Yes, He Can

ESPN the Magazine: LIFE OF REILLY
I needed to know: can Obama pick a fantasy team? So I asked him.

Yes, he can.

Pierce & Garnett on ESPN

I want Kevin Garnett's earrings.

Champions League Exit

MOTM
Chelsea player Didier Drogba celebrates after Chelsea beat Liverpool during the second leg of a Champions League semi-final game at Stamford Bridge in London. Chelsea won 3-2 to qualify for the final in which they will play Manchester United.
(AFP/Carl de Souza)
Chelsea beat Liverpool 3-2 yesterday in overtime to advance (4-3) to the Champions League Final in Moscow on May 21st.

Rafa made some baffling personnel selections; no Peter Crouch as usual, even though this was a must-win, must-score-to-win game and Crouch has an excellent record of scoring goals in international matches, for club and country. Riise and Arbeloa at the wing backs. I'd rather see Stevie Finnan hopping on one leg than Arbeloa, but I'm not Rafa. Arbeloa got beat like a rented mule on Chelsea's first goal.

Ryan Babel on the bench. Jermaine Pennant on the bench. Bennie Onion at least provided a little offensive spark, and created Liverpool's only goal in regulation time (and got subbed out early for his troubles), but Xavi Alonso was invisible as he has been for much of the year. Dirk Kuyt was so bad the ESPN announcers never even said "He works so hard" once during the game. Kuyt has the worst first touch I've ever seen. The ball bounces so far off his feet you'd swear he kicked it.

Rafa claimed Torres was hurt when he subbed him out for Babel in the 2nd overtime, but that was a stunning move when goals were critical. And then Babel scored that incredible 40-yard strike goal and you had to wonder, why wasn't he in from the beginning?

And it must be said, the pre-game taunting of Drogba by Rafa was nothing short of disastrous. MOTM Drogba made him pay & pay dearly with his two goals.

This morning I watched the highlowlights on SportsCenter and got a good laugh. These guys really know nothing about soccer. Steve Levy did the voiceover and pronounced Sammy Hyypia "Huppeeuh". And Frank Lampard he called "Lamperd". Just pronounce that one like its written, moron. Lamp - ard. Or call him Lamps and avoid the gaffe. You just know that Levy has never actually watched an entire soccer game. Never. From now on I'm going to call Levy (Lee - vee) "Levee". (I expect better from an Oswego graduate.)

I'm an American so I don't have the Manchester United hate you get when you grow up a Liverpool fan in England. So I'll root for the Mancs in the final, for Paul Scholes, the best English player of his generation, who didn't get to play in ManU's last Champions League final in 1999 due to suspension. And I just can't root for Chelsea, the unlikeable Blues, Terry, Lampard, Cashley and co.

If Liverpool had won, it would have been an all-Reds final in Moscow. So appropriate. Warren Beatty would have had to attend. But Chelsea has its own connection to communism, as Roman Abramovitch looted the money he used to buy the Blues from the Russian people as communism collapsed in a frenzy of capitalistic greed. Another reason I can't root for Chelsea.


Guardian (uk): Player Ratings

Guardian (uk): Benítez left with empty feeling and unclear future
A trophyless season will do Liverpool's manager no favours in Anfield's civil war

Independent (uk): Chelsea 3 Liverpool 2 (Chelsea win 4-3 on agg): Lampard summons remarkable courage to fire Chelsea through

Independent (uk): Moscow prepares for an English invasion

Telegraph (uk): Liverpool manager Benitez looks to the future

The Times (uk): Absent Roman Abramovich gets his home brew

Liverpool Echo: Chelsea 3 - Liverpool 2
AT least there’s no need to worry about those Russian visas anymore.

Must-See TV

Earl Monroe: Clips from Philadelphia's Baker League; He Got Game; Winston-Salem State; Baltimore Bullets; NY Knicks.

ESPN will be showing the second part of their new two-part documentary, Black Magic, tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. It's about the civil rights movement and how black basketball players first, got to play and then changed basketball.

I only caught the last half hour tonight (thanks to this post on BoingBoing) and was entranced. College footage of
Dennis Barnett, Willis Reed, Bob Love, and other great players, and lots of interviews.

Tomorrow night will feature the story of Earl The Pearl Monroe, Black Magic himself. When I was a kid I saw him play for the Baltimore Bullets in Madison Square Garden against the Knicks, before he was traded to the Knicks in 1971. I remember being surprised to hear the black people sitting around us high in the cheap seats calling The Pearl "Magic". The white announcers always called Monroe Pearl, never Magic. This was my first introduction to the fact that there was a black culture and I knew very little about it.

Dave O'Brien Out?

Please God, for the sake of all that is holy, let it be so:

Kenn.com: Major Shakeup in MLS Broadcasting

Confirmed: Dave O’Brien and Eric Wynalda are out as MLS’ #1 broadcast team and will be replaced by JP Dellacamera and John Harkes.

Please, please, please, let them be out as the USSoccer announcers, too. If I ever have to hear Dave O'Brien reveal his sketchy knowledge of soccer again, it will too soon.

Maybe they're finally listening to us?

ESPN - PLEASE Show Dave O’Brien A Red Card!

WSJ: Fans Say ESPN's World Cup Coverage Deserves Penalty

SportsFilter: Prefer a language you don't understand over Dave O'Brien?

