Oh, So That's Who This LeBron Guy Is

By now you've all seen the mockery of humanity that was last night's announcement that LeBron James will be playing in Miami next season. I'm not going to go into the whole sob story about how this shows what a weak and callous man that he is -- I think that's a little unfair -- nor will I give you a whole explanation as to why I think this is going to be far less of a success story for the Heat fans than it looks right now, which I do. No, instead, I'll direct you to the classy open letter to Cavs fans that was issued last night by Dan Gilbert, which is impossible to miss since the Cavaliers' website automatically redirects to it from their home page.

The reaction to this letter has been, shall we say, not positive.

Indeed, Gilbert does look stupid, callous and overly defensive. Also, the use of such a ridiculous font, caps lock and quotation marks at every possible moment is hilarious. But Gilbert didn't write this letter to gain respect, or gracefully wish LeBron luck as he went off to the new part of his career. Gilbert did it to rally the fans of the city of Cleveland, so often heartbroken and jilted one more time. And while I have a hard time see the Cavaliers winning a championship before LeBron does, as Gilbert claims they will, I think this letter will actually help him garner support among his fan base rather than embarrass the organization.

Why? Because they all actually feel this way. They feel like a spurned lover left at the alter after doing all they could. They feel like they've been stabbed in the back. And after watching Cleveland's dismal performance after being eliminated by the Celtics in this year's postseason, they feel like he quit. On the team, on the city, on them.

Gilbert hit the nail right on the head.

Last night, what we all saw was a city robbed of its heart, sports news robbed of whatever innocence it had left and a number of people on TV who appeared to realize they were all selling a piece of their soul. Even if the proceeds went to charity, which they did, the entire hour felt heartless, crude and I felt as if I was dumber for watching it. Will Leitch does a phenomenal job of succinctly echoing the feelings of most sports fans who are relatively detached from Miami and Cleveland.

In the end what we got was a mind-numbing hour of television after which we all felt unsatisfied and there were no winners. In fact, as Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com notes, both in terms of his legacy, and more tangibly in terms of his monetary potential, even LeBron may come out a loser. Or at least $150 million less of a winner than he could have been.

It is a sad start to our weekend to deal with this hangover, though I'm hoping that some sporting event on Sunday will help me forget about LeBron-O-Mania for a while. If that doesn't help, I will be posting a story on Monday for the first time in a long time. If that can't cheer you all up (and it should, there's nudity in it) then I'm not sure what can help us.

Enjoy the weekend everyone.

We'll Always Have Pretoria

As I've now had three days to cope with the U.S.'s untimely ouster in South Africa, I'm slowly coming to grips with once again dealing with this "The U.S. will never care as much about soccer" nonsense. I'm not naive enough to think that the United States is actually on par with teams like Brazil or Germany, but as I've tried to explain to people, they don't have to be. The toughest part of the World Cup for a non-elite team is getting out of its group. Once you're in the knockout phase, all bets are off and the best team either overall or just that day, doesn't always win.

Well, the U.S. did that. We got out of our group, winning it for the first time in decades, but in the end, two home run balls, an incorrectly played bounce and a slew of missed opportunities in the final minutes of regular time were enough to bounce the Yanks from the World's greatest sporting event in the round of 16 against Ghana Saturday.

This is a frustrating end to a Cup that started out with so much promise, gave the U.S. an oustandingly favorable draw in the knockout stage the likes of which we may never see again, and perhaps the single greatest moment in the history of U.S. Soccer. It is hard not to leave disappointed, but that disappointment may very well be a good sign for the future. The only comparable moment in my life for this came in the U.S.'s loss to Germany in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals. That was indeed disappointing, but that disappointment came because they had come so close to achieving something so unexpected and special that we wished we could have had it.

That's not the case in 2010. This time we're disappointed because there was so much more available for the taking and we should have had it. That's not to say Ghana's victory was a fluke. Obviously, they are a strong side and the very fact that they eliminated the U.S. four years ago as well is evidence to their consistency -- albeit bitter evidence. Still, the United States were the prohibitive favorite going into Saturday's match, and with a relatively weak quarterfinal matchup laying ahead, the prospect of suddenly having as easy a walk as the U.S. could ever have it into the semifinals was staring Bob Bradley's men in the face.

They dropped the ball. And they know it. But this, too, is a good thing.

