Category: News

  • USA v Belgium (Trump Ruins Everything)

    Monday’s 4-1 USA loss to Belgium was an embarrassment. The USMNT looked scared and timed out there. They couldn’t complete a pass, they were hesitant, and completely got manhandled by mediocre Belgium team. In all honesty, the score could have easily been 6-1. The world Cup Round of 16 is no joke, and not for half ass teams. If you don’t believe me, look at the England v Mexico match, or what Argentina just pulled off on Egypt. In this round, you come to play and give it all to win.

    So, what happened to Team USA?

    In all honesty, I never picked USA to win it all. But what I had seen in the group stage, and how they play against Bosnia lead me to believe that Pochettino had put together a team, and got them into the right head space to not only compete, but to go out there and expect to win. And putting up a good showing is worth it in the World Cup. Telling the world, we came to play, and you need to take us seriously is also part of the exercise. It isn’t always about being the strongest, or the best player in the world. It’s about getting a team to believe that the deserve to be on this stage. Getting a group of players to focus, work as one with a common purpose, and step up with others faulter. It’s about confidence; Sometimes it takes months if not years to build it, but it only takes a second to destroy it.

    And that’s what Trump did to Team USA – his killed their confidence.

    Was the Red Card on Folarin Balogun bullshit? Yes, it was. It shouldn’t have been called. But that’s the game. Refs make the wrong call all the time. You can complain about it. You can protest, but at the end of the day, this is how the game works. All professional sports works this way. There will never be a game where everything is called perfect. The mistakes are part of the game. Overcoming a wrong call, and still winning is what gets you respect from your opponent.

    Trump whining to Gianni Infantino is true to Trump’s brand. He constantly feels like he’s being treated unfairly and complains. Infantino giving in to the complaint was egregious, and just proves how corrupt Gianni Infantino and all of FIFA’s administration is – they will do whatever to keep the money flowing to their pockets. So, shame on FIFA.

    For Belgium, this just added fuel to their fire to show how good they are. They played with a mission to humiliate the USA. To show that Trump’s and FIFA’s meddling was bluntly crass manipulation to engineer a result that was underserved. And that’s what Belgium did. And then they mocked Trump’s dance.

    But it wouldn’t have been the 4-1 drumming if Team USA had just a tad bit of confidence. But how could they, after what Trump had done. There was no winning this game for USMNT. See, if they won the game, then the world would view it as a rigged result. And the team knew it. Everything they did out there was second guessed in the minds. The best example was Matt Freese’s muffed pass that was converted to a goal. You can see in his eyes he just wasn’t sure where to put the ball, which caused his foot to drag on the pitch.

    If Trump would have kept his mouth shut, even if Team USA lost the way they lost, a level of respect would have been earned. But with Trump getting involved, only a loss, an awful, sad, humiliating loss could have expunged the stink of favoritism off the team.

    See, Trump only cares about winning, because he sure as hell didn’t say anything positive or encouraging about Team USA after that match. No, he was nowhere to be seen.

    I want to add that Folarin Balogun didn’t deserve any of this. He showed a courage, grace, and professionalism in the face of unbelievable pressure. He put his head down and played. I would like to say to Folarin Balogun, sorry our President is such a dick and shit on your moment on the world stage that you worked so hard to achieve.

  • Sports News (Unedited)

    Tell me you saw the Knicks game last night!?!?!

    I saw it all except for the 3rd Quarter, and now, I’m kicking myself for that decision.

    See, this is how it went home in my home last night. We all wanted to watch the game, so me, the wife, and the kid we’re all sitting on the couch together. Because that’s what the Knicks do; they bring people together. And it was a painful 1st Quarter. So bad that the kid was asking me if we had to watch it, because it was so bad. But I was like, no! We stick with our team no matter what, because anything could happen. (Not that I believed that in the moment, but it seemed like the right message I should pass on to my kid.) By half time, it was time to put the kid to bed, and move on to other things. After the kid was in her room for the night, I played some Mario Kart, all the while knowing that I was going to go back to the game and see it through the end. When I put it game back on it was at the nine-minute mark with the Knicks down by fifteen. The wife joined me on the couch, and we watched the next eight minutes in relative silence, neither one truly believing what we were seeing. When Brunson scored and gave the Knicks their first lead, that’s when we started the “Holy Shit! I think they might win this!” comment back and forth to each other – like a Meisner exercise. And then the ending! I wasn’t sure what I has seen, had actually happened. It didn’t feel real – did OG really score that? Then the final play, time runs out, Knicks Win! And about a minute later, fireworks start going off in our corner of Harlem. Honestly, it had been a long time since a game completely enraptured me, blocking out the whole world, and also making me see and believe that you should never give up. Never, ever give up. Keep fighting.

