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the usa made us proud.

the italy v usa match was one for the ages. absolutely enthralling. who would’ve thought that a usa match could be so exciting without them even scoring a goal? italy’s own-goal was the only point they put on the scoreboard. beasley’s goal was nice, but mcbride was completely off-side. the usa were bloodied, beaten, and exausted and at the end of it all, they stood with their heads up and stood tall on that pitch. standing up to a world powerhouse like italy, was a MAJOR accomplishment. italy against the usa in soccer is like the yankees playing a team from the last 4 at the college world series. there’s just no comparison. they’re just two different universes talent-wise. again, the us sports media, is in my opinion, completely out of touch. players that play week in, week out in italy and in europe, like the entire italian side does, playing against a majority of mls players is an absolute joke. the mls is to european club soccer, like a rec league is to a professional team. last summer i watched a pre-season chelsea side dismantle a mid-season dc united side. chelsea ran all over them. dc united came to play, they were into it and made a good showing, but they got ran all over for the better half of 60 minutes. i generally have found the mls to be slow, uninventive, and often a pain to watch. it is undoubtedly getting better, but right now it is nowhere close to european soccer. the mls season is gstill being played RIGHT NOW for goodness sake!!! they’re not even taking the world cup seriously here and puttinga halt on the season. it’s an absolute shame. really the only player with genuine excitement is the youngster freddie adu. he’s a teenager right now so it’s not even worth talking about.

i don’t expect the us to get anything against ghana, i predict ghana to get a similar 2-0 result that they earned against the czech republic, but the us can stand proud with the result the earned against italy. that match is one i’ll tell my kids about.what a cracker of a match!!

absolute class and grit from mcbride.

this was a horrible studs-up challenge. did it deserve a red card? not in my opinion. a solid yellow and a tounge lashing is what i would have given.

what a performance. one for the ages!! keller’s saves were huge. he’s a world class keeper and against italy he showed why.

france also played this weekend and came out like they were making up for a very poor performance against switzerland. henry cleaned up a missed and blocked shot and with a nice finish, put one home.

i thought i’d be getting used to displays like this,

but france decided to allow a late equalizer from south korea’s park ji sung, and with zidane out with two yellow cards, its not looking good for les blues to go through into the next stage.

spain played a brilliant second half against tunisia today. tunisia was brave and daring in the first half and at the interval they led the spanish side 1-0. at the half another brilliant arsenal youngster, cesc fabregas came on at the start of the second half and was instrumental in all three spain goals. he’s only 18 years old folks. he’s young, gifted, plays fantastic in big games and he’s going to be at arsenal for what i hope is a very long time. he’s so young and plays with a calmness that players 10 years his senior often don’t have. a joy to watch play to be sure.

spain is looking strong.

argentina is looking all but unbeatable.

no other teams have thoroughly impressed to this point.

the netherlands look really good for periods of time, especially when van persie or van der vaart are involved. if they start putting it together for a full 90 minutes, look out.

tomorrow there some very interesting match-ups being played.

germany and ecuador square off to see who wins group A and england and sweden meet to see who wins group B. the group B winner gets the group A runner-up, so there is a possible england v germany clash looking for the first match in the round of sixteen.

tomorrow also marks the first matches played simultaneously. should be a fairly exciting day.

on a personal note, my wife is getting really close to full term with the little one that we’ve been blessed with from our wonderful Lord Jesus. officially we have exactly two weeks left, but its starting to feel like it’s coming really soon. the baby is getting progressively lower, while my wife is getting progressively less comfortable. it’s quite scary and exhilarating at the same time. this person is going to come out of my wife, and that person is my kid and i’m their dad. i don’t think i’ll ever fully understand how that works, or what that means. i just accept it and praise God that it has pleased Him for me to take care of one of His little one’s.

all praises be to Him now and always!!

dear nba,

it’s been nice know you this year.

love,

andy.

it’s official. i won’t be watching any more basketball until the fall. no more nba for me. i’ll definitely watch some of the

