a few short notes/observations

I finally got the new Merle Haggard album, I Am What I Am. Amazon has it for $5, and it's worth a whole lot more. I love it. The Bakersfield Sound lives on.

I find the whole Sherrod Affair so shameless, so galling-- both on the part of Breibart and Fox, and on the part of the administration for rolling over, again, for that game. It is so depressing. I'm in complete agreement with the sentiment expressed here.

The Tour de France was enjoyable this year mostly because of the building momentum behind Lance Armstrong impending fall from grace. I can't think of a more arrogant or deserving person. If you're looking for a charity supporting cancer research and advocacy, I'd suggest looking for one that puts more of its money into the cause than LAF and Livestrong, which spends 45% of its proceeds on solicitation. (This is, admittedly, better than the egregious 60% of the ACS.) Maybe consider giving to the V Foundation. Plus, you won't be supporting Pharmstrong and Nike's branding projects.

I was completely disappointed with the World Cup finals-- an ugly game that highlighted the extent to which soccer on the international pitch is dominated by a culture of cheating. And by that I mean, dominated by a culture of getting away with as much hacking and as much acting as one can short of a red card. It was a let down after a pretty enjoyable tournament overall.

I blame Bill Clinton, the DLC, and the whole New Democrat strategy of the 1990s for the complete lack of effectiveness of the Obama administration. Whatever his administration has accomplished has been so severely damaged by executive and congressional ineptitude that I seriously doubt the Obama presidency will have a positive historical legacy beyond the (admittedly important) symbolism of having elected a black president. Controlling the White House and both houses of Congress, and yet being incapable of standing up to the posturing, racially charged rhetoric, and economic incompetence of the same people who gave us a global recession the size of the 1930s... Only the democrats could accomplish this. And November will bring a tide turning in the favor of the worst political impulses of this country. And BP. And Afghanistan. And unemployment.

It leaves me feeling so exasperated that I find it hard to write a post whenever I feel moved to do so, which is usually daily.

Random World Cup Observation

Many people have a right to be complaining about the horrible officiating at the World Cup. However, Diego Maradona, whose Argentina squad never should have been allowed its first goal against Mexico (changing the entire complexion of the game), is about the last person who can legitimately complain.

FIFA's Biggest Fans

The NBA!

This World Cup referring makes the NBA look really impeachable. And I love how FIFA's response to this onslaught of incompetence is to ban in-stadium replays.

Jack McCallum makes a convincing argument as to how this referring is hurting the game catching on in the U.S. 

World Cup Thought

Forgive me for being a heathen, but it's really hard to get behind an international sporting event that is averaging about 1.3 goals scored per game. 

Not that I'm suddenly following Jonah Goldberg or anything. But these World Cup matches have been really boring.

Sadly, Argentina Makes the World Cup; Unsurprislingly, Maradona's Still a Jerk

I was really hoping against hope that Ecuador would win its game, and Uruguay would beat Argentina, keeping the latter out of the 2010 World Cup. That said, anybody proclaiming the glory of Argentina for barely sneaking in as the 4th of four qualifiers from South America (with a fifth up for grabs against Costa Rica) is delusional. That team has serious issues facing them going into next year, and if they don't get a #1 seeding (which they very well may not), they may not make it out of the first round, a la France in 2002.

That said, Diego Maradona is still a first-rate loudmouth buffoon, not just for acting like this is a true triumph, but for the way he expressed such "triumph":

Following the match which Argentina defeated Uruguay 1-0, Maradona delivered a expletive-laden tirade, broadcast on live TV, directed at reporters and critics whom he claimed had shown no confidence in his work.

“This is for those who didn’t trust this team and for those who treated me as garbage. We’re in the South Africa World Cup; with nobody’s held and with all honours. Those who didn’t believe in me suck it…” he told most of the Argentine media at the press conference following the match.

Classy - you barely get your team in the World Cup, are facing real issues with both your players' style and seeming lack of interest in playing while you're the coach; you've threatened to leave the team before the World Cup, throwing everything in turmoil; and now, you're neurons failed to stop what was going through your head from coming out of your mouth, and you're facing disciplinary action and possible suspension heading into the World Cup in less than 9 months.

I think it's safe to say who Maradona wants an Argentine World Cup victory for, and it isn't Argentina.

Randy has more.

A Modest Proposal

As the Honduras situation remains at a standstill, I offer the following suggestion. With the U.S. men's national team heading to Honduras for a World Cup qualifier, let "soccer diplomacy" settle it. If Honduras wins, Micheletti can stay in office; if the U.S. wins, Zelaya, with international support, returns to finish out his term.