Armchair GM: ESPN Needs to Get Rid of Dave O'Brien for Soccer

Broadcasting & Cable: Time For ESPN To Bench Dave O'Brien

Footie News

Oguchi Onyewu taunts the fans after being sent off in the 73rd minute.
AP
The US men's national team eked out a 1-0 win against Guatemala in the Gold Cup last night. Not carried on English-speaking TV, but I watched it on Telemundo. The good news: Great goal by Clint Dempsey (video here), with assists from Taylor Twellman and DaMarcus Beasley. Bad news: Despite being played in California, the crowd was 90% Guatamelan. More bad news: Oguchi Onyewu got sent off with a second yellow red card. He really lost his cool with the flopping of Guatemalan ace Carlos Ruiz. The other good news is that I didn't have to listen to Dave O'Brien, who was doing the MLS game on ESPN2. I tuned in after the USMNT game to hear O'Brien intone "It's a final, US 1, Guatemala 0, and Clint Dempsey responsible for that score." What an idiot. Dempsey scored a goal; he isn't responsible for the score of the whole game. Listening to O'Brien talk about soccer reminds me of reading a badly translated menu in a Chinese restaurant. (ESPN so does not get soccer. One of their graphics for a player last night said, "Played in England for two years". So -- was he playing pickup in Holland Park, or in the Premier League? It was probably somewhere in between, but ESPN doesn't think American soccer fans would know the difference between the Premier League and League Two.)

This week US Soccer dedicated Field 1 at the Home Depot Center to Glenn "Mooch" Myernick. Soccer fan Drew Carey donated $160,000 to the Mooch Myernich Memorial Fund.

The fund was established to help increase the number of children playing the sport in metropolitan communities nationwide, and to assist soccer clubs and organizations in urban areas to create and sustain soccer opportunities for local underserved children. Prior to Tuesday’s event, the Foundation had already raised more than $100,000 from individual and corporate donors in Myernick’s honor to help support the growth of soccer in major metropolitan areas across the country. An assistant coach for the USA in the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup, Myernick was universally admired, respected and loved by all those whose lives he touched. He passed away in October of 2006 at the age of 51.

David Beckham lead England to a 3-0 win over Estonia in their crucial Euro 2008 qualifier. He set up goals with beautiful crosses in to Peter Crouch and Michael Owen. Watch the video of the goals here; Joe Cole's goal was even better. It reminded me of Maxi Rodriguez's goal in the World Cup. The English press isn't finished with Beckham; today's alarming news story puts Becks at high risk for deep vein thrombosis if he tries to travel to England games from LA.

I've discovered a new women's soccer blog, USA Women's Soccer. Filled with news, but I can't figure out how to link to individual posts. This one's about halfway down the May archive:

This one slipped under the radar, but the National Soccer Hall of Fame revamped its election rules at its April 28 board meeting. Instead of the top two vote getters (provided they get over 50% of the vote) getting elected plus the possibility of a third player getting elected if he/she received over 80% of the vote, the new rule states that any candidate that receives over 75% of the vote will be elected to the Hall of Fame. While each Hall of Fame has a different election process, this is the same percentage required as the final round of voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Basketball Hall of Fame, while the Football Hall of Fame requires 80% of the vote. And in case you're curious, if the new rules were in place for the 2007 election, Joy Fawcett still would not have been elected as she only received 67.25% of the vote.

AC Milan Are Champions of Europe

My caption: Too little, too late. Crouchie and Kewell should have started; at least they should have been on at half.

Official caption: Benitez brings on Harry Kewell for Bolo Zenden as Liverpool struggle to get back on terms in the second half (BBC)

Well, as a Liverpool fan, that was a bitter disappointment. Liverpool dominated play in the first half, all from the right side of the field where Jermaine Pennant ran rampant. The announcers kept talking about Zenden's lack of pace, as though this were some new thing; he has spent the season half lame, or huffing and puffing, clearly having lost a step or three from his salad days, which were not Merseyside. I heard Peter Crouch say in an interview that Bolo speaks four languages; perhaps he has used one of them to bewitch the manager. "I put a spell on you/'cause you're mine..." Harry Kewell looked a little rusty, but he is a world class left wing, had pace, and forced at least three corners as a result. Including the one at the end where Kuyt scored.

So those were Rafa's brilliant tactics: to start an old, slow, and injured left wing and stick with him for 57 agonizing minutes; and to leave out the second leading scorer in the Champions League until 12 minutes remaining. Rafa is hailed as a great tactician. Coach Mom has always doubted, and I have to agree with her today. That was just awful. The substitutions were so late. And why did he take off Mascherino, rather than Xabi Alonso? Mascherino had had a fabulous game. Alonso will be best remembered for the foul that gave Milan the free kick for their first goal, and a yellow card. When Inzaghi scored his second goal, I was appalled that the entire Liverpool backline had stopped dead to watch him go at Pepe Reina. If Mascherino with his young legs had been in the game, would he have made the run back to save that ball off the line? We'll never know. But he's got all the energy in the world compared to the other players out there, as West Ham left him on the bench all season. (And after watching him -- and Tevez -- play, you have to ask: Why? Were they nuts?)

I just don't get why Rafa doesn't trust Crouchie. As Tommy Smyth said in the post-game aftermath (in the seconds before ESPN2 whisked us off to some tractor pull), the game changed when Crouch entered. Liverpool suddenly had a man in the middle to make things happen, and shortly thereafter they scored on the corner kick. Crouch is not really that good in the air, because although he's tall he's rather willowy. But he's fantastic with the ball at his feet, has great touch, passes well, and sees the game like a creative midfielder. And there he sat, for 78 minutes, while Dirk Kuyt, who hadn't scored in the Champions League all season, ran around in circles. Kuyt has the worst first touch on the team. Half the time he can't even receive a pass, the ball just bounces off his dead feet. I'm always suspicious of players who get applauded for their workrate. I'd rather have fat Ronaldo, loafing up the field but scoring early and often. Workrate is overrated. Give me results any day.