2006 fiba world championship in japan, but probably on mute. all they’ll be talking about is dwayne wade. i’ve found myself in a position of finding the sports media loathsome, particularly the disney affiliates, abc, espn and the rest. there are a few exceptions here and there, but for the most part, i just can’t handle listening to pregame hype, followed by in-game blathering, followed by a postgame blah-fest. i really think there needs to be a way to listen to the audio in the arena, and not the announcers. i also think i need to start turning off the television and doing other things.

for the basketball world championships, the usa has a great roster of players, but if this tournament turns out to be a dwayne wade worship-fest, i’m out. he’s a great player but his stats in game 5 speak for themselves. check it:

11-28 from the floor, 21-25 from the line!!! just how many fouls are the refs going to bail him out??!!!

0-2 from 3, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, only 1 foul!!!

and 43 points in 50 minutes played.

that sounds like a pretty good stat line right? well here’s the thing, wade isn’t helping others to get involved and make a sunstantitive contribution. all he does is drive and jump in the air and if there’s nothing there he throws a horrible pass out towards the 3-point line, causing a teamate to chase it down. or he gets a moronic defender to crash into him and as a result the brainless referee’s blow there whistles and put him on the line. i think the nba referee’s believe that the free throw line is their currency, or their praise. i think they decide to put whomever the please on the line, because when they call a foul, they are in the spotlight, as well as the free-thrower. it really has become a sickening sight. the game has been a mockery of this season. if it weren’t for kobe’s magnificent accomplishments and steve nash’s amazing regular season, this year would’ve been one of the worst on record. everyone has talked about how these playoffs have been so exciting, i don’t discount that there has been a high level of excitemnet, but when that level is brought on primarily in my opinion, due to referee error and stupidity, its a farce, a waste, and a complete sham. i feel like i’ve been robbed after watching these games. i feel like i need a shower. i’m serious here, these officials have caused me to cease watching my favorite sport in the world on television.

i’ve got to add here, i am a referee. it is my primary source of income. i spend my time doing what these guys are getting paid hundred’s of thousands of dollars to do. i feel that of any sports fans, i have the right to complain because i know exactly what it is they are continually missing, i’m not just going off because my team is on the losing end. and for the record, i’m complaining when “my” team wins also, because the referees are really that bad.

on to happier topics….

holland 2-1 ivory coast

what a finish. i really thought the ivory coast was going to get the equalizer late into stoppage time. van persie played amazing and had a rediculous free kick early on. late he was back marking and keeping ivory coast efforts out of the net. and guess what, you guessed it, he plays for arsenal and is only 22 years old. that’s what i’m talking about. man of the match is a gunner!
this was a great match to watch. van der vaart really impressed. he’s another one of those youngsters like rooney and messi, who’ve been injured thusfar, but he came on and was a spark.

hopefully there’ll be more of this in the coming weeks.

oh its the mavericks, the old mavericks, back in full effect.

for two and a half games, i could not have been more impressed with the mavericks as a team. they were direct and aggressive. they played with the poise of a championship team. now this last game and a half, they’re back to playing like last year’s playoff’s mavericks. tentative, passive, looking around like they don’t know what they need to do. pretty dissappointing really.

during the first half of game 3 i realized that i really don’t like the heat as a team. they’re a bunch of individuals. they’re old and selfish and theyy are completely uninspiring. i don’t think that professional basketball players realize that they can inspire and lift their fans they way that footballers in europe realize thay can, in fact often their aim is to do just that. there’s a togetherness in football that is alluring beyond anything that american sports can offer. the heat don’t play good basketball. they play in a “let me get mine” kind of way.

- dwayne wade is an absolutely rediculous athlete. he has done things on the court, and continues to do things that amaze me. what is nearly as amazing is how these teams seem to stand around when he starts to drive to the basket. for all his abilities, making his teamates better is not one of them. his teamates seem to stand and watch when he goes to the basket because they know he’s probably not giving it up.

