yeh…”won’t be forgotten any time soon.”

In honor of the fun we have here…and a bitchin’ post from the I-man…that I almost missed.

Oleguer on his exit:
“I feel accommodated, donkeys, both carts worth, feeling for a stroll, like a vague acrobat
…ahem, donkeys, names I call you, ya’ll who will be inside my head like a million anonymous
pop guns, celebrating the justice of my exit from the uniform I mewed in like a somnambulist.
Thanks for death.”

(M’acomiado, doncs, amb una carta, sense fer soroll, tal com vaig arribar…
Així doncs, només em queda dir-vos que seré entre els milions de caps
anònims per celebrar junts els èxits de l’equip dels meus somnis. Gràcies per tot.)

I was really impressed that when each signing left, they had nothing but good things to say about the club. Especially when Deco said that he could never go to Madrid. Like you said, Isaiah, Oleguer’s goodbye letter was very touching. And Thuram will always be one of my all time favourites. He is just an all round brilliant man. Oh and don’t forget that Crosas isn’t totally lost. If he does well we can still buy him back. How would we all feel about that, by the way?

And for all of Ronnie’s problems, he is still King Ronnie to me. I don’t think any of us will forget that big, ugly-but-somehow-beautiful smile of his whenever he was on the pitch. Especially when he tore apart Madrid in 05/06.

News from pep’s blog is that if we don’t get another attacker, then Victor Vasquez might get promoted. I really love seeing our juniors do well. Especially the ones who aren’t stolen by the English (I’m looking at YOU, Fabregas).

And hooray for Bojan’s extension. We have a pretty solid future, I think.

But let me stick my neck out for Oleguer. He was not bad at all as center defender, specially during 2004-2005, when he played 36 games, 33 as a starter, because due to long injuries (Edmilson, Motta, Gabri IIRC) the roster had about 13 undamaged players left… and we won the Liga. And almost the same could be said during 2005-2006, when we won the second straight Liga and our second CL: He was a starter in Paris, have we forgotten that? When we finally had a REAL defensive midfielder like Yaya and a good left center like Milito (plus Thuram), he was relegated to the right, where he showed all his limitations.

As a little homage to him, let me quote his farewell words above but in his mother tongue, Catalan. It will not be difficult to undestand for anyone familiar with other latin languages:

«M’acomiado, doncs, amb una carta, sense fer soroll, tal com vaig arribar… Així doncs, només em queda dir-vos que seré entre els milions de caps anònims per celebrar junts els èxits de l’equip dels meus somnis. Gràcies per tot».

From you know where.

And it seems like this year is Barca’s year to undergo a transformation. New coach, new players, and a new chance to chance.

Also I love Messi. Just throwing that out there