Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

We came in third in 1930.

Re: What's wrong with the NBA
 

You left out boxing and MMA.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

Wondering when Phil and PLF had time to go shopping together. Those pants are interesting.

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

After emerging from the group stage to lose 6-1 in the semis and "win" some unsanctioned game, perhaps by forfeit, to take 3d.

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

I bet you're the type that thinks we lost the war of 1812, too.

Movie Watch: Atlas Shrugged!
 

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

Scored as a draw, so we're 2-0-2 v. England lifetime.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

The sound of baseball on the radio outdoors is the very definition of summer. Drinking a beer, listening to the soothing murmur of numbers going by, speculating on the yard work you ought to be doing -- if this is not a quintessential American experience I don't know what is. Except maybe being disgusted with soccer generally and Slovenia and Mali in particular.

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

Why there can be some argument as to whether we really won the draw against England, I think we clearly won the draw against Slovenia (even if we lost the win against Slovenia), since the three goals give us the leg up over the bloody imperialists. But if we come out of the round, I'll say it's certain that we won the draw against England, too. Thus, there's still a good chance we could come out of this 3-0, right, Hank?

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

True words. Without even using the word "hammock", this made me think of being in mine. All the image needs is a couple kids firing up the bbq and throwing on the corn and the tofu-kabobs.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

Pick yourself up and dust off your knees, little boy. If I had told you weeks ago that, going into the final group game, things were looking pretty good that the U.S. would get the top seed in the group, you would have laughed. Oh how you would have laughed. But here we are.

Unless you fear Algeria.

You do not fear Algeria, do you?

I will assume not. Save your contempt for S-G E. S-G E, who takes the corner short; so anxious to pick up another paycheck for a hard day at the office, and with a point as well. So happy to get the draw. Nobody can criticize a draw. Yes, he could have tried to actually win with the final set piece of the game, but what if the ball bounces BACKWARDS off of Drogba's head and went so far and so high that the CIV keeper lost sight of it and it landed in his own net? Too risky. Be happy with the draw, take their lumps against Brazil, and now they are sitting pretty. Going into our final game and all they need to do is beat North Korea, hope Portugal loses, and in the process make up a nine goal differential. There are so many ways it could happen. A 5-0 win over North Korea combined with a 6-2 Brazil win over Portugal. A 2-1 win over North Korea combined with a 14-6 Brazil victory. S-G E is a bold tactician. We will see more of him and his scrappy Mexican, er, Cote d'Ivoireian side.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

Well, Algeria has proven to be the best French team at this year's tournament....

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

Some serious Sven-bashing there, and I will not ask from what deep personal wellspring of resentment it flows. He is indeed a useless empty suit of a serially-failing manager who keeps getting jobs because everyone already knows his name, but he's certainly not alone in that. Plus, his puppet character was strangely sympathetic on that Setanta thing they were doing last year before they went out of business..

I do not fear Algeria. I fear the US national team, which has time and again shown itself capable of delivering crushing disappointment and disaster from circumstances exactly like these, in games against opponents so laughably inept (ha!) that playing them ought to be a mere formality. Algeria held Slovenia (ha! ha ha!) to half as many goals as they scored on us, and shut out England instead of, say, letting them score in the first 30 seconds or so. Never underestimate our ability to fuck things up.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

i think there is something to the ability to visualize most plays just based upon the descriptive words, "it's a long fly ball to left, Jones will have to go, he makes the catch at the track." you can "see" that in a way that you cannot "see" a basketball or football play on the radio.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

You're as inspiring as ever. Wallow in the past if you will. I look to the future.

As for Sven, I harbor no personal ill will. But he does seem like the type of coach who could blandly embrace a 6-4-0 formation and instruct players to start playing to the corner and try to run out the clock in the 75th minute of a 0-0 game. The hopes of the host continent rested largely on the Ivory Coast and a wickedly talented (albeit whiny and petulant) striker, and I believe they had a chance to steal a win from the talented Portuguese and their precious little prima donna. These hopes appear to not be dashed so much as washed out in a tepid wave of apathy. Africa weeps and Sven simply pours another cup of tea.