- shaq’s career is nearly over. he’s lost that edge he’s had for so long. as a fan i’ve grown accustomed to him having that dominance and its extremely sporatic now. how can one of the most dominant players in the history of the world, only score 5 points in 28 minutes going 2-5 from the floor and 1-7 from the line? he can’t keep going much longer like this. he did this in the finals mind you. it doesn’t ever get bigger than this. this is why he plays, for rings, and you show up and give that effort. i don’t believe his heart’s in it any longer

- jason williams has caused me to really want to no longer watch the nba finals. his game is ugly, cheap, boring, and a waste of 15-25 minutes a night. he has no purpose, no direction and absolutely NO ability to lead a team from the point position. yet for some reason, the “genius” pat riley starts him every game and continues to give him minutes. during game 3 i kept thinking, where is gary payton? payton’s knickname is ‘the glove’, given to him becuase of his unbelievable defensive ability. he’s also notorious for his mouth, jawing at the opposition or anyone who will listen or who won’t listen. he’s tenacious. payton is a leader on the floor. he’s definitely lost a step, and his game is nowhere, and i mean nowhere close to where it was even 3 years ago, but he’s still a good player, infinitely more useful than williams. williams is known as ‘white chocolate’ and is know for throwing alley-oops more than for being a good basketball player. watching him play, makes me like basketball less. he’s really a waste on the floor. it really boggles the mind that you can play like he does and get paid millions of dollars.

- james posey, antoine walker, and udonis “has-been” haslem are undependable. what you get from them each night is a crap shoot at best. with walker, you know you’re going to get at least 4 or 5 missed 3’s a night. posey might be aggressive, then again he might stand around, and haslem might get you 10 boards, but he might also have several defensive lapses and let the opposing 4 dominate him or have the opposing 3 continually blow past him.
i’m not saying i want the heat to win, because i’m focusing on their team, and not the mavericks. strategically, i feel there are adjustments that riley could make to have the games be a little more interesting and as a want-to-be coach, i see these adjustments that make more sense than the moves that “the genius” according to magic, shaq, wade, charles and countless others, is making. i also wouldn’t want to watch williams play, at all.

i really don’t like the heat’s team.

the mavs have to resume playing like they did in game 1 and game 2 and the first two thirds of game 3. but for a missed dirk free throw, this series might be over right now. crazy how one game, one quarter really can change the outlook of a series entirely.

i just can’t understand why you (the mavericks) don’t want it more. where’s the killer mentality? when you have a team down by 13 and you’re shutting out the lights on their season, their year, their hopes, their playoff lives, and you’re soon to assure your place in nba history, where’s the mentality to go rip the heart out of the team and finishing it by stomping on there last chance to do anything with your total team effort and offensive precision and defensive aggressiveness? (in the heat’s case, if they don’t do anything this year, that might be it for them. riley’s too old as are the rest of them and he’s not up with the “new” as a coach.) where’s the concentration? where’s the love? if you want a ring and a championship and all the money, fame, respect and recognition that comes along with it, where’s the intensity to get it done? how can you not finish a team that you have on the ropes with a swollen-shut eye, and a damaged leg and damaged shoulder. why do you let them up off the ropes?

i cannot for the life of me understand it. i have over the last few years observed the desire to become a coach grow in my heart, and one of the main things i want to coach and teach is having an unbeatable will. having a unbeatable desire. you might have more talent, more height or more money and better facilities than me, but you will not ever want it more or give more effort than me. i RARELY see this mentality in sports. kobe shows signs of it, but some nights he’s not into it, ie. game 7 of the lakers v suns series, where you at kobe? lebron doesn’t have it. shaq’s lost interest, there are players who show signs on given nights, kidd, carter, wade, amare, ray allen, but nobody and i mean nobody had it like mike.

