Trippy- I was in Safeway tonight around 9 p.m. grabbing some ice cream and dental floss, and some dude came on the PA and announced "ladies and gentlemen, I want to announce that Barry Bonds has just hit home run 756 and is now the all time home run king. That is all. Thank you". For the rest of my life, whenever this accomplishment is mentioned, I'll think back and remember where I was when it happened- reaching for a box of dental floss while slyly checking out the cute girl with the hot ass at the end of the health & beauty isle in the Marina Safeway. Kind of surreal/trippy, and probably the first time in my life that I heard something other than "clean up on isle 9", "price check on register 3", or bad, bad music over the intercom system in a grocery store.
Anyhow, that's not my point. My point is this: all the hand wringing, controversy, lining up on one side or the other re: Bonds, all of it- can we just stop now?
Why, you ask?
Because it doesn't really matter that much, as this record won't be around for long- A-Rod is going to smash the shit out of this record. He just turned 30 32 and is at 500 HRs. At this pace he'll hit 770 in 6 short years at age 36 38, and even allowing for a dropoff in numbers as he ages, the only thing that will prevent A-Rod from hitting 800 home runs is injury, death, or pulling a Bjorn Borg and simply walking away: while the first one is a possibility, the last two are extremely unlikely.
So everyone calm down, take a deep breath, and relax: this record is not going to last for very long in the grand scheme of baseball history. And when A-Rod does become the all time home run king, then one of baseball's most cherished records will reside with the man who perfectly represents the modern professional athlete: extremely talented, massively compensated, very PR savvy, a dude who excels on the field while meticulously crafting a fake likeable persona as the well spoken all around respectable good guy, but when push comes to shove is exposed as a phony, a money grubbing mercenary, not a great teammate, and most importantly a cheater, both on the field {I cannot believe that there is not a YouTube clip of him knocking the ball out of the Red Sox pitcher's glove in the 2004 ALCS}, and on his trophy wife with a stripper no less. And at the end of the day that is probably a better place for the HR record, as again, it perfectly encapsulates the modern American professional athlete stereotype. Certainly moreso than Bonds, a player who is being villified for not breaking any baseball rule {read: the rage and hate should be aimed not at Bonds but at baseball and Selig for being so incredibly stupid for allowing & implictly and knowingly encouraging steroid use to create more home runs after the strike to bring fans back to the game, and people should also remember that it's just as likely that tons of pitchers juiced like mofos as well}.
So fear not haters, Bonds will be rendered somewhat irrelevant soon enough. He still is if we remember that Josh Gibson by all accounts hit between 850-1000 home runs against better competition than MLB had during the period that he played.
Another thing- what the hell is ESPN's Pedro Gomez supposed to do now? Will he even have a job next week?
Here are the 10 best Georgia games that I have attended in person {as you can read in the comments, there was only 1 Georgia-Florida game between 1992 and 2000 that I was not able to attend: care to guess which one that was?}. Watching on TV doesn't count. Dawg or not, what was your best game?
1. 2002 Auburn 21-24 Georgia Damn it was cold that night - mid 30s. Went to the game with my sister (who sits with me at UGA-AU games rather than her Auburn alum husband), my girlfriend at the time, and Jim Beam. Jim kept us warm and fuzzy throughout the game, which was huge as we were a bit underdressed. 4th and 17 and I turned to my sister and yelled "we are scoring on this fucking play and winning this fucking game!", and damned if we didn't do just that.
Suddenly I wasn't so cold anymore. The rest of the night was a blur, literally. Hello SEC title game for the 1st time ever.
T Kyle King, a gentleman, often says "I hate Auburn." I'm no gentleman: I fucking hate Auburn.
2. 1996 Auburn 49-56 (4OT) Georgia My sister made the trip down with me and we sat in the UGA endzone. We were way down early, when right in front of us Robert Baker catches a TD for Auburn to put them up 28-7, and UGA V immediately jumps up and tries to bite his nuts off. Amazing, and our UGA section in the endzone goes totally bezerk. Clearly inspired by UGA V the Dawgs fight back. Robert Edwards is damn near unstoppable, yet we are still down 7 at the end. Our last drive ends with a 40 yard pseudo hail mary from Mike Bobo to Corey Allen that he catches near the goalline and gets into the end zone as the clock expires to force OT. Amazing. We win 56-49 in 4 overtimes, and Edwards finished with 891 yards and 17 touchdowns on the day. This is the game that made the NCAA change the overtime rule to what it is today: teams must go for 2 starting in the 3rd OT.
I was there, about 15 rows up in the back of the endzone. It fucking ruled.
3. 2005 SEC Championship Game: Georgia 34-14 LSU We completely rolled the #3 team in the nation to win our 2nd SEC title in 4 years, so you wouldn't think this would be very high, but it was for 2 reasons. 1st, all last season I said that if UGA made it to Atlanta that I would fly in for the game, so to fly 5,000 miles round trip for the 1 UGA game that I would get to attend all season, and have them preform dam near perfectly and play their best game of the year by far was wonderful - much better than if I had made the same trip for say the Auburn game that year- what a long and horrible flight home that would have been. Secondly, the game was cathartic for me in a way because due to personal circumstances I was not able to attend the SEC title game in 2002 or 2003, so it was great to finally get to experience seeing my team compete for and win the SEC title, and I got to do it with a bunch of good old friends who I hadn't seen in a while. Tap busted out the Cuban cigars and champagne at the post game tailgate, which resulted in the picture you see in the upper corner of this blog. As happy a gameday experience as you can have without making out or hooking up with a hot girl.
Saturday December 3, 2005. Georgia Dome Parking Lot, 11.00 p.m. Cold as shit, but very happy.
4. 2000 Georgia 21-10 Tennessee Georgia had lost 9 in a row to Tennessee, and since enrolling at UGA in 1992 I had personally witnessed every one of the defeats between 92-98, so for me and those like me, this was huge to finally beat the hated Vols. How huge? Huge enough that the crowd stormed the field after the game, pretty much destroyed the hedges and tore down the goalposts, which in hindsight is pretty embarrassing for any 'big time' football school to do after winning a game in which they were a 1.5 point favorite. We followed this up with the famous hobnail boot win at Neyland in 2001, our 1st win there since 1980, and have turned the tables on the Vols, with 5 wins in the last 7 meetings.
5. Dawg2K, a.k.a. 2001 Outback Bowl: Georgia 28-25 Purdue Ahhh, Dawg2K. To celebrate the millenium, Brain drove down to ATL from Louisville, then 5 of us crammed in my 1990 Nissan Maxima and drove to Tampa, linking up with 2 other mates on the way. I remember convincing a drunk girl in a Ybor City bar to make out with me at about 11 p.m. on Millenium Eve by telling her that there had been a nuclear plant explosion in Russia when Y2K hit and we were all in big trouble. The next morning Georgia spotted Purdue a 25-0 lead and then came all the way back to win in overtime, which at the time was the largest comeback in bowl history. Damn, a million and one stories from this weekend, many of which are probably better left unsaid on here. A great trip- the stereotypical getting the boys back together about 5 years after college and having a blast, and I don't think we have all been together in the same place at the same time since.
