2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup group "B" doubleheader recap (Bermuda v. Nicaragua + Costa Rica v. Haiti @ Red Bull Arena - Harrison, N.J.); *confirming* my aforementioned "D.C. weekend"; *looking back at* my *previous* "turning points"; etc.

A few nights ago, I returned to Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. for this year's edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, this time featuring Bermuda, Costa Rica, Haiti, and Nicaragua - the first game was between Bermuda and Nicaragua, both, unfortunately, already eliminated from "knockout game" stage contention, but both still wanted to win their last game in this Gold Cup; Bermuda definitely controlled the first game, despite its team wearing pink, but not without opportunities from the Nicaraguans, 'cause both teams met "the post" at one point or another in the first half, however, in the latter half of the contest, Bermuda took the lead, and stayed there from the 60th minute onward, when a shot deflected into the Nicaraguan net, while, in the 70th minute, Bermuda used the "long cross" to double its lead, leading to a historic result among the CONCACAF nations, as Bermuda, an Atlantic island with a population (65,000+) even smaller than my hometown (90,000+), won a Gold Cup game, in this case, 2-0, but, again, still got eliminated, since it lost its first two games in the tournament, and, even worse, by the bare minimum margin!

In the game that followed, Costa Rica took on Haiti, and the fans who were outside during Bermuda v. Nicaragua suddenly entered the stadium - "only" 14,000 and change, but it still sounded like a "sellout" at times; Costa Rica took the first lead of the game using the "noggins" of one of the Haitian defenders, but, after that own goal, Haiti absolutely controlled the play, tying the game in the 56th minute after a bit of a "push" from one of the Costa Ricans, and getting deep inside the "18-yard box" to take the lead, pulling the Costa Rican defense just about every which way, "opening" things up in there just enough to eventually win the game, 2-1, and the group as well, making it Canada v. Haiti and Costa Rica v. Mexico!

In the newest edition of the Copa América in Brazil, the Qatari national team somehow got invited to the tournament, despite the multitude of controversies surrounding its organization of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, that could possibly still have its "host country" status changed; with the exception of "la vinotinto" - the Venezuelan national team, it seemed as if all the teams that were expected to advance to the "elimination" round advanced, but with a lack of attendance from fans throughout the continent...

To mention a little bit more now about "nostalgia", I was actually at this game in 2007, which actually came after Barcelona rolled through here the previous summer (2006); it's a little disappointing that this area hasn't gotten the same huge total crowds this decade, like those games, but, at the same time, I understand that having two stadiums would only "divide" the attention of the local "international soccer" fanbase on those occasions!

(highlights/recap (Bermuda-Nicaragua);

highlights/recap (Costa Rica-Haiti))

UPCOMING: Benfica (POR) v. Fiorentina (ITA) - Wed., 7/24, 8 P.M., also inside "RBA"; Atlético Madrid v. Real Madrid, Fri., 7/26, 7:30 P.M., MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, N.J.); etc.

There was also a celebration put on by a local "non-profit" Peruvian group at a local restaurant (that was once celebrated in the local Peruvian consulate) to celebrate those of us local graduates within the past year, and the only thing I could think after that was that something like that, a "mini-ceremony", if you will, had just about everything that both "on-campus" ceremonies didn't have, at least this past May, which I remember that my high school graduation ceremony did have, and that seems like a huge "indictment", for lack/want of a better term, against the handling/management of those occasions (5/18 on the "on-campus" football field + 5/24 @ the Prudential Center in Newark), when quotes like this and this almost always seem the most "true", which are usually quite "celebratory", not "isolating"; they should not leave quite a few of each given year's graduates more "annoyed" than "satisfied" with the occasion(s), at least in my opinion, especially when some of us applied internationally prior to starting our collegiate educations (in my case, Concordia and McGill up in Montréal), but, at the same time, I should probably just avoid discussing said topic in the future, since all that keeps doing is making me ticked all over again just about every time I do so!

