Cardiff City vs. Aston Villa/Hull City: Le Bleubird

Is there anything in the world more liberating than quitting your job?  I've done it twice now and while it is scary, I have been fortunate in that both changes have been definitively for the better.  

My most recent self-termination took place in January.  I had worked for that employer for almost nine years.  Things are going very well with the new job and I've just returned from my first business trip, which is why I was unable to write a post last week.  

But I didn't forget about the Bluebirds, even while I was away on business...

I think negotiations for this new job could have been cut short if they had just said, "We're going to send you on two-week jaunts to France as opposed to your current employere who sends you to Alabama."

The above picture was taken during the whirlwind twenty hours I spent in Paris.  That's just enough time to sleep, to tour the Eiffel Tower, to watch Wales crush France in Six Nations, and to eat some escargot...

They're really not that bad.  Escargot have the texture of octopus or perhaps really chewy mussels.  Anyways, they taste like butter and garlic so you can just tell yourself you're not eating snails.

I spent the majority of my trip in Grenoble, which is in the southeast of France.  It's a really beautiful city at the base of the Alps and it stretches along the Isere River.

Alas, I missed the Bluebirds/Villans match because, like in America, France apparently only airs Chelsea matches.  That and I had an internet connection that would have been sluggish in 1995.

I say I "missed" the match, but that would imply something actually happened...

Cardiff City 0 - Aston Villa 0

• ZZZZZZZ

I suppose the above score summary is a bit snarky, but no matter how much I like the Bluebirds I can't stomach a game that ends in a 0-0 draw.  I'm not sure how @jodylaforge was able to sit through it...

Thanks for the pic, Jody!

From the match reports, it seems like both teams had their opportunities but neither was clearly dominant.  I hope somebody bought David Marshall a beer after the match, because he is the only reason this snoozefest didn't end in tears.  Check out the video of his stoppage time miracle save at the following link, safe for work.

During my stay in Grenoble, I asked my new teammates a ton of questions about sporting culture in France.  Perhaps obvious, but in this region everyone seems to ski (downhill and cross-country).  In the warmer months they cycle and play handball.  

When it comes to soccer the local team, Grenoble Foot 38, isn't that popular because they're awful.  I don't know if the tiers of French soccer are comparable to those of English soccer, but fourth tier is fourth tier no matter what sport we're talking about.  

While I didn't see anyone wearing Premier League gear, they do have bars that air the matches.  Come to think of it, the only sporting attire I saw people wearing in my entire time in France was New York Yankees hats.  Blech.

I'm told that professional rugby is far more popular in Grenoble than soccer.  That's another sport I really know nothing about, but from what little I've seen it seems close enough to American Football that I might enjoy it.  

I flew home on Saturday, so mercifully I was spared the nightmare that was the Bluebirds/Tigers match...

Cardiff City 0 - Hull City 4

• Huddlestone (HUL) 18'
• Jelavic (HUL) 38'
• Jalavic (HUL) 57'
• Livermore (HUL) 67'

You don't really need to hear the play-by-play for this match, the picture below sums up the debacle well enough...

(Image Credit:  WalesOnline)

Honestly, when you get crushed this bad by a team you could have beat, all you can do is shake it off and move on.  

With this draw and this loss, the Bluebirds are in 19th place with 5 wins, 7 draws, and 15 losses.  The table below captures the full Premier League standings as of 02/25/14.  The table columns are:  Current Position (POS), Last Position (LP), Club Name (CLUB), Matches Played (P), Wins (W), Draws (D), Losses (L), Goals Fielded (GF), Goals Allowed (GA), Goal Differential (GD), and Rankings Points (PTS).

Last year, my wife and I read Sheryl Sandberg's business memoir "Lean In".  It's definitely geared towards a female audience, but one thing I took away from the book was "Don't leave before you leave".  Sandberg was referring to women not aspiring to high-ranking positions, because at some point they may want to stay home to raise a family.  I took it as a reminder to myself to continue to do the best I could at my current job until I found another that would hopefully make me more happy.

I bring this up because the Bluebirds have not yet been relegated.  They still have 11 matches left to make of this season what they will.  There is no team they cannot beat and I sincerely hope that they haven't left before they've left.    

OK, enough moping around.  Let's commence with this week's "Meet a US Bluebird"!