Big pimpin' at Dawg2k: hell yeah I got her numbah. {of course, I completely fucked it up on about date #3}
6. 2002 Georgia 51-7 Georgia Tech After attending the 3 consecutive "losses" to Tech in 98, 99, and 2000, but not being able to attend at GT in 2001, this was a glorious payback. Like LSU 2005 and LSU 2004, it was one of those days that you never want to end. SD and I were a couple of drunken 28 year olds in the student section, and the highlight of the day was at halftime, the one time all day that people in the student section sit down to rest, it started to rain fairly steadily. About 10 seats over to our right a dude stands up who is about 40 years old, bearded, and looks like a complete neck. Oh, and he is completely shitfaced. He holds his plastic souvenir cup up towards the raining heavens, and SD and I look at him with bewilderment. He sees us trying to understand what the hell he is doing and he turns to us and says in a loud, drunken, and friendly redneck voice: "Turkey Light, boys!", referring to the alcoholic content of his cup and it' s newfound marketing mutation thanks to the raindrops. It was one of the funniest things we have ever heard.
7. 2004 Georgia 45-16 LSU This game was great for 2 reasons: first, it was a great cathartic reversal of our heartbreaking loss in Baton Rouge the year earlier, which we attended and had a long, long drive home from considering how the game turned out. Second, my friend from Boston had never been to a UGA game and he picked this one to fly down and check out. What better way to show your friend his first UGA game than a beautiful day, a giant tailgate, beautiful women everywhere, and then the utter annihilation of a top 10 team. I think it was 31-3 in the first half before we called off the dogs. A damn near perfect Saturday afternoon, and my buddy went back to New England with a great idea of what a bigtime Georgia football Saturday is all about.
Tailgating on North Campus near the Arch before UGA-LSU 2004
8. 1995 Clemson 17-19 Georgia A hard fought road win over a tough ranked opponent and longtime rival whom we hadn't played in their house in a while. As we were students at the time, we took a big crew to this game, and I rocked the 88 Brice Hunter jersey and a giant G flag on a big ass flagpole. I remember Solon was so shitfaced on the walk to the stadium that he grabbed an actual dogbone from a woman walking next to us and fucking ate it, as some sort of demonstration that this 1) showed our valor and 2) that we would win.
Kanu, Solon, Shabba, Ivan, Boo, & RJ representin' at Death Valley
Clemson is one of the few places that allows people on the field after games, and we took full advantage, running around like fools, and walking up to Howard's rock and claiming it as our own. At one point I was on a dude named Boo's shoulders waving my giant G flag, and I was bumrushed and knocked down from behind by two drunken bitter Tiger fans. A small scuffle ensued but they were vastly outnumbered and wisely retreated.
Acting a fool on Boo's shoulders. Ahh, college.
We drunkenly stumbled back to the tailgate and somehow got back to Athens- I don't remember how, but I cannot imagine that I drove.
9. 2003 Sugar Bowl: Georgia 26-13 Florida State Our first BCS bowl, flew to New Orleans with my girlfriend at the time and met up with my buddy DD and his woman and a few others. New Years in New Orleans is a fun fucking time, even if you aren't stag, and I pimped some sweet ass red & black plaid pants that were handmade for me by the missus- unfortunately they would meet their fate years later in the post breakup heartbreak throw away everything from or that reminds you of her dumpster toss.
Pimpin' hard: these pants with a red UGA shirt were all the rage in the Superdome. Damn I wish now that I hadn't thrown them out.
FSU was a 5 loss joke of an ACC champion, and we beat them handily in a way that they final score did not properly indicate. A great time, we finished #3, leaving us all to wish Ohio State had fucked up just 1 of their numerous miracle rabbit out of a hat wins that year {4th and long against Purdue comes to mind}, as instead of this semi bittersweet formality of a win we would have played Miami in the national championship game. Nevermind that: 13-1, SEC championship, #3 ranking, and first BCS bowl win was the bridge between what the program was under Goff & Donnan and what it is today.
10. 2002 Alabama 25-27 Georgia The "man enough" game, where Pat Dye said before the game that Georgia wasn't man enough to go into Tuscaloosa and beat Alabama. Great atmosphere, stadium, and crowd noise, and we pulled out a great win in a hardfought game with a late field goal from eternal hero of out group of friends Billy Bennett. A great win in what turned out to be a storybook season except for those 60 minutes in Jacksonville. I remember thanks to game traffic and NECKCAR being at Talledega that weekend, it took SIX hours to get back to ATL, and it was hard as hell keeping the eyelids open on I-20 until 2 a.m. when I got home, after a long ass day of driving out there, tailgaiting, and sitting through the game in the 90 degree heat & humidity. Totally worth it though.
Honorable Mention 11. 1995 Georgia Tech 17-18 Georgia Ray Goff's last game. Back then this game was on Thanksgiving day. Was home from school for Thanksgiving and my sis & I went into ATL, watched us beat our little sister, break their hearts, then back to Club Mom & Dad for Thanksgiving dinner. What was I thankful for that day? That I didn't decide to go to Georgia Tech after High School.
12. 1999 Georgia 23-22 LSU This game was lost as LSU's final pass into our endzone was going right to a dude who was wide open. Suddenly our LB Witherspoon went go-go Gadget arm and literally came out of nowhere, dove and knocked it down. Ahhh, the good old days, when we all thought Quincy Carter was the bee's knees.
Thinking of these makes me 1) stoked for the new season 2) sad that I won't get to any games this year unless Georgia goes West for a bowl game, which is extremely unlikely 3) supremely jacked up for Arizona State-Georgia next September, which I most definitely will be at with bells on.
Just fire up www.leekspin.com and get that shit stuck in his or her head- that will make you feel good in turn.
Here's the YouTube version:
Someone tried to fuck with me by sending me an instant message that simply said "www.leekspin.com", but much to their dismay I have to say that unlike the Hampster Dance {I don't have it in me to post a link, you'll have to find it yourself} and all of the other horrible tunes people fire up to fuck with you, I kind of dig this one. If you do too, then it's a win/win: you'll dig it, and everyone within earshot will hate it, and further hate that they'll be humming it to themselves on their commute home tonight.
Enjoy, or sorry, or you're welcome- whichever applies- and Happy Weekend.
Now that I've gone back and looked it up, the new completely tricked out Virgin America Airlines planes have many great features, but the ability to IM/Chat with other passengers {and even the entire plane} is in my opinion a terrible idea. Chris Smith and I got the sillies chatting about it earlier {below}. I think it will be a disaster; he thinks it will be a hit. What do you think?