ESPN had their usual muddled coverage. Why can't they show the substitutes bench? Then you can plot who you'd substitute in as the game goes on. Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth have their annoying verbal tics, but at least know the game; better than the moronic announcers we get for the USMNT games. But an hour before the game, they ran a promo that went thusly: "AC Milan. Maldini. Kaka. Versus Liverpool. Crouch. Gerrard." I said to myself, don't they realize Crouch might not even play? Of course they don't. They're ESPN, with the rights to soccer, but not the love. They cut away so quickly at the end, if I was a Milan fan I'd be screaming with outrage. I bet they'd stay for hours for the post-game interviews for some stupid NAIA college football tournament. Or a tractor pull.

NYTimes: A.C. Milan 2, Liverpool 1
Milan Wins 7th European Crown

BBC: AC Milan 2-1 Liverpool

Paul Doyle, Guardian BLog: Liverpool got everything right but their selection
Rafa Benitez found the perfect formation to stifle Milan, but he lacked the players to win.

Guardian (uk): Liverpool fans injured in ticket row
Two taken to hospital after fight breaks out

Guardian (uk): Liverpool have bravery but no breaks as Inzaghi inflicts Milan's revenge

Telegraph: Picture Gallery

SkySports: Gerrard gutted by Athens loss

Tennessee Are National Champions - Again

University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers' Alexis Hornbuckle (R) celebrates with teammate Candace Parker (L) after they defeated Rutgers University Scarlet Knights in the NCAA women's championship basketball game in Cleveland, Ohio April 3, 2007. REUTERS/Ron Kuntz (UNITED STATES)
Ho Hum. I mean it. Really boring game. Lots of defense, lots of bad shooting, the taller team won. Tennessee had 8 million offensive rebounds, well, that's how it seemed (OK, only 23); since they missed 38 shots, there were rebounds to be had. So often the final is anticlimactic (as the men's final was last night) compared to the excitement of the earlier rounds. Despite all the shouting by the ESPN announcers (isn't it time for Mike Patrick to retire?) there wasn't much excitement on the floor. Candace Parker was named the MVP and she shot 5 for 15 from the floor. Ouch.

Congratulation to Pat Summit on her 7th national title. Only three more to tie John Wooden. She'll have Candace Parker for two more years. Why did the ESPN crew keep giving credence to the ridiculous rumor that Parker would leave school for the WNBA? Don't they realize that the WNBA limits salaries? As a rookie Parker would get paid $43,000 a year. What's that to jump at?

One reason many women elect to remain in college is that WNBA salaries are puny by pro athlete standards: $43,200 for rookies such as Parker and Fowles. The No. 1 NBA draft pick, by comparison, can expect to earn $3.6 million during his first season.

And congratulations to C. Vivian Stringer for taking her very young Rutgers team to the final. Kia Vaughn (only a sophmore) had a fine game, finishing with 20 points on 9 for 15 shooting, with 10 rebounds (7 offensive). She didn't get much help from her teammates. Epiphany Prince didn't take a shot. Prince, Carson and Ajavon combined for 18 points; against LSU the three totaled 38 points. But they're a young team, and this experience should prove invaluable next year.

Box Score

USAToady: Tennessee trumps Rutgers, nabs first title since 1998

WABC (NY): Rutgers fall short in championship game

Ice, Ice, Baby

By Jae C. Hong, AP
Kristine Lilly gets a celebratory lift from U.S. teammates Abby Wambach, center, and Aly Wagner after the winning goal.
USWNT 2 - CanadaWNT 1

Kristine Lilly with the gamewinner in her unbelievable 319th start for the national team. She has more national caps than any player ever in the history of soccer, male or female, and her record will probably never be broken (she started at age 15 in an era of few professional opportunities for women; today there are many fewer national games per year). Too bad the game wasn't on ESPN, only on FoxSoccerChannel; great if you have DirectTV, but the rest of us are shut out. And it was played at the Home Depot Center, a pathetic excuse for a soccer field in California, where the field is too small and Californians don't come out to support women's soccer. Had the game been in Cary, North Carolina or somewhere on the East Coast Coach Mom and I probably would have been part of more than 20,000 in the crowd. Instead they played to a crowd of less than 7,000.

USAToady: Lilly's clutch penalty kick ices Gold Cup title for U.S. women

CARSON, Calif. — The U.S. women's soccer team extended its record unbeaten streak and earned its third CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup title Sunday night — barely.

Kristine Lilly converted a penalty kick in the final minute of overtime to give the USA a 2-1 victory over Canada in front of 6,749 at the Home Depot Center.

The USA received the penalty kick after Canada's Robyn Gale fouled Carli Lloyd in the penalty area in the 120th minute.

Lilly, the tournament MVP, scored her 117th international goal in her 319th game by placing the ball to the right of goalkeeper Erin McLeod. The victory extended the USA's record unbeaten streak to 32 games.

WaPo: Lilly's PK Gives U.S. Gold Cup in OT
United States 2, Mexico 1, OT

sportsnet.ca: Penalty pain for Canada

ussoccer.com: USA Wins CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup with 2-1 OT Victory vs. Canada

It's Football, Stupid, Not Title IX

John Tierney gets it wrong, as usual.

John Tierney, NYTimes: Let the Guys Win One (TimesSelect wall)

His thesis:

When Title IX was enacted in 1972, women were a minority on college campuses, and it sounded reasonable to fight any discrimination against them. But now men are the underachieving minority on campus, as a series by The Times has been documenting. So why is it so important to cling to the myth behind Title IX: that women need sports as much as men do?

