Chelsea Soccer Game

I went to a soccer game yesterday! That's something I wouldn't normally do in this country, for lack of premier soccer games played here. Being a fan, I shall refer to it in its true name - football.

Chelsea, the English premier league football club was playing Mexico's Club America in a friendly game at the Stanford Stadium. It was an incredible experience to see players like Michael Ballack, Andriy Shevchenko, Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Claude Makelele, Frank Lampard and Scott Sinclair. I am not very familiar with the Mexico Club America squad, so I have no names to list, but I will say that they played extremely well. Chelsea won 2-1 at the end, but there were times I thought that they may not win the game.

Even though it was a friendly game (an exhibition game) there were 2 yellow cards handed out and a fight that broke out between some supporters. Attendance was estimated at around 45,000, an impressive number for a country that supposedly doesn't follow soccer.

There's something about being around soccer fans that's very - for lack of a better word - cool. It's a sport people are passionate about, and growing up in a family that never missed a world cup game, I am one of those people, well, I used to be. Having been in this country for 7 years, I have lost touch with the sport, but I always watch the world cup and the Euro Cup, and that keeps my love for the game going.


This obviously has nothing to do with marketing or innovation, but it was something that got me very excited, and well, its a big deal for me to see these players play! Just to throw something related to marketing in this post, I was surprised at the lack of marketing / advertising at the game. Perhaps it was because the game was held at the Stanford University Stadium and their advertising rules. I expected to see a lot more advertising for something that attracted 45,000 people to a single place in the Bay Area. How often does that happen, and why did Bay Area soccer teams and soccer shops not play a part in this event?

All in all, it was a good game, and an incredible feeling to be sitting about 200 feet away from some of the worlds best football players. Thanks for coming down to the Bay Area Chelsea!

The Laws of Simplicity

This book has been on my list of books to read since it was published. I've been a bit of a slacker, and finally finished reading it today! The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda is one of the best books I've read in a while.

I normally hate text books, or anything that preaches endlessly like a text book does. This book preaches, but it's very practical industry like preaching that actually makes sense and can be enforced. The focus of the book is, like the title suggests, simplicity, as it applies to design, technology, business and life.

I highly recommend this book to anyone in a product development role or an innovation based environment, or looking to enter it. I am just getting into a product development role, and I know the Laws of Simplicity will be a good guide. I wish I had this book as a text book in college, as it would have brought in a different and conflicting perspective to all those innovation and product development classes.