Russian Circles “Empros” LP
When I started browsing through the records in the store this was the first one I came across and I pulled it out immediately. Russian Circles has fast become a band who I know won’t disappoint me. All of their releases I know have been great and this one is no different. It’s always fascinating how a trio can soound so tight and dense. They have these hard rocking songs in which they go all out on you and then they mellow out with the follow up, catching you cempletely off guard.

Omega Massif “Karpatia” LP
It read massive, it looks massive, it feels massive, and it definetely sounds massive. Omega Massif continue where they left off, although I kind off miss their screeching guitar parts which sound like someone’s scratching metal over metal. Painful yet irresistible. This beauty comes in a gatefold sleeve, thick cartonage, heavy vinyl and what I really like about their releases is that their cover art looks as depressing as their music sounds like. Great combination.

This Will Destroy You “Tunnel Blanket” 2xLP
I believe it was last year at some point when I went to watch This Will Destroy You play a show in Cologne. I had seen them in 2008 and that was a blast, but this one was slightly different. The band had changed their style from “music” to “sound” in the meantime. This Will Destroy You might have become a pill hard to swallow, but they are still great. The “songs” are missing an actual structure nowadays, but they will take you on a journey through various soundscapes which are just as interesting and fascinating as their previous records. It’s just a bit hard to keep up the concentration for a live set, but inside your own room this record is huge.

The Horrible Crowes “Elsie” LP
The Horrible Crowes is Brian Fallon (of The Gaslight Anthem) and his guitar tech Ian Perkins. And this fits to everything else Brian has released over the past few years. It’s not as loud and rocking as The Gaslight Anthem, but it’s also not as quiet and toned down as his solo stuff.  It’s somewhere in the middle. And it’s always vintage Brian Fallon, a voice you just cannot duplicate (well, Springsteen might have a chance). Of course the other guys of his main band dropped by at the studio to record a track here and there, so it has the feel of another Gaslight record, but still I can see why these songs were not released under that name. It’s different. And it’s good.

Revival Tour “2011 Collections” LP
This compilation features four guys who went on tour together last year. For the concept behind the tour you might want to check out this page and read a bit. As for the music it’s singer/songwriter american folk music, nothing more, nothing less. What I like about this is that you get two songs each and that#s more than enough as I somehow can’t bring myself to listen to acoustic stuff for the length of a complete album. But here everything’s perfect. This record features The Gaslight Anthem‘s Brian Fallon, Alkaline Trio‘s Dan Adriano, The Loved Ones‘ Dave Hause and Chuck Ragan, formerly of Hot Water Music and inventor of the Revival Tour. And with those band names you get a good idea of what to expect. Although it’s not an unamplified version. Think more along the lines of folk music with a touch of punk energy.

Dan Adriano In The Emergency Room “Hurricane Season” LP
And because everybody else does it Alkaline Trio‘s Dan Adriano released his own solo album as well. Although I have to admit I really like the “band name”. When you think of the songs Adriano sings on the Alkaline Trio records you get a pretty good idea of what to expect on this one. It’s a full band recording, with piano, strings and so on, and it really is nothing special. But it’s pretty relaxing to listen to it on a rainy sunday afternoon, which is what I am doing right now.

Thees Uhlmann “self-titled” LP
Uhlmann’s band Tomte looks as if it’s on hiatus at the moment, so he releases his first solo album. If things were always that easy. Uhlmann has made a name for himself in the german punk and indie scene for being a great entertainer on stage as well as a wonderful poet. You might want to compare him to John K. Samson and the like, still his style of writing is a bit more complicated and less straight forward. On this record he has songs which could easily be on the next Tomte album, so nothing special there. What’s a bit annoying is the fact he had to somehow fit in his latest signing for Grand Hotel Van Cleef, Casper, a horribkle german “rapper”, but since it’s only one song, that feature is over by the time you realize it. Apart from that this is a solid solo effort.

Kettcar “Sylt” LP
If I’m not mistaken this is Kettcar‘s 3rd full length album and the evolution continues. Ever since …But Alive there has been a red cord connecting all records and this one if no different. Maybe it’s Marcus Wiebusch’s songwriting, at least I can’t think of a lot of people who write lyrics which are so recognizable. Kettcar is no live band, all the shows I’ve been to have been boring to say the least, but their records are always a good listen. Sometimes the sampling and sythie sounds are a bit too much, but all in all it’s always  nice to know they are still around. Look for their new record to be released in 2012.

