Round the Horn II

Time for Tilam and Thew to eat 까마귀.

That is crow...in Korean. Michelle Wie made the cut in a men's tournament...in Korea. Maybe we will have to eat 烏鴉 when she makes the cut at the Beijing Open, but I don't expect us to eat الغراب at the Dubai Open (playing in a burqa is a bitch, peace be upon you). Stay tuned.

US MNT. The US Men's National Team has been picked for Germany 2006. The US is ranked 4th (COUGH!) in the world and the squad is predictable and the strongest we have fielded in a while. The MLS MVP for 2005, Taylor Twellman, missed the squad and that seemed to be a mild surprise, but Brian Ching has been on fire for Houston. (Keep up with the goings on at US Soccer; Road to the World Cup and the Soccer Blog.)

It is a Bruce Arena team. Arena is the "equivalent" of Herb Brooks and the USA Hockey team from 1980. He values team play over individual talent. Of course, he sets himself up for second guessing if things do not work out. Group E is tough, but USA has the talent and team to emerge. There defense is not a+, but they do have a outstanding counter-attack. Can we expect an Elite 8 performance again? No, we should demand it.

MLB. Yankees-Red Sox tied atop the AL East. Life is good.

NBA. Are they done yet?

NHL. Time to start paying attention. 'Canes come back as Thew predicted and face the Devils (if there was EVER a good news/bad news scenario, this is it). My feeling is that the playoffs have set themselves up for the team from the East. (Fine, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice that the Top 4 seeds are still around in the East, but the bottom 4 seeds populate the West.) But I will say the Stanley Cup will go to the East Team in 5.

NFL Draft. Ho Hum. It amazes me that they make such a big deal of this. Sure the money is big, but there is not a pro league where there is such a difference in the college/pro levels as in the NFL. I like Reggie Bush, but the first time he is staring straight up at a 300 lb. lineman who just cleaned his clock (but at least he managed to avoid the 340 pounder!), realizes that dirt tastes like shit and hears those words, "Welcome to the NFL;" the thought that will run through his head is "this ain't the Rose Bowl, is it Dorothy?"

Gotta jet.