"Sure it is safe. Trust Me."

"Is it safe?"

"Sure it is safe. Trust me." I said, "We can just make a run for the border, go to Caliente,"

"What's Caliente?"

"It's this casino and sports book in Tijuana.  We will just go to the border, park, catch a bus across the border to the casino, and then we go to the sports book and place a bet."


"On who?"

"Any home team, it doesn't matter, Chargers, Kings, Xolos, Ducks.  The Lakers are terrible, we don't even need bad luck for them to lose.  All we have to do is bring you to the game, let your bad luck ooze around the building, and we will cash in big time.  You are such bad luck, it's awesome."

        Before having this conversation with my brother-in-law after San Diego's loss to Monterrey on Saturday night, months before, I had been chatting him up on how awesome indoor soccer was as a sport and what a great team the Sockers were and how we had won all of these Championships as a team.  I told him that he was going to have to come to a game with us and check out what San Diego indoor soccer is all about.  He then informed me, "yeah I will go, but I gotta warn you, I am bad luck, every game I go to, whether it is the Padres, Chargers, or Ducks the home team always loses."  "Ha ha, you're funny," I said, "don't worry, you won't bring bad luck to the Sockers," I said, "The Sockers don't need luck."

        The Sockers game plan had definitely changed from last week against the Sidekicks, from the start against the Flash the Sockers were playing a controlled game with little offensive pressure.  It seemed like they were just passing the ball around and waiting for the Flash to make mistakes and give up the power plays and set pieces, and for three quarters it worked.

        The Flash are a good team.  Genoni Martinez can deal the ball out to find the open man ready to score.  Birche is a solid defender that can strike the ball and find the back of the net. And Erick Tovar can score, it is that simple.  What is even scarier is that the Flash supposedly have even more good players that haven't even taken the field for the Flash yet.  Sydney Nusinov, the Director of Operations at the PASL, mentioned on Facebook after the game that the Flash didn't even suit up Omar Tapia and 3 Liga players that are on the roster.  It will be interesting how things pan out in the Central Division with teams like the Flash, the Sidekicks, and La Fiera battling for the top spot.

        After taking my brother in law, "Dolla Bill$", to the first and second home games of this season, and watching the Sockers lose at home for the first and second time, I realized that in fact he is a "Cooler".  My horse's ass of a brother-in-law is bad luck.  I know you are reading this Billy, and yes the Sockers losing is your damn fault!  But back to my earlier conversation with Billy.  After realizing that indeed my brother in law is bad luck, we decided that all we have to do is place money on the home team to lose, and then drag him into the stadium where his cooler magic will twist the hands of fate, producing a loss at home and money in our pockets.  FOOLPROOF I tell ya!  FOOLPROOF!  My only concern is going back to T.J. to get the money, if Bill$ bad luck follows us their, things could get dicey crossing back over the border.    

Hughes Blues
        Of the two acquisitions that the Sockers made in the off-season, McNeley has came the farthest so far fitting in with the Sockers.  In the game against Monterrey, McNeley had some huge stops that saved Toth from being in a few breakaway situations, and was rarely caught off guard and out of position on defense.  Jeff Hughes, on the other hand, is struggling.  None of my cohorts feel that Hughes has been very impressive since donning the Sockers uniform this year.  It seemed like every time Hughes had the ball last Saturday he was either squandering a goal opportunity, making a bad pass that caused other Sockers players to give chase and compensate, or turning it over in the most sheepish of fashion.  Even my friend Mau made the comment that "Hughes looks JV.  It looks like he doesn't belong."  Hopefully Hughes can find a rhythm in the Sockers system or this is going to be a long and frustrating season for the former MVP.

        The other thing that I don't understand, and maybe someone who reads this can fill me in, is why Riley Swift didn't get rotated into the line up for the game?  It could be an injury, I don't know, but that is what I will assume.  Toth is a great keeper, don't get me wrong.  There have been times in the past where I felt Toth should be playing and not Swift, but I was expecting Swift and Toth to switch off games during the season.  I know that there was no way of knowing that the game was going to go to a shootout, but I think Swift would have handled the shootout differently than Toth.  I am not saying that Phil should have switched goalies, or that Toth is a bad goalie, but I think Swift is the more aggressive goalie, sometimes to a fault.  In the shootout it seemed that Toth was off of the line fast, but then slowed up and waited for the shooter to make his move.  Toth was waiting for the shooter to act and then he was reacting.  I have a feeling, based on previous penalties kicks and other displays of aggressive keeping, that Swift would not have even let the opposing player get a second touch on the ball.  I think Swift would have committed, even before the whistle blew, and attacked the ball without hesitation.  Goalies are always looking to cut down the angle of a shooter, and Riley would have done that by throwing his body on the ball, and probably on the opposing players legs as well.  Who knows, this is all speculation.  All I know is that both Toth and Swift are both proven commodities in goal, and I am bummed we lost.

        Since I am still talking hypotheticals in my Speculatorium, I must say that when my cohorts and I were trying to guess who would be the three Sockers to take the penalty kicks, Reza was not on any of our lists.  I immediately thought Chiles, Medina, and Velez.  Others thought Susi, some thought Wunderle, a few even threw out Rovira and Ze.  Of the three shooters, Reza looked lost.  It looked like he didn't have a plan, but instead was trying to wing it and see what happened.  Susi, who took the last shot, was just a few inches from having what would have gone down as the craftiest indoor penalty goal that only a veteran like Susi could have pulled off in that type of situation.  My phone buzzed in my pocket at the critical moment, I pulled it out and I read the text. "Too High Susi!!!"    

         Where do the Sockers go from here?  On the road, up North, to Turlock, where the Sockers are going to have to adjust to the Turlock arena, and the Nor Cal style of play.  If the Sockers think that they can cruise to victory in the next two games they are dead wrong.  Turlock can beat the Sockers, especially if they keep up the struggling act of the past two games.  After that they play Ontario and Las Vegas on the road, and by the way Turlock, Ontario, and Las Vegas haven't lost a game yet this season.  Injuries are also in play, Farber was practically a no show last game with only a few minutes, and Chiles was obviously dealing with leg problems throughout the game.  For now I will hold my breath for the next two road games, two wins could be what the Sockers need to boost morale in the locker room and bring back some of that old "Sockers Magic", but the last two games of the road trip will really paint a picture of what the Pacific Division is all about.