The Answers Are...

1. Yes, with the overwhelming support of the black community. But he is likely to be forced out.

2. Nothing as far as I know, but she is having a baby.

3. It is futile!

...and justice for all

Opening Question: Did Mike Nifong actually win the election?

Second Question: How much money did the little ghetto trollop make during the course of this investigation?

Third Question: How can I argue with Tilam when he makes such excellent points?

The Duke Lacrosse Hoax

The card house is collapsing. The rape charges have been dropped by the DA's office against the Duke lacrosse players, but inexplicably, the sexual assault and kidnapping charges remain. I figure those will be dropped soon enough (but too late for these young men).

Further, the NC State Bar has brought an ethics complaint against the DA Mike Nifong. (As always, KC Johnson has all the deets.) This is an extraordinary move in the middle of this case. After all the "these white kids are GUILTY" rhetoric coming from the prosecution and the black community, to have the state bar say that the DA's conduct amounted to "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" further prejudices any jury pool.

As for the DA, he is done. Butter him up 'cause he is toast. He will have to cut a deal not to get disbarred. And he won't be able to get a job flippin' burgers in Durham.

I say, "Great!"

The justice system in this country is too beholden to politics and personal vendettas. There is no "sniff test" to prevent frivolous lawsuits in this country. In an instance where I was sued for settlement money, the judge noted for the record that she did not believe that the plaintiff had "any likelihood of prevailing on the merits." Okay...so why is this farce allowed to continue?

Mike Nifong brought this case to win an election. He has destroyed several years of these young men's lives. Sure, the charges will be dropped, but to paraphrase Ray Donovan, "where do they go to get their reputations back?"

Vick's Vapor Rub

Two quick comments on Michael Vick.

First, he is a very good QB and a very good running back...he is not "great" at either. Being very good will take you to modest winning season, but will not win you a Super Bowl. Hotlanta is a nutty sports town and its obsession with Vick and his almost winning ways is not unique. Witness the Braves.

Second, will Vince Young be Michael Vick 2.0? With The Young/Vick model of QB, the offense becomes increasingly complex to run effectively. The offensive linemen are never quite sure where the QB will be (pocket? what pocket?) and the receivers are often in a difficult position to effectively block for a QB run. Not impossible, but hard.

Wake up and smell the coffee!

I used to live in Atlanta. Those football fans have such a hard-on for Michael Vick it's pathetic. The prototype of the athletic quarterback. The mold of the future...

GET A FRIKKIN GRIP. Vick is a gifted athlete, but that's all he is. He's not a quarterback. Sure he can gun the ball, but his accuracy and touch are nominal at best. Sure he can run, but he can't pass, and most of all, he can't lead the Falcons to the promised land. Everyone is all agog over the fact that he's the first quarterback to run for over 1000 yards in a season; but HELLO ATLANTA, your precious team is 7-8 and definitely on the OUTSIDE looking in on the playoff picture. You can brag about Vick's athleticism and such, but you have nothing to show for it...

God, this inane hero worship...

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus

By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897.

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus

-Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

***

More background on the most published editorial in any English language newspaper here. The original image is here.

Merry Christmas.

A Top 2 - 6 List

Mrs. Tilam ranks as the #1 beautiful woman in the world to moi. (Does being captain of the cheerleading squad count as an athlete?) But in response to Thew's DETAILED post, I offer my current numbers 2 - 6.

#2

Diane Lane

#3

Melissa Theuriau

#4

Alessandra Ambrosio

#5

Kate Beckinsale

#6

Petra Nemcova

My next post will address the sporting gals.

Babe watching...my second favorite pasttime!

Top 20 most beautiful athletes?

Well, let me start off first by saying my beautiful hoops playing/coaching wife, Mrs Thew, is tops. She's the champion. All the rest are just bench warmers.

And I will state my "top 5" of the current crop of hollywood hotties. Women I'd ask for a free weekend pass for from the wife (not that I'd get it, but it's fun to dream):

Jessica Biel
Kate Beckinsale
Jessica Alba
Jessica Simpson
Rebecca Romijn

Rachel Hunter gets an honorable mention, as does Diane Lane, Jodie Foster, and Rene Russo. Brangelina is no, Lohan is not even appealing to me in the least. Oh, and Sandra Bullock gets my "love to see her in a schoolgirl outfit" vote.

Now on the the MOTTS...