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Chris Smith: I just clicked on a banner promoting Virgin's new airline launch in the States. pretty cool you can fly from nyc to sfo for like $278 round trip
Kanu: not bad
Chris Smith: and they have this option to chat IM with other passengers on their airborne social network! crazy
Kanu: that is fucking hilarious
Kanu: “32b, hello! I couldn't help but notice you from across the cabin”
Chris Smith: exactly!
Chris Smith: “would you like to meet me in the bathroom?”
Kanu: “Hi 28F. I loved the way you ordered a diet coke and asked for the can. Very Assertive. Will you add me as a Virgin IM friend?I’m 37D”
Chris Smith: you can create like chat rooms and shite
Chris Smith: shit dude...you def need to fly with them just to hook up with some chica via in-flight IM!!!!
Chris Smith: fucking rocks
Kanu: "omg your virgin IM page is sooooo kewl!"
Chris Smith: fucking funny
Chris Smith: you could be like, "hey 24 F, shut your fucking baby up, before I throw him out the window! I am trying to sleep!"
Kanu: "hey fuck you 38C!"
Kanu: “I'm 24F!I paid my fare, I'll do whatever the fuck I want. Why don’t you turn on your ipod and shut the fuck up you business travel yuppie.i hope your blackberry gives you carpal tunnel you fucking asshole!
Kanu: “hey 14A, please elbow 14B, he's snoring like a fucking freight train. thx. Xoxo. 12C”
Chris Smith: “Hey, 24F, why the fuck did you have to bring that stinky ass tuna salad on board? you are stinking up the entire fucking plane! how about you smell my ass right about now?”
Kanu: make it egg salad. Much stinkier.
Chris Smith: nice
Kanu: “Hey Fuck you 38C.Once 22B opened up his stinky ass Indian Food it was open season”
Chris Smith: ha!
Chris Smith: “hey 22A, you absolutely suck at sudoku! Hahahaha...”
Kanu: “hey 19D- do you think you could get your kid to stop fucking kicking the back of my seat?If he kicks my seat one more time I am going to turn around and punch him, and you, in the fucking face!”
Chris Smith: fucking epic dude.I can almost guarantee you that there will be a major fight on a plane due to this airborne chat feature.esp on the long flights from nyc to sf or la
Kanu: Shit dude, how about redeyes or SFO to Tokyo?
Chris Smith: you know that everyone is going to be on the im on the plane
Kanu: Hello "block user" function!
Kanu: Seriously, though- who the fuck would use this?who wants to IM with strangers on a plane?If you are traveling with someone, they most likely are sitting right next to you and you can , you know, just talk to them
Chris Smith: ah, I have a feeling it will be extremely popular, in an annoying way
Kanu: i think it will bomb. everyone will turn their shit to "block" or "not available"
Chris Smith: hmmm... we will see. i beg to differ.
Kanu: the funny thing is that everyone on the plane will be turning around and looking around to see who is who- like a 6th grade dance, only sillier.
Chris Smith: exactly
Kanu: how fucking annoying when this happens: you're sitting there in coach trying not to be miserable...
Kanu: ...and some dude is next to you IM-ing, and unbeknownst to you he and 14D are chatting it up, and you're in the back in like 42F...
Kanu: ...suddenly some annoying ass chick walks back to you and asks if you will change seats with her for the rest of the flight because she wants to sit next to your neighbor because they have reached stage 2 of the Virgin IM social networking experience
Chris Smith: ha, totally! great call...and you know that will happen
Kanu: "fuck no bitch- get your ass back to 14D and leave me the fuck alone"
Chris Smith: cool thing is that virgin will have plugs for laptops and usb and ethernet ports
Kanu: that is great. instead of the IM social networking thing, which I think will be a disaster, they should just have a console where you can browse the net, check email, etc. that would be even more pimp than JetBlue's live DirecTV
Chris Smith: agreed
Kanu: except for the 13 year old in your row masturbating under his blanket to Danish porn
Chris Smith: or the 70 year old dude doing the same
Kanu: yeah, they would need some daddy internet filtering software
Chris Smith: agreed
Chris Smith: Virgin America is the first U.S. airline with mood lighting.
Kanu: wtf? WTF?
Chris Smith: its like porn lighting.
Kanu: I envision each seatback having a screen with a giant emoticon on it, and you can put your mood
Chris Smith: exactly!!!!
Kanu: one more thing on the Virgin IM: how long will it take the spammers to figure out how to infiltrate it?
Kanu: like on myspace when you get 58000 friend requests from Nikki & Sindi
Kanu: and their page is "click here to look at my hott pictures"?
Kanu: Answer: about 2 weeks.“Hello there 26B.Would you like to enlarge your penis and last longer- to satisfy her all night long? Click here for more info.”
Chris Smith: si, si
Kanu: They are going to offer broadband internet access via Ethernet eventually though- that is cool as hell.
No Kaka... No Ronaldinho... No Gilberto Silva... No Adriano... No Ronaldo...
No Problemo.
Copa America 2007 Final Brasil 3-0 Argentina Baptista 5' Ayala o.g. 40' Alves 69'
Even if you hate footy, you have to admit the cartoonish sound effects on Brasilian TV are pretty sweet.
The last time Argentina played Brasil was in a friendly match in September at Emirates Stadium in London. As it happened I was in Buenos Aires at the time, and there was mondo excitement leading up to the match- the country came to a damn near standstill for 2 hours. Brasil dominated Argentina 3-0 that day, and it was like a day of mourning in Buenos Aires, the feeling of disappointment/letdown was palpable in the air. That was just a friendly, so I can't even imagine what BA is like this evening.
Brasil got off to a flying start thanks to La Bestia, Julio Baptista, who scored a wonderful golaso against the run of play that filled me with another round of bitterness, the third round of bitterness in the last week to be precise. Again, Julio, where the fuck was that all last season during your failure at Arsenal? Thanks alot, fucker. The goal gave Brasil a huge shot of adrenaline and confidence, which they never relinquished for the entire 90 minutes.
Argentina came within inches of equalizing a few moments later when Riquelme rocketed a left footed blast off the post, and it was on. The first 20 minutes were pretty pulsating stuff, but then the match settled down a bit, and Argentina were never really able to get into full gear offensively.
A tight match turned less tight before halftime when a dangerous cross was volleyed brilliantly into the Argentine goal... by Argentine defender Ayala. Oops. 2-0 into halftime. Touogh day at the office for Ayala the Argentine captain, who also got schooled by Baptista on his golaso.
You figured after the break that Argentina would come full bore in wave after wave after wave of attacks, but they still couldn't seem to get into full gear. Huge credit to the back 4 of Brasil, who played a wonderful game without the cover of their suspended invisible wall. Obviously at this point the third goal would be crucial, because it would either mean game on or game over. It came on a counter attack in the 73rd minute, when Dani Alves did what he did all season for Sevilla, make a bombing overlapping run on the right and slot home a sweet one-timer shot into the far corner. 3-0 and that was that. The rest was a formality, and just to add insult to injury Messi scored a perfectly legitimate goal in the final 10 mintes that was incorrectly ruled offsides.
