Thoughts on Football and Life

• I about cried with relief when Fernando Torres and his magnificent head (and feet) took Liverpool past Chelsea this morning. I almost blew kisses at the screen as well... stopped myself just in time. Never let it be said that men are incapable of showing emotion.

• A beard worn for the sake of religion is like your favorite football team's jersey. You have to want it yourself. Others can't impose it on you. (Try getting me in a Man United shirt... just try it.) You have to be comfortable enough to be seen everywhere with it. (My Liverpool shirt has been to work, to plays and musicals and to parties.) And you wear it out of love for something greater than yourself.* (Fernando Torres, for example)
  

• I could be a Premier League referee. I could. For example, I would know that when, during a Premier League game (Liverpool v Chelsea, February 1st 2009) in England (the United Kingdom), a player (Jose Bosingwa of Chelsea) runs at another player (Yossi Benayoun of Liverpool) and boots him (Benayoun) in the behind (Benayoun's behind) to get him (Benayoun) off the ball (a football), it is a foul. Experienced Premier League official Mike Riley apparently doesn't know this. Ergo, I >> Mike Riley. Ergo, I == good potential Premier League referee material.

P.S: Chicago is bloody cold. Apart from the great restaurants, amazing entertainment, top quality sports teams (though I don't care for any of them), decent public transportation facilities, hopping nightlife, killer diversity, reputed institutions of higher learning, fantastic museums and skyline-to-die-for, I don't know why people choose to live here.

*(For the record, my beard is grown because I don't like shaving every day.)