Playoff Time!

Hello there everybody, it is time for the NFL playoffs.
I wanted to start a friendly competition for bragging rights, and want to start creating brackets for all of the major sports competitions. Feel free to participate in the ones that you wish to, as I am sure there will be a sport or competion that fits you.
This will be the first competion of the year, and I will keep a tally throughout the year to crown the ultimate sports champion.

For the NFL playoffs (and all other playoff competitions) I will award one point for the first round, two points for the second round, etc.
Here are the matchups:

NFC
5)Falcons @ 4)Cardinals
6)Eagles @ 3)Vikings

Lower seed @ 1)Giants
Higher seed @ 2)Panthers

AFC
5)Colts @ 4)Chargers
6)Ravens @3)Dolphins

Lowers seed @1)Titans
Higher seed @ 2)Steelers

Fill out your complete brackets and let us complete in the first competion of the season.

Some Pictures

Well, not a lot is going on with us right now, other than enjoying our new little member of our family.  Here are some pictures of the little guy

Thanksgiving and Bath Day

Kaden had a great first Thanksgiving.  He got to go to his Grandma and Grandpa Murnin's house, where he was with his great grandma, granparents, aunts and cousins.  His dad, Jordan, was able to spend the holiday with him, as he brought a resident from his group home to spend Thanksgiving with them.  Following the feast, Kaden got to take his first bath, which he was not to happy about.

New Blog

I just wanted to let everybody know that I have created a new blog page.  It is dedicated entirely to Real Salt Lake and Soccer, which means that those posts wont find themselves on this page. (You are welcome Jessica)  

I just want to let everybody know about this page.  It is viewfromthenorthgoal.blogspot.com

Check it out.

On Monday, November 17th at 7:02 pm, Aubrey gave birth to our beautiful little boy Kaden Jay Rasmussen.  It has been a very fun, exhausting, and hectic week, as we are learning how to live with a baby in our lives, but we wouldn't change it for the world.  One thing we do know is that he takes after his mom, in that he is a cuddler.  

RSL IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS!!!!!!!

It was a great day for the fans of Real Salt Lake, as we went to California to play Chivas USA needed only a draw to advance to the finals.  Well, the boys went and got it done, earning a 2-2 draw to earn their first bid to the conference finals.   

Now the game on Sunday is a big one for RSL.  Not only will we see who we are playing, but if New York pulls the upset and advances, the Western Conference Finals will be here at RioTinto stadium.  Go NYRB

Rugby at RioTinto

On Saturday my friend Tim and I went to see a couple of Rugby matches.  The first match was between a USA select XV team and a team from New Zealand.  The second match was between the USA National Team and the Uruguay National Team.  Having never been to a rugby game before, we were a little confused at first, but we got the hang of it towards the end.

On saturday, Nov. 1, history was made as RSL played in their first ever playoff match against Chivas USA.  It was everything that I have waited for these last 4 years, and it didn't disappoint. The atmosphere at the game was amazing, and once again, Yura Mosvisyan pulled it off in the 90th minute, scoring off his back heel to give Real the 1-0 lead heading into the Home Depot Center.  You can catch the goal at www.mlsnet.com  Here are some pictures of the historic event.

Here is our owner Dave Checketts giving a tour to the MLS commissioner and some other important people

Here is our team captain Kyle Beckerman receiving the Rocky Mountain Cup for the second year in a row.  The Rocky Mountain Cup goes to the season winner between Real and Colorado, who are our rivals.

Here is my banner celebrating the first RSL playoff game.

Here they are getting the field ready for the game.  Poor Aubrey, this is how early we always are when Real is playing.

Playoff time!

Here we are celebrating!!!

Real in the playoffs

Well, the Real season is not over yet, but this has been a regular season to remember.  We had the opening of a new stadium, and we made it into the playoffs for the first time.  When our season is over (hopefully after lifting the MLS Cup over our heads) I will look back at this historic season.  For now, just enjoy this video highlighting some of Real's best moments from the regular season.

2008 RSL Highlight Video from Real Salt Lake on Vimeo.

Hey guys, I have to post this up for this week, so that everybody can get in the playoff spirit.  And if anybody wants tickets to the game, and can see if i can get discounts as a season ticket holder.  Let me know.

We had our fist snowfall the other day, and the snow actually stayed on the ground for a while.

Getting Ready for the Baby

After many complaints by my sister that my blog seems like a RSL blog than a blog of our family, Aubrey and I took some pictures of the baby's room and a picture of Aubrey so you can see how he is growing.  We are pretty excited for him to join our family.

Here are some cool pictures that I found on the FC Dallas blog that they took of Rio Tinto Stadium.  It is an unbelievable stadium, especially at night.

RSL IS IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!!!!

Last night was one of the greatest nights being a fan of our local club Real Salt Lake.  We went into Colorado on a game that we needed to win or tie to make it into the MLS playoffs for the first time in our history.  After giving up an early goal in the 19th minute, Real continued to battle (although they did not look that great) and just when the playoffs seemed like they were going to pass us by once again, we found our hero in Yura Mosvisyian.  A 90th minute goal gave us the tie and our very first playoff birth.  It was amazing.

This was great because for the second straight year we have won the Rocky Mountain Cup (between us and Colorado, our main rivals) and we prevented Colorado from going to the playoffs for the second straight year.  

So to let you all know, the first round of the playoff series is between Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA.  The first leg will be at Rio Tinto Stadium, kickoff at 4:00 PM and will be televised on Fox Soccer Channel. Hope to see a lot of you there.

New Video

Check out my video below on Kyle Beckerman.  He is the captain for our club, Real Salt Lake.  They showed this in the pregame of the opening of our new stadium.

The Grand Opening of Rio Tinto Stadium

In one of the greatest nights of my life, Real Salt Lake opened up its brand new stadium, Rio Tinto Stadium, to a sellout crowd of 20,008 people.  The atmosphere was amazing, the rally towels were being waved, and everybody was chanting.  If we can get this same atmosphere for each game, Rio Tinto stadium will be a great place for our home team.  Unfortunately, we ended the game with a draw, 1-1 vs. the New York Red Bulls.  With two games remaining, and a very tight playoff race, this will be a great end to a great season.  Playoffs, here we come.

This is the view from our seats, and this is where our season tickets will be next year.

It is great to see the whole stadium filled up.

Everybody is waving their towels after we scored our goal.

We had fireworks before the game during the National Anthem and a helicopter fly over the stadium.

My Birthday Bash

So on Saturday Aubrey had a birthday party for me, which was on the 29th.  We had a couple of friends together, and the guys just played rock band (our favorite) and the girls had a nice visit.  I will work on getting some videos on here so I can show off my birthday present that aubrey have me.