Meet Luke Angevine (@lukeangevine, 02/17/14)

Where do you live and where are you from originally?:  I live in San Diego, California, but grew up in Covington Washington, a suburb of Seattle.

How long have you been following the Bluebirds and how did you become a fan?:  I’ve been a Bluebirds fan for around 3 years now. I started supporting Cardiff by first doing a little research on English football, and was intrigued by the Welsh squad. I have never been to Europe let alone the United Kingdom, so I made ties with Cardiff. Been rooting for them ever since.

What is your most favorite Cardiff City memory and why?:  Promotion last season. I thoroughly enjoyed our match against Man City at home, getting the W, and Campbell scoring his two header goals.

Who is your most favorite current Cardiff City player?:  I’ve really been impressed with Craig Noone. David Marshall has had such an outstanding season for the Bluebirds.

What makes Cardiff City important to you?:  They have become my Saturday morning ritual (most games starting at 7 am Pacific Coast Time). Waking up, putting my scarf on, and watching the game. I’ve been planning a trip to Wales next year so I can show my support in person!

What is your favorite US sport and team?  Do you follow any MLS clubs?:  Growing up near Seattle, I’ve been a huge Seahawks fan my whole life. Since the inception of the Seattle Sounders, I try to follow them as much as I can, but it isn’t English Football.

Do you think Premier League is growing in popularity in the US?  What can NBC or the League itself do to grow its popularity in the US?:  I think it’s growing. Young kids what to play more soccer. The exposure of the sport has grown with the help of NBC. They just need to continue airing the matches. I’d also like to see more Sky Bet Championship games. The best part of football are the promotion battles for the lesser divisions. People would enjoy watching the likes of Derby County, QPR, Burnley, etc.

Thank you for the interview, Luke.  Cardiff City has also become my Saturday morning ritual.  I think there is a great opportunity for Americans to add this sport to their weekend sports agendas.

Back to my trip for one more moment.  At dinner one night in Grenoble, I was telling a French coworker that my favorite French Premier League player was probably Arsenal's Olivier Giroud (sorry Kevin Theophile-Catherine).  The conversation went something like this...

• Me:  "Olivier Giroud is pretty good."
• Coworker:  "Pretty good at staying out late and sleeping with women."

I'll try not to hold Giroud's (alleged) promiscuity against him.  He's actually the driving force behind a pretty tremendous performance by the Cardiff'rent Strokes this week.  We have jumped a whopping 153k spots!

• Rank (Last Week):  1,299,164
• Rank (This Week):  1,146,326
• Total Players:  3,185,651

Can I successfully manage my squad into the top 1,000,000 Fantasy teams?  I think so, but you'll have to keep reading to find out

Well that's it for this week, readers.  Cardiff City's next Premier League match is on March 2nd away against Tottenham Hotspur.

Thank you as always for reading.  You can follow me on Twitter @dragon_bluebird.  And feel free to leave some comments on my posts via Blogger or Twitter.  Would love to hear your thoughts on the season so far and I'm always open to suggestions for features or topics you'd like to see on this blog.

Swansea City vs. Cardiff City: Monk-ey Business

Stop me if you've heard this one before...

The owner of a Welsh club in the English Premier League decided to sack a highly-successful manager in an undignified fashion.

Sounds familiar, no?  

I'm not talking about former Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay.  This time around it was Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup who got the axe.  

For those of you keeping score at home, that is now seven managers gone this season (six fired, one allegedly left by "mutual consent").

Official statements given by Swansea City say Laudrup was fired because the board weren't happy with the direction the club was going (apparently 12th place wasn't the direction they wanted to go) and they also weren't happy with the attitude of players in the locker room.  

In a recent statement, issued via the League Managers Association, Laudrup stated "I am deeply disappointed to have been dismissed as manager of Swansea City.  In particular, the manner in which it happened and the actions the club has taken since notifying me in the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary".

At least Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan had the courtesy to issue an explicitly-detailed breakdown of why he thought Mackay sucked at his job.

I bring this up not to gloat about the plight of the Jacks, but because it created an interesting storyline leading into the second edition of the Premier League South Wales Derby.

When Malky Mackay was sacked by Vincent Tan, his temporary replacement was then Assistant Manager David Kerslake.  Swansea City took a different approach after Laudrup's firing.  They chose to name Garry monk, the current Swansea City captain, as club manager for an indefinite period of time.

