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      Three things I’d change about the World Cup

      June 19, 2010 /

      I realize that soccer/football is the most popular sport in the world, but watching the USA/Slovenia game yesterday morning, there are a few glaring problems that I have with the sport. (Note: I played soccer through the 9th grade, so I am familiar with its rules.)

      1. The ref has too much control.
      Referee Koman Coulibaly stripped the U.S. of its go-ahead goal by calling a foul, yet he doesn’t have to explain what the foul was. Replays showed that no one was offsides, and the only physical fouls that could be seen on the replays were on the Slovenian players. Moreover, the ref keeps the official time. Why is this? Why can he arbitrarily say there’s three minutes or four minutes of injury time? Why not have an official clock that stops and starts when the official blows the whistle?

      2. Offsides takes the excitement out of the sport.
      It seems like anytime a player makes a nice run, there’s the sideline official raising his flag and stopping the play. Why is there offsides in the first place? Look at American football and basketball, two of the most exciting sports in the world — no one is penalized for beating the opposing team down the field/court. If a player can make a break for the goal and his teammate can hit him with a nice pass, why are we penalizing them? The defender needs to stay with his guy; that’s the whole point of defense. Under the current format, the defender is encouraged to sandbag it (pull up when he’s beat) in order to get the offsides call. With no offsides, scoring would go up and it would be a far more free-flowing and exciting sport.

      3. The vuvuzelas.
      WTF? What are these and why do fans feel the need to blow them for the entire game?

      What about you — what would you change about the World Cup?


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, Soccer

      To axe or not to axe? FIFA’s referee dilemma.

      June 19, 2010 /

      Koman Coulibaly is a name which most of us aren’t familiar. In fact, we probably won’t remember it even after the 2010 World Cup has finished. Simply put, for the next couple of days, Coulibaly will be known as the referee who called a phantom penalty against the United States when the team scored on a direct kick in their match versus Slovenia. Down 2-nil at the beginning of the second half, the U.S. squad unfathomably rebounded with goals by Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley. In the 86th minute, the team suddenly struck the dagger into Slovenia with Maurice Edu’s goal off Donovan’s free kick. But it was not to be, as Coulibaly called a foul…not on Slovenia — whose team member was giving Bradley a FIFA-endorsed Heimlich during the play — but on the U.S. Video evidence proves the call was bogus — so much so, in fact, that FIFA is mulling suspending Coulibaly from officiating for the rest of the tournament.

      From ESPN.com:

      After the match, Donovan said he asked the referee what the call was but did not get an answer.

      “We asked the ref many times what it was or who it was on and he wouldn’t or couldn’t explain it,” Donovan said. “I don’t know what to think of the call because I didn’t see any foul, just a normal free kick and a goal.”

      Referees must submit a written report to FIFA after each match, but it is not specified in the rule that he must fully explain a ruling such as this.

      FIFA refereeing rules state: “The referee shall hand over to the FIFA general coordinator a match report at the stadium immediately after the match. On the report form the referee shall note all occurrences such as misconduct of players leading to caution or expulsion, unsporting behavior by supporters and/or by officials or any other person acting on behalf of an association at the match and any other incident happening before, during and after the match in as much detail as possible.”

      The U.S. team has been besieged with questions why soccer referees don’t publicly explain controversial decisions, as umpires and referees do in U.S. sports.

      I take a rather harsh stance when evaluating referees. You know, it is all they do. They attend the seminars and classes to get better, but at the end of their 5-hour work day, their job description is still defined as being a fan with a whistle. While we shouldn’t crucify one to represent the whole, calls such as this are simply inexcusable.

      The part that confuses me is that there’s no accountability in FIFA. If the U.S. ends up missing the knockout round, fans may never get an explanation, per FIFA’s outdated protocol. That’s just the way it is. Well, the way is infantile.

      Coulibaly needs to go, and take some time to fully understand what’s expected of him as a World Cup official. And yes, I’ll say this as fair-weather soccer fan. Because it matters now.

      External Sports, Soccer, World Cup

      Strasburg continues to laugh at big league hitting

      June 19, 2010 /

      Nationals’ phenom Stephen Strasburg once again dominated his competition in his third start of the season, striking out 10 White Sox in seven innings on Friday night. Unfortunately for him he picked up a no-decision, but he walked zero batters against the best lineup he’s pitched against since he was called up.

      Thus far, he has struck out 32 batters in 19 1/3 innings and has compiled a 1.86 ERA. The 32 Ks is the most for any pitcher in baseball’s modern era (1900 – present). He’s also the first pitcher in the modern era to have two 10-strikeout, no-walk games in his first three MLB starts.

      Granted, the Pirates, Indians and White Sox don’t have powerhouse offenses, but so what? These are still major league hitters that he’s managed to look like toddlers swinging those big, red plastic bats for the first time in the backyard. His stuff is absolutely out-of-this-world.

      Strasburg is scheduled to face the Royals in his next matchup, which will be the best offense he has seen to date.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      External Sports, MLB

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      June 19, 2010 /

      We’re about 40% through the current major league baseball season. That means we’re about to enter the warmest part of the season both on the field and in the standings. Contenders will begin to emerge and pretenders will begin to fade if they haven’t faded already. So we thought it was a good time to have our first installment of MLB power rankings…..

      1. Tampa Bay Rays (41-26)—Amazingly, the Rays have a better road record (23-11) than a home record (18-15). Also amazingly is how they jumped out of the gate and have stayed in front—with their usual formula of strong pitching (3.55 ERA leads the AL), speed (major league best 76 steals) and defense.

      2. New York Yankees (41-26)—Don’t look now, but the Yankees have caught up to Tampa. They just have too much talent for the Rays to keep them down all season.

      3. Boston Red Sox (41-28)—Struggling to keep pace with the Rays and Yanks, but now just one game back and right in the thick of it. Does anyone else feel bad for the Orioles and Blue Jays?

      4. Atlanta Braves (40-28)—A huge surprise to be leading the NL East on June 19, but not as big a surprise as the Phillies sitting in third place.

      5. Minnesota Twins (38-29)—Ignited by a new ball park and a fat new contract for their superstar catcher Joe Mauer, the Twins are going to run away with the AL Central because no one else wants to.

      6. San Diego Padres (39-28)—Definitely the surprise of the first two months, Bud Black has this Padres team over-achieving. They recently relinquished first place, but took it right back, and the Padres may stay in the hunt because of how well they fare in those close, low-scoring games.

      7. New York Mets (39-28)—Here’s another shocker. The Mets were picked by most pundits to be a fourth or fifth place team. And here they are battling the Braves for NL East supremacy. But the biggest surprise has been the starting rotation, where guys like Mike Pelfrey, RA Dickey and Jon Niese are reminding Mets fans of the Seaver/Koosman/Matlack days. And we haven’t even mentioned Johan Santana.

      8. Los Angeles Dodgers (38-29)—They’ve quietly made their move from bottom feeders to frontrunners, and they have the talent to stay there. But seriously, Manny Ramirez has SEVEN home runs on June 19? Hmmmm.

      9. Texas Rangers (39-28)—Everyone thought the Mariners would be the team to beat in the AL West this year, but they have one of the worst records in baseball at 26-41. Meanwhile, the Rangers are riding a frightening middle of the lineup (Guerrero/Hamilton/Cruz) to the division lead

      10. San Francisco Giants (37-29)—With Barry Zito looking like his old self, this team is extremely dangerous with him, all-world Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez.

      Tie 10. Detroit Tigers (37-29)--A 7-game winning streak has them right here and only a half-game back of the Twins.

      External Sports, MLB

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