After considering and re-considering my aforementioned Washington, D.C. weekend a few times over the past few days, including almost changing that plan, instead, to a weekend in Philly, I ended up "following through" in the end and booking the trip to D.C. specifically for the first weekend in August (Fri. 2 - Sun. 4); it turns out somebody who went to school with a few of my family members in Peru way back when has been a bartender at the JW Marriott Washington, D.C. hotel for the past two decades now, so he actually passed along a little "employee discount" of sorts that, again, I considered and re-considered multiple times recently, but, in the end, considering I (A) recently "officially" graduated college, despite being as "letdown" as I was by the ceremonies, and (B) turn "another year older" right around that very weekend, I figured I would "splurge" just this once while visiting a city that, again, at least before that weekend, I still won't have returned to since elementary school!

Also, speaking of graduation, this time of year has basically always been that "time of year" in my old school district (at least compared to others, which keep their schedules a bit more in line with the typical "higher education", instead of "K-12", institution), from the time I started there (kindergarten) back in 2000, forward to 2013 (my senior year of high school), and, as such, I've particularly thought back to those years in recent months/weeks - my elementary school simply did a little "flag-lowering" ceremony, mostly to symbolize the "end" of each (school) year; after that, each of the next two "levels" (middle and high school) did the whole "graduation week" thing that quite a few of those schools tend to do, with "awards" and "yearbooks" and whatnot - on that note, I still haven't found my middle school yearbook, which is probably "buried" in either the attic or basement, although, in all honesty, I don't even want to look at my high school one right now, considering it's still the same as it was back then; my life, however, isn't nearly the same now!

On the soccer front, I literally just found out about this game (Liverpool v. Sporting Club de Portugal @ Yankee Stadium), scheduled at the exact same time as Benfica v. Fiorentina @ Red Bull Arena (Wed. night, 6/24 @ 8 P.M.); surely, one would think the Yankees, of all teams, would know better than to "overlap" with any other sporting events in this area...

In the NHL, meanwhile, the Devils sure made waves in last week's draft, but the San Jose Sharks did something arguably even more unique, and released their schedule for the 2019-2020 NHL season in "playlist" form, instead of "infographic" form, which actually continues something the organization did last summer; pretty much the only thing I would've done differently, had I had any role in putting those "playlist schedules" together would have been to re-use the one song from the SJ@WPG game 2/5/19 (which references a certain Broadway show/movie that is actually currently relevant!)

Recientemente, estuve en Red Bull Arena en Harrison para la mas nueva edición de la Copa Oro de la CONCACAF, esta vez con Bermuda, Costa Rica, Haiti, y Nicaragua participando - el primer partido fue entre Bermuda y Nicaragua, ambos que, desafortunadamente, ya fueron eliminados de participación en la fase eliminatoria, pero ambos que todavía querían ganar su ultimo partido en esta Copa Oro; Bermuda definitivamente controló el primer partido, a pesar de su equipo participó vestido de rosado, pero no sin oportunidades de Nicaragua, por que ambos equipos conocieron al "palo" en la primera mitad del partido, pero, en la "etapa complementaria", Bermuda tomó la ventaja, y quedo con el desde el minuto 60, cuando un tiro desvío dentro del gol de Nicaragua, y, en el minuto 70, Bermuda utilizó la "cruza larga" para crecer su ventaja por doble, y, en un resultado histórico en CONCACAF, Bermuda, una isla con una población todavía mas pequeña (65,000+) que mi ciudad (90,000+), ganó un partido en la Copa Oro, 2-0, pero, debido a sus perdidas en sus primeros partidos, todavía quedó eliminado de la fase eliminatoria!

En el partido después de eso, Costa Rica enfrentó a Haiti, y los fanáticos que estuvieron afuera durante el partido entre Bermuda y Nicaragua entraron al estadio - "solamente" 14,000 y pico, pero sonaba como un partido "repleto" a veces; Costa Rica tomó la primera ventaja usando la cabeza de un jugador haitiano - un "autogol", pero, después de eso, Haiti absolutamente controló el partido, nivelando el partido en el minuto 56 cortesía de un empujón de uno de los "ticos", y pasando casi al fondo del "18" de Costa Rica para tomar la ventaja, arrastrando a sus defensores para todos lados para poder "abrir" lineas para posicionar sus atacantes lo mas cercano posible para eventualmente ganar el partido, 2-1, y su grupo, también, para poder enfrentar a Canada en lugar de México en la siguiente fase!