When my wife and I sat down to watch the game on Saturday morning, I told her about the bizarre case of picking an active player to lead the club for such a historic event.  She mentioned that the Boston Celtics did something similar when they chose Bill Russell as coach in the mid-to-late Sixties.

Since sports trivia isn't my strong suit (see also my recent collapse on the Built on Sloper Rd. podcast's trivia segment), I decided to do a little digging to see how common player-managers are in Premier League and in US major league sports.  Here's a list of the most recent example in each sport:

• Premier League - Stuart McCall (Bradford City, 2000/01 season)
• MLB - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds, 1986 season)
• NBA - Lenny Wilkens (Portland Trailblazers, 1974/75 season)
• NFL - Tom Landry (New York Giants, 1954 season)
• NHL - Charlie Burns (Minnesota North Stars, 1969/70 season)

So the Premier League has had this same situation arise relatively recently in its history, but a similar situation has not occurred in an American major league sport in almost thirty years.  It's apparently possible that it could happen again in MLB, NFL, or NHL though; only the NBA has explicitly banned the practice.

Garry Monk took over Swansea with just days to prepare for their match against Cardiff City.  How did he do in his managerial debut?  Regretably, pretty darn well...

Excerpt from "Garry Monk" Wikipedia entry on 02/09/14 

Swansea City 3 - Cardiff City 0

• Routledge (SWA) 47' 
• Dyer (SWA) 79'
• Bony (SWA) 85'

Truly a performance so flaccid that it deserves a Viagra commercial.

Normally, I would give you some commentary on this match that would highlight the positives of the Bluebirds' performance.  But honestly, there's really nothing good to say.  

I thought that Cardiff City appeared to have reverted to the "park the bus and try not to lose" mentality from earlier this season.  Everything good I saw in the match against Norwich City last week appeared to have evaporated.

Also, some of the player selections for this week were confusing to me.  If I had been appointed as manager of the Bluebirds prior to this match (I have no idea what dire situation would have lead to this), I would have started Theophile-Catherine, McNaughton, Noone, and Mutch in place of Turner, Fabio, Kim, and Whittingham respectively.

To make matters even worse Craig Bellamy, who has had a resurgence in the past two weeks, apparently punched Swansea City player Jonathan de Guzman during the match and now faces a potential three-match ban.

(Image Credit:  SkySports1)

I didn't see the incident live and neither did referee Andre Marriner.  The issue was raised post-match and the Football Association had a panel review the footage.  They came to the conclusion that the punch was in fact intentional and charged Bellamy with violent conduct.

Bellamy has until Tuesday evening to respond to the charge.  As of the writing of this post, I'm not sure what options are available to Cardiff City in terms of appealing the decision.  Stay tuned.

With this loss, the Bluebirds are in 19th place with 5 wins, 6 draws, and 14 losses.  The table below captures the full Premier League standings as of 02/11/14.  The table columns are:  Current Position (POS), Last Position (LP), Club Name (CLUB), Matches Played (P), Wins (W), Draws (D), Losses (L), Goals Fielded (GF), Goals Allowed (GA), Goal Differential (GD), and Rankings Points (PTS).

I don't want this blog to dwell on bad results and negativity.  One thing that I've found helps me to deal with Premier League-driven grief is to connect with other Bluebirds fans via Twitter.  I've been fortunate enough to bump into several of these who like me live in the United States.    

Please enjoy this new (hopefully weekly) segment of "Meet a US Bluebird"!

Meet Ian Paterson-Jones (@IanPJ1927, 02/08/14)

Where do you live and where are you from originally?:  Lake Mary, FL (near Orlando).  Originally from Cardiff.

How long have you been following the Bluebirds and how did you become a fan?:  Since the early 70s.  Grandfather and father were fans.

What is your most favorite Cardiff City memory and why?:  Winning 2nd division playoff final against QPR.  One of the last times I went with my dad.

Who is your most favorite current Cardiff City player?  If you could add any one player to the roster right now who would it be?:  Gary Medel.  I think Ole has everything covered at the moment.

What makes Cardiff City important to you?:  Part of my life.

