Keepin' it all in the family

I'm going to stray away from the usual sports-related blog this week and look at campaign contributions. With the Democratic race coming down to the wire, why not take a look at the contributions they received from people like us. Well not me, actually, because I'm absolutely broke.

I researched campaign contributions of people in Thousand Oaks, zip code 91360.

My results were surprising...
According to CQ Moneyline...
1. Michael Roberts - $13,800 (to Obama and Kerry)
2. Karen Roberts - $13,800 (to Obama and Kerry)
3. Ronald Iden - $6,500 (to Chris Dodd and Disney..?)
4. Jordan Roberts - $4,600 (to Obama)
5. Susan Chiu - $4,600 (to Clinton)
6. Darrell Arendts - $4,500 (to Romney)
7. Jeff Sycamore - $2,340 (to Romney)
8. Keith Sinclair - $2,300 (to Obama)
9. George Maggay - $2,300 (to Chris Dodd)
10. Karen Sycamore - $2,230 (to Obama)

Ok...5 of the top 10 contributors have a relation to another person on the list. And according to The Huffington Post, $75,561 was contributed from the ZIP code 91360. That's a lot of dough.

Anyways, back to the list. Michael, Jordan, and Karen all share the last name, Roberts, and they all contributed to Obama. Gee I wonder if they are related? Turns out they all have the same address. Michael and Karen are obviously married, seeing as Michael a New York Life Agent and Karen is a Blue Cross Manager. Jordan is a student, so I am guessing he is their son.

This whole time, I am looking at this name 'Jordan Roberts,' and I know I know this person. I think hard about it for a few minutes, and I remember that I do in fact know of him. He played soccer at Thousand Oaks High School, and was 2 or 3 years ahead of me. I remember being on the frosh-soph team freshman year and seeing him and his teammates making it to the CIF semi-finals before losing to Temecula. I remember all this, because 3 years later, I was making the same playoff run and our coach talking about the team he had 3 years ago.

Anyways, the Roberts family donated a grand total of $18,400 to the John Kerry for Senate campaign and $13,800 to the Obama campaign.

I can understand the contributions to Obama. But why donate nearly 20 grand to the Kerry campaign? He's running for re-election for senator in Massachusetts!! That means John Kerry will have absolutely no impact on California residents.

My only guess for why they donated so much money for Kerry was that they want him in the Senate for another term, in hopes that he may run for president again. Again, this is only a guess, but I really don't see any reason why they would want to keep Kerry in Massachusetts office.

The other couple on the top 10 list is Jeff and Karen Sycamore, and it turns out, I know their son. Not only do I know their son, but I know where they live and I know that Jeff is a doctor. Turns out I was right, he's an anesthesiologist. I also know their religious faith, as two of my best friends go to church with their son, and right away I know exactly who they contributed to - Mitt Romney.

This brings up an interesting question.

If you take out all the issues and you only know the candidate's gender, race, and religion.....which one do you identify with most?

Do you vote for the woman because you're female?
Do you vote for the Asian-American because you're an Asian-American?
Do you vote for the Catholic because you're Catholic?

Are you a woman before you are black? Are you Mormon before you are white?

It's just something to think about. That's the reason Oprah is taking big hits right now from women that have watched her show for so long. Over the last 20 years, Oprah has become the most powerful woman in America. Women of all races and religions watch her show.

So when it came down to her supporting a candidate, everyone thought she would support Hillary. They were wrong. She supported Obama.

To Oprah, apparently race took precedence over gender. Oprah lost the respect of a lot of women.

Just ask my mom.

Is there really anything worse than Salt Lake City?

The answer is no - there isn't. In a recent poll conducted by ESPN.com, NBA players voted Salt Lake City as the worst road trip city. They didn't vote it the worst because the Utah Jazz are a good home team (which they are) - they voted it the worst destination because Salt Lake City is one of the most boring major cities in the United States. Unless you ski or snowboard, Salt Lake City may be one of the worst places to have fun.