These are all good things because U.S. Soccer will never advance to the level where it can compete regularly with international powers until it realizes its own ability and demands more of itself. The miracle run in 2002 was a slight surprise and the American advance to the knockout stage in the U.S.-hosted 1994 World Cup was the quintessential "happy to be here" moment. This is something different.

In past World Cups, failure was reveled in for comic fodder -- a Conan O'Brien montage of the one goal the U.S. scored in the 1998 World Cup comes to mind -- as we mocked our own refusal to care for the game. Now the tabloid headlines bring to mind the stubborn anger of a child who cares, but doesn't want the world to know. We still have a ways to go before we bring in complicated, deeply wounding historical references like some countries, but we're starting to care more and more. ESPN's coverage has been nearly wall to wall, with most experts acknowledging the missed opportunity.

If the United States begins to care more, it is only a matter of time before the youth development program begins to develop the players that can take U.S. Soccer to a new level for 2014 and beyond, and with the World Cup possibly being hosted again by the United States in 2018 or 2022, the opportunities to make a splash, albeit far off, are certainly on the way. Unfortunately, this current group, likely the most talented in U.S. history, will be a question mark the next time we're on the global stage in Brazil four years from now.

Landon Donovan, the greatest player in U.S. history, Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard will all be up in years by the time that next World Cup rolls around. While we may not be the only ones in need of some changes, it's not unreasonable to suggest that Dempsey and Donovan will both make the squad despite being over 30 -- the fitness of the Americans has often set them apart -- but Howard, who will be 35 is unlikely to be around. And what of other key players like Steve Cherundolo or Carlos Bocanegra? Does Oguchi Onyewu come back and anchor the defense like he was unable to this time around? Does Jay Demerit take over as the main U.S. leader in the back four? Does Jozy Altidore continue to progress and learn how to finish the strikes his tremendous size creates in the opposition's penalty area?

Does Freddy Adu come back to life? He is only 21 after all.

There is a lot of uncertainty. This may have been the best chance the Yanks would have for quite some time to really make a run, but there are signs that we're advancing as a soccer nation. Public disappointment, the acknowledgment that we really care that we were ousted earlier than we could have been, goes to show that we're making strides.

There are some fundamental changes that will have to happen with our culture in the meantime of course. For one, we need to display a better understanding of the game. One talking head this weekend noted that our goal against Ghana, which came on a second-half penalty kick, was a sign that we weren't up to class because it wasn't a real goal. We need to understand that winning soccer games isn't about scoring goals. The goals themselves are often flukey occurrences brought on by strokes of luck or breakdowns in the opponent's defense. Winning soccer games isn't accomplished by scoring goals. It's accomplished by creating the opportunity to score goals. Produce chances in bunches and they will start to cash in in bunches. That is the key. And anyone who watched the second halves against Ghana, Slovenia and Algeria saw that the United States is certainly capable of that. Unfortunately, sometimes the bear eats you when you don't deserve it. And in a number of instances, that happened.

The other thing people need to understand is that this isn't a country that doesn't care about soccer. No, our country doesn't have the same soccer-centric culture that many have, but that doesn't mean we're incapable. As well, the argument that our best athletes play football, baseball and basketball doesn't hold water either. Hockey has an undoubtedly stronger intrinsic tie to national culture in Canada than it does in the United States, and while Canada managed to take the ultimate prize this year of Olympic goal at the U.S.'s expense, the Americans romped in World Juniors, taking the Gold in both the IIHF U18 and IIHF U20 World Championships. The latter, came in a stunning overtime upset of our neighbors to the north.

Soccer does not have to be any different, and in a country of 300 million people -- to say nothing of the vastly increasing immigrant population from south of the border that loves the sport -- we should be able to find an internationally elite Starting XI. Moreover, our "best athletes" is a completely fallacious concept. Jonathan Ogden was a tremendous athlete in his prime, but do we legitimately think he would have been a World class striker with the proper development? Lunacy. The skills don't translate from one playing surface to another. Lebron James is not guaranteed to be a national team-quality centre back with proper training. The key isn't forcing athletes into a position. It's identifying the ones capable and nurturing them on the right path.

The U.S. is capable. It has a large enough talent pool, and a solid enough development program that more Landon Donovans and Clint Dempseys can't be too far off. While we're certainly not among the international elite, our run to the Confederations Cup Final a year ago, during which we toppled No. 1 Spain and nearly knocked off Brazil, shows that we can clearly compete with the elite. The key is doing it consistently. It may not yet be consistent, but now that success is no longer a novelty.

