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This is my driving coach. I chose well.
thinking about changing the name of this page to Less Popular Than Plywood.
usa v. mexico just underway on espn. us got embarassed by costa rica last week and mexico fired their coach after losing to honduras (i think) and is in danger of not making the world cup if their recent run of play continues.
looks to be a good womens final. serena williams v. victoria azarenka. 1 v. 2. azarenka has beaten williams twice this year and might be the only woman who has the game to match serena's at the moment. tomorrow is 1 v. 2 as well for the men. djokovic v. nadal.
the usa soccer team or usmnt had a pretty convincing win against bosnia-herzegovinia in a friendly this afternoon with two of its top players, landon donovan and clint dempsey sitting this one out. admittedly, the us was down 2-0 at half time, before bosnia, who are currently ranked 14th in the world, made four substitutions, but all of the goals scored by the us in the second half were pretty impressive which ought to count for something.
american striker jozy altidore had an outstanding game scoring three along with an assist on the other as the us prevailed 4-3. altidore has scored in the last five matches and looks like he might finally be a goal scorer up front for america that is living up to his potential. he had scored 51 goals in 93 games for his club in the netherlands over the last two seasons and was just bought by (as they say) a mid-table club (sunderland) in the english premier league. (sunderland is owned by some sketcky american hedge fund manager and the head coach is an italian with some questionable ties to fascism.) so it will be interesting to see how he fares this season in england amid the increased quality of play, and whether he can maintain his form heading into the world cup next summer.
this was the 12th win in a row for the national team and the first time theyve come from behind to win a game played in europe. ever. not much is expected of the us in brasil next summer but if they are lucky to draw a weak group then possibly they can make it out of the group stage as the two top teams from each group advance to the knockout round consisting of 16 teams. to expect anything more is pretty foolish considering how poor they looked prior to their recent bout of success and the lack of any truly standout players. but at least they have the opportunity not to be an embarrassment.
But maybe it isn't so weird. It turns out the Manziels are a much more colorful and interesting bunch than any of the profiles thus far have indicated. Their fortune was indeed made in oil—wildcatting, specifically—but there were also family sidelines in cockfighting, small-time grifting, match-fixing, and, if you believe the federal indictments, cocaine-trafficking and murder. In fact, the first great sporting success under the family name wasn't Johnny Football; it was the Manziel grey gamefowl, bred by Johnny's great-grandfather. The Manziels arrived in Texas after cockfighting was outlawed, but they wound up with a breed named after them anyway.
That's the story of the Manziels in America. It's the story of making money just this side (and occasionally that side) of the rules.
some random norwegian dude got called for a tryout with the detroit lions based on this youtube video. was two for two in field goal attempts in a preseason game with kicks of 49 and 50 yards.
flicked on the tv to catch the back nine of the pga championship. my tv was tuned to the new(ish) nbcs(ports) network. flipped it on the other day for the first time as they have the rights to the upcoming english premier league season. thus far ive seen a couple of minutes of a sailing event and, just now, a polo tournament. kind of reminds me of the early days of espn when they would broadcast bowling, billiards and whatever else they could get the rights to. nbc is not quite so desperate with soccer, hockey and the olympics but there are a lot of hours in the day. although espn is mostly chatter at this point. i always thought an olympic network was a no brainer, so maybe nbc will take that under advisement.
oh, and england beat the us at polo in overtime. champagne for everyone! up next, summer at saratoga. horsies!
just what the world needed, though i couldnt tell you if it was a music column about soccer or a soccer column about music. either way, the writer has a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of both from his perch in the uk than i ever will. im mostly in it for the name, Some Goals Are Bigger Than Others.
It’s about time football was afforded the same courtesies as the cultural mediums it often dwarfs for popularity, social impact and emotional agency – factors commonly used to try and legitimise other activities as worthy arenas of expression and artistic merit. A bi-monthly column on Drowned In Sound is the least we can do to level the playing field. After all, with their fetish for the obscure and esoteric, football geeks and hipsters are the new musos.