Look down the fixture list of any football club (actually any sports team) and there are big games. The games against Portland and Vancouver stand out for the Sounders this year. I think the Houston games have a little extra bite to them.

These are the games you put a little asterisk against and make sure nothing else is going on that day.

Then there are the massive games, these are the ones matter to the fans of the game rather than just fans of the team. Titans clash and there is something on the line.

These you plan your entire week around, anticipate, think about, and obsess. These are the huge nights. This week there has been a couple of these massive games in the UEFA Champions League.

Last night was Tottenham in the San Siro. Before the game Spurs manager (and ex Sounders player and manager) Harry Redknapp engaged in a few mind games. He said “we will have a right go” and Harry was true to his word. They took the game to Milan from the first minute and at half time they were right to feel they had held their own against the reigning European and world club champions.

This performance and result was proof that this Spurs side not only belongs at this level but if they raise their game like this deserve to be regarded as genuine contenders. To provide a little perspective, this was the current champions (and Serie A leaders) and they were comprehensively beaten in their own stadium.

Tottenham came with a plan and executed wonderfully, but with a lot of discipline, especially at the back. They soaked up huge amounts of pressure and pressed forward quickly when given a break. As for the goal, it was made by Aaron Lennon’s wonderful run, the defender came out to stop him and Lennon made sure he missed. Crouch’s positioning was perfect, the keeper could not cover both players and the finish was made to look easy.

Harry Redknap knows the job is not done. They have to defend the lead at White Hart Lane, but Spurs have given themselves a wonderful chance to go through to the last eight, and there is no one they should be scared of.

Tonight was Barcelona playing Arsenal in London. Last year these teams met in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and we were treated to 30 minutes of Barcelona putting on a clinic, they played maybe the best football I’ve ever seen. I was in Guildford and watched the game sitting with dad. We both sat there in silence, just astounded by how good this team was.

I’ve watched Arsenal play a few times this year and they are a very attractive team to watch, they play a beautiful passing game and Arsene Wenger knows how to win games. This had the makings of a great game, two sides that play the game the way it’s supposed to be. And it delivered.

Before this match there were a lot of idea put around about how to beat this Barcelona side. Some said play a more physical game; others said play them tight and take away space. Last year in this fixture it did look like Arsenal gave Barcelona too much space and respect.

That never happened this time, they pressured every time Barcelona had the ball. It seemed to work for a time and there were times the Spanish leaders were forced to hoof the ball clear. Very uncharacteristic and a sign that Arsenals tactics were working.

Arsenals tactics did lead to the Barcelona goal, the midfield pushed up, was unable to close them down and gave David Villa the space to finish. As the first half wore on Barcelona did seem to play better and better, by the break Barcelona did look somewhat in control and were moving the ball around well.

Wenger did seem to change things a little at half time, they ran at them a little more and the defenders were caught high a couple of times.

The home side definitely had better chances as the game wore on, with a high back four when Barcelona were caught on the break they did look venerable to pace through the channels and a number of decent chances came to both sides, but as the game went on Arsenal looked the more composed side and adsorbed the pressure well.

Van Persie scored the equalizer. He did well to get onto a ball through played through the back four and did well to beat the keeper on the near post from a tight angle. The winner was a classic Arsenal end-to-end counter attack. The Barcelona attack broke down and the ball went from Nasri to Arshavin who hit a beautifully controlled shot past the keeper.

The game was as good as I’d hoped, both sides played their part and Arsenal found a way to press Barcelona and used their pace to get behind the defense. Barcelona had moments of dominance, but were unable to really break the defenders down constantly.

These games set up a pair of fascinating ties in three weeks time at the Camp Nou, and White Hart Lane, and that’s another two massive games for fans of the game.

Been a busy couple of days getting presentations together and going through a just brutal class at work.

Last night was wonderful, laid back, a couple of drinks and I finally got to see the reconstructed version of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis over a great dinner that I did not have to cook (better and better). Really wonderful movie, restored, with the missing footage that was discovered in Argentina a few years ago added, and of course with the original orchestral score. Incredible to think it’s 84 years old.

Today I was standing in the kitchen doing a little cleaning and found myself staring out the window and smiling. Even though it’s winter and rather bare out there, it just makes me grin.I just wanted to share that view. Thanks for indulging me.

Over dinner this evening I was asked about kids TV in the UK, it turned into an interesting discussion.

It seems every generation has their Saturday morning ritual. For dad it meant a weekly walk to the cinema to enjoy serials like Flash Gordon, westerns and so on to go along with his cartoons. This weekend ritual lasted into the 60’s and perhaps early 70’s in the UK, slightly before my time.

My generation had three hours of live, “interactive” (for the time, using the very pre-internet phone in definition) TV on BBC1 fronted by Noel Edmonds (better known then as a creative radio DJ) on the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop. The show also had BBC stalwart John Craven and newcomers Keith Chegwin (height of his career) and Maggie Philbin (still with the BBC) involved.

Get up by 8.30, cornflakes in front of telly, sit and watch swap shop for 3 hours, remember no remote control to go channel hopping. Then go play footie on field all afternoon, then home for final score… That’s how I remember it anyway.

It was what would now be called a “magazine” style program aimed squarely at the kid audience. There were inevitably cartoons, but there was also something of an educational element designed to inform us about the world at the right level.

It was all done live, and I understand largely without a script beyond the morning running order. It became a program that had a huge cultural influence in the UK for people my age. One example of this influence was that Saturday afternoon was the time during the week that the most records were sold and went a significant way to dictating that weeks’ top 40. Getting a band onto Swap Shop on Saturday morning drove sales on Saturday afternoon.

