More Pressure Piles On Mourinho

When you go back to the era of Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo, you would hurriedly declare it the best ever Real Madrid side.

But not for Madrid's director of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueno. The former Real Madrid and Spain striker recently declared the current Real Madrid side as the best ever.

As a Madrid sympathizer, this puts a smile on my face. But for Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, it only raises the bar.

Indirectly, the message being passed onto the 'Special One' is that he has to deliver silverware this season. To be more precise, he has to win the Spanish league title.

Butragueno reckons that the Portuguese coach, who has continuously been linked with a return to England, has assembled the most complete squad in the club's illustrious history.

With the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká, Mesut A-zil, Lker Casillas, Gonzalo HiguaLn, Karim Benzema, Agel di Maria and Xabi Alonso in his armory, Madrid can comfortably crush any side save for Barcelona (they have lost nine times in their last 10 meetings).

Currently on top of La Liga and in the last four of the Champions League, Madrid are in a good position to lift a double this season. The last time they achieved this feat was back in 1958.

One will take it at face value when they listen to the way the press have been describing Real Madrid's performance at Osasuna, which had the mark of the most powerful and hungry Manchester United or Barcelona teams that we have seen over the years.

Last week, the nine-time champions set up a Champions League semi-final clash with Bayern Munich after ejecting Apoel 8-2 on aggregate.

It was just the second time the team had reached the last four since 2003 and while many are already tipping Mourinho to win his third Champions League title, the former FC Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan boss knows he must first see off Bayern.

History though favors Madrid. In 2000, the Spanish side beat the Germans in the semi-finals on their way to lifting the title. They repeated the feat in 2002, this time ejecting Bayern in the quarter-finals.

With former club Chelsea also eliminating Benfica to set up a semi-final clash against defending champions Barcelona, it raises the possibility of a final against his ex-employers.

But Mourinho, who has implied a bias from officials towards Barcelona in the past, has downplayed the likelihood of a final date with the London club.

It has not been a walk in the park for Mourinho since his move from Inter Milan. Despite guiding the club to their first Copa del Rey trophy in 18 years with a 1-0 win over Barcelona last season, the Portuguese coach was roundly criticized for his defensive tactics. Madrid honorary president Aldfredo Di Stefano and Johan Cruyff publicly hit out at the Portuguese coach, with Cruyff saying Mourinho only worked for titles and wasn't a "football coach."

While the La Liga title remains Mourinho's main obsession, the thought of becoming the first coach to win the Champions League with three different clubs, remains rife in his mind.

Pressure piles on Stutes after miserable day

It is still too early to start hitting the panic button but this defeat at home to Hinckley moved Histon a significant step closer to the drop.

The loss, combined with victory for Vauxhall Motors, means the Stutes slipped into the bottom three and if they do not improve their defending in the remaining five fixtures, they may well stay there.

All three Hinckley goals were the result of slack defending as David Livermore’s men switched off at crucial times.

"In the first half it seemed every corner or set piece we had caused them problems," said Livermore.

"In the second half it was pretty much roles reversed. It’s not good enough really and it’s disappointing to concede in the way we did.

"From when I watched them (Hinckley) on Tuesday we felt the only way they could hurt us would be from set pieces.

"It’s disappointing because the points were crucial for both sides."

It looked like being a very different afternoon in the opening stages as Dan Holman headed Histon in front from Daniel Sparkes’ corner with just 14 minutes on the clock.

Having comfortably beaten Hinckley 3-0 in the reverse fixture, it looked as though Histon would again ease to a routine win.

They caused Hinckley all sorts of problems from set pieces in the first half and really should have got more than a single goal from a defence that was clearly lacking confidence.

But it all went wrong in the second half as two Craig Farrell goals in the space of four minutes turned the fixture on its head.

The first came in the 56th minute when Histon failed to clear their lines after Farrell had a header cleared off the line.

The danger was not cleared though and Danny Newton’s cross was flicked on by the Hinckley forward for the equaliser.

The home side had barely had time to contemplate their lost lead when Hinckley netted their second.

This time it was a long throw that caught them out, Callum Flanagan’s effort allowing Farrell the simplest of touches from close range to put the visitors ahead.

Lewis Taaffe equalised to give Histon hope of salvaging something from the game in the 74th minute, but the visitors looked most likely to get the winner and they grabbed it five minutes from time when Lloyd Kerry headed unmarked at the far post after Farrell had flicked on another Flanagan throw-in.