A huge statement win for Brasil to put one over on their biggest rival with far from their strongest squad against a full strength Argentine side {OK, Crespo was injured, but still}. Brasil have had the hoodoo over Argentina in the last decade or so, and this win will just add to it in a massive, massive way. I can't think of a great comparison, the first one that comes to mind would be if Georgia entered the Georgia-Florida game 8-0, Florida were 5-3, Tebow was out injured, Georgia were 14 point favorites, and Florida still won 28-6. The hoodoo that Brasil currently enjoy over Argentina is not as strong as the hex Florida has over UGA the last 17 years, but that was the first thing that popped into my mind- I'm sure there are better comparisons out there.
And for Argentina this will be a huge mental blow, after all the buildup and promise and expectation to win, only to have your full strength team get embarrassed by a far from full strength Brasil team. This was to be Argentina's first major tournament win since the 1993 Copa America {outside of a youth tournament}, so to fall flat against their most hated rival will leave a scar that will take a good long time to heal and fade away. Their next chance will be the 2010 World Cup, by which their winless stretch will be 18 years.
Riquelme did not boss the midfield, and will again be ridiculed for supposedly disappearing in the biggest of stages, which I think is unfair today and in general. He had Argentina's best chance when he rattled the post early on, and a bunch of his teammates were pretty anonymous today as well, including Messi, Tevez, Veron, Mascherano, and Cambiasso {by the by, I thought 34 year old Zanetti played a blinder for the albiceleste}. He seems to get a similar treatment that Thierry Henry is subject to: when he kicks ass and dominates everyone is up his ass and full of praise, but in the matches where he doesn't kick ass and dominate then suddenly everyone says he sucks ass and is a choker, when the former happens a hell of a lot more than the latter. I wonder if there is commonality on treatment because both players a a bit moody and mercurial- would they get more slack of they were the never say die super passionate bulldog type like say Gattuso, or even like Steven Gerrard? I wonder...
Let's be clear, it wasn't a total and complete domination. In fact, Wagner Love once again largely did nothing- granted his run and pass on the last goal were very good but that was about it, making me conclude that he just isn't good enough to be a starting striker for the Selecao. Robinho was also largely anonymous. The match was probably tighter than the final score indicated, but 2 moments of magic from Baptista and Alves, plus the midsummer Christmas gift from Ayala, and there you have it. But again, the fact that this result occurred when Argentina had assembled their dream team of worldbeating superstars and Brasil were decidedly less than full strength was the significant point, making it the mental equivalent of a dominant beating in the eyes of both teams, sets of fans, and nations.
Speaking of Wagner Love, the most disappointing thing about him was the complete abandonment by the Univision announcer of saying his name like the Ladies Man {blah blah blah Wagner Loooooovvvveee} after the 2nd game. I cannot believe that the play by pllay man did it of his own volition, so my guess is that either someone in Love's camp asked them to stop or some suit at Univision asked him to stop {although perhaps he trotted it back out today for the grand final- I was at a pub today which had the GolTV feed}. Either way it was disappointing to say the least.
Oh, and it finally dawned on my today who Riquelme is. He's Gilbert Gottfried with short hair. Same face, although I cannot iagine that Juan Roman's voice is anywhere near as irritating as Gilbert's.
In yesterday's 3rd place match Mexico beat Uruguay 3-1. That's about all I know since I didn't take the time to watch a match that is essentially a meaningless friendly.
Overall the Copa America was a wonderful event with lots of attacking footy and tons and tons of goals. Eighty six of them, to be exact, in 26 matches, for a healthy 3.3 goals per match. A very pleasant and refreshing surprise after the offensively challenged World Cup 2002, Euro 2004, and even World Cup 2002.
The South American 2010 World Cup qualifying starts this fall. Anyone care to wager against Brasil and Argentina finishing 1 & 2? Not me...
The circumstances of life conspired in such a way that I missed the first half, saw the second half, and missed extra time. The US's opening goal was great, and both that they conceded were total clusterfucks at the back. Sounds like the US keeper was still not nearly 100% fit after sustaining is injury during Brasil's goal, which forced him to miss the match against Uruguay. That's about all I can tell you, but as usual Bobbeh was all over it and has an excellent writeup.
Still, an excellent showing by the US team, in which they improved off their performance in the U17 World Cup of 2005, in which they shocked a Messi-lead Argentina in the first match, made it to the knockout stage, went 1-0 up on Italy, and then lost 3-1. Things look pretty good for the future with the core group from this team, with Adu showing that he can live up to his promise and Altidore looking like a really great big man of a striker. Those two play well together, compliment each other perfectly, and you can tell that they like playing well together as well- could be a really great strike partnership for the future. I also really like Zizzo out on the right. I would think that the stars of this team will start slotting into the senior squad as qualifying for World Cup 2010 starts, and I bet we'll also see some of them at the Confederations Cup in 2009.
The other two quarterfinals are today, with Nigeria playing Chile at 11.15 a.m. PST and the 2 pretournament favorites, Argentina and Mexico, playing at 4.45 p.m. PST. I will definitely be giving that one my full attention, as I want to check out their 2 best players, Carlos Vega, who plays for Arsenal's youth team and is supposedly the next big thing, and Giovanni Dos Santos, who plays for Barcelona's youth team and is supposedly their next big thing. I tried to watch their round of 16 match on Friday, but only managed to see the 1st half via Slingbox at my desk, and I was at happy hour at the pub after that and there was pretty much no way I was going to get the Oakland A's game switched over to a Under 20 World Cup quarterfinal, especially without one of the teams being the US. From what little I saw both players are really skilled, fast as shit, and great on the ball, which is nothing new. I did learn that Dos Santos is left footed and rather short and small- like Romario small; as I had never seen him before I had no idea. Also very fleet of foot. Oh well, looking forward to seeing more of them today.
So after 90 minutes it was straight to PKs, and what an exciting shootout it was. Forlan's 1st for Uruguay was awful and easily saved, and Brasil were up for the first half of the shoot out, but then they had a dude hit the post and Uruguay tied it up. After 5 kicks it was still even; in the 6th round Brasil hit the post again, so miraculously Uruguay now had 1 kick to defeat Brasil and move on to the final. Dude's shot easily beat the keeper and looked for all the world that it was going into the corner, but then it hit the post as well. In the 7th round Brasil scored and then Uruguay's shot was saved and the super exciting shootout came to an anticlimactic conclusion as yet another referee refused to enforce the rules and allowed a goalkeeper to come a good 3 yards off his line before the kick was taken, and he saved the penalty. Yes, some of the blame lies with the kicker, as this penalty was very poor, but still, such blatant cheating should not be allowed. Sevilla'a Palop did the same thing with the final kick of the UEFA Cup shootout earlier this year, and it is just annoying that when a goalie cheats so badly and comes so far out that the referee does not simply order a re-kick. Makes no sense to me, and had always bothered me since Brainna Scurry did it on all 5 penalties in the 1999 Women's World Cup final vs. China, which is forever forgotten because OMG Brandi Chastain took her shirt off. The remarkable thing about that penalty shootout, where the USA made all 5 kicks and China made it's first 4, is that China made 4 out of 5 with Scurry almost out to the 6 yard box every time; I remember being more impressed with that feat than with the US team making all 5 with the China keeper obeying the rules. Anyways I hope for the day that a referee will grow a pair and call for a re-kick when the rules are so clearly breached.
