Category: Sports

  • 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.

  • Tottenham Dodged That Bullet (Unedited)

    I was out of town this past weekend for Memorial Day. The wife had found a cabin in the Vermont woods. A very last minute find and deal at the same time. I say all of this because we, as a family, were attempting to disconnect for three days in the woods and spend time together.

    Except for Sunday morning, when I had to take my phone, and hide in the back bedroom to watch and see if Tottenham was going to get relegated.

    I, several times in fact, had written off Tottenham Hotspur’s season. I had high hopes with Thomas Frank coming in at the start of the season, but I had hope, so there was my first mistake. I gave up on the team, first time around, at the end of 2025. For me, that was the moment that I realized that Spurs was not going to make the top six on the table, so not chance for European play next season. Then I gave up on the team, the second time, when they sacked Frank. Then the third time of giving up on them was when it looked like they were about to get relegated, and West Ham was going to squeak by.

    But the “Relegation Fight” turned out to be way more exciting than I expected. Exciting in a gallows humor sense, I guess. I mean, I was expecting the worst. And to be honest, I sort of felt like the club deserved it. (Not the players, of course. I don’t fully blame them for what happened.) Almost seven years of mismanagement was finally coming to a head, and in a weird way, I thought the only way for Spurs ownership to learn their lesson was for them to go down to the Championship, pay out the nose, and have a half full world class stadium on match day. And the true salt in the wound would be how American football would come into Hotspur Stadium and sell the place out.

    What I got was a mediocre match between Tottenham and Everton. The person I felt very back for was Pickford giving up a goal to these losers. (Good thing Pickford plays better in the World Cup than for his club.) But a winning goal is still a winning goal, and though Tottenham could have made it through with a draw, I was happy that the season did end on a win.

    That will leave next season. I hope Madison stays healthy and can get back into the starting lineup. Same thing for Kulusevski. Maybe some more help on the attack would be good. And the backline still feels like it’s missing one piece to make it solid. I’m not expecting Tottenham to win the League, but I would be happy with a top ten finish.

    Anyway… I got a World Cup to get through, and then I can start putting all my efforts into getting my hopes.

  • 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.

  • Tottenham: I Got My Hopes Up

    (I know that today is May 4th, and I don’t celebrate.)

    With everything going on in my life, and there is a lot, nothing awful is happening, I’m just very busy. As such, I don’t have a ton of time to sit around and watch football. This weekend especially, as me and my family were jammed packed with events. I am saying all of this because, I didn’t have time to watch Tottenham play on Sunday. Sort of…

    With all of the running around I had to do on Sunday, I didn’t think I’d be home in time to watch the match, but as luck would have it, I got home which allowed me to watch the last fifteen minutes of the game. This means that I was first shocked to see Tottenham ahead by tow goals. Then I watched Aston Villa score a goal, and the affect was that I thought Spurs were about to lose, only to actually watch Tottenham win.

    They won a match.

    They aren’t in 18th place anymore.

    I have a little hope.

    I am also aware of how much of a huge mistake “hope” is.

    I decide the best course of action was to start watching Ted Lasso again.