Are the White Sox overvaluing Brandon McCarthy?

It’s pretty clear, and been pretty clear, that Kenny Williams will not trade Brandon McCarthy. Even though the Sox don’t have a place for him in their rotation for the foreseeable future, Williams has stated roughly 3,498 times that McCarthy isn’t going anywhere. The way Kenny tells it, McCarthy is the second coming of, well Johan Santana. Even the way the Sox are handling McCarthy makes this comparison all the more obvious.

McCarthy turned 23 a few weeks back, yet already has 120 innings in the majors under his belt. He’s been up with the Sox all year severing mainly as a reliever. Out of the pen, McCarthy has been decent, posting a 3.91 ERA in 53 innings (he’s appeared in 34 games, starting one of those games). The Sox have themselves a young, tall (he’s 6’7”), arm who can hit the low to mid 90s with a good curve, and pretty good control. McCarthy has only walked 17 batters this year (5 of which were intentional), not bad for someone who is only 23.

There’s no doubt that McCarthy has talent, and he’s going to pitch in the majors for a long time if he doesn’t blow out his arm. But is he a front end of the rotation sort of guy? The way the White Sox tell it, he is and will be some day soon. And the fact that they have him ‘stashed’ away in the pen despite the fact that Javier Vazquez has been about as useful as, oh, James Baldwin (who doesn’t love big innings?!?!?!), and Williams refuses to trade him for anyone, one has to wonder… why? If McCarthy is the second coming of a Santana like pitcher (or Justin Verlander?), then why put him in the pen to clean up Vazquez’s mess? Why not start him if he really is as good as you say he is?

Because that’s how the Twins handled both Santana and more recently Liriano. The Sox are taking the same approach. They have McCarthy to spot start as need, if needed… otherwise let him learn in the pen. If it worked for Santana and Liriano, it will work for McCarthy. But there’s a problem, when Santana was 23 he exploded onto the scene. Coming out of the pen that year (2002), Santana dropped a 2.99 ERA in 108 innings (he also started 14 games, came out of the pen in 13). But more importantly, his K/9 inning rate was off the charts: 11.38. (The biggest question is why the Twins sent him back to the pen in 2003).

BUT if you look at a 22 year old Santana in 2001, suddenly you see what the White Sox are talking about; let’s make this simple:

Name	Year	Age	Innings	ERA	K/9	K/BB
McCarthy	2005	21/22	67	4.03	6.45	2.82
McCarthy	2006	22/23	53	3.91	5.60	1.94
Verlander	2006	23	130.1	2.69	6.08	2.44
Santana	2001	22	43.2	4.74	5.77	1.75
Santana	2002	23	108.1	2.99	11.38	2.80
Liriano	2006	22	107	1.94	10.51	4.31

It’s pretty clear that Liriano and 2002 Santana are off the charts when compared to McCarthy. But, a 23 year old McCarthy does compare very well to a 22 year old Santana. The Sox are probably hoping that McCarthy will a sort of leap this winter and we’ll see McCarthy’s numbers jump though the roof, in a perfect world like Santana.

But even more telling is that McCarthy’s numbers check out very closing to Justin Verlander. Verlander is a few months older and starting, but if you look at those K/9 and K/BB numbers… not that big of a difference (if you factor McCarthy’s numbers last year). Verlander’s ERA is much better, but that might be because of McCarthy’s role coming out of the pen.

So basically the White Sox have their own young arm wasting away in the pen right now. Imagine if the Tigers let Verlander ‘learn’ in the bullpen this year? Would they be 8.5 games up on the Sox and Twins? No way. And also remember the Twins had Liriano in the pen until Carlos Sliva walked into Terry Ryan’s office and pointed a gun at his head. The Twins have been playing like the 2001 Mariners since Liriano has been put in the rotation.

Yeah, we all know where I’m going with this now… it’s time for the White Sox to put McCarthy in the rotation. Between Mark Buehrle’s Carlos Sliva impersonation over the last month and Javier Vazquez pitching for the Yankees two years after he was actually with them, it’s time for the White Sox to get McCarthy in the rotation. There’s no reason McCarthy should be coming out of the pen. He’s got too much talent to be wasting away there considering the ‘job’ Buehrle and Vazquez have been doing.

Back to the main point in all this, yes, the White Sox and Kenny Williams probably value McCarthy a little too much. BUT, they are also misusing him at the moment. Trading him would be foolish since, the White Sox need him in the rotation, well, Saturday.

Richard Jefferson's New Coach

As I listen to Brid go to town and taking in the Journal with a cup of coffee, I come across an article on Video Game Teachers [note: VFLOAB should have become a Tecmo Super Bowl teacher back in the day, oh well, but remember how awesome Bo Jackson was?]

Anyway, the article is plugging away just fine, when I come across this gem of gems: Richard Jefferson, a forward with the New Jersey Nets basketball team, says several professional gamers, including Mr. Taylor, have helped him “raise his game” though “Halo 2” coaching sessions.

Mr. Jefferson, 26, says he didn’t pay anything for the lessons, though he did give away some tickets to basketball games. Mr. Jefferson holds out little hope of ever defeating his instructors. “No matter how much I practice I couldn’t do it,” he says. “It’s like comparing me to a high-school basketball player.”

Before we make the "Hey Richard, it would have been much cooler if you would have hired a "How to make a Wide Open Jump Shot" coach prior to the 2004 Olympics instead of a Halo 2 coach" joke, I should clear up that I’d link the article, but seeing that you have to drop fifty bucks to read the Journal online EVEN IF YOU HAVE A PRINT SUSCRIPTION, we’re all SOL.

But the article just goes on to talk about video game teachers, their rates (some charge $65 bucks an hour) and hey, if you only feel like dropping $25 an hour, there’s a chance an 8 year old will teach you how to play Mario Brothers Smash Brothers or something like that (speaking of Smash… remember when ESPN2 first came out and Bill Pidto did the ‘Smash’ or something like that? And it had a some what cool ditty? Shite, Pidto not only has a Wikipedia entry, but they also drop the Smash reference in there too. Quick someone do a ESPN2 Smash Wikipedia entry!)

In the mean time, thousands of 23-30 year olds are really pissed off right now… if only born a few years later, we could have been the ones teaching professional athletes how to play video games. Son of a gun.

Anyway, if you want to learn from the best… and never date anyone in the process, here is the video game teachers/coaching website.

Tigers, Sox, and Nats... Oh My!

AS the White Sox slip further and further behind the Tigers despite having the third best record in baseball and a .602 winning percentage, I went back and found all the teams that have played .650 baseball or better over a full season since World War II. There aren’t many. Right now, the Tigers .677 would be the sixth best in all of baseball since 1946.

