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!

These Odds Just Don't Add Up

The NBA draft won't take place until June 24th, but for all intents and purposes, the John Wall sweepstakes is over. By winning the draft lottery, the Wizards earned the right to take the Kentucky point guard with the top overall pick. This despite only a 10.3-percent chance of coming away with the number-1 selection. Call it luck if you will, but what I call it is wrong.

This is the sixth straight year the team with the best odds failed to win the lottery. New Jersey lost 70-games, was swept by Washington this season, yet ended up with the third pick in the draft. How does that happen? Right about now New Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is probably thinking, "Can I get my money back?" The answer is "Nyet!" There are two marquee talents in this year's draft: Wall and Ohio State guard Evan Turner. The Nets won't be getting either of them.

I understand the rationale of the draft lottery and why it was put in place. Teams were tanking it to get the top overall pick. In the NBA, when one player can make such a huge impact, the temptation to lose games in order to select the next franchise saver is too much. That being said, it's time to, at the very least, tweak the process. This is no knee jerk reaction, David Stern...The NBA commissioner has to realize his quest to maintain the integrity of the regular season has resulted in a system that just doesn't make sense.

If Stern is dead set on keeping the lottery in place, things need to drastically change. A team like the Nets should've had a better than 25-percent chance of getting the number-1 pick. Here's the way it should be: There are 30-franchises in the NBA- we don't need all 14 that fail to reach the playoffs in the lottery. The teams with the 7-worst records should have a shot at the ping pong balls with the odds as follows:

1. 40% chance

2. 25%

3. 15%

4. 7%
5. 5%

6. 4.5%

7. 3.5%

Is that so hard? It doesn't guarantee anything, but it's a hell of a lot more fair then what's currently in place. With all these percentages, I now feel like Al Gore having taught some kind of economics class or global warming study session. For David Stern and the NBA...here endeth the lesson.

We Are All Witnesses

The Nike marketing campaign featuring LeBron James and the slogan, "We Are All Witnesses" took on new meaning in the Eastern Conference semifinals. What basketball fans witnessed was the league MVP and the team with the best regular season record in the NBA, losing in six games to the Boston Celtics. And for the first time in his career, King James' reputation as a prime time player took a major hit.

Even a triple-double in game six did little to quiet the Lebron critics, and for good reason. Along with his 27-points, 19-rebounds and 10-assists, James had 9-turnovers. He also shot a less than stellar 8 for 21 from the field. This on the heels of his uninspired game five performance, during which he scored 15-points and looked disinterested at times. So here's the million dollar question: What does it all mean?

I think the answer is simple. For all his enormous talent and commercial appeal, there's still something LeBron's missing, and I'm not talking about a grade A supporting cast. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird had it...Michael Jordan had it...and Kobe Bryant has it. Haven't figured it out yet? Let me put it this way- All of those guys were/are trained killers...single minded in their focus, ruthless in their pursuit, with one goal at the end of the day...to win a championship.

Can you picture Magic, Bird, Jordan or Kobe taking 14-shots while going through the motions in a key game five play-off loss at home, or having butter fingers in a season ending defeat in game six? I don't doubt Lebron craves a title, but I do question whether he has the mindset required to get it. In the final three games of this series, there wasn't one time when James imposed his will on the opposition. Not one time when he simply said, "Get out of my way- it's the 4th quarter and I'm taking over!" LeBron has the ability to do that, but as we all witnessed, King James came up small in the biggest moments and his season got the royal flush.

Not a "Super" Idea

"I Love New York." It's one of the most famous marketing slogans in the U.S. Now the NFL is hoping owners will love the Big Apple when the 2014 Super Bowl is awarded at a meeting on May 25th. New York/New Jersey is considered the favorite to host the big game, with Tampa and South Florida also in the running. And while I'm a New Jersey native and work in Manhattan, I think a Super Bowl at the new Meadowlands Stadium is an awful idea.

Putting a February game, played at night in a stadium without a dome, is a shaky proposition at best. Throw in the fact that a Super Bowl ticket costs in the upper hundreds to thousands of dollars these days, and it's insanity. Talk about fan unfriendly. If you want to freeze your rear end off, and pay a pretty penny to do it, be my guest. But when have the owners, or NFL for that matter, really put the fans first? So, how about putting the game first?

