Sport

Potpourri

Predictably i’ve gone silent in the summer lull for college sports, but if all those old-time sports editors across the nation can write rambling columns (”Hitting to all bases”, the guy in Springfield used to call it; “Random ruminations while wondering what happened to…” was another from Huntsville or Nashville, i forget which) then so can i.

  • I’m at Buffalo Wild Wings watching the USA – Uruguay Under-20 World Cup match, u-200-0 after ten minutes. The US has really done itself proud in this competition so far, beating Brasil and sending that country’s sportswriters into tilt. (How could the Seleção lose to this rag-tag bunch of infidels from a country that barely knows they exist? Futebol is the one topic that gets Brasilian journalists sounding fatalistic enough to be Argentines.)
  • The Copa America didn’t go so hot — three and out, two goals scored, eight allowed — but it comes with a ready-made excuse. We sent a B team, like half of South America typically does for the CA really, and paid for it with our hides. As recently as last summer i was arguing passionately that the US should play in the CA at all costs, even if it meant sending an overmatched B squad because the Euro-based players couldn’t get free for both the Gold Cup and CA. I still believe that, but damn, it’s depressing to get walloped like our A team used to!
  • Uruguay having the better of this so far. They hit the netting at about 15′, just got a dangerous cross into the box for the requisite dive, and in general look a lot more active than the US.

Predictably i’ve gone silent in the summer lull for college sports, but if all those old-time sports editors across the nation can write rambling columns (”Hitting to all bases”, the guy in Springfield used to call it; “Random ruminations while wondering what happened to…” was another from Huntsville or Nashville, i forget which) then so can i.

  • I’m at Buffalo Wild Wings watching the USA – Uruguay Under-20 World Cup match, u-200-0 after ten minutes. The US has really done itself proud in this competition so far, beating Brasil and sending that country’s sportswriters into tilt. (How could the Seleção lose to this rag-tag bunch of infidels from a country that barely knows they exist? Futebol is the one topic that gets Brasilian journalists sounding fatalistic enough to be Argentines.)
  • The Copa America didn’t go so hot — three and out, two goals scored, eight allowed — but it comes with a ready-made excuse. We sent a B team, like half of South America typically does for the CA really, and paid for it with our hides. As recently as last summer i was arguing passionately that the US should play in the CA at all costs, even if it meant sending an overmatched B squad because the Euro-based players couldn’t get free for both the Gold Cup and CA. I still believe that, but damn, it’s depressing to get walloped like our A team used to!
  • Uruguay having the better of this so far. They hit the netting at about 15′, just got a dangerous cross into the box for the requisite dive, and in general look a lot more active than the US.
  • The news about Gordon Gee came as quite a shock today, especially since he turned own “The” Ohio State a few weeks back. I don’t doubt that the Board of Trust will hire another good Chancellor — David Williams and Bernie Machen were two names floating around VS — but being a good Chancellor doesn’t mean being as supportive of sports as Gee was. I didn’t agree with everything he did, but i will miss him.
  • I’ve beaten a dead horse about my lack of interest in baseball, but i do love the All-Star Game. I have a strong attachment to seeing each player in his own team’s uniform, one side all-white and the other all-gray, unity and diversity. I don’t get sappy about much but the ASG always interests me. Especially seeing guys like Gil Meche, Michael Young, and Carl Crawford as their teams’ only representatives. If they ever got rid of the one-player-from-each-team rule, i probably wouldn’t watch.
  • Uruguay with a deep free kick. Oh wow, i had forgotten that Right-Way Rongen was our youth coach. How weird is that? I don’t feel good about that fact, though.
  • On the adjoining TV they have the summer league game between the 76ers and Suns. Hope i get to see Byars!
    That all i got for now.
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