So it's no surprise that NBA players don't like Salt Lake City. It's probably why there's no football team in SLC. Or baseball team. The Jazz also happen to be one of the most boring teams in the NBA (However, Deron Williams is single-handidly changing that). Jerry Sloan has been the Jazz coach for a bazillion years and he's never won a championship. If you ask someone to describe Jerry Sloan in two words, the answer would be "Jerry Sloan." Yup, he's that dynamic.

So when Aleko Eskandarian had the chance to leave the MLS team Real Salt Lake to come to Chivas USA in sunny Los Angeles, I don't think it took him very long to accept the offer.

My first question for Alecko Eskandarian?

"How much do you miss Salt Lake City?"



Ya, I think he's having a good time in Los Angeles. This wasn't just a good trade for Eskandarian, but it was a great pickup for Chivas USA. He was one of the top forwards in the MLS only a few years back, and a move to Chivas may be the key to resurrecting his career. Chivas USA fans should look forward to having him as their go-to forward, where he'll team up with Ante Razov, one of the greatest forwards in the history of the MLS.

Speaking of Chivas USA fans...they really are a wild bunch. Since Chivas USA is a branch of the original Chivas Guadalajara team that plays in Mexico, many of their fans are Hispanic.

That's why it's funny that the guys I interviewed are just about as white as you can get. But don't let the color of their skin fool you - not only do these guys love Chivas USA, but they HATE the Los Angeles Galaxy. Even David Beckham.



Another key player for Chivas USA is Jesse Marsch. This guy is an MLS legend. He's been in the league forever and has been one of the best players for over 10 years now. He came to Chivas USA last year from the Chicago Fire, where he made himself one of the greatest players in the history of the club. He was in Chicago a long time, but how does he like Los Angeles?



Chivas USA's most important player is their goalkeeper, Brad Guzan. He's only 23 years old, and he is arguably the best goalkeeper in the MLS. He was so successful last year that he drew interest from teams in Europe. Only a month ago, Aston VIlla, a team in the England Premier League (the greatest league in the world) paid $2 million for Guzan.

Just when he was about to transfer, England denied him a work permit (This is not unusual. England had very strict guidelines for foreign players. In Guzan's case, he has not played in enough games for the US National Team. Here is Guzan's interview in full.



From the way Guzan spoke, it sounds like a midseason transfer may be in the future. Every soccer player's ultimate goal is to play in Europe, and with Guzan being only 23 years old, his future is bright. I don't think we're too far off from seeing him suit up in an Premiership uniform.

Hopefully Guzan will never have to put on a Real Salt Lake jersey. Because let's be honest - the only thing good ever to come out of Salt Lake City was "SLC Punk".



What a gem.

World's Most Publicized Press Conference

Yup, I was there. And not only was I there, but I conquered it. Seriously. I showed up early. I got a great seat. I greeted coaches and players. I was kind of a big deal. Yup, I was there for the press conference for the USC women's soccer team announcing their game against the Mexican Women's National Team on Feb. 22nd.

What's that? You didn't hear about it? Well I resent that comment. It was fairly easy to hear about. All you had to do was type "usc soccer mexico coliseum feb 22" into Google and it would have found it for you. Maybe next time you shouldnt be so lazy.

Mexican Women's National Team head coach Leo Cuellar and USC coach Ali Khoshroshahin.

Anyways, USC's women soccer team just wont the NCAA championship - the first one in school history. This is a huge deal. I did the color commentary on the women's home games this year, and I must say, they deserved it. They are an amazing team.

Today they had a press conference for their scheduled game against Mexico. In most sports, a college team playing a national team wouldn't have that much, if any, competition. But in women's collegiate soccer, there really isn't that huge of a gap. USC features one USA National Team player, Amy Rodriguez, and have a handful of players that are playing on youth national teams or are in the process of trying out for national teams.

The camera on the left is BBC, the one on the right is CNN. AP and Reuters were behind me.......ya, im lying.

Ok, so I lied about the press conference being huge. But everything else was true. Even NBC showed up. NBC, people! The press conference was interesting because USC Coach Ali believes USC not only should be competitive, but has a chance to win. In all honestly, I agree with him - to an extent. USC's women are just starting their spring season.

USC players Janessa Currier and Ashley Sandoval. Sandoval looks particularly excited to play!