Teams that have played .650 or better since World War II:
2001 - SEA 116 46 .716
1998 – NYY 114 48 .704
1998 - ATL 106 56 .654
1995 - CLE 100 44 .694
1986 - NYM 108 54 .667
1975 - CIN 108 54 .667
1970 - BAL 108 54 .667
1969 - BAL 109 53 .673
1961 - NYY 109 53 .673
1954 - CLE 111 43 .721
1954 - NYY 103 51 .669
1953 - NYY 99 52 .656
1953 - BRO 105 49 .682
1946 - BOS 104 50 .675

Now does anyone in their right mind think the 2006 Tigers are as good as the 1953 Dodgers, 1954 Indians, 1995 Indians, 1998 Yankees, or 2001 Mariners? Of course… Well actually, they do sort of remind ya of the 2001 M’s don’t they? Not a great offensive team, but a pretty good one. And they’re getting amazing pitching on top of it. And they can’t seem to lose even if they try. But like the 2001 M’s, when you look at their roster, you’re left scratching your head… ‘sure this team is good, but…’

I’m not sure what gives, there’s no doubt the Tigers are having a magical season, one where they’re playing great baseball every day… but no one could have predicted them being 67-32 and about to run away with the division despite having the White Sox and Twins playing pretty good baseball themselves.

But back to when I looked up those teams above, the goal was to see how hard it is to play .650 baseball from start to finish. And clearly it's pretty hard since only 14 teams have done so over the past 57 seasons (not counting 1994 or 1981). So, can the Tigers keep this up?

They’ve got a shot there’s no doubt. They have to go 39-24 the rest of the way, which is only .619 baseball. They’ve had two four game losing streaks, but those were back in April and May. The Tigers are a tad worse (52-29 .642) against the American League, still fantastic, but probably a tad more telling. And as we all know, pretty much every team ever will go through a bad stretch, usually about two or three weeks long. The Tigers haven’t had that yet, besides a 2-8 stretch back in late May and early June, they’ve had smooth sailing all the way.

If the Tigers are going to ‘slump’ it’s going to start, probably, in the next week or two. They go up to the Twin Cities this weekend, then down to Tampa (who as always are a pretty good home team). Any sort of ‘slump’ there leads into a series with the Tribe, followed by the Twins, then off to Chicago and Boston, back home for the always dangerous to pitching staffs Rangers, then four with the White Sox before going to Cleveland and New York to finish off the month. That’s going to be 33 games in 35 days… during the Dog Days… and considering that the White Sox are hitting rock bottom right now, a slip up from the Tigers (say they go 17-15) is going to make September all the more interesting.

Of course, they really could be the 2001 Mariners all over again, and they’ll finish with 110 wins. Time will tell. I bet the Tigers finish with something like 102 wins and it’s enough to hold off the White Sox.

A very interesting post from a very good blog (seriously, check out his Harold Reynolds stuff, it’s fantastic) about the “Reopening” of RFK this weekend.

As I said in the comment section, the Nats are going to be a 'bummer' and disappointment as long as they continue to have, for lack of a better word, lame fans. I'm sorry, but the place is filled with about 10,000 fans rooting for the opposing team for the first pitch, then by the third inning about 20,000 National ‘fans’ suddenly show up dressed as only a square white man can dress (either pressed polo, tucked in with kakis and a ‘Nats’ hat bought about five minutes earlier or dress shirt with tie, usually not loosened). They have a 'beer' and try to talk about baseball for about ten minutes, only then to either end up talking about the fierce battle going on in the 7th district Georgia State Senate race or some bizarre law subject for the next four innings. Everyone gets up, sings TMOTTBG and leaves; once again there are 10,000 fans rooting for the opposing team.

It's not RFK that’s the problem, and sure the 'act' MLB pulled for a year and a half didn't help, but it's the fans. Until new ownership can create a few people who care more about the Nationals, than say, Maryland basketball, it’s going to be a disappointment every time you go to a game.

In fact, having lived in DC for five of the last six years, let’s do a quick landscape of the sports scene at this moment:

1) Redskins
2) Redskins
3) Redskins
4) Redskins
5) Maryland Hoops
6) Wizards
7) Nats (but it's close with the Wiz)
8) Georgetown hoops
9) Terps football
10) Caps (but they are rising, Ovechkin gets a lot of love around here)
11) Virginia Tech Football

When you don't live around here I don't think many realize or understand how HUGE Maryland basketball is. I was floored when I first moved out here and even this year a bad Maryland team was talked about all the time. But the Terps are the #2 team in DC, as amazing as that might seem.

Yay! Labour!

The Brits broke rank with W and the White House today criticising the actions taken by Israel over the past weeks in Lebanon. They also told the US to 'understand' the price being paid by ordinary Lebanese civilians.

"The destruction of the infrastructure, the death of so many children and so many people. These have not been surgical strikes. If they are chasing Hizbollah, then go for Hizbollah. You don't go for the entire Lebanese nation.

''I very much hope that the Americans understand what's happening to Lebanon," said Foreign Office Minister, Kim Howells.

All I can say is, yay Labour. Yay Brits! Hopefully, this 'Love Actually' moment will teach the US government a thing or two about the actions of the Israeli military. And hopefully that will bring some sort of peace and resolution to the situation. Because the longer Israel continues to undertake these actions, the less sympathy I feel for the Israeli cause... and let me tell you, there isn't much sympathy left.

Loose Ends

That sound you here? That’s the first rumblings of actual Fantasy Football. And that other sound? That’s the wishful thinking of Saturday, September 2, 2006.

Can we all just admit that Israel is invading Lebanon at the moment and, in these here eyes, is an act of war. And what’s up with the US giving Israel a week? How does that work out? Does the US say something like “Okay guys, you can do what you want for a week, then weren’t going to look at you very, very sternly.” Or is it more of a “We’re going to turn our backs for a week, and hope this all goes away.”? This is such a bizarre and messed up situation… the US is basically saying its okay for Israel to do whatever it pleases in Lebanon, including harming and misplacing civilians. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the recent actions by either side, but especially the Israelis isn’t going to lead to peace any time soon. [Interesting subplot that we’re starting to follow: the rift between the Sunnis and Shittes, will thing bring them together or further distance the two groups?]

The White Sox lost 5-2 in Detroit to fall to 4.5 back of the Tigers with about 70 games to play. Yes, that’s not a big lead and if the Sox win this afternoon, they leave Detroit back 3.5 games, but I for one, am worried.

Why? The White Sox starting pitching has been pretty bad since June 1. Just check out these ERAs:

Name	ERA since 6/1/06
Jose Contreras	5.18
Mark Buehrle	6.66
Freddy Garcia	5.74
Jon Garland	3.76
Javier Vazquez	6.98
Starters Totals	5.61

That’s not good at all. And that’s been over a seven week period. That isn’t slump, that’s a trend. These guys need to ‘pull a Garland’ and turn things around soon. The only one who is even showing signs of being okay is Contreras.

