Barcelona

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Toro

If you are looking for some of the best and most authentic Spanish food in Boston, stop by a place called Toro.  They serve up their menu tapas-style, so you can order plenty of different things and try a bit of everything they have to offer.  And along with this Barcelona-inspired food the restaurant has a great wine list featuring only Spanish wines, so you can drink and continue into the night if the conversation is good.  For a brilliant Spanish-themed date experience, have a look at Toro.  Has anyone eaten at Toro before?  W

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El Bosc de les Fades

Some places are just so unique that one should not miss the opportunity to see them if it arises.  One of these places happens to be in one of the greatest tourist spots in Spain, the city of Barcelona.  It’s called El Bosc de les Fades (the forest of the fairies), and though it’s not a full restaurant, it is a nice little café and bar (that serves some food) with a truly amazing atmosphere.

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Easter week surprises in Barcelona and Venice

Wandering Barcelona’s Barrio Gotico is always a pleasure. The narrow streets and colorful facades, the late night tapas bars and people-watching on Las Ramblas - all make for memorable hours. On one trip my partner and I hadn’t expected to participate in ancient religious rituals, but locals led us to some of the most memorable encounters ever.

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Santi Cazorla a better player than Cesc Fabregas?

Cesc Fabregas is my favorite player of all time, by a long way.  And having watched Santi Cazorla land in the English Premier League as instantly its best player,* watching Fab struggle for playing time in the Spanish League, I wonder if Barcelona knows something we don't.  Is Cesc overrated?

Nobody in the world has Fabregas' eye for a through ball.  At Arsenal he was an assist machine and had 15 goals his last healthy season there.  But he's also got negatives that have been glossed over, especially by me.  He doesn't help much when the other side has the ball, his offensive energy other than passing is somewhat limited, and there was a tendency for his Arsenal teammates to sort of wait for Cesc to create a key pass.  He is certainly not a physical player by any stretch of the imagination, and Arsenal has not been exactly celebrated for its ability to slog it out with physical teams in the cold months.  Has the sheer beauty of his play hypnotized fans into not realizing that --- Cesc fails to make the other 10 players as good as Santi Cazorla makes them?

On the other hand, Cazorla has 80%, 90% of Fabregas' touch for a key pass - one leading to a dangerous shooting opportunity - and Cazorla does simply everything else better.  For example, you can compare their 2011-12 La Liga defensive stats here:  Cazorla had 50% more tackles than Fab, and 3 times as many interceptions.  Cazorla is the current Spanish mid prototype:  technically flawless, creative on the ball ... and totally unselfish without it.  

I'll take Cazorla on defense, I'll take his crosses and long balls, I'll take him for beating a defender off the dribble, and I'll take his set pieces.  The only place Cesc has him is on the through ball.  And Santi Cazorla can weight a through ball, too. 

.............

Everybody has noticed that Arsenal no longer allows 1-3 goals a game.  :- )  We wonder if everybody has noticed that (1) their shots allowed total is hilariously low while(2) their fouls committed total is also very low.  They're picking the ball off the enemy as clean as a whistle.  Thank you, Abou Diaby.  Defense the way it was meant to be.  They don't run around the field mauling people:  they hustle to the right positions and then win 50-50's.  Arsenal has always been a joy to root; now they're a different kind of joy.  It's a Swiss watch rather than a jet ski.

Super Bowl XL and the Grand Script

..........

Two things always confused me about the Super Bowl XLrefereeing:   (1) Why did the league believe they could be so daringly obvious with their script manipulation?  

It's one thing to take a tight game, and make one or two controversial calls that swing the game.  It's another thing to take a 21-point win, and turn it into a 10-point loss, with a series of eight or 10 howlingly obvious referee'ing mistakes.

Any soccer mom - of which a billion were watching - could see not only the bad calls of Super Bowl XL, but also the gameflow.  Seahawks charge, take back control of the game - bang.  40-yard penalty again, Steelers dodge a bullet.  Anybody could have seen the flow of the script, and everybody did.

This question was answered for me in -- well, after -- the 2011 UEFA championship.  Mighty Barcelona has, according to Cesc Fabregas, the greatest soccer team in history.  Arsenal, improbably, won the first leg of a home-and-home series by a 2-1 score.  But in the return match in Spain, the referee threw Arsenal's superstar off the field in the first 10 minutes of the game.  Van Persie, in a very loud stadium, didn't hear an offside call and continued on to kick the ball at the goal a second or two later.  The ref jumped on his opportunity, red-carded Van Persie, and the match was over.  Barcelona was through.

It wasn't this howler that helped me understand why the fixes are so blatant.  It was the reaction of soccer fans after.  Fans, even Arsenal fans, defended to the death the idea that the ref's decision was within reason.  95% of Arsenal reaction, from the cheap seats, was that it was a shame that the referee did not show ... better judgment.

Mariners 2, Boston 0 - Dr's Luck Diagnosis

Q.  How lucky did I get, Dr?

A.  First time we looked at the X-rays ... an inning here and there when out with friends ... I thought you dodged a 90% mortality bullet there, Mr. Shlabotnik.

Once we had a chance to get back to our office, flip through our Desk Reference and make a few calls, we realized:  you won a game you had about a 30% chance of winning.

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