bird had it, i wouldn’t ever want to play against bird or mike. there’s a story about bird during all-star weekend one year, he was in the 3-point shoot-out. before the contest he walked into the locker room and announced to his competitors, “which one of you m-fers is going to come in second?” he then prceeded to go out and absolutely light up the competition. i don’t mean just winning, he went out and hit like 80 or 90% or his 3’s. scored something like 23 in the final round. 25 is hitting all 20 shots with 5 money balls.

why don’t more people play with that kind of passion? i’m not suggesting that everyone start verbally assaulting their opponents and playing the the old ‘bad boys’ from detroit in the late 80’s, but why aren’t more people playing with that fire that gets you out of your seat. more and more and more it seems, i’m left feeling like this.

england go through.

england have played over 180 minutes over 2 games in this year’s world cup. less than 15 minutes of that have been good quality soccer, the other 165 minutes give or take have been some of the most flat, unenthusiastic, boring, wasted, trash heap soccer i have seen in a long time. i have actually thought to myself way too many times, that i’d actually rather turn this off or get out of the house. then i remember that i’m in northern virginia, and if i leave that means one word, traffic.

i grew up a basketball player through and through. i played basketball pretty much all the time except in the middle of the summer in 100+ temps. i played many other sports, but i always labeled myself a ‘baseball playing basketball player’ or whatever other sport i was playing at the time, including soccer. i have always loved soccer but i never made room for it because i was always balling and didn’t have any friends who were kicking around or getting soccer pick-up games together. over the last 2 or so years, i have become a huge fan of the beautiful game.

soccer is a game of emotion and of passion and of togetherness and of excitement. i watch quite a bit of the english premier league on fox soccer channel and la liga and serie a on gol tv and in those leagues emotion and passion and excitement are found in plenty. you will not find these things on the pitch in this world cup as of yet. i have watched all but 3 or so matches and i have found them to be boring, uninspired snooze-fests.

the most dissappointing team to me has been three lions from england. absolutely pitiful. i’ve been eagerly anticipating this world cup for some time now and a majority of that anticipation has been over the england side. their squad is absolutely stocked with world class talent. steven gerrard, frank lampard, john terry, joe cole, michael owen, david beckham (he’s hardly world class aside from his free kicks and crosses, but he’s more than servicable) rio ferdinand, ashley cole, and paul robinson. to say nothing of their large crop of gifted youngsters michael carrick, jermaine jenas, aaron lennon, the unproven and untested yet highly rated theo walcott (who was scooped up by my gunners this january!) and stewart downing, although i have been unimpressed with him.

all of these names without mentioning their best player who is only 20 years old and has been out for 6+ weeks with a broken metatarsal in his right foot, wayne rooney. england is absolutely stacked! they are passionate, energetic, and dynamic players all of them. for their respective club teams, they’re all top performers. i don’t know what their deal is as a national team. not many other countries have as much passion as the english, after all the game was invented in england, but the team is playing absolutely uninspired two games in.

how do you go from being an assassin in your club team to being barely able to put the ball on net? how do you captain your club team to an absolutely EPIC champions league final win, to getting lost at times and being nowhere to be found? how do you not get up for the world cup and not come out absolutely on fire? how do you not kick your teamates in the butt and make them pick up their game? you can lead without wearing the captain’s armband. its not written in stone that the only leader on the pitch is the one with the band around his left arm.

can you hear me terry, gerrard, lampard??!!!!

pick it up!!!

start blasting from all over the place with this new ball that all the goalies hate!

pepper the keeper early and often! let ‘em loose and let owen and crouchie clean up the mess!!!!!!

only one team has come out with purpose and fire and tenacity thus far and that was spain, and their talisman/captain was sitting on the bench!

i know its early yet, and i anticipate the knockout rounds to be crackers, but i truly hope tomorrow and the weekend’s matches are worth watching. i feel a bit like homer simpson in that i’m wearing a dent into the couch with all the matches i’ve been watching. hopefully i’ll start feeling like it was worth it soon. as of now i don’t.

regardless, england are officially through to the next round. i’m looking forward to seeing more of this from stevie g. and the rest of the english lads in the coming weeks.