Ouch! That hurts.

In SI this week the Blazers franchise suffered a severe beatdown. In a script rewrite the Blazers replaced the Clippers as the joke. In a scene, Josh Hartnett was to say that his son was a Clippers fan and Alan Alda responded that his son "should find a less pathetic team to follow." Since the Clippers performed well this year the writer changed it to the Blazers.

I'm ok with people taking shots at the JailBlazers or the teams futility in the past few seasons but really. One playoff season doth not make the Clippers a pathetic team. The Blazers had 21 straight seasons of playoff births, 3 finals appearances and 1 championship. Yes, the team has had poor seasons the last 3 years by those standards but lets look at what other teams have done to really judge pathetic. The Clippers have made the playoffs a grand total of 4 times in the past 22 seasons. Not to mention Elgin Baylor's repeated failures, until this year, to do anything good with the team. The Golden State Warriors haven't made the playoffs since '93, one year after the Blazers lost to the Bulls in the Finals.

Or how about the Knicks? Do I need to even say how pathetic that organization is right now? The Blazers are bad but nowhere near as bad the Knicks and have actually been making progress by getting rid of John Nash and having a decent draft. The Knicks still have Isiah Thomas running the show and now he's coaching!!!

Maybe if the Blazers become perennial lottery dwellers over the next 5 years and make poor draft choices year after year it will be deserving of the title of pathetic. But until then the team is still trying and will not be truly pathetic only disappointing.

Following the Four Major European Soccer Leagues

I have been heartened to see that others have begun to appreciate soccer as an entertaining sport. The Sports Guy, aka Bill Simmons, recently has thrown his support behind Tottenham Hotspurs of the Premiership and The Mighty MJD has selected Man City as his team for a trial basis. While I am not new to soccer fandom, I think it is a good exercise to find teams to root for in European soccer. So, I am going a step further than these two and endeavor to choose a favorite team from each of the four leagues elite European leagues and I will try to post weekly about the teams.

Firstly, the four leagues I believer to be the elite (and I assume others do as well) are: the Premiership, the Bundesliga, La Liga, and Serie A. Nothing against the leagues in France or the Netherlands or any other country, but these four are where the major players end up, the most money is found, routinely win the European championships and it is going to be difficult to follow four leagues as well.

There are several reasons for not having favorite teams in these European leagues. None of which, I fear, are acceptable in this age. But here are my reasons. First, I only know one foreign language, German, which makes it difficult to follow the Spanish and Italian leagues. Second, it is difficult to follow several different leagues when the only information comes from the internet and you can’t watch the games on television unless it’s in the Champions League (I only have basic cable). Third, I’m lazy.

I hope to get several things from this project. First, whenever I go back to Europe I will have a team to support in several countries. Second, I will have more information about players in each area. Third, I will get read about and watch a lot more soccer.

My choices are based on a number of factors: try not to be a fair-weather fan; consistently performs reasonably well; locations that I want to visit or have some sort of connection to; and, good jerseys.

English Premier League: Liverpool FC. This is an easy choice for me because I have supported the team since 9th grade when I bought a Liverpool shirt. I didn’t know anything about the team but I got it and started to follow the team and still do. I know the team is a perennial power but I didn’t know that when I started so I feel ok about not really being a front runner. The jerseys are decent with a beer company as sponsor but I don’t know much about Liverpool or for that matter really desire to travel there other than for a game.

Bundesliga: Another easy choice. Hertha BSC. I spent a semester in Berlin and this is the only Berlin team in the Bundesliga. Berlin is one of my favorite European cities and has many great attractions and an immense history. The team hasn’t had consistent success having spent many seasons in the German Second Division but has performed well the past few seasons.

Serie A: AS Roma. I already had the city chosen because my mother lived outside of Rome for 5 years when I was a teenager and I visited nearly every summer. Rome was and is my favorite city. It is just an incredibly interesting city with ancient history and culture. But, I wasn’t sure whether to choose Lazio or Roma as my Serie A team. The current match fixing scandal made it a little easier because Lazio is caught up in it. However, in my research it seems most Italian teams have had some match fixing scandals, although there was nothing on the Wikipedia page about AS Roma. Roma also has a history of staying in Serie A but not always being at the top like Inter, AC Milan and Juventus.

