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602 and counting…

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A few weeks back, Mariano Rivera did what Mariano Rivera does best: he calmly jogged in while “Enter Sandman” was blasting from Yankee Stadium’s speakers and dispatched his opponents with a cool, ruthless efficiency to ensure that the Yankees won a game they were winning prior to him entering. He’s done this about 40 times a year for the past 15 years, which equals a little over 600 saves, and when he saved his 602nd game, he set the all-time record. “Gotta go to Mo’s” indeed.
For some reason, with all of the hub bub around this milestone, no one brought up the fact that this only happened because of divine intervention. The story goes that after his prior contract ran out (he currently is in year 3 of a 4 year deal), he thought about retiring. He is a deeply religious man and wanted to focus on the congregation using the church he built back in his native Panama. Then, while pondering this future plans, he heard from God who told him he was better off helping the world through pitching (and earning the money a NY Yankee star earns) than by retiring and ministering in his Panama. It’s a good thing that God is a Yankee fan.
Jason Stark in an ESPN blog post about Rivera’s greatness points out many ways that Rivera is great:

  1. That is he far and away better than any of his active peers. He now has saved 602 regular-season baseball games. The No. 2 active reliever in career saves is Francisco Cordero — who is 279 saves behind, with 323. This means that Rivera has an incomprehensible 86.4 percent more saves than the CLOSEST active reliever. No one has ever broken a record and been more than 60% ahead of his nearest active rival.
  2. Rivera has been pitching in the big leagues for 17 seasons now. And he’s done something that ought to be impossible in this day and age. He’s pitched in 1,209 innings and has allowed 1,207 baserunners (via hits and walks). That means his WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) is below 1. Only three people have done this EVER and the other two played in 1910 and 1917. Rivera played during the steriod era and still no one could touch him.

I won’t give it all away. Let’s just say there are 5 more reasons, and they all make a very compelling bar room argument that not only is Rivera the best reliever ever, he could be the best Yankee of his generation and he could be in the top 3 of all time. Yes, you read that correctly: Ruth, Gehrig, Rivera.
We’ll see what happens in the playoffs this year. 28th Championship or not, Rivera will be back on the mound again next year, making sure that potential wins turn into actual wins the same he’s done for the past two odd decades.

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One of the Best World Cup US Goals Ever

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The ladies just love to show up the men, huh? Not to be outdone by Landon Donovan’s injury time goal against Algeria in the Men’s World Cup last year, below is one of the most exciting footie goals that the US, men or women, has ever scored in the World Cup. Period. The fact that they won today and are in the finals this Sunday is even better!
That being said, San Jose Mercury News wrote “Suddenly, we care a bunch about a soccer team that doesn’t involve our own children.” which shows how far footie still needs to go in this country.
I know where I’ll be on Sunday. At my aunt’s house, ignoring my family while the Japan / US championship match is on. I

USA! USA!

sports

I'm With The Players

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Sports are a distraction from reality. Food, clothing and shelter, the three necessities in life, they are not. You do get some exercise which contributes towards “good health” (unless you have a heart condition but those instances are thankfully rare) so that is a positive but when considering Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I’d say that sports fall in in the “self-actualization” stage for most.
Professional sports are even more of a distraction – they are a luxury. When I was an undergraduate, I stopped spending my money on Sports Illustrated and started a subscription to National Geographic in part because I came to realize how “trivial” pro-sports really were. There were much more important things going on the world to learn about than who was favored to win the Big East that year. What I knew to be true then still is true today.
Now, after years of watching – and loving – modern day gladiators battle each fall Sunday for my enjoyment, and watching the scores of “Real Sports” specials on the trauma that befalls former NFL players, I have to say that first off, even though that I do love football, I will not suffer from any sort of depression if the upcoming 2011 NFL season is cancelled. Football is a luxurious distraction for me – it is not something I need. Second, while we are on the topic of the current work stoppage, I will go on the record and say that I am 100% on the player’s side in this impasse.
I wholehearted agree with Howard Bryant’s ESPN article about the current NFL work stoppage. He said,