Sodom “Better Off Dead” LP
This actually was one of the first metal records a friend of mine gave me on a tape way back in school. I had started listening to the Scorpions and I liked melodic punkrock, but stuff like thrash and speed metal were a bit far out for me. So listening to Sodom opened up a new world, really. Although I like the classic predescessor “Agent Orange” better, this record deserves attention as well. “An Eye For An Eye” is a brilliant starter, “The Saw Is The Law” makes for great humour and “Stalinorgel” is a great track to finish the album. I guess the simplicity and punk roots of Sodom were the reason why I liked this record so much, so when I found the 2nd hand copy at the store I had to get this one.

No FX “Hardcore” 10″
No inlet, no backprint, no real title (“Hardcore” is the name of the record on their homepage), no tracklist. Just the cover, which, I guess, is supposed to say it all. It’s a one-sided 10″ record with nine hardcore cover songs, but I guess I never was enough hardcore to actually know any of those songs. Or maybe I’m too young. Apparently that’s intended, because the band said so when announcing the release. Bands featured are The Necros, Social Unrest, Stretch Marks and rebel truth and I’m pretty sure I heard the first sog somewhere before. Anyway, this is 80s hardcore they way it should’ve been played, a great hommage to a time long gone by.

EA 80 “Definitiv: Nein!” LP
This is the latest record by German dark punk legend EA 80. Over the past three decades they have been constantly releasing one gem after another. They always had a rather mysterious aura about them, playing only selective shows, very few over the course of a year. I saw them once at a squat in Cologne and because of the lighting in the room (which was nonexistent, really) the atmosphere matched the music perfectly. What adds to their image is that I wasn’t able to find a homepage and this myspace site looks like it’s a fan site. Anyways, EA 80 are as great as ever and I have to admit I really like the silver cover artwork, not only because of the subway benches.

…or in the final outs, for that matter. Boy oh boy, what a night. The Tampa Bay Rays took the final American league playoff berth in a fascinating way. Now I have witnessed quite a few last minute comebacks in football, but this was simply ridiculous.

Of course turnaround plays are fascinating. Just think of the 1999 Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Manchester United at Barcelona’s Camp Nou. Bayern had it all wrapped up with only two minutes to play in additional time. Then came Sheringham, then came Solskjaer, and the rest, as they say, is history. One of my favourite finals, by the way, only because Bayern was at the losing end of things. But that’s a nother story.

There is a reason why the German Bundesliga plays its’ final two matchdays on just a Saturday. All 9 matches start at 15:30h and the table is set for some real drama. In 1999 three teams were tangled up in a battle for relegation, the radio broadcast of the day is one of the greatest moments in German radio history. The way Eintracht Frankfurt clawed their way back into the game. Meanwhile VfL Bochum falling apart against Rostock who themselves were facing the threat of relegation. And then Nuremburg with the great voice of Günther Koch calling the game from the Frankenstadion.

“Hello, this is Nuremburg, we are calling from the edge of the abyss…”
(Even without knowing any German maybe the intesity of the moment can be felt.)

In only a few minutes the whole table changed and Nuremburg who seemed to be assured a place in next season’s Bundesliga, were relegated yet again.

In 2001 Schalke 04, who celebrated their last championship in 1958 were on the verge of lifting the trophy once again. They needed to win against Unterhaching, Bayern had to lose in Hamburg. Schalke won 5-3, then the attention turned to Hamburg. Sergej Barbarez scored with only seconds left to play, people were going nuts at Schalkes ground, thinking they had finally clinched the championship. But the game in Hamburg was still on and Bayern was rewarded a last penalty which, … well, they scored on. With a final score of 1-1 Bayern was the new champion and Schalke was left in tears and traumatized for generations. Even nowadays people talk of the “4-minute-championship”.

2002 and 2007 saw close calls as well and last season’s (2010/11) finish for the relegation places was a thriller again.

