When I was a kid, I was very athletic and had a decent ability to catch a ball. So naturally, my soccer coaches often put me in goal... and... I... HATED... it. In my opinion, goalkeeping is best described long stretches of boredom mixed with briefs stints of terror (hmm, sounds like combat) followed by either complete dejection when a goal is scored or exhalations of relief when a goal is prevented. Those emotions are played on repeat hundreds of times a match.
During those long stretches while the ball was at the other side of the field, my boredom led my thoughts to many of the same philosophical questions that are expressed in this brilliant story from NPR's Radiolab program. Enjoy!
Looking back on it, perhaps I hated it, because I didn't have the concentration required to stay in the game. I was a kid after all. Anyway, it is lonely between the sticks.
Check out the goal of the week winners and the nominees for Goal of the Year. My favorites are Clint Mathis (Week 6), Eddie Lewis (Week 9), Nate Jaqua (Week 10), Brian Namoff (Week 17), Alecko Eskandarian (Week 18), Landon Donovan (Week 20), and Robbie Finley (Week 32). I'm a fan of the sombrero move. So, I might have to pick Esky's goal as my favorite. Although, I can't deny that the Mathis goal was a thing of beauty.
Best Save of 2009
Here are the Save of the Year nominees. My favorites have to be Kevin Goldthwaite (Week 4), Pat Onstad (Week 5), Kasey Keller (Week 10), Stephen Frei (Weeks 11, 25), Zach Thornton (Week 27), Tyronne Marshall (Week 29), and Geoff Cameron (Week 31).
I can't bring myself to vote for a defender. Keepers get little enought recognition as is, but you gotta give some love to those defenders who made the list. I'm sure thier goalkeepers took them out to lunch for those saves.
Now, I do have to say that many of the saves in the list may have been acrobatic, but there are several that appear on the list only because the goalkeeper found himself out of position. There were others that were just cases of poor finishing. So, those are eliminated for voting in my mind. So, I'm gonna have to give my nod to one of the Stephen Frei saves. Those saves are very hard to make when the flight of the ball is going one way and is deflected or headed back in the opposite direction. What do you think?
Posts