And now we care. We really do.

That may be the biggest key to one day lifting the most hallowed sporting trophy in the world.

Donovan to the Rescue

I remember in the fall of 2006 when I attended a Northwestern football game and talked to an alum who had attended Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. I asked him what the stadium was like after Endy Chavez's historic catch and he responded to me that dozens of people were hugging him and jumping on top of him, and he couldn't possibly have cared less about it. The euphoria of that moment was simply too strong for him to mind being violated.

I had never quite had a moment like that with complete strangers until Wednesday, when Bert and I saw Landon Donovan save U.S. Soccer in the 91st minute against Algeria to put the Americans through to the knockout stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We were watching at a sports bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn called 200 Fifth, which was not overcrowded, but a decent, and involved crowd nonetheless. By the time Donovan, arguably the greatest American player ever, poked Clint Dempsey's rebound into the net, it was almost entirely full, and while I had begun to accept that the flurry of unconverted opportunities were about to leave us on the outside looking in, in that moment the bar erupted.

Strangers jumped on top of me and hugged me. I had no idea who they were. And I did not care.

This was one of those great moments that make sports worth watching, and while I did think it was a bit odd that one bar patron rubbed my tummy while I was standing on top of my chair screaming with my hands on my head, the excitement of Donovan's score was enough to get me to forget about being personally violated for a few seconds. As someone who follows the U.S. soccer team and has on more than one occasion had to defend his refusal to pick a European nation to support because the Yanks had no chance, this was a moment of joy and redemption when all seemed nearly lost. In short, it was what makes sports great, and when you take a minute to sit back and look at the tournament, that's not even the best part.

The future could be better.

The United States will face Ghana in the round of 16, and while we very nearly got a gift matchup of Australia, it also bears warning that we could have gotten Germany. Excited as I might be to have a shot at vengeance for the 2002 quarterfinals, when Oliver Kahn (and Torsten Frings' left arm...) single-handedly kept the U.S. from a date with the semifinals, Germany is a stiff opponent. Of course, I want to reiterate one thing. I am not looking past Ghana.

I AM NOT LOOKING PAST GHANA.

However, it is only natural to see how the bracket lays and what the path to a World Cup Final might have. At the point of the World Cup's knockout stages there is no such thing as an easy match. Each will be tight and contested and nervewracking for the participants and its supporters. However, if you're searching for as smooth or lucky a draw as you could ask for, the U.S. might have it. If you don't believe me or you just haven't seen the draw yet, maybe you should.

If the U.S. is fortunate enough to get past Ghana, they face the winner of Uruguay and South Korea for a spot in the final four of the tournament. Ghana won't be easy and neither will Uruguay or South Korea, but the first two potential matchups are bereft of the traditional powers. Brazil, Portugal, Chile or Spain can't possibly face the U.S. until the semifinals (and Spain may not make the knockout stages at all if the Swiss have their say), while England, Germany, Mexico and Argentina are all on the other side of the bracket, clear of the United States unless they some how wound up in the Final on July 11th, and at that point all bets are off.

Oh and apparently we won't have to worry about the Italians this time around.

So no, I'm not really ready to crown the U.S. for a deep run at the World's greatest sporting event, but as far as roads can go, this is clearly the best one we could have hoped for, particularly since either the U.S., Ghana, South Korea or Uruguay is guaranteed a berth in the semifinals and the Yanks happen to be the highest ranked of that group according to FIFA. Of course, rankings mean bupkis at this point considering that two top ten teams have already punched their tickets home with a third still possibly boarding its return flight.

But before any of that even begins to be considered, Donovan, Jozy Altidore, Tim Howard and crew still have handle the Black Stars, whom Bert feels a bizarrely conflicted yearning to root for. Evidently the volunteering he did in Ghana meant a lot to him. Or something. Regardless, I know whom I will be rooting for, and though I will be watching from my office, come Saturday afternoon I will be glued to the TV as I live and die with the red, white and blue for 90-plus minutes.

And since he's finally done playing tennis, maybe American John Isner will get to watch, too.

Welcome Back, Jason!

