USA! USA! USA!

Well, first a few more topics more serious than sports. I am finished with the yakkers--even Charlies Rose who is probably the mildest of them all. Five minutes after Obama's speech about the BP oil crisis, Keith and his crew totally trashed the speech, Obama, and anything he has done so far. I really believe they want him down there with a pitchfork cleaning up the beaches with the rest of the workers. He got more out of BP in terms of cold hard cash than most people thought. What in the world is he supposed to do? He fired all those bureaucrats in bed with the oil interests and came down as hard on big oil as anyone ever has--probably what he should have done with Wall Street during that crisis. I am not Obama's apologist but enough already with every second guesser on cable. Oh, by the way, he was never going to be as liberal as a lot of people thought. He is more or less a middle of the road president who seems quite liberal compared to what came before (and what may come after) and compared to Congressmen who call him "liar" and who apologize to BP.

Charley Baker (the Republican nominee for Governor here in the Bay State) had his fingers all over the Big Dig but cannot decide what to tell any of us about it. He is getting killed by Patrick on the left (more or less the left) and is catering to the right in order to fight off the Independent challenge of a very conservative candidate. He is getting squeezed and deserves it waffling as he does so regularly.

OK--now all the rest is about the World Cup. Obviously I cannot control what you read but some of it is not specifically about sports but some random thoughts about the milieu and the gestalt of the whole scene. So you sports avoiders, you might want to take a look. Here goes.

1. The fact that this is occurring in South Africa at all is stupendous. It is in our lifetime that apartheid ended and sure South Africa has tons of problems. But to see the diverse and varied faces of South African people in these stadia is awesome.
2. France, England, and Germany all struggle with the "immigrant problem". Much like we are beginning to struggle with here. But what do those immigrant haters think about their soccer teams which are represented significantly either by first or second generation immigrants. Half of the French team are Black men whose families are from Africa. It must be ok if they play soccer but dont let them into my back yard.
3. Any player that waves his hand calling for the ball invariably mishandles it when it actually is kicked his way. This is especially true if that player has a head band or braids.
4. The clothing of the coaches is a squalid disaster. The English coach was the worst offender. Did you see his eyeglasses? The Chilean coach in his velour sweat suit looked like he badly needed a cigarette or was going to have a heart attack or both. I hate to admit it (especially to Steffen) but the German coach wins best dressed. Quite suave, that guy; but clearly did not buy his clothes in Europa. The ties worn were the worst.
5. The best uniform award goes to either the team from Cameroon or the team from Cote d'Ivoire--Ivory Coast for those of you not fluent in French like me.
5. Goalies who wax their eyebrows should be fired. same for goalies who wear tights. Those who wax and wear tights are beyond my vocabulary.
6. The U.S. team has lucked out in one game and gotten "reffed out" in another but in general have exceeded expectations. They have the capacity to beat Ghana but better be prepared to run for a full 90 minutes. Those Ghanaians (?) never stop.
7. New rules required: On throw ins, you cannot move 20 feet up the line and have to throw it in within 15 seconds. These guys move the ball anywhere they please and take forever to toss the thing.
8. In hockey, there are penalties for diving--for faking in other words. That needs to happen in soccer. Thanks to replay, 90% of these guys writhing on the ground are down due to nothing more than air passing by their shins. It is pathetic.
9. No sane person can ever explain off sides to me.
10. I love the Africans and the teams from Central and South America--more exciting, faster,and riskier than the Euro teams which seems so plodding. Even Japan beating Denmark today looked like they were playing a different game.
11. The best player I have seen is number 2 for Brazil--cannot remember his name but he is either a right mid fielder or right fullback. So strong on the ball and all over the place. The best American is the coaches son who is absolutely controlling the whole midfield and scored the tying goal against Slovenia.
12. The least pretty fans were from either Serbia or Slovenia. The men were all slobs.
13. I am surprised that the passing and shooting is not better. Also I remember now that so much of the game is in the air--but did not realize that an almost ideal header is down with a bounce up into the goal.
14. The Danish goalie spent the first 30 minutes screaming at his teammates and oh by the way let in two soft goals because he was caught leaning the wrong way.

Thats it. This is what happens when you get to watch daytime TV.

Sayonara.