And then there came the wild card race 2011. Now, my problem is living in Germany I simply cannot watch the games at night when I have to work. But whhat my work allows me to do is check the scores at 4:00 am in the morning (which is 10:00 pm EST). So when I got up this morning and checked the scores, Tampa was trailing the Yankees 0-7 and Boston was up 3-2 on the Orioles. Alright, I thought to myself, this is it. Congratulations to the Red Sox, tough luck to the Rays. I didn’t check the innings and drove to work. When I settled in there I checked again and so that the Rays had tied the game at 7. Wow. Now that was something. But what made this great is the timing. The way those two games intertwined for only a few minutes. Boston loses, bam! Homerun Longoria a few minutes later, bam! The way the people reacted when the final score of the Boston-Baltimore game was posted, priceless.Not to mention that the National League had an almost identical finish between St. Louis and Atlanta.

This is what sports is all about. Heartbreak and Tears of Joy. Those two opposites. One has to walk through disappointment to really know and acknowledge the taste of triumph, I think.

Another Koushien tournameent ended last weekend and all I got to watch was one first round game on a Sunday morning. Ever since my company abandoned the nightshift there is simply no way I am able to get a look at the games from Japan. I might get a chance to watch a NPB game every now and then when I am on the late shift, buut apart from that it is just impossible. Luckily there are some people who always kept me posted on what was going on. So as I congratulate Nichidai-san for their victory here are a few links for your pleasure.

First up be sure to follow @RealKenDick, @RealEdwinDizon and @Marinerds for everyting Koushien, japanese high school baseball and so on. They will let you know what is going on across the Pacific and they know what they are talking about.

Ken also has written a nice report at NPB Tracker on the most interesting players of this year`s tournament, so be sure to remember their names.

Deanna of Marinders was pulling for Nichidaisan so you can imagine howw excited she must have been when they won. This is her way of saying congratulations.

Edwin actually went to Koushien stadium so we all were missing his brilliant play-by-play reports, but he sure wrote a lot about what he saw and experienced over there, so be sure to check out his blog! He still is not done with all the recaps so be sure to cyheck back often.

Gen also provided a lot of info on the toournament as it was going on, so if zou are interested be sure to check the high school section on his website. The rest of it is interesting as well, just to let you know…

And last but now least for the only game I was able to watch I had a great time at the chat down there at japanesebaseball.com, set up by Westbay-san.

Well, as I said, I wasn`t able to watch it but I was rooting for a few teams, especially because I knew people from the respective towns or cities of the schools. A friend of mine is from Tamana so I was quite thrilled that the Kumamoto representative was coming from there. I also know someone who went to Nihon Bunri. Then there is a friend from Aomori, so iit was nice that their representative made the final (but lost). I really hope at some point I will make it to Koushien stadium…

The picture, by the way, was taken from Deanna`s Marinerds… She always has a lot of them there.

So I finally got to watch a game of this year`s Koushien summer tournament and it was a pleasure to discuss the action on the field with the people at the japanesebaseball.com chatroom. because of my work I won`t be able to watch any game at all, I believed, but last night everything fell into place and I was able to enjoy a feirly interesting game, albeit just until the later innings.

I tuned in a bit late and missed the opening scoring play of Narashino, but the game from there on turned into a splendid pitching duel between them.

I hadn`t heard about Shizuoka, but the wonderful Mr Ken Dick was raving about Narashino`s marching band who were absolutely amazing. The first inning I watched had Shizuoka batting and their band was rather quiet. But when it was Narashino`s turn they really turned it up a notch. And it looked as if it gave their players a boost as well.

By the time the game started I was watching the Red Sox-Yankees game and it`s always a pleasure to compare the fast pace of the Koushien tournament to the slow and  grinding tempo of those two AL behemoths.

The best play probably was Narashino stealing home and the game ended with a 6-1 victory for them.

So, to clean this up, I really – once again – encourage everybody who is interested to check out the chatroom I mentioned above. The people are very nice and you get tons of information. Also be sure to follow @RealKenDick as he keeps you up-to-date, or at least he really tries. And while your at it, follow the wonderful @marinderds as well, as she can tell you everything you want (or don`t want) to know about high school and collegiate baseball in Japan. Unfortunately @RealEdwinDizon won`t be with us this year to provide his great game recaps as he actually is attending the games in Osaka and surely has all of us being a little envious at him.