Yes, some women are dedicated athletes, and they should be encouraged with every opportunity. But a lot of others have better things to do, like study or work on other extracurricular activities that will be more useful to their careers. For decades, athletic directors have been creating women’s sports teams and dangling scholarships and hoping to match the men’s numbers, but they’ve learned that not even the Department of Education can eradicate gender differences.

At the University of Maryland, the women’s lacrosse team won national championships year after year but still had a hard time getting 40 players to turn out for the team. The men’s team had no such trouble, because guys were more than willing to warm the bench even if they weren’t getting a scholarship, but the coach had to cut the extra ones to maintain the gender balance. The school satisfied Title IX, but to no one’s benefit.

On or off campus, men play more team sports and watch more team sports.

The facts:

The foundation of Title IX is not the 'myth' that women need sports as much as men do. Title IX is an amendment to a federal education bill; its central thesis is that women, who pay the same tuition and taxes as men, should receive the same opportunities to participate in sports programs. It only applies to institutions that choose to receive federal funds. Any private school that doesn't want to treat men and women equally in sports can do so: just forgo federal funds. It's called equality, John Tierney, as much as you disdain it. Or maybe you're just an originalist, believing "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal..." really only applies to men.

The vast majority of colleges and universities are not in compliance with Title IX; they spend more money on their smaller percentage of male undergraduates than they do on their larger percentage of female undergraduates.

Title IX has never been enforced by the federal government. No university has ever lost federal funds for Title IX violations.

So what's the real problem here? Why are administrators creating teams that women aren't interested in? It's a two-fold problem, and it all comes back to football.

Football is the Achilles heel of college sports programs. It is the ultimate sacred cow. Colleges routinely carry football squads at the Division I-A limit of 85 players. (The maximum number of players who can actually suit up for a game is 40.) A large proportion of most college sports programs funding goes to football. So, colleges need to balance out football.

I am unaware of any school that actually spends its athletic funds equally on men and women. That would be the simple way to comply with Title IX. But that ain't gonna happen, not while the most athletic directors are male and most college leadership is male. So how else can a school comply? The government still relies on guidelines passed over 30 years ago to give colleges ways to comply with Title IX without actually providing equal money or opportunities. (Or as we say here in the reality-based community, ways to get around the law.) The so-called 'three-prong' test gives schools three ways to comply: (1) TRY; {a good-faith effort to accommodate women's interests), (2) SUCCESSFUL TRY (show that women's interests are completely accommodated, even if you're not equal), and (3) CLOSE ENOUGH FOR THE OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS, (proportionality, that your playing opportunities for men and women are roughly proportional to their numbers in the student body).

Well, it's a little late for the first two prongs to be relevant (how can you show a history when you've been out of compliance for 30 years?) so most schools try to show proportionality.

So schools are trying to balance out those 85 football spots. There may be a million guys out there who want to wrestle, or play lacrosse, or cycle. But schools prefer to give men scholarships to back up the football bench rather than reduce football squads.

Therefore, schools need to create women's sports to make their numbers proportional. But because schools spend so much of their sports money on football, schools want to push cheap women's sports. That's why schools all over the country have cut their very popular women's gymnastics programs. Expensive, between the equipment and the insurance. Instead, they've added sports teams that are big and require little equipment. Wonder why crew and rowing are all over US college campuses? Colleges report squads of 70, 80, 90 female crew members. They count 'em the day they sign up, not after a month or two when most of the novices (there aren't many crew or rowing programs in high schools) drop out. There was no nationwide cry for rowing by female athletes. Lacrosse, also a big new women's sport, not because women are that interested in it, but because you can report a squad of 40 easily. Women who want to play sports that have smaller squads have been rebuffed. See Mansourian v. UC Davis, a female wrestler who was denied the opportunity to participate, as an example. Mansourian's male coach was fired from UC Davis for supporting her; his case has just been allowed to go to trial.

The real problem is the way college athletic programs have decided to allocate money and participation opportunities. Women's sports haven't caused smaller men's sports to lose spots. It's the insistence that football programs have 85 athletes, although many of those 'athletes' will never set foot on the field as college athletes.

Don't blame women for dumb allocation of athletic dollars. Blame the administrators. Blame football and its bloated squads. Don't blame women, John Tierney.


Mariah Burton Nelson deconstructed this same bogus argument four years ago: And Now They Tell Us Women Don’t Really Like Sports?

And no article on Title IX should ever be written without a big thank you Patsy Mink, foremother behind Title IX (along with Birch Bayh), who fought for equality. Great article by Mechelle Voepel.

Football Takes A Dive

Enraged : French midfielder Zinedine Zidane (L) gestures after head butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi during the World Cup 2006 final football match between Italy and France at BerlinÂ’s Olympic Stadium. Italy won the 2006 World Cup defeating France 5-3 on penalties. (AFP/John MacDougall)

The Italian Diving Team hoisted the World Cup trophy last night, after Zinedine Zidane was sent off in overtime for headbutting the Italian defender Materazzi. I cannot help but believe that Materazzi said something racially offensive to Zidane, a Frenchman of Algerian heritage who had read FIFA's empty anti-racism message before every knockout round match. (But see the BBC article that says Materazzi insulted Zidane's mother. Yo Momma!) A painful ending for all of us who love the Beautiful Game, to have the most cynical team in the tournament the last one standing. Let's close the book on the 2006 World Cup with a Best and Worst list.

BEST COACH: Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany). Though he got outcoached in the semifinal against Italy, he wins the award for making Germans believe in more than just the German team.

