DC Week (3 of 8): Escape from DC............but, Skyline Drive is Closed Too

With images of 1) Cong. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah, who is one of the most social media savvy members of the House), 2) The Metro line map for Washington, DC, the Red Line is the one used to get to Washington Capitals games and 3) Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who will be appearing on at least one Sunday morning talk show tomorrow.

Here are the tweets:

1) The Hill: "John Boehner spokesman takes flack for calling House Dems 'hostage takers..'"

2) Huff Post Politics: "Conservative shutdown architects hosting fancy fundraiser on debt ceiling day" (which was yesterday).

3) Washington DC News: "Ted Cruz wins religious conservatives 2016 straw poll."

4) Mother Jones (a liberal publication): "Demonstrating the lies of pundits is sort of like shooting fish in a barrel."

5) Politico: "Ken Cuccinelli's campaign released its most brutal ad yet in the very nasty Virginia governor's race." (he is running against Democrat Terry McAuliffe).

6) DC United (the local pro soccer team): "Tailgate is underway. Pick up your tickets and visit the food trucks in Lot 8 as well as Nocha Latina festivities!"

http://chaffetz.house.gov/

http://www.wmata.com/

http://www.durbin.senate.gov/public/

http://thehill.com/

http://www.motherjones.com/

http://www.politico.com

DC Week Teaser (2 of 2) : So Much for a Political Fund-Raiser at the National Zoo

We are getting ready for DC Week, which will begin on Thursday. Our interview with Newt Gingrich has been postponed as has our interviews with Michele Bachmann and Clarence Thomas (yes, we are kidding, of course), but we hope to bring you an array of entries pertaining to Washington, DC, as the nation's capitals deals with lost tourism revenue due to the federal government shut down.

But, for right now, we leave you with this teaser, which features: 1) Chris Pontius, an American soccer player for DC United; 2) a giraffe to symbolize the National Zoo, which is closed due to shut down and 3) Cong. David Price (D-NC), one of the few Democrats in a 'safe district' in the increasingly right-wing Tarheel State (Price's district is in and around Chapel Hill and Durham, NC), which was the subject of a brilliant "Doonesbury" comic strip that was published yesterday. I'm sure at least one tea partier in North Carolina cancelled his subscription to the "Charlotte Observer."

http://price.house.gov/#dialog

http://www.dcunited.com/

http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury

http://www.ncdp.org/ (NC Democratic Party)

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/

Soccer Week (6 of 8): DC United Beats L.A. Galaxy 2-2

This image above is of Ghana international Dominic Oduro who kicked in the winner for the Columbus Crew as the Ohio-team beat the Montreal Imapct 2-1. Oduro's goal came in the 78th minute of the play. Earlier, Chad Marshall scored a Crew goal in the 66th minute.

But, our slightly misleading header (no pun intended, yeah no one will get that in Latvia) refers to D.C. United's 2-2 tie with the Los Angeles Galaxy, a mere two days prior to yesterday's tragic shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, near the U.S. Capitol Building.

The L.A. Galaxy were the highly favored team with a significantly better record, but thanks to a goal from DCU's Kyle Porter in the 84 minute, the home team 'upset' the star-studded visiting team, which features Irish national team captain Robbie Keane who scored in the 7th minute of play.

In weekend play, American Ricardo Clark scored the lone goal in the 52nd minute of play to help the Houston Dynamo beat the Philadelphia Union 1-0.

And, tonight, Sporting Kansas City had a come from behind tie with Repal Esteli, a visiting soccer team from Nicaragua, who was playing SKC in the CONACAF Cup. The final score of that game was 1-1.

Here are the scores from weekend MLS play:

Montreal 1 Columbus 2

DC United 2 L.A. Galaxy 2 (tie)

Philadelphia 0 Houston 1

Chicago 3 New England 2

Colorado 2 Dallas 1

Chivas (LA) 1 Portland 1, tie

San Jose 0 Vancouver 0, tie

http://www.mlssoccer.com

http://www.dcunited.com

http://www.screaming-eagles.com

http://www.thecrew.com

http://www.chicago-fire.com

Soccer Week (2 of 8): International Players in Major League Soccer

There are quite a few players from outside the United States and Canada, the two countries which share in the Major Soccer League, especially on the highly diverse roster of the Portland Timbers.