Picture this...82, 500 people watching in person...millions viewing on TV...Drew Brees and Peyton Manning ready to go center stage. Only one problem: it's 28-degrees, the howling wind is causing havoc with the passing game (as it's known to do at the Meadowlands), and two of the league's elite quarterbacks have been reduced to pedestrian status. Instead of a track meet, you've got a New York City traffic jam, with both teams in stop and go mode. That's not even worst case scenario...throw in some snow or freezing rain, and you've got a real winner.

In a game that's supposed to be played in ideal conditions, so neither side gets an advantage, the weather factor could also tilt things in favor of, let’s say, a team like last year's Jets. And if you don't think they would've had the upper hand out in the elements with their power running game, you're nuts. Those in favor of a New York/New Jersey Super Bowl will tell you it's the league getting back to its roots...it's old school football...the weather could create another iconic moment like the "Ice Bowl." I'm all for nostalgia and tradition, but I know better. There's never been a Super Bowl played outdoors in a cold weather city. This is about what's best for the NFL's bank account and the owners' wallets. The fact that it's what's worst for the fans and integrity of the game...well that's just not high on the priority list these days. Maybe they can all stay warm by bundling up in an "I Love New York" T-shirt.

Tiger's Tall Tale

Believability and Tiger Woods no longer mix. So forgive me if I immediately wondered, what's really going on here, when the world's number-1 golfer withdrew from the final round of The Players Championship Sunday. Tiger, citing a neck injury, claimed, "I've been playing through it, I can't play through it anymore." Without undergoing an MRI as of yet, Doctor Woods also stated he might have a bulging disk.

Here's my diagnosis...Tiger has an acute case of adversititis. Never heard of it? Ok, so I made it up. What the term means is: the inability to deal with adversity. When he decided it was time to call it quits, Woods was 2-over through 6-holes, and so far behind, he would have needed a high powered telescope to see the top of the leaderboard. But rather than finish out the final round, he took the easy way out...he quit.

I don't doubt Tiger was in some pain. In fact, it's always dangerous to speculate on whether or not an athlete is really hurt. However, you can't convince me he would've still packed it in, had he been in the hunt. Woods fought through a badly injured knee en route to a 2008 U.S. Open Championship, downplaying the issue the entire time. Had he been in hot pursuit of Tim Clark Sunday, there's no way in hell Tiger bolts.

What's really hurting him is the reality that for the time being, he's a sideshow more than the main attraction. He can't deal with the fact that his game isn't where it used to be. Woods missed the cut at Quail Hollow, and was never a real factor at TPC Sawgrass. So under the heading of "adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it..." this was another revealing episode for Tiger, who was dressed in his traditional Sunday red shirt, but ended up waving the white flag.

A Shock to the System

To tase or not to tase- that is the question. This after Philadelphia police used a taser gun on 17-year old fan Steve Consalvi at Citizens Bank Park Monday night. Consalvi hopped the fence in the bottom of the 8th inning, eluded several security officers, and decided to run through the outfield. That's when he was tasered, and went down like a sack of potatoes.

The use of a taser gun on a fan holding up the game by running on the field is unprecedented. Normally, the scene plays out like this...the fan either gets tired and stops, or is eventually tackled by security. So on the surface, the decision to taser Consalvi seems like excessive force. He wasn't really hurting anyone, and like his predecessors, would have been caught after a minute or two.

Here's the issue...in today's world, it's too hard to determine intent. How is security supposed to know who's harmless, and who's not? In September of 2002, Royals 1st base coach Tom Gamboa was attacked by two White Sox fans who came out of the seats. The career of women's tennis star Monica Seles was derailed in 1993 when she was stabbed in the back during a quarterfinal match in Hamburg, Germany.

I'm not saying every fan that jumps the fence, or runs on the field should be tasered. The last thing I want to see is that naked guy who streaks across the court at Wimbledon lying face down in a heap. Can you imagine the alternate ending to the movie Fever Pitch if after failing to catch Drew Barrymore, police at Fenway Park used a taser on her? Actually...that would've been funny. But I digress...Here's the way I see it...if you're on the field of play, and have no business being there, all bets are off. In other words, once that fan is told to stop, and they don't comply, the procedure should be very simple...shock the sucker!