If you are a Devils fan there are a number of moments you cling to from the past 25 years of history. Clearly the three Stanley Cup Championships take primary placing, but other exciting ones such as John McLean's overtime winner that put New Jersey in the postseason for the first time, Patrik Elias' Game 7 winner against Philadelphia in 2000, Jeff Freisen's Conference clincher in 2003 against Ottawa, Martin Brodeur's goal in the 1997 playoffs and Brodeur's record-breaking win against the Blackhawks in 2009 are all up there.

But for someone who grew up in the 90's and watched an unheralded dynasty come to maturity (and fall short of true historic greatness by not sealing a title in 2001), the moment that rings loudest in the franchise annals is Jason Arnott dumping the puck top shelf past Ed Belfour in the second overtime of Game 6 in the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals. The goal sealed the Devils' second Stanley Cup Championship in outrageously dramatic fashion.

Fast-forward two years and Devils GM Lou Lamoreillo, seeking to shake up what he sees as a stale roster, ships Arnott and longtime Devil Randy McKay off to Dallas for Jamie Langenbrunner and Joe Nieuwendyk. While Nieuwendyk and Langenbrunner would be key pieces of the Devils' third title a year later, Arnott would eventually wind up in Nashville where he has fashioned a solid if unspectacular career.

While the Devils have still been a solid contender in the years since and Arnott has achieved success in Tennessee, there has always been something unfulfilling about seeing the man who fashioned the greatest goal in franchise history spend most of his career in another jersey.

But that all changed this weekend, when Lamoreillo, seeking improved strength down the middle as the Devils hunt one last title before Brodeur retires and the window closes, dealt a draft pick and Matt Halischuk to Nashville for the man who made the Devils champions for a second time.

And apparently Arnott couldn't be happier.

In an interview with the Fire & Ice blog, Arnott said that while New Jersey isn't generally the most sought after free agent destination, he was "devastated" when he was dealt to Dallas. Arnott had been part of a wildly productive unit with Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora known as "The A-Line", and while Sykora was in a hospital after a vicious hit at the time of Arnott's Cup-winner, the line's chemistry was still in place as Arnott potted the goal on an absolutely blind feed from Elias.



Ten years later, Elias has become the Devils' all-time leading scorer, Arnott has been one of the league's steadiest captains and Sykora has had his own set of big postseason moments, including the winner of a 5OT game with Anaheim in 2003 and a 3OT season-saver in Game 5 of the 2008 Stanley Cup Final for Pittsburgh. Sykora, however, appears to be at the end of his career -- a shame for me as he was the first Devil I saw score in person -- but with Arnott and Elias playing together, there is an old-timey feel to next season's Devils team that will bring fans memories if not another championship. Beyond the obvious strategic advantage to putting a big, sturdy, proven center in the lineup, Devils fans have to be excited to have a favored son back in the fold.

This year's champions are still making headlines, and rightfully so. The Chicago Blackhawks were one of the most complete teams in hockey all this year before they capped their season off with a deserved Stanley Cup Championship in Philadelphia, but today the team is also making headlines for what it plans to do with Stanley. And incidentally, it may not be so far-fetched to confuse this Stanley with this Stanley.

Why, you ask? Well, because the Chicago Blackhawks have responded to a request from the Chicago Gay Hockey Association to march the Cup through this weekend's Chicago Gay Pride Parade, and will indeed be bringing the Cup, along with defenseman Brent Sopel, to the celebration. Here is the official announcement from the CGHA. While I don't necessarily think it's appropriate for the Cup to be used as a political statement, I do acknowledge that sports and politics, particularly at the Olympics, often are intertwined. If there is a statement for the Stanley Cup to be a part of, I see the struggle for gay equality to be a fairly appropriate one. Professional sports often is wracked by the forced facade of machismo, in hockey as well as any other. But in the aftermath of the tragic passing of Toronto GM Brian Burke's son Brendan, and the elder Burke's vow to march in the Toronto Pride Parade in his honor, that facade is being stripped away.

As I said, I don't much like the idea of the Cup being used to make political statements, but as far as statements go, this is one that makes sense to me. Having an opinion on how the United States should manage trade or whom to go to war with is a real debate. Denying human equality has no argument for either side.

Last on my list of rambles today is that we are finally at the first day of elimination games at the World Cup. The knockout stage of 16 is yet to start, but France and the host nation South Africa have already gotten their walking papers from this year's tournament after failing to make up goal differential this morning. One more group will have its advancers settled this afternoon. While I'm still smarting from the U.S. being robbed of a remarkable comeback win against Slovenia last Friday, I'm as excited as can be for the Yanks' final group match tomorrow against Algeria, which, for the time being will decide their fate in the greatest of international sports tournaments.

