. Am I really going to have to reward myself as the winner of the caption contest? Come on, people! It’s like the greatest photo ever.

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    Posted in Baltimore Blast, MISL | 1 Comment »

    Notebook from the Land of Pleasant Living

    Posted by Staci on Thursday, January 27th, 2011

    Beau the Soccer Cat

    This is Beau the Soccer Cat. He and I hope you are staying very warm and cozy.

    Well, I was working on a brilliant post last night, when poof, my electricity went out, taking my internet with it, and didn’t come back on for another 13 hours. Needless to say, it was a very cold night curled up watching Sex and the City thanks to my computer battery.

    That said, some other newsy items have occurred since then, so my genius bud of a post will have to wait.

    First, the Baltimore Blast may have a new opponent to face next season. Rumors abound on the MISL Facebook page that Wichita, home to the now-defunct Wings, has an investor group looking to restart the franchise. MISL commissioner David Grimaldi has confirmed that the talks are indeed taking place, but nothing is written in stone yet.

    Anyone have any memories to share of the Wings?

    I, for one, just want to know what’s up with this Midwest bias. Wichita…Omaha…Milwaukee… These are not places I would particularly want to visit. Can we get some teams back here on the East Coast? KiXX anyone?

    ***

    The Missouri Comets announced today that they have agreed to a three-year partnership with Citizens Bank & Trust. The CB&T logo will appear on the team’s home and away jerseys, and the organization will contribute $5 for every save hottie goalkeeper Danny Waltman makes to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Kansas City.

    ***

    The MISL Facebook page was kind of a big tease yesterday, talking about some big announcement it would make today. Probably got that idea from Oprah. First I thought the big announcement had to do with Wichita. Then I thought it had to do with Missouri. Turns out, it has to do with you guys.

    The MISL is asking fans to send in videos about their indoor soccer memories to socialmedia@misl.net. They are making a “socumentary” (har har). You have a little over a month Blast fans, so I suggest you get cracking and represent, ya heard?

    ***

    Lastly, a bit of Baltimore news for you: Boh is back. Honestly, I never knew he left. In fact, I live under his creepy neon wink in Brewer’s Hill, but you know, yay. Apparently some Baltimoreans liken the acquisition of Baltimore’s National Bohemian beer by Pabst Blue Ribbon to that of Robert Irsay moving the Colts to Indianapolis.

    Welp. Pabst is sending Boh (the namesake of Beau the Soccer Cat) back to Baltimore, keg style. Canton’s Nacho Mama’s will be the first to serve Boh on tap beginning February 3 (undoubtedly in honor of my father’s birthday). Personally, I’ll stick with the margaritas. Yum.

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    Posted in Baltimore Blast, MISL | 5 Comments »

    Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept

    Posted by Staci on Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

    Once upon a time, when I was a bartender intern at Maxim, I assisted in the production of their own funny caption contest, but in that one, the editors provided their own captions, and the readers had to come up with one that was funnier. Well, today’s K&G photo is so excellent, I’m taking a crack at the caption myself. And your challenge is to make me laugh harder than this photo already does on its own.

    Put your caption ideas in the comments section, on the K&G Fabo page, or tweet me. If people start tweeting me, I’ll probably like Twitter better. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Worteh Sampson.

    Worteh Sampson

    "Sliiiiide to the right! Sliiiiiiide to the left! Cha cha now ya'll." (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Blast)

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    Posted in Baltimore Blast | 3 Comments »

    I Don’t Break Promises

    Posted by Staci on Monday, January 24th, 2011

    Josh Rife

    I TOLD you Milwaukee's Josh Rife has awesome sweatbands! (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Blast)

    First thing’s first!

    <————AWESOME!

    ***

    Next thing’s next. What are the chances Sagu is named MISL goalkeeper of the month every month this season? He already snagged the title for November and December, and today was named goalkeeper of the week for going 2-0 this weekend against the Milwaukee Wave and the Missouri Comets.

    Returning from a groin injury that kept him on the sidelines for two games, Sagu stopped 33 or 42 shots over the course of the two games. He currently leads the MISL with a 4.17 goals against average and a .798 save percentage. Snaps for Sagu!

    ***

    Thirdly: I promised you a guilt trip, and I do not disappoint.

    Where the hell have you been?

    I mean, really. I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me, but it seems to me attendance has been weaker than usual this season. People. I know it’s cold, but come on, last year we had three feet of snow!

    The first season I covered the Blast was the 2007-2008 championship season. I was still fresh out of journalism school and had never even been to an indoor soccer game before that season. I enjoyed the games immediately, but perhaps more importantly, I was excited to see the turnout of Charm City fans.