So on to the final for Brasil. That's the good news. The bad news is that Gilberto Silva, captain and "invisible wall" who expertly shields & provides cover for the back 4, will miss the final due to card accumulation when he picked up an incredibly ticky-tack yellow card in the final minutes of the match. Normally reserved Gilberto went a bit mental to the referee, so you know that he immediately knew what it meant and was gutted that he would be missing the final.
Argentina 3-0 Mexico
Highlights
These two teams had played the best footy for the entire tournament, and it looked like if anyone was going to perhaps beat Argentina that Mexico might be able to do it. You also knew that Mexico would be super motivated to have another shot at Argentina after their epic World Cup Round of 16 match last summer, which was one of the best of the entire tournament and ended in heartbreak for Mexico when Maxi Rodriguez scored the goal of the World Cup to give Argentina a famous 2-1 win and send Mexico home.
The match was very tight for an hour, with Mexico hitting the woodwork twice and Argentina scoring a goal just before halftime when Heinze took advantage of some poor defending and latched onto a Riquelme free kick.
About the hour mark things were settled pretty quickly. First, two quick passes put Messi semi through but not really, as a defender was closing him down quickly and he was at a terrible angle. So he simply decided to score the goal of the tournament thusfar, which is saying something in this goal fest of a competition. He received the ball, and in a split second, and without breaking stride, chipped the keeper, which was the only way he could have scored from where he was and where the keeper was. By the time Messi kicked the ball, the defender had recovered and was between him and the goal, and the goalkeeper was well positioned giving him no angle to score. The slow, high, loopy chip was absolutely perfect and just looked even better because of the futile way that the goalie tried in vain to get to it. A really special goal for Lionel, especially that he did it on a full run without breaking stride and as a split second decision. But then again, it's Messi, and he's is doing special, special shit every time out these days.
Que ridiculo golaso del Messi
2 minutes later and Carlito Tevez made a meal out of some contact with Rafa Marquez and sold a 32 piece set of a penalty to the referee better than Uncle Rico ever could have. Riquelme slotted it for 3-0 and that was game, set and match.
Argentina would be solid favorites even if Gilberto was playing for Brasil. Without him, it will be even tougher for Brasil to snuff out Argentina's massive arsenal of attacks. I can't really see Brasil winning to be honest, but considering the magnitude of this rivalry, anything is possible, and remember, if it's tied then we go straight to penalty kicks where literally anything can happen.
Prediction Argentina 3-1 Brasil.
The match is on Univision at 2 p.m. PST today. Enjoy.
Last weekend one of my absolute favorite bands, Slightly Stoopid, released the first new track from their upcoming album on their myspace site. It's called 2 a.m., it absolutely rules, and I've been digging on it all week, so today I share it with you. Unfortunately there is no YouTube vid for it, but if you click here it will load and play automatically.
I remember them playing this song a few months ago at the show I went to up in Petaluma, and thinking "shit I hope this is on the new album, the horns sound awesome with their sound." Looks like that is the case, which is sweet. I'm even more geeked for the Stoopid/G. Love/Ozomatli show at The Greek Theater on August 11 now, because it looks like the new Slightly Stoopid album is dropping that very week, on August 7. Can't wait.
If the Poland and Brasil matches were a showcase of the great technical football for the US under 20 team, last night was not. I wasn't able to give this match my full attnetion, as I watched the first half via Slingbox from my office and had some work distractions, and during the second half I had 2 TVs going but my main focus was on the Argentina-Mexico Copa America semifinal. That being said, here is what I did see even if it didn't have my undivided attention for 90 minutes.
A very different kind of game: scrappy, and let's face it, pretty disjointed and ugly. A tight 0-0 for most of the night, the biggest news for the US was that Altidore went off around halftime with what looked like a pretty serious leg injury. In the 73rd minute Uruguay went up 1-0 after a good buildup that was aided by the US goalkeeper spilling a shot right onto a dude's foot to tap in. It looked like he could have done better but such is life.
Just when you were starting to think that this team had done a Red Sox pre 2005 {gotten people all excited that they were going to break though, only to flame out in disappointing fashion}, the US knotted the match at 1 with only 3 minutes left when a good cross was turned into the net by a Uruguyan defender for an own goal. If he hadn't done that then the US striker would have had a tap in, and even in doing so he brought down the striker, so it would have been a penalty anyways, so not the lamest of own goals by any stretch.
The US got extremely lucky in the final moments of regulation when a great header from Uruguay beat the keeper bu not his best friend, the goalpost. On to extra time.
Some decent chances for both teams in extra time, but it looked like we might be headed to dreaded penalties when the US cobbled together a scrappy goal early in the 2nd extra time frame. They managed to hold on for 10 minutes and that was that. A scrappy and physical match that boiled over into a bit of handbags at the end.
So not another virtuoso performance, but they did what they needed to do and scrapped out a come from behind win, and many times winning those kind of matches does more for a team's development that winning beautifully and perfectly.
On to the quarterfinals where the US will play Austria, who overcame Gambia 2-1. Austria's 4 matches thusfar have been 1-1, 1-0, 0-0, and 2-1, which tells me not to expect a free flowing offensive beautiful game on Saturday. More likely it will a low scoring, tight, lockdown, scrappy match similar top last night. Also, Altidore's status for Saturday is uncertain, and although he is not the whole team it would be a significant loss if he was unable to play.
I watched the nightcap match between Brasil and Spain which was a much better show for the neutrals- good end to end free flowing stuff and tons of chances for both teams. Brasil scored 2 in 2 minutes towards the end of the first half, but then crucially Spain got one back immediately and just before halftime, even if it was a little dubious. It sure looked like it went in off the striker's arm, but the referee was positioned in such a way that this was obscured from his vantage point, and there is one replay that makes it look like it went in off his thigh, which it may very well have. Either way, the goal stood and Spain went into the locker room with hope. The second half saw lots of action but no goals until Spain scored a nice equalizer with only 6 minutes left. On to extra time where Spain went ahead 3-2 near the end of the first extra period, then the game really opened up as Brasil desperately went forward trying to equalize, resulting in end to end action usually seen in the latter stages of a pickup basketball game when everyone is tired. Spain had 3 breakaways that were either 2 on 1 or 3 on 1, but each time the dude with the ball was selfish and tried to score a great goal on their own instead of passing to a teammate for a much easier goal. Then in the final minute the very dude who was forsaken by his teammates selfishness scored to make it 4-2, which was someone poetic justice for him. So Brasil completed their tournament of disappointment by blowing a 2-0 lead and losing 4-2, and in their 4 matches played they lost 3 outright, the first with a man advantage for 60+ minutes. Has ANY Brasilian team, at any level, produced a set of results to match these?
