Champions 20|13

Manchester United has secured their 13th premier league title last Monday, April 22nd, after defeating Aston Villa 3-0. Our number 20, Robin van Persie, scored a first half hat-trick that secured us our 20th top division title (yes, I know, this 20/20 thing has been played out but I just love it too much not to use it). Side note: It took me embarrassingly long to realize that the Twitter hashtag "#champions2013" means more than the year 2013.

The Aon Training Complex

It was recently announced that Manchester United and Aon have extended their relationship with an 8-year partnership deal. This deal includes, as written on manutd.com:

• New Carrington training ground named Aon Training Complex, a state-of-the-art facility focused on performance
• Training kit to carry the Aon name
• Aon to be Presenting Partner of Manchester United Tours
• Manchester United Business Network to work with Aon to enhance partnership themes of talent development, health, risk management, retirement and data & analytics through global programme

I don't know how I feel about this. I understand that this means a lot of money for the club, which is great and all, but I don't see how this benefits the fans. I know that United is a business, and the Glazers acquired it to make profit, but I just wish these huge deals would include a tiny reason for us fans to get behind it. I doubt that this would mean cheaper tickets or more money for transfers instead of just profit. And renaming Carrington? That wouldn't sit well with the fans. Although  from the wording, they might just mean that a new section of Carrington would be named the Aon Training Complex. Either way, I doubt any fan would start calling it anything but Carrington. In any case, I still stand by my position throughout this whole Glazer thing; as long as it doesn't negatively affect the team, I'm okay with it.

It was in the plans for years!

A couple weeks ago, Justin Timberlake was on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon for a whole week, dubbed "Justin Timberweek." During one of the shows, they performed this sketch:

And, earlier today, I came across this /r/LadyBoners post of the two of them, which pictures were taken from GQ's 2011 Men of the Year issue. Obviously, I had to go back and read the article again, and found this little info:

GQ: Let's talk about how you guys came up with "History of Rap," the most viral video in network late night history.

Jimmy Fallon: We were in your dressing room backstage on SNL.

Justin Timberlake: We were just shooting the shit, right?

Jimmy Fallon: You were coming on my show later that week, and I asked, "What do you want to do?" We both thought, well we could sing something. I wanted to do Toto's "Africa."We could sing that song really well together.

Justin Timberlake: We should still do it! We should do Toto's "Africa" but we should do it as characters.

Jimmy Fallon: I was thinking we'd do "Africa" as me and you at the age of thirteen. We'd be best friends and have a tape of us having a sleepover and singing "Africa." We can wear wigs and braces.

Justin Timberlake: We were sitting there, and I said, "Do you remember that guy who did the history of dance?" He did every song that had a dance or was named after a dance. It was a viral sensation. Then we just started kicking around medley ideas. Jimmy was like, "What if we did the whole history of all hip-hop and fit in as many songs as we can?"

Happy 20/20 Day!

Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience" (part 1?) comes out today! It's been ~6.5 years since "FutureSex/LoveSounds" and, just like that, I'm right back to being a JT fangirl. I actually went to a Target store and purchased a physical copy of the album, because it offers 2 exclusive tracks. That was quite a strange experience. It's been a couple years since last I bought a physical album, let alone actually going to a store for it!

Anyways, I absolutely love the whole album. Can't say much about the two exclusive songs since I've only listened to it twice. They don't flow the same way as the rest of the album; which is probably why they're not in the album. They're also the two songs not written/produced by Timbaland and they have a totally different feel to them. Not saying that the rest of the album are the same songs, because they totally aren't. They're 10 completely different songs, but they just flow from one to the next flawlessly. I think I'm gonna stop right here because I don't know enough about music to actually review the album. But, I absolutely love listening to every single song. Since iTunes made it available to stream, I listen to the whole album at least once a day.

That was fucking bullshit

That was just heartbreaking. I am not only speechless, it feels like my brain is barely functioning. I can't focus on anything other than Nani's red card, and what could have been. We were playing so well up until that point. We weren't getting much of the ball –– Real Madrid had more possession, I believe –– and yet we were controlling the game. It's similar to how Real Madrid beat Barcelona twice last week. I honestly don't have the words to describe my feelings...

Even Mourinho said it was a "bullshit call" and that the "best team lost" (which, reluctantly, I respect). I try my best to not blame referees for our losses –– I know they do a difficult job –– but I just don't have it in me today. It's an insult to the game and the players that all talks are about the referee's bad call instead of the amazing players who worked their hardest. Lopez had an amazing game to keep United out, especially when Real was leading and backing off, giving United more chances. Of course Ronaldo had to score the winning goal. I still haven't decided if the fact that it was him made it better or worse.

I just want to say that the players, every one of them, did a fantastic job to get to this point. A match up with Real Madrid will always be tough. I would definitely accept losing against them if it was in different circumstances. The game, in general, was great. Both teams were very careful in the beginning and not connecting to their passes, but it was back and forth for most of the first half, with United creating better chances and looking more dangerous in attack. The midfield and defense managed to subdue Ronaldo. We scored early on in the second half, and it felt like everything was going to plan –– including leaving out Rooney. And then the red card happened and I was just furious. And the goals came and I think I was disappointed. And then I found myself holding back tears while staring blankly at my screen. This fucking sucks.