Koman Coulibaly’s Call Violates American Principles: Demands Attention
June 19th, 2010 by Reid Brooks No comments »What is a single, fool-proof way to get American audiences interested in something fast? It is to violate what they perceive as core American principles.
In the United States and Slovenia's match up on Friday, Koman Coulibaly went ahead and did that.
I don't know what his intentions were, but as someone who has officiated soccer (and no, in America it isn't football, we don't have to follow the rest of the world's trends) before, I will happily point out what everyone else has been thinking.
Koman Coulibaly is an idiot and he deserves all of the condemnation that he will undoubtedly receive. Send him some hate mail. Send FIFA some hate mail.
If he can't stand the heat, he shouldn't have jumped into the kitchen.
After all the necessary and correct steps to penalize him and somewhat pacify the justified anger from the United States has been taken. This issue will go away.
Heck, if the United States simply wins on Wednesday and advances (really they should be first in the group to make people happy) the issue will probably die.
But before that, the following things need to happen:
1) Coulibaly should be banned from World Cup officiating permanently (not just for the rest of this cup).
2) Coulibaly should be banned from ever officiating a international match involving either the United States or Slovenia.
3) FIFA should apologize to the United States for not being able to change the outcome of the match.
4) Coulibaly should be forced to apologize to the United States as well as Maurice Edu.
5) Coulibaly should be forced to explain his call.
After those steps are taken, many Americans will hopefully find some peace with being robbed on the international stage in a sport that is still (let's face it) not our bread and butter.
If anything would get Americans going over soccer, it would be the treachery of a foreigner put in a position of power.
Americans have long had a deep and intense hatred of sports officials. I think it goes back to our identity as a nation of rebels and core belief that everyone is equal.
If you, or your team, get a bad call in a sporting event it can damage your sanity.
It also can suck you deeper into the sport than you ever knew you could be sucked in before.
For example, every year in college football there is a complete travesty known as the BCS. It doesn't actually determine a national champion, it simply determines the team that was able to beat the BCS's system for that year.
And as it would happen, only one of the over 120 schools in major college football gets that honor.
But ever since the BCS has existed, in all of its controversy, Americans have only become more and more interested in college football. The fundamental lack of justice is very interesting to all people.
As Americans, we love being the underdogs and we love fighting oppressive foreign bodies (like FIFA). We've all been taught, from a very young age, that revolution is what we come from.
Some Americans have been interested in the World Cup so far, but in all honesty, most aren't. But with a lead story of America getting robbed taking over the sports world today, it might be possible for that to change. It might be possible for America to become a soccer nation.
Possible, but not too likely.
After all, soccer is still behind four major American sports in importance to audiences, and having one huge tournament every four years doesn't do a lot to change that.
But this outrage may get more Americans to glue their faces to the screen for the remainder of the United States' involvement. And that in itself is a huge change from four years ago.
Americans don't care too much about beating a country like Slovenia in anything. The same could be said about Algeria.
But beating officials who are out to get us?
We're all in for that task. Koman Coulibaly just gave a bunch more people a reason to watch.
Fundamentally, Chicago Cubs Are Facing the Error of Their Ways
June 19th, 2010 by Bob Warja No comments »This current Chicago Cubs team has shown the unremarkable ability to lose in many different ways, most often due to a lack of so-called clutch hitting.
And yes, this team has certainly had its share of bullpen issues along the way, just to add insult to injury.
But one thing has remained constant throughout the Jim Hendry era: a lack of fundamental baseball.
Remember when we blamed Dusty Baker for a lack of attention to fundamentals as his teams kicked around the ball and couldn't ever seem to do the little things that win games?
Well, isn't it funny how that has continued, despite the fact that Baker is no longer here?
The point is, you can now blame Lou Piniella all you want, but you can't continue to change managers every three-to-four years, see the same results, and say the blame falls solely on the manager.
No, at some point you have to look at the root cause being an organizational failing.
Look, Cubs fans are right to be frustrated that Lou, until recently, trots out the same guys no matter how they play and then raises his hands in the air and says 'what the hell can I do'?
But why can't fundamentals be taught at the minor league level? Why can't fundamentally sound players be drafted? For it's not just players acquired from other teams that refuse to play fundamental baseball for the Cubs.
Not only that, once a player does come to the team, shouldn't the organization stress the right way to play the game?
Some teams have marketed their way of baseball.
The Dodgers used to have videos on the subject back in the day, and the Red Sox continue to stress an offensive baseball philosophy focusing on not making outs that is pervasive throughout the entire organization.
Instead, Jim Hendry flies by the seat of his pants. If the Cubs had an organizational philosophy, it would be inconsistency.
They don't stress on-base percentage, as Corey Patterson, Felix Pie, Ryan Theriot, Josh Vitters, Tyler Colvin and Starlin Castro will attest to.