In the other late match the Czech Republic came from 0-2 down against Japan to get to 2-2, then beat Japan in a shootout.
Today's matches {all on Galavision I believe in addition to ESPN U}
Gotta rep soon to be new Arsenal captain and current Brasil captain Gilberto Silva, who has been an excellent captain to the young Brasil team this summer and has guided them to the finals of Copa America. Sadly he picked up a very ticky-tack yellow card late in last night's semifinal match with Uruguay, and as a result he will have to sit out the final on Sunday. Pretty weak sauce from the ref, especially considering how rough and tumble parts of that match were. If Brasil do in fact win the Copa it would be a shame that someone else will lift the cup after he has done such a good job captaining the team all spring and summer.
A defensive midfielder, he is nicknamed "the invisible wall" in Brasil {"volante" en Portugese} because he protects the back four and is not at all flashy, and you often do not notice his great play. In that regard he is the kind of player that is often taken for granted and only truly appreciated when he is not playing, as the resulting instability in the back and loss of shape contrasts to when he is on the field. A World Cup winner with Brasil in 2002, he was the only player on the team to play every minute of every match. With Arsenal he has won 1 EPL title, 2 FA Cups, and was a member of the 2004 "Invincibles" team that went the entire season undefeated. They only thing lacking from his club resume is a Champions League winners medal, although he does have a runners up medal from 2006.
Many, many people don't fully appreciate how good he is because his lack of flash, but I for one love the dude and am happy to give him thanks and praise.
If ESPN flakes and doesn't pickup the U20 World Cup US-Uruguay match, and like me you don't have ESPNU, then fear not- Galavision is showing it.
The match starts at 4.45 p.m. PST, and Argentina-Mexico Copa America semifinal kicks off at 5.50 p.m. PST over on Univision.
I wanted to do a preview and a writeup about some Freddy Adu thoughts I've had in the last week, but work intervened today; hopefully I can crank that out in the next day or two.
Lionel Messi. Every woman in Argentina {and many beyond} wants to fuck him. Every man in Argentina {and many beyond} wants to be him. He just turned 20 2 weeks ago and is already one of the very best players in the world, and is the first of the "next Maradonas" to live up to that comparison with his incredible skills, goals, status & success as a phenom; even Diego himself thinks so. It also helps that he is also left footed, short, and fast as fuck. Oh, and before his teenage years had even ended he had already damn near replicated Maradona's most famous goal, as well as his most infamous goal, just adding to the growing legend. Most agree that he is destined to be the next to be universally hailed as "best player in the world".
So yeah, he's all the rage. I'm sure thousands and perhaps millions of young girls have huge crushes on him, and many likely have a poster of Lionel on their wall, his picture on their cellphone, have joined his fanclub, and scream at him like he's the Beatles on Ed Sullivan back in '64. If there is an Argentine version of Tiger Beat magazine, then they have them all plastered all over their room just like you did with Kirk Cameron back in the day.
Well this Chica Loca! took it one step further the other night after Argentina beat Peru 4-0 in the Copa America quarterfinals: she threw herself at him.
'What do you mean, Kanu- she found the hotel, snuck in, and tried to approach him at the bar?"
No. She literally threw herself off a fucking ledge at the stadium as he was walking off the field and risked life and limb just to get close to him.
And she got drilled in the ass, but not from Lionel {at least not in this video}.
As we all know from Groupies 101: Don't do this, cause you won't be able to starfuck Messi with your newly broken pelvis
She did get a hug and a kiss, but damn... ouch. Oh well, she can tell her chiropractor about it every week for the rest of her life.
If you told me that the 4 quarterfinal matches would result in 22 goals but not too much excitement my head would explode from an utter lack of comprehension. But in the end that's what happened.
Uruguay 4-1 Venezuela Highlights This match was actually alot closer than the final score indicated, with is being 2-1 for a long time before Uruguay got 2 late goals.
Brasil 6-1 Chile Highlights Brasil basically sleptwalked through the group stage with somewhat lackluster play and benefitted from a few dodgy penalty decisions that went their way. Well obviously the alarm clock went off, and loudly, as soon as this match started, because they dominated: 3 goals in 25 minutes ended the match as a competitive contest, and they went on to add 3 more for good measure.
Their 2nd goal was a bit if a kick in the nuts for us Arsenal supporters, who were all left to mutter, "fucking Baptista... where was that last year?" as La Bestia scored a goal that was better than any of the 10 he scored for the Gunners last season.
Mexcio 6-0 Paraguay Highlights I actually liked Paraguay's chances for an upset here, thinking that fatigue from all the matches in the Gold Cup might catch up with Mexico, and also that in Roque Santa Cruz Paraguay have a striker who can pick the team up, put them on their back, and carry them to victory {think Totti at Roma; RSC is a similar leader/scorer/talisman for Paraguay}. And after the 2 blowouts on Saturday I was thinking this could be a really good match. Well my idea lasted all of 90 seconds, when Paraguay's keeper took down a breakaway striker in the box and got the dreaded quadruple whammy: 1) penalty kick awarded 2) keeper sent off with a straight red card by rule 3) having to use a sub to bring in the backup keeper, and sacrifice an outfield player in the process 4) having to play the rest of the match, 89 minutes in this case, playing 10 v 11 and only having 2 subs to relieve sure-to-be tired legs in the 2nd half. The result? An absolute slaughter.
Argentina 4-0 Peru Highlights No one outside of Peru really expected this match to be really close, as Argentina have far and away been the class of the tournament thusfar and since shocking Uruguay in the opening group match, Peru have not.
Peru played verrrryy conservatively and cautiously, and made it into halftime 0-0. Without a shot in the first half, it was obvious that they were hoping to hold off Argentina for a 0-0 draw and go straight to penalties and take their chances in the shootout. Argentina quickly made it 1-0 to start the 2nd half, and then it was always more likely that they would get a 2nd now that Peru had to come out and play a little, and go forward to try to score. Even having to do that, Peru were downright awful, and Argentina put on a clinic in the 2nd half, completely dominating possession and toying with Peru at times with strings of 10-20 "ole!" passes, and going on to score 3 more for a 4-0 thrashing that was not even indicative of the difference between the two teams on the day. Peru finished the match without a single shot. Now I watch a shitload of soccer matches, but I cannot ever remember seeing that happen at any level. Argentina march on.
