My Cup Runneth Over

One finds it very difficult to watch the World Cup when there is a 6 hours time difference between where the games are being played and where I am. About a year ago I would have been able to actually watch the games on the work TV (located conveniently close to my cube) but recently the bosses decided to switch carriers and for some reason ESPN was removed from the channel list. CBS College Sports and the Golf Channel made the cuts but ESPN did not. Makes sense, right?

Anyway, because of this I have been prompted to only viewing things via the ESPN Gamecast and catching what I can on weekends and the brief half hour I could see before I left the house for the 7:30am start times. Over the course of the past week and a half I have however become the "go-to" guy around the office for the latest score updates and US scenario updates. But alas, Gamecast does leave a lot to be desired from watching it live. Somehow I managed to resist the temptation to just say to hell with work and just watch lots of soccer. Though I admit I will be taking tomorrow off with the explicit purpose of watching Portugal v. Brazil. I know that Brazil is already through and is basically playing for pride (especially without Kaka on the pitch) but I'm still hoping that Cristiano Renaldo and the boys can put Brazil away and maybe even win the group.

The real downside to watching Gamecast is that I can't even speak with authority no how a team has looked on the pitch. Though I did watch US v. England, I did not see the Slovenia game or the Algeria game today (Landon Donovan!!) and have to trust in other observers for their impressions of what transpired. From what I have seen online and what I have watched, the US has had ample opportunities to win all three games that they have played but have lacked finish (referee takeaways not withstanding). If things stay as they are at this minute the US will be looking at a date with a very good German team on Saturday and Klose will be back in the line-up after sitting today with a red card. The Germans do not lack finish and will destroy the US if they can't find the back of the net. If they want to prove the Confederation Cup win against Spain wasn't a fluke, they need to pull it together within the box and put some goals on the board.

Long time

It has been some time since I have posted. Over two months actually. Very simple reason for that. Bruins hangover. Something happened to me when the Bruins lost to the Flyers to become only the 3rd NHL team to ever blow a 3-0 lead. I stopped caring. For quite some time all my sports enthusiasm was simply gone. Strange but true. Any and all good feelings from BC winning the national title was stripped away.

Then last night the Celtics lost game 7 to the Lakers. Not a total shocker. I actually watched very little of the entire Finals. Watched mostly via ESPN Gamecast. As I have lamented in that past in this space, the officiating in the NBA has got to be some of the worst in professional sports (Jim Joyce's perfect game gaffe not withstanding). And from the sound of it, watching last night's game certainly would have done nothing to alleviate that bias.

And now today, the US World Cup team gets screwed by a whistle happy ref. A call that was so bad that no one seems to be able to agree on what the actual call was (foul on Edu, foul on Bocanegra, offsides, the voice in my head told me to....). So now the US is in a position where they must beat Algeria on Wednesday. A little help from Algeria today against England will mean that come Wednesday all they will need is a victory with no other help but I won't hold my breath (interestingly, Mr. Green is not in net for the English side today - I guess that gaffe against the Yanks was too much).

Either way, despite the bad news I think the funk is lifting. Better numbers by the Sox, Philly not winning the Stanley Cup and the general excitement of the World Cup helps a lot. I plan to be back to posting. Whether anyone is still reading is a different story.