Italian Soccer vs. English Soccer

The Italian Soccer League or the Serie A is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system. It is definately regarded as one of the most prestigious leagues in the footballing world. Historically, Serie A has produced the highest number of European Cup finalists. In total, Italian clubs have reached the final of the competition on 25 different occasions, winning it 11 times.

The Italian League hosts some of the world's most famous clubs : Juventus, Milan, Inter and Roma to name a few. Many of the worlds best play in the italian championship displaying their skill on a week to week basis. More players have won the prestigious Ballon d'Or (Best player in the world for that year) while playing int he Serie A than any other league in the world. Hosting the most successful teams on the planet, the Serie A hosts Milan (6 international titles) and Juventus who is tied for 3rd in Europe in international titles won.

The Italian Soccer league is known for its tight scoring games and lockdown defenses. The fans are among the most passionate, selling out crowds every Sunday afternoon and evening. Italian fans stick with their hometown teams and bleed their respective colors.

English soccer on the other hand is quite different from that of Italian soccer. English soccer only has one upper hand on Italian soccer, and that it the amount of money that the owners have. Owners of English clubs splurge millions of dollars quartly on players with no regard on price tags. This comes as a result of sponsorships from around the world, and much more television rights than the italian league. For the average soccer fan, English soccer seems to be more exciting, but that is clearly not the case to anyone who really understands the game. It is all about the kick and run and hope that something good comes from the action. English fans are simply delusional people who do not understand that their are other ways of playing soccer, besides their own.

For the English, this upcoming week is a rude awakening where all of the Italian clubs are matched up against English ones in the worlds most competitive competition, the Champions League. This will be the week where Italian can wave their flags high, and prove to the world who the best really is!

Manhattanville Men's Soccer

Today is February 20, 2009 and I officially finished another grueling week of offseason activities. Since the soccer season begins in September and finishes in late November, the road to the next season is long, hard and tiresome. My Junior season with the team was a successful one as I became comfortable in my Left Defensive position. I started most of the games before a groin injury forced me to miss 3 games in the home stretch of the season. The team lost in the semi-finals of the Conference Finals, and the season that was suppose to end with an NCAA Championship, came to an end.




Here I am, months later, looking forward to next September already. With this new off-season came new responsibilities as I was elected captain of the new group. This huge responsibility really caught me off guard and was something that I truly did not expect. With this honor, comes just as many problems as does rewards. It is now my job to work the hardest on the team, and provide a good example for the others, many of which are younger and nieve. It has definately been a huge adjustment to being in charge of the other guys, and I think that it is safe to say that it is indeed scary. Obviously I do everything in my power to always remain confident and strong so that others believe in the cause, but many things run through my head on a daily basis. I wonder if the rest of the team really likes me in the leadership role, if I am doing a sufficient enough job, and what I can do better going forward. I think that even more than the physical aspect of the offseason, the mental part of it has been the biggest adjustment.

For an offseason program, our regimen has been particularly tough. We play 4 out of the 5 days a week, two times a day. In each day, we are in the weight room for about an hour-and a half, trying to get better physically. In addition, we are also playing at night for two hours to work on team chemistry and tactics. With all of this comes life as a student. Homework and projects must be fit into this schedule, as well as eating and SLEEP!

I am hoping that all of this work really pays off. I think that with the core group of players that the team has right now, the future looks very bright. ONLY IF WE CAN GET THROUGH THIS OFFSEASON!

Check out the Manhattanville Men's Soccer Team!

Superficial America

I have come to the sad conclusion that the United States of America is built upon people with superficial dreams and excessive desires. Sometime I sit back and really wonder why other countries in the world hate us so much. And the answer that I come to is that us Americans are so materialistic and money-hungry that we throw away the very morals that we have kept sacred throughout our early lives.

Young people in American Society are bred to appreciate physical appearance and shun those who do not look as good as they do. Muscles and tan skin have become the norm, and anything that differs from that is no good in the girl realm. Guys love girls who appreciate an expensive Gucci bag, and five hundred dollar high heels. Is this really what we have become? Where bigger is always better? Splurging money on electronic toys has become almost an everyday occurrence. It is pathetic that people are not happy with a perfectly functioning 32 inch television, but want the newest 62 inch screen just so theirs is the biggest in the neighborhood.

All of these little excessive behaviors have also translated to a global outlook from and against the rest of the world. The American public is never satisfied with its resources and always seeks out as much as it can get, many times at the expense of other countries. America has become the world’s bully and an entity that is always seeking more and more. Something has to be done to change this mindset because it can only lead to destruction. It can lead to violence from other counties, broken relations, and the scariest thought, implosion. The people itself can cause this once simple, beautiful country to literally self destruct.