A word about their 2nd goal: for all the goals in this round, many good and several great, the best goal of all wasn't even a goal, it was Riquelme's assist to Messi for his goal. Breaking free outside the box, looking ready to wind up a big right footed shot, he had the vision to see Messi streaking in from the side and played him in with an absolutely brilliant pass instead, which young Lionel finished off by nutmegging the keeper. Not many players have the vision to see and then execute that pass, and many of them who do don't have the unselfishness to then do it rather than finish attempting the thunderbolt shot that they were just starting to attempt themselves. For me this setup/pass by Riquelme was better than any of the 22 goals. Just amazing.
At this point everyone want to see "El Clasico del Sudamerica" in the final, with the two big dogs locking horns in what is sure to be a classic. But Uruguay has a lot of history against their neighbor & old rival Brasil, even if much of it is in the distant past, and Mexico will be super motivated at the chance to avenge their heartbreaking extra time loss to Argentina in last summer's World Cup Round of 16.
On the face of it I find it hard to see either favorite lose, but with the no extra time/straight to penalties rule of this tournament, I have a funny feeling that one of these matchups is going to penalties where we may very well see an upset to ruin the match that everyone wants to see.
I know this is late, but still worth talking about:
United States 2-1 Brasil
All the highlights of an incredible match Aside: Hey ESPN, why don't you move that scoreboard bar down a bit? It isn't quite blocking enough of the screen; you might be able to make it even more annoying if you put in a little effort...
Before the tournament Brasil were one of the 3 favorites, with Argentina and Mexcio, to win the whole thing. Then they were shocked 1-0 by Poland, who the US then went on to demolish 6-1 in an amazing display of footy. Even still, the US were certainly underdogs to Brasil on Friday evening in their final group match. It's freaking Brasil, and no US mens national team had ever beaten a Brasil mens national team in any tournament competition at any level before.
US went out to a 1-0 lead and were playing with confidence rather than awe or fear against Brasil. They created as many chances to score a 2nd as Brasil did to equalize. The whole thing was exciting enough on it's own, but with the other final group stage match between Poland-South Korea going on concurrently, it was even more so, as qualification hung in the balance for both teams, but especially Brasil. Eventually Brasil did tie it up in the 70th minute on as crappy a goal as you will ever see. Up until that point I was really impressed with the US team, and when this happened I said to myself "now we'll really see what this team is made of". Brasil {and eveyone else in the world} were thinking "we're fucking Brasil, we are going to get a winner or worst case scenario we'll finish level, but there's no way this American team is taking this punch and coming back to knock us out."
But damn if that isn't exactly what happened, when Altidore finished off a move that started when Freddy Adu was literally cornered by 2 dudes and did some complete circus shit to leave those two in the dust and put in a cross. An amazing move, a deflection, a nice finish by the big man, and 2-1 to the US, who then held on for a second famous win in as many matches, and damn near knocking Brasil out of the tournament in the process {I don't think Brasil have ever failed to get out of the group stages in the U20 World Cup before}. In the end the results in the other groups allowed Brasil to slide into the round of 16 via the backdoor as one of the 4 best 3rd place teams.
So the US won their group with 2 wins and a draw, and find themselves pitted against Uruguay in the round of 16. They also got a pretty good draw, with favorites Argentina & Mexico on the other side of the draw, meaning they wouldn't see them until the final, and Brasil on the bottom of their side, meaning they wouldn't see them until the semifinals. First things first, though- round of 16 against Uruguay on Wednesday evening.
Your quarterfinal matchups are:
Wednesday Austria-Gambia United States-Uruguay Spain-Brasil Japan-Czech Republic
I have to admit I am crushing on this US team, and it is the first time for me that I have really gotten behind a US mens soccer team at any level. My attitude towards US Soccer had always mirrored my attitude towards US automobiles- I can't bring myself to cheer fervently for/purchase one just because they are American and I am American, mainly because they are a shittier product than those available in other countries.
This is the first time I have seen a US team playing with confidence and bravado like they really belonged with the biggest of big boys. As much as the US has improved, by and large they have become a team that is confident against CONCACAF teams but not so much against the big boys. And I'm not just talking about results, more about attitude and how they played. Even when they US shocked Portugal 3-2 in the 2002 World Cup and went on a run all they way to the quarterfinal, they were an underdog cinderella team {on par with, say, George Mason in the 2006 NCAA tournament}, and even they knew it.
This team seems different, they are playing with confidence and even dare I say, a swagger. It's not the typical US underdog "shit, let's just try to contain them, and maybe we'll get some luck on the offensive end and pull off a shocker." It's more like "fuck that. We're don't give a damn who you are; we're playing you even, and we're going to play with panache, style, we're going to attack you, we are not timid or afraid, and we can play with and beat you no matter who you are". This is hard to explain, but it shows in their attitude, body language, the way they play, their style of play, their projected confidence, etc. And they're doing the business. For these reasons I am watching their matches as more than a neutral observer; I am pulling hard for them to win, which has never really been the case in the past because for the most part US teams have always been inferior not only in talent but in style of play.
Anyhow, enough about me, that's not the point. The point is that this young team is legit, and they have shown that they have as good a chance as any to make it to the final and perhaps even win this thing. More importantly, it means that the future of US Soccer is bright, and that the leadup to World Cup 2010 will be exciting as the better members of this group {Adu, Altidore, Zizzo, etc} slot in with the senior national team.
I'll be hoping that ESPN chooses to show the round of 16 match against Uruguay tomorrow night so I can watch them again. Friday they pre-empted showing a replay of a hot dog eating contest; hopefully they will do the same with the planned replay of the home run derby.
Copa America has made for good watching this time around, with lots of goals, good attacking play and overall positive footy during the first two rounds of group stage games, which saw 43 goals in 12 matches or 3.6 goals per match, and not a single scoreless draw. An overall better display than last summer's World Cup, which is so massively important that teams play not to lose much moreso than playing to win, which results in more defensive and less free-flowing and exciting matches. As is the case with most tournaments, things have tightened up a bit in the final round of the group stage which determined who goes on to the knockout stage and who goes home: only 5 goals in the 4 matches played Tuesday and yesterday, with 2 scoreless draws. Not nearly as enjoyable a spectacle, but even so, overall we're still at 3 goals per match which is pretty good {48 goals in 16 matches}.
Sorry, I don't have time to go find all the highlights and post them, but if there is a match you are interested in just YouTube the two team names, sort by date added, and you'll be set.
Today is the final set of group matches in Group C, but neither the US or Colombia has any chance to qualify as one of the top 2 3rd place teams, so the only thing to be decided tonight will be who goes through as group winners and who goes through as runners-up between Argentina and Paraguay. The group winner gets Peru in the quarterfinal, the runner up gets Mexico.