What will the fans do with this power? Will they take the old, tired positions and blame the players, calling them greedy for wanting to be a true business partner? Will they take the “shut up and play” position we’ve seen so many times during previous labor impasses across American sports?
Saying players should be grateful to be paid millions for playing a kid’s game is, at its worst, an unsophisticated position, for professional sports is not a kid’s game. Kid’s games don’t charge $75 to park, or $1,200 per ticket to attend the championship game. Kid’s games don’t generate $9 billion in revenue.
It is this expectation of unsophistication that at least in part emboldens owners to force labor unrest onto the public, for they believe the fans’ wrath will always be levied worse against the players. And they have often been correct in this assumption.

Normally, I only post a short quote or two from an article and then link to it. In this instance, I think the article’s words are so powerful they deserve to be pulled forward. So, here is another quote from the article:

The public tends to blame the player because it believes the cadre of ownership has more legitimate skills than simply being able to run really fast. Fans think that Robert Kraft is taking more of a risk (because he has the money) than, say, Peyton Manning.
But today, following the Year of the Concussion, the suicides of Andre Waters and Dave Duerson, the startling and disturbing medical evidence that the sport is contributing to depression, and the statistics that NFL offensive linemen live 18 years less than the average American male, who would suggest that players risk less?

I suggest you read the rest of the article. I feel for everyone who will miss a paycheck during this work stoppage, from the players to all the support staff – the personal trainers, marketing executives and everyone in between. I also feel strongly that the owners do not have a product without the players and that they should stop thinking about dollars and start thinking about the people that enable them to generate those dollars.
The main issues that separate the players and the owners right now are about how the players want to (rightfully) be compensated for the rigors and harm that they do to their bodies, their families and their lives for playing this brutal sport. The average NFL career is about 3 years. Most players have non-guaranteed contracts. It is a very true statement that no one is putting a gun to anyone’s head and saying “Play football or else!” but at the same time, the players aren’t looking for more than their fair share, just their fair share. So, I’m with the players. I’m with labor. I hope you are too.

sports

The Goal of Goals

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If you have not heard yet, Wayne Rooney, football star & bad boy for England and Manchester United, scored a ridiculously sublime bicycle kick goal against Manchester City in this year’s Manchester Derby. Some are calling it the best goal ever.
The bicycle kick is notoriously an incredibly hard shot to convert – as Wayne said himself, “nine times out of ten the ball can go anywhere.” As the Wall Street Journal wrote, “When done properly, as in Mr. Rooney’s case, it’s a feat of precision, coordination, athleticism and power.”
It came at an incredible time – he scored with approximately 13 minutes to play in a tied and pressure packed very important league match.
It came amongst incredible players – the combined payrolls alone for City and United total $350 million. Both teams have bought and imported the best of the best from across the world and they were all playing in the match.
I’ll let Steven Rushin from Sports Illustrated explain it for you:

I watched Kirk Gibson’s limp-off home run to win Game 1 of that year’s World Series. Like Jack Buck, I literally could not believe what I had just seen. Lacking any other witnesses to confirm it, I lay in a torpor in front of the tube, wondering if the pictures were real.
I can’t recall a single other instance of being alone, not-quite believing what I’d just seen on TV, until this past Saturday morning, when my wife and four children unaccountably left me alone in the house for the first time in six years.