Where do we go from here?

NBA SLAM DUNK CONTEST: WHAT A BUST!

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest has been an event in which the best high-flying NBA dunkers would show their skills in hopes of winning the first prize trophy. This prestigious event has been showcase to the NBA’s best competitors, including Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Spud Webb and Shawn Kemp. Men like these would lace up a pair of their newest high top sneakers and would shock the world year in and year out. These dunk specialists would stage slam dunks that the world had never seen before, and at the same time do it with so much ease. I think that I speak for NBA fans everywhere when I say that this is no longer the case. The NBA Slam Dunk Contest is now filled with a bunch of young, rising stars that people really have no interest in. These young flyers barely play any minutes during the season in comparison with the rest of their teammates, but are praised for the 1 dunk that that may land in there extremely little slot of playing time. The Dunk Contest was always the main attraction on All-Star Weekend, and always drew the most TV viewers. Since the mid-1990’s, interest in the contest has waned. Some players cited concerns of injury, and others simply ran out of dunk ideas. With most of the leagues superstars opting not to compete for these reasons, we have resorted to watered down competition. Without the likes of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, the competition is boring and unoriginal. I feel that the NBA should make these players enter into the competition because they are the best at the art of the dunk. If for the whole first half of the season we watch the spectacular dunks of these players, why wouldn’t we the people want to see the best vie for the title? Why would we want to see guys dunk that can not do it, night-in and night-out? These guys need to remember that the fans are what make their millions possible. This is just a small way of saying Thank You, once a year!

Status in the Cafeteria

For all of you who have never bothered to take a look around in the cafeteria during your afternoon lunch break, or crowded dinners, you would realize something that somewhat of a social phenomenon that has been occurring since your early middle school years. The Manhattanville Cafeteria, better know as “The Caf” is socially segregated into a wide range of groups. If a student is standing in the middle of the room and looks to his or her left, he or she would see that the back wall of the dining hall houses its group of rowdy baseball players. Off to their left is the goofy and “joke cracking” soccer team, and at their right the basketball team. In the middle of the left side of “The Caf” sits the towering hockey team, and close by the lacrosse team eats their sandwiches and argue about who had the better Halo score on X Box 360. If the person standing in the middle of “The Caf” gazes over their other shoulder they will see that the right side is filled with the artistic crowd, and those that do not have an exact social group to mesh with. In the back of this side of the cafeteria, one may see a student finishing a book, studying for a test that they have later on in the day, or a discussion about the latest theatre production to hit Manhattanville College. This social segregation in the cafeteria is something that reminds me of my High School and something that I thought I would never see in my college years. This goes to show you that people will only associate themselves with others whom they feel most comfortable with. For someone to sit with another person who they are completely different from, is asking too much from someone who can solve a complicated Statistic equation. It is so easy to strike a conversation with someone who you normally wouldn’t, that I am not sure that people do not do it because of laziness or fear. In any case, if anyone takes a second during their next meal to take a look around they will notice this unbelievable trend that has always been a part of our academic lives for as long as we can remember.

Men's Soccer Helps Homeless

This week was the first mandatory community service project that the Manhattanville Men’s Soccer team completed for the New Year. This cause, Midnight Run, is a service project that Men’s Soccer has been affiliated with for some years now and focuses on bringing homeless people on the streets of Manhattan the necessities that they need to survive another day. The players interact with the homeless community on an intimate level, learning how these peoples’ lives took such a bad turn, and what they are doing to dig themselves out of their current predicament. Being this year’s new captain of the team, it was my job to make sure that all twenty eight members of the team knew the purpose for the trip, and that they all had assigned jobs. These jobs ranged from preparing soup and hot drinks to giving out blankets and sneakers. My job was preparing hot chocolate and handing it out to all those who were in need of a hot drink to warm their frigid and frosty insides. An event like this is something that I feel is not only something quite special, but something that all athletic teams should be a part of. Athletes in a community like Manhattanville are very influential and good deeds like this will create an ongoing trend amongst most of the student body. This project also hit me on a very personal level, and caused me to really appreciate my economical status and social standing in the community. People, most often young adults, take advantage of their surroundings and never really stop and think about the sacrifice and sweat that it takes for them to enjoy the things that they do. This event was a nice “eye-opener” and something that I will definitely continue to do on a more regular basis.

To learn more abut Manhattanville Soccer's relationship with the Duchesne Center check out:

http://www1.mville.edu/Duchesne/aboutus.htm