The silver lining, of course, is that Garland is pitching a ton better, the bats are still hitting the ball, the Sox are the second best team in baseball, and they’re a top the Wild Card standings (not to mention being 4.5 back of the Tigers). But if the pitching doesn’t improve, even if they make the playoffs, they look to be in big trouble.

And count me as one of those guys that’s about ready to give up on Vazquez… he needs to learn how to pitch and he isn’t even showing signs of ‘learning’. Contreras in 2004 showed signs after a few months, signs that he was learning. Vazquez apparently has taken steps back. Uggg.

Remember when Bush cared about poverty for a few days? Well the Washington Post does… and now that they mention it, we do too, but we still think that it was a Freudian slip on Bush’s part more than anything else.

Songs I’m enjoying for some reason at the moment.
Turn Into – Yeah Yeah Yeahs –


Reasons don’t matter remember, but maybe it’s the music video, or maybe it’s just a nice little song that sounds a bit sweet and innocent and lovely and all bouncy and you could see this being used in a movie as a ‘falling in love’ sequence. Those are always fun. May favorite is from “Outside Providence” of all movies. I forget what they play, but I’ve always enjoyed that part where Dunphy and whatever Amy Smart’s character was called.

New Slang and Caring is Creepy – The Shins – I’m not sure if these are perfect summer songs, if they’re perfect songs, that they’re songs that are registering because of where I am in life, or if that when I hear them it reminds me of seasons Three and Four of the Gilmore Girls. Whatever the reason, yay.

Look Around – Something for Rockets – This is climbing up the chart and entering “Never Never” territory in terms of isn’t this a fun little song!

Napoleon Says – Phoenix – “You know your French well… You do expect a Messiah/You want to be European/I would be your Bonaparte” Not sure why I like that, but I love the Bonaparte line. That’s something I’d say. Maybe that’s why.

Eanie Meany – Jim Noir – “If you don’t give my football back…” Jose+10, which by the way will probably be the best commercial of the year, features this song… and me love it much.

In case you missed it, Bill Simmons picked Tottenham as his Premiership team yesterday. We’re happy for Simmons and his decision and the fact that he might be throwing soccer a bone here and there this year. He might actually make soccer cool to the masses. Anyway, it was a pretty good article from Simmons who did a decent job at explaining most teams history, fans, and general ‘deal’. And we sort of agree with him… we want to like Liverpool, but in the end they’re just too successful.

Anyway, we here at VFLOAB have been rooting for Watford for years now. It all goes back to when we were living in London and were taken to a Watford game. Since then we’ve been fans of the Hornets and enjoyed their run to the Premiership last spring. And now we get to follow them against the big boys… hopefully they’ll stay up and we can root for them for years to come in the Premiership. That would be cool.

We’re toying with the idea of doing regular updates on Watford here on the blog, we just don’t know right now. But if we do, you’ll be able to read about it.

Peace in the Middle East, please, and Mr. Sandman Rivera

One thing before I launch into what I did this morning...

We freely admit that Hizbullah is a terrorist organization and they’re bad. There isn’t anything redeeming about their actions, mission, goals, or whatever else they do. Their recent actions of kidnapping two Israeli soldiers are hard, if not impossible, to justify.

BUT… at some point the Israelis really have to stop overreacting. They SHOULD know better than this. And yeah, we know that politics play a huge factor in the terrible events of the past few days. And yeah, the Israelis have every right to be pissed about Hezbullah kidnapping two soldiers. But why kill innocent civilians? It appears that the Israelis have as little care for life as their terrorist ‘brothers’. And yes, I say brothers because it seems to me that both sides, at this moment, have more in common than either side would like to admit - both sides have a lack of respect for life and peace, not to mention each other.

The Israelis have every right to be angered at the capture of two soldiers, and while we would encourage them to use diplomatic means of bring those two soldiers back to safety; we also realize that dealing with terrorist organizations can be difficult. But two wrongs do not make a right. And the actions taken by the Israelis over the past few days that include attacking the airports in Lebanon, power plants, and blockading seaports are hard to justify. Hezbullah is not an arm of the Lebanese government. They’re a rouge outfit that operates within Lebanese borders, and I don’t think we’re shedding any new light on the fact that the Lebanese government, at best, can be described as weak. It hasn’t even been 18 months since they Syrians left the country and the neo-Cons were praising Lebanon as a ‘victory for democracy’. Now it seems that these very same neo-Cons (all five of ‘em) are not only okay with, but also defending, the aggressive tactics that Israel has taken on the very civilians they were praising 18 months ago… yeah, it doesn’t add up, we know. For the most part, the civilians of Lebanon have little, to no, influence over Hezbullah. Punishing these civilians is just flat out wrong. And it lessens our sympathy of Israeli cause.

We may or may not have more over the next few days, but for now, we’ll leave it at that. Here is a very good piece from the Guardian, and makes an outstanding point: If Israel couldn't defeat Hizbullah after 18 years in which its army occupied large swaths of Lebanese territory, it is not going to succeed with air strikes and blockades, or even another occupation. The same point applies even more forcefully in the case of Gaza. Every time Israel applies the iron fist in an effort to beat the Palestinians into submission, their resistance simply re-emerges in a more extreme and rejectionist form… The civilian victims of Israel's indiscriminate retaliation have no real influence over the militias that hold them, while the militias themselves are untroubled by the spectacle of public suffering.

Okay, now on to what I did this morning. Between the Sox getting swept by the Yankees this weekend and a fantasy baseball message boards, I went back and did a bit of research on Mariano Rivera. So here’s the deal… Trevor Hoffman blew the save in the All-Star Game the other day, which prompted a Yankee fan to say something along the lines of: ‘I’ve always heard Hoffman was suppose to be nearly as good as Rivera, but the two times I’ve seen Hoffman, he blew the game, the 1998 World Series and the All-Star Game’ (they also admitted that they knew it was only twice but…). So after the Sox got swept by the Yanks, a pissed off me called Rivera overrated and that he’s so good because his strike zone is the size of Russia. This lead to the Yankee fans reminding me that Rivera’s playoff ERA is 0.81 and he has 34 saves in 72 games. Yeah, I know that’s awesome. I’m not going to fight that, but something still bothered me. Mainly: Game Four, 2004 ALCS and Game Seven, 2001 World Series. Both games Rivera ‘blew the save’. Before I launch into the numbers, two things:

1) Rivera was AWESOME in 1998 and 1999 against the AWESOME Padres and Braves. But none of those playoff series were even close. In 1999 the Yanks had a White Sox like run though the playoffs and 1998 was a near White Sox like run losing two games. He pitched 25.2 innings (and 18 games) allowing nothing going 1-0 with 12 saves. He was amazing, ridiculous, hochuli. But as I said, none of those series were even close, the Yankees went 22-3 over those two postseasons, Rivera wasn’t the key, sorry. Of course that shouldn't take much away from how hochuli he was.