Unfortunately, the team does have some history with the Italian fascists. This sort of negative political association is not uncommon for any of the teams playing in the leagues of the old Axis powers and must just be overlooked.

La Liga: This was the most difficult decision for me. I didn’t want to choose Real Madrid—a traditional superpower—or Barcelona since it is the current cup holder for the Champions League. I don’t have much connection to Spain but I did spend about two weeks there during 1999. I really enjoyed everywhere I went but I whittled my teams down to Sevilla, Real Betis and Valencia.

The first two are in Sevilla, a vibrant town with a good nightlife where I spent a week. Valencia is a Spanish city on the Mediterranean coast. I’ve never been there but it sounds like a good city to visit. Valencia has the edge with a moderate coastal climate whereas Sevilla scorching during the summer but pleasant other times of the year. Advantage Valencia because of the weather and the beach.

As far as past performance goes there is a clear order here. Valencia has won two La Liga titles in the past five years, Sevilla hasn’t won since the 40’s, and Real Betis hasn’t won since 1935. Valencia is regularly in the Champions League while the other two are not. Betis has had the most trouble staying in La Liga although has had some success lately. Advantage Valencia since it performs well but is not on par with Madrid or Barca.

Sevilla has by far the worst jerseys—ugly maroon and powder blue jerseys. Betis has the best with green and white stripes and Valencia has classy and simple white home and blue away jerseys. I already have a striped team in Hertha but I really like the green. Advantage Betis.

Intangibles for the teams are quite varied. Valencia has a cool bat looking creature in its crest and Sevilla has ominous looking religious figures. Betis is a team traditionally for the working class. Sevilla is like the Green Bay Packers in that the fans own the team. Sevilla and Betis have one of the strongest Spanish rivalries. It’s always good to have a team to hate but I think you can always hate Barca and Real Madrid in La Liga since they spend so much and regularly win.

In the end it came down to Betis and Valencia. I couldn’t go wrong with either city. Betis has better jerseys but Valencia has better performances. Valencia has the bat in the crest and Betis has a strong rivalry. In the end I want to root for a team that can challenge Barca and Real Madrid and not just a pretty jersey so I choose Valencia. We’ll see how this one goes, I may have revisit it next year.

To recap: My teams are Liverpool, Hertha BSC, AS Roma and Valencia CF. I will try to keep updated the teams’ progress and any other developments and I’ll see how this betters my soccer knowledge and fandom.

Former Blazer News

Surprise, surprise, one of the former Jailblazers, Shawn Kemp, just got arrested for marijuana possession. Kemp has been attempting to make a comeback after eating his way out of the NBA. The story listed some of Kemp's career highlights:

Kemp’s career highlights include five straight All-Star appearances and being a member of the gold-medal winning Dream Team II at the 1994 World Championships of Basketball.

The story forgot to mention these other highlights: fathering at least seven children out of wedlock with seven different women; severe alcohol and drug problems; weight issues; and, a general lack of motivation in his last few years in the NBA.

Back in the Game...er...Tour

In stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France, Floyd Landis, to borrow a Bill Simmons phrase, displayed a Pantheon Performance to put himself into contention for the Tour. Two days earlier, in stage 15, Landis captured the yellow jersey. But, twenty-four hours later he relinquished the jersey in a stunning collapse. In one stage he fell behind the leader by over eight minutes.

Then, today, Landis showed he had a heart as big as Andre the Giant's by dominating the final mountain stage to race back to within 30 seconds of the overall leader. Since this all happened on European time I read the story in the morning and was able to watch the replay on OLN, which doesn't have anything else to show at 10:00 a.m. (or for that matter at 10:00 p.m) but the Tour.

It was an amazing performance and I would have to rank it up there with a flu-ridden Jordan in the NBA finals, Kobe's 81-point performance, or some other amazing performance I can't think of right now. Keep in mind that he choked, flopped, and failed to show up in spectacular fashion one day earlier and this guy has a bad hip that needs to be replaced after the race. This would be like Landon Donovan following his performance in the first-round of the World Cup with 8 goals in the knockout stages (if the US had advanced).

