Come Friday afternoon, after giving a two hour morning lecture on applications of molecular imaging in radiation oncology to a class of seven moderately disinterested grad students (one asked me a question then basically fell asleep five seconds into my answer), i hurried home to meet Geoff and Naomi to hitch a ride down to LA. V had taken ill earlier in the week and had decided to forgo the weekend's activities, so the three of us hopped in the Scion and headed down the 101/152/5. They dropped me off at Matthew and Dionne's around 10pm, after we'd had a pleasant ride chit-chatting, getting drive-through Starbucks, and eating at Red Robin. Matthew, Dionne, and i caught up for a few hours before we headed to bed. Despite Matthew's reassurances their his lick-happy dog Cinnamon would only lie on me on the couch for a few minutes before finding another sleeping spot, she ended up there for a good hour before moving on. I must inspire that action in dogs, as Tara is always looking to sleep with us.

We arose at 7:30am Saturday morning to try out paintballing. Matthew, Mark, and Martin had organized the event, which had attracted ten participants. Somehow, the teams ended up falling along the lines of sexuality: gays versus straights. The breeders were comprised of myself, Matthew, Kevin, Danny, and Sean, while the gay team included Kevin, Carlos, Mark, and Martin. Because of the differential, Dionne's cousin Cisco agreed to balance the sides. I didn't feel completely qualified to represent my sexuality, but went with it anyway. I had fears the day would end with a hate crime being committed. We got to the Simi Valley paintball place around 9am, and went through the half hour briefing on paintballing basics and safety. Because of Matthew's warnings, i had on three t-shirts (two long sleeve), a windbreaker, gloves with the fingertips cut off, and a knit cap. Geoff had instilled in me some of his wealth of pro paintballing experience on the drive the previous day, including rapid fire tricks (apparently the middle finger is the one to use on the trigger) and strategy. I was expecting a large wooded arena, but it turned out this place featured four or five smaller outdoor arenas with obstacles like metal barricades and large inflated balloons for cover.

We started out on the main arena playing elimination ("speedball" or "hyperball" as it's known). Freaked out as i was about the potential pain of a hit, i took cover behind a barricade and peaked over to find possible targets. In the first match, i was taken out by a shot to the head. As bad as it sounds, it's actually the best place to be hit as the protective mask absorbs the blow and you don't feel anything except the sudden shock of paint being all over your visor. In the second match, i got a bit more adventurous and tried to flank our opponents around the right. I took out Carlos, followed by Kevin who was manning their main base. I thought Kevin was the last one, so i started talking to him to see if he was okay. I asked him if that was it, completely innocent, to which he replied no, Mark's over there. He pointed, and i see Mark crouched down ten yards away looking the other direction. So i nonchalantly blasted him and ended the game. Ha ha. We tried capture the flag in a larger arena, but as none of us were of the mind to make a run to grab our enemies' flag, it ended up being another elimination round. I didn't actually take a body paintball hit until the fourth match, when one struck me in my ringfinger knuckle and another in my leg. The pain wasn't so bad, easy to get over and leaving only minimal bruises later. We ended up playing for about 3 hours, before we called it a day and went to a nearby Costco for some snack bar grub. A good time all-in-all, certainly something to try again in the future, although i don't think any of us bore Geoff's former paintballing killer instincts.

The SMFA Day's activities then turned to soccer when Matthew and i returned home to watch the day's earlier Chelsea/Middlefield battle. I had predicted a 2-nil Blues win on the way home from paintball, while Matthew foresaw a 2-1 Boro victory. Sean made it even with a 2-2 draw prediction. The first half was an entertaining show of attack on both sides, with former Chelsea man Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink being denied the opener only by the post. Chelsea had several opportunities on set pieces as well as on penetrating Arjen Robben runs down the left, but were emptyhanded at the half. The second half wasn't as engaging as the first, but Chelsea managed to take the lead in the 61st minute when John Terry, a monster on set pieces, headed down a corner that rebounded off a Boro defender just over the line. After that the action slowed, as Chelsea gradually closed down their attack and were content to soak up what pressure Boro could muster. A much better time for me than last year's humiliating 1-nil defeat to Manchester City, narrated to my distress by Gary and Matthew.

While waiting for the arrival of final SMFA contestant Gary, we had some excellent tacos for dinner and then watched a DVD of Fahrenheit 9/11, which i'd managed to miss. A great movie, exposing some very disturbing facts about Bush's ties to Saudi Arabia and the bin Laden family, as well as highlighting some ridiculous aspects of the Patriot Act and the harrowing experiences of families with members fighting Bush's pointless war in Iraq. Michael Moore of course has his bias, and the film can hardly claim to be objective, but he does a good job of backing his agenda with facts that Bush and company have tried hard to obscure.