I really wished I watched the goal live because as an aside, I remember watching Kirk Gibson’s home run as it happened and it was as unbelievable as Mr. Rushin stated and that goal came about 25 years ago. I believe I was listening to the game in my bed on radio and then ran down stairs to catch the immediate reply, my mom yelling at me because she thought I was asleep.
After watching the video below, you’ll see why everyone is making such a fuss.
<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=d0c22342-6f41-4bd7-938c-d5f9a31eb7e8" target="_new" title="">Rooney&#8217;s Bicycle Kick from all angles</a>

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The Rant Heard Round the World

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Bart Scott said it best immediately after the Jets defeated the Patriots last week: anybody can be beat!
Below is one of the best post-game rants I have ever heard or seen and the fact that it comes from a Jet defender makes me smile. “Play like a Jet” indeed. Thankfully, ESPN itself has put it up online which means that I can post it below for you and be confident that it won’t be removed for copyright infringement reasons in the future, always a good thing in a video related post. Without further ado, here is the clip:

j-e-t-s…jets, Jets, JETS!

sports

And Then Comes the Burgh

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So far, so good this post season for my beloved American Football Jets. Over the last two weeks, the Jets picked up two wins against two very good teams, on the road both times. While the first win was a little savory, the second was oh so sweet. The Jets went into Foxboro and beat their archrival after a full week’s worth of serious trash talking – they actually backed up their strong words which is incredible in this age of bloviation. The team known as the Jets that I am watching today is quite different from the one I grew up watching and I very much like what I see.
Slowly but a surely a culture of success has taken over the team which is astonishing for someone who is always accustomed to waiting for the other shoe to drop when dealing with Gang Green. From the saying “Play like a Jet” to the sweeping arm motions that many of the players make after big plays, or when they run off the field after a win, to the fact that the team never seems to quit and that they somehow someway manage to make big plays when they are so desperately needed, it is evident that a new mindset has taken root which I still, almost two full seasons into watching this little plant grow, am having trouble grasping and accepting as the present reality.
That being said, I think Rex Ryan said it best when he sarcastically quipped in his post-game press conference, “Yeah, same old Jets. Going to the AFC Championship game two years in a row.” The part about the Patriots game that made me believe that these Jets are truly different is that they won powerfully and convincingly. They didn’t have to rely on trick plays, or to have gotten lucky at the right moment by say returning a fumble for a touchdown. No, they beat the Pats by beating them down with old fashion smash mouth football. They ran the ball all day long, they employed a punishing defense which while spotty during the year has turned it on the past month or so. Second year quarterback Mark “he’s stealthy good” Sanchez already has in his short career as many road playoff victories as anyone else who ever has played in the NFL and, it just keeps getting better, he has more road wins that Favre and Marino combined. He was better than two surefire first ballot Hall of Fame QBs two weeks in a row. Who are these guys?
I’m cautiously optimistic for this coming Sunday. It’s going to be a very tough game to win. I have experienced heartbreak in this title game twice before as they were up 10 points at the half in ’98 (when I watched the game in Simsbury, CT) and 11 points at the half in ’09 (when I watched the game in NYC) but lost both games. Now, I’m going for the Tri-state area trifecta by watching this game in NJ. Hopefully the third time is the charm. If its not though, hopefully this culture of winning will continue for a long, long time. I don’t want these Jets to become the late 80’s Browns, always close (The Drive! The Fumble!) but never going to the Super Bowl, or the early 90’s Bills, making and then losing 4 Super Bowls in a row. But, I guess there are worse things, like just being happy to even make the playoffs, like they were back in ’91 when Raul Alegre’s field goal as time expired tied the game and then his next field goal won the game for them. I said it last year that I hoped Ryan was building a foundation and this season it seems that he has done so. I’m looking forward to not only next week but many, many future weeks to come.