What is your favorite US sport and team?  Do you follow any MLS clubs?:  Football, Florida Gators.  No just like to watch MLS games and learn about the teams and players.  But with Orlando City joining MLS in 2016.

Do you think Premier League is growing in popularity in the US?  What can NBC or the League itself do to grow its popularity in the US?:  Yes I do.  More teams coming to US for pre-season games.

Thank you for the interview, Ian.  Even though we lost to the Jacks this past week, I do believe you're correct that Ole has everything covered.  We have all the players we need to survive this season, they just need to step up and perform to their potential.

You know who is stepping up to their potential?  My fantasy team, the Cardiff'rent Strokes.  They are continuing their climb to the top 1,000,000 of the Fantasy Premier League slowly but surely...  

• Rank (Last Week):  1,305,836
• Rank (This Week):  1,299,164
• Total Players:  3,174,038

Well that's it for this week, readers.  Cardiff City's next Premier League match is on February 11th at home against Aston Villa.

Thank you as always for reading.  You can follow me on Twitter @dragon_bluebird.  And feel free to leave some comments on my posts via Blogger or Twitter.  Would love to hear your thoughts on the season so far and I'm always open to suggestions for features or topics you'd like to see on this blog.

Cardiff City vs. Manchester United/Norwich City: Kenwyne Can Win

Like every other American that does not live in the state of Washington, I deeply regret having spent several hours of my life watching the Super Bowl this past weekend.  I didn't care who won, the game was a blowout, and the commercials were underwhelming.  

Thankfully I own a DVR, so I didn't miss Puppy Bowl X.

For those of you in the UK and elsewhere who may not watch American football, this was supposed to be an exciting, close game.  The Seattle Seahawks were the best defensive team (i.e. fewest points allowed) in the NFL this season.  The Denver Broncos were the best offensive team (i.e. most points fielded) in the NFL this season.  Actually, the Broncos were the best offensive team of any NFL season.

So it was pretty shocking to see the game end in a 43-8 rout by the Seahawks.  It would be something like if the Manchester City-Chelsea game this past Monday was played on the last day of the Premier League season, with the two teams tied at the top of the standings, and having the match end 1-6 instead of 0-1.

While I didn't enjoy the game, I did enjoy this Super Bowl-related internet gem...

"Football!"  (Image Credit:  @SirPatStew)

Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen, in Seahawks and Broncos jerseys respectively, holding a soccer ball.  The only way that picture could have been more awesome is if the bluish ghost of Sir Alex Guinness were hovering in the background in a 49ers jersey.

For those of you who didn't get a degree in engineering and spend 11 years in industry praying that someone would hire you to build the starship Enterprise, let me break it down for you:

• Patrick Stewart:  Gurney Halleck (Dune), Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek:  The Next Generation), and Professor Charles Xavier (X-Men)
• Ian McKellen:  Gandalf (Hobbit and Lord of the Rings) and Magneto (X-Men)
• Alex Guinness (Not pictured but unquestionably there in spirit):  Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars)

@SirPatStew and @IanMcKellen I had no idea that you were comic geniuses as well as science fiction legends.  Well-played, Sirs.

Nerd gushing completed...man, what a segue.

Let's talk some Cardiff City! 

Before we get to the matches from this past week, I wanted to thank the gentlemen-scholars of the Built on Sloper Rd podcast for having me as a guest.  

The "Built on Sloper Rd" podcast and blog logo

If you're not already listening to Built on Sloper Rd, drop what you're doing and go subscribe to their podcast!  They are a bunch of really great guys and they upload two podcasts a week covering Cardiff City matches and club shenanigans.  The episode I'm on aired on January 31st and you can find it on iTunes by searching for "BOSR Extra 10".  

By the way, the guys are currently running an eBay auction to support Cardiff City captain Steven Caulker's charity, "Africa's Child".  You can find the details here.

Ok, let's get serious and actually talk about the Bluebirds!

There were two matches this past week.  The first was on January 28th away at Manchester United...

Manchester United 2 - Cardiff City 0

• Van Persie (MUN) 6'
• Young (MUN) 59'

This was Cardiff City manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's (OGS) first match as manager against his former club.  He received a warm reception, as he was somewhat of a legendary goal scorer at Manchester United...

