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On Arsenal and the butterfly effect….

I flaked on Froog last night. I was completely beat from a day of translating documents and just didn’t have the energy to go out after midnight to watch the FA Cup game between Manchester United and Arsenal. I have a hunch that I’m in for a raft of crap about how my tepid support for Arsenal cost them the match. The mechanism for this is not abundantly clear…some sort of karmic time/space buttefly effect or what not. Seriously, the only way I could have affected this game in the positive for the Gunners is if I teleported myself to the hallway outside the Manchester United training room and pulled a Tonya Harding on young Mr. Rooney. Besides, it was only the FA Cup and we dressed 14 players. Watching the preview for the match on Friday night, a shot of the manager standing at practice with the net in the background caused one wag to remark, “Is the injury bug so bad that Arsene Wenger’s now his own starting keeper?” The final score probably wouldn’t have been much changed if he actually had been minding the goal. Anyway….

I did escape The Studio for an hour or so to have dinner with YJ and her cousin at the Gongti branch of The Kro’s Nest. Best pizza in Beijing, in my opinion, and great value as well. Definitely one of my fave places to grab a bite in town.

13 Comments on On Arsenal and the butterfly effect….

  1. I’ve heard tell that the Kro’s Nest has got actual real pizza (i.e., New York-style) as opposed to the weak crispy crap served up at most other places around town. True?

  2. Brendan,

    Allowing that NH isn’t exactly known for its pizza, and I’m sure true aficionados from NYC might take issue with this, but yeah…it’s pretty damn good and it’s the closest I’ve seen to the ‘real’ thing yet in Beijing.

    Next time I head down for a slice, I’ll ring you and Li up.

  3. You are from NH too?!
    is that why its granite studio?

  4. Eric,

    Indeed. As to the origins of the name, here’s a link to an old post explaining the rationale.

    By the by, I grew up in Atkinson (near the Mass. border) and went to high school up in Littleton. You?

  5. I missed the game. Only caught up on the score just now. Commiserations.

    The owner of Rm 101 couldn’t find the game on any of his 1,000 cable stations; and the channel we’d been watching Chelsea v. Huddersfield on reverted to Italian Serie A action at 1am. Vexing.

    However, it was a grand night. We were oscillating between Pool Bar and 101 from 9pm until, um, 4am or so (at least we resisted – or simply forgot?! – the temptation of the 4am happy hour at 101). There is now an extensive Tom Waits playlist at the Pool Bar. I may just go and live there.

  6. Amherst, close to Manchester.
    Souhegan HS.

  7. I know the feeling. I am still convinced it was my fault that Cleveland State upset Indiana in the first round NCAA game in 1986. I thought the game was on in the afternoon and I only learned of Indiana’s loss that MORNING while having lunch during a seminar. Had I been watching the game, it never would have happened!

  8. Froog,

    So I didn’t really miss it? Ah, karmic debt absolved. Great debate for ATWBSB: 101 vs. Pool Bar.

  9. Eric,

    I know Amherst well, one of my best friends in high school was from Milford and I have family down the highway from you in Nashua.

    Small state, small world.

    Thanks for stopping by and reading the blog.

  10. CLB,

    Fortunately this wasn’t a REALLY important match in the grand scheme of things. My similar pyschic moment was failing to watch Game 7 of the 1986 World Series. I was so heartbroken from Game 6, I couldn’t bring myself to watch. I also don’t think I was alone in that decision, and the collective sense of karmic despair I know cost the Red Sox that game.

  11. After Liverpool’s tepid beginning of the season, and Rafa’s bewildering decision to not start Torres every match, I made a small voodoo altar in my office, and routinely sacrificed a Rafa voodoo doll stuffed with tuna to my cat.

    Do you think that might have somehow had an effect Liverpool’s glorious result over the weekend?

    Also, it actually might end up being an important match–sure it’s just the FA cup, but a game like this could give ManU that extra bit of confidence (and Arsenal that extra bit of self-doubt) that could see them ride a winning streak all the way to the end of the season.

  12. KMM,

    I meant “only the FA Cup” in the same spirit that I wrote “18-1 is still pretty good” after the Super Bowl a couple of weeks back…

    I’m starting to believe in Arsenal just a little, but I do worry that their youth will catch up to them as the matches start to mean more and more and the stage gets larger and brighter.

  13. Sorry, “just the FA cup” was meant to imply my own lack of interest the competition. It just doesn’t do it for me–although I do enjoy the annual cinderella stories that it produces.

    I think Arsenal’s youth caught up to them in the game against Milan last night, although I guess it’s also fair to blame the result entirely on Adebayor and his missed chance at the end. I certainly hope they can maintain that five point lead at the top . . . I’m sick of ManU and Chelsea.

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