2) Since we are comparing Hoffman from only two appearances, if the two games I remember most of Rivera are Game Seven of the 2003 ALCS and Game Seven of the 2001 World Series, what does that mean? He was awesome and not so awesome. For how great he's been, you'd also never expect to see a Jose Mesa performance on his CV. So what I did was look ONLY at elimination games, games were the Yankees could have been or were eliminated. Here are the results: Rivera in Elimination Games:

Innings/hits+BB/Ks/ER/R/Result

2005 - Game Four, Angels -- 2/0/2/0/0 -- SAVE
2004 - Game Seven, BoSox -- 0.1/0/0/0/0
2003 - Game Six, Marlins -- 2/1/2/0/0
2003 - Game Seven, BoSox -- 3/2/3/0/0 -- WIN
2001 - Game Seven, DBacks -- 1.1/4/3/1/2 -- LOSS
2001 - Game Five, A’s -- 2/1/2/0/0 – SAVE
2001 - Game Three, A’s -- 2/2/1/0/0 -- SAVE
2000 - Game Five, A’s -- 1.2/1/1/0/0 -- SAVE
1996 - Game Five, M’s -- 0.2/2/1/0/0

Totals
9 Games
15 Innings
12 Hits (1 Walk)
15 K’s
1 ER
2 Runs
0.60 – ERA
1-1
Four Saves

So yeah he's as great as the numbers say... BUT I can't get over the Jose Mesa like performance. I know it was only once, but that's a pretty big blown save. So let’s leave it at this, his Game Seven performance in 2003 was his best (over shadowed of course by Grady, Pedro, and Boone) and his 2001 Game Seven is also overlooked but for all the wrong reasons. People should bring up the fact that he blew Game Seven of the World Series, because well, he did. He cost the Yankees a ring, yet no one talks about this because he was so great while the Yanks were sweeping the Braves and Padres and winning in five against the Mets. But the fact is, Rivera pulled a Mesa in arguably his biggest game (let’s face it, it doesn’t get bigger than Gamve Seven of the World Series, I don’t care how huge those saves in the ALDS and ALCS were). His performance in Game Seven of the 2001 World Series looked very Jose Mesa like (1.2/4/2/1/1 vs 1.1/4/3/1/2). In other words “Aside from that, did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”

You may have noticed that we used the word ‘hochuli’ twice above. Well…

See this weekend as we were driving around the Mid-Atlantic (DC to the burbs of Philly to the Jersey Shore to Philly to DC) with the ex-roomie#1, we found ourselves using the phrase “beyond ridiculous”. After the third time of using it, we realized that we needed a word that meant “beyond ridiculous”. So instead of saying, “Zinedine’s headbutt was ridiculous, in fact it was beyond ridiculous!” We decided we needed a new word. And that word we came up with as we were walking along the Boardwalk of Ocean City, New Jersey… hochuli. The reasoning? Well the word ‘ridiculous’ sounds ridiculous. So if we were going to define ‘beyond ridiculous’ that word needed to sound beyond ridiculous. So hochuli was chosen. And yes, Ed Hochuli has something to do with this. What, we’re not sure, but he seems like he’s beyond ridiculous since he’s jacked and likes to eat chicken.

The What If US National Team

Let’s say they get rid of diving in soccer, is there any chance it doesn’t be huge in here in the US after that? Constant action, players who are willing to kick, headbutt, and fight each other on a constant basis, crazy hair cuts, goofy players and personalities, some amazing skill, the way they keep time basically begs you to do a Power Hour, and then on top of that there’s always the chance that a flair may or may not be shot at the players on the pitch!!! And you can gamble on soccer too! Seriously, I’m shocked that soccer isn’t bigger. I really am.

With that now out there, let’s tackle (Pun Alert! Pun Alert!) something that Simmons half posed last week. While musing on Shawn Marion, Simmons' wrote:
(By the way, I've been watching the World Cup for four weeks trying to decide which NBA players could have been dominant soccer players, eventually coming to three conclusions. First, Allen Iverson would have been the greatest soccer player ever -- better than Pele, better than Ronaldo, better than everyone. I think this is indisputable, actually. Second, it's a shame that someone like Chris Andersen couldn't have been pushed toward soccer, because he would have been absolutely unstoppable soaring above the middle of the pack on corner kicks. And third, can you imagine anyone being a better goalie than Shawn Marion? It would be like having a 6-foot-9 human octopus in the net. How could anyone score on him? He'd have every inch of the goal covered. Just as a sports experiment, couldn't we have someone teach Marion the rudimentary aspects of playing goal, then throw him in a couple of MLS games? Like you would turn the channel if this happened?)

So that got our heads here at VFLOAB thinking… what if soccer was #1 in America… what would the US National Team look like? For starters, we’ll have the US play a 4-4-2. From there I’m opening this up to any US athlete in professional sports today. It’s going to be mostly basketball and football players since they tend to be the most athletic athletes that the US has to offer. I’m sure there are a few hockey players that would make good soccer players, but US hockey is down big time right now. And let’s face it, most baseball players have amazing hand-eye coordination… and sure they’d probably also have good foot-eye coordination, but they’re baseball players! Who in the All-Star Game made you think, man, he’d be a great basketball/football/soccer player! Maybe a Dominican or two, but does Vernon Wells or Chase Utley make you think they’d be great soccer players?

Another thing of note, some of these guys are much bigger than they’d ever be if they played soccer. For instance, Urlacher who is listed at 260 pounds would take up half the screen if he played soccer. So let’s assume his a bit smaller, say 210 pounds. As for basketball players height, I’m not sure what a seven footman running around and playing soccer would look like. But considering that guys like Dirk and Garnett move so effortlessly as it is at that height, I’m willing to guess they’d look more like Steven Gerrard than Peter Crouch out there. Okay, let’s cinch it up and hunker down.

Goalie – Currently: Kasey Keller; Replace with: Shawn Marion – I’m with Simmons on this one (look above in case you forgot already). I think Marion would be a beats in net.

Right Back – Currently: Steve Cherundolo; Replace with: Ron Artest – Okay, I realize he’s a red card and ten game suspension waiting to happen; but remember we’ve already had players go into the stands in soccer. Artest would just be doing what’s already been done. And tell me you wouldn’t love to see him flying up the right wing, getting back, locking down the opponents left back… I mean he’d force EVERYTHING to the right side. A shame he’s a basketball player.

Left Back - Currently: Carlos Bocanegra; Replace with: Champ Bailey – He’s got to be on this team and I have no clue where else to play him.