They don't seem to teach hitting to the right side to move along runners, or how to bunt, or even when to hit a cutoff man and when to throw home.
In short, they don't teach winning baseball.
Because if they did, how could so many of their kids come up not knowing what to do in these situations? You mean to tell me it's a coincidence?
I don't believe in coincidences, sorry.
You keep chaning managers and changing players and end up with the same result.
Sure, there's the occasional Geo Soto who seems to understand the offensive value of getting on base, but those kids are rare.
And if you don't think that stuff matters, you only have to look at the bad signings Hendry has been forced to make when he sees players who fill those needs.
Lack of OBP? No problem, let's throw $48 million at Kosuke Fukudome.
Sure, he'll get on base, especially in the first half of a season, but in the end his numbers aren't worth even half of the money he's making.
Lack of a draft philosophy valuing speed? Again, no problem, we'll simply give $136 million to Alfonzo Soriano, though I'm not blaming Hendry for failing to know that Soriano would suddenly fail to steal bases.
The list goes on.
You have to have an organizational philosophy that is carried out throughout your entire organization, from the type of player you draft, to the kind of player you acquire.
Then, you continue to reinforce that philosophy all during development so that when a new player comes to town, his teammates will take him aside and say, hey, this is the way we do things around here.
But that is lacking with the Cubs and has been for a long time.
Not only is it lacking, but so is leadership in the clubhouse.
It has been long acknowledged that Derrek Lee is the de-facto leader of the Cubs. Yet he hardly even talks to his teammates.
Meanwhile, a lot of Cubs fans have pinned their hopes on the arrival of new owner Tom Ricketts, mainly based on the fact that he is a purported Cubs fan.
Yet Ricketts' only hire in the baseball operations department is a stats guy.
Now, how many Cubs fans, if they had the chance to take over, would already have had a baseball man in place or at least a knowledgeable baseball man to help evaluate things?
Ricketts admits he is no baseball expert. So shouldn't he have one at his disposal?
Hey, Ricketts has Crane Kenny.
Ouch.
Boston Celtics: How To Bounce Back in the 2010-2011 Season
June 19th, 2010 by Alex Sullivan No comments »2010 U.S Open Golf Post Play: Which Big Name Players Missed the Cut?
June 19th, 2010 by Ryan Cook No comments »It's done, it's dusted and Round 2 of the 2010 U.S Open is firmly in the books. Unfortunately though for most players, Friday's round at Pebble Beach would be a day in which many would like to forget, due to a variety of poor play and overly disappointing results.
Perhaps the biggest story to unfold out of Friday's round was Tiger Woods' once again turbulent performance. With three impressive birdies cancelled out by four total bogey's, many golf fans aren't remaining optimistic.
However, aside from tracking Tiger's antics, many other story lines unfolded from the second round.
The first and most notable one would be Phil Mickelson's impressive turnaround. He now sits two strokes behind overall leader, Graeme McDowell. Mickelson is proving to be a serious threat and may take home another Major victory.
But what about the unlucky guys? The guys that saw the golfing gods turn their backs on them? Were they left to fight for themselves on a relentless course?
Unless you've been living under a rock, many big name players have failed to make the cut this year.
Quite possibly the most notable name is Trevor Immelman, the winner of the 2008 Masters. In recent years Immelman hasn't payed much attention to the U.S Open, after only attending the event five times in his 11 year career.
In the years that Trevor did qualify, his effort was fairly dismal. In 2008 he tied for 65th, and in 2007 was ultimately cut after the first two rounds. Therefore, it is no real surprise that Trevor has struggled in 2010.
Aside from the South African native, Australian born Adam Scott has also endured a rather torturous ride once again at the Open, as he continues to struggle to make a name for himself at this event.
Currently Scott sits two above par, and is one of the several likely candidates to be cut overnight. At times Scott did seem to appear confident as he always does. Overall Scott's putting struggled, and he continued to make mistake after mistake.
Unlike Trevor Immelman, Adam Scott has made a number of appearances in past Open's, but has struggled in each and every one to really build any momentum, and push toward the top of the leader board.
Other big name players who are likely to be cut include Geoff Ogilvy and Rory Sabbatini, both of whom are featured in the projected cut list.
At the end of the day, some big names have been cut, but there is serious potential for many other golfing hopefuls to push toward the top spots tomorrow.
Guys such as Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Camillo Villegas and of course Tiger Woods all have a sure fire shot to keep their U.S Open campaign alive.
It's no secret that Pebble Beach is an extremely tough cause, and it comes as no surprise that it has already swallowed up some of Golf's stars.
Who will be next?
We'll have to wait and see. I have a feeling the U.S Open boat is in for quite a rocking this weekend.
