June 2010

Sepp BlatterThe president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, apologized this morning for bad refereeing at the 2010 World's Cup, and said that the FIFA will reopen the discussion on instant replay.

"I deplore when you see the evident referees’ mistakes,” Mr. Blatter told reporters. “It has not been a five-star game for referees. I’m distressed by the evident referees’ mistakes.”

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Winners and losers are determined by expectations. The USA team did better than expected. It finished a two hour game, thirty minutes of overtime, with one scored goal to Ghana's two. The team was in the game to the last seconds, trying a come from behind to tie and to win. The USA team did well. It raised the awareness of soccer in the US. It gave its fans moments of good world football. The USA team won and deserves the respect of world football fans. Well done, USA team.

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Landon DonovanWith enthusiastic US fans in the stands, including former President Bill Clinton, and, as the Associate Press described it, "a pro-American, vuvuzela-blowing crowd," the USA team won a victory over the Algerian team, 1-0,. which meant that the US team moved to the second round of play at the World Cup. The hero of the game was Landon Donovan, who scored in the first minute of stoppage time off a rebound. The USA team finished with the best record in its group. England, which won its match today with Slovenia came in second. Both teams had one win, no loses and two ties. The USA team scored four goals to England's two. Both teams advanced to the next round. USA fans are hopeful. This is the first time since the 1930 that the USA team won a group.

As USA team captain Landon Donovan said , "We're not done yet. We believe, man. We're alive, baby."

Yeah! Go USA! Go, baby! Win!

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South Africa shocked France, shocked the world. Some will say that the French team imploded. There maybe some truth to that, but the South Africans gave it everything they had and they came out the winner over France, but it wasn't enough for South Africa to advance to the next round.

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Subcontinental arch-rivals India and Pakistan added another fascinating encounter to their long cricket history, as their encounter in the 2010 Asia Cup went down to the wire. In the end, it was India who held their nerve and triumphed, securing a place in the finals against Sri Lanka. Pakistan were left to rue basic fielding mistakes which undid all their hard work with the bat and ball and cost them the match.

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At the World Cup, France is on the verge of elimination. The French disaster, called its national team, is ssuffering from self-inflicted wounds. France is kicking herself in the pants! She is win-less because she is booting herself in the behind. She is on her way out the door -- Why? The team has issues. The team doesn't like the coach. The coach sent home star striker Nicolas Anelka for the crime criticizing the coach and for being disrespectful. Now, the team won't play for the coach, won't train, won't practice. France, which was considered to have a good team and a good chance of talking home the championship, is looking pretty foolish. What is the solution? Easy -- fire the coach. Kick his ass back to Paris. Why? If a leader loses the respect of the troops, it is time to change the leader.

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When Doctor Who returned to the airwaves after an exile of seventeen years, the show was spearheaded by two men who had made significant names for themselves in British television: Russell T. Davies as executive producer and lead writer, and Christopher Eccleston as the mysterious and iconic Doctor. However, while Doctor Who easily re-established itself as an entertainment powerhouse, Eccleston was gone by the end of the first season. His replacement was the media darling David Tennant, who championed the show for the next five years, but Eccleston's departure remained a sore, if rarely-talked about, blip on the otherwise magnificent radar of Doctor Who.

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When it comes to the World Cup don't expect any objectivity what so ever, because you aren't going to get any, from me. I am for the USA.

In today's, Friday, match, the USA team rallied from a two-goal halftime deficit on goals by Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley to tie Slovenia 2-2. A tie? We needed a victory to make sure we can advance to the next round. We needed a win and we scored a late goal, and then what? We were robbed at the World Cup! The goal was disallowed by a "no good call " by some "referee" whose name I won't mention. His bad call forced the USA team to settle for 2-2 tie with Slovenia. Slovenia! There are only two million people in Slovenia! Two million and one. I suspect they will be granting citizenship to that referee with his "no good" call.

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I assume you've heard about the hair booms by now.  Hair and other natural fibers like feathers and animal fleece are excellent at sopping up spilled oil.  After the Deep Water Horizon spill, a non-profit organization called Matter Of Trust began collecting hair clippings to stuff into nylons, to make floating booms that would soak up the oil.  But is it even happening?  The information is conflicting, to say the least!


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Cricket has been eulogized since time immemorial. As one of the oldest established sports, it holds a hallowed, reverential place in the minds of billions of people across the globe. But this adulation is a jealous mistress; whatever bright idea seeks to improve on the game is immediately pounced on and devoured, like a hapless wildebeest that approaches a bask of crocodiles with a petition for peaceful coexistence. The verdict of this court of opinion is always the same: it's the death of cricket. 

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In Part 1 of my 2010 Asia Cup preview, I covered India, the team in transition, and Bangladesh, who will look to prove their worth against their subcontinent neighbors. In Part 2, we'll look at Sri Lanka, the host team of this year's Asia Cup, and Pakistan, a team who are their own worst enemy.

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Writer/Artist: Diaz Canales, Juanjo Guardino

Publisher: Dark Horse, $29.99

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I'm beyond happy that Dark Horse brought Blacksad back into print because more people in the states need to experience it. And I say experience because once you finish reading it you should come to one realization: this is how good comics are done. Scratch that. This is how beautifully awesome comics are done and this should be considered a zenith in comic book production.

Desperate for games, let alone victories, Zimbabwe would have been hoping for a decent performance when they hosted India and Sri Lanka in the 2010 Micromax Cup. But after playing good cricket in the Caribbean, the slow improvements in their coaching, management and domestic circles paid off, and how - for the first time in a decade, Zimbabwe qualified for their first multi-nation tournament final.

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Can anyone prove me wrong?  I'm throwing it out there.  Can anyone, without 'googling' it, name five US soccer players on this year's 2010 World Cup squad and name 5 international players on any of the teams?  I don't think it can be done.

Football dominates the sporting world in the United States, and I realize soccer is a growing sport, but it can't overcome the fact that:  It's just too boring.  The action is limited, and its like watching a high school cross-country meet and then having them kick around a ball.

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I was flipping through a Reuters slideshow this morning and marveling at how great the World Cup opening ceremony looked, how awesome it is that tens of thousands of people get painted up and wear costumes to celebrate not only the game and tournament that is being played that day, but the history and tradition of the World Cup itself. In the U.S., the World Cup can be lost on us. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and many other countries

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With India knocked out of the Micromax Cup, this match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe became a dress rehearsal. Both teams rested key players, and would have looked to see if it was possible to successfully defend a total in this series - in all the matches so far, the team batting second has won (and quite easily). The trend continued, as Zimbabwe easily reached Sri Lanka's target, with Brendan Taylor hitting his second ODI century to continue his good form and set up what should be a good final game between these two teams.

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It hasn't been a good two months for India. They were knocked out of the second stage of the Twenty20 World Cup without registering a win, failed to defend a large total against Zimbabwe in the first game of the Micromax Cup, and have now suffered their first ever second consecutive loss to Zimbabwe. India now find themselves in the uncomfortably familiar position of having to win their next game (against Sri Lanka) to stay in the tournament, while Zimbabwe find themselves in the pleasantly unfamiliar situation of having one foot in the finals of a multi-nation tournament.

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