While I was visiting my sister in Munich ver the weekend I took the chance to take the trip to the Allianz Arena, the home ground of Bayern Munich and TSV 1860. Since the First Division of the german Bundesliga is still in its summer break we were watching 1860 take on Karlsruher SC. Not your highlight match, but professional football nonetheless.

The Arena is located on the outskirts of Munich and because we went by car it was pretty easy to reach. Parking is always an issue and we had to pay € 8.- which by German standards is a lot. Tickets were € 19.90 a piece and you also had to buy one of those chip cards which the use nowadays for the food stands inside the stadium. That’s right, in most German stadiums you are requiered to get a card, sometimes you even have to pay a deposit fee (which you don’t have to do at Munich’s arena, so that was positive).

We got tickets for the 2^nd deck and those seats were pretty spectacular. Great view of the whole field, right above the supporter’s section. On television the stadium looks rather plain, but when you are actually there the stands look pretty steep which should, when sold out, work in favour of a pretty good atmosphere. Still Bayern rarely manages to capture the crowd and turn the place into an inferno. Same with 1860, although they simply draw to little people. That match’s attendance was 26.600 which should, generously speaking, count as half full, since seasts in the 3^rd and upper deck were not sold. The acoustic seems to have its flaws because although we were able to clearly hear the away support which was located right across the stadium from us, the home supporters whose terraces were below us, were not nearly as loud.

During halftime we were trying to get something to eat and the usual german halftime foot is the „Bratwurst“. Too bad the stand I was lining up for was only serving pizza. We managed to get three bratwursts and a couple of drinks, which cost us around € 19.-. The „Bratwurst“ was great though and worth the wait.

All in all an enjoyable and stress-free experience, albeit a rather expensive one. Tickets, food and parking accounted for around € 100.-, a price I’m only willing to pay once in a while. Plus the match itself wasn’t very exciting. 1860 beat Karlsruhe 2:1 after suffering some poor refereeing decisions. Net up will be a visit to Munich’s old ground „Stadion Grünwalder Straße“ which is only open for amateur football nowadays, but should be a lot more charming than the sterile arena.

To break this down one first has to define what a pass in football actually is. Again, I don’t know of any official description, so I assume it is when one player safely plays the ball to a teammate and the teammate recieves it safely and proceeds from there on. But what do we make of balls hammered out of the own half into the opponents penalty box which by chance reach a teammate? Is that considered a pass? Even if it was pure coincidence?

When dealing with this statistic another problem arises. As impressive as Barcelona‘s numbers in that department are, they are simply inherent to their style of playing. So when Xavi and Inieasta have huge numbers of passes attempted and completed (and the ratio being something around 95%) it is because they play for a Barcelona side which uses 2 meter passes all the time. Those passes, without taking anything away from them, are really safe passes. I know that teams apply pressure and nowadays it is very difficult to set up a gameplan, but with all those small passes and teammates who give the ball back to those two players, it is no wonder the accumulate such large numbers. After this year’s Champions League final people were raving about the passes completed, but to be honest, when compared to Manchester United wasn’t that to be expected? Manchester United doesn’t play this “small-ball” game which lulls the opponent to sleep. So as dominant as Barcelona was in that final, I don’t think a statistic as passes completed describes the game itself.

Let’s go back to Passes attempted. This again, as with so many other statistics in football, is not adequately explained and is left to the person he keeps score during a match. When someone attempts a pass he tries to find a teammate. What about crosses from the wing into the box? Clearly the player is looking for a teammate, but does he really try to find him? Isn’t he more likely to put the ball into the box and hope that his teammate knows where the ball might end up? Another example would be a simple misunderstanding while trying to pass the ball. The player wants to play it, his teammate has a different read and runs somewhere else, so the ball ends up with the opposing team. How is this scored? Failed pass attempt? Who can be held responsible? The passer or the reciever?

While passes attempted/completed can give an insight to how the match actually played out, there still are too many flaws in it and I don’t think it can be used to actually put any sort of value on a player.

