Some Kind of Miracle(s)

Most people in the United States could care less about soccer, but they do so love a winner. Maybe that's the problem with US Soccer, the lack of trophies, or even good results. Well, then here's something for you. Sunday the US Men's National Team will play for the Confederations Cup Championship against either Brasil or South Africa (most likely Brasil). This will be their first ever final in a major tournament (they have played in several consolation games, even placing third in this tournament several years ago). Those that have paid attention already know that it has not been an easy road. The US lost their first two games of the tournament 3-1 to Italy and 3-0 to Brasil. They needed a miracle to make it out of the group stages to the semi-finals. Not only did they need to beat Egypt by three, but they needed Brasil to beat Italy by three. That would tie the US, Italy, and Egypt all with three points in the group, since Egypt had managed to beat the Italians 1-0 last week, and the US would advance on goal differential (difference between goals scored and goals allowed for you non-soccer types). Well, the US got their six goal swing as both the US and Brasil won 3-0. This got the US to the semi-final...against Spain. A Spanish team that is currently ranked number one in the world, has won 15 straight games, and hasn't lost a game in their last 35. I thought the US would do well to not be embarrassed, afterall they hadn't beaten a number one team since 1999 when we beat Brasil 1-0 in the United States. They played an inspired 90 minutes and did something most teams dream of, they held the Spaniards scoreless. The defensive line was beyond outstanding, while the US managaged carefully planned counterattacks that resulted in two goals from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey. The US were opportunists, and they made the most of them. Does this rank up there with the US hockey teams victory over Russia in the Olympics? I don't know. Spain is a team with that kind of dominance and the US, while not highly ranked (number 14 according to FIFA), isn't that kind of an underdog. Who cares, it was awesome and inspired. I damn near had several heart attacks watching, but it's games like that that are the reason I love the game. You don't always have to be the best in the world, just the best in the stadium...and yesterday they were.

The Starting XI
Top(L to R): Spector, Demerit, Bradley, Howard, Bocanegra, Onyewu, Demsey
Bottom(L to R): Davies, Donovan, Clarke, Altidore

Altidore scores in the 27th minute to make it 1-0.

The celebration after Dempsey's goal in the 74th minute seals the victory.

Full time, US wins 2-0.

Happy Father's Day

Today is my second Father's Day and the first one that I'm actually in the country for which is nice. This morning Gina and Sydney went and got me breakfast from McDonald's (it is oh so terrible for you but oh so good, and it's not like I'm in the Army anymore) and coffee from Starbucks, Gina's also going to make me a Seahawks blanket. To those of you not living near a Starbucks, or five or six of them in a two mile radius, I can only say it sucks to be you. To those of you that thinks Starbucks is overrated, you probably like Folgers better, which means you have no idea what coffee is supposed to taste like. Keep putting sugar and milk in it until taste doesn't matter. But I digress. I don't know what the plans for today are, but I do know that my brother is coming down and we're going to grill up some steaks for my Dad for Father's Day. So Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there, hopefully you're having good days as well.

Travellin' Stanley

For those of you who don't follow hockey closely, and shame on you for not, there are numerous traditions surrounding the Stanley Cup. First and foremost is that players never touch it until after hoisting it in victory on the ice, and even then it is passed to the captain first, then his assistants, and then to the rest of the team (although there have been a few breaches of this in history, but wikipedia it or google it or something). The most interesting tradition is that each player gets to take it home for a day, in the presence of someone from the Hockey Hall of Fame of course. This of course gets to the meat of this post. The last time Mario Lemieux had the Stanley Cup was when he captained the Penguins to back to back championships in '90-'91 and '91-'92. When it was in his possession it somehow ended up at the bottom of his pool. Fast forward to now, and during a team party he hosted after the victory parade...well, see for yourself. I guess the guys didn't think it was clean enough.

Sounders Get Back Into The Win Column

After a six game stretch where they earned only five points, the Sounders finally got another win and a valuable three points last night. My brother and I were in attendance to watch the game. It was his first and my second. The game was sold out and the crowd was loud from start to finish. Seattle got two goals from Freddy Ljungberg and Fredy Montero, and I could really give two shits who scored for San Jose. It was a great game and an even better celebration afterwards. Good Luck to Seattle as they host D.C. United Wednesday night. Time to start stringing some wins together boys and move up the table.