First my "WTF are they thinking?!"
Michelle Wie (you know she holds a special place in my heart)
Anastasia Myskina (bag her)
Marion Jones (she's more of a man than I am after all those steroids)
Daniela Hantuchova (clearly, someone has stolen her breasts and replaced them with...nothing)

Next my "yeah, little dim lighting and some mazola and I'm okay"
Lisa Leslie
Becky Hammon
Anna Rawson
Gretchen Bleiler
Alisa Camplin
Amy Acuff (if I can ever reach high enough to smooch her!)
Carrie Tollefson (hmm, bit on the emaciated side)
Maria Sharapova
Sasha Cohen

Lastly, my "spot on chap!"
Veronica Kay
Natalie Coughlin
Tara Dakides
Tanith Belbin
Malia Jones
Anna Kournikova
Gabriella Reece

And the list you've been waiting for...My Top 20!
Cory Everson
Jenny Finch
Katarina Witt
Summer Sanders
Natalie Coughlin
Tara Dakides
Natalie Gulbis
Malia Jones
Anna Kournikova
Gabriella Reece
Mia Finnegan
Danica Patrick
Stacey Dales (used to be Dales-Schulman, woo! she's avaiable)
Gabriella Sabatini
Stac Keibler (did you see her in "Dancing with the Stars"?)
Jan Stephenson
Carling Bassett (remember her? best canadian import since Hockey and Labatts)
Heather Mitts

Ah well, I could only come up with 18 - but I'm already running a fever!

TILAM?

Around the Horn - Special Year End Edition

Last HoF comment. Jeff Bagwell just retired from the Astros. I would say he is a near lock for the HoF.

As usual, I will leave the NHL commentary to our resident Goon, Thew. My only point is that I think that hockey (like soccer) offers better player comparisons because of the relative stability of the game and equipment over the years. No major rule changes (ala the DH) and no big equipment changes (ala golf), so maybe it is more appropriate then in other sports. (I am not saying it IS, just moreso.)

The Nothin' But Assholes league. Too much said already.

In the MLB, there seems to be much smoke, but I am not sure how much fire. I am happy to see Pettitte back with the Bombers, but I am not sure how much he will bring to the table given his health problems. Suffice to say the Yankees-Red Sox will be fun again.

Bode Miller is back on top of the Skiing World Cup standings. I am not sure who cares, but it would be nice for this guy to turn his life around.

In soccer, you have got to like the efforts of Didier Drogba for Chelsea. In the consummate team sport, this guy seems to be carrying the team with clutch play and goals. Here is the Everton match review including Drogba's goal. Funny bit of commentary at the end concerning the "poor" defending. Balderdash! If Alan Stubbs, the Everton defender, pulls up tight, Drogba runs right by him. You don't play that tight at 35 yards. To call it a botched defense unfairly discredits the goal.

Finally, in the only important sports news, several SI swimsuit models offer their take on the 20 Best Looking Athletes male & female. I will say you can tell the panel were women, because I think they blew the female list. My challenge to Thew (which I will post on in the next day or two) is: Name Your Top 20.

Game On.

Always back with a vengeance...

Hall of Fame Discussions...
Big Mac, I think, needs to be in the Hall of Fame. The ONLY thing he's been identified as using was Andro (which I have used, btw, to a fair bit of success) - he has never been proven to have used steroids, and I think his record and accomplishments show his place in the HoF. 49 HRs as a rookie in 1988 is a good and solid start imo. But we've beaten this dead horse...

NHL - ESPN has this poll of "the greatest hockey line of all time". Well that's just stupid in my opinion. We talk about the greatest of all time in golf (Tiger v Jack), why are we getting into this in hockey too? It's just to feed the lame couch athletes who yap around the watercooler during morning coffee break. On the other hand, since I am one of those lame couch athletes, I will weigh in with my personal perference: the top line of hockey has to contain Wayne Gretzky, period. The greatest hockey player of all time cannot be denied his place on this list. I'm not sure how I can NOT include such unbelievably talented players like Adam Oates (a player who could find an open player even if he were in a coma), Stevie Yzerman (a player whose leadership and skill simply WILLED the Red Wings to a Stanley Cup), or Mark Messier (New York Rangers, 1994, playoff guarantee, subsequent hat trick), but I'm sorry, I do. On the Great One's elbow has to be Super Mario. His skill, size, speed, vision, and soft hands can label him as one of the greatest of all time, argument. I believe he was better 1 v 1 than Wayne, but Gretzky really made the players around him much better than Mario did (not that Mario didn't, don't get me wrong). On Wayne's other elbow really can only be the Flower, Guy Lafleur. It was he who owned many of the records that Wayne broke in his career...although if you said "hey stupid, put Mike Bossy in his place" I really couldn't argue. But I'll go with Lafleur-Gretzky-Lemieux. Aside from the above, I give major honorable mention to players such as Sergei Federov, Brett Hull (yes, Brett Hull, as pure a sniper as the game has ever seen), Ron Francis (did you know that he had more points in his career than Mario Lemieux?), Denis Savard, Marcel Dionne, Mr Hockey, Boom Boom Geoffrion, and Rocket Richard.