    Amy Keller can correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure the Blast perennially lead the league in attendance. And that first season, I remember the attendance at 1st Mariner Arena rivaling that of Camden Yards on a Wednesday night against the Kansas City Royals in August (that was before Zack Greinke was any good, of course).

    So is this my imagination or what? Attendance seems to be steadily hovering around 6,000 which is good, but not great. Where are you guys? What’s better than having a team in Baltimore that wins championships and is currently tied for first place in the league? I hate to break this to you, but if you’re not following indoor soccer, you’re in a Baltimore sports slump. Yeah. The Shi Pittsburgh Steelers are going to the Super Bowl, and pitchers and catchers don’t report for the Orioles for another month. And honestly, even after they do, we probably won’t have much to look forward to until Ravens training camp.

    Which means you better get your sports fix now. Show your support for the home team. And if you’re one of my awesome homies who doesn’t follow soccer but reads this because you inexplicably think I’m funny, head to the Blast game Saturday. Try something new. I’ll be there. And what could be better than hanging out with me?

    Heh.

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    Posted in Baltimore Blast, MISL | 3 Comments »

    Shoot for the Stars

    Posted by Staci on Sunday, January 23rd, 2011

    Warren Ukah

    Warren Ukah's fourth quarter goal was enough to maintain the Blast's edge over the Comets. (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Blast)

    The Baltimore Blast nearly pulled a Ravens Saturday night, allowing the Missouri Comets to come back from an early 9-0 deficit, but the Blast were able to improve to 8-3 on the season with a 15-13 victory at the Independence Events Center in Kansas City.

    With the win, the Blast remain tied for first place in the MISL with the Milwaukee Wave.

    Max Ferdinand started the scoring for Baltimore with a 3-point goal off an assist from Pat Morris, and then sent an assist Pat Healey’s way. Following Healey’s goal, Morris and Lucio Gonzaga (returning from a two-game suspension) each scored in the second quarter. Missouri’s Lucas Rodriguez put the first goal on the board for the Comets, but Carlos Garcia responded 10 seconds later with a goal of his own. Missouri’s Leo Gibson scored a 3-pointer, however, before the end of the half.

    Giuliano Celenza scored the only goal of the third quarter before the Comets put four on the board — two of them powerplay goals — in the fourth quarter. But Warren Ukah’s goal 5:41 into the fourth quarter was enough to leave the Blast on top.

    The Blast have a home-and-home series this weekend, hosting the Chicago Riot Saturday night at 1st Mariner Arena before visiting them Sunday.

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    Posted in Baltimore Blast, MISL | No Comments »

    A Milwaukee Mess

    Posted by Staci on Friday, January 21st, 2011

    Sagu

    Sagu returned to the field Friday night after missing two games due to a groin injury. (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Blast)

    The Baltimore Blast now have two straight wins over their rival Milwaukee Wave and more importantly have tied for the top spot in the MISL. The home team dominated a fatigued looking Milwaukee, winning 14-6.

    The Blast captured the momentum (very) early in the game when team captain Robbie Aristodemo put an unassisted 3-pointer in the back of the net from close to midfield 21 seconds into the game.

    Carlos Garcia quickly followed up with a goal of his own, but then Milwaukee knocked in three straight to gain the lead. But before the half ended, Warren Ukah scored on an assist from Pat Morris to regain the lead.

    The Blast continued to dominate in the second half, with goals from Worteh Sampson, Morris, and a 3-pointer from Mike Lookingland with the Milwaukee goal unattended while the Wave had Jonathan Greenfield in as a sixth attacker.

    After two missed games due to a groin injury, Sagu led the defense to shut out the Wave for over two quarters.

    Overall, the Blast finished with one of their most complete games of the season, despite not having a complete roster. Baltimore was without Machel Millwood, Scott Buete and Adauto Neto due to injuries. Lucio Gonzaga was also out, serving the second half of his two-game suspension.

    “I think it’s a credit to the guys in the locker room,” said head coach Danny Kelly. “It wasn’t pretty but we dug it out and found a way to win. It was just a great effort.”

    And now for a little “notebook” time.

    - Milwaukee head coach Keith Tozer may very well have the loudest voice…in the WORLD. I could hear everything he screamed from five stories up. Simmer down, man!

    - Rather poor playlist tonight, I must say. I mean, happily I will say I didn’t hear Spongebob for once, but someone remind me to investigate who chooses these songs. Time for a new DJ, yeah?

    -Josh Rife has awesome sweatbands. Someone remind me to investigate this as well.

    -Tonight’s attendance was only 6,329. I have some thoughts to share on this. Get ready for a good, old-fashioned Jewish guilt trip. Yeah, I’m going there. But it’s about 8,000 degrees in the arena press box, and I’m melting. So come back for more when I’m typing from a normal temperature!