Center Back - Currently: Eddie Pope; Replace with: Troy Polamalu – He’s got the crazy hair thing down already. He’d scare the shit out of every single striker in the air, and who else would be able to read the other team better than Polamalu? Exactly.

Center Back – Currently: Oguchi Onyewu; Replace with: Brian Urlacher – In the end, Urlacher’s speed, size, and general ability would make him nasty. While he can run really fast in a straight line, it’s his lateral quickness that always seems to impress me the most. He’d be able to run with pretty much ever striker out there, he’d be nasty on anything in the air, and he’d cover more ground than anyone else in the game not named Fabio Cannavaro.

Right Midfield – Currently: Clint Dempsey; Replace with: Clint Dempsey (no change) – He was head and shoulders the best US player in the World Cup. He showed flair, speed, ability, skill, and pace. And unlike a few other US players, when he got a chance to score, he scored. The guy has a bright future ahead of him, and I know if I was a manager in England, I’d be calling MLS about Dempsey.

Left Midfield – Currently: DeMarcus Beasley; Replace with: Michael Vick – Not only is he left footed (well assuming he is because he’s left handed), but he’d probably be the fastest player in all of soccer. Seriously, just imagine what Vick could do flying down the left side? Is there a right back that would have any chance against him? Ashley Cole plays on the left… and other than that I can’t think of anyone. I’m excited just thinking about Vick on the left.

Center Midfield – Currently: Landon Donovan; Replace with: LeBron James – Let’s see he can run, he sees the court better than anyone else, and he does things and will do things that we’ve never seen and he’s 21. Sounds like the kind of guy you want directing your midfield for the next eight to ten years. Probably plays more of a holding role that you’d expect.

Center Midfield - Currently: Claudio Reyna; Replace with: Dwyane Wade – It’s a bit of a risk playing two attacking midfielders, but I think with a back line like the US has it shouldn’t be a problem, especially since LeBron would be more of a play maker than attacker. Anyway, I see Wade as a faster Steven Gerrard.

Striker – Currently: Brian McBride; Replace with: Allen Iverson – Simmons said above that he’s convinced that Iverson would be the greatest soccer player of all time… and I couldn’t agree more. The real question is where do you play him? You could probably stick him on the wing… or in the center mid… but I think Iverson would be deadly up front. He’d be average in the air, but that’s about it. He’d dribble around pretty much everyone, he’d have that killer instinct, he’d be faster than pretty much everyone… If you combined Henry, Maradona, and Ronaldinho… that would be Allen Iverson the soccer player. My Lord.

Striker – Currently: Eddie Johnson; Replace with: Reggie Bush – The Young Stud that bummed Steve Smith from the starting line up! I’ll let this do the talking:

I really can’t get enough of that highlight reel… just amazing.

Bench:
Goaltender: Tim Howard
Ummm, just because he’d probably be better than Marion in the end, I mean I’d HATE to see Marion come off his line... I’d have heart attacks. Then again, he’d probably just out jump ever one and end up with the ball.

Defenders: Peyton Manning, Oguchi Onyewu, Josh Smith, Ed Reed, LaVar Arrington
I encluded LaVar just because he’d probably scare the shit out of the other side. Reed would be a often used sub on the wing, Onyewu is going to be on the US back line for years to come. Josh Smith excites me. And Peyton… well he’d be a good sweeper right? I don’t know, just seems like he should be on this team as much as I hate to say that.
Midfielders: Chris Paul, Paul Pierce, Larry Johnson, DaMarcus Beasley
I’m assuming that Manning can also play some midfield… anyway, Paul is a no brainier in the middle. Pierce seems like he’d be a better midfielder than striker, Beasley’s veracity and pace keeps him around. And Larry Johnson… you tell me. Those eight weeks last year were without a doubt, almost dream like, as if you wouldn’t believe that they happened unless he was on your fantasy team. It was unbelievable. And therefore you’ve got to put him on the team as some sort of winger.

Strikers: Steve Smith (the wide out on the Panthers silly), Warrick Dunn, Randy Moss
Smith strikes me as a poor mans Iverson. Dunn as the crafty veteran and good locker-room guy. I have no clue where to put Randy Moss, but he’s GOT to be on this team. Since he’s good in the air and ridiculously fast… he’s a striker.
Guys who I have no idea what to do with, but should probably be on this team:
Amare Stoudamire, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett, Donovan McNabb, Marvin Harrison
You tell me. Stoudamire is a freak of nature, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what he’d play. Goalie? Up front? In the back? Howard seems like a backliner, but I’m not sure. I have even less of a clue what to do with Garnett, I guess up front, but I don’t know. McNabb seems like a natural for the center mid, but I’m not sure he cracks this line up. And Harrison… it’s just a shout out more than anything else.

Just missed the Cut: Larry Fitzgerald, Chad Johnson, Gilbert Arenas, Chauncey Billups, Kirk Hinrich
I think this is self explanatory.

No way in Hell they make the team because I said so: Kobe Bryant and Terrell Owens

So that’s the team… any suggestions, changes, or your Starting XI feel free to post.

All Star Game and Such

Let’s just start off with the All-Star Game since we enjoyed it. A lot. And we couldn’t disagree more with Deadspin who found the game ‘boring’ and dull. Insert “Who wants to see me hit some dingers!” joke here.

It was a well played, fun, pitchers duel (though not sure how a game feature 983 pitchers could be called a duel, so maybe it’s a pitchers nine-hundred eighty third?). And then Michael Young warms the heart of the South Side… we know we get the Mets in Chicago on Oct. 21 instead of having to go to Queens.

Anyway, call us crazy, but we enjoyed the game. We got to see Kenny Rogers dive for that ball, Beltran get his ass down the line and almost pull a hammy (and steal third earlier in the game), and let’s not forget starting second baseman on “Johnny Gammons” Chase Utley leg out an infield single. So what if it’s an exhibition game… it was a good game and as far as we could tell, pretty much everyone played hard and sort of cared. And we thank Brad Penny for deciding to throw 98/99 mph just for shits and giggles. That set the tone of the game. After Ortiz was about two years late on that first pitch, he bucked down and got himself into that at bat. He then struck out, but who cares. It was fun to see Penny try a throw a ball 140 miles an hour. Therefore he gets our MVP award.

And not like we could love a man any more, but we found a way to love Vlad Guerrero even more. That home run he hit. R-I-D-I-C-L-O-U-S. Probably our favorite baseball player to watch play baseball.

Remember, the President is always right. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. Just awesome guys… so if he’s always right… oh fuck it… if you can’t see the problems with that statement, just fuck it. I give up. And pardon my French, sorry.

