Ready for round 2 of the play-offs? Sky Blue and the Athletica are set to square off in St. Louis 7PM ET tonight on FSC. After rough starts, both teams find themselves in contention to take on the LA Sol this weekend.

On the rough start front, Sky Blue definitely has the upper hand, as is recapped in this article from the NY Times .

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Soooo ... Congrats to Sky Blue FC (Beulah will be writing this one up late Tuesday, most likely). Next up the Athletica at 7PM ET on Wednesday on FSC.

Now onward! Grass to mow ... water to drink ... more grass to mow .. more water to drink. A sweaty, zen-like day in the works here! (Oh, and we had a very nice couple of days at the lake, where ChristopherCornblog remains stranded while he waits for his car to be repaired .

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Yesterday was the 37th anniversary of Title IX ... 37 years. I like that the milestone coincides with the 10th anniversary of the 1999 Women's World Cup. Alice (thanks!) sent me a link to "License to Thrive" a documentary chronicling the passage and impact of Title IX. We're hoping it'll come to Red River .

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Read Naomi Wolf's thorough and absolutely horrific article about the sexual perversity perpetrated by the Bushies in Iraq and elsewhere. I do not understand why Obama is rationalizing and temporizing about releasing the photos and really going after these sadomasochistic pricks.

The activities of these dudes so speaks to the fruits of the kind of self-righteousness and repression that is so often the hallmark of Bible thumping fundamentalism.

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While this past weekend didn't bring as many goals as last weekend did in WPS play, it was nice to see the Athletica and FC Sky Blue come away with a couple of first-time wins! The Boston Breakers and the LA Sol were the marquee game of the weekend (unfortunately not televised) and played to a 0 to 0 draw.

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Phillies won, Red Sox won .. and I've got the Slingcatcher hooked up and working in Dewd's room!

Meanwhile, the Breakers will be honoring soccer great Maren Meinert at the game with the Freedom on May 17th at Harvard Stadium. WUSA fans remember her fondly as a key ingredient in the Breakers' success - most especially in their final year (with Pia coaching).

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The crow has to do with my third erroneous WPS prediction ... a Freedom loss. Not! Looks like an awesome second half (and the first wasn't half bad, either). Beulah will be happy (but no post this week - too bad)!

On the school connections front - first the happy part - a friend request on Facebook from Denise Montana - who I remember as Denise Dormer - and who had an amazing voice (and still does).

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First - I watched a snippet of Maddow in which she interviewed Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson about Cheney, et al. He's the former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell. One of the most interesting (to me) points he made with Maddow was to note what a fearful person Dick Cheney is. I've always seen him as fear mongering - but seeing him as himself fearful was fascinating.

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First off - Beulah's match report is up! (This is on the Breakers' win over the Freedom ... which ranked somewhere below a broken windshield in Beulah's book ... understandably!) Sorry to hear about your windshield! As for Abby not getting up - that was a huge gripe of mine (and my compatriots) back in the WUSA days when "Get up Abby" was a favorite refrain when the Freedom were in town.

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Yup, after all was said and done for week 4 on the WPS, who should top the power rankings but our own Breakers. Rightly so, I'd add, IMVVHO! Next up for the Breakers, the hungry Chicago Red Stars, who played Sky Blue to a 0-0 draw in the televised game yesterday. The LA Sol beat FC Gold Pride 1-0 on the strength of Marta's third goal of the season.

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Happy Saturday morning ... as the clouds roll in, bringing some much needed rain to these parts. I went for a run yesterday after work and jogging by the fire house, noticed the sign saying that the fire danger was "extreme." (Breathed a small sigh of relief that I wasn't lounging by the chiminea, endangering the neighborhood without realizing!

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... but that didn't dampen the spirits of the nearly 5,000 Breakers fans who trooped to Cambridge to see their Boston Blues defeat the St. Louis Athletica 2-0 in their home opener at Harvard Stadium. Here are the Week 3 WPS Power Rankings by Jo-Ryan Salazar. (I'll track these through the season on my WPS page.

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Check out MatchTracker starting at 7AM ET to follow the USWNT's opening game of the Algarve Cup.  They start off against Denmark, in a match-up that could prove one of their more difficult of the tournament. "It's not a World Cup year or an Olympic year, so we can try different things and one thing we [. Click to continue reading...

First the soccer news, which includes Angela Hucles' 100th cap (in a career year for her) and another win (over South Korea) for the USWNT.  With two more games left in their post-Olympic Tour, it woulds like the team is pleasing Pia! The NESCAC  Soccer Tournament is over for another year.  (Oh yeah, that's the New [. Click to continue reading...

Check out the video here on Main St. USA - including Sunil getting on his knees ... and Christie giving Pia her own Gold Medal!  (There's also video of the post-match party in my previous post, along with Beulah's post-match report!) Sphere: Related ContentSHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "More GREAT USWNT/Pia Video! Click to continue reading...

The Phillies won (Mets and Marlins lost) and Beulah has posted her match report! (Sounds like she had a tough time getting it onto her site .. but it's up and a very good read as always!) In other commentary, here's Mark Zeigler on the game ... The rest of the women's soccer world, though, [...]SHARETHIS. Click to continue reading...

I opened up MSNBC this morning and saw the news that Obama has picked Biden. Probably a smart move ... experience and gravitas and whiteness and all. I was kinda hoping for something more interesting - but would rather win. So Biden seems good. Biden I can live with. (But wouldn't [...]SHARETHIS. Click to continue reading...

