Frankie Hejduk: The beer chugging elf surfer

When the LA Galaxy come to town to play the Chicago Fire and you're offered by your footy teammate a free ticket (row 6, half line), well, you think David Beckham...Landon Donovan...yes! So, we provided our manager with poorly coordinated excuses as to why we couldn't play in our club's friendly that same day (he claimed an injury and I told the truth - thus exposing his injury as a lie), and we were ready to see the Hollywood bros. in action.

Only one hitch- er two: Becks was suspended due to an accumulation of yellows and Landon "Largest Forehead in the Universe" Donovan had a hurt pinky finger (inflamed knee, actually, but I wouldn't put it past the prima donna).

Naturally, we were disappointed, but luckily a majestic stadium, free fleece blankets upon entry, and "damn, that grass is well-kept" seats made the fact that we knew nobody on the pitch a non-issue. Nobody, that is, except for an tireless aged elf and former USA international defenseman, Frankie Hejduk.

Hejduk is small and wiry like a marathon runner with long golden locks that he tucks behind his rather pointy ears. These features, together with a rather sprightly way of movement, make one think 'elf' the way observing Puyol makes one think 'caveman'. The guy has 85 caps for his country, won an MLS Cup title in 2008 with the Columbus Crews, and even had a fairly successful spell at Bayer Leverkusen from '98 to '02.

But, the most admirable things about the guy: 1) he's apparently an awesome surfer and 2) check it>

or, even better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_X8anlNYQk

btw: 2-1 Galaxy. Chicago Fire are sitting on 4 points in five matches (bottom of the Eastern Conference)

Match Report Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen

Clash of the titans in Germany, 2nd spot vs 3rd, Bayern vs Leverkusen, the record league champions vs the "forever seconds" (Leverkusen having failed to ever winning the Bundesliga after coming ohhh soo close nearly every year). Enough Hype? Because I can keep going. Leverkusen is currently 5 points behind Dortmund (Dortmund not having played by the time I finished this post) and Bayern is looking to at least secure 3rd spot for the Champions League qualification, it's also the first game after the Van Gaal era with Andries Jonker on the bench for his first.

All that being said, Bayern certainly turned on the heat and showed that they actually know how to play decent football in the first half, almost taunting Leverkusen as Mueller ran circles around their defense. 1-0 was a Schweinsteiger Header that hit Rolfes in the face and went in, "In your face" just became oddly appropriate. the 2-0 after an error from Vidal, that in all honesty you and I in your Saturday leagues would have been subbed off for straight away, but I guess as a professional it seems reasonable to attempt a back heel (instead of letting the ball run out for a goal kick, mind you) straight to Mueller who sets up Gomez, who then also went on to score the 3-0 and the 4-0 just before halftime, giving him 22 goals scored this season and completing a hat-trick by Halftime!

Erin Derdiyok made it 4-1 in the 62th after a mistake by the Bayern Defense, which looked a little shaky after Kiesling got subbed on as another striker for Leverkusen. Ribery answered with a nice solo through the Leverkusen defense to make it 5-1, before being picked up by Gomez like a child in the arms of a father, which the commentator called a unorthodox celebration, wouldnt agree with that necessarily. Just before you could hear the Munich fans chanting "Uli" the name of the clubs president, who had to face some criticism this season for spending to much money, wanting to buy Neuer when we have 2 great goalies and worst of all for giving the blues (city rivals 1860 Muenchen) "mates rates" to rent out the stadium which in the Ultra fans eyes is the worst kind of betrayal and I have to agree with them somehow although from a business point of view it is probably for the best and lets face it a football club can't just live from Love & Hate, even though it should.

Interesting also that Leverkusens coach Jupp Heynkes will be Bayerns new coach next season, so whether he was just trying to help Bayern play champions league and get more money or if Leverkusen just had a horrible day, we will never know. It was definitely refreshing to see a Bayern side that had that much energy without Robben and played football that was fun to watch and also effective.