Lord Stanley's Cup Has a New Home

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins for winning the Stanley Cup. I know many of you probably don't like hockey and barely even know the rules, but you don't have to understand a sport to appreciate it. I love hockey. After soccer and football it's my next favorite sport to enjoy. While I'm an Avalanche fan personally, I can't help but enjoy the Penguins, but I still hate those cheat bastard Stealers (no that's not a typo). Forgiveness will never be awarded for Super Bowl XL. But back to the Penguins. I like not only good players, but players with good character. How can you not like a team with guys like Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, and Jordan Staal. All stand-up individuals as well as great hockey players. What a dramatic game seven last night. Crosby, only 21 and the Captain of the Pens, was hurt halfway through the game. The best player on the team, and the ice was lost but the Pens hung on to beat Detroit 2-1. A fantastic team effort. So here's to Sid the Kid, his teammates, and Mario Lemieux who purchased the Penguins to save them from being moved and kept hockey in Pittsburgh. Congratulations fellas, you earned it. Oh, and as if I needed another reason to root for Pittsburgh, I really hate those fucking Red Wings. Go Avs and Go Pens.

Goodbye and Good Riddance to Christiano Ronaldo

In some bittersweet news today my beloved Manchester United has decided to grant Real Madrid permission to speak to and try to sign Christiano Ronaldo...for $130 million. That's not a typo. It is the most money ever paid for a player. In soccer, that's called a transfer fee. It gives Real the right to try and bargain with the player, it's not salary or anything else. Simply the right to negotiate. While Ronaldo is the reigning Ballon d'Or (World's Best Player Award) winner one would think it fitting. I don't know about that. I think he'll never be able to replicate his early numbers at Old Trafford and that he's only going to go down from here. I'm not taking away from him as a player, he's still probably in the top 5 in the world, but I think Manchester United can get a lot of good back for that money. More than if we simply invested it into Ronaldo. So goodbye Christiano, enjoy the life you think you want in Madrid, but even with you and Kaka your new team is still not as good as Barcelona. You've left a number one for a number two, the best team in the world to one not even in the top 5. Enjoy, and good riddance. I no longer have to watch you whine everytime someone knocks you down...although I will miss those brilliant and cheeky goals of yours.

What The Fuck Is FIFA Thinking???

Tonight the US Men's National Team lost to the Costa Rican National Team in World Cup qualifying 3-1 in San Jose. The US will now drop to second in the final round of qualifying two points behind Costa Rica. While the result shouldn't be a surprise given the location of the match it is still disappointing. The US is currently ranked 14th overall by FIFA while Costa Rica is the reverse ranked at 41st. Overall though, what bothers me the most isn't the loss, I'm sure the US can bounce back from it on Saturday when they play Honduras at Soldier Field in Chicago, but the surface that they were competing on. It is an artifial turf field, something I didn't think a World Cup game, qualifying or otherwise, could be played on; but apparently as long as FIFA blesses off on it you're good to go. This field is atrocious. It is older than any turf field that a professional sport in the US would be played on. It was compared to being monumentally worse than the turf field at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey; and come on, for those that have been through Jersey it ain't anything special. How FIFA allows a World Cup Qualifying match to be played on a surface that is worse than what 90% of high school football teams play on is beyond me. What the fuck FIFA? Pull your heads out of your asses and lets figure out what a playing surface should look like. Would you let the likes of Spain, England, Brasil, or Italy play on a surface this shoddy? No, I think not. If this is the best they can come up with in Costa Rica, then perhaps they should be denied home games until they come up with a playing field that is more suitable to the tournament in which these teams are fighting to compete.

Knights of Cydonia

This is the music video for Knights of Cydonia by Muse. It is off their album Blackholes and Revelations. It is a fantastic song and a great album. This also might be the best music video since the Beastie Boys' Sabotage (shame on you if you've never seen Sabotage, what's wrong with you!!!).

Something To Look Forward To...

Everyone needs something to look forward to and this is a game that I've been looking forward to for a while now. Original teasers had the Space Marines fighting against heretic Chaos Marines, but it looks like they went for my other favorites...the orks. This trailer posted on IGN.com doesn't say anything about when it's release is slated to be, but I wouldn't be surprised is THQ and Relic try to push this out for Christmas. Yey for me!!!