On Sunday the final of this years edition of the FIFA women’s world cup will come to an end at Frankfurt and what an exciting tournament it had been. There have been surprises, upsets, great plays and a lot of wonderful football. Although you always have to take into account that you should not compare this version of the beautiful game with what we are used to seeing in the big european leagues all year long. The rules are the same, yet it is a different sport. If you manage to let go of certain images and expectations, you will have the time of your life.

My father and I took the time to watch a match first hand at Bayer Leverkusen’s stadium during the group stage. I chose Japan vs Mexico because I had been following Japan’s Yuki Nagasato (@Turbine17) for a while on Twitter and was interested in how I would react to women’s football. We both had seen the German ladies cup final in March and that was an exciting game all around, won by Frankfurt against Nagasato’s Potsdam squad. But that was domestic football. The world’s stage is a bit different. Or so I thought.

The women’s world cup was used to see blowout games like 2007′s 11-0 thumping of Argentina by the soon-to-be repeat world champions Germany. Not this time. Sure, there were times when one side dominated their opponent, but the double digit results look like they are far gone. Even “small nations” like Equatorial-Guinea or Colombia were able to compete. And although the teams who advanced to the knock out stages were the usual suspects, the level of play during the group stage was very entertaining.

Japan vs Mexico was a good example for both. Japan was dominant from the start, but they never looked like they would rip Mexico to shreds. 4-0 was exactly the result the game deserved. Still Japan looked like a class of its own. The way the players were setting up their game plan reminded you a bit (if only a tiny bit) of how Barcelona would play. A lot of passes, waiting for the right moment to switch from playing safe around the back four to going to full attacking mode. Aya Miyama and Homare Sawa were controlling the midfield and set up the wingers brilliantly. I had the time of my life, although the lack of support from the stands was a bit strange. Sure, there was cheering, but it didn’t feel like a real match.

The first real upset came when “Nadeshiko Japan” (which is the nickname for the team) ousted Germany. The host nation had prepared for a flawless march to a consecutive third title and when the final whistle came after an exciting and thrilling 120 minutes at Wolfsburg it felt as if the whole country was in a state of disbelief. The public had been bombarded with slogans promoting the national side as the logical champions. There were huge ads with the players in every newspaper and on TV. The table was set. And then everything fell apart. What was interesting was how everybody reacted afterwards. The media ripped the coaching staff for their substitution mistakes and the handling of veterans like Birgit Prinz, who never got into a groove from the start. Some were even yelling for head coach Silvia Neid to be sacked. As of now nothing happened, but it goes to show that people can get very passionate about a women’s world cup as well.

The USA‘s quarterfinal against Brazil provided even more excitement as Abby Wambach took the thriller to a penalty shootout. All in all the performances in the knock out stages were top notch and proof for a much closer field of participants in women’s football. Only Australia, the Mathildas, seemed to struggle against Sweden, but the rest all had their chances to go to thee next round. The semifinals took it up another step with Sweden vs Japan being the magic moment. The way Nadeshiko set up their opponent only to slice through their defense was wonderful to watch. They could not be bothered by being a goal down after a horrible misplay from their captain Sawa. Instead they just kept playing like they knew they would eventually score a goal or even two or three. Nahomi Kawasumi‘s 3-1 was the icing on the cake.

So what it breaks down to is the final between the experienced and physically strong team USA on the one side, and the clever, fast and technically brilliant players from Japan. It is the opponent the Japanese had to face the last two games as Germany and Sweden were both deemed to be physically stronger, causing problems for the japanese defense. It turned out there wasn’t a problem at all. They simply outplayed their opponents. It’s a tough call to say whether they can pull this off against a squat like the american ladies, but if one team can do it, Nadeshiko Japan can. The US girls on the other hand rely on their fighting spirit. “Never give up” seems to be the team’s battle cry. But they have shown to be vulnerable against a side which can hold the ball away from them. The problem of the French team in the semifinal was that they weren’t able to capitalize on their chances. It’s not that Japan creates a lot of chances, but when they do, they’re lethal. This is going to be a great one (I really hope). One we’ll remember a few years down the road.