    Which also brings me to the start of the World Cup today; Mexico v South Africa.

    I’m just excited for the whole thing to get started. I’m tired of waiting, and just want to spend the next month on the couch watching football, and yelling at the tv. You know, like the rest if the world.

    As for the first match, I have to put my money on Mexico, and I don’t think I am going out on a wire here. They are playing in Estadio Azteca, which will be a wild and rocking place, and with that much energy and excitement behind the Mexico team, I can’t fathom that South Africa will beat them. Hell, if RSA gets one goal on Mexico, they should consider it a win.

    Maybe this goes back to growing up in Texas and my friends, but Mexico is one of my favorite teams to watch. It always feels like they never live up to expectations, but they are a fun group to watch. As of writing this, I don’t know if Ochoa will be starting in goal, but lord in heaven, if he does, then I am expecting a clean sheet from him.

    The second game of the day is rather later for me, and I might be in the throes of putting a kid to bed, so I bet that I will catch the second half of South Korea and Czechia. I’m leaning toward Korea for this one, but I do know that their squad has been hampered by injuries. What that could mean is that South Korea might not go deep in the tournament, but I imagine that they should break out of the group stage. On the other side, being that I know nothing about Czechia, I’m hoping to be surprised and learn something new. A good match would be a fair result.

    Happy Sporting!

  • So… The Knicks Lost

    And it was all Trump’s fault.

    I sure am glad that The Orange One shut down all of New York just so he could fall asleep at the game.

    Hopefully, he learned his lesson and will stay the hell away from Madison Square Garden.

  • ODDS and ENDS: I’m Injured, Meditation, and Making Stuff

    (Generals gather in their masses…)

    Not sure what I did, but I was walking home from Trader Joe’s on Tuesday, and all of a sudden I got this sharp pain in my left ankle. At first the ache was so bad that I thought I was going to have to sit down, but slowly it started to subside. The issue is that everyday since, I continue to have an ache down there. I’ve tried bending and turning my ankle in several different way to see if there is a specific position that causes the pain, but I haven’t figured it out yet. It’s not so bad that I can’t walk, but it has made me nervous to return to the gym and run on the treadmill. It’s just odd.

    I read this article in The Athletic, about how Kobe Bryant used to sit quietly for 15 minutes at the start of each day to center himself. I am on a bit of a self-improvement kick right now, so I thought, what the hell, let’s see if this will work. I am aware that it may take several day if not weeks for there to be any noticeable improvement in my centering, but there has been one change. I no longer doom-scroll in the morning, and I have to admit, that has put me in a much better mood.

    Today at my kid’s school is an art show, and I am very proud to say that my daughter has two pieces on display. I’m about to head out and look at her and her classmates work, which I am looking forward to. The kid has always been a creative type and she has and is still fill sketchbooks of little drawings. When I asked about the work she made for she, I was curious as to my her inspiration was. Her answer; “I don’t know. I just like making stuff.”

  • ODDS and ENDS: World Cup Time, Coffee Shops, and Mother’s Day

    ODDS and ENDS: World Cup Time, Coffee Shops, and Mother’s Day

    (This rock had got to roll…)

    Man typing on laptop in a busy NYC coffee shop with pedestrians outside
    It’s uncanny how much this AI image looks just like me.

    Just about a month until my favorite world sporting event which is run by one of the most corrupt organizations in the world. I speak of FIFA, and I am not the first person to say this, but the funniest at it would be John Oliver back in 2014. I won’t beat that dead horse again, but I will say that outside of the ridiculous train tickets to get to MetLife Stadium, or the lack of hotel reservations, or how everyone thinks the tickets are too expensive, everything seems great for the tournament! I hate the fact that everything going into the World Cup is nothing but greed and bullshit, and at the same time, the whole thing starts in a month, and I am stuipdly excited about it! I download the FIFA app, and yesterday I started looking at the schedule to figure out which matches I will be watching. I have a good feeling for a month, I won’t get shit done. No writing, reviews, or parenting in fact. Nothing will be happening other than me parked in front of my tv watching football.

    I wrote in a coffee shop yesterday and it was pretty cool. I hadn’t done that in a long time, and I was a tad self conscious about it for a minute. But I needed to make a change in my writing habits as I had run into a wall and wasn’t getting the productivity at home like I used to. The main reason was that there are too many distractions at home, which is also one of the big reasons I never liked working from home. I will watch tv and nap before I will get any work done. But if I go to an office, or some place that I am paying to be at, then I have skin in the game and that makes me focus. Which is what I received yesterday in the local coffee place, that was out of my neighborhood, but still was a cool place to be.

    Call your mama.