Italia, Zizou, and other football thoughts

A belated post on Germany 2006.

Started with a bang, fizzled in the 2nd round, quarterfinals had some controversy but shoddy games.

The Italy-Germany semi-final was a classic. Some end to end stuff, nothing seperating two teams fighting with everything they had.

Germany, playing for national pride in front of 50,000 flag-waving Germans, who for the first time in a long time felt it was okay to say, 'I'm proud to be German.'

Italy, playing for a country and a national sport rocked by scandal and corruption. Playing for hundreds of thousands of Italians who have experienced nothing but heartache since Italia 90. Always coming so close, yet never achieving glory.

But perhaps most of all, playing for a fallen angel, Gianluca Pessotto. They fought to the last, to bring hope to a country, a sport, and a man.

How fitting that it was Fabio Grosso, an unknown from little Palermo, who would become one of the stars of the tournament and score the goal that broke German hearts, as well as score the final decisive penalty to uplift a nation, and a people.

Can't wait for him to play for my beloved Inter. Alongside another legend, Marco 'Matrix' Materazzi.

Yes, he is rough. Yes, he often deserves the scorn he receives from other fans. Heck, even Inter fans are often on his case.

But, in this World Cup, he did none of those things he so often, recklessly, does. He scored important two goals, was a more than solid backup for arguably the world's best (and perhaps most-injured-at-crucial-times) defender, and slotted home a textbook penalty.

Zidane has become a martyr to some, and Matrix a devil who 'provoked' a genius of the game. But it was Zizou, in what could have been his final moment of glory, who quite literally lost his head. It was, unfortunately, Materazzi who found it, lodged in his chest via a vicious headbutt.

And for what? A joke about his mother or sister? I've heard worse on the schoolyard pitch. Much worse, I assure you.

Materazzi found something else that night. Victory. Unbridled joy. And a World Cup.

Zidane found only disgrace, a bewildered public, and an empty locker room.

Weight loss et al

Thought I'd chime in with a post describing my weight loss journey, or should I say, odyssey.

All my life, I've been 'heavy'. Not quite fat, but definately not thin by any means. My immediate family is big, by most standards. And while I was always considered the 'thin' one in the family, it was all relative.

I played hockey for 13 years, soccer for 10. That kept me active enough to ward off the 250 pound and up mark.

Nonetheless, I looked horrible. And to add insult to injury, as I hit puberty and entered high school, I was hit with:

-glasses
-braces
-a lump of trapped fat lodged (to this day) in my right breast.

What a wonderful world lol

Needless to say, high school, for me, blew. Like a hooker with herpes, it was no fun.

Fast forward to my move to Toronto, and in May of 2004 I decided it was time for a change (cue Sympathy for the Devil)

Taking advantage of the free school gym, I worked out 3x/week, ran 3x/week, and tried every time of diet imaginable. By the beginning of my third year I was down to 172lbs, but with quite a bit of muscle as well. This was the lowest I'd been since way back in grade 7.

Over the next year and a half, I put it all back.

I take full blame. Eating out, long long work days, slacking on my cardio.

I was 210 pounds in February. Enough is enough.

Based on my past dieting experience/knowledge, I decided to do a PSMF (Protein Sparing Modified Fast - see Lyle MacDonald's awesome site).

By March I had dropped 20 pounds. Based on the recommendations for this type of diet I ate at or around maintenance for a month, gaining 5 pounds of mostly water weight.

So, at 195, I started low carbing. I kept carbs to sub-30g/day, usually around 10g if I could help it. As well, my calories were around 10x my body weight.

As of this morning, the scale reads 170 pounds. I'm a hair away from the glorious 160s, for the first time in my post-childhood life. My goal weight is 160, but I'd ideally like to get into the 150s.

Once I hit the 150s, I'll have completed Phase I - the 'cut' aka the unfatf*cking of me.

Working is starting to pile up, which is good - means more $$$.

Next paycheque is going to a gym membership, ideally by the end of August, to start Phase II - body recomposition aka the beach body me.

Hang in kids, it's gonna be an adventure!

Rumblings...

Okay. Everyone's had a song stuck in their head for some reason or another. But how many people on the face of the Earth have Party All The Time by Eddie Murphy going 'round in circles in their head?


Not too many, methinks.



Hit a new milestone in my weight loss journey, 172 pounds. Haven't hit that marker since my last hardcore weight dropping stint back in September of '04. Just 12 pounds to my goal weight!

Been working @ Geneva Film Co, great bunch of guys. Doing some PA work for them, as well as the occasional shooting. They just got the new Canon XL H1 HDV camera, which I've been using since March. Amazing pictures!

'My girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time...'

Lord help me...