WORST COACH: As an American, I have to give Bruce Arena (USA) the worst coach award. At least Sven Moron Erickson (England) and Jose Pekerman (Argentina) won a few games. And they didn't have press conferences excoriating their players by name after losses. Bruce must go. Klinsi, come home to San Diego, only 20 minutes away from the USA training center!

BEST PLAYER: The journalists who award the Golden Ball gave it to Zidane in a close vote over Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro (2,012 to 1,977), and I can't disagree with that. If Cannavaro hadn't knocked Thierry Henry out in the first minute of the game, I would have given it to him, but he did and I won't. Zidane was magnificent in the knockout round. His game against Brazil was one for the ages.

BEST GOAL: Maxi Rodriguez's chest trap, blast volley goal against Mexico in overtime, hands down. Brilliant goal, and the gamewinner. Second place for me was Beckham's free kick goal, because it was a great goal and it won the game.

WORST PLAYER: Daniele DeRossi of Italy, the guy who elbowed Brian McBride in the face.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Brazil and Ronaldhino. He was hamstrung by the coach's formation, but I expected more from the World Player of the Year. Second place, the Americans and Bruce Arena's decision to make Eddie Pope the Jeff Agoos of 2006. Last October I predicted this:

Eddie Pope? I think Bruce sees his past more than he sees his present. I love and adore Eddie Pope, but he's done at the international level. Once you lose that step as a defender, it's over. Can you see him going head to head with Wayne Rooney? Kaka? Eto'o? Shevchenko? Nope. We tried this last World Cup (Jeff Agoos) with disastrous results.

And there was Eddie Pope, waving his hand for an offsides call as Alberto Gilardino, the Italian he was failing to mark, scored a header past Kasey Keller. If only Arena had started Conrad from the get-go. We coulda been a contender!

BEST YOUNG PLAYER: I'm not using a rigid age limit. For me this category is a tie between Franck Ribery of France, the man who ran so France's old folks could conserve their energy, and Philip Lahm of Germany, the best tiny defender since Ashley Cole.

BEST OLD PLAYER: Keeper Shaka Hislop of Trinidad & Tobago (age 37) was called into the T&T game against Sweden at the last minute as regular keeper Kelvin Jack was injured in warm-ups. Hislop stoned the Swedes with a number of spectacular saves to make the game the BEST 0-0 TIE of the tournament.

BIGGEST VILLAIN: Must be Sepp Blatter for giving us this hideous refereeing with his edict telling referees cards must fly. Ruined the tournament. If only he had announced that diving must be curtailed. No way would be Italy be holding the trophy today if that were so.

WORST ANNOUNCER: Dave O'Brien (Dumb) by a whisker over his boothmate, Marcelo Balboa (Dumber). OK, they were both horrible, but O'Brien seems to think he's earned the job. Listening him to talk about Italy having gone from a man marking defense to more of a zone yesterday -- a man who knows nothing about soccer, nothing, it was just pathetic. Please god, let ESPN fire both their sorry asses and start over. Can we steal Martin Tyler from Australia, anyone?

WORST PERFORMANCE BY A TELEVISION NETWORK: And the envelope goes to ESPN. Where to start? Let's hire a lead announcer who doesn't know anything about the world's most popular sport! Let's lower the crowd noise so everyone can hear every stupid word out of our stupid announcers' mouths! Let's use huge graphics that obscure the screen! Let's skip the national anthems of US opponents! Let's skip national anthems altogether if the US isn't playing! Let's show the lineups in groups, on top of the action after the game has started! Let's hire one of the most hated announcers in sports to anchor the booth (Musberger). Let's cut away immediately after matches!

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A TELEVISION NETWORK: Univision. I couldn't understand much more than pelota, but I could follow the game better than with Dumb and Dumber pissing me off.

PERSONAL HIGH POINT: Arriving at the stadium in Gelsenkirchen for the US-Czech Republic game to find that my Row 1 tickets that I assumed would be in the upper deck were in the actual front row, right behind the tent through which the players entered the field. Unfortunately my PERSONAL LOW POINT was that 3-0 trouncing by the Czechs. Ouch.

Great tournament though and kudos to the German people who were great hosts.

WaPo: The Golden Boot

WaPo: France's Zidane Sees Red, Ends Fabled Career With an Ejection

Jere Longman, NYTimes: A Star Falters, France Fades, Italy Rejoices

BBC: Zidane blamed Materazzi comment

BBC: European press review: World Cup

Guardian (uk): Italy strike gold as Zidane sees red

Mirror (uk): DID 'TERRORIST' JIBE MAKE ZZ BLOW HIS TOP

Mark Lawrenson (Lawro), Mirror (uk): GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD

Mirror (uk): MAGIC MAXI, POTTY POLL, DULL DOMENECH, SOGGY SAUDIS

Times (uk): Materazzi mystery hangs over the party in Rome

BBC: World Cup Final photos

715**

715 for Barroid, but double asterisk:

1 * for for steroids

2nd * for hitting it off Byung-Hyun Kim, a headcase pitcher who is thankfully no longer a member of the Red Sox.

World Cup Update, April 20, 2006

Czech Republic's Pavel Nedved does the hustle
Group of Death News:

US: We're No. 4, a ridiculous ranking:

U.S. Moves Up to Fourth in FIFA Rankings

US midfielder Damarcus Beasley arrested for DUI in Holland (hat tip Du Nord). ESPN story. Is it the chicken or the egg? Beasley hasn't been playing well for PSV this year, presumably because of injuries. He also hasn't been starting regularly. Is he drinking because he's not playing, or not playing well, or is he not playing well, or not playing, because of drinking? His older brother Jamar has already washed out of MLS because of his addictions. Let's hope it was just one bad decision. Trouble is, surrounded by alcoholics as I am, I know there's a slim chance that it was a one-time or a first-time thing.