It would be nice if Landis could cap this story off with a victory because that is how a performance like this should be rewarded and that would make it eight straight years of an American champion. The French would really hate that.

What? Auburn Football Players Don't go to Class?

Division I college athletes, particularly those in the major sports, are not by-and-large the best students on campuses across the nation. It also is not surprising that athletes often take easy courses, courses that are athlete friendly, and professors often bend the rules to help these athletes. But, it is always somewhat astonishing to see these stories in print. A NY Times article yesterday discussed an Auburn University sociology professor who had been helping the Tigers’ football team keep its grades up. Apparently, this one professor allowed the football players to get credit hours without ever attending class.

It’s unfortunate that the NCAA, colleges and universities, faculty, coaches, and “student-athletes” all allow this too happen when it is quite apparent that the vast majority of them will never make any money as a professional athlete. All this does is cheat the athletes of their opportunity to capitalize on a free education because in the end it will be revealed that the emperors have no clothes.

No Longer An MLB Virgin

This past week I went to the San Francisco area for a wedding and a buddy of mine came up with some Oakland A’s tickets. I have never attended a Major League baseball game for several reasons: (1) I grew up in the country, a minimum five hour drive away from the closest team; (2) I currently live in a city without an MLB team; and, (3) as I have stated before I am not much of a baseball fan. However, I am a huge sports fan and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see my first MLB game and catch up with an old college roommate and his wife (also a college friend). I had a good time and this is my story about losing my MLB virginity after 27 years on this earth.

For a first game, I couldn’t have really asked for much more. The Oakland Athletics were hosting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of the State of California in the United States of America (seriously, listening to the announcer introduce the team took thirty minutes). Not a marquee match-up but an ok one. There were seven homers and the A’s won in the bottom of the ninth with two outs on a Frank Thomas walk-off homerun. The game was close throughout and it was an exciting ending.

I had a good seat, only 16 rows up from first base, in prime foul ball territory. A few balls came close but none within reach. It was funny, however, to watch grown men fight over the balls and then get booed when they couldn’t catch a weak pop-up. Being fairly close to the action it was impressive to see how big the Big Hurt really is—he just towered over everybody out there—as well as Vlad Guerrero. Those guys are immense! Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me and my buddy’s camera died while we were there.

Probably the funniest moment came in the eighth inning. One guy seated about four rows in front of us and a little to the right had been razzing the players and being somewhat obnoxious for the whole game. Then in the eighth he started to go up the steps to the walkway but he didn’t quite make it. On the last step he hunched over and lost his dinner on the steps and the crowd serenaded him to a nice chant of “Let’s go puker!!! Let’s go puker!!!,” while some random guy took some action photos of said puker. Priceless. After he finished his business, stadium security had to help him stagger up the stairs.

After attending my first MLB game I have a few observations. First, it is much more difficult to follow a baseball game at the ballpark than on the TV. There are tons of distractions like pukers or conversations with your friends, and you don’t get the best views of the plays. Second, somebody needs to help some of these ballplayers with the headshots shown on the big screens. Many look like mugshots and others are just plain goofy (see right). Third, the A’s stadium is absolutely boring. The stadium wasn’t full (although it was a Thursday night) even after the upper deck had been closed off. I would like to go to one of the new parks and see if the experience is better. Overall, good experience, probably better the more you drink unless you get serenaded to “Let’s go puker,” expensive, and I wouldn’t mind doing it again.

Vacation

Gone until Monday, the 10th. Have fun, enjoy the World Cup, and drive safely.

When Mascots Attack

Add this to the long list of mascot misconduct. Benny the Bull, the Chicago Bulls mascot, was arrested for assaulting an off-duty police officer. Looking at the list, one would think that these mascots are actually athletes because they get arrested just about as frequently as the athletes. The Stanford Tree gets special recognition for getting into trouble often. Maybe it's the whole privileged, upper-class thing that makes them think they're above the law.

Obviously I am not good at prognostication.

