Soccer Nightmares, Soccer Dreams
I did this solo show at what is now the Rockwell Theater in Somerville in April 2007, spoken word in front of video
Nelson Mandela at the African Nations Cup final
Johannesburg 1996.
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The first time a South African team had ever played in the light of day.
Here's a story and a video
Hand of God
Argentina vs. England 1986
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The most famous goal in World Cup history.
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Maradona cheats by punching the ball,
but the ref looks away.
Hand of God- the English version
Here's how the English saw it:
profane, immoral, flagrant
Hand of God- the Argentine version
Here's how Argentina saw it:
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transcendent, divinely willed,
revenge for the Falklands
Jah Equalize
Jamaica v. Croatia 1998
On our honeymoon France 1998, we had tickets to the World Cup group stage Jamaica v. Croatia. Croatia was one of the best teams in Europe, Jamaica was supposed to be their sacrificial victim.
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Croat fans fresh from the Balkan War chanted
heavy metal under flares and gunpowder clouds,
The Jamaican fans from London sang Bob Marley
under a very different kind of cloud.
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And then just before halftime, Robbie Earle got his head to a cross in the penalty area, and we were delirious, a moment untouched by Time.
I Love You Tiffeny Milbrett
My favorite player for the US Women's team.
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She reminds me of my wife Donene: short, feisty, smart, quick, takes no shit from bullies.
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Her goal against Germany 1999 was astonishing.
The German back line was frozen
while she thought two seconds ahead
and flew past them into the future.
She had come unstuck in time.
Your Boys Took One Hell of a Beating
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Norway v. England
September 1981
This is a four-video sequence about what happened to England in the 1980s.
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England's fall from grace, and how the rest of the world exulted in it.
The Enemy Within
Thatcherism and the hooligan menace
fed on each other.
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The Heysel riot,
the Hillsborough disaster,
the death of English football
enforced by tear gas
and Tory truncheons.
No Future
The despair in the stands
had an effect on the pitch.
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England crashed out of the 1988 European championship, losing to Ireland.
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English stars Gary Lineker,
Peter Beardsley, Chris Waddle
were paralyzed, helpless
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No hope without joy.
The Goal that Ended Thatcherism
England v Germany 1990
July 4, 1990
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At an Irish bar in San Francisco
for the Germany-England World Cup semi-final.
I had to keep quiet about my sympathies,
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At the end of regulation
Gary Lineker guided a long ball off his thigh
past the German defender
and drilled an inch-perfect shot
inside the far post.
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The Irish and German fans in the pub spat abuse at Paul Parker,
the small Black English wingback
who put the cross in.
But the English erupted in a long-denied joy.
Two weeks later, Margaret Thatcher resigned.
The Greatest Goal in Human History
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Michael Anderson
Pumas FC vs. Atletico Marin
August 30, 1991
Catcher in the Rye
I played goalkeeper from high school until age 50.
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I was MVP in the Little Rock Sunday league in 1988,
and Best Defender in the North Bay Latin League 1993
Mea Culpa
(music by David Byrne and Brian Eno)
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Saving and failing to save
in the North Bay Latin League
1991-93
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Arsenal Fan TV
I send in video commentary
dropping Shakespeare quotes
to the indy fan channel Arsenal Fan TV
after matches.
Live chat responses from the Arsenal fan base:
"who is this old American twat quoting Bible verses?" "Dafuq is this guy saying?!"
"Loool I love this guy. Man did a monologue".
Arsenal 3 Man Utd 1
April 23, 2022
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I sent in a video from the Chorus in Henry V
after Granit Xhaka's thunderous goal.
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Arsenal Fan TV mashed it up with London rapper Roadman doing an equally inspired smackdown.
I can die happy now.
Brentford 0 Arsenal 3
September 18, 2022
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Bastard, King John II.2
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Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery,
As we will ours, against these saucy walls;
And when that we have dash'd them to the ground,
Why then defy each other and pell-mell
Make work upon ourselves, for heaven or for hell.
Arsenal 2 Aston Villa 1
August 31, 2022
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Adam, As You Like It II.3
Why are you virtuous? Why do people love you?
And wherefore are you gentle, strong, and valiant?
Why would you be so fond to overcome
The bonny prizer?
Man Utd 3 Arsenal 1
Sept. 4, 2022
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Salisbury, King John, V.2
But such is the infection of the time,
That, for the health and physic of our right,
We cannot deal but with the very hand
Of stern injustice and confused wrong.
Arsenal 2 Fulham 1
August 27, 2022
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Helena, All's Well That Ends Well I.1
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Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,
Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky
Gives us free scope, only doth backward pull
Our slow designs when we ourselves are dull.
What power is it which mounts my love so high,
That makes me see, and cannot feed mine eye?
January 15, 2023
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Arsenal 2
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Richard III's address to his troops
Act 5, scene 3
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If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us,
And not these base lackey peasants, whom our fathers
Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd,
And in record, left them the heirs of shame.
January 9, 2023
Oxford United 0 Arsenal 3
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Richard III, 5.3
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Go, gentlemen, every man unto his charge
Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls:
Let us to't pell-mell
If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.
January 3, 2023
Arsenal 0 Newcastle United 0
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Gentleman, King Lear, 3.1
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That things might change or cease;
Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage,
Catch in their fury and make nothing of;
December 31, 2022
Brighton Hove & Albion 0 Arsenal 3
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Queen, Richard II, 5.1
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Why should hard-favour'd grief be lodged in thee,
When triumph is become an alehouse guest?
December 31, 2022
Arsenal 3 West Ham United 1
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Northumberland, Henry IV, pt. 2, 1.1
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In poison there is physic; and these news,
Being sick, have in some measure made me well;
And as the wretch whose fever-weak'ned joints,
Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire
Out of his keeper's arms,
Let heaven kiss earth! Let order die!
And let this world no longer be a stage
Which princes, flesh'd with conquest, aim to hit.
October 1, 2022
Arsenal 3 Tottenham 1
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Richard III, 5.3
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Remember whom you are to cope withal;
A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways,
A scum of base lackey peasants,
Who, but for dreaming on this fond exploit,
Had hang'd themselves, poor rats:
John Bercow,
Speaker of the UK House of Commons
on Arsenal Fan TV
Arsenal fan John Bercow
taunting Tottenham and Man Utd
in the House of Commons
Evidence that Elizabeth II
is an Arsenal supporter
Jackson at
Arsenal v Crystal Palace 2014