Jonathan Spector of Charlton has a shoulder separation, which will hurt his chances of being Man #23 on our squad.

The John O'Brien Health Watch continues.

Speaking of bubble players, I wish defender Jimmy Conrad would make the US squad, because his posts on ESPN are great.

SportsFan Magazine's USA World Cup preview.

Italy:

Totti is training again. Drat.

No word on Christian Vieri's recovery from the injury he suffered at the end of last month, other than that he will be out at least a month.

Italy has scheduled a tune-up game v. Switzerland next month.

Italy has already determined who is to blame if they fail to emerge from the Group of Death: Italian team all set for war with the press

SportsFan Magazine's Italy World Cup preview.

Czech Republic:

Injured Czech Republic striker Jan Koller is back in training.

SportsFan Magazine's Czech Republic World Cup preview.

Ghana:

Lots of scheduling news, little player news. Are the Black Stars Flying under the radar?

Ghana striker Ibrahim Salou has broken his jaw playing for his club team, KSV Waregem, but hopes to return for the Belgian Cup final on May 13th.

Ghana has scheduled a friendly match with Bundesliga club VFB Stuttgart in Wurzburg on April 26th.

Friendlies against Russian teams in Russia on May 8th and May 11th.

Has scheduled a friendly v. Jamaica in England for May 29th, although the site is not yet set.

A letter writer laments, what could have been? All these players were eligible to play for Ghana, but play for other countries: Gerald Asamoah, Germany; George Boateng, Holland; Marcel Desailly, France; and Freddy Adu, USA.

Just Keep Sending Her to Diversity Training; It Worked So Well Before

Penn State finds Rene Portland ('Rene the Weenie') discriminated against Jen Harris on perceived sexual oriention grounds, but lets her off, again:

Women's Hoops Blog (1)

[H]ere is the University press release. It is, as rumored, a slap on the wrist.

PSU's internal investigation found that Coach Portland did indeed violate the school's antidiscrimination policy.

The report ... conclude[d] that enough evidence existed to substantiate a claim that Portland discriminated against Harris by creating a “hostile, intimidating, and offensive environment” because of Harris' sexual orientation. This is in violation of Penn State Policy AD-42, which prohibits discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, sexual orientation, and other personal characteristics.

But the sanctions ordered are mild. Very mild. They include:

(1) A letter of reprimand (strongly worded, I'm sure).
(2) A warning that future violations will not be tolerated (and this time we really, really mean it).
(3) Diversity training (insert rolling-eyes emoticon here).
(4) A $10,000 fine.

Women's Hoops Blog (2)

But are these sanctions meaningful? NCLR's Karen Doering scoffs at the notion of putting Rene Portland through more diversity training.

"She underwent diversity training in 1991 with no effect," Doering said. "Her very statement of denials today clearly shows she does not get it. If she doesn't think she has done anything wrong, she's not going to change her behavior."

Walt Moody, Knight Ridder (San Jose Mercury-News): Sanctions against Penn State's Portland have no real bite

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The line has been drawn in the sand by Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland and university president Graham Spanier is standing on the other side.

"I will return as head coach of the Lady Lions next year," she said Tuesday during a hastily called news conference to dispute university findings that she violated the school's anti-discrimination policy in dealings with former player Jennifer Harris, who has filed a federal lawsuit against Portland and the school.

The university report, which spawned from Harris' charges that she was discriminated against because of perceived sexual orientation and race, concluded that created a "hostile, intimidating and offensive environment" based on Harris' perceived sexual orientation. The report said there was no basis for the race claims of Harris, who is black.

By accepting the findings of the report, Spanier agreed that "the preponderance of evidence supported a conclusion that discrimination had taken place" against Harris, who claims she is not gay, but was perceived to be so by Portland.

Spanier ordered four actions to be taken against Portland among other recommendations for the school's athletic department.

Portland could have accepted to what amounts to a colossal slap on the wrist and gone on with her coaching career. The sanctions have no real bite.

A written letter in a personnel file for a coach who isn't going anywhere else is no big deal. Neither is attending a "professional development experience devoted to diversity and inclusiveness," where the only penalty is time spent.

The hard-hitters are supposed to be a $10,000 fine (for a coach who last year signed a four-year deal that pays six figures) and the promise she will be dismissed if she violates the anti-discrimination policy again.

They're hardly hard-hitting.

Given Portland's history - published comments in the early 1990s about not wanting lesbians in her program - the punishment had the potential to be harsher.

Mechelle Voepel, ESPN: Step in right direction, but so much further to go

Previous post: Rene is a Weenie (March 26, 2006)

RIP Maggie Dixon

Shocking women's basketball news. Army's 28-year-old women's basketball coach, Maggie Dixon, collapsed Wednesday and died yesterday of a heart arrythmia. I had never heard of her before this season when she became known because she had the best record at Army in 30 years, she took her team to the NCAA tournament for the first time ever, and her brother is the coach at Pittsburgh. Very sad.

ESPN: Dixon's death cuts short a championship-caliber life

AP: Army Women's Basketball Coach Dead at 28

I'm Talkin Basketball

Shoulda-been-MVP Kristi Toliver (5' 7") hits a 3-pointer over 6' 7" Allison Bales to send Maryland-Duke to overtime

Fantastic weekend of basketball here in Boston. Saturday night Coach Mom & I went into town to meet up with my sister. We had dinner at Skipjack's in Copley Square. While waiting for a table, seats at the bar opened up, so we got to watch George Mason lose to Florida in the first game of the men's semifinals. I love my family. At one point I asked, "Where did [Florida coach] Billy Donovan play in college?". My sister & Coach Mom answered in unison "PROVidence" (in a tone that said, 'you idiot', which I accepted as my due), and Coach Mom said, "For Rick Pitino." Doesn't everybody know that? In my family they do. Idiot.

