brinoch

Bears are playing like crap. It's almost impossible to watch.

You've been here a long time -- certainly long enough to know that you shouldn't make generalizations like this.

I rather suspect that given more time to mature and develop he'll do that. In fact, and I know you'll agree, he *should* have been given the time *this* season to do so, rather than be yo-yoed back and forth.

Personally, I think of him as a victim of Breast Cancer at this point. (From the Dugout, of course.)

are you suggesting that an act that results in positive stats may not be the best play a player could make. thanks for helping me make a point. your position is untenable. Your position is no better. You act as if you've taken the "objective" viewpoint, yet it comes in as choosing the player whom your a biased for. While I may not always want my QB running, I definitely want my RB running and scoring TD's and Emmit did that better than any back in the history of the game. Comparatively, Sanders was a better running back during the years they were both in the league, together.

which is exactly the problem with your argument because...let's say it one more time...football statistics do not measure individual performance. you absolutely have to use subjectivity and what ifs in football. there is no two ways around it. if I am not mistaken, Moneyball includes a couple of paragraphs about why it is possible to use stats to compare players in baseball but it doesn't work out so well in other sports. using stats to be objective is a real popular argument around here. hard to get a word in edgewise actually. the problem is you are using that argument in a different sport. one more time...the reason you can do it with baseball is because the stats measure individual performance. the reason you can't do it in football is because the stats don't measure individual performance. So, you can't say definitively that Smith isn't the best back. When playing the "What-if" game, you just don't know. What we do know, is that Smith was the most productive back in NFL history. Lacking any other metric, I'd take the most productive back as the best. He made the most of the opportunity he had. No, he didn't.

Example: Totti's PK today. IMO, the guys who usually miss are the guys who try all sorts of shoulder and hip fakes, and the guys who try and use funny routes to their shot. You can't effectively disguise a plant foot (watch the toe -- it nearly always points in tthe direction the ball will travel). Trying to hit the ball across your body to fake out the keeper is how you miss.

Yep, that's very true. It's a big goal for a keeper to cover, from a very short distance.

By the way, the angriest I've ever gotten at my team was on a PK. I made the save on a full-out dive to my right -- about waist high. On the rebound, a different player put the ball in the net. Literally every single one of my teammates watched the play and didn't charge to clear a rebound. There were 5 or 6 opposing players and me off the rebound. I never had a chance. I was so furious at them for putting me in that spot, and when I bailed them out they didn't even make an effort to help me out. Appalling.

Roberto Baggio had an 86% success rate with penalty kicks in Serie A which was, apparently, the highest success rate of anyone ever. There's presumably a cut-off point of number taken. I stand by my statement. :D You pick your spot and shoot. The more you think about the PK, the better the odds are that you'll think yourself into a stupid shot. I'm happy to say I never missed one in 18 years of organized soccer. Bah. That's crap. Caveat #1: Like you, I've never missed a PK. Caveat #2: I've saved multiple PK's as a keeper. As a keeper, you can read the shooter. If you watch how he sets up, the approach and the location of the plant foot, you can get a pretty good idea of which side he's targeting. If you watch the hips, head and the shoulders, you can get an idea if the striker is going up or down. If you can analyze all of this in the instant that you have to decide, you too can be a World Cup goalie. As a keeper, if you just guess which side to cover and commit yourself, you might get the lower corner on the dive, and you might save the ball if its poorly struck. Upper corner -- no way. As a forward, I always tried to put the ball in the side net at a reasonable level of power. I blanked my mind until the whistle, picked my side on the approach, and went. No thought.

I DVRed the game and watched the play, and all the replays, in slow-motion and frame by frame advance. Crespo had his foot in front of Borgetti's head, and the ball clearly struck Crespo's foot. You can see Crespo's foot move in reaction to the strike. It is unclear whether Borgetti's head made significant contact. Awarding the goal to Crespo was and remains the right call.

Dear sir or ma'am, I am very, very, very sorry that I accidentally hit Brian McBride in the face. I didn't mean to do it, and his titanium cheek plate hurt my elbow and it hurt me too. No one told me that he had metal plates in his head! I have a large bruise now on my elbow. I am very sorry that this incident occurred. de Rossi.

Great article. Keep the drumbeat going, Bruce!

I agree 100%. Playing friendlies before Euro 2008 is exactly what needs to be done. Play England, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Holland, Spain and as many other teams over in Europe as you can. Additionally, I'd try and seed as many of the core team into European clubs as I can -- that way it's not too far to travel. I'd schedule some friendlies down the road with South American teams, too.

What??? Freddi Gonzalez and Lou Pineilla.

