Category — Sports

Like most American sports fanatics, I’ve always thought of soccer as being a bit foreign to me. (No pun intended.) I’ve casually played soccer with friends or at camp but Baseball has always been my sport to play and Basketball and Football my sports of choice to watch. So like every other red-blooded American I’ve kept a professional distance between futbol and myself. This is how I saw soccer.

Lately, I’ve had a bit of a change of heart. I’ve slowly become more and more interested in the sport and have been doing my research. I know that the number of American’s that are interested in soccer are steadily increasing and to most soccer fans I’m just one more American jumping on the bandwagon. But I don’t care too much. I’ve been excited about the World Cup and couldn’t wait for it to start today.

So starting today I hope to write a little more about soccer. I set my alarm this morning and woke up early…and I’m on vacation. That never happens. That rarely happens when I’m at home. But I woke up and watched South Africa and Mexico battle it out and the result be a draw. What!? The game was tied at the end of regulation…and that was it. It ended. Tie game. That confused the mess out of me. I’m not used to sports that end in a draw. But I think I can get used to it. (I know the big games will have a clear winner.)

Another thing that confused me was the fact that I was confused as to who I should cheer for. And it really did take me a hot minute to realize I was American. I was doing my research and reading up on the teams trying to find one that I could identify with; then I realized that these are countries not just teams. I felt rather foolish because cheering on your country is one of the best parts of the World Cup. Please forgive me Coach Bombay and Team USA from the Mighty Ducks 2, I have not forsaken the lessons of nationalism you have taught me. So don’t worry, I’m not a terrorist, I am cheering on USA (although I can’t stand Landon Donovan). But I do have some other countries I will be rooting for of course.

So here I am. After day one of the World Cup still trying to figure out exactly what I should be doing to correctly watch this awesome event. I shall keep you updated and if I ever find myself with enough knowledge or even a barely strong opinion I’ll give you my thoughts/predictions. Here’s to the WC and the awesomeness (or at least intrigue) of soccer.

All this commotion about the New York/New Jersey is ridiculous. When did the Superbowl become so political? Playing the Superbowl in a cold weather outdoor stadium is awesome to me (and I’m a fan of a warm weather/pass happy team). I know playing in the snow is not ideal but why does everything have to be perfect for the biggest game of the season? Everyone wants to party in a warm weather Miami type of place but this is the Superbowl, not vacation. Leave the warm weather and the parties for the Pro Bowl. The Superbowl should be about the game not the circus that surrounds the game. I’ve just realized this a rant…I’m fine with that. This is good for the Superbowl and the NFL. Over.

I’ve caught a bit of flack lately for hating on the Astros. It has been brought up that I have never written about the Astros on my blog and have a plethora of football content.

Let me clear up one thing: I am a huge Astros fan. I love the Astros. I will always be an Astros fan. However, I’m holding Drayton McLane and Ed Wade accountable for what they’re putting on the field. I love them and I want them to succeed but I’m a huge critic of what has been going on the last couple of seasons. 5th, 3rd and 4th place in our division over the last three years isn’t anything to write home about.  This team is a long shot for a wild card slot right now.

The Astros are a team in the middle of rebuilding that is not acknowledging that they are rebuilding.  McLane would protest that this team is rebuilding but it should be and it looks like it is trying to rebuild without anyone noticing.  I’m hoping the Astros play up the potential or else it will be another year at the bottom of the NL Central. As an Astros fan I’ll post some things about–believe it or not–my favorite sport and my favorite team. But it saddens me that most of it won’t be pretty…

Donovan McNabb has been someone that I’ve always sympathized with. Here’s a guy that has been hearing boos since the day he’s been drafted. And that’s coming from his own fans. McNabb has not been a chump. He has great stats and keeps his team in contention year in and year out. Yet for some reason Philly fans hold him to some sort of crazy standard. So McNabb has been shipped within the division and Kevin Kolb inherits the burden of ridiculously high expectations. I hope Kolb, a UH alum, does well because if he doesn’t at least hit McNabbean numbers (3,000+ yrds, 20+ TDs, and around 85 QB rating) things will get ugly for him. (Poor Kolb is in a division with Romo, Eli and McNabb.) However McNabb is shipped the the elephant graveyard that is Washington. I hope the guy gets something nicer than a new Chunky Soup commercial.

Hey kids! After going 1-3 last week, I need to pick up my game and pick every game right if I want a winning record in the playoffs. It really hurts me that the only winner that I picked correctly last week was the Cowboys. And I had the Cardinals all wrong. I should have known that Kurt Warner was going to be playoff ready. Although, the Green Bay Packers almost won that game after being completely out of it. You can’t say that was a bad game, easily could be the best game of the playoffs.

Arizona at New Orleans

I don’t really know what to think of this game off the bat. The Saints have been my pick to go to the Super Bowl for most of the season. But the Cardinals offense, even without Anquan Boldin, is perhaps unstoppable. Their defense however seems to be pushovers. I’m going with the Saints because they have both a potent offense and defense. The only way the Saints can lose is if they break down.

Baltimore at Indianapolis

The Colts are a great team. Forget all that benching the starters stuff. Forget that they didn’t be part of history. All you have to know is that they want one thing and one thing only. They want to win the Super Bowl. That’s why they benched starters and decline an invitation to be ‘historic.’ The Colts are going to be ready to play. The Ravens aren’t chumps though and are ready to smack around the Colts offense. I think this will be a lower scoring game than most people think. However, Peyton ‘MVP’ Manning is going to pull through and win it for the Colts.

Dallas at Minnesota

No matter how hot the Cowboys are, I still think Vikings are a better team. I’m still waiting for the Cowboys and Tony Romo to fall apart and I’m picking that this is the game. The Vikings defense is intense and Jared Allen has put a target on Romo’s jersey. And how I forget to mention The Ol’ Gunslinger. Gunslinger is going in this game willing to do anything to win, even ignore Brad Childress’ playcalling…

New York Jets at San Diego

So right now I’m thinking to myself, I haven’t picked a wild card team to go on to the next round. And it’s not changing now. I think the Chargers are going to expose the Jets. The Jets play with a lot of emotion but are not as great of a team as they are made out to be. The Jets are a good story and have become media darlings but that doesn’t make them a good playoff team.

There it is.