I haven't figured out what to do in the case of a draw, though....

Loving the World Cup Qualifiers

Anytime Brazil's national team beats Argentina in soccer, it's a great day. It's an even better day when the Brazilian victory makes Brazil the first team from the Americas to lock a spot for the 2010 World Cup. It's an even better day when Argentina's loss leaves them in fourth place and in danger of not even making the World Cup. And it's about as great a day as it can be when Brazil beats Argentina 3-1, in Argentina. (And the goals were beauties, especially the first one).

Normally, I hesitate to gloat - sports is the one arena in which I'm superstitious. However, I can't help but point out the troubles Argentina is facing, while Brazil is looking very good. When Brazil first hired Dunga in 2006 after the World Cup debacle, Brazilians killed him. They thought he wasn't devoted enough to the well-known stars (Ronaldinho in particular); they thought he was incompetent-looking; they thought he was too relaxed. I thought this was exactly what they needed, given that the previous coach effectively cost Brazil the World Cup by refusing to sit a fat Ronaldo and not knowing how to use his younger stars (bringing Adriano and Robinho in against France only in the 5 minutes was absolutely inexcusable). Dunga made it clear - you had to earn your way onto the team, and those who played well on the national team would get to stay, while those who did not would sit. I thought this was exactly what was needed, and it turns out, I, and more importantly, Dunga, was right. Players like Luis Fabiano, Felipe Melo, and Daniel Alves have come into their own under Dunga, and even the very-young Pato has had some good playing time in international competition. It's enough to make me very hopeful about next year.

But what could make me giddy? Well.....the horrible position of Argentina. They are ridiculously good on paper. But it just hasn't translated, and the blame is increasingly falling on Diego Maradona's coaching. When Argentina hired him last year, I had my doubts about his appointment giving Argentina that extra bump, and it looks like I'm increasingly right. Some criticisms are silly (so what if he took his players to church?), but criticisms about his tactics are both more serious and more long-term. For whatever reason, Argentina clearly has not clicked under his leadership, and now they're only 2 points ahead of Colombia in the qualifiers, facing the very real possibility that they may have to play the 5th place team from Concacaf just to qualify for South Africa next year. I still think they'll pull it off, but it's definitely not worked out the way Argentina had hoped. And I totally agree with pc - Argentina's in big trouble. If they fire him now, they're (probably) going into the World Cup with major trauma - this isn't like baseball, where you fire one guy and plug another one in there. But at the same time, they look completely unprepared for next year, and if they can't handle the physical and inspired play of a team like Brazil, there's no way they get very far next year (and again, that's if they make it, an assumption everybody had coming into the qualifiers based on how they looked on paper).

Erwin hits it on the head: Brazil and Argentina right now are the tale of two coaches. A lot can happen over the next 9 months, but right now, I really like where Brazil is sitting; watching Argentina flounder just makes it that much more pleasurable.

Diego Maradona to Coach Argentina

If this report (in Portuguese) is true, then Diego Maradona is going to be the new coach of the Argentine national men's soccer team (and as I write, it's now confirmed in English, here). It's daring and bold, to say the least, and no doubt a major PR move, guaranteed to get Argentina completely wound up about their team in a way they haven't been since Maradona was on the national team. He is an individual whose popularity is rivaled only by Evita. Imagine if Derek Jeter were a national hero rather than just a Yankee fan idol (with Jeffrey Maier as the Hand of God), and you only begin to get into the hero-worship of Maradona. When I was in Argentina, I seriously saw a soccer game on TV which was split-screen: on the left was the actual game, and on the right was a camera focusing on Maradona (in the stands that day) the entire game, just to capture his reactions.

This will be interesting, to say the least. Among other things, Maradona is a former coke fiend with an explosive temper whose most basic life events make national headlines in Argentina, where the population holds him as highly in Argentina as Evita. He could be great, though I hope not; I like him about as much as I like Jeter, and his fans are perhaps even more obnoxious (Maradona is not, never was, and never will be the greatest soccer player; that was Pele. You'd think a goal total of 307 vs. 1280 would be enough to settle that). I just don't see this working out, and if it's as embarassing for both the men's team and Maradona as I hope it will be, then this should be fun. However, if Maradona is successful, this will be really ugly, and Argentine fans will become even more intolerable than they already are (which is really hard to even begin to imagine).

...UPDATE: Given the coach and the player, guess we're virtually guaranteed of seeing this again...