One for Four. That's it. A monkey could have done better than I did in picking the teams to win in the WC quarterfinals. Despite my lack of success in picking the knockout winners I am still going to give my picks. Drumroll...France v. Germany in the finals...and let the invasion jokes begin.

I like an in form France over Portugal. Zizou won't let his team lose and the experience will finally bring down the plucky Portuguese. I also will go with my heart and pick Germany over Italy despite the team's lack of success against Italy in the WC. Italy thinks it is a team of destiny because of its recent tribulations but Germany is the host nation and 80 million germans will carry this team to the finals.

Don't be surprised if Portugal faces Italy though because I obviously don't know what I am doing.

Videos, We've Got Lots and Lots of Videos

Here are several videos I have seen over the past few days that I have enjoyed immensely, many of them soccer related:

• Worldcupblog.org posts its 5 best goals of the WC so far. Hard to disagree with the choices, but I might include Beckham's free kick against Ecuador or Ronaldo's juking of the Ghanaian keeper.
• Worldcupblog.org again, here are Ronaldo's 15 WC goals.
• Worldcupblog.org: a couple of video compilations of Zizou, quite remarkable.
• Armchairgm.com: 5 of the craziest goals you'll ever see. I haven't seen that much woodwork since Pinocchio.
• Worldcupblog.org: Torsten Frings' weak attempt at a punch that has him suspended for the semifinal against Italy.
• Deadspin.com: Songs supporting the Three Lions and die Mannschaft. Oops it's three-nil! Not likely considering how England played this year. German blackface? That scares me just a bit.
• Deadspin.com: I, for one, wouldn't be proud to be a Texas A&M alum after seeing this video.

Roger Federer: Fashionable Bad-Ass

Let me preface this post with the admission that I know next-to-nothing about tennis. I’ve only played tennis a few times and I watch matches here and there. By no means am I an expert or really qualified to give any insight. But, I do know that every time I watch Roger Federer play (except on clay) I come away with the feeling that this guy is Superman with a tennis racket.

Federer never seems to struggle, barely breaks a sweat, hits the most amazing shots, and is rather polite. Clark Kent off the court and Superman on it. He just broke the record for number of consecutive wins on grass; he won three majors last year; and he is going for his fourth straight Wimbledon title this year. I’m not the only one in awe. Many commentators, players, former-players, and others have gushed in praise of Federer saying he not only is a great tennis player but also a class act. All of this makes his attire at Wimbledon absolutely awesome.

Federer has been wearing to and from matches a one-of-a-kind cream colored blazer over his tennis outfit. The UK Telegraph describes the jacket and his entrance in a recent match:

The jacket is classically stylish and has a special crest which incorporates a Swiss cross, a tuft of grass, his Leo star sign, an F for his surname and three rackets representing his three Wimbledon titles. After acknowledging the crowd's applause, Federer carefully put the jacket around the back of his change-over chair.

This has to be one of the greatest ways to tell the whole world that I am the greatest and there is no way anybody is going to beat me at Wimbledon. Federer, through his jacket, is saying to opponent, “I am the three-time defending champion see the rackets on my jacket; I intend to win my fourth this year; and, there is no way you are going to stop, just look at my jacket.” What a bad-ass!! But, it says “I’m a bad-ass” in a distinctly Federer way because it is not brash, arrogant, or impolite. Rather, it’s matter-of-fact, simple, and respectful to the conservative tennis club and I think it's great.

Odds and Ends

• Blazer draft reviews are in and Portland did better than the ESPN announcers were claiming during the draft. Here, here, here, Oregonlive.com reports Chad Ford gave the Blazers an A and that the Blazers maybe weren't outwitted in the Aldridge and Telfair trades.
• ESPN ombudsman writes about his network's coverage of the World Cup. Two of the five announcing teams are based in Bristol, Conn. and are not in Germany. I didn't know this but it might explain some of the difficulties the announcers seemed to have in making judgments on air.
• Video clip of Ronaldo's 15 WC goals.
• Grant Wahl writes about the necessity of attending a WC once in your life and not just for the soccer. I concur. Although I attended only one game in '94 and was just a wee lad then, I had a great time and wished I could have afforded to attend more games. That said, I got to see the US play Brazil on the Fourth of July. Absolutely awesome!!!