You don’t know us well enough if you don’t think we printed out all the Big Ten Blueribbon reports on ESPN.com yesterday. We’re not a little excited about college football… we’re beyond excited. And I can’t wait to see Notre Dame go 9-3 yet have Domers tell us that they should have been #1 since they lost to Michigan at home and Michigan almost beat Ohio State who almost beat Texas who almost best Okalahoma. (BTW, we have not clue if Okalahoma is going to be #1 at the end of the year, but I had to draw the “almost” line out).

We were duped into thinking this would be sort of interesting… you know Novak coming clean on the whole Valerie Plume stuff… well it wasn’t interesting. In fact, it was a total waste of time. Novak’s sources? He doesn’t give one of them, the second is Rove (no way!), and the third is the CIA PR guy or something like that. There I saved you some time of a man writing about himself and his sources. And yes, at this point it’s beyond obvious that the White House was pissed at Wilson for calling him lairs and therefore acted like a bunch of 3rd graders who didn’t get their way in a kickball game so they went and told the teacher. And it looks like no one got hurt this time around, which, I guess means, all’s well that ends well, but let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again. Okay Assholes down the street from me? Good.

You know, every time I watch “The Royal Tenenbaums” and get to the part where Richie Tenenbaum (Luke Wilson) decides that’s it’s time to take his life and “Needle in the Hay” by Elliott Smith is playing… well it freaks me out. A lot. I mean, don’t you think Wes Anderson and company should go back and change it now that Smith took his life? Is that one of those things where Anderson wakes up every morning and go, “I wish I had that one back...” And is it alright for me to assume that the Tenenbaums were Jewish? And if so, where does that place Richie Tenenbaum on the list of greatest Jewish athletes… he has to crack the top ten, probably top five right? In fact, I sort of want this to take flight just so he and Rocky Balboa can go on tour together as “Great Athletes that don’t exist but are taken on by a city/group of people.” You know since, Rocky is the greatest Philly athlete of all time (true fact) why can’t Richie being one of the greatest Jewish athletes of all time?

Good news for US soccer… Klinsmann won’t be coaching Germany any more which means the likely hood of him being the next coach of US soccer is pretty good. Klinsmann lives in California and took a lot of heat from the German media leading up to the World Cup. He made the media look like fools by taking Germany to the semis and turned them into the most entertaining team in the process. He’s the sort of coach the US needs at this point, someone who’s going to be able not only to develop and discover talent, but someone who can also handle a match tactically. Bruce Arena did a wonderful job with the US, but it’s time for some new blood with a little more experience on the World Stage. Klinsmann would be that sort of guy. He can live in Cali, not have to commute as far (last I checked, New York was closer to LA than Berlin; and a lot of the top US soccer facilities are in LA anyway) and he won’t be under as much pressure from the media. He’ll be allowed to grow with the team and hopefully can kick Landon Donovan in the arse and tell him to go to England or something… arrrrrrgggggg Landon…. Oh yeah, as always, we agree with That’s On Point.

And just when we think we hear some good news… this shit in Israel and the Middle East just keeps getting worse. Now we’ve got Israeli troops in Lebanon after two Israeli soldiers were seized by Hezbollah. Awesome. Really. This might be a classic, be careful what you wish for, situation. Sheron wasn’t loved by many outside of Israel, but now that he’s gone things have gone from shit to fucking shit over there. At some point you’d figure both sides would get sick of this crap, of the death and horror, fear and terror, but I guess they don’t. Yeah it’s a messed up situation, we’re not going to deny that. And it’s not easy to fix and it’s not something that one day everyone will say, “You know what, we were wrong, sorry!” But just what is each side trying to accomplish by trying to over react to the other sides over reaction? And of course this doesn’t even touch on Iraq… which at this point hearing that a hundred people died in attacks the day before has become common place. How sad.

But on to the good news. Bush and company blinked:
But the White House acknowledgment on Tuesday that a key clause of the Geneva Conventions applies to Qaeda detainees, as a recent Supreme Court ruling affirmed, is only the latest step in the gradual erosion of the administration’s aggressive legal stance.

The administration’s initial position emerged in 2002 only after a fierce internal legal debate, and it has been revised in the face of international opinion, Congressional curbs and Supreme Court rulings. Two central ideas of the war on terror — that the president could fight it exclusively on the basis of his constitutional powers and that terrorist suspects had few, if any, rights — have been modified repeatedly.

So there is some justice in the world. It took the White House long enough, but hopefully finally they’ll start treating the detainees a bit more like human beings. We here at VFLOAB are pretty sure that most of those guys are ‘bad guys’, but if that is the case, then is shouldn’t be too much trouble proving that they are ‘bad guys’. Once their convicted to being ‘bad guys’ then throw them in jail.

But more importantly, the Supreme Court did what it’s supposed to do, and that’s place a check on the White House. The White House was being extremely liberal (ha!) in it’s interpretation of the Constitution when they decided that Bush could, can, and did whatever he damn well pleased after 9/11. This led to some obvious abuses of power that not only hurt Americans, but also made the US look foolish around the world. While Bush preached the Word of Freedom, Liberty, and Democracy, he allowed things like the inhumane treatment of prisoners to go on at places like Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, often times with no hopes of a trial in sight.

Of course, this is probably too little too late, but at least we can sort of hope that we’ve turned a corner with all this. That now we don’t have to worry about mistreatment of prisoners, of detainees being held for years on end without any sort of charges being brought against them, and that they maybe be allowed a trial that isn’t a mockery.

And finally, how cool is this (also the picture you see up there on the top)?

The World Cup Final

So were do we start? Before we get to our World Cup Final… let’s get some shite off our chests (and yes, we’re slowly morphing into some sort of English/Scottish/Irish/American in our usage of the English language. Deal.)

Things we’re happy about here at VFLOAB: A much needed Who renaissance, Fantasy Football thoughts, college football is a month away!, the White Sox, All-Start Game is coming soon!, North Korea’s missiles falling harmlessly into the ocean, Harold Pinter info, all those people who not only watched, but actually cared about the World Cup. Soccer’s going to make a run as the #4 sport in America over the next ten years. Let’s see if people start going to MLS games first though…

Things we’re not happy about here at VFLOAB: Maria Sharapova crashing out at Wimbledon, Portuguese soccer, North Korea firing missiles, “Grey’s Anatomy” getting Emmy nods, Pitchfork’s new design, Israel, Palestine, American Apparel’s cloths never looking half as good in the store as they do on line, and bad beer.

What are the chances that Ken Lay is some where in Argentina as you read this? We think they’re pretty good… the man is 64, was found guilty, but hasn’t been sentenced but shall be shortly, chillin’ at a rented vacation home in Colorado when the ‘heart attack’ took place, it’s the holiday weekend… I wouldn’t doubt it if old Kenny is down in Argentina as we speak (even though we’re not speaking of course). Of course he could really be dead… who knows. In a way, who cares, he gone either way you look at it. I hope his tombstone says something like “Yeah, I was a total dick, Sorry, Karma is a Bitch”

You know, we should all spend more time checking out the Guardian and their book section. Seriously. It’s awesome.

