USSoccer

There's no reason to not use April's light scedule as an opportunity to give Z and Prior an extra day off. Especially since Z is pitching in the WBC.

This is frustrating, and symptomatic of the Cubs incompetent handling of medical situations. How so? Wood didn't tell them anything until a couple of days ago and then all he said was he had some discomfort. They did an MRI pretty much immediately then talked about what to do. It was a three-day turnaround. I don't see how this is symptomatic of anything. I don't buy the Cubs' story of injury timelines, ever. Great, but your feelings are completely irrelevant to the discussion. How is this situation symptomatic of a problem? Unless you can prove they're lying, they announced this after following the proper steps. I'm not going to rattle off the list of questionable statements regarding Wood and Prior's injuries over the last 2+ years, but there's a track record there of being less that forthcoming about what's actually happening. It's less to do with my opinion about it, and more to do with the fact that they have a bad record when it comes to telling the truth about our pitchers' health, and due to that, this random knee surgery should be questioned.

This is frustrating, and symptomatic of the Cubs incompetent handling of medical situations. How so? Wood didn't tell them anything until a couple of days ago and then all he said was he had some discomfort. They did an MRI pretty much immediately then talked about what to do. It was a three-day turnaround. I don't see how this is symptomatic of anything. I don't buy the Cubs' story of injury timelines, ever.

It sounds like this is on Wood more than Hendry and Company. They have no idea if he's going to just pitch through some mild discomfort and then finally come to the trainer after the damage has been done. You know he didn't say anything right away b/c he just wants to pitch. Then you would think Wood would be smart enough to know when to say something to the trainers.

But Seth, the point is that he's not going to be throwing while his knee is healing. This torpedoes any shot of him being ready in April. Adding 3 weeks to an already vague timetable for return isn't good.

What really seems funny about this is that Hendry did the talk show rounds Sunday and was quoted several times as saying Kerry looks and feels great, blah blah blah. And now he needs knee surgery. That doesn't just happen overnight. Either he hurt it recently and there was no annoucement, or the Cubs knew all along he'd be behind schedule with his shoulder, and also knew he needed a knee scope, so they delayed it in order to mask the shoulder delay, to avoid being hammered for waiting to have his shoulder operated on last summer.... What a bloody mess. The Cubs really are a very misleading organization from top to bottom.

Announcers have a funny way of being hypocrites. I think that was a good help off that backfired. Murray is a bad 3-pt shooter. Also, what happened at the end of the game? The Cavs just won one that they should have one, then shouldn't have won. Nocioni hasa really bad tendency to freeze late in games and then make stupid decisions. Skiles should have drawn up a better play. You don't inbound the ball to the 4th best passer and 4th best shooter on your team down 1 with 4 seconds left.

So... how many games will this team lose that they should have won?

nice play.

isn't that just typical of the 2005-6 Chicago Bulls..

Ben Gordon is really, really irritating. He has got to play more consistent basketball. Skiles is right to be all over him.

I'd love to see it.

Did those two play on the same side of the field in Korea? Hopefully yesterday ended the Kerry Zavagnin Experience.

top gun reference.

The problem is that Donovan also isn't a great finisher, so where does that leave him? I think he will end up playing upfront as long as Reyna is healthy, but it's not ideal, either. I had heard rumblings about Beasley being bad at Einhoven, but is there a reason for it? Maybe all the hard challenges are taking their toll...

Mexico also beat Ghana 1-0 in Frisco, TX. Not sure what that means, except that I know we can stomp Mexico anywhere but the Azteca, so that result is a little encouraging for us. Also, the Czechs drew on the road 2-2 at Turkey. Also, in regards to the beatdown Italy put on Germany, part of that was playing Italy away, part of it was that Klinsmann can't coach, and part of it was that Germany isn't all that great. In 2002 they rode 2 hot hands (Ballack and Kahn) to the final, and should have lost to the US in the quarters. That said, it might not be pleasant for the US in Dortmund in 3 weeks. You'll see a very motivated, angry team in front of a home crowd. The US will have a real test, that's for sure.