I got to have sushi and everyone loved their dinners. We walked on Newbury St. afterwards and windowshopped art and clothes. We left sis who was heading to a WNBA party & headed back to central Mass.

For Sunday's games we picked up my friend's kids, ages 14 and 11. They were excited to go to their first Final Four. We got to the Garden pretty easily, parked in the underground parking garage ($23, ouch), and headed upstairs. I stood in line at the undermanned souvenir stand (why do they only have two people working these booths? They could have sold out the first day with more salespeople.) for 20 minutes and got the kids Final Four shirts with their favorite team's logo (North Carolina and Duke) and a ticket lanyard and a pin for Coach Mom. Then we got hotdogs & drinks and headed up to our seats in the balcony. I was pleased to see that no alcohol was being served. It was a very family atmosphere, especially if you come from a family with lots of tall women (like I do.) I always feel so short at the Final Four. I have to keep reminding myself, You are the average American woman. Not short, average.

Our seats were in Balcony section 307, row 5, in the corner on the same side as the benches. We had a good overview of the court, but I was glad we brought binoculars so we could see the player's faces.

The first semi was a barnburner. We were rooting for North Carolina and Ivory Latta, but she got hurt in the first half and was never very effective. Reportedly, she hyperextended her left knee. She was carried of the court so we were surprised when she returned. Maryland's freshman guard Kristi Toliver was guarding Latta and she used her 4" height advantage to great advantage. She just wouldn't let Latta drive on her which really took a lot away from Latta's game. Maryland ran a couple of clear-out plays where Toliver isolated Latta and drove on her, scoring with ease. Toliver finished with 14 points, as did Latta, but that was advantage: Maryland, as Latta averaged 18.2 during the regular season, while Toliver averaged 11.5.

It was a very physical game. Maryland substituted in a post player, Jade Perry, whose sole purpose seemed to be putting a body hard on North Carolina's talented post player, Erlana Larkins. Larkins finished with 28 points to lead NC but she took a lot of punishment. The terrible officiating crew from the Pac-10 didn't help matters, letting assault go on in the paint while calling touch fouls on outside shooters. They were consistent -- consistently terrible, as was all the officiating in the tournament. (Sally Jenkins of the WaPo says, fire all the officials and start all over.) Some fans from the Pac-10 were sitting in front of us & they groaned when the officials walked out onto the court.

North Carolina never was able to cut the gap and when Larkins fouled out with less than a minute remaining, she went over to shake hands with Duke coach Gail Goestenkors and the game was over.

Between games we met up with my sister after rendevousing via cellphone. (We passed Georgia coach Andy Landers on our way.) She moved us down to centercourt, 7th row seats for the second game. What a difference! We were behind the Duke bench. Allison Bales is huge. Unfortunately it wasn't much of a game. Duke put a smothering double-teaming defense on Siemone Augustus, and no one else from LSU stepped into the void. LSU's 45 points was the lowest point total ever in a semi-final game. It was such a blow-out that we left early with 4 minutes left on the clock, something we never do, but it was almost midnight, and the kids had school the next day.

Why do they start the games so late? The only reason the kids got to see the game is because they were there. If they were home not surrounded by screaming fans they would have been asleep on the couch. How can you build a fan base when the games are played while they're catching zzzz's?

The final last night was great. On our way in Coach Mom recognized former longtime Maryland coach Chris Weller, so we stopped and congratulated her. I'm sure it was a bittersweet moment, as she built the program, then got run out of town by AD Debbie Yow. I'm sure they had her resign or something like that to save face, but everyone knew what had happened.

I couldn't really root for Maryland. First, Maryland AD Debbie Yow, credited with the huge expansion of the Maryland women's basketball program, has been no friend of Title IX. It was Yow, a member of Bush's Title IX commission, who proposed allowing schools to comply with Title IX by offering as few as 43% of scholarships to women, even though women make up 55.5% of undergraduates nationwide. Add to my dislike of Yow all the allegations of recruiting violations swirling around the Maryland women's basketball program. Who wants to have the first women's basketball championship revoked because of later-adjudged recruiting violations?

So Duke it was. The building was packed -- well, maybe there were a few empty yellow seats in the balconies, but at least 16,000 people in the building. The crowd was wild. And Duke came out hot, packing in the defense, denying Crystal Langhorne and Laura Harper, Maryland's leading scorers in the semis, good looks inside. Duke led by as much as 13 points in the first half, but while Maryland continued to play poorly, Duke didn't take advantage and put them away. They got sloppy, threw away passes, missed layups, and at half Maryland was only down by 10.

Maryland hung in there, hung in there, and then with about 8 minutes left in the game, they found their stroke. Duke fell apart. Mistie Williams, who had led them in scoring in the semis, only had 3 points last night, and by the end she was passing up all open shots. No one from Duke seemed to want the ball during the last five minutes or in the overtime.

When Toliver hit her three-pointer with 6 seconds left to tie the game, the Garden went wild. People were shouting, throwing up their hands, shaking their heads, and just screaming. I just knew Duke was dead. Duke has a well-earned reputation as chokers. Goestenkors has built a great program at Duke, but she seems like a tense person, and her teams always play tense in the big games. Exactly what they did last night. Their best player last night was guard Lindsey Harding, but she committed a senseless foul in the final minute to take herself off the court. Mo Currie finally hit two shots in the OT, but never touched the ball again on offense. Duke had one final chance, but the shot was off balance, and off target. Duke melted off the floor, while Maryland streamed onto it, exulting in their improbable win.