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    Posted in Baltimore Blast, MISL | 5 Comments »

    Whatchu Know About Max?

    Posted by Staci on Thursday, January 20th, 2011

    Max Ferdinand

    Unbelievable but true: Max Ferdinand does NOT need a fake ID to get into Claddagh's. (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Blast)

    In his second season with the Baltimore Blast, forward Max Ferdinand has quelled any fears of a sophomore slump. The 2009-2010 Rookie of the Year is third on the Blast with 17 points on seven goals and two assists, putting the ball in the net in nearly every game this season.

    So, on your behalf, I had to find out – who IS Max Ferdinand?

    SW: I have some fun questions to ask you.

    MF: What kind of questions?

    (Sidenote from Staci: Uh…the fun kind.)

    SW: They’re easy, I promise. You’re nervous. You shouldn’t be nervous. Why are you nervous?

    MF: I just don’t like doing interviews. I don’t know why.

    (He was so nervous, you would think that he had read this right before we started!)

    SW: Well you better get used to it, because if you keep doing well, other people are going to want to interview you too. But these are fun questions.

    MF: We’ll see.

    SW: So relax.

    MF: I’m relaxed.

    SW: Who is your celebrity lookalike?

    MF: Lookalike? People say Mario. I don’t know why. I think you said that too.

    SW: I never said that.

    MF: Yeah, you did.

    SW: No, I definitely didn’t. Because that would have never crossed my mind.

    MF: Do you think I look like Mario?

    SW: I could see that.

    MF: I don’t.

    SW: Well who do you think you look like?

    MF: I don’t know, but that’s what they say.

    (Crazy they!)

    SW: OK. Who do you have a celebrity crush on?

    MF: Nelly Furtado.

    SW: What would you be doing if you weren’t playing soccer?

    MF: I’d probably be a teacher.

    SW: What would you teach?

    MF: French.

    SW: Rock, paper, scissors?

    MF: I don’t play that game.

    (I don’t blame him. What with the high stakes and all.)

    SW: But…you just have to pick one.

    MF: Paper.

    SW: If you were an animal, what would you be?

    MF: A beast.

    (Uh. Huh. Original. And I’m a liger.)

    SW: Can you describe yourself in three words?

    MF: Quiet, shy, humble.

    (“Humble,” says the beast.)

    SW: If you had a theme song, what would it be?

    MF: I don’t know.

    SW: Do you have a favorite song?

    MF: Rap song?

    SW: Which one is your favorite?

    MF: I have a lot. I like T.I. so I’ll say “Whatcha Know About That.”

    (FYI, it’s really called “What You Know.” Just sayin’.)

    SW: What’s your favorite spot in Baltimore?

    MF: Claddagh’s.

    SW: Your favorite sport other than soccer?

    MF: Basketball.

    SW: Team? Lakers?

    MF: Yeah.

    SW: Your favorite sports movie?

    MF: “Goal.”

    SW: Lil Wayne or Jay-Z?

    MF: Jay-Z. He’s from New York.

    SW: He’s not Lil Wayne though.

    (Nor is he T.I.  Enjoy Max’s theme song!)

    YouTube Preview Image

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    Posted in Baltimore Blast | 3 Comments »

    Bascome’s Hope4Life

    Posted by Staci on Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

    David Bascome

    Assistant coach David Bascome's greatest accomplishments are off the field. (Photo courtesy of the Baltimore Blast)

    I know you all visit my blog regularly for the Pulitzer Prize-worthy writing, and last week I was a bit spotty about posting. My sincerest apologies.

    But at the risk of sounding like I’m making excuses, it was because I was hard at work on this guy, a feature about Baltimore Blast assistant coach David Bascome and his Hope4Life program.

    Many of you are probably quite familiar with David’s accomplishments as a 17-year veteran of indoor soccer, first with the Harrisburg Heat and later with the Blast. Now in his fifth season as assistant coach of the Blast, some of his most worthwhile achievements have come off the field, instead of on it.

    David battled through a difficult youth growing up in his native Bermuda, but once he straightened things out with the help of soccer, he put his negative experiences to work, founding the Hope4Life organization to guide kids of all ages away from a life of drugs and violence.

    The Hope4Life program originally began in Bermuda, but since then, Bascome has applied it to Baltimore, Guam and soon will to St. Lucia. All places that face many of the same problems plaguing youths today.

    So I hope you enjoy the story, and if you like it, you should subscribe to BmoreMedia’s weekly e-newsletter! (It’s free.)

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    Posted in Baltimore Blast | 5 Comments »