I wish I could be there for the excitement, but it's good to know that some entrepreneurs have taken it upon themselves to at least make it feel like we're there when we browse the web, or at the very least, get appropriate updates just how one would hear them in South Africa.

What, you don't feel like blowing your vuvuzela? Don't worry. If the States can prevail tomorrow and play their way into the round of 16, you just might. I know I will.

Not That I Want To Jinx It But...

If you haven't noticed, the Mets are actually playing pretty good baseball these days. I know, I'm shocked, too, but the numbers don't lie. New York has won six straight games and jumped to a high-water mark of nine games over .500 for the season, leaving them just a half-game behind Atlanta and three ahead of the suddenly listless Phillies, whose offense seems to have come back to Earth after two outrageously productive seasons. Meanwhilst, New York, which had an offense that decided to take the day off every time its ace was on the mound, has suddenly been pounding the ball, including last night when the Amazins strung together four straight doubles in a five-run third inning of their 8-4 win over Cleveland, the first time they had turned that trick since matching the feat against the Dodgers on July 21, 1991.

Of course, while it is obviously exciting for Mets fans -- after all, the team is a Major-League best 17-5 since May 21st -- it has to be kept in at least some perspective. In this case, five straight wins, albeit on the road, against the Orioles (one of which I attended in Baltimore) and Indians, two of the worst teams in baseball, should be seen as less of an achievement than taking care of business. You can't blame the teams on your schedule, but at the same time, to be a contender you have to beat the teams you're supposed to beat. Right now, the Mets are doing just that, and with the bats and the rotation flourishing -- the starters are 16-3 with a 2.61 ERA in the last 27 games -- they are making quite a charge at contention.

The only question now is staying there, and while manager Jerry Manuel might be ludicrously putting his faith in Hisanori Takahashi and R.A. Dickey, Buster Olney is reporting that upper management isn't quite so optimistic. And thank goodness for that. After frustrating fans with their refusal to go after a potential big fish at the trading deadline, the Mets, as one of the few buyers on the market, are poised to bolster their starting rotation with some huge addition along the lines of Roy Oswalt, Ben Sheets or Cliff Lee. And all signs seem to imply that the Mets are going to get one of them.

And at that point, who knows what could happen.

It's foolish to start fitting the players for rings just yet, obviously, and this has been a notoriously streaky team for most of this year, but if the offense can keep the Mets hot into September, well, a top three of Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey and, say, Roy Oswalt, in that stadium, would be awfully nasty to go up against in a short series. Now, many sources are reporting that with concerns about the cost of his contract, Oswalt would be a less likely target than Lee or Sheets, but the Mets can handle the cost and taking all those dollars off Drayton McLane's books might mean surrendering less in the way of prospects, whereas Seattle might require John Niese's future to make the pieces fit for Lee, who is more than likely to test the free agent market this winter. Oswalt could be guaranteed to pitch at Citi through 2012.

Ben Sheets is a solid option, also, but either way, the Mets are at an exciting juncture of the season, and after last year's nightmare 70-92 campaign, you'll have to excuse us if we're getting bold enough to dream.

And here I thought the most outlandish dreams I was having these days was a deep run for the U.S. in South Africa. After Saturday's 1-1 tie against the Brits in the opening round, which I attempted to watch among the monstrous hordes at Dupont Circle this weekend, a win tomorrow against Slovenia could nearly assure the Yanks of getting through to the knockout stage.

Of course, Slovenia can't be underrated. After the Swiss turned the tournament upside down yesterday with an upset of Spain, it's clear any team can win any game, but the U.S. should be considered the favorite, and amidst signs that soccer fever just might be catching on around here, the buzz generated by a second-round berth could be pretty fun to see for football fans like myself.

It should also be noted that the with Argentina's 4-1 win this morning over South Korea, the scoring may finally be opening up in South Africa. While South Korea may be stinging from a brutal loss that could all but end its hopes of advancing to the knockout stage, at least the Taeguk Warriors can take solace in the fact that unlike some less fortuitous sabre-rattling neighbors, they can actually send their own fans to the tournament. It's not over and stranger things have happened in the World Cup, but South Korea seems unlikely to recover either in points or in goal differential. Then again, it's still early in the group stage. Who knows how it will all wind up.