In case you needed another reason to dislike Manchester United, their mascot is a satanic Care Bear (Image Credit:  mirror.co.uk)

OGS does the Ayatollah, much to David Moyes' chagrin.  Cheeky!  (Image Credit:  mirror.co.uk)

Aside from the return of OGS, the other big storyline of the match was Manchester United's signing of Juan Mata from Chelsea.  Mata is a disgustingly good player that was underutilized at Chelsea.  It's unusual for a player of that caliber to be transferred mid-season between Premier League rivals.  In a way, I think the transfer only went through because Chelsea's manager Jose Mourinho wanted to let David Moyes know that he thinks Manchester United is too crappy to be a title threat.

But it was Robin van Persie, not Juan Mata, back from an 11 match absence who scored first for Manchester United.

While it was conceivable for the Bluebirds to win this match, it wasn't expected and it wasn't a "must win".  I was pleasantly surprised to see that Cardiff City didn't implode on themselves like they have in the past after going down 1-0.  

The Bluebirds actually lead the match in possession, but little else.  I did think there was still a chance for a draw up until Manchester United's Ashley Young scored his goal 59 minutes into the match.

It's not that Cardiff City didn't have any moments of good performance, it's just that overall, like the Super Bowl, it was a pretty dull affair.

This isn't Photoshopp'd, @jodylaforge actually was at the match...in body at least.

Thanks for the pic, Jody!

The BBC Sport match report described the result as a "morale-boosting win" for Manchester United.  It's a pretty sad state of affairs when last year's champions get a morale boost from beating the worst team in the league.  Spoiler Alert...Manchester United would go on to lose their next match against relegation candidates Stoke City.  So much for the morale boost you jerks.

Cardiff City were unlucky in the standings due to other relegation candidates stepping up in their matches.  The Bluebirds were not just in last place at this point, they were in last place with a gap forming.  

Which brings us to the close of the January transfer window.  Just like my coverage of the summer transfer window, I didn't bother telling you much about who might be in or out becuase their is so much misinformation on the internet during this time period.  But it's done now and let's look at what's happened to the roster this season.

Below is a list of everyone who has been transferred in since summer 2013 and out since winter 2014.  I've left off anyone who left before this season began or went out on a brief loan spell during the season just to cut down on confusion...

Transferred-In (Summer 2013), Still Here:

• Steven Caulker
• Gary Medel
• Maximiliano Amondarain
• Kevin Theophile-Catherine

Transferred-In (Summer 2013), Transferred-Out (Winter 2014):

• Andreas Cornelius
• John Brayford (Loan)
• Simon Moore (Loan)
• Peter Odemwingie

Transferred-Out (Winter 2014):

• Rudy Gestede
• Craig Conway
• Filip Kiss (Loan)
• Nicky Maynard (Loan)

Transferred-In (Winter 2014):

• Magnus Wolff Eikrem
• Mats Moller Daehli
• Jo Inge Berget
• Kenwyne Jones
• Fabio
• Wilfried Zaha (Loan)
• Juan Cala

Three players are particularly worth noting from the above lists:  Cornelius, Odemwingie, and Jones.

Andreas Cornelius is the poster child for Vincent Tan's absolute disgust with former Cardiff City Manager Malky Mackay.  Due to a combination of injury and ill-preparedness, Cornelius scored zero goals in his eight appearances.  He was brought in this past summer and was booted out less than six months later.

Peter Odemwingie and Kenwyne Jones are a really interesting transfer story.  Like Cornelius, Odemwingie was brought in over the Summer for exactly one purpose...to score goals.  He managed to score one Premier League goal in his fifteen appearances.  Cardiff City swapped Odemwingie for Stoke City's Jones, which was somewhat of a mystery because Jones had zero goals in seven appearances for Stoke City.  What was OGS thinking?!  

Kenwyne Jones' first Premier League match as a Bluebird was in our second match of the week, at home on February 1st against Norwich City.

Was OGS crazy for swapping one non-scoring goal scorer for another?  Let's find out...

Cardiff City 2 - Norwich City 1

• Snodgrass (NOR) 5'
• Bellamy (CAR) 49'
• Jones (CAR) 50'

I'll give you a moment to pick yourself up off the floor.

Yes, the Bluebirds actually won a match!  Not just any match, a true "must win".  