Here's a nice write-up from Merrill in American Soccer News.  It will, indeed, be interesting to see how the WPS shapes the look of US Soccer in the years to come.  As for Merrill ... philosophy professor, eh?  Nice. Next up for the WPS?  WPS Teams submit U.S. WNT Player preferences to the League Tuesday, September 02, [. Click to continue reading...

Call it change. Call it luck. Call it redemption. Call it bravery. Call it what you will - it's gold and it's real and it stays! The USWNT defeated Brazil 1-0 yesterday in extra time after putting on a gritty performance on the pitch on a wet, humid, Beijing night. [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Congratulations to the Golden USWNT . Click to continue reading...

The news wires are now full of player profiles, match reports, you name it, as the US women's soccer team gears up for its gold medal match versus Brazil on Thursday morning. This team is living up to the Nike Women's World Cup hype of several months ago ... the greatest team you've never [...]SHARETHIS. Click to continue reading...

First (from The Writer's Almanac), a wonderful poem by Marge Piercy to start your day with something introspective - before diving into the usual sports-centric deluge! This poem runs along the thought-path I was pursuing last night just before sleep. Guess it may be time to get reacquainted with myself . Click to continue reading...

Wow, wow, wow. Even the Phillies' loss has not dampened my amazement and feeling of great good fortune. The USWNT is through to the quarterfinals (not too surprising) and has won their group (pretty darn surprising) and is starting to score some goals (excellent news). To date, five different people have scored, [. Click to continue reading...

Here's Beulah's match report. I'm always so pleased when one or two things I noticed show up in Beulah's write-up! I continue to be impressed with HAO's play - and was also very glad to see Mitts playing more like her old self. Hope A-Rod gets her scoring started against New Zealand [...]SHARETHIS. Click to continue reading...

The USWNT kicks off against Japan tomorrow morning at 5AM ET and will (hopefully) field a team with its heads screwed on more securely than on Wednesday! I like to think that Wednesday's game was a collective test, to see whether "Boom Ball" really doesn't work. Lesson learned, guys? Gayle Bryan has written about [. Click to continue reading...

First, the Paris part.  She's participated in a video response to McCain's campaign ad - you know - the one where he implies that Obama is just a celebrity.  It's doing well on the net ... and Paris has risen a notch in my estimation (although she still has a ways to go before she [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "News from Beulah and Paris Hilton . Click to continue reading...

Beulah ... what happened!?! NOTE:  In the 2000 Olympics Norway lost the opener to the US 2-0 and went on to win the Gold! SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "2-0 Norway", url: "http://www.jordancornblog.com/2-0-norway/" }); Click to continue reading...

Yes, Brett Favre is going to compete for his old job ... and in this excellent commentary by Tom Curran, I find a good summary of the whole danged episode. I was too tired of Brett's familiar ambivalence to pay a lot attention to the furor. Now I am caught up ... [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Back with the Pack . Click to continue reading...

On the USWNT front, Lindsey Dolich has posted a nice preview on ESPNsoccernet about this post-Abby team. Abby's injury "forces the issue" as far as the USWNT's transformation goes. And I have my suspicions that the "liberating" aspects of the change may be quite strong for this team that has played laborious and [. Click to continue reading...

Just to keep you up to date ... the Red Sox lost and the Phillies won ... and there's nothing from Beulah yet. Rest assured that I'll post as soon as I see anything! Last night I dreamed that I had a quick breakfast with Pia Sundhage and April Heinrichs. (April joined us midway [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Pia Dreams, USWNT News, and a HollyCornblog Update, Too! Click to continue reading...

It sounds like the game between the Sparks and the Shock ended ugly last night. Candace Parker, Plenette Pierson, DeLisha Milton-Jones and Rick Mahorn were all ejected after a melee broke out in the final seconds. Meanwhile, in what could be a significant loss for the Shock, Cheryl Ford, who was trying to [. Click to continue reading...

John McCain made another Bush-worthy geography gaffe yesterday - this time on "Good Morning America." Sorry, John, Iraq and Pakistan don't actually share a border. (As an aside, I've always wished that some brave member of the press would ask Bush, during a press conference, to point to Iraq on a map. Click to continue reading...

'nuff said! Well, almost.  Here's the link to the 7/13/08 USWNT vs Brazil game report.   (She says the next one is forthcoming ... and I am not exactly ... but close to ... holding my breath!) Sphere: Related ContentSHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Beulah's Match Report Is Up!", url: "http://www.jordancornblog. Click to continue reading...

I'm away - so can't check Beulah's site myself.  However, if she's posted about either of the USWNT vs. Brazil games, you'll find it here! Meanwhile - if Beulah's not posting, here's some good stuff from FIFA and from the NY Times (by Jere Longman, no less) about Pia, the USWNT, and the Olympics. Sphere: Related [. Click to continue reading...

Here's Cindy McCain speaking about "the only way to get around in Arizona." (This is way too easy ... I think I'm starting to feel a tad mean-spirited and guilty.) I'll get over it, though. Mark Zeigler writes from San Diego about tonight's USWNT vs. Brazil match-up ... the second this week. On [. Click to continue reading...

Yes, according to The Writer's Almanac, it's Arianna Huffington's birthday. Best wishes - and I'm glad your journey landed you in the blogosphere! From the Huffington Post, here's a good piece my Tom Matzzie about the ongoing lobbying  from big oil and the Bush administration to allow off-shore drilling. Click to continue reading...