Histon had struggled to impose themselves in the second half and it was no different when they were chasing the game in the closing minutes with Zak Mills’ shot that whistled over the bar the closest they came to an equaliser.

Hinckley may not play the most fluent football but, in the second half especially, they competed well, elements that Histon will need to take on themselves if they are to ensure their survival in the Blue Square Bet North.

Winter Seems Eternal in Alaskan City

As the rest of the U.S. emerges from an unusually warm winter, this northern metropolis shattered its annual snowfall record Saturday and faces an epic mess as months-old snow piles melt to leave behind floods, potholes and broken roofs.

So much snow remains in Alaska's largest city that officials said it may take another month for it to be hauled away or melt off―and that some piles likely will remain until next winter. On March 28, Mayor Dan Sullivan warned residents to brace for a rash of potholes created as snowmelt freezes at night and thaws by day.

To help get water off streets, Mr. Sullivan said city crews have brought in extra pumps as well as steam boilers to thaw frozen drains. Already, the city has spent $12 million on snow removal this season, or $4 million more than for the same period a year ago.

"We haven't seen the tip of the problem yet," Dan Southard, superintendent of Anchorage's public works department, said last week outside a city dump that held snow piled 85 feet high and the length of five football fields. Anchorage's five other designated snow dumps are also stacked high, he said.

Even by harsh Alaska standards, this was a hard winter, as a storm track shifted north and stayed. The port city of Valdez was buried under 437.6 inches of snow, or 10 feet more than normal, according to the National Weather Service. The 134.5 inches of snow recorded so far this season at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport compares to a normal average of 71.6 inches. The 4.3 inches that fell Friday and Saturday broke the old record of 132.8 inches set in the winter of 1954-55, according to the weather service.

With snow possible in Anchorage through May, the city could well add to its record totals. But city officials point out the days are getting warmer and longer, so any new snow likely won't last long.

In the meantime, "breakup," or what locals refer to as the Alaskan Spring, is coming with bigger-than-usual headaches in this city of 292,000. More than a dozen rooftops have collapsed in the Anchorage area so far from accumulated snow, including one on March 2 at the Abbott Loop Community Church that is still being repaired.

At Harley's Auto Park, workmen on ladders last week were fixing a roof that owner Harley Barnes said is leaking after being damaged by snow. "Age of the building and Mother Nature, that's what did me in," said Mr. Barnes, who estimated the repair work on the 20-year-old building would run $15,000.

Other hazards are posed simply by getting from place to place on Anchorage's 1,400 miles of city-maintained streets.

At Johnson's Tire Service, manager Matt Witwer said his crews are getting on average 10 customers a day whose wheels have been destroyed or damaged by potholes. "People will be driving along and slam into a hole and, wham," Mr. Witwer said. "This happens every year and this year it will just happen a lot longer."

Falling ice also has been a hazard. On the Seward Highway just south of Anchorage, a motorist was critically injured Friday when chunks of thawing ice fell onto her pickup truck from cliffs above the two-lane thoroughfare.

When temperatures warm more, the melting will come in earnest, prompting many residents to get water pumps ready at their businesses and homes to prevent flooding. "The water typically comes fast," said Jacqui Gorlick, secretary-treasurer of Alaska Pump & Supply Inc., which she added has stocked up on the pumps in anticipation of more business.

Residents of Anchorage's Hillside district are particularly concerned because their homes hug the slopes of the Chugach Mountains, where snowfall is as much as double that of the rest of the city. Mike Porcaro, owner of an advertising business, said he is getting his pump ready to divert mountain runoff away from his four-bedroom house there. Already, he said, he has had to pay $4,000 to have a dozen dump truck loads of snow hauled off the 2.5-acre property.

"This is just a breather," Mr. Porcaro said at a home still flanked by snow.

Nearby, Rick Steiner said he is faced with having to shovel up to 10 feet of snow away from the sides of his three-bedroom home that he amassed from shoveling his roof all winter. "I am worried about flooding my home with all those piles there," said Mr. Steiner, 59, an environmental consultant who estimates he has shoveled 150 tons of snow off his roof and driveway since last fall.

Lost in the piles and files

I was frantically looking for a document the other day so I could finish my taxes. I began in the master bedroom, moved to the kitchen where papers are sometimes piled up, and then went on to the home office. After cleaning off two desks and the top of a filing cabinet, I began to clean out a box. I didn’t find the document but I did discover three unopened envelopes that contained offering checks to our church―dated July 2011. Oops.

