Reason #1 To Love Soccer

David Beckham's first Hollywood story

Soccer hires a Gus Johnson wannabe to announce their games, now that Beckham has landed. I could not think of a better combo of announcer and athlete since Howard Cossell and Muhammad Ali. It's a shame this really isn't Gus Johnson, since he is off somewhere wondering how the NCAA men's basketball tournament got taken from him, but whoever the announcer is does a splendid job anyway. Also make note of how little Victoria Beckham seems to care about the goal. C'mon lady, your husband has been getting blasted in all the papers, and he finally gets on track, and the best you could do is a golf clap? If you have not seen Victoria Beckham's one part reality show, then you must check it out. She is a true piece of work, which makes her quite entertaining.

NHL HITS ROCK BOTTOM

Just when the NHL thought it could not get any worse, it turns out that the championship clinching game was lower rated than the Spanish telecast of the The CONCACAF Gold Cup final. This match pitted USA versus Mexico in championship of North and South American Soccer. This SOCCER matchup, yeah I said soccer attracted 41 percent more television households in the United States than the Stanley Cup finals clincher. This is an unbelievable rating stat, because like I said before, this was just the Spanish telecast. The English broadcast is not rated, but was available in 30 million homes. I can't wait to hear how the people in the league office for the NHL try to spin this to tell us how well Hockey is thriving in the US. I just don't buy the fact that those same people are shitting themselves when numbers like these come out.

FREDDY ADU WHERE ARE YOU?

A great article on Rumors and Rants about the boy who was going to revolutionize US Soccer, Freddy Adu. My guess is he has been spending too much time with JoJo instead of on the field. (Rumors and Rants)

US SOCCER STRUGGLES TO ADVANCE

US needed a questionable call to advance to the Gold Cup Final over Canada. C'mon guys we can't even beat Canada easily? US Soccer continues to struggle despite all the talk how they are beginning to turn the corner. Being a sports fan, you know your team will inevitably struggle at times, but this is getting ridiculous. This team struggles almost every game they play. I would say it is time to look outside for a coach, but we did that after the World Cup and nobody wanted the job. The outside world looked at the head coaching spot like it were the plague. Can you blame them? Coaching the team is a thankless job, because Soccer is so far down on the national radar, that if they start to win, fans will say 'what took them so long,' and if they keep losing, there will just be 'I told you so's' thrown around.
Here is a recap of the game. (ESPN)

US SOCCER AT A CROSSROADS?

Can you call it a crossroads if they have only tasted failure? Great article from SI.COM about the the state of US soccer and why we should be tuning in.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jonah_freedman/06/06/usa.summer/index.html