Archive for March, 2006

Mar 07 2006

MetroStars no more?

Published by Jason Crane under Soccer, Sports

As you may know, I’m a huge fan of the MetroStars, the Major League Soccer team based in the New York City area. Jen and I used to have season tickets when we lived in Brooklyn, and I’ve followed them ever since. Now, in my sixth season as a Metros fan, it looks like my team is about to disappear.

New York Post columnist Ives Galarcep wrote a story yesterday detailing the offer by Austria’s Red Bull company to buy the MetroStars. Here’s an excerpt from the full story:

Dietrich Mateschitz, the billionaire owner of Red Bull, the energy drink, is known for investing in sports in an effort to advertise his product. He owns a racing team, he has sponsored extreme sports events, and last year, Mateschitz bought a soccer team in his native Austria. All these endeavors have one thing in common. Mateschitz splashed the Red Bull logo all over all of them.

This is apparently the plan for the MetroStars, only with a cruel twist. According to sources within MLS, if Red Bull buys the MetroStars they intend to change the team’s name and colors, and erase the franchise’s history.

So rather than rooting for the Major League Soccer’s lovable losers, MetroStars fans who have endured a decade of disappointment would be forced to root for a glorified billboard for Red Bull or find a new team altogether.

This was the option presented to fans of SV Austria Salzberg, a team with 77 years of tradition at the time Red Bull bought them. That tradition didn’t jive with the new owners’ plan to use the club as new way to advertise their soft drink so Red Bull changed the club’s name to Red Bull Salzberg, erased the history books and told the club’s fans that if they didn’t like the changes they could hit the road.

Very, very scary. According to ESPN, the deal was sealed today. We’ll know more soon, but it looks like this could spell the end of my beloved Metros.

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Mar 05 2006

Still no baby

Published by Jason Crane under Family

It was back on February 10 that I wrote a post titled “We almost had a baby tonight.” Here it is, the 5th of March, and we still haven’t had the baby!

As happened with Bernie, Jen’s health has been an issue this time around. Her blood pressure has been quite high, which can be a sign of preeclampsia. So she’s been on bed rest for the last three weeks, which is annoying on its own. Why? Well, no two doctors have the same definition of “bed rest.” Doctor #1 said it meant lying in bed and getting up only to go to the bathroom. Doctor #2 said, “Most of my colleagues would prescribe bed rest, but there’s no evidence that it has any effect, so just take it easy.” And Doctor #3? “Bed rest means bed rest, but you shouldn’t just stay in bed. You can move around.” Got it?

Doctor #3 also made a 9-months-pregnant woman on bed rest wait for 45 minutes in his office until he showed up for our appointment on Friday. We’d already been at the hospital for 90 minutes before that for our weekly tests, too. Good stuff all around.

Not to mention that we picked this doctor (after our midwife plan was nixed) because he’s a family practitioner with an OB specialty. That means that he’ll be the guy who actually delivers the baby, rather than just getting whoever is on call. Except that he’s going on vacation on Friday, so he probably won’t be around when the baby’s delivered after all. If we’d had this doctor for the whole pregnancy, that might just be the luck of the draw. But we didn’t even get this guy until two weeks ago, and he knew he’d be on vacation.

This whole thing just needs to end. A nice, healthy baby. A happy, healthy mommy. And a less stressed me.

All that said, it’s still fantastic that the baby has had three more weeks in the womb than we expected. It’s over 7 pounds now, which is also really great. Bernie was 5 lbs 15 oz, and he was three weeks early. At this point, Baby #2 isn’t technically premature (just two weeks early), and the baby’s weight is fine.

Who knew having a baby could be so challenging? What’s that? You say everyone knew? Oh.

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