Landon Donovan... and other Ramblings

Watching the US - El Salvador game, I was struck by something odd. Landon Donovan, when taking a penalty, carried out a pre-kick routine. Not that these types of routines are strange by any means, but HIS routine was strange. He sets the ball down, backs off 6 yards, crouches down, and then the strangeness ensues. He looks at the grass, pats it, first with his right fist, which he then brings to his mouth and kisses his wrist. Then he pats the grass with his left fist, followed by kissing that wrist. After this, he kisses his right forearm, then his left forearm, and then he stands up, crosses himself, and takes the penalty. I prefer to remember Donovan as he is in the picture, scoring goals against the hated mexicans, who are not worthy of having their proper noun capitalized. The routine brought back memories of Karl Malone talking to himself at the stripe ("Di'be Karl Malone...).


A thorough search of youtube.com turned up no available video to clearly display this routine, so you'll just have to take my word for it. But weird it is. I'm not sure it worked so well since his first penalty went right at the keeper.

Landon also has a habit of kissing what looks like his ring finger at times, typically after he scores, in what appears to be a Doug Christie-esque tribute to his wife, Bianca Kajlich. Seen here at their wedding in January, the happy couple has been together for some time. The Internet calls her "little-known actress", which is probably true. I know her because apparently she went to Blanchet, and she was on Dawson's Creek, a show I watched nearly every day while unemployed a few years ago. Talk about routine, I would get up and 9, watch the Creek, and then watch two hours of The West Wing. Every day for 6 months. That was so pathetic.

And I can't resist a photo of Professional Sports' most whooped man, Mr. Christie. Too bad he's from the area, it hurts our civic reputation as Seattleites. At least Rick Fox, a Tar Heel alumnus, knows how to deal with guys like this. When you get to the point where even over-the-hill role players want to smack you in the face, it may be time to hang up your sneakers and go make dinner for your wife.

Speaking of over-the-hill role players, what the hell is Frankie Hejduk doing on the Gold Cup squad? Hejduk will turn 33 in August, and let's face it, he never really had "it" to begin with. He was a scrapper, and ran his butt off, but his poor touch and lack of creativity made sure that his contribution on the field was as a bruiser, if you can be that when you're as small as he is. So what does he provide this Gold Cup squad? Apparently he provides experience, composure, and physical play. Well, let's see, against Guatemala he lost his composure and picked up a yellow card. He wasn't exactly being victimized, but he did make a few plays uncomfortable to watch. He's old. We can do better than him at right back.