Today, we mention 11 of those players, the number of soccer players on a given team. The soccer player pictured is Jamaican international O'Brian Woodbine who plays for the New England Revolution in Boston:

1) Lalo Fernandez (goalkeeper, Mexico w/ Real Salt Lake)

2) Stefan Frei (goalkeeper, Switzerland w/FC Toronto)

3) Thierry Henry (captain, France w/ New York Red Bulls)

4) Robbie Keane (captain, Ireland w/ Los Angeles Galaxy)

5) Joel Lindpere (Estonia w/ Chicago Fire)

6) Philip Lund (Denmark w/Seattle Sounders)

7) Nelson Rivas (Colombia w/ Montreal Impact)

8) Carlos Ruiz (Guatemala w/ DC United)

9) Jamie Smith (Scotland w/ Colorado Rapids)

10) Rodney Wallace (Costa Rica w/ Portland Timbers)

11) O'Brian Woodbine (Jamaica w/New England Revolution)  

http://www.goal.com

http://www.mlssoccer.com

Coming Soon (we hope): Futbol Week

On Friday, we are hoping to launch a seven-day series devoted totally to soccer both here in the United States with weekend MLS games as well as Mexico and Europe.

The top image is of Serbian national Branislav Ivanovic, a star player for London's Chelsea football club. Today, German national Mesut Ozil, who is of Turkish heritage, signed with one of Chelsea's main rivals, Arsenal.

The bottom image is of Drew Moor, an American defender who plays for the Colorado Rapids in the MLS. Alas, our personal favorite MLS team, DC United is having a disastrous year so far!

Saturday Night Tweets: Political Futbol

With images of Cong. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), the Aston Villa soccer team and a map of where Kansas is in the United States, we present this entry that we're calling 'Political Futbol' since all the entries pertain to soccer or politics/political figures.

There were two major upsets in European soccer play today (the first weekend of the season) as Aston Villa shocked Arsenal 3-1, and in Turkey, Konyaspor surprised Istanbul powerhouse Fenerbahce 3-2 after being down by two goals.

The soccer team for the nation's capital here in America, D.C. United was also in action today, but they lost to their  Major League Soccer rivals from Canada, Montreal Impact.

Here are the tweets:

1. DC United @dcunited: "Final #DCU 1 Montreal Impact 2. Conor Doyle (a young player for DCU) nets his second, but it's not enough for the Black and Red."

2. Cong. Morgan Griffith (R-Va) @RepGriffith: "Rep. Griffith hit 333,333 miles on his car outside the Jonesville courthouse yesterday!" (Jonesville is in remote southwestern Virginia, far away from Griffith's hometown of Salem, Va., and even father away from Washington DC, we believe Nashville is actually closer to DC, and perhaps even Salem!).

3. Turkishsoccer.com @turkishsoccer/Ahmet Bob Turgut: First game of the season: Antalya 0 Kayseri Erciyes 0! Boring....

4. Cong. Ami Bera (@RepBera): "To everyone celbrating in India and, at home in the US, and around the world_ Happy #IndianIndependenceDay"

5. Stephen Olson (@Silent_Fusion, a soccer fan in Buffalo, NY): "Premiership is back baby! Glory Glory Man United!!!" (Manchester United won their home opener today)

6. Tom Perriello (@tomperriello, a former Democratic Congressman from Virginia): "Good to see @TerryMcAuliffe w/Bishop Campbell and Rev Avon Keene remembering Bloody Monday in Danville (Va)." (Terry McAuliffe is the Democratic candidate for governor in Virginia; Danville is a city in south central Virginia, which is 50 miles north of Greensboro, NC).

7. Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl, a Sports Illustrated writer): "Dig 3-1 win for Brad Guzan and Aston Villa at Arsenal, where the boos rain down." (Guzan is an American international playing for Aston Villa who is a goal-keeper).

8. Cong. Tim Huelskamp @CongHuelskamp: "I guess violating the 4th amendment 2776 times is ok now." (Like Griffith, Huelskamp was elected in November, 2010. He is an arch conservative representative from Kansas, one of America's most Republican states. His first district includes 63 counties, which is most of the Jayhawk state).


http://screaming-eagles.com/

http://www.americanprogress.org/about/staff/perriello-tom/bio/

http://morgangriffith.house.gov/

http://turkeyfootball.blogspot.com/

http://www.7500toholte.com/

http://www.ksdp.org/ (Kansas Democratic Party)

http://ksgop.org/ (Kansas Republican Party)