Here are the standings before tonight's final Group C matches with the qualified teams in bold:
GROUP A GP W L D Pts GF GA G/Dif ------------------------------------------------ Venezuela 3 1 0 2 5 4 2 +2 Peru 3 1 1 1 4 5 4 +1 Uruguay 3 1 1 1 4 1 3 -2 Bolivia 3 0 1 2 2 4 5 -1
Peru 3-0 Uruguay Venezuela 2-2 Bolivia Uruguay 1-0 Bolivia Venezuela 2-0 Peru Peru 2-2 Bolivia Venezuela 0-0 Uruguay
GROUP B GP W L D Pts GF GA G/Dif ------------------------------------------------ Mexico 3 2 0 1 7 4 1 +3 Brasil 3 2 1 0 6 4 2 +2 Chile 3 1 1 1 4 3 5 -2 Ecuador 3 0 3 0 0 3 6 -3
Mexico 2-0 Brasil Chile 3-2 Ecuador Brasil 3-0 Chile Mexico 2-1 Ecuador Mexico 0-0 Chile Brasil 1-0 Ecuador
GROUP C GP W L D Pts GF GA G/Dif ------------------------------------------------ Paraguay 2 2 0 0 6 8 1 +7 Argentina 2 2 0 0 6 8 3 +5 United States 2 0 2 0 0 2 7 -5 Colombia 2 0 2 0 0 2 9 -7
Paraguay 5-0 Colombia Argentina 4-1 United States Paraguay 3-1 United States Argentina 4-2 Colombia Argentina - Paraguay Colombia - United States
The quarterfinals will be Saturday and Sunday and things will get very interesting, not only because we'll be in the knockout stage, but remember that in Copa America there is no extra time, so if a match is tied after 90 minutes then it's straight to penalties.
Saturday Venezuela(1A)-Uruguay(3rd place #2) Brasil(2B)-Chile(3rd place #1)
Sunday Mexico(1B)-Group C #2 Group C #1-Peru(2A)
It is just me or is it silly that Venuzuela is playing the 3rd place team from their own group and Brasil is playing the 3rd place from their own group, meaning 2 replays of matches that have already occurred? In the future they should add the MLB Divisional Playoff Rule to avoid this; I would much rather see Venezuela play Chile and Brasil play Uruguay...
I missed the Brasil match yesterday because I was exploring, so I missed out on the hilarity of the 'Wagner Loooooove" references by the Univision announcer every 2 minutes. Hoping to correct that on Saturday; it is the funniest shit from the announcer since the constant references to David Beckham as "Spiceman" and "Mister Spice" during the World Cup last summer.
Watch Argentina this if you get a chance; they are fielding damn near a dream team. Not sure how hard they will try tonight with not a whole lot on the line {although I would think they would prefer a QF date with Peru to a Mexico team that took them to the brink in the World Cup round of 16}, but on Sunday check them out if you can- they are playing beautiful stuff and have kept the diving, rolling, and playacting mainly in check to this point.
From what I have seen I will be shocked if Argentina don't win the competition at a canter, but with the straight-to-penalties thing I suppose anything can happen. Enjoy.
Went up to the rooftop for the fireworks shows tonight- caught the end of the show across the bay on Tiburon and then the always excellent SF show down in Aquatic Park.
Here's the tail end of the finale from my rooftop.
Aquatic Park fireworks lighting up Russian Hill in the foreground
I'll start off with Benny Feilhaber's stunning gamewinner in the recent Gold Cup final against Mexico, since it is probably the best US goal I've ever seen.
Que golaso del Estados Unidos!
Yesterday, at the FIFA Under 20 World Cup The young US team must have been feeling extra patriotic. They were lucky to draw their first match with South Korea despite getting pretty much dominated, and they faced a Poland team high off their shocking 1-0 with only 10 men upset over always favored Brasil. The US spotted Poland a 1-0 lead and then cued up the soundtrack to "America Fuck Yeah!" and annihilated Poland by scoring 6 unanswered goals to win 6-1. One of the best performances by any US national team, well, ever, with a good bit of Joga Bonito to boot.
Warning: American asskicking ahead: proceed with caution.
Freddy Adu got a hattrick {his 1st was something special} and I'm pretty fired up that we have a dude named "Zizzo", who resembles Cesc Fabregas both physically and in his play. Overall the kind of performance by the youngsters that gives US soccer fans confidence and hope that we will be able to compete at the highest levels in the years to come.
Oh, and if you hate soccer, then just watch this video.
The forces behind this are all former college football officials, with former ACC president Gene Corrigan and former NCAA president Cedric Dempsey seeming to be the point men.
One of the most interesting things about this to me was the degree requirement, as initially you would think that they will be excluding themselves of some major available talent:
In fact, the college-degree requirement is only partly an outgrowth of the idealism of a bunch of former university officials. It's also a business decision: The AAFL wants to coexist with college football. "We want this association with the colleges," Corrigan says, "and if they see us as people who are, if you will, giving opportunities to kids to just leave college without a degree, then it isn't going to work for us."
Smart. You can clearly see that for this to work, they are going to need the Universities on their side, as happy and willing partners, so the degree rule prevents the league from being seen by the Universities as yet another threat for talented "student-athletes" to leave early without getting an education making more money for and further raising the profile of Big State U.
Interesting to look at this from the view of the college athletic departments. University of Florida has already signed on to host games in the swamp, and it seems that teams will be loosely affiliated with the college teams in their vicinity. Take Florida; I guess they are signing thinking that this could be an additional revenue stream for them. Perhaps charge the team rent, get a cut of the ticket gate, parking, concessions, etc. On the cost side of the ledger would be the usual game day things like security, logistics, etc., and by agreeing to this it looks like UF is rolling the dice that enough tickets will be sold to make it a worthwhile. The risk is that if 437 people show up for the Florida Lizards first game then they would take a hit. I would think that the main angle to prevent this will be for each team to stock itself with as many players from it's affiliated university as possible; basically the top dozen or two players that 1) graduated and 2) are/were good but not quite good enough to make it in the NFL. Players like former Florida Gator receiver Travis McGriff, who has signed up as a promoter/spokesman for the league but is also hoping to play.
Like many startups it may very well live or die by the television deal that it secures. Again they are being smart in this regard by choosing not to go after a huge national television deal but rather shoot for "regional cable". NFL fans in the Northeast corridor will not watch this, or any other poor man's version of the NFL product that they love so much, on a major network. But college football fans, already familiar with Sunshine Network, JP Sports {now Lincoln Financial}, Fox Sports South, and the like, just might tune in to watch a team named simply "FLORIDA", wearing royal blue and orange of course, playing in the swamp, and stocked with 15-20 guys they already know very well from their college days.
They'll watch. They most definitely will watch.
Will it succeed? Seems doubtful, but football fans in the South are a passionate lot, so I can see their reasons for taking a chance on it.
More info here. I just hope that the Georgia Barkers don't lose 15 of their first 17 games to the Florida Lizards {or will they be the Fightin' Jorts?}...
