“With the Seven, Seven-eleven, Sev…”

May 25

Friday, 4 pm, and I’ve yet to use my AK. I may be jinxing myself here, but I’m just about ready to declare it a good day.Â

As for the bullets…

• All the heart-pounding, important soccer is coming to a close for the year, so the time has come to turn your focus to MLS. I had planned on writing a “catch-up” guide so you could hit the ground running, but I myself had to be reminded they were still in season. One thing I do know, however, is this: Red Bull tops the table, and Juan Pablo Angel has 3 in 3 games (including 2 in his last). I’ve been a fan of Angel since his shaky start at Villa, and I can honestly say I’m excited to see him in action. Maybe he can be our gateway drug into the ‘07 season.
• With their Champions League dreams not quite cold to the touch, Rafa Benitez has come out firing with every manager’s plea dujour: “Let me spend more.” I’ve touched on this managing scourge before, and it’s nice to see The Guardian weigh in on the matter as well. I hope the Liverpool board give Benitez his kitty so he can spend it on average Spaniards. Shut up and put in Peter Crouch, Rafa.Â
• A commenter asked about the “I Saw Peter Crouch Score” t-shirt I posted the other day, so now’s as good a time as any to hip you to a pretty damn good t-shirt shop: Goalhanger.com. My personal favorite? Toss up between “Eboue” and “Philippe Albert du fan-club officiel.” Â
• If you’ve been to a youth soccer game recently, you likely noticed an odd label on many of the balls: “Hand-Stitched by Adults.”  It’s less odd when you recall the outcry surrounding the revelation that Nike’s ball manufacturing operations in Pakistan may have involved a “cottage industry” which employed child labor, but still kind of odd when you imagine a 13 year-old kicking it and not giving a rat’s ass who sewed it so long as he didn’t have to. And then when you consider that Nike pulling the manufacturing probably caused many struggling families to become starving families, you have to marvel at the irony of it all. At any rate, Nike’s going back into Pakistan for some ball labor and this time they mean business. Worker’s now have freedom to associate, bargain collectively, and shop at the Nike employee store in Portland.Â

Enjoy the weekend.