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| All World Cups |
The stories that interested me a month ago no longer do. The US Women managed to lose to Japan in the World Cup, and even though I watched the entire game, there really wasn’t any pain at the end, more like an "Oh well." Moms across the nation keep shuttling their kids to soccer practice in droves, but few bring them to MLS games. That’s all right, I will still watch the World Cup in Brazil, and isn’t Brazil going to get a lot of attention in the coming years by also hosting the Olympics?
GOLF
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| Beware 2011 PGA! |
Darren Clarke won the British Open, which was a true feel good story for a short stretch, except for the Irish, who are still celebrating the glory these days, with 3 of the last 7 golf majors having been won by a Son of Eire. Tiger Woods finally played another tournament this weekend, and now that he’s back, and not the "old" Tiger, I find it interesting how he now just seems older and more arrogant.
NFL
The NFL finally figured out how to split up the billions of dollars that the league generates into more doable doses for all concerned. Wow, what geniuses. That one made me think of a scenario like winning half of a mega-million dollar lottery, and having the other half won by my best friend. Yeah, it would really suck to have that happen.
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| The King's Ankara castle |
It’s looking more and more like the NBA will lose a lot of games, if not the entire 2011-2012 season. I heard Kobe’s people were negotiating with a club team in Turkey, and wanted a guarantee of $1,000,000 per month for him to play. If that happens, Lebron has been heard to say "I’ll be taking my talents to Ankara."
MLB
Baseball has gone through the trading deadline with a few interesting player moves. The Phillies took advantage of Houston finally committing to a youth movement by picking up Hunter Pence, and their pursuers, Atlanta, getting Michael Bourn. Even with all the injuries the Braves have had, they still look like the Wild Card winner to me, and I’ll admit I had the Phillies wrong in predicting them to not make the playoffs. I did that more than anything else, to pick a long shot.
The Pittsburgh Pirates caught our attention, didn’t they? It was nice story for a while. I was watching a game on ESPN where some idiot said that the everyday players Pittsburgh had felt good knowing that one of the same 5 starting pitchers would be out there in rotation for each game. Yeah, the 1962 Mets basically trotted the same guys out there too. Their top five starters went 30-95 on the season. The Pirates need much better starting pitching in 2012, if they are to contend all season.
We look to have a few races. The AL Central may yet be a 3-team race? Cleveland mortgaged a bit of it’s future in trading for Ubaldo Jiminez, but with Shin-Soo Choo coming back in a week or so, and the kid second baseman Jason Kipnis, they may remain viable? Ozzie Guillen keeps plugging away, unfortunately the plugs he’s firing keep missing Adam Dunn and Alex Rios. It’s amazing to me the White Sox are still only 6.5 games behind Detroit, who look to have asserted themselves as the team to beat. Justin Verlander has been the best pitcher in MLB this year, and Jim Leyland plays all kinds of guys looking for an angle. Not sure how good the pitching is, but I like their chances in a short series with Max Scherzer as the number 2 guy.
In the NL West, we have the Giants and Diamondbacks, two extremely flawed teams, trying to not lose as many games as the other guy. Not sure that the same magic San Francisco had last season will be around this time? I mean superior starting pitching is nice, but you have to score at least one run to win a game, and the Phillies pitching is better anyway.
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| Hey Tony! How about 8 more brews? |
In the AL West, Texas looks like they are sleep-walking, and they struggle to score runs on the road, the same way Milwaukee can’t win on the road in the NL Central. I actually picked the Angels to win the AL West this year, so I am looking pretty smart right now. I do like Texas picking up two excellent relievers in Koji Uehara and Michael Adams at the trade deadline, and they really should win. I also picked the Brewers to win their division, but that was a consensus pick among the experts. Being that I despise Tony La Russa, I am really rooting for Milwaukee.
Leaves us with the Red Sox and Yankees, in a flat tie at 69-43, going into tonight’s game. 50 games left, but with the Wild Card almost assuredly going to one of them, how much drama do we have?
Well, having 4 tight divison races is pretty good, the PGA is coming up, and the corn in our garden is getting high.
Nice to see folks are still checking in. You'll have to excuse me now while I grab another Corona.
Tony, you buyin?
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