Laura Harper was named Tournament MVP. She did lead Maryland with 25 points over North Carolina, but in the championship she had 16 points (same as Toliver and Shea Doron). Toliver only had 14 points vs. North Carolina, but she was guarding Latta, NC's best player, and she took her out of the game. Without her cool three-pointer, Maryland does not go to overtime, does not win the title. Therefore, Toliver was my MVP. She got robbed, IMHP.

Congratulations to Maryland. Fear the turtle!


ESPN: Terps take title and there may be more on the way

SI: Start of something big
Toliver, Maryland have bright future after taking title

Barbara Turner Overdrive

Barbara Turner propelled UConn into the Elite Eight of the women's NCAA basketball tournament last night with 31 points, the most points she ever scored in her four years at UConn. The game ended with 4 three pointers. Georgia's Cori Chambers hit a three with 20.3 seconds left. On the final play, Connecticut had a hard time moving the ball, and at the bottom of the TV screen, there was Turner, gesturing, no, insisting that the next pass go to her. She finally got the ball with 5 seconds on the clock, and closely guarded by two Georgia players, she fired up a desperation, falling away from the basket, hell, falling off the court three-pointer. Which went in. Georgia got off a final shot on the inbound when Tasha Humphrey, who had a huge game for Georgia, hit the rim with a shot fired from three quarters of the length of the court.

Whew. What a game.

Hope the Huskies make it to Boston next weekend. Now that BC is out of it, they're the last Northeast team with a shot.

WaPo: Turner's Late Basket Bails Out Connecticut

Boston Globe: UConn heaves sigh of relief

ESPN: Turner the star, but gets plenty of help (with video of the final sequence in a box on the right hand side of the page)

Random Sports Thoughts

Who stole Rick Barry's voice, and implanted it in Jim Spanarkel?

When did Giants running back Tiki Barber become a right wing F-word Faux News anchor? Ewwww.
Why doesn't ESPN realize that to build the audience for a sport, they have to cover it? ESPN has exclusive rights to the US national soccer teams, men's and women's, yet they failed to cover the US women in the Algarve Cup. We lost to Germany on penalties, 4-3. ESPN didn't even put the scores on the ticker. Idiots.

And why doesn't ESPN ever have soccer on ESPN classic? Where's Liverpool defeats AC Milan, last year's Champions League final? The 2002 World Cup games? Boy would I love to watch US-Germany again, or US-Portugal. Don't they want to build an audience for this summer's World Cup?

Clint Dempsey Fighting For (or Against?) World Cup Spot

Dempsey left off U.S. roster following fight, suspension

I was sad to see this story. I hope Dempsey gets his shit together & gets back in Bruce Arena's good graces. He's young (23) and a little wild. Not necessarily a bad thing in a soccer player (see Rooney, Wayne) and I thought he was the US's best player on the field in their last two friendlies.

According to the Herald, he got into a fight with Revolution team captain Joe Franchino after Franchino fouled him. SI.com says that after Franchino body checked Dempsey, Dempsey punched him in the face. The Globe says they "grappled" on the ground, both throwing several punches, then were separated and removed from the field, then fought again after they returned. Both were bloodied, and Franchino's eye swelled shut, although X-rays were negative.

Franchino was not disciplined, which seems weird to me. It takes two to tango, and Franchino has his own reputation as a hothead. And he's the captain, for crying out loud. And Clint? Punch out the captain? Not the best move. Better not try that on Kasey Keller. He'd take you out for sure.

Hope Clint is making all the right moves, apologizing, etc., and will be on the roster (which will be named by May 15th) for Germany. Old teams don't win the World Cup. We need our youth!

Boston Globe: Revolution suspend Dempsey

Boston Herald: Revs KO Dempsey for fightin’

SI.com: Revs suspend Dempsey for fighting

U.S. roster for next Wednesday's game against Germany with players' teams in parentheses:

Goalkeepers (2): Marcus Hahnemann (Reading FC, England), Kasey Keller (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany).

Defenders (7): Gregg Berhalter (Energie Cottbus, Germany), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96, Germany), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards, Major League Soccer), Cory Gibbs (ADO Den Haag, Netherlands), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew, MLS), Heath Pearce (FC Nordsjælland, Denmark), Eddie Pope (Real Salt Lake, MLS).

Midfielders (6): Bobby Convey (Reading FC, England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy, MLS), Chris Klein (Real Salt Lake, MLS), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids, MLS), Ben Olsen (D.C. United, MLS), Kerry Zavagnin (Kansas City, MLS).

Forwards (4): Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo, MLS), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City, MLS), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution, MLS), Josh Wolff (Kansas City, MLS).

Although Landon Donovan was named to the squad, he will miss the game with a calf strain.

Must-See Video

Jason McElwain is the student manager of the Greece Athena (Rochester, NY) High School basketball team. He is autistic, couldn't speak until he was five years old, but has been the team manager for two years, never missing a practice or a game. So the coach put him into the game, the last game of the season, with four minutes remaining.

He missed his first two shots, then amazingly, went on to hit 7 shots in a row, 6 of them three-pointers. 20 points in 4 minutes for an autistic kid who never played before. You have to see it to believe it. I get choked up every time they re-run the tape on TV.

ESPN: Autistic teen's 20-point night touches all

CBS video: Boy With Autism Scores 20