Two things to talk about this morning that affect my entire sports weekend.� First, let me say that I am very glad that my wife (who is going on a mission trip to a far-off land for about a week) is not flying through France or Ireland to get there because right now someone is probably screaming their head off in the streets of Ireland.

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From the US Soccer website's game notes:

There are a few instances in sporting history of father's coaching their son's at the highest level. A couple of famous ones include - Cesare and Paolo Maldini in soccer and Cal Ripken Sr. and Jr. in baseball.

"But how about having two teams with this phenomenon playing against each other - anyone heard of that happening?

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I am sorry, but when one of my country men pulls something like this off, I have to highlight it.

Here is Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs catching a bat. The marsupial kind, not the baseball one . . .

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Real Salt Lake are in Ohio and attempting to maintain the upper hand on Columbus when they get it poppin' at Crew Stadium tonight (ESPN2, 8pm EST). The Nordecke will be out in force, Kyle Beckerman's dread will be sweaty and I will be watching. So will God I imagine (not just because the bumper stickers tell you so but because baseball is finally over). Click to continue reading...

When I'm away from the blog, I work night shifts in the office. Often times I share the desk with a huge Manchester United fan. He's big into online betting.
Whenever there is a game on TV we talk about the matchup, the betting line and where the money should go. A couple clicks later and the bet is in. Click to continue reading...

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With J Hutcherson -- For those of you that spent last night in the company of the World Series, that was a pretty good lesson on the why for the best out of seven games. Aside from the extra revenue courtesy of extended playoffs, baseball, hockey, and basketball set it up so it takes more than just one dominant night or a fluke win. Click to continue reading...

Harkesy's putting his money on Seattle or LA to win the whole shebang-a-bang. I'm not sure that one of them will win it but I could definitely see one of them in the4 final; aside from last night's hiccup I think Columbus is still doing it big and no doubt have a shot at a championship double-dip. Click to continue reading...

Did Graham Poll blow the call? Yeah, sure. I suppose it could be also be argued that Darren Bent struck the ball flush, that it's path was not diverted by the beach ball and that Pepe Reina should have kept his eyes on the more important ball. But the question of far more importance is why would any fan, let alone one at his own team's end, bat a beach ball onto the pitch?

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Sample size that is. In soccer statistics this shows up in several ways. 1 there are so few significant events that the correlation and accuracy of the statistics will never be where they are for baseball, or really any of the American sports. It will ever only be close with correlations in the [. Click to continue reading...

A cloudy morning in Phoenix is a godsend, don't ever let anyone tell you differently. Some things I have noticed or thought about in the last few hours include:

• TNT's Chip Caray is just getting crushed for his performance in last night's one game playoff between the Tigers and Twins.

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Apparently New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi also feels that chess has helped him develop his tactics and decision-making...
The below video clip from the New York Times sheds some insight into how learning chess at an early age helped the Yankees skipper develop decision-making skills and foresight. Click to continue reading...

Nah, it doesn't have to be that bad. Here are some things to start the week:

• The top division of the United Soccer Leagues is a mess. Carolina, Minnesota and Miami are apparently out of the loop's good graces, having not renewed their contractual obligations to the league. Those teams are no longer linked on USL's list of teams and all of those teams' players were told on Friday that they're free agents (Carolina doesn't necessarily agree with that characterization).

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My apologies to all of you who found this post looking for something else. Sometimes wordplay is just impossible to resist, even at the expense of my site's spam blockers.

Anyway, if you're still reading this after realizing this isn't what you thought it was, I was down at Daley Plaza this morning to see if Chicago would get the 2016 Summer Games.

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So wrapped up in baseball right now, here are a couple random nuggets to chew on for a Friday.* Ruminating on this for a while, logic would say with the influx of foreign players, specifically non-English speakers, that there would be a better decorum between the players in the Premier League and the officials, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Click to continue reading...

Well, at least that's what Drew over at WVHooligan says:

7. Crew Stadium – Being the original it gets a little more love from me. I know it lacks a lot of goodies but at the end of the day I think it will end up being the Fenway Park of MLS. Though in some thoughts I don't know how good of a thing that will actually be.

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Maybe you've got a problem, or are too overly committed to a sports team when you're thinking in your mind, "you know, maybe he'll sail one of those intentional balls to the backstop and let the runner score from third. We're due a fluky run"That's the way I am about the Detroit Tigers at the moment. Click to continue reading...

I agree there's got to be a better way to do this. How stupid was it to send Columbus and New York fans all the way across the continent on a week's notice last year?
For me, I'd like to see it still be one game at the higher seed's venue on a weekend. Home and home on Wednesdays? It's an interesting suggestion, but you just doubled the logistical nightmare that arises anyway when you don't know where the final will be. Click to continue reading...

Something to read while Mark Hughes and Alex Ferguson answer some tough questions about the Manchester derby... [Talksport Mag via The Spoiler] The return of Gary Neville's Diary! (Football365) If you're looking for some nearly-naked-Zlatan vid, visit (ONTD) Baseball > football (for internet broadcasts) (EPL Talk) The North Korean dressing room should be an interesting place next June (Reuters) Footballers wot [. Click to continue reading...