Quite Frankly, The Funniest Thing I've Seen Today

Thanks to the guys over at Deadspin I've probably just had the best laugh I will have all day. Deadspin has posted a video of people heckling Stephen A. Smith at last night's NBA draft. Quite Frankly, Stephen A. Smith is the most annoying personality, among many, on ESPN, and I wouldn't be sorry to see him go. Go ahead, enjoy.

Big Happenings in the NBA Draft for the Blazers.

Today was the NBA draft and my home-state Portland Trailblazers was THE mover and shaker of the day. Big moves by the Blazers have really changed the look of the team and could mark the turnaround the team sorely needs.

Starting things off before the draft Portland traded Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, a 2008 2nd round pick and cash to the Boston Celtics for the #7 pick, Raef Lafrentz and Dan Dickau. Telfair, drafted in 2004 out of high school, was supposed to be the PG of the future for the Blazers. But, the team drafted another PG in Jarrett Jack the next year in the first round. Telfair was former-GM John Nash’s pick and it looks like nobody agreed with him, and now that he is gone so is Bassy. Portland did take on a big contract in Lafrentz—who has 3 years remaining on his current contract—while Ratliff only had two years remaining.

Then, Portland traded the #4 pick, Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khryapa to Chicago for the #2 pick, LaMarcus Aldridge and future 2nd round pick. Aldridge gives Portland a big man who can eventually replace the losses of Ratliff and Pryzbilla if he leaves in free agency. He won’t be an immediate help because he is still a little raw. It looks like Portland believes the Pryzbilla is gone so they got LaFrentz and Aldridge.

Some of the ESPN commentators think Portland could have sat on the fourth pick and still got Aldridge. Stephen A. Smith thinks that Portland HAS NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!! He doesn’t say really say why though. Let me just say this right now, I think Stephen A. Smith is a Grade A imbecile who can only make his points by yelling and most of his points are usually way off the mark.

With the 7th pick Boston selected Randy Foye for Portland after Minnesota selected Brandon Roy. However, Portland and Minnesota swapped picks and I think Portland got the one guy they really coveted in Roy. In my book, Roy was the best guy in the draft. He is the most polished of all the players selected before him; he is athletic; he can play defense; and, he can play three positions if necessary. He is a great combo guard. Plus, he is a Northwest product and should help sell some tickets. One downside is that he and Martell Webster, last year’s #1 for Portland, play the same primary position and Roy may take time from Webster, who needs to develop.

Before the Roy trade, ESPN was saying that Portland was making a huge error because they didn’t get Roy—the player they coveted. Stephen A. was killing Portland again, saying that he was sorry that Foye was going to Portland. Well, now they have the player they coveted and Stephen A. doesn’t have anything to say.

Sergio Rodriquez, a Spanish PG, was drafted by Phoenix in the 27 slot, but it is reported that Portland is straight out buying the pick. Not sure about this one. Just another small guard. Maybe he can back up Jack, but I would rather see some size. Greg Anthony is puzzled by all of the Portland trades, saying they could have gotten all of the same personnel without the trades. I call bullshit on that one. No way they get Roy if they don’t trade Telfair. Maybe they could have gotten Aldridge but they were probably concerned about somebody moving up to get him.

Joel Freeland is Portland’s 30th pick. He is a 19 year-old 6-10 PF out of England. Who? Nothing good coming from the commentators except that he will probably stay in England for a year or two. With the 31st pick, the first of the 2nd round, Portland selected James White from Cincinnati. He’s an athletic 6’7” guard.

Overall, I would have to disagree with the ESPN announcers. All they could say is that Portland didn’t know what it was doing, except they never supported the opinions with any facts. The one thing I agree with was that Portland may have gotten Aldridge without trading up. No way they get Roy without trading Telfair. Portland was able to parlay the former #13 pick Telfair into a #6 pick in Roy—a good move if you ask me. In all, the Blazers ended up with 4 first round picks and got two studs in Aldridge and Roy. They also have 3 players to bring in and see how they perform. The team is very young now and Steve Patterson said the Blazers aren’t done trading. So be on the watch for more action.