sports

Looking Forward to a Forward

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The United States lost to Ghana over a week ago at this point and the loss had me so gutted that I haven’t been able to post about it until now. Long story short: we should have won the game.
If you watched the match, it was obvious that we were the better team and we should have won, but that also we did not deserve to win. We had about twelve good scoring chances and scored on one – Ghana had about three good scoring chances and scored on two. The fact is, the Americans have never had, aside from maybe Brian McBride and even then he’s no Ronaldo, a great forward who reliably can put the ball in the back of the net. It’s that simple. I’m hopeful, but not that hopeful, that somehow this will change over the next four years and that a real striker appears (this means you have to up your game Mr. Jozy Altidore). Only time will tell.
In other footie news, the story of the tournament is how Europe has rebounded from their initial dismal showing to put three teams in the final four. While South America was looking incredibly strong, Brazil and Argentina shockingly just fell apart against the Dutch and the Germans and now the semis are featuring three European teams with only one non-Euro team, Uruguay, appearing and arguably Uruguay shouldn’t even be there (cue the “soccer should have some sort of basketball’s goal tending rule” debate because of the way that an intentional hand ball saved a goal towards the end of overtime).
The three teams that I support are the Ameriks, the English and the Dutch so I’m hopeful that this is the year that the Dutch finally get their brand of “total football” to the top of the global footie heap. Considering that m y second child – another daughter – was nice enough to be born this past Saturday, I’ll be working from home over the next two weeks which means I get to watch both semi matches from home in HD glory. Lovely.

sports

And in the 91st Minute…

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…Landon Donovan saves US Soccer by scoring against Algeria giving the Americans a 1-0 victory, their 7th overall in the World Cup all-time. In the process, the US wins Group C with 5 points, which is only the second time that they’ve won a group in World Cup history, the first being at the initial World Cup in 1930. What an amazing morning.
Out of these 7 wins, I distinctly remember all four that have happened in my lifetime:
In 1994, we defeated Columbia 2-1 our home soil helped in part by the Colombians scoring an own goal and made it through to the second round (where we lost to eventual champion Brazil).
In 2002, we gloriously upset Portugal 3-1 during group play and then surprised (though it was not a surprise to us) Mexico with a solid 2-0 victory in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals (where we gave a valiant effort and lost to Germany).
Today’s victory, which came in the most miraculous of circumstances, by a player I said in 2002 would be the future of US Soccer, is the best I’ve seen yet (though the thrilling super late night Portugal upset was ridiculously fun). My entire office was watching (and enjoying the free breakfast we won from the US/England 1-1 draw) by streaming the game through ESPN3 on a laptop and then hooking said laptop into a huge plasma TV. This is the second significant and emotional patriotic event that I’ve watched at work with colleagues – the other being Obama’s inauguration – and I’ve enjoyed both immensely. There was a large crowd today hanging on every near miss and while the first half was promising, the second half was desperate and as the near misses mounted, more and more dread crept into the room. I thought that the better chance of advancing laid at the feet of the Slovenians who in tying England would allow the US to go through but luckily that didn’t need to happen. In injury time, at the plus one of four mark, everyone just erupted when Donovan put a ricochet in the back of the net. I was unable at first to enjoy, too paranoid that this too would be improbably called back but no, there was no goal stealing by the refs this time, this was a real goal, and a real cathartic release as the US lived up to its potential and I ran around giving high fives to the true footie fanatics there, the ones who knew like me how much this meant.
It’s more than just going through to the second round. When I say that Donovan saved the sport in this country, I’m not kidding. The US had to win this match today or else soccer would have been looked down upon for not only another four years but possibly decades if not even longer. It would have lost its legitimacy.
A good friend of mine who loves all domestic sports (i.e. baseball, football and basketball), loves the Olympics (so he doesn’t dislike global competition) and most importantly loves hockey (soccer’s second cousin) couldn’t believe that the US didn’t beat Slovenia and couldn’t believe that the go-ahead goal was disallowed. Between that call and the endless flopping and diving that he saw during the US’s and other team’s matches, he was telling me how he just didn’t get soccer, that it was more theatre than sport and how while he would like to care more, the nonsense annoys him and thus he is a true once every four years fan. This Landon Donovan goal, and the never say die attitude of the US squad that allowed it to happen (cue Tim Howard’s amazing throw that started the 4 on 2 counterattack), is the greatest example of what our national style looks like and how soccer will win over people like my friend. We like winners in America and the US Team winning when it can and should is a welcome change to the previous 20 years worth of WC history.
As an aside, I’ve been reading tons of articles and watching the goal over and over again. I can’t wait to replicate Landon’s superman dive on a slip and slide soon. Out of all the things I’ve read so far, nothing was as much fun as this ESPN “Off the Ball” blog’s tremendously good post on how it’s time to start believing.
As another aside, a sign that we are becoming a real soccer nation is that we finally have an good yet slightly cheesy unofficial World Cup anthem of our own, like say England’s Vindaloo. Weezer’s “Represent” is a fantastic footie anthem and a welcome surprise – it turns out River Como is a huge footie fanatic and he made sure he caught the US / England match while at Bonnaroo. The song is immediately going on my running mix. It’s also below – crank up the speakers and get ready for Saturday when we play Ghana. They beat us 2-1 in 2006 but if we beat them this time around, which is entirely possible, then we play either Uruguay or South Korea in the quarterfinals. To dream of greatness, yet another sign of becoming a real footie nation. Enjoy the song.