I then moved to the church office down the highway and began the same process there. After taking a couple of hours to go through piles of stuff on my desk and a box of more stuff I kept in the shower (Yeah, I know), I opened a desk drawer. There I saw it. No, not the sought after document. Rather, I saw a file folder marked “Urgent.” Behind it was a file folder marked “Important.” The stuff in the “Urgent” file was dated 2005 and 2006. I guess it wasn’t that urgent after all. I couldn’t bear to look in the “Important” file. Who knows how long it had been in the drawer?

As embarrassing as this story is to tell, in the great scheme of life the misplaced and forgotten items were of little long-term significance. Everyone misplaces things, even important things. The tragedy is when we lose and misplace ourselves, intending―someday―to make things right.

As a pastor, I know scores of people who are “used-to-be’s.” That is, they are people who used to be committed, faithful Christians. They used to be dependable church members. Perhaps they used to be Sunday School teachers, board members, youth workers, or children’s workers. I know people who used to be ministers, pastors, priests, and even bishops. Some of these people used to be tithers and generous givers. They used to be examples that inspired people. They used to pray. They used to read the Scriptures. They were people upon who the Church could depend. But no more.

Some are pale shadows of who they used to be while others are not who they used to be at all. Somewhere, somehow, they lost themselves in the boxes, and piles, and files of life. They have become, for all practical purposes, of no value. The checks that sat in my cardboard box in the basement office did no one any good. They had potential but not as long as they remained lost. There are those who were once useful, vibrant, even powerful, but have sadly become “used-to-be’s.” You know who you are.

Easter is the highest, holiest day in the Church calendar. It is also the day that most commemorates and celebrates the return of hope to those who had become hopeless. It is a day of being “found.” It is a day where people who have lost themselves and have lost their way can return to God, to Church, and to usefulness.
Be found this Sunday. Hide from God and His purposes for your life no longer. Don’t stay lost in the piles of stuff that life heaps upon you. Go home to Church. If you don’t have one, find one. If you would like an invitation, come to my church―even if only for one Sunday. God will restore you and life will become good again―but you must want to be found. Your file really is marked “Urgent.” Don’t ignore it―please!

Ember From Cal Fire Pile Burn Sparked Lawler Fire Near Pine Cove in January

A Cal Fire project burn to reduce hazardous fuels in the San Jacinto Mountains in December helped ignite the wind-stoked, 15-acre Lawler Fire near Pine Cove in January, Cal Fire-Riverside County officials said Friday.

"CAL FIRE Investigators have determined the January 8, 2012 Lawler Fire was sparked by a deep seated ember from a department hazard reduction burn pile," a Cal Fire statement issued Friday afternoon said.

The hazard reduction project, conducted by Cal Fire, included burning piles of brush cuttings that had been cleared to provide defensible space around the community of Pine Cove, Cal Fire officials said.

"The hazard reduction pile burn had last been conducted by CAL FIRE three weeks earlier on December 19, 2011," their statement said.

The Lawler Fire was stoked by an unseasonable, dry, winter wind event in the project area known as Lawler Lodge, off Highway 243 and below Black Mountain, north of the community of Pine Cove, according to Cal Fire.

"A deep seated ember from the burn pile was fanned due to the 25 mph Santa Ana winds," the Cal Fire statement said. "The response to the Lawler Fire included 215 firefighters from CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire and the US Forest Service.

"Aggressive efforts by firefighters and the defensible space provided by the project's brush clearance aided firefighters in safely containing the fire to 15 acres during this significant winter wind event," the Cal Fire statement said.

The Lawler Fire was first reported about 3 a.m. Jan. 8 in the Dark Canyon drainage near Highway 243. More than 200 firefighters and other personnel were assigned at its height, and it was declared 100 percent contained on Jan. 10, Kate Kramer of the U.S. Forest Service said in January.

Two firefighters sustained minor injuries on the first day of the fire and they were both taken to a hospital for treatment, Kramer said.

Cal Fire and Forest Service crews perform hundreds of hours of brush clearance and fuel reduction projects every year. Forest Service crews from Banning, Mill Creek and Del Rosa north of San Bernardino conducted pile-burning just last week at a co-op tree plantation on the north end of the Banning Bench.

Cal Fire is now reviewing its statewide and local hazard reduction burning procedures, the agency's statement said.