Gentleman, I am happy to be back blogging after the strenuous days of fatherhood appear behind me (yeah right). The reason I am writing to you this evening is to ask, no plead, no beg a certain sports fan to do the right thing tomorrow for the good of the nation. You see, many may not know that there is an obscure sport called soccer, and this month is soccer's most prestigious event, the World Cup. Most enlightened American sports fans have never heard of this sport, but apparently it is quite popular outside of the States. Another interesting fact is that the good ol' US of A has a team in this year's event. Tomorrow they compete in a pivotal final group play match that will determine whether they advance in the tournament.
My plea is a simple one. Commish, please do not watch or even root for this team to be victorious. You see, I love this American team, and desperately want to see them advance with a victory tomorrow. However, I know this is not possible if you are rooting this team on to victory. How do I know this? I'm glad you asked.
1. On Wednesday, June 9th, you filed a post on The One True Word basically slurping the Washington Nationals and their wealth of potential and young prospects. While the keen sports enthusiasts on here, namely Frank, DaBooth, and I knew this was simply a giant man crush on Double S, we let it go. For those of you that don't know, since Wednesday, June 9th, the 'Natinals' have gone a blistering 3-9, and one of those wins were to the American Legion team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. One of their "prized" prospects has been sent to Double A, and they can't hit their way out of a wet paper bag. I smell a curse.
2. I have it on great confidence that you were watching intently in your office on Friday June 18 when the United States played Slovenia in their second World Cup match. You watched and rooted for them the entire first half and what did you see: A 2-0 deficit and uninspiring play. During the second half you were preoccupied with actual work (imagine that) and what didn't you see: The United States storm back to tie 2-2 and get completely hosed on a BS foul that would have given them the victory. The curse strikes again.
So Commish, I will one last time plead for you to do the right thing and cast your remote to the side tomorrow. Please do your country a service and instead of tuning into ESPN tomorrow at 9:30am EST, please click a few more channels down and watch re-runs of the Jersey Shore on MTV. All Americans, myself included, will be counting on you.
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I will have all of you know that I was the reason for Landon Donovan's winning goal yesterday. Yes, that's right.... I was attending a charity golf tourney and instead of out sharpening my skills before the start of play I could be found in the clubhouse channeling energy to the US Soccer Team.!!!!! I took heavy risk that my putting would suffer (really can;t get much worse) so that I could concentrate my brain on passing energy thousands of miles to Landon. I saw every second of the winning goal, so maybe there's not as much to Mass' bad luck vibe as he thought....
ReplyDeleteMatter of fact, when the US was playing Slovenia I had Frank come to my office and witness a little of the 1st half so really it was he who put the mojo on the US team that day.....
By the way Mass, have you spoke to your boy Frank and his negativity regarding the world game of soccer and his refusal to root on the US Team? I don't care if it was paper football, I cheer on my country!!!
I will state again for the record...I grew up an O's fan and am an O's fan. But right now they play unwatchable baseball... At least the Nats are competitive and interesting to watch. My main point has been to point out the difference in young talent between these 2 teams and how the Nats talent seems to be progressing while the O's young talent seems to be digressing. Something is wrong with the Baltimore organization. For a team that at the beginning of last year to seemed to have so much young talent to build on, it's amazing the backward turn this year.
The Nats front office also seems a lot more def at finding talent who can improve and come help the big team much quicker than the O's. If Strasburg was signed by the O's he'd still be in the minors!!!
This is interesting news that you report on Frank. I must now investigate further and get back to you. If, indeed, these allegations are true, it is a sad day for all of us. Frank, say it isn't so!
ReplyDeleteAs for the O's, I can't even mount a reasonable arguement. I still TRY to watch them, but can't put more than an inning or two into it a night. It is just sad. I can only hope that Pie, Reimold and Roberts come back at some point this year with a new manager (Showalter???) and I can actually watch a major league team again.
Oh I see, lets turn this into a Frank bashing. The Commish, who is jumping head over heals into on the soccer bandwagon, has gone out and purchase the FIFA video game. I bet he can't even name 5 teams in the MLS, let alone five players. Right now I compare the Commish to a middle aged housewife who is so excited for figure skating that comes around every four years in the olympics.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the O's go I have no arguements as well, but lets not get head over heels for the Nationals fron office quite yet. Alot of the excitement is due to Double S and the excitement he has brought to that franchise. But lets not forget, he was a can't miss prospect and the only reason they got him was that they were the worst team in baseball and had the number 1 overall pick just like this year, worst team with the number one overall pick with Harper. And like Mass said, ever since your enormous man crush on Double S, the team is spiraling down and they are in a soft spot in their schedule right now.
Frank.....ooh so sorry to mention you, you traitor!
ReplyDeleteby the way, the Nats were around .500 all season even before SS got to the majors.
...i keep waiting for the O's to get to the soft spot in their schedule.......oh, they're everyone else's soft spot....
according to Frank's analysis we O's fans should be excited for next season. Since they will have the 1st pick in the draft they should be able to draft the top pick, can't miss prospect in next year's draft then after a couple of months in the minors move up to the big club and help out.....just like the Nats last 2 year's #1 picks............
ReplyDeletei will admit i cant stand watching soccer, the mls, the european leagues whatever their names are, it may be one of the few sports i dont or wont watch. But i will admit when it is team America playing i watch the whole game. No matter what the sport you have to route for your team. Now enough about the World Cup since the USA is on their way back home.
ReplyDeleteAs for the O's i have been a lifelong fan, well almost i cant remember when i was 3 so i could have liked someone else. I to have had trouble watching them lately and have problems with how they produce prospects but havent jumped ship to the Nats like others.
I have enjoyed the last couple games watching the O's comeback from 6 and 5 down to win against the Commish's favorite new team. I wouldnt say i am fully impressed with what the Nats have done, like frank had said before other than SS(only 4 starts) who has dominated in the Majors in the last few years that they drafted.
I wouldnt call a 9 games under 500 wonderful. Yes the O's are 20 games under so lets say the o's are 11 back in this battle. I would say that is pretty good considering the o's play in the very hard AL east compared to the Nats that play in the weak NL east. Also the O's have played some of the worst baseball i have ever seen and are still not that far behind the well run Nats.
Mass i too hope that Riemold and Roberts come back and help us out, yes i left someone out, i would take patterson over him anyday. As for managers i heard a rumor Angelos wanted Dempsey and Mcphail won out and got Samuel, i hope that isnt true.
Something else i heard during last nights game, Jones contributed his turn around to being a more free swinger didnt think that was physically possible, he said swing hard hit the ball hard. Hey, he is up over 270 now, pretty damn good since he was under 200 for awhile.
As for Jones, I am pretty happy with part of his approach. He doesn't seem to have those swings where he is about to break his back swinging hard. He has such easy power, as shown by his last few HR's which have been flicks of the bat. My only beef is that his OBP is still under 300, which is pretty weak. I know that he will never be the high OBP guy, but mid 300's should not be too much to ask. He seems to have good bat speed, so that means he shouldn't be starting his bat too early in the pitch. Therefore, he should be able to wait on the slider, the pitch that always gets him. Maybe it is just part of the maturation process, as although it seems that he has been around awhile, he is only 24. But I think all us O's fans will admit that his improvement really means alot to the improvement of the team.
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