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World Cup Fever: 2010 Edition

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The World Cup is back and I am just so so happy. This event is a special anchor for me in my life – I’ve been playing footie since I was six – so before we get into this year’s edition of the Coupe du Mondel, let me quickly go over some high level thoughts from the others before I get to 2010’s first weekend:
1990 – I start to officially care about the World Cup as this is the first one the US participates in since the 1950. I, like the rest of the part of America that actually cares about soccer (maybe 1% of the population), is happy to simply be there and only am sort of embarrassed when the Czechs beat the US 5-1. I am in Niagara Falls for the final and remember people marching around the streets with the West German flag after they win the championship
1994 – I am super enthused about how WC fevor hits the US and the nation stops to care, a little. “Los Gringos” advances to the second round and the Columbian responsible (Columbia loses to the US on an own goal) is murdered back home a week later. The US is able to parlay this success into the founding of Major League Soccer – which is (thankfully) still alive and kicking over 15 years later.
1998 – I am luckily in Europe for the most of the event and watch games in England and Ireland before catching the semis and final back in the States. I catch a ferry back from the Aran Islands to Galway in time to watch the US lose to Iran with other ex-pats and am dismayed. Three Lions taking on Vindaloo was better than the event itself.
2002 – I’m out of work recovering from a bad car accident and keep myself busy by making and updating a fan site and by watching as many matches in a bar as possible. You would be surprised how many people are awake at 3 AM and 5 AM to watch footie. The US’s amazing run to the quarter finals gives me hope for the future and a great distraction to enjoy while I’m convalescing.
2006 – I watch USA bomb out in the first round though enjoy an amazingly great day in NYC (see this post from 2006 for more details). I watch England lose on penalty kicks to Portugal in the San Diego airport and watch the final at a beach bungalow in the Diego with friends.

2010 – So far, so good. My office trash talks up a storm with the London office and wins free breakfast when the US “wins” 1-1.
usa_ties_england
I watched the USA / England game at home on Sat with wife and child and was delighted by the effort shown by the Ameriks. Even though they fell behind, they were composed, they showed poise and fought hard. Hells bells – they even almost won when Jozy hit the post towards the end of the match.
On Sunday I was able to watch the first half of Germany / Australia match at Carlow East – nothing beats WC matches in a bar talking to total strangers about all things footie. My friend for five minutes (aka the dude sitting next to me at the bar) told me to watch out for Kuyt on the Netherlands and sure enough he scored their second goal today. I cannot wait for Friday – I just hope the Ameriks get 3 points (or 1 at the least considering that Slovenia beat Algeria and has 3 points already) out of the deal.

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World Cup at the White House

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Our government’s reaction to English keeper Robert Green’s error during this past Saturday’s Group C opening match, which allowed the American squad to tie the England in their match this past Saturday, is below:
WorldCup_WhiteHouse_Viewing
‘ Nuff said.
Via Anthony