En la mas nueva edición de la Copa América en Brasil, la selección de Qatar asombrosamente fue invitado al torneo, a pesar de la multitud de controversias en su organización del Copa del Mundo 2022, que creo que todavía podrá ser cambiado de "país anfitrión"; con la excepción de "la vinotinto" venezolana, creo que todas las selecciones que la gente esperaba de avanzar a la fase de "eliminación" se avanzaron, pero con una falta de "asistencia" de las fanáticas...

Para hablar un poco mas de "nostalgia", estuve en este partido en el 2007, después de que Barcelona apareció allí el verano anterior (2006); es un poco decepcionante que esta area no ha tenido esos grandes totales de fanáticas esta década, como esos partidos, pero, al mismo tiempo, entiendo que teniendo dos estadios se "dividiría" su atención en esas ocasiones!

(highlights/recap (Bermuda-Nicaragua);

highlights/recap (Costa Rica-Haiti);

images)

PROXIMAMENTE: Benfica (POR) contra Fiorentina (ITA) - mie., 7/24, 8 P.M., también en "RBA"; Atlético Madrid contra Real Madrid, vie., 7/26, 7:30 P.M., MetLife Stadium; etc.

También, había una celebración de un grupo peruano "sin fines de lucro" en un restaurante local (que antes fue celebrado en en consulado peruano local) para celebrar a todos nosotros graduados locales del año pasado, y la única cosa que yo podía pensar después de eso que si algo así, una ceremonia "mini", tenía casi todo lo de que ambas ceremonias "universitarias" no tenían, por lo menos este mayo pasado, y que la ceremonia de mi graduación de la secundaria si tenia, que es una verdadera condena muy grande contra su gestión/organización de esas ocasiones (5/18 en su propio "campo" + 5/24 en Prudential Center de Newark), cuando dichos como esto y esto siempre se hacen "verdadera", que usualmente son muy "festivos", no "aislantes"; no deberían dejar a muchos de los graduados mas "enojado" que "satisfecho" con la(s) ocasión(es), por lo menos en mi opinion, especialmente cuando algunos de nosotros aplicamos internacionalmente antes de empezar nuestras educaciones universitarias (en mi caso, Concordia y McGill, ambos en Montréal), pero también creo que debería evitar esa tema en el futuro, por que solamente me molesta seguir "reviviendo" esos momentos!

recapping *this* year's NBA/NHL championships; etc.

On the hardwood, the Toronto Raptors ruined the final season of the building originally known as the Oakland Arena back in 1966, and, in doing so, won all three games they played in the building that had served as the home of the Golden State Warriors since then, and also ruined what many people considered the latest "dynasty" in the NBA; also, they technically brought the NBA championship to its "ancestral" home for the very first time, as Almonte, Ontario-born James Naismith went to Springfield, MA, to create something that could satisfy his early-1890s YMCA students through the harsh winters in that part of the country; returning to the present, though, the Raptors held off what seemed like a million comebacks, and comeback attempts, throughout the entire series by the Warriors in order to clinch the title; personally, I'd once again still put 2013 ahead of this series, since, at least back then, the Miami Heat did to the San Antonio Spurs what the Golden State Warriors couldn't do to the Toronto Raptors, with the crazy ending to that game 6, followed by the incredibly tight game 7 afterward!

On the ice, meanwhile, in the NHL, the St. Louis Blues made history, at least for them, and, in doing so, once again made the Boston Bruins lose at home, after the Chicago Blackhawks, as I initially mentioned about a couple of weeks ago, scored twice within the final minute of game 6 in that series (2013); as with the NBA, personally, I'd still put that series ahead of this one, if only 'cause it seemed like multiple of the games this year were blowouts, which end up getting "anticlimactic" after a while, you know? In contrast to that, 2013 was an epically back-and-forth series, again, coming off the lockout the previous fall (2012) that cut that season short (48 games), and, at least for me, personally, was when what the Devils had done just before then (22-3-2 throughout the early months of 2011; reaching the SCF the following year), so there was still a "buzz" around here back then, followed by that ending to the 2013 season, following the shortened (regular) season!