As Summer gets hotter and August inches closer and closer everybody knows it won’t be long until the high school boys of Japan will play on the sacred dirt of Koshien again. I hope I will be able to catch at least a few games which might be difficult because of my work. But at least there are some articles which are a nice read, especially this series in the New York Times (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). And, by the way, as if you needed to know, but be sure to bookmark the great blog “Koukou Yakyuu” which will provide you with a live blog for almost every game. Edwin’s doing a great job there (and he’s on Twitter, by the way), just as Westbay-san is with japanesebaseball.com, which will hopefully have its chatroom up and running for the tournament again. I’m really looking forward to this tournament, especially because it will be a very emotional event because of what happened on March 11th. Hopefully the kids can bring some joy to the people in the devastated areas. 皆、頑張って下さい！！

“Ball possession” should describe the amount of time a team has the ball while the other team has not. The numbers always add up to 100%. So far, so good. But when does the clock start ticking for the other side, i.e. when is one team considered to possess the ball and the other one is not.

It’s fairly easy to say that a team which passes the ball aroound in its own defense has possession of the ball thus taking time of the clock which records the possession during a match. But when does it lose the clock? The moment an opposing player steps in and deflects the ball somewhere else? What happens when the team instantly recovers the ball, say through a throw-in? Will the time the ball was in possession of neither team be ruled “stopped”? What about bouncing balls and players fighting to get control? Who is credited with possession that time?

See, my main problem with all those statistics is that there is absolutely no definition of what that statistic actually is. You can tell from the name, but what it actually stands for remains unknown. You also don’t know who compiles those statistics. Where in Major League Baseball you have official scorekeepers that matter in football is left to private companies whoch can do whatever they want, I presume.

Another problem with this statistic is that the numbers don’t tell you what actually happened and can in fact be slightly decieving. Say, we look at FC Barcelona and their dogma of ball possession. When they play an overmatched opponent the ratio for ball possession is usually somewhere around 65:35. There were even times, I guess when it was 80:20. Now last season Bayern Munich of Germany under former Barca coach Louis van Gaal created their own version of ball possession. But compared to the catalan style in which the team switches from horizontal to vertical in an instant the Bayern version did not pay off at all. They had matches in which they dominated their opponent, only by the numbers. In reality they were passing, passing and passing the ball without moving an inch forward.

So does this statistic tell me anything about the quality of a team? Sometimes, but not all the time. Also, a 50:50 game could be very one-sided if one team only pushes the ball around in their defense while the other side attacks and scores. It’s a nice gimmick, but nothing that explains the game of football.

One statistic that’s often shown during halftime reports or at the end of a match is “shots on goal”. While this might give you some kind of how dominating a team might have been, what exactly is a shot on goal? First of all let’s look at where the ball might end up when it is shot in the direction of the goal.

• The ball will be shot so it will either hit the post, the crossbar or the net
• The ball will go past the post or the crossbar
• The ball will go very far from the post or the crossbar
• The ball will end up for a throw-in (unlikely, but it happens)

So what out of those four possibilities is a shot on goal and which one isn’t? Obviously the first one can be labelled as a shot on goal. It was meant to be placed there and might be a goal if there wasn’t a goalkeeper. The second possibility might as well be called a shot on goal but then it’s getting difficult to distinguish. When is a ball a shot on goal depending on how far the target is missed? One metre? Two metres? 5 metres? And that’s where it becomes too random for me.

Some TV programs distinguish between “shots on goal” and “shots on target”. While I see the point, what does this tell me as a viewer? When a team has a lot of shots on goal, but very few on target, does this mean anything? What ‘s the conclusion I can get out of this statistic? That the team just isn’t good at shooting the ball on goal? So do they need more training in that matter? The thing is, with those kinds of statistics there is no way I can understand how the mach was played without having seen it myself.

Also, if a player has a lot of shots, what does that mean? A striker should have a lot of shot attempts, after all he’s the one responsible for scoring goals, that’s his profession. Still strikers might only shoot on goal once or twice during a match and score. The value of a striker cannot be measured by how many times he shoots the ball in the direction of the goal, he depends on the balls he gets from his teammates.

Where I’m trying to go here is, this statistic is flawed because there is no definition for it. Where in basketball or baseball you can measure things like throws (be it 2-point or 3-point) or hits and actually get some information from it, there is absolutely no way a statistic like “shots on goal” will tell you anything