As far as that other football is concerned, I've spent the last week sifting through the implications of what was nearly the destruction of the college football landscape as we know it, but instead is just a few moves that still leaves the shaky Big XII in tact with 10 teams while the Big Ten added Nebraska to give them 12.

Yep. Strange.

I don't know that I've gotten used to considering Nebraska a Big Ten team just yet, but I'm awfully curious to see if the schedules for the next three seasons that will now be thrown out put a wrinkle into my plans to see Northwestern visit BC in September of 2011. An impact on non-conference games seems unlikely, but the implementation of divisions will turn the typical Big Ten schedule unrecognizably upside down. I'm awfully curious to see how it all winds up.

Lastly, I've made note of how bizarre it is to see Giants Stadium disappearing piece by piece before, but as it stands -- or doesn't stand -- this morning, the final part of the building is ready to collapse, and the Giants and Jets have already begun practicing in their brand-spankin' new facilities, with disastrous results in some cases. Either way, while the new stadium is no doubt going to be beautiful, it will still seem eerie the first time I'm back in East Rutherford. Of course if they win, I won't really mind.

And now, back to the most exciting sport there is. Open wide, people.

Are You Ready For Some Futbal?

So some of you might have noticed that there's some soccer tournament in South Africa that's about to kick off. I know I have. I imagine at this point none of you will be surprised that I watch the World Cup almost obsessively considering I watch, well, just about everything else, but I'm going to make the point clear again.

I watch the World Cup obsessively.

I love watching international sporting events and this one tops it all. I have spent a number of sleep-shortened nights to watch early matches from the 2002 Cup in Japan and South Korea, I still talk about being contacted in shock by several fans at once after Zinedine Zidane's head butt and red card against Marco Materazzi in the 2006 Final, I fondly recall hearing my entire science hallway erupt in 2002 when we weren't allowed to watch the U.S.-Poland match, but it had been announced South Korea was beating Portugal and easing the Yanks' way to the knockout stage, and I still owe Jessica Sher thanks for calling me to keep me updated when France eliminated Brazil in Germany four years ago.

Thanks, Jess.

Yeah, I love the World Cup. It is always fun, it never gets old and it never will get old.

This World Cup is particularly fascinating given that it is the first to be on the African continent, with South Africa holding the honors of hosting the tournament. As the Bafana Bafana are about to kick off in the opener against Mexico, the Cup has been marred by a horrible tragedy for national hero Nelson Mandela on what should be his proudest moment as South Africa's savior. Despite this of course, the games will go on, and a massive upset of the Mexicans might be of small consolation for Mandela's family, but the joy of his nation united may not be.

Such an event may be unlikely, but no host nation has ever lost its opening match so time will tell. In the meantime, FIFA has made it clear that players must be on their best behavior. As this phenomenal article from the New York Times explains, referees have been schooled not just in the rules of the game, but also in swear words from more than a dozen languages. Let's hope hot heads like Wayne Rooney are heading the warnings.

So I'm sure you're all wondering who it is that I will be rooting for, and I will list in decending order whom I want to win for your reference:

1. The United States (Duh.)
2. England
3. Germany
4. Any African nation that can make a deep run provided they don't stand in the U.S.'s way.

Do I think the U.S. has a shot? Well, not really, but so long as they get to the knockout stages, and their group is set up well enough that they should, anything can happen for Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey and company. Of course, the U.S. doesn't kick off until 2:30 tomorrow when they take on the mother nation of England. Obviously, I am extremely excited to see the U.S. in the grandest tournament in all of sports again, but I'm even more excited to watch it tomorrow at a public gathering in Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C.

What might be most interesting about that is the circle will have to be cleared rather quickly post-match for the annual Capital Pride Parade, but that isn't such a concern for me as I will be booking it with friends to Baltimore for tomorrow night's Mets-Orioles game in Camden Yards. That's Team No. 33 in case you're counting.

And if you're not, it's probably because you're busy watching the World Cup. That's alright. I'm pretty busy watching it, too. In fact, I'm going to tie this up right now, so I can do just that. Enjoy. And if you're rooting for a particular country, make sure you're in the right place.

Oh, and if you're looking for a prediction, I don't know this sport nearly well enough to make one, but let's go with Spain anyway. It's kind of odd they don't have one yet, isn't it?