NBA - another image issue for the dumb ass thugs in the NBA. 'Melo goes berserk after Isiah Thomas orders a hard foul and is now suspended for 15 games, so now the NBA has lost it's poster child and leading scorer. What boggles Mrs Thew is how people still attend these games and corporations still advertise with this frikkin league...but as always, the almighty dollar forgives many transgressions. Why do people still give a shit about this sport? Stick to college, it's more pure and exciting...

MLB - here's a gem from the Bronx. Darryl Strawberry thinks the Yankees' clubhouse is beset by bad chemistry that can be cured only one way: Derek Jeter needs to "embrace" Alex Rodriguez. Hoo Hoo! That's beautiful coming from the Strawman. But I gotta say, if there is anyone who would know about "chemist-try" besides Doc Gooden and Bobby Brown, it's Darryl. I guess now DJ should hold it for A-Clod when he pees? Puhleeze. Quit coddling and babying A-Clod, he's the highest paid player in baseball, he needs to understand that in the Bronx, your regular season doesn't count for SHIT if you don't win the world series. For his performance in the post-season, A-Clod is the most overpaid player in the history of baseball. Well, maybe not the history, but he is way overpaid. This "touchy feely" bullshit is now spilling over from lazy parents to head case professional baseball players...sheesh. Plus, he really screwed up when he dissed DJ in an article in Esquire in 2001 - never forget that the feet you step on today might be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow. Oh, and WELCOME BACK ANDY PETTITE...it's about freaking time you came home dumbass...

NFL - it's official, my Vikings SUCK. So Ladanian Tomlinson broke the single season touchdown record. Good for him. LT has been a star in this league for a while. And it's of note to realize that he's already rushed for 1600+ yards, so it's not like he's Jerome Bettis and has 20 TD's and 100 yards on the season. This guy in running wild.
Looks like T.O. spit on someone last weekend. Typical of T.O., he's just not satisfied leading the league in receiving touchdowns, he wants to stay in the limelight because of stupid shit, so he loses control and spits on DeAngelo Hall. Will this guy ever just go quietly into that good night?
Other than that, let's talk about world stuff...ah, screw it, Tilam's got that covered for now, I have nothing to add that would make us seem any more intelligent that we already do...
By the way, you didn't tell me I'd have to part the red sea to use the upgraded version of Blogger...

Baseball HoF

Who I would like to see and who will get in are two different things.

I agree with Thew that Ripkin Jr. and Gwynn are shoo-ins. Top talent and good guys. I think Jim Rice is deserving, but will not make it, and that is probably the case with Alan Trammell (I would say he was a better Tiger then Morris). (Though I think Trammell makes it before Rice.)

Donny Baseball would, in a fair world, get in, but won't. And I am sad to see Steve Garvey miss the HoF train. Gossage and OH will get a look, but a brief one.

Now, for McGuire. I think he should make it. He was arguably the first "super slugger," but if the voters read the words "steroid slugger" instead, he loses. Unlike Bonds, McGuire was a big boy from the get-go and McGuire used a non-banned substance, so I think he should be fine.

Here is a question: are steroids different from a corked bat?

More Mid East Crap

I made a point last January that TIME magazine finally catches up with: Arabs do not give a rat's ass about the Palestinians. They use it as an excuse to distract the West from the Sunni/Shiite powerplay occurring in the region.

In 632, the Profit Mohammed died. The elders appointed Abu Bakr as his successor despite the protests of those who said the Profit appointed Ali ibn Abi Talib as his rightful successor. Ali finally became Caliph for 5 years from 656 to 661 and is known as the last of the "rightly guided caliphs." After Ali's assassination, and coincident with the rise of the Umayyad dynasty (Sunni), the Sunnis and the Shiites have been fight each other. And the have not stopped since.

