What it is?
Thanks for tuning in. I have news. 1 to 3 interviews tomorrow. whoa whoa whao! I wont post them all, BUT, I will play them all by next TUES. Promise.

Other news. I want a Buenos Aires DJ, other podcasters from abroad and *hopefully* Jay Kay of Jamiroquai fame. Pipe dream, MAY-B. But, things change, such as the English language starting sentences with but & those who (like me) want to give back to the local community. I have been a big fan, seen them live in Mo-town, and think I am a great candidate to show them a quality time here.

In any case, thanks for the emails Drew, Rob, and Ghada; all of them have been wonderful enough to email me multiple times in that last 24 hours regarding possible shows. Well, Drew and Ghada really, but much respect to Rob he introduced, Gizmo to me and introduced me to podcasting in the last 48 hours. Very cool folk.
But, but, but, I would LOVE to interview Jay of Jjams. I have turned hundreds if not thousands of people on to the band since their first album, a deadhead actually turned me on to them. In any case, I have been with them through up's and downs (not everything we do is gold) and would love to have Jay on as a guest in my town when he visits Buenos Aires in a few weeks.

We'll see. I'll keep you posted... and for those that really don't dig their sounds please do not hold it against me, I'm a fan and I stand my ground.

much love.

Ryan
www.expatpodcast.com

Superball-er: Diego Armando Maradona

First off, shut up. I am not a sports fan, but I respect, sport... thumb wrestling, american gladiators, and believe it or not THAT is not all...
The Most Valuable Player is an interesting concept in team sports. I don't think I recall any Football MVP's aside from Desmond Howard and most recently Heinz Ward. After the game I went to ESPN and Sports Illustrated to read "best game ever" or "worst game ever", that sort of tabloid writing is prevalent in sports and caters to the fans of both teams. It's hard to qualify an entire game as "the best", however some games do have their best moment, and when the impossible happens, those moments really do become some of the most memorable, or "best" moments in sports.

Do you know who is considered the best football player of all time? No, not Jim Brown, it's a man shorter than him, but even bigger in stature, it is of course Diego Armando Maradona.


While the argument can be made that "Pele" Pelé. Edson Arantes Do Nascimento of Atari soccer and Brazilian fame was better, I would disagree.

Maradona is credited with have the most amazing goal in football, aptly named the hand of god
So while this quarterfinal championship wasn't the best game ever, it did hold the most outrageous moment... When 5'4 Diego jumped over a 6'1 goalkeeper and punched a ball into the goal only to have the score count even though it was illegal. This man did what ever he could to win, if you look at competitors as warriors your respect shouldn't lessen, but solidify your respect knowing the brash style of play that one person is capable of. Maradona brought glory to Latin America, Spain, Italy, and infamy in England. VIDEO OF HAND OF GOD.

Ex Pat brushes up Superbowl XL

If you are a sulking Seahawks fan you will enjoy taking jabs at the NFL's longest tenured coach here It's fun! (we don't condone anything but a little fun here, congrats on the victory Steelers!)

The game is over, 21-10, Steelers with less points than I predicted, yet the same result.
This blog is an open forum where anybody can post anything worthwhile and a place to find answers about life abroad, and about yourself.

I recently posted my 10th show and I think it went well. I have had a few readers ask if I could post the transcript of Spanish in English, perhaps someday, but I work too much to go back and edit that right now, I have moved on.

So, who watched the Superfiesta last night 'eh? I was out buying school supplies at Carrefore until halftime, where I clicked on nfl dot com to see the the game had already started.

I headed over to an ex-pat sports bar that I had never gone to before, Remembering the Alamo. I had a similar experience there as I did with the Kilkenny, it was crazy full of really loud drunk men and women yelling things like, "Hola cervsa for da pittburgh piratezzz!!!" The Pirates, of course, aren't a football team, and weren't even playing. I digress, I had a decent time, but remember why I disliked sports bars, they seem to be mostly about work our regimes and listening to people talking about the drinks they are having at that particular moment, i.e "Now this beer IS GOOD BRO!, I had one of these microbrews before them were cool." Sorry Charlie, a good beer is good beer, when the Chinese invented it, they did it to make people happy, not to bring us down with your cool story. Other storied examples are where the punchline of an epic tale serves the story, because it fits in the tale at that perfect moment "... guess what guy...I was drunk!" For instance, "Dude I got so drunk that.. ha ha." Sorry about the drunken banter, but it was really incredibly obnoxious I also saw a 70 year early old Joe Gibbs look alike there who flauntingly thought it was OK to grope a waitress just because she needed to get past him and he knew the word, mujero- which has a pretty funny incorrect translation, "sick bastard," I thought to myself. The waitress was visibly upset and the 200 kilo bartender seemed about as moved from her concerns and he was moved when we all witnessed Rothlisberger's interception. Not at all.

