French Soccer in disarray...Vuvuzelas are officially exonerated

So now we know that there is more wrong with the French team than the distraction of the vuvuzelas.

They can still advance, but seem to want to play the role of the diva, the prima donna and the l'enfante terrible, all rolled up into one team personality. Rather than pull together as a team and win these guys would rather lose by wallowing in their own drama. Yeah, these guys are softer than the Maginot Line and they fold up faster than a cheap lawn chair.

HOPEFULLY, THE HOST SOUTH AFRICA TEAM PUNCHES THEIR TICKET OUT OF THE TOURNAMENT ON MONDAY WITH A WIN. NOW THAT WOULD BE POETIC JUSTICE.

FROM ESPN.COM

France director resigns amid disarray

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5307299/ce/us/france-team-refuses-practice-nicolas-anelka-expulsion?cc=5901&ver=us

France's World Cup team refused to train Sunday in protest of striker Nicolas Anelka's expulsion from the squad, prompted by a profanity-laced tirade against coach Raymond Domenech the day before.

The latest round of turbulence also led to the resignation of France team director Jean-Louis Valentin, who said he was fed up with the team.

"It's a scandal for the French, for the young people here. It's a scandal for the federation and the French team," Valentin said. "They don't want to train. It's unacceptable."

France coach Raymond Domenech explained to the media why his team wasn't training on Sunday.
Before getting in a car and driving off, he added: "As for me, it's over. I'm leaving the federation. I'm sickened and disgusted."

Tensions boiled over after the team arrived at training and got off the bus to greet about 200 fans who had gathered there. Domenech, whose tactics and management skills have been questioned, stayed on the bus to talk to France captain Patrice Evra.

Meanwhile, fitness coach Robert Duverne was on the field putting down training cones. After Domenech and Evra got off the bus, Evra and Duverne started to argue. Domenech tried to intervene, but Duverne then stormed off, throwing his accreditation down the field.

Afterward, Domenech read a statement he said was written by the players to explain their protest:

"The French Football Federation did not at any time try to protect the group. They took a decision uniquely based on facts reported by the press. As a consequence and to show our opposition to the decision taken by officials of the federation, all the players decided not to take part in today's training session."

Evra and the players, en masse, boarded the team bus and drew the curtains.

Domenech said he gave Anelka the chance to apologize for his profanity-laced outburst, and that his refusal to do so justified his expulsion from the French World Cup team.

Anelka was sent home Saturday, hours after revelations of his angry tirade was revealed by sports daily L'Equipe.

Domenech said on the French television show Telefoot on Sunday that "I gave him the chance to come and talk and to say sorry" but that "he didn't want to and that's why I went along" with the French soccer federation's decision to throw Anelka out.

Domenech added it was not "a personal problem between the coach and the player," but "a problem concerning the federation and the image of the French team."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

The Ball did WHAT!!!

MLB Photos via Getty Images
Home-plate umpire Tom Hallion maneuvers to get a good view of Stephen Strasburg during his June 8 debut.

A great article from of all places the Wall Street Journal, on the difficulties umpires face dealing with the Stephen Strasburg phenomena.

Judging by the picture shown above, he is equally difficult for batters to deal with.

That pitch is sending the initial, visual stimuli to the batter, "THAT 100 MPH FASTBALL IS COMING RIGHT AT YOUR HEAD, GET OUT OF HERE!!!" Then it turns out to be a knee-buckling curve ball. And the poor batter has only about 0.40 seconds to determine the pitch and it's inevitable destination, all the while suppressing the survival instinct. Even then he has to deliver the bat to the anticipated destination at the right time, in the right place in order to make solid contact.

Talk about an unenviable task....for the batter and the umpire. It's just a lot of fun for fans to watch quality major league hitters turn to jelly-legged blobs of putty in Strasburg's hand.

I think the comparison to Dwight Gooden and others are going to turn out to be valid. This kid really seems to have the goods.

---

How to Call What You Can't See
By DAVID BIDERMAN

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704198004575310961357883580.html?mod=WSJ_hp_editorsPicks_4

Since his debut with the Washington Nationals, Stephen Strasburg has displayed the kind of pitching repertoire that makes baseball historians scramble for their notebooks.

His four devastating pitches (fastball, chanegup, curveball and sinker) have such extreme break that it's nearly impossible to predict where they will cross the plate. He has already struck out 22 batters in just over 12 innings.


MLB Photos via Getty Images
Home-plate umpire Tom Hallion maneuvers to get a good view of Stephen Strasburg during his June 8 debut.

But here's what separates Mr. Strasburg from the vast majority of precocious arms: He's so good he makes the umpires miss.

Thanks to a system called Pitch f/x, which uses digital cameras to track the trajectory of every pitch in major-league ballparks, it's now possible to measure whether a pitch was a strike or a ball and, more to the point, whether the home-plate umpire made the correct call.

According to a consensus of umpires, a good umpire will make one bad call on a pitch every two innings—or about four or five per game. But in Mr. Strasburg's first start, on June 8, Pitch f/x indicated that the home-plate umpire, Tom Hallion, missed seven calls in only seven innings. By contrast, Mr. Hallion only missed two calls in five-plus innings for the opposing pitcher, Pittsburgh's Jeff Karstens.

In Mr. Strasburg's second start, the system said home-plate umpire Brian O'Nora missed six calls in fewer than six innings. Mr. Hallion and Mr. O'Nora couldn't be reached for comment.