Iraq is the latest battlefield in this centuries old war. The US is not the problem. The fighting won't stop because we leave. The "sectarian" violence that plagues that country has plagued Islam for 1,345 YEARS! Saudi Arabia (Sunni) will never allow Iran (Shiite) to dominate Iraq, so it funds the Sunni insurgency. Iran wants to dominate Iraq, so it fund the Shiite militias.

The solution is majority (Shiite) control with inalienable rights (and oil money) granted to Sunnis. The Iraqi Kurd and Saudis (Egyptians?) should be "persuaded" to be an honest broker in this process. There are some indications that the Saudis are waking up to the reality that if the US leaves, the Saudis' lives will become much, much more complicated.

Good. It is about time.

UPDATE: Diana West from the Washington Times: Let'em kill each other.

I needed to have my "drivel" translator on it seems...

I understand everything you said. And if you re-read my last post, I jump on to your bandwagon about sports. And my example was close to home, since my daughter is a "casualty" of the young people sports machine that exists in today's society. BUT...

The reason I took umbrage to your post is that your counter-argument to a dearth of MLS(Pro) goals was a plethora of goals in a U10 league. And I say...no correlation. And then you come in with an entirely different post later and tell me I missed the point of the first one. Good thing you're not a lawyer!

How About Typing Shallower

Michael Irwin is in trouble and has been fired by ESPN.

Chicago objects to The Nativity Story sponsoring a Christmas celebration!

The two are similar in that the PC culture has gone nuts. Irwin is no Mel Gibson and the Chicago party is called "Christkindlmarket." Can we just calm down here?

Perhaps I Should Type Slower...

Thew must be purposefully antagonistic, because he ain't this dense.

Sports in America is a continuum from the first kick or hit to the last. To say that the youth game is the same as the pro game is silly, but to say that players at the top of the U10 game play in a certain way that changes by the time they are at U21 or in the MLS is not.

The Little League World Series pits the best baseball players in middle school against each other. Those games are played with certain characteristics that are different the when the Yankees and Sox square off. But you can trace the evolution of the game as the kids age. Whether it is ability (pitching improves) or equipment (aluminum to wood bats), you can see the game grow with the players.

I have two data points on the soccer continuum: the high scoring youth games and the low scoring pro games. What I am looking for is the point in between; the points where the game changes in character. A tadpole and a frog are different, but you can trace the development of the tadpole as it becomes a frog and see how the characteristics change on the way.

It is clear soccer's characteristics change as its players age...and not for the better (I think we can agree). I am just trying to identify and correct the problem.

Perhaps you're speaking Swahili?

A direct quote from your post...

"SoccerBlog is lamenting the lack of coverage...and complains about the drought of goals. But not all soccer in America is 'goal challenged.'"

My son's team....yadda yadda yadda..."Who says goal scoring is not part of soccer?".

You are comparing the draught of goals in MLS with the plethora of goals on your son's U10 team. Did I miss that point?

I am merely saying that comparing an abundance of goals on a U10 team to the lack of scoring in MLS is a silly comparison. If I missed the point, then you need to 'splain it again, Lucy. Because you then go on a rant about how many kids are dropping out of sports from 6th to 9th grade, and how do things change that leads to this, a real social policy diatribe. You were talking about goal scoring versus NOT goal scoring! Your blog on social policy and the youth sports climate is RIGHT ON, and I take no issue with it. But that was not what you were talking about, you were talking about "well, even though there is a dearth of goals in the MLS, there is a cornacoppia of scoring on my U10 team!" Get your arguments straight dood...

Now, about your social policy post, I can give you a HUGE reason why kids are dropping out. Sports aren't fun for the kids. You should see the crazed screaming psycho sports parents stalking the sidelines during games, even for 10 year olds. They scream at the kids, coach the kids, yell at the kids, howl at the other parents (how many fights?); it's pathetic, but that is the sports climate we have fostered in this country. WIN WIN WIN. BE A PRO, MAKE A TON OF MONEY! GET A COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP! We make it a job, when it should just be fun for the kids, serious later. There is so much pressure on the kids these days to win and perform and get better, we forget how much fun they really WANT it to be. So we, as parents, take the joy out of the game, and the kids lose interest. Having a daughter who decided to give up soccer after years of scoring goals and being an all star and making the "A" level travelling team, I know this closely. The coach making comments about her weight as she hit her teenage years (little 13 year old poundage gain), playing favorites, the pressure, the cliques, all turned her off to the game she so loved since she was little. Now she's an alternate band loving ("Death Cab for Cutie"???) eye piercing wanting artsy fartsy young lady who loves nothing more than to just chill in front of the TV or window shopping at Sephora. Almost like a rebellion against the mainstream...and her father. :)

THAT, I agree with Tilam on. Perhaps I missed his point, or perhaps he needs to explain it better.