One minute into the game, Cardiff City rock star Jordon Mutch had a sweet bicycle kick goal attempt that was unfortunately stopped.  This was the signal to me at least that the Bluebirds came to play.

While Cardiff City looked really good on the attack, their defense was a truly confused mess.  Which leads us to the punch-in-the-gut...Norwich City's Robert Snodgrass' goal just 5 minutes into the match.   

It's not supposed to go down like this.  Norwich stinks.  We've bought all these new players.  Defense is supposed to be the one thing we're decent at right?  Not really.  Goalkeeper David Marshall is unquestionably a star, but the downside of OGS' attacking style is that you don't have as many dudes parked in your third of the field.  This is a new style of play for the Bluebirds and they need time to get used to it.

And get used to it they did.  Snodgrass' goal was Norwich City's last.

If there was one Cardiff City player on that field that wanted a win more than any other, it was Craig Bellamy.  His goal at 49 minutes into the match was his first of this Premier League season.  

Craig, and the entire stadium went berserk.

Craig Bellamy...legend.  (Image Credit:  The Guardian)

OGS has been a VERY vocal champion of Bellamy; encouraging him to get fit and continue playing, even though Bellamy himself has said he's running out of gas and is considering a new career in managing.  Smart move OGS.

Which brings us to another smart, if mysterious move by OGS, the signing of Kenwyne Jones.

One minute after Bellamy's goal, although it only seemed like a blink, Kenwyne Jones put in his first goal of the season as well.    

Kenwyne Jones scores the game winner in his Cardiff City debut (Image Credit:  The Guardian)

What followed can only be described as a celebration dance on par with any "fatality move" in Mortal Kombat...

(Image Credit:  Cardiff City FC Official Website)

(Image Credit:  Getty Images)

(Image Credit:  Getty Images)

I fully expected the stadium to shake itself to pieces after that cartwheel-somersault-ayatollah.

The next 40 minutes were the most hotly contested, scrappy scenes I've watched to date.  Both clubs had legitimate attempts, but the lions share came from Norwich City.

I had several minor heart attacks during this time period, the worst of which occurred during two disallowed Norwich City goals.

Whatever David Marshall earns, it's not even close to enough.

At 93:51 one of the commentators said, in reference to Cardiff City "so close [they] could almost touch the three points".

And touch the three points the Bluebirds did.  That's probably terrible grammar, but I don't care.

There was skill in this win, but also several large warehouses worth of luck.

I have never felt more confident about the season than at this moment.  Maybe I will eat my words later, but I feel like this is a new start and the beginning of a hot streak.  And if the skill and confidence disappear and only luck remains so be it as long as Cardiff City don't get relegated.

I really must share with you this Twitter exchange featuring Kenwyne Jones after the match...

Timeless comeback.

As it stands, the Bluebirds are in 19th place with 5 wins, 6 draws, and 13 losses.  The table below captures the full Premier League standings as of 02/04/14.  The table columns are:  Current Position (POS), Last Position (LP), Club Name (CLUB), Matches Played (P), Wins (W), Draws (D), Losses (L), Goals Fielded (GF), Goals Allowed (GA), Goal Differential (GD), and Rankings Points (PTS).

I've never been so happy to be the second worst at something.

Cardiff City have climbed up from 20th to 19th place, and my Fantasy team, the Cardiff'rent Strokes have seen similar improvement...

• Rank (Last Week):  1,337,819
• Rank (This Week):  1,305,836
• Total Players:  3,167,775

So much to talk about this week, apologies for the ridiculously long blog post.  Let's wrap things up.

Cardiff City's next match is away at Swansea City on February 8th.  That's right, the second South Wales Derby in Premier League history.  Neither team has ever "done the double".  But my new found optimism has convinced me that this might be the Bluebirds year of miracles.

A few Twitter shoutouts:

• Built on Sloper Rd:  @BuiltOnSloperRd
• Built on Sloper Rd hosts:  @djr_ccfc, @adam85James, @SteveDE83, @Bennifactor
• Jody Davies:  @jodylaforge, @DodgemXofficial

Thank you as always for reading.  You can follow me on Twitter @dragon_bluebird.  And feel free to leave some comments on my posts via Blogger or Twitter.  Would love to hear your thoughts on the season so far and I'm always open to suggestions for features or topics you'd like to see on this blog.