The World Cup is over, a month of daily soccer and putting baseball squarely in second place in my mind (I know the White Sox went something like 143-4 against the NL while I was half following, baseball thoughts soon, I swear)… anyway, the World Cup is over. We’re sad here at VFLOAB, but we’re also a little happy. See this World Cup… it just wasn’t great. It had its moments, but when the Group Stages is the best part of the World Cup, well it just wasn’t that great. Sure this World Cup had more drama than a season with TO, but most of that drama was thanks to either brutal reffing or players (cough, Zidane and De Rossi, cough) attempting to latterly destroy opponents… well… I’m not sure what to say. So how can we rap up this World Cup… Ummm… let’s try and make this interesting. WISH US LUCK.

The Final – The game itself was aiight. It was up and down at times and wasn’t boring. France scored on a cheap penalty call (but then when they really did draw a penalty, there was no call, so it evens out). The Italians came back within twenty minutes. And for much of the first half, it looked like it was only a matter of time before the Italians scored again… Toni even hit the crossbar to drive home this point.

And then something happened at half time… Thierry Henry, with help form Ribery and Malouda took over the game in the second half. Henry’s speed and creativity, with Ribery and Malouda’s speed and creativity, had the Italians on their heels. But France wasn’t able to score in part because of Gianluigi Buffon and in part because of Fabio Cannavaro. Buffon’s save on Zadane in the first Extra Time not only, obviously, won the World Cup, but was amazing. I’m still shocked that didn’t go into the net. Just imagine how different today would be if Buffon doesn’t get a hand on that? Zadane walks off as one of the three or four greatest footballers of all time.

Sure the game had its lulls at times and the Italians were hanging on by the skin of their teeth the last hour of the game, but if you want to talk about drama... this game had it. Zidane's headbutt is without a doubt the most amazing, fantastic, and stupid thing I've ever seen in a game. While Pujols' home run last year off Lidge is the most dramatic athletic event/moment I've ever seen, Zidane's headbutt put sporting drama to another level. I’ve never seen anything even remotely like that. Maybe, MAYBE, Clemens chucking the bat at Piazza, but Clemens wasn’t tossed (bullshit btw) so it doesn’t really have the same ‘effect’. I can’t think of another player who was ejected in such a big moment. But it wasn’t only the ejection; it was the entire heatbutt too. Just amazing. Somewhere in Dallas, TO is pissed he didn't think of doing that first. (Btw, if I'm an NBA or NFL player, I'm finding out what Materazzi said to Zidane (btw, he's from the heel of Italy, Lecce; in other words someone you know is probably related to him or Gattuso who is from Calabria (not a bad town I might add)).

Anyway, as I said to the ex-roomie while watching the game yesterday, it was sort of like watching the Ohio State/Miami National Title game... one which you were so caught up with the drama, that the game was sort of secondary. While I'm pretty sure the USC/Texas game this year was 'better' if you were to ask me which game I enjoyed more, I'd say OSU/Miami because I had no clue who was going to win at any point in the game. The USC/Texas game, only a fool would have thought USC would be able to hold on during that 4th quarter. Anyway, yesterday's game, while not the greatest ever (Italy/Germany was better) but between the back and fourth play, Henry getting *this close*, Buffon's save on Zidane, and then the headbutt, not to mention the penalties... wow.

Anyway, the headbutt probably will move into second on my annual list of “Oh My God” Sport moments. #1 is the Pistons/Pacers fight. And I’m pretty sure that will never be topped. Well, Dida getting nailed by a flair in the middle of a match is pretty funny. And as always, Monica Seles is not eligible. (Who doesn’t love a sport where players not only kick and headbutt each other on a constant basis, but there’s always the chance that a flair may or may not be shot at the players on the pitch? And you can gamble on soccer too! Seriously, I’m shocked that footie isn’t bigger. I really am. I become more and more convinced every day that the NFL runs this country. That’s right, Paul Tagliabue got Bush elected in 2000).

And after watching the World Cup, I'm convinced that Kimo von Oelhoffen is the dirtiest player to be playing professional sports (I saw a clip of that ‘hit’ the other day, only a Steelers fan could say von Oelhoffen wasn't trying to take Palmers leg off, talk about a sport that needs video replay... oh wait, the NFL has that, but only to correct the spot of a ball, if you're going to have instant relay, why not have replay for pass interference/holding/all the other crap that refs fuck up and effects the game much more than if Willis McGhee scored on first down?). Anyway, so von Oelhoffen is #1. The entire flopping, cry baby, why don't you try and score a goal instead of falling on your faces every time you're within 20 yards of the goal, Portuguese team is second. De Rossi is third.

Oh yeah, the Final… Okay, look Argentina was probably the best team in the Cup, but they totally botched the game against Germany. France was probably better than Italy yesterday (though, it sure looked like Toni wasn’t offsides which then you know, means that Italy should have gone up 2-1). But Italy won. They were constant, they defended well, they got good midfield play, Fabio Cannavaro was not only all over the place but he was always in the right place on top of it and doing the right things… just an amazing tournament, and Italy wasn’t that bad to watch either. They deserved to win. Sure they had a totally surreal game with the United States and Grasso drew a questionable penalty to beat the Aussies, but they outplayed the Germans and didn’t let upstarts like Ghana or Ukraine beat them. (Yes, the US/Italy game was the most surreal game of a very surreal tournament… the Portugal/Netherlands match was crazy, the Final was more unbelievable than surreal, and the entire English performance was… well that was pretty surreal too).

You’ve got to hand it to France who came together at halftime of that Togo match way back when. They came out, got a goal from Vieira to take the lead and didn’t look back. They’re back line started to play lights out, the midfield began to take control of games, and Henry scored a few goals. They were a bit unlucky not to win this game today, but they, and all of us, can look back at this French squad run from 1998 though 2006 as one of the better teams of the modern era. Two major championships and a second place finish… too bad they looked so rubbish in 2002. But Italy is a deserving champion… quick look at the ten best teams of this here World Cup:

1. Italy – Did you expect anyone else?


2. France – Came together in the end and beat Spain, Brazil, and Portugal and nearly beat Italy for the Cup.


3. Argentina – I know, they lost to Germany, but they were a better team.


4. Germany – Extremely fun to watch, shocking I know, but true. Didn’t play a bad game the entire tournament.


5. Spain – Here us out for a movement… I know they lost to France in the second round. But they were a semifinal team, imo, and played well (even in the loss to France). Nothing to be disgraced about and maybe something they can build on in years to come. They ooze of talent and are pretty young too. I’d tab them as favorites, with Germany, for Euro 2008.