I don't doubt that Arena is gone. I think he was going to take a leave after the Cup anyway, but his crap-the-bed coach job will simply formalize what was going to happen. And quite frankly, it's not a bad thing. He was the right coach to follow Sampson, but he's not the right coach now that we have a much deeper talent pool. Now we need the kind of coach that can take an EJ, of Adu, or Nguyen or Donovan and make them into a Nedved or a Totti. The kind of coach that doesn't misuse our most creative player (Dempsey) and our fastest wing player (Beasley). Whether or not Klinsi is available will depend largely on Germany's ability to win the Cup. If they win, he won't be. If they tank out in the next 2 rounds, he probably will be, and the USSF needs to be all over that. The worst thing the USSF could do is bring in some crap coach that came up in the US system, who's too used to playing not to lose, or bring in an overrated hack like Sven Goran Eriksson, who makes Dusty look like Bobby Cox when it comes to young players vs vets. As far as the refs go, I think it's a learning process. We need to earn that respect on the field. If you had an alien reffing the ITA game, we likely win. Ditto for today, although we deserved a win today far less than on Saturday. We have to earn the respect of officials before we will stop getting hosed on borderline calls. It's too bad that Hiddink is going to Russia. He'd be a good choice. If the Dutch get rid of Marco van Basten, I wouldn't mind seeing him. Bruckner's a good choice if the Czech's fire him. Klinsmann would be a great choice, and I rather think he'll be available. Personally, I'd like to see either van Basten or Klinsmann (with my finger strongly on the scale for Klinsmann). They have both demonstrated a true commitment to playing the best players, rather than their favorite or the most experienced players. That's exactly what we need. What we don't need another US college coach. Some thoughts: 1. Personally, I think that Arena's shown too much love for Reyna (and others) since he coached him (and them -- I'm looking at you Agoos) at Virginia. I also think he has too much of a commitment to players like Donovan and Beasley, and not to playing guys who are on fire, like Dempsey. I understand loyalty, but only to a certain point. 2. Frankly, I thought that Reyna was too slow and showed poor distribution skills in '02. He was worse this go-round in both the 1st and 3rd games. Thankfully, Reyna is done. 3. Unfortunately, Reyna gave the captain's band to Donovan. Lovely. If he couldn't handle the pressure of Europe, how will he handle captaining the squad? 4. As we suspected, the defense was less than stellar. We need some solid defenders. Losing Gibbs hurt. I would have given Spector the opportunity instead of Berhalter. And I'd have played him, too. 5. Striking. Needs some serious work. As maligned as guys like Eric Wynalda and Joe Max Moore are, they could find the back of the net. I'm hoping we can develop some guys who can strike against top defenses. 6. Positions... the US need to get their guys into the positions where they most make sense. The positions in this tournament were a huge kludge. 7. The lead-up games are not the try-out for who will play, but rather for getting everyone comfortable in their roles, making things click, and developing chemistry. Unlike baseball, in soccer, knowing your teammates and getting used to them is very important. Arena blew this opportunity.

I think it's gotta be.

I thought Merk did a pretty good job in both games. Certainly nothing horrid like Larrionda. Australia are complaining because he called too many fouls on them -- well, it was clear to me that a part of their game plan was to foul the Brazilians as they came through the midfield to slow the game down and to try and intimidate them. Merk called the game a little tighter in the Brazilian box than the Aussies would have liked, but with all the clutching and grabbing they did, that's not surprising. Having watched the game, I don't see how Australia backs the claim that the Brazilian goals were offsides, either. Furthermore, that's the linesman's call, not the ref's. Group E is coming down to the last day, and after all the media scrutiny on reffing after the USA-Italy match, they want a well run game with no mars. Merk is very well regarded -- he's certainly among the best refs in the world and perhaps is the best in the world. I suspect he's been instructed to ensure that the US and Ghana game is officiated correctly and that absolutely no screw-ups happen. Also, Benito Archundia (Mexico) has been named as the Italy-Czech Republic ref. He officated the France:S. Korea match, as well as the Brazil:Croatia match. The French have no love for Benito after he booked Zidane for a nothing foul and disallowed that goal. Although, let us be fair, that was a tough call -- where was the help from the linesman? On the bright side, he should be well-versed in identifying and calling floppy fouls.

I know it's not likely, but what if the Czechs win by more than 2? Wouldn't we have to win by less than 4 goals then? If the Czechs win by 2, the US would need to win by at least 3 and have scored more goals than Italy (so if it was 2-0, the US would need to win 3-0 to advance). Of course, the US is automatically through if they win 5-0. All right then. Need to win 5-0. :)

Indeed. That was horrid and appalling officiating. I think without the ref interventions, the US win that match -- even discouting the own goal. de Rossi earned his red card, but the red on Pablo was terrible. I was very pleased with Dempsey -- but Beasley was worthless in his time. Not a great substitution. Fresh legs need to be used and Beasley looked tired from the get-go. I probably sub Johnson in late in the game for McBride. Good game by Cherundolo, Keller and Gooch in the back. Reyna was solid, too.

Pretty crappy officiating in that half.

Sounds like a great crowd for the US. Let's get it on!!

My head just exploded.

it'll be on ESPN2 and ESPNU again later today. Oh well now I'm torn...do I want to follow it on the computer or not....hmmm... Good luck connecting from the FIFA World Cup site. Does no one plan for the kind of traffic a matchcast for the World Cup will have? Idiots.

In other news... I'm already done with the yahoo fantasy game. I picked Klose as my team captain and placed him in the lineup -- only he never appeared in my team lineup, but did make it as the captain. lol.