It started at 9 and finished when Grandstand, the Saturday sports show, started at about midday. Grandstand then carried BBC1 until the final football results were in at about 5 in the evening (no live football then). Think about that for a moment, the BBC produced over 8 hours of live TV during the day every Saturday, that’s rather impressive.

The thing that separated Swap Shop from everything else was the promise of interactivity. The phone number was there across the front of the hosts’ desk, this was before premium rate phone lines and people were encouraged to call in and talk to Noel Edmonds or other guests live on TV. I don’t think that had ever been done before, certainly not in a kids format. Here is a live “interactive” interview with Adam Ant from 1981.

On the “other side” (there was only three channels at the time BBC1, BBC2 and ITV, with BBC1 and ITV being the two big ones) there was the Chris Tarrant led Tiswas. This introduced Spit the dog, Sally James and the Phantom Flan Flinger. It was very chaotic, more of a sketch show that the magazine format on the more conservative BBC1.

Swap Shop really defined the genre and the BBC used an almost identical format for the next 15 years in various guises. At its peek the Saturday morning kids show attracted up to six-million viewers, impressive numbers. Even the sitting Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, made an appearance that’s become rather infamous.

The sun is out, it’s nice morning and its time to be productive outside. Got a bunch of clearing up done and it looks better, there is a lot of trash in the greenbelt and I spent 20 minutes fighting with the blackberry thorns to pick up some beer cans and wine bottles. It looks far better except for the dead tree thrown off the deck.

I then get down to jet washing my entire deck and the back of the house. It took a couple of hours, but looks so much better. I discovered a little more damage, it’s been added to the list. Here is a before/after picture of the deck railing. I’m feeling very productive and industrious, time to do some work in the front before heading out this evening.

I really love my house.

Last night was Social Distortion at the Showbox SoDo. It’s been a good couple of weeks for live music, and there is more over the next week or two.

Driving into Seattle and the heavens opened, at one point I could just about make out the car in front through the rain, it really was that bad. On the bright side, at six last night there was still a lot of light in the sky.

We met downtown and went to dinner in the Cellars on First. It was OK, but no better than that. There is far better in the rather competitive Seattle restaurant market. Good wine list though.

I’ve been listening to the new Social D album a little over the last week and it does not feel like a band are going through the motions, and for a band that’s been around for 25 years that’s a decent complement. It’s worth the listen, I’m not super familiar with their stuff, but I will be downloading some more.

Good gig, and the music is a little harder onstage than recorded. Showbox SoDo is a nice sized venue and they played a solid set and looked very polished on stage. Went to the palace kitchen for a late night happy hour. Fun night.

My group bailed from work a little early today to celebrate a couple of milestones being hit. Any excuse for a little happy hour. 🙂

Trawling through my Google analytics can be absolutely fascinating. One of the things I get metrics for are the search terms that people plug into search engines and rather unceremoniously find themselves deposited here.

The following search terms (and both the terms and the spelling used are genuine) somehow led people to davekean.com, and I’ve no idea why their particular journey ended up here.

• Video bed foot
• Blue tate hair removal [twice]
• Blue tate
• Sexy mail man Everett
• Raison bran breakfast
• Married woman who likes [no idea what she like]
• Why do women anal bleach
• Range rower water pump
• Exhibits inhibition
• Maine forest baroque
• Tate vajazzing
• Do you like furries
• Curtan rail ends

I did not even know what “anal bleach” was before tonight, and I was way better off that way. To be clear, I only know what Vajazzling is because it’s a running joke on the Winning Ugly podcast (according to vajazzling.com it’s “ The act of applying glitter and jewels to a woman’s nether regions for aesthetic purposes”, having said that according to Winning Ugly it’s not just women.

If you want to know about anal bleaching, you go look it up and hopefully ask yourself “Really? What voluntarily… You are shitting me…”

And thank you for asking about my desire for furries, but no it does not float my boat.

As big an issue as I have with being linked to anal bleaching, not as bad as someone searching for “stretched old pussy” and ending up here.  Really google? You think that’s got something to do with this?

I really hope these people found what they are looking for, despite the questionable grammar and spelling (like I have room to talk here). Thanks for dropping buy, and the person who came here looking for “size queen Portland” and stayed 20 minutes and viewed 24 posts, thanks, I’m glad you found something that interested you.

…You get another cat picture. Actually that’s not true, but it’s all work stuff, turned into a long day, but some good stuff.

I admit this is not a terribly flattering picture of Tubby, but he is a great cat.

At last the MLS schedule has been released, there are a couple of games that clash early in the season with planned travel, but not too bad. May 14th and June 11th are going to be fun, as will the corresponding fixtures at Vancouver and Portland.

In addition to the two local teams an away trip LA on the 4th of July weekend was fun last year, that might work again. There are a couple of other away fixtures that would be fun to go to. However, there is Houston at the end of July, that will be warm.

Five weeks until opening day!

My plans for the evening got rather messed up, I did something rather dumb and put a drill into my finger and under the nail. Rather stupid, but not nearly as bloody as last June when I cut off the end of my index finger (and that still hurts occasionally).

I stopped in Central Market, picked up a couple of really nice steaks, a pile of fresh vegetables and a bottle of wine. The steaks were marinating, the vegetables prepared and the wine open (and I’d had a couple of sips so did not contribute to this)… Everything looking good, then in a spare few minutes I decided to take care of one of those “5 minute” jobs of the “I need a second set of hands, would you just hold this while I…” variety

Drill slipped, into my nail and enough blood to make a bit of a mess… Awesome…

Dinner was excellent, if a little delayed.