(also, some "opposing perspectives" on the most recent game 7)

Also, there's been a change in the Wednesday night, 7/24 (Red Bull Arena, Harrison, N.J.) game part of the International Champions Cup European international exhibition soccer series, as AS Roma backed out of that night's game after reaching the 2019-20 UEFA Europa League qualifiers, leaving Benfica, from the Portuguese Primeira Liga, facing Fiorentina, which, just like Roma, is also from the Italian Serie A, so there'll be a different professional Italian soccer team around here, specifically inside Red Bull Arena, this summer!

...speaking of Europe, DYK there's a Spanish quiz show that's been on for so long now (1997-present, and showing no signs of stopping anytime soon) that it pre-dated the Euro currency? We actually got the "international" channel operated by Television Española, the Spanish public broadcaster, for a few years here, but have since lost it to the various "machinations" of cable/satellite TV operators, as Optimum restricted that and many other "international" channels to that specific "extra" level of its cable offerings a few years ago; as such, unfortunately, the only time I've seen that show, at least in recent years, was actually in the Dominican Republic, of all places, one afternoon that whole week back in 2016, and I'm more than willing to admit that I'm honestly too lazy to keep checking out the show's website often for different episodes, although, back over here, ABC returned a couple of '80s game shows to the air this week, and, from the looks of it, every week this summer, so there'll be that to go along with the MLB/MLS regular seasons, along with all the various soccer tournaments in various parts of the world these next few weeks!

Also, there's been quite the "uproar" in video gaming circles the past few days, specifically regarding the two newest editions of the Pokémon game series - you know, the Japanese "creature catching + raising" RPG series; personally, I've been with each "generation" of that particular series of games from the very beginning, back in the late '90s, but, with the recent announcement by developer Game Freak that the two newest games will not allow those of us who've been around for previous "generations" of that series to "transfer" older team members forward - to make a sports analogy, which you know by now that I like, it would basically be like the leagues basically getting rid of things like free agency and/or trades, which were, ironically, introduced because players, specifically within Major League Baseball, were fighting with, and/or suing, their leagues/teams, in order to be able to no longer make their original teams "exclusive" - suffice it to say, Game Freak, and possibly Nintendo, basically did the opposite of what the pro sports leagues did decades ago, and essentially made the newest games in that series "exclusive" in ways that none of the previous "generations" had been; combine that with the games pretty much all being incredibly similar, with very few changes, since the ones that released during my initial undergraduate semester, and it seems as if this has suddenly become the beginning of the end for those games, at least in my opinion!

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/you-cant-bring-all-your-old-pokemon-to-sword-and-s/1100-6467720/

https://www.polygon.com/e3/2019/6/11/18661587/pokemon-sword-shield-home-e3-2019-galar-pokedex-home-bank

https://www.polygon.com/e3/2019/6/13/18677717/pokemon-sword-shield-national-dex-pokedex-galar-e3-2019

On a more personal note now, the physical therapy and podiatry appointments are done now, at least in terms of the surgery I had back at the beginning of February, so let's just hope now that nothing else suddenly emerges in the future that would require another such process!

nominating my *personal* "best" NBA/NHL championship rounds *this* decade; looking back at the *history* of local radio; a *decade* since "DTV"

As always around this time of year just about every year except for 2005 (at least recently), the NBA (Golden State Warriors-Toronto Raptors) and NHL (Boston Bruins-St. Louis Blues) have again reached their "championship" rounds; my personal "best" NBA Finals/Stanley Cup Final "duo" this decade, at least in part 'cause of just how plain exciting each series was that June, I'd have to say 2013 would win that award in a landslide, in my opinion, since the Miami Heat epically rebounded from being "on the brink" with just seconds remaining in game 6 that year to end up defeating the San Antonio Spurs; meanwhile, the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks both emerged from the lockout-shortened season a few months prior to square off in an insanely "back-and-forth" series and end up with an equally insane ending to the series, which saw the Blackhawks celebrating their (back then) second championship this past decade; combine that with a (relative) lack of "sweeps" (the same team winning all of the first four games of those series, out of a possible maximum of seven games per series) - in the NBA, the only one this decade was last year (Cleveland Cavaliers-Golden State Warriors) - before then, the most recent one of those came over a decade ago (Cleveland Cavaliers-San Antonio Spurs 2007), while the NHL rebounded from experiencing four consecutive "sweeps" during the last half of the '90s, three of which involved the Detroit Red Wings, to not have had any since then, while, in baseball, the only one of those this decade was back in 2012 (Detroit Tigers-San Fransisco Giants, a series that I, personally, remember completely missing, since this area got impacted by Hurricane Sandy that week; just like the NBA, the previous "sweep" there was also in 2007), along with my personal life being essentially as "carefree" as it had ever been, at least at the time, since I basically only had to worry about the last few final exams of my high school years, otherwise re-living old K-12 memories, which were pretty much the definition of the phrase "opposites attract" (more about that down below), for the most part, and June 2013 would end up being one of the most glorious months in my entire life so far!

