Not to get too political, but has anyone seen that video of Katie Britt, the Senator from Alabama, where they zoom in on her face as she figures out that they made a huge, embarrassing mistake in trying to “trap” Jack Smith over an Atlanta Hawks game he never attended? Its this video:
Ever since I saw that video, I’ve had the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme playing in my head on repeat.
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.
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.
(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.”