6. Portugal – Should have lost to England, in fact, they didn’t deserve to win that game, and seeing how bad England was, that's saying something. How could a team so talented be such a pain to watch?


7. Brazil – For a team that played so poorly, how where they still so good? Biggest disappointment in the tournament, but that’s a bit unfair since they weren’t a pain to watch like England… still a disappointing World Cup.


8. The Netherlands – Surprising how this team fell apart against Portugal.


9. Mexico – Gave Argentina all they could handle, yet still some how disappointing.


10. TIE: England and Ghana – England did win, we’ll give them that. But they also were lucky when it came to the ‘draw’. They didn’t play anyone until the Portugal match and still lost. Ghana was a joy to watch and if Essien had played against Brazil… oh let’s face it, Ghana still would have missed the net.

Most disappointing teams – We’re going to shock you with this one… it’s a tie. Brazil and England were supposed to play in the semifinals back in January. And then it even looked like it might actually happen despite the fact that both teams couldn’t have been more uninspiring. Both teams played poorly, though the Brazilians weren’t as bad as the English. Both teams have plenty of reasons why they looked a bit boring; Brazil’s magical four up front didn’t gel (Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, and Adriano) and Brazil looked more lucky than good. England were just complete rubbish. Sure injuries to Owen and Rooney didn’t help, but then why pick Theo Walcott if you’re not going to use him? Their midfield was brutal, something I’m not sure anyone would have expected.

Most disappointing player – It’s either Ronaldino or Frank Lampard… I could careless, but both blew. Okay more tomorrow… but before that…

Why don’t you just go away with Jay Maroitti and have babies?

More World Cup Thoughts...

So we were in Chicago over the weekend, long weekend (did you know that it’s Friday? Does that make you happy? It makes us happy) and well, we just have random thoughts on everything and the kitchen sink. So let’s just do it. Nike style. Better yet, Simmons style. Yes, even the Sports Guy likes soccer… of course what is not to like about soccer? And if one more person says “nothing ever happens” watch a friggin NFL game with shitty announcers and get back to me. Seriously. Watch an NFL game with Joe Buck and your next door neighbor in the booth and tell me what it’s like. Seriously. That’s right, our love for football, especially the NFL, has to be one of the weirdest things ever.

Brazil finally lost, I’m not sure why I’m leading off with this btw, but they lost and I can’t say that they didn’t deserve it. They never looked that good in the tournament, and they were completely outplayed by a French squad that looks like it…

… Has a date with Destiny. Seriously, were did this come from? They look great right now and while they still have to beat Portugal today, it looks like they’ll be facing Italy in the Final. Zenadine Zidane is playing out of his mind right now. He completely controlled the game against Brazil and looks like someone who is 24, not 34, right now. Then again, Zidane had said that he’s retiring after this World Cup, and I think that a sense of desperation his gripped him, and this French team. You can see it in the way this French team is playing, they’re playing like there is no tomorrow… something that you don’t see teams do all that often when you think about it. But can they keep this up? We say… Why not? Their blackline has been fantastic (seriously, Brazil got nothing going until like the 85th minute). They’ve taken control of the past few games with brilliant midfield play from Zidane, Vieria, Makelele, and the wonderful Franck Ribery has dominated the past few games. And then there is Henry who seems poised to go off one of these games. That goal he scored against Brazil was just awesome (yes we know he was completely unmarked for reasons on Eddie Pope could tell us).

The match up with Portugal is interesting. The Portuguese beat the English on penalties in a game that they, frankly, didn’t deserve to win. But now Portugal gets Deco back, who has had a nice tournament so far. I like the French in this one, but don’t discount the Portuguese, they’re not a team where people are trying to figure out how they got this far… they are a very good team. But the French are playing with such urgency, passion, determination, and skill that I can’t see them losing. 2-1 France in extra time.

As you may or may not know, VFLOAB picked Spain to win it all way back in June… and you know what. We were right. This was the World Cup that Spain was suppose to win, but the freakin’ South Koreans had to score that goal to tie the French and forced the French to finish second in their group. If the South Koreans don’t score, the French top the table, play Ukraine in the round of 16 while Spain gets Switzerland. Both teams move on; France plays Italy in the quarters and Spain gets Brazil. Spain beats that lackluster Brazilian side and plays Portugal today in the semis… there a date with either the French or Italians in the Final waits… but of course, the South Koreans scored and France finished second and the rest is history.

But this was Argentina’s World Cup to win. It’s safe to say that they were the best squad in Germany (though Italy is a close second). Of course, Argentina is back in well, Argentina, and that’s sort of a shame. We would have loved to have seen an Italy/Argentina fixture yesterday. But the Germans won after a few very questionable calls by the ref and Argentina’s manager. The fine folks in Buenos Aires can only be left wondering… what if?

Okay, England… what is there to say? They were dreadful in their first four games lucky to win three of the four (and tie that fourth game) so in that respect, they were lucky to even make the quarterfinals. Then they seemed to be taking control of the game against Portugal when Rooney decided to be a complete moron and attempted to make sure Ricardo Carvalho wouldn’t be making any children any time soon. The game changed right there… England was forced to play even more defensive… Portugal seemed happy with the idea of going to penalties… and there we were, watching England crash out on penalties again.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but the English should have won this World Cup. Okay, maybe not win, but they should be in the Final with Italy/Argentina. On paper, that’s where they should be. But of course the games aren’t played on paper and the English were pretty dreadful this World Cup. They had six goals in five games, they were lucky to be in what was probably the second easiest group (if they’re in Groups C, E, or even F and G, they don’t make the round of 16), and they were lucky not to play anyone as good as the Argentina, Germans, Italians, French, Spanish, etc., because all those teams would have exposed the English for what they were… not very good. Sure in the end losing Michael Owen was a bigger loss than anyone probably will admit. Beckham just doesn’t have ‘it’ any more, but to blame him is silly since he played better than both Gerrard and Lampard. I can’t stress enough how bad Lampard was in the World Cup… the man couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. And when he missed the net, let alone didn’t score, when he was WIDE OPEN on Gerrard’s corner early in the second half, that was it for England. How Lampard missed, I’ll never know.

In fact, much like the US when Convey missed the net from ten yards out against Italy, England’s World Cup came down to that ‘one’ miss. Interesting enough, both Henry and Lampard found themselves totally unmarked in the quarterfinals... of course one man drilled the ball into the net while the other fell on his arse. For all the blame that the flopping Portuguese and Rooney get, why does Lampard's brutal miss overlooked? If he nails that, England wins. But he didn’t, and that’s why Henry and France are playing Portugal and not England.