Update 6/29/06 8:15 a.m.: After tiring of the draft and changing the channel, the Blazers traded 2nd round pick James White to Indiana for two future 2nd round picks and the 45th selection who they then traded to Memphis for another future 2nd round pick. So, the Blazers gave up two future 2nd round picks and picked up three more. Not bad in my estimation.

A few notes on the broadcast:

Thank God ESPN let us know that Shelden Williams color coordinates his closet; and, B-Roy drove a forklift for a job after high school.

Vitale slurping Redick again, asking for free tickets for all the publicity he gave Redick over the past 4 years.

Apparently, Stephen A. hates every move, every draft pick, and every organization that is in the lottery because he is ripping just about every selection.

Awesome interview with a Knicks fan during the NY pick at 29. One guy called Isiah Thomas a bum and said he needed to be fired and that NY needed a guy knew how to manage. Frickin’ awesome.

Best name of the draft: Olexsiy Pecherov, 18th pick of the Washington Wizards.

Revisiting the Round of 16 Predictions

With the round of 16 now completed I thought it would be good to revisit my predictions. I got 6 of 8 correct, but my comments were off on some of the matchups. My predictions are in italics below and my re-cap follows those.

• Germany v. Sweden: Should be a good game to see if Germany has a real defense, and I think the home crowd carries the Germans to victory. Germany dominated in part because Sweden played with 10 men and the Deutsch defense wasn't really tested. I'm still wary of the defense but the Argentina game should be a classic with the German offense clicking on all cylinders.
• Argentina v. Mexico: Mexico gets spanked, easy as that. Boy was I off. Mexico played a great game and lost on one of the prettiest goals of the tournament. The Argentina defense appeared suspect on headers and crosses into the box, which may be good for the tall Germans.
• England v. Ecuador: England should win this and Rooney gets more game fit. Ecuador was lucky to be in a weak group. England's finishing woes continued but Rooney looked fit. Woe to the opponent who faces the Three Lions when Gerrard and Lampard can actually get a shot on goal.
• Portugal v. Netherlands: Maybe the best matchup of the round. Portugal will get a real test with the Netherlands, but the Netherlands' defense should be tested by the Portuguese attack as well. Netherlands win this one. This could have been a great matchup if a hockey game hadn't broken out. Portugal will be without a couple of key contributors against England.
• Italy v. Australia: Italy's acting abilities will really test Australia's ability not to go down a man. Should be a physical match but the Italian offense should carry the day. It was Italy who played with 10 men, but the Italian acting definitely came into play at the end of this one.
• Switzerland v. Ukraine: Switzerland is lucky to get one of the weaker teams to advance. Ukraine was utterly miserable against Tunisia in its last match and the Swiss will probably shut down Ukraine's only real weapon--Shevchenko. This was an awful match. The Swiss did shut down Ukraine, but there was no offense for Switzerland.
• Brazil v. Ghana: Brazil in a walk with Michael Essien missing. The 3-0 score makes it look like a walk, but Brazil's defense looked like Swiss cheese and Ghanaian attack just went through the holes. Brazil's offense looked good though.
• Spain v. France: Spain has looked far more impressive than France so far but the Spaniards haven't really been tested. France looked good in the last match and if Zidane can be incorporated into the attack the team had against Togo I will take France. This was the match of the round with the France of old appearing after an old France had shown up in the group stages. Zizou was great, as was Ribery and Vieira. Now only if Henry can have a great game at the same time, then there could be an upset against Brazil next round.

Here are my quarterfinal predictions:

Argentina v. Germany: Tough to go against the hosts on form, but I will take Argentina, who will be the first real test of the German defense.

England v. Portugal: England will win this game because Portugal will be missing a few players. I like England to finally get on track with Rooney putting one in the net.

Italy v. Ukraine: Catenaccio defense of the Italians will keep Ukraine in check.

Brazil v. France: I'll stick with Brazil, but I won't be surprised if an on-form France upsets.