What is spring season? Well for me at my undergrad, spring season meant drinking lots of beer on weekends, not going to the gym unless forced to, playing more FIFA than real soccer, and sleeping in 'till 11. So if the USC girl's spring season mirrors anything like mine, I doubt they will be in the condition they need to be to compete with a team like Mexico.

My boss at NBC, Luis. He was the only news outlet there.

I've been looking deep into Coach Ali's eyes in this picture. I don't know what he's trying to tell me.


For anyone that's interested, the game will be played at the Colisseum on Feb. 22nd. Since we live in Los Angeles, expect a pro-Mexico crowd. Tickets are less than $10 and there will be lots of those bacon-wrapped hot dogs for dinner.

This was my goal while I was at CSU Bakersfield. I wanted this trophy. I would have taken it over a diploma.

More flip flops than Mitt Romney!

I originally planned to go watch youth Mexican league soccer at that park on Adams and Hoover. It was a pretty good plan. I would sit and watch the world's game. I might by some Chiclets. Hell, I might even drink Horchata and wear a Raiders jersey. It was all part of my plan. That was, until.....them.

I'm walking back from school, minding my own business. Splash! What the hell is that? Splash! I look over to my left. A 15-year-old kid is standing on the 10 meter high dive at the USC McDonald Aquatic Center.

No way. He's not gonna jump, is he? He'll probably do a pencil dive. The kid runs to the edge of the platform and does a 3 1/2 reverse tuck dive. In layman's terms, he did a 3 1/2 somersault gainer....30 ft. above the water. How do I know this? I was the JV Diver of the Year in 2001. I was the Mark Spitz of the diving board.

Anyways, I can't just ignore this. This is way better than Chiclets and ice cream carts. I walk through the Lyon Center and take my spot in the stands. To the north, the USC women's water polo team is warming up for their game against a school with HWK on their warmups. I think that's Hartwick University. I think their nickname is the "Blowouts," and if it isn't, it likely will be after the game.

In front of me are 15-20 kids flinging their bodies off the diving boards. There is a 1-meter platform board, a 2-meter platform board, a 3-meter platform board, a 5-meter platform board, a 10-meter platform, and a 3-meter springboard. These divers appear to be between the ages of 4 and 16, and appear to be part of a club. This looks like practice.

A girl no older than 6 years old climbs the 3-meter springboard. She's probably 3 ft. tall. She bravely approaches the front of the board and flings herself off - perfectly executing a 1/2 reverse in pike position. Her splash is no bigger than when I drop my shampoo in the bathtub. I am going to call her Shorty.

Shorty skampers out of the water, talks to her coach for some advice, and runs over to the jacuzzi to wait for her next turn. As soon as she gets out of the pool, another 6-year-old is ready to take the plunge. On all 6 boards, bodies are flying everywhere. A flip here. A turn there. A hand stand over there. Had I not been a diver for 2 years, I probably wouldn't have the stomach for all this flipping. On Shorty's last inward dive, her head came narrowly close to making contact with the edge of the board. I wonder if her mother ever regrets putting her daughter in diving?


My eyes dart back up to the 10-meter board. A girl is up there, stretching out her legs. Looks like she is going in the pike position. (Pretend you are sitting on your butt on the ground, and your reaching to touch your toes. That is the pike position.) She jumps off and pulls off a 2 1/2 front somersault in the pike position. Uh oh....she pulled out late..SMACK! Her legs smacked pretty hard against the water. Everyone in the pool area heard it. She's gotta be in pain.

But like the true champ that she is, she walks back to the jacuzzi, calmly and plainly, and awaits her turn to conquer the platform again. See, in diving, it's all about conquering fear. Every time you try a new move, you know you can injure yourself - from smacking your back on the water to hitting your head on the board, diving is a risky sport. Just as Greg Louganis. He got HIV from diving. I'm telling you, it's dangerous.

It's been a while since I sat down, and the sun is starting to set. The kids are squeegee'ing themselves off and running to the locker room. I glance over at the water polo scoreboard. USC 4 - HWK 1. End of the first quarter. Do I go over and watch our girls blow out Hartwick University, or do I go home and watch the season premiere of "Lost" for the fourth time?



I'm sorry Matthew Fox...our date will have to wait.