No Moral Victories

The band-wagon is nearly empty again in the United States with a 2-1 loss to Ghana in the knockout stage of the World Cup sending many so called soccer fans back into hiding. And while their resiliency, plus their success made this Team USA squad easy to root for, in the end they can only be described as disappointing. 20-years ago advancing to the round of 16 would have been an overwhelming success..now it's simply not good enough.

When ESPN analyst John Harkes stated we should be "proud" of Team USA during the final moments of the Ghana match, I nearly lost it. Proud of what? They essentially played one good half in what what was a winnable game. I found their performance far more agitating than those vuvuzela horns ever could be. For the third time in four games, they put themselves behind the eight ball by allowing an early goal. They were slow, sloppy and disorganized in the first 45-minutes, and the decision by head coach Bob Bradley to start Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley proved to be a disaster.

Like John McClane in "Die Hard", the U.S. always seemed to be able to bounce back, which was part of their charm. However, you can't yell out "Yippee Ki Yay!" every time and expect the result to end in your favor. So after tying the game on a second half penalty kick by Landon Donovan, and thoroughly outclassing Ghana, the United States simply ran out of steam. In the process, they missed out on a tremendous opportunity here.

This was a chance to keep soccer in the mainstream for at least another week if not longer. Team USA actually had people paying attention to the sport, no small feat in this country. On top of that, the road to the semifinals was paved in gold with Ghana, and then Uruguay to deal with. I'm not saying those are easy teams to get past, but they are manageable games. They weren't taking on the likes of Brazil just yet. So excuse me if I'm not throwing bouquets, and giving the United States a pat on the back. Instead of front page news, their World Cup exit has for many, put soccer back into the storage closet. See most of you in another 4-years.

This Bud's For You

Repeat after me...Upon further review, the runner did not reach 1st base before the ball arrived. Simple, straightforward, and a phrase that would've saved umpire Jim Joyce a whole lot of grief. Unfortunately for Joyce and Major League Baseball, checking the replay, and then uttering those words wasn't an option Wednesday night. Instead, Tigers righty Armando Galarraga's perfect game went up in smoke with 2-outs in the 9th inning, when Joyce ruled that Indians shortstop Jason Donald beat the throw for an infield single.

There's no way to sugarcoat this...Joyce blew the call! You, me, my dead grandmother- we all know he blew the call. Joyce even admitted his error in judgement afterwards. He apologized to Galarraga, gave him a hug and stated, "I just cost that kid a perfect game." But no matter how many times he points the finger at himself and takes the blame, Joyce can't change the fact that Galarraga's perfecto officially went into the books as a 1-hitter. That's where MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was asked to step in.

The drumbeat began almost immediately for Selig to take action, and restore the perfect game. He had the power to reverse the call, and just like that, the sun would be shining, birds singing, and all would be right with the baseball world again. Give me a break! Sure, Selig could have taken the easy way out and come riding in on his white horse to save the day. I love a happy ending as much as the next guy. But it would have been more than just a little hypocritical to right the wrong in this case.

Since Selig has been against expanding instant replay, he couldn't go back now, a day later, and with a straight face rewrite history. You can't claim time and time again that you want to keep the so called "human element" in the game, and then erase an umpire's mistake. And to his credit, the commissioner actually got this one right. He made the correct call by refusing to change the incorrect call, and in the process actually showed some stones. Who knew he had any!