It was great watching that pass from the running back to Ward, though. Gotta love Ward, he did everything in that second half. It looked like the guy with the Santana hair did a lot too what was his name? I was rooting for the Seahawks, who did worse than I thought (see previous post), but Hasselbeck got some bad calls, and the receivers weren't paying at the same level, I think the Pack couldn't taken them that game too.

Well, I will post another show of ultra-fly music tomorrow... "That's right I said it."
Tune in.

(This guy at the bar last night looked nearly identical to this guy here, they even showed his photo during the superbowl and it was unreal... say it aint so Joe.)

Holmgren vs. Popeye...The Super Bowl Abroad

This post is regarding the Superbowl, the biggest non-international event on earth. That's right, it is not even a blip on the ole' globe. Football is not very popular abroad, unless of course you are talking about Soccer. Which internationals call "Football", even in England and just everywhere else in the world. However, sometimes it's known as Footy too, but not to be confused with footsie... That is for another post.

Professional Football and Life changing experiences.

Being that I was born on the third coast between Chicago and Green Bay, I naturally am a football americano fan, follow the game, and even have my own end zone dance.

So I feel it's right to make a prediction, first off, I think the Steelers are going to win. Have you seen the jaw on that coach, what is his name? Pittsburgh is backed by Big Ben, Bettis, and other people that seem to be good enough to give them a good record for the last few years.

The Seattle Seahawks are my favorite however, and I want them to win. The reason is of course, they are the surrogate Packers. Same coach, same field general, what more do you need Beebe? Bono? or #92. the late, great, Reggie White?

My predicted score is below...

Besides, I think the Seahawks are due, I have been to Seattle, have seen Nirvana live, and love North-West culture and people. A Hawks win would really take me back to those days of Sub-pop records and deciding to start following football THE day that MVP Brett something publicly announced his Vicodin addiction. I thought to myself, "What a strong individual, I suppose since I am out of high school and am going to be working in a factory making snowmobile parts, I will have to have something to do, the Packers are it." So instead of finding out old and new record on Sundays, concerts, "raves", or trying to get BandBoo back together... I thought," I'm going to become a bone fide Green Bay Packer fan." And still am. Not many people except my closest friends understood my transformation. I went from a fella not knowing who was on the team, to a die-hard fan who claimed from game 1, "This is our year." Many friends, and those in my social circles weren't on the team bus at that point, would think I was joking about my authentic fevor for this: sports team("Football?, I thought you were cool, do you have a cigarette? "I quit. There are much bigger things happening now.") I religiously began following the Packers stats in the paper (Tivo and broadband weren't available, Google didn't exist, and thank heavens no fantasy football didn't either.... just good old fashion work pools, T.V. and grid iron football), their wins, and my finding out who was on this new found team of mine. "I will like the Packers and they will please me with many wins, and they are "Going all the way". They did.

So luckily for me, the harsh winters spent in the Midwest were usually bearable by consecutive "Super Sundays" beating the Bears and 49ers over and over as payoffs from the pummeling they gave the Packers of my earlier years. Every win felt like the Superbowl for a few years there, "The Pack" would kick teams all over the place. There are a few things that make them the embodiment of football in my opinion.

• The NFL would be called the AFL had they lost the first Superbowl
• The Superbowl trophy is named after the most famous coach in title town
• #55 Ray Nitschke, Starr, Hourning, Majik, Longwell, Butler, Holmgren, The receiving corp,& #4 Favre.
  

The Packers were never A+ dominant, it has always been a fight and has made them better to watch. Favre himself isn't the 400 yards a game QB that newly inducted HOF Warren Moon was, or Dorsey Levens or Green were never close to a Barry Sanders (who my circle of friends pretty much agree should have received his MVP solo that last year, they both had incredible seasons however)

Well, if you retire Favre, and the Packers as I have known them come to and end. I will be both happy and sad: Thanks for that first TD pass to Rison in our last Super Bowl win, thanks for the momentum with the late great Minister of Defense Reggie White and that game where you threw for a bunch of touchdowns and 399 yard in the first half the day after your father died, and thanks for continuing to play after all the tragedies that have hit you and we have heard about. Thanks for winning that Superbowl in New Orleans and trying to get back to the big game ever since. It's nice to know that if you go, on the last day of your professional career you still had it in you to pick up an injurey addled and inexperience team to beat a team that made it to the Superbowl.

So my biggest hope is that, I hope Favre's mentor and his understudy Hasselback, both bring glory to a new place that needs it, and perhaps the winters in Seattle will be a little more bearable, and the city of Detroit will enjoy revitalization after the game is over. I feel it ironic that Ford Field can put on a game and that compares to what they did in the seventies and continue to do now, cut jobs and sponsor sporting events. Anyway, this post is for the love of the game and nothing more.

Steelers 31 - Seahawks - 28

Go Seahawks and prove me wrong!

-Ryan (Superbowl Sunday 1000+ miles from Mo-town)