With Gary present at 9:45pm and Dionne and Michelle escaping to a late-night showing of Rent, the SMFA Cup began. Matthew had retrieved a "ceremonial screwdriver", which he declared he would have no need for since he wasn't going to have to relinquish his "SMFA Champ" license plate holders. At 1:45am the regular season ended, with everyone suffering from a bit of exhaustion.

		OVERALL							HOME						AWAY
		P	W	L	D	F	A		W	L	D	F	A		W	L	D	F	A		Pts		GD
Chelsea		6	4	0	2	19	6		2	0	1	10	2		2	0	1	9	4		14		13
Manchester United		6	3	1	2	13	4		2	0	1	9	3		1	1	1	4	1		11		9
Middlesbrough		6	3	3	0	14	7		2	1	0	9	4		1	2	0	5	3		9		7
Manchester City		6	0	6	0	2	31		0	3	0	0	11		0	3	0	2	20		0		-29

Gary had struggled to adapt to the new Winning Eleven format of the SMFA, netting two goals while conceding 31. In the second half of the season, he leaned on the slide tackle button heavily, resulting in his team leading the red card table. Hernan Crespo of Chelsea led the scoring table on 9 goals, followed by Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Scoring table   Player (Team)   H A   T 1 Crespo (Chelsea)   5 4   9 2 Van Nistelrooy (Manchester United)   5 2   7 3 Lampard (Chelsea)   3 2   5 4 Hasselbaink (Middlesbrough)   2 2   4 5 Maccarone (Middlesbrough)   3 0   3 Rooney (Manchester United)   2 1   3 Viduka (Middlesbrough)   1 2   3 Essien (Chelsea)   1 2   3 9 Mendieta (Middlesbrough)   1 1   2 Ronaldo (Manchester United)   1 1   2 Cole (Manchester City)   0 2   2 12 Wright-Phillips (Chelsea)   1 0   1 Downing (Middlesbrough)   1 0   1 Doriva (Middlesbrough)   1 0   1 Smith (Manchester United)   1 0   1 Robben (Chelsea)   0 1   1

Red card table   Player (Team)   H A   T 1 Distin (Manchester City)   1 1   2 2 Viduka (Middlesbrough)   1 0   1 Quedrue (Middlesbrough)   1 0   1 Barton (Manchester City)   1 0   1 Reyna (Manchester City)   1 0   1 De Vlieger (Manchester City)   0 1   1 Bosvelt (Manchester City)   0 1   1 Mills (Manchester City)   0 1   1 Dunne (Manchester City)   0 1   1

With the late night stage set for the final tournament, we began the knockout stages. I defeated Gary in the first semifinal, which was actually Gary's best match of the tourney. However the second semifinal was the real attraction, in which Sean surged to a 3-1 lead over reigning champ Matthew, with Boro losing defender Gareth Southgate to a red card. However with only a half hour left in the match, Matthew mounted a furious comeback on the strength of a Hasselbaink hat trick to win 4-3. The final was therefore a rematch of last year, with Chelsea hosting Boro. As had happened in our two regular season meetings, Matthew took the early lead, this time on another strike by Jimmy Floyd. And as had also happened twice before, Chelsea stormed back, here taking a 3-1 lead on goals by Damien Duff, Crespo, and Arjen Robben. With twenty minutes left Sean warned me not to lose focus, but Matthew managed to pull one back through Malcolm Christie. However, my defense held the rest of the way and i reclaimed the coveted SMFA title. Matthew was forced to shamefully remove the license plate holders in the 2am cold. We held the second annual "NorCal versus SoCal" two-on-two match thereafter, with both teams using the US national side, and Gary and i getting housed. No matter ... no one remembers the outcome of the NFL pro bowl either.

Chelsea (1)	2						3	Manchester United (2)
Robben Duff		Chelsea (1)	3		2	Middlesbrough (3)	Scholes Rooney Van Nistelrooy
Manchester City (4)	0	Duff Crespo Robben			Hasselbaink Christie		4	Middlesbrough (3)
Red cards: Mills, Bosvelt							Mendieta Hasselbaink (3) Red card: Southgate

Sunday morning Gary and i awoke and put on some NFL to see how our weekly picks were turning out, while Matthew and Dionne made a lovely Sunday breakfast for everyone. We watched the last half hour of Fahrenheit 9/11, then Matthew and i had a few last games of WE that we split. Naomi and Geoff arrived around 4pm to begin the long drive north, on which we again hit the Harris Ranch Red Robin as well as the drive-through Starbucks just north of the Grapevine. They were kind enough to drop me off in Redwood City, allowing me to return to them their Guitar Hero setup. Veronica and Tara welcomed me home, and we fell asleep watching the tivoed Saturday Night Live from the previous evening. I can't seem to find my camera USB cable this morning, so pics of the weekend are on hold for now. Look for them soon.

*contented sigh*