The couple links I bring tonight are all solid. In fact they each could have easily gotten their own posts had I not been working on other things today, including the ground work of a possible new design for this site (yeah that's a long ways off though). Still each are very interesting and deserve a full read if you haven't done so already.

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The Stars beat the Lynx in OT yesterday, gaining ground in the WNBA play-off hunt.� Anybody else find the WNBA site kinda frustrating?� I have a hard time getting to the articles ... but maybe it's just me.

But on the basketball front, here's a heartwarming article about a Tennessee girls' high school basketball team 50 years later!

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Not baseball, but the 4-3-1-2 or 4-1-3-2(Sounders sometimes in this variant), and how it developed and is used in Europe. This is a great read on tactics. What is notable is that while Sounders FC use a formation that could be described this way, they actually abandoned the #10 concept for which Ljungberg was initially slotted. Click to continue reading...

Los Angeles Sol striker Marta plays with the baseball as if it were a soccer ball before throwing out a ceremonial first pitch in Dodger Stadium at the MLB National League baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles, California, August 17, 2009.

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Los Angeles Sol striker Marta plays with the baseball as if it were a soccer ball before throwing out a ceremonial first pitch in Dodger Stadium at the MLB National League baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles, California, August 17, 2009.

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While at the Minnesota State High School Soccer Coaches Clinic on Friday, Inside Minnesota Soccer learned that the Minnesota State High School League does plan to include soccer in their online coverage for the 2010 fall season.

According to Chris Laird, former president of the MSHSSCA and who currently sits on the board of directors with the Minnesota State High School League, the current plan is to add one sport per season to the online TV coverage of state tournament's that are not currently covered by conventional TV contracts.

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While at the Minnesota State High School Soccer Coaches Clinic on Friday, Inside Minnesota Soccer learned that the Minnesota State High School League does plan to include soccer in their online coverage for the 2010 fall season.

According to Chris Laird, former president of the MSHSSCA and who currently sits on the board of directors with the Minnesota State High School League, the current plan is to add one sport per season to the online TV coverage of state tournament's that are not currently covered by conventional TV contracts.

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What it this? Baseball? Golf? Tennis?
Nope. It's the Nigerian women's national soccer team. Three coaches canceled training one day because of the rain.
They got punished promptly by the Nigeria Football Federation president Sani Lulu:

Coaches Uche Eucharia, Ann Chiejina and Monsu Abdullahi were axed when Lulu paid a surprise visit to the team's training camp in Abuja only to discover the women's national team were not training because it was drizzling at the time.

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People either love or hate allstar games. They are a tradition in baseball, but fans still complain about them. MLS has wisely given up on the East vs. West format and seems to have embraced a MLS vs the world approach. Six of the last seven Allstar games has pitted an all-MLS selection against a foreign club side. Click to continue reading...

Inter Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic poses for a photo with American actress Alyssa Milano (who is an ex-serial-baseball WAG, btw). Inter Milan were training prior to their game against Chelsea for the WFC game last night (Chelsea won 2-0). Looks like Zlatan pulled out a little bicep and quad action to impress Ms M. Click to continue reading...

�

The Summer of Soccer continues to open eyes.� Sports fans are taking a second look and new fans are getting hooked.� This� period of time� has undoubtedly been Soccer's most historic in the U.S.� But are sports fans getting confused and could this confusion be counter-productive?

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I have a love-hate relationship with baseball's All-Star game. See, I have always liked the All-Star game in one sense: I like sports generally and I appreciate the place they keep in American culture. The annual All-Star game is part of it all, so I have nothing against the game itself. Besides, in general, I don't like [. Click to continue reading...

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez revealed his revolutionary plan for world� football supremacy a few� weeks back.� The president who has been gobbling up superstar players, like a game of Hungry Hippos, admits there is a method to his madness.�

It appears Perez is not a fan of the way the Champions League� is formatted and the sixty-two year old� desires a new league order.

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"Touch 'em all Joe."
A word of warning: this could get...emotional.
It may surprise you to learn that I love baseball. It's not anything to do with the hilarious chaos of an error-strewn inside-the-park home run, the clockwork of a perfectly executed triple play, or the rare stealing of home plate (which when witnessed live will cause you to choke up with its simple deceit, like a nymph deigning to rob Zeus himself). Click to continue reading...

I woke up on Sunday excited about gathering up some friends to watch the US-Brazil Confederations Cup Final. After the epic win against Spain, this was must-see. Could the US repeat their '98 Gold Cup upset, or would we have a replay of the group stage match?
My plans changed right as I was about to jump in the shower. Click to continue reading...

It seems that as soon as the Premier League season ended Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo headed for Los Angeles for some fun.

Cristiano Ronaldo arrives to feast at Fogo De Chao - June 16th, 2009

The young 24 year old bachelor and a few of his close friends flew out to LA to spend the summer.

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