Oh, and for the record, in little league, I only had ONE hit that season. So "swinging the bat" for me is, in reality, stretching it a bit.

ROFL!

Biting Off More then You Can Thew

As usual, in an effort to go for the jugular, Thew misses the point…and then everything else.

My question as to the MLS is “does something happen to the character of the game as the kids get older?” Here is a statistic: 70% of kids in sports in America drop out from participating in sports programs from 6th through 9th grade. This is across all sports.

As a licensed coach in youth soccer, I can say this is a HUGE concern for our league: to wit, how do we keep kids engaged. Now I would suggest that much of that dropout is multi-sport athletes focusing on one sport. But I would also propose that they are FORCED to focus on one sport because the demands of youth sports are very different now then they were when Thew and I were kicking a soccer ball or swinging a bat. Further, if that is the case, how do we as soccer coaches get the kids to pick OUR sport.

But there are a multitude of factors involved here and Thew is wrong when he says “it doesn’t matter what happens with a bunch of 6th graders…”. It most certainly does. The youth sports shape the character of professional sports to a great degree. From the simplest things like safety to more complicated concepts like sportsmanship, what you learn when you are young shapes the way you act and play as an adult…for better or worse.

As for diving and flopping, I would say that that is more of a problem with European leagues then in the MLS and is akin to asking “what about the fact that very few U10s speak Italian!” It is clear that kids will go up and adapt advantageous rules, but I digress.

My point is the beautiful game is evident in the youth leagues, so how can we continue to encourage the players, as they age, not to lose that desire to dent the twine.

Hall of Fame and Q-back Wannabes...

So there is some noteworthy stuff to chat about today...

Michael Vick gave the entire Georgia Dome the finger after being booed while walking off the field after the Falcon's 4th straight loss (to the Saints). Of course he apologized for it, and I'm sure it was borne of a great deal of frustration, but let's be honest - VICK SUX! Okay, maybe not "SUX", but he isn't an NFL quarterback, when are people going to realize that? I bitch about Michael Vick almost as much as I laugh at Michelle Wie; the guy is a phenomenal athlete with blazing speed, but he's NOT a quarterback. Now, it's important to mention that his receivers have hands of stone, but still, he is NOT the solution to Atlanta's future, regardless of how much marketing and fan appeal he has. But now we are seeing the issue - when the pressure is on, and Vick tries to be a quarterback of the traditional type. bad things happen...

Oh Ben Roethlisberger, how far have you fallen my friend...

HERE is a discussion that will prove interesting, not only between TILAM and I, but around water coolers and board rooms across the country...the MLB Hall of Fame candidates have been announced. And you guessed it, Big Mac is on the list. Mark McGwire is one of the higher profile players up for consideration, but certainly one of the most controversial...there are a TON of players who should get serious consideration, but I'm not convinced there are more than a few "oh yeah, this guy should be in the hall". Cal Ripken, Jr, is a sure bet imo. Same for Tony Gwynn, a consummate hitter if there ever was one despite his doughboy frame (e tu John Kruk?). But I see no real sure fire players from among the list after those two. Big Mac should be evaluated on his merits (which are pretty good) and NOT on the steroid rumors (hey, I did a cycle of Andro and put on 10 pounds with serious exercise and diet) even though I'd give it 60% chance that he probably did them. Other people who are going to get serious consideration are: Lee Smith, Jim Rice, Dave Parker, Jack Morris, Don Mattingly, Goose Gossage, Steve Garvey, and Orel Hershiser, some of whom are not on their first ballot, btw. I don't see anyone else from the list getting inducted. TILAM?

USC whooped up on Notre Dame. It was a great game but I don't think it was as close as the score would indicate, even though they won by 20 points. :)

Well, I guess there's nothing else in the world worth noting...Thew out.

He's BAAAAAACK

Thew is back after a short hiatus dealing with a cross country move.