...speaking of Canada, it seemed, growing up, that Montreal (which is at least close to Toronto...) somehow always ended up being my family's "beginning/end of 'stage'" destination - from 2006, during a time in which I spent pretty much every other Friday/Saturday night or Sunday afternoon over at the Meadowlands, which, looking back, (A) gave me one of my old middle/high school friends, who spent almost as much time in music-based activities as I always did in sporting-related ones, in particular, since, as random as something like that might seem, we essentially originally ended up "bonding" over both having spent (different) weekends up there back then, stretching that whole original "bond" all the way up until 2013, and (B) ended up keeping me in French language classes pretty much the entire time after, along with then continuing to return there every so often, at least up through 2013 (...also, a diner recommendation...); I think, at this point, returning to one of the places I always loved visiting back then could only help me regain what's left of my "sanity"...

This past weekend brought about the "end of an era" on local radio, as WPLJ discontinued music-based programming after almost a half-century of various of those types of formats; "PLJ", as its hosts constantly referred to the station on-air, was, quite honestly, the first station in quite a few years, at least around here, to change broadcasting formats, but merely one of many to have done so over the decades locally; in fact, I'd say that just within my lifetime, it seems like just about every station has changed formats - like, maybe a handful of them still remain the same as they were when I was born/barely "alive" back in the late '90s; WCBS-880, 1010-WINS, and WBBR-1130 have all had their various "all-news" formats my entire life, but older generations around here probably still remember when stations like WABC (770), WOR (710), and WNYM (970) still aired music instead of talk, as they have in recent years; also, WCBS-FM controversially changed from its "oldies" format between 2005 and 2007; also, many of the other FM stations around here were originally like that along with "CBS-FM", but have all since become "contemporary" in format, and, for that matter, if you've listened to 101.1 around here in recent years, you've most likely noticed that not even that station has its famous "oldies" format anymore, having moved exclusively to post-1970 playlists; for me, personally, as I'm sure you've noticed by now, since I keep talking about sports so often, those stations (WEPN and WFAN) have added "simulcasts" within the past decade or so, and, in WEPN's case, dropped its AM position (1050-AM) just in time for the 2012 college football season in order to move to 98.7-FM, which, in turn, ended up eliminating WBLS and WRKS-FM, both of which served the local African-American radio-listening community; also, WFAN moved to 101.9-FM right around that time, yet that station at least kept its 660-AM signal after doing so, so, with all the changes in radio around here historically, culminating, most recently, with WPLJ having left the air, at least as we all knew it around here over the decades, this past weekend, there have at least been a few "constants" remaining in local radio broadcasting in recent years!

Also, this month will have marked a decade now, if you can believe it, since television went "all-digital" in this country; that switch, postponed from its original date (2/17/09-6/12/09), happened so long ago, in fact, that I was technically still in middle school at the time, albeit with only a couple of weeks remaining in said "stage" of my life; the local television landscape, though, in contrast with the radio landscape, has pretty much remained constant, albeit with many more - perhaps you could even say hundreds, of various cable/satellite channels added over the years, but with very little of an "independent" presence, except for WLNY (channel 10), which kept its short late-night Long Island-based newscast up until 2012, although WMBC-TV, which once aired Asian-language newscasts, has maintained a 5 P.M. newscast these past few years; unfortunately, the timing of said newscast has led to just about no ratings being registered for that program; certainly, some of that must be due to channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, and (to a lesser extent) the various "public television" stations around here, although, later this year, channel 11 will change ownership for the first time ever, so not even those stations have remained "immune" to such massive changes in media...