Weekend Cuppage Roundup

• Tough loss for the US Soccer team as they once again found themselves being eliminated by Ghana for the second World Cup in a row despite the presence of Team Mascot Bill Clinton hanging out with Mick Jagger during the game. Ghana scored early in the contest which set the tone for the rest of the game. Watching the match, it was very apparent that Ghana was faster and way more athletic than the US, but what the US lacked in athleticism, they made up for in determination. The US had two BIG chances to score which would have given them the victory. Unfortunately the dreaded label of "woulda, coulda, shoulda," will be attached to their efforts in the 2010 World Cup. We will see if Bob Bradley will come back to coach the US for the next World Cup in 2014. Personally speaking I think Diego Maradona is proving that it really doesn't matter who the coach is in soccer, as long as you have great players like Argentina does.
• Baseball was very good this weekend to The Beard as the surging White Sox took another series against the Cubs and won that stupid and pointless BP Crosstown Cup that I'm really hopeful mysteriously goes missing before 2011. It seemed only fitting that the third longest winning streak ended against the Cubs, since the last time the Sox lost was against the Cubs two weeks ago. The Sox are driving in runs in clutch situations while the rotation has finally started pitching like it was supposed to (Thank you Jake Peavy for finally getting checked out and figuring out what the problem was). Who knows how far this will go, but I give the White Sox a ton of credit for doing what they had to do to climb back in the division race, and I'm now actually back to a state of looking forward to watching the next White Sox game.
• As for the Cubs, the story of the weekend was obviously Carlos Zambrano being Carlos Zambrano once again. Now Big Z finds himself suspended indefinitely awaiting the MLB Players Union to weigh in on it. On top of which, Zambrano is also in hot water with his team for dining with Ozzie Guillen after Friday's game/meltdown, and even when he does come back he'll be in the bullpen again. Paul Sullivan did a nice job here of putting together a list of incidents and apologies Zambrano has made over his mercurial career. I'd like to ask my Cub fans out there, isn't this story kind of dull? Obviously this is hardly the first time something like this has happened, and obviously the same thing will happen again down the line because Zambrano simply can't help himself. I honestly don't think he's like Milton Bradley though. Bradley thinks the world is out to get him. Zambrano doesn't give off a vibe of paranoia, but rather has very little self control and little regard for formality, politeness, or rational behavior when he's on the mound. In terms of trading him? I can never say never. I never would have thought someone would trade for Milton Bradley but that shockingly happened. What I know for sure is that Zambrano has a full no-trade clause, and four (including this one) more seasons at roughly $18 million per. I don't really know who would be interested in that - especially for an 8th inning specialist, nor do I know what teams would be willing to give up for that? It seems to me like the Cubs are in bed with Big Z for the duration of their short sighted yet way too lengthy contract they gave him in 2008. Maybe it's time the Cubs ask Zambrano, "What can Paxil, do for YOU"?

Never Say Never

I have a feeling I'm going to get a beatdown for sharing this. I've noticed a strange thing is happening to me lately. The fact that it's strange shouldn't be too surprising considering it's me, but this one is particularly odd considering I've had my whole life to be disinterested, yet now all of a sudden I'm curious about it. I'm actually watching and paying attention to the FIFA World Cup! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

Please understand that I've fought and resisted soccer my whole life - even when I played as a youth like every kid in America did. The World Cup wasn't even really brought to my attention until 1994 when it was played in the U.S. and the Opening Ceremony/Game was at Soldier Field in Chicago. I never got how the entire world can go nuts about this sport. I didn't see the excitement of watching teams like Portugal vs Mexico. Even when I as in Europe during the 1998 World Cup. I was surrounded by World Cup Superfans in a tavern in Florence, Italy. The entire bar was silent until Italy scored a goal and erupted in a chant of "ITALIA! ITALIA! ITALIA!" I still didn't get it...

As I've gotten older now I found myself dramatically softening my position on the World Cup and Soccer in general. It's very similar to my feelings on hockey in that I find that I can appreciate the skill level that's displayed on the field. I also find myself putting aside my prejudices and "who cares" feelings toward the sport and decided to just take it in for what it is. As a result, I find soccer to be much more digestible but I know that most people in America still don't.

I've tried to pinpoint why that is and I've reached a couple of conclusions. One, while playing soccer is very demanding physically, the players certainly don't help themselves with all the flopping they do during a game, and acting like their leg has been severed (some actually tear up on command), but then suddenly pop up like nothing happened. The other conclusion I've reached is that any time I'm watching a soccer match with long time soccer fans, they will put forth some futile effort to try and convince me that these are the "best athlete's in the world" which of course is absolutely ridiculous to the point where I usually break out in laughter in front of these people. So without getting too deep in my observable analysis, it's a safe assumption that both the players and their fans are detrimental to their own cause of getting soccer to become accepted by U.S. audiences.

The irony is, I've picked an awful World Cup to pay attention to this time. We all know about the U.S. Team getting screwed out of a victory against Slovenia. There have been 9 Ties so far. The World Cup workers have been getting paid a quarter of what the South African government said they would be paid thus resulting in protests. Don't let me forget the awful wintry weather conditions that have surrounded most of the games. You have the French team completely melting down, and last but certainly not least the ANNOOOOOOOOOYING VUVUZELAS! Add all that up and overall things have not been as smooth as hoped for.

With all that said however, I think that watching and rooting for Team USA is a good thing, even if you don't like the sport. If you do like the sport, it's fun to root for your country to advance. If you don't like the sport, take solace in the fact that if the US were to ever (god forbid) get to the final or win the World Cup, it would be a giant Middle Finger to the rest of the world because we would win the ultimate title in the "world's sport" and our country's best athletes don't even play soccer.

There I said it...