The US looked really out of sorts in the first half, very choppy and inconsistent. Part of that was probably rust, from having this be the first game with the Eurpoean players... ...but part of it was also that certain guys played like crap. Donovan and Beasley in particular weren't any good, and Eddie Johnson was useless. In Donovan's case, he really needs a better defensive center mid behind him, otherwise he gets lost and doesn't attack offensively. Zavagnin might has well not have been out there, so it's hard to completely blame Landon for not doing anything. He was better in the 2nd half, but still not aggressive enough. Maybe Germany just brings out the worst in him as a player. Not sure what was up with Beasley, he just wasn't that big of a factor. Didn't make his usual dangerous runs, and since the passing wasn't crisp at all, he didn't get involved very often. And the more I watch Eddie Johnson play, the more I watch his body language, the more I hope he is not on the team. The guy has cancer/wasted talent written all over him. He pouted about bad balls, straight up yelled at Beasley or Cherundolo once, and when he did have chances, squandered them. He's either not game fit, or all the rumors about him being Clint Mathis 2006 are accurate. That said, there's as much chance of him being left off the roster as there is Brinoch and I being added on, so I hope Arena can make sure this guy is focused on a team goal. That said, the 2nd half was a lot better. The US attacked, and really should have scored more than the 1 goal. Twellman played so-so in his first real test, but managed to create the opportunity for Dempsey to score, and Demspey was a holy terror for Poland the whole game. He and Cherundolo played the best out of everyone. Howard was only really tested a couple of times, and did well, and Keller was his usual self. I was really impressed with Cherundolo, though. He took a dead ball from maybe 25 yards out and bent it around the wall, just wide in the 1st half. Onyewu played strong, and so did Eddie Lewis at left back. Bocanegra took a stupid and unnecessary yellow for kicking a dead ball away. Bobby Convey actually looked useful after he came on in about the 65th minute-he looks like a good bet to be Beasley's backup on that side. He attacked very well all game. Despite all those negatives, the US still managed to beat a World Cup side in Europe (albeit on neutral ground with a pro-US crowd). The US just doesn't usually win in Europe against good teams, so 1-0 is a good result. At the least, it builds confidence and shakes the notion that we cannot beat European teams in Europe. At most, it shows the depth the US has to win a game like this without Reyna, O'Brien, McBride (who didn't play at all, I guess he tweaked a groin), and without their 2 best players doing much.

Given the weak draft, wouldn't the Bulls be better off trying to use these 2 picks, and a couple players to try and trade for Garnett?

Maybe the Tribune is trying to use the Cubs to help bail themselves out of the financial mess they are in.

That's a question I'm wrestling with as well. I think i'm going to have to either suffer through the day and watch them at night, unless i skip work for the WC games that are during the week. That was the one sort of nice thing about WC 2002-the games were all on at times I was home, even if it meant no sleep. tomorrow's game is getting dvr'd, though.

Freddy Adu comments from Bruce Arena: Also, good info on tomorrow's game against Poland. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=360184&root=us&cc=5901 I have to say, I will be dissapointed if the US doesn't come away with a wn here. They're playing a side they should beat, on at the least a neutral field in Germany. The US will actually have the best 3 players on the field tomorrow in Keller, Beasley and Donovan. I call 2-0 US. Goals by Beasley and Lewis.BTW, the game is on at 2pm ET, on ESPN2.

I think what Dusty was saying is dead on-LaTroy does have the "stuff" to close, but sometimes it takes guys a long time to figure out that role, or sometimes not at all. It's not like Dusty is going to come out and torch Hawkins Kenny Williams style, either. I don't think what he said was factually wrong, and I don't think anything is wrong with Dusty not wanting to rip Hawkins. That's just me, though. Like Hobbes said, there's tons of worse Dustyisms out there to rip.

if only we could win 2/3 of our games...

Not even close. Not in any universe is he a HOF. Who is it? Mark Grace.

What's wrong with that quote?