We Kinda Suck

Just back from the bar, where at 10:50am I had already knocked down three Bud Lites. This is not typical of me, but I have a problem where if I have something in the vicinity, I will eat/drink it. I can't hold a beer in and nurse it gradually. It's there, I can't put it down (standing room only in the bar), and not drinking is just impossible. So I go. That's why I'm back home at halftime.

Oh, and also, the first half was a disaster. 2-0 Slovenia. Our defense is just godawful. In a country of 300 million people, you'd think we could find 3 defenders who weren't slow as shit. Apparently not.

If we lose today, we have precious little shot at advancing. Basically, we need Algeria to draw with England or beat them. Which isn't going to happen, sorry to say. When they showed the population graphic before the game, it was noted that the US has the largest population of any nation in the WC, while Slovenia has the smallest. That's kinda sad.

If soccer really wants to catch on in America, they need a decent team. And if they want a decent team, there's only one course of action:

They need to ban football.

I know it sounds crazy, and maybe I'm just overreacting to a bad first half in a sport I watch once every four years. But right here, right now, I want to ban American football. Granted, I watch and enjoy it about 3,000 times as much as soccer, but I'm sick of sucking at the World Cup. We need to take action. As long as there's a more appealing fall sport, our best athletes won't play soccer. And football is now the most popular sport in the country, so there are just too many incentives for the really elite talents to go in that direction. I'm willing to listen to arguments about banning basketball, too; even though it's in a different season, we don't want anyone focusing too much on a different sport. And let's ban baseball while we're at it. You never know who we might draw from that sport, and MLB is doing just fine with Dominicans and Puerto Ricans and Japanese and etc. They don't need us anymore. My favorite Yankee is already a Dominican. I won't miss the American presence.

I don't even know what I'm talking about. This post is really muddled. Blame a light breakfast and early beer on that.

Should I talk about game 7? Basically, I think Boston blew a huge chance to win. LA wasn't good, and Kobe was actually bad until the very end. I have no idea how Boston didn't win.

Oh yeah, Rasheed Wallace may have been about to get weird with the refs afterward. I actually think he was just going to say goodbye, or something, since he's retiring, and it's kinda sad that they wouldn't talk to him. But there's always that weird chance he was going to get violent, or something, so I can't say I blame them.

HOLY FUCK LANDON DONOVAN SCORED!!!!!!

USA
USA
USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I wish I was back at the bar. One more goal and I'm going to have to re-trace my steps.

I think I had more to say about the finals, but oh well. Oh yes: my favorite moment came after Sheed hit that big three. I was talking with my friend Adam on g-chat, and I said "ANSWER HIM, ARTEST! ARE YOU GONNA TAKE THAT?!" And sure enough, crazy answered crazy- Artest came back and hit a backbreaking three for LA.

God that was a beautiful goal by Donovan. Maybe we'll win this match??? Our offense looks fairly dynamic, but that friggin' defense...maybe Tim Howard can save us again.

Nice weekend for sports: World Cup, Subway Series, US Open. Enjoy it!