"I've known guys who couldn't sleep the night before they had to ump a pitcher like that," said Don Denkinger, a major-league umpire for almost three decades.

Former all-star pitcher Rob Dibble, a Nationals broadcaster for MASN, said he watched almost every one of Mr. Strasburg's starts in spring training and said he was fooled repeatedly—Mr. Strasburg's pitches moved so much that it was impossible to get a good feel for them. When Mr. Strasburg threw a curve in the first inning of his first major-league game, Mr. Dibble thought it was a strike even though the umpire called it a ball. "I knew these umpires would not call these early breaking balls because they've never seen them this good," he said over the air.

Mr. Dibble said it's not unusual for umpires to need adjustment periods with new starters because they're not used to how they pitch, but that a pitcher as unique as Mr. Strasburg demands a longer timetable. "He demands a huge learning curve," he said.

The problem dates to Mr. Strasburg's college days, before he was picked No. 1 overall by the Nationals. In November 2008, before Mr. Strasburg's final season at San Diego State, Jim Paronto, the coordinator of baseball officials for the Mountain West Conference, said he always made sure any umpire working one of the kid's games was a good balls-and-strikes guy. "He's a special kind of challenge," he said.

When watching Mr. Strasburg pitch, Mr. Paronto said, the first thing that would go through an umpire's mind is, "Wow, did the ball really just do what I think it did?"

Mr. Strasburg isn't the first phenom who has had this problem. Former umpires and managers say baseball immortals like Jack Morris and Dwight Gooden got similar treatment during their careers because their pitches moved too much.

Former New York Mets manager Davey Johnson managed Mr. Gooden for seven seasons, including his rookie and sophomore years, when he struck out 544 batters and won 41 games. Mr. Johnson said Mr. Gooden had robot-like control of his pitches, but umpires were often overwhelmed by their movement.

To make things more difficult, Mr. Gooden would turn his body during his windup in a way that made it harder for umpires to see the ball as it left his hand. "No question about it—umpires can struggle seeing pitches," Mr. Johnson said. "They're human like the rest of us."

Early in his career, Jeremy Bonderman of the Detroit Tigers was dogged by inconsistency. He'd pitch well one day, terrible the next, mixing horrible pitches with great ones. His coach at the time, Bob Cluck, said he thinks part of the pitcher's problem was that umpires weren't familiar with the immense amount of movement on his breaking pitches—so they would call them balls when they'd actually landed in the strike zone.

Mr. Cluck said the sharp lateral movement on Mr. Strasburg's pitches will probably make them similarly difficult to grade. "Those are the toughest pitches to call," he said.

Former umpire Dave Phillips, a 31-year major-league veteran, said Mr. Strasburg is a walk in the park compared to another wildly talented pitcher: Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan. For all his greatness, Mr. Ryan was known for his lack of control, famously holding the records for most strike outs of any major leaguer and the most walks.

This made him especially tough to ump, Mr. Phillips said, because his pitches often ended up streaking far outside the strike zone. When they saw Mr. Ryan was pitching on a given day, Mr. Phillips said the reaction was universal: "Oh, God."

Steve Palermo, a major-league umpire supervisor who called balls and strikes for 14 years, compared Mr. Strasburg's pitches to former greats like Bert Blyleven and Mr. Ryan. "Some of the veteran umpires have seen it before, but you have to know it's going to be different than normal" he said.

The key to working with a pitcher with so much talent, Mr. Palermo said, is to force yourself to wait an extra second to make a call. A home-plate umpire's cardinal sin, he says, is to make a judgment too early, then watch helplessly as the ball jumps in a different direction at the last moment.

Blame it on the vuvuzela, or the goalie's HGF.....

OK, IT'S THE VUVZELA THAT'S THE PROBLEM HERE RIGHT?

Yankees ban vuvuzelas from stadium:

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/06/17/vuvuzelas-banned-from-yankee-stadium/

Actually, a poll of virtually every other major league teams fans would reveal that most fans would prefer the "soothing" drone of the vuvuzela to the obnoxious emanations of the typical Yankee fan.

Scientists indicate that early research shows that the overwhelming majority of Bronx denizens are actually immunized from the harmful effects of mind-numbingly inane and obnoxious noise that would cripple the ears of those from other regions of the country due to the many years of having to listen to local bellowing of natives such as Mike Lupica, Howard Stern and Yankee broadcster John Sterling. To say nothing of the cacophony of civil sounds one hears on a leisurely jaunt down the streets of Manhattan most mornings.

EXHIBIT A:

JOHN STERLING YANKEES WIN CALL:



Sorry folks I still don't get it. We're going to ban vuvzelas from Yankee Stadium and that is going to lower the level of obnoxious behavior at Yankee Stadium? By Yankee fans? This where you choose to draw the line? Oh yeah, and iPad's.

OK, whatever. The vuvuzela or John Sterling? Which is more obnoxious? Seems like an easy call.

To me it sounds a bit like the French blaming their first loss on the vuvuzela. What, the French lost again to Mexico? They're 0-2 now? Well that goes to my theory that the French just suck. At more than just soccer, BTW.

At least go down like the Spaniards and the British, Pepe LePew. Blame the goalie's hot girlfriend. This girl is tailor made for TV. She asks her BF after the game, "How did you muck this up?". Well played, sister. Well played, indeed.

DISTRACTION?? OH, OUI, OUI MONSIEUR!!! VIