My friend Chris, has suspicions that I'm a bit of a Freddy hater.  He's just confused, see I'm just not a fan of players who dribble too much and end up passing up a shot at goal (see Marco Etcheverry or Jaime Moreno). But against Real Salt Lake, he had a great solo effort goal against a hapless Real Salt Lake defense. You should check out the video of Freddy's goal or read a description.

United is starting to fire on all cylinders with the playoffs right around the corner. I think this week we also have the chance to end the Metrostar's playoff hopes. The team even has a chance to end up in first place in the Eastern Conference, if New England can manage to lose a game.

Have you heard people like Bill O'Reilly or government officials, or wondered yourself, how markets set prices? For things like, o say oil and gas. Read Prices as the Result of Human Action but Not of Human Design. While it'd be nice to be able to blame evil oil corporations for profiteering from high prices, the actual price is a result of complex interactions. It's a lesson worth heeding before we try to scapegoat people for "price gouging".

The price is the result of a wide, deep interaction of many buyers and many sellers, each bargaining in light of their own unique knowledge of time, place, and circumstance. (My apologies to Hayek's ghost for stealing his phrase.) The same is true of oil prices and gasoline prices.

Steven Goff is reporting that Brian Carroll has been called up for the world cup qualifier against Panama.  Caroll's had a strong season, leading United in minutes played.  That's not to say that he's been a stellar player every game. He had a stretch of games around the middle of the season where it seemed he couldn't pass forward or complete a pass to a team mate. But during the last strech of games, he's played very well and even saved a goal off the line in United's away game at Dallas. Caroll isn't the type of player who you notice readily during a game, and it's often late into the second half when I realize that he's been playing well. It's good to see a young player like him get some recognition for playing well, especially on a team where you have Christian Gomez, Jaime Moreno, and Freddy Adu in the spot light. I think Arena is also starting to look beyond 2006, since it's hard to argue that Carroll is ahead of more established defensive midfields (and no, I don't include Chris Armas in that list).If his play continues to develop, he should be in the national team pool after Germany.