Lemme tell ya, there is NOTHING between Tulsa, OK and Bakersfield, CA, but road, tumbleweeds, mountains, and dirt. And that includes any of the little broke down welfare wannabe towns along the way. It is one of THE most boring drives you'll ever do, but it's also one of the most interesting at the same time, seeing rock formations and the interesting landscapes. But frankly, strap on your iPod, set the cruise control, and watch the miles go by...

So, back to spew my rantings as I know you've been waiting for, dear readers...

Puskas has pass away, the soccer world has indeed lost one it's very best.
Milton Friedman is now in that great classroom in the sky as well - truly one of the most forward and influential thinkers of this past century.

Okay, enuf of that drivel...

Soccer in America - I take issue with Tilam's account of soccer goals in a U10 league compared to the MLS. Big deal. Now, I know the son in question, and he's a natural athlete that one, but a 10 year old team scoring goals in droves is HARDLY the counter-argument to a dearth of goals in MLS, and quite frankly, many of the other premier leagues around the world. I hardly see the comparison. Are you saying "well, they score a bunch of goals when they are kids, why aren't they scoring goals when they're adults?". *boggle* Unfortunately, it doesn't matter what happens with a bunch of 6th graders, what matters is that the MLS title game was a BORING 1-1 draw with a little bit of excitement in PK's. THAT is the issue here, THAT is the problem we need to fix. Drawing upon a comparison to 10 year olds simply doesn't compute with me, sorry Tilam. Also, let me ask THIS question in response to what I think your point is..."the U10 kids don't dive and flop around like a fish out of water, yet they do in all the pro leagues, what's THAT about?". Go ahead, start the flaming...

Aside from that, nice season, give your son my congratulations.

In "what has she done DIFFERENT lately?" department, Michelle Wie shot an 81 in a men's event in Japan. When will this end, I wonder...

Tiger won his 7th Grand Slam of golf. This guy is pure scary...

So Larry Coker was fired as the coach of the Miami Hurricanes. It's about damm time. He was a shitty coach who took a great program and turned it into the laughing stock of Florida. His national title was accomplished with OTHER players than his recruits. He recruited idiots to play but couldn't get them to perform on the field, they were too busy getting into trouble with the law off the field. Fights, guns, etc - I don't even thing the 'Canes are SNIFFING the top 25 in the AP poll. This is a quality lesson in "just because you recruit athletes to play it doesn't mean you're going to win if you recruit assholes".

NFL
Is there a hotter quarterback than Tony Romo of the Cowboys?
Has ANYONE learned the lesson of "winning and playing well will keep T.O.'s mouth shut!" yet?
Does anyone doubt Phillip Rivers anymore in San Diego?

NBA
Is there anyone who really gives a shit about the NBA?

MLB
So the Sawx won the lottery to speak with Matsuszaka. Was it more important to spend the money to keep him from the Yankees? Or was it important to land a pitcher? Also, so he lit up the Japanese league, how do you think he's going to do in the MLB? When the hitters and scouts chart him and figure him out, what do you think is going to happen? Light him up like a Chrismas tree. That is my prediction.
Soriano to the Cubbies...is it only me who says "Wood and Prior are NOT the tandem of the future, get some PITCHING!"
So Justine Morneau wins the MVP over DJ. I don't have a significant problem with this result, because frankly, Morneau is a great player who finished with a great season. But I'd have still given the nod to Jeter, whose history of quality play should have, imo, weighed a bit more in the judges mind. One quality season isn't enough, I hope Morneau proves this a valid choice in the years to come.

That's about it, I'll have more dirt to throw at Tilam soon enough.

The Galloping Major

Ferenc Puskas has died. He was one of the true greats of international soccer with a per game goals scored average greater then Pele.

From ESPN: "Puskas starred in two of the most famous games in European soccer history -- scoring twice in Hungary's stunning 6-3 upset over England at Wembley Stadium in 1953, and scoring four goals in Real Madrid's 7-3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 European Cup final." As a side note Di Stefano scored a hat trick in the Real-Eintracht game. In 1999, he was voted the 6th best soccer player of the 20th century, though I think he was arguably better then that.

The game has changed since Puskas' time with the mid-field and defenses more dominant then ever. Those fans who bristle at a 1-0 or 1-1 game will appreciate the striker oriented mentality that dominated the international game in the 50s and 60s when Puskas, Di Stefano and Pele reigned supreme. And scores of 6-3 and 7-3 were far more common.

The world of soccer lost a true superstar.