2.13.2007

Yikes! Streak-buster post.

Trout and I both know a thing or two about dry spells, and it's been a week, so it's probably time for another post here. Any day now. But, with any real baseball news still a few weeks away and my complete lack of interest in the NBA (does anybody sit down and watch full games?) it's been hard to find anything worth writing about. So, here's what's on my mind...

Soccer is fun to watch. While the majority of the English-speaking population was watching Duke/UNC last Wednesday, my amigos and I were watching the USA/Mexico friendly. I knew I was excited for this game when they first announced it and I wasn't sure why. It's just a friendly, so it counts for nothing. That is, if you only consider tournaments and trophies to be something. This one was about pride and that got me even more fired up. In what is becoming a (shockingly) regular occurrence, the MNT beat a Mexico team 2-0 full of their top players in a Phoenix stadium with far more fans cheering against the gringos. This one was really fun to watch, particularly the second half after the first goal when Mexico got super aggressive, but the defense was able to hold on. Now's the time to build that fence and really break their spirit.

Soccer is not that different from American sports. See: basically every league in the world. The degree to which money rules the sport is really killing my interest in the end of the season. Manchester United is running away with the EPL and the only actually competitive top league in the world is in Spain where Barcelona could blow their lead, but probably won't. Thank goodness Champions League play starts back up next week.

Should it really be so hard to get opening day tickets? In Cincinnati, opening day is a huge deal. They have a parade, celebrate the clubs history, and occasionally even win. Sadly I've only been once (2005) and it's one of my favorite sports memories. We got drunk, we ate Skyline, and the Redlegs hit walk off homers off the incomparable Braden Looper to win the ball game. The problem is, it's so hard to get tickets that you have to a) buy season tickets, b) camp out all night or c) get really lucky if you don't want to pay a scalper. Tickets are going to go on sale pretty soon, and we're gonna do what we can this year, but jeez, couldn't it be easier? I just want to go to a baseball game.

Martyballs, castrated. There's gonna be a lot written about Schottenheimer getting fired, but at the end of the day it's really fucking hard to win 14 games in the NFL. I'll put good money down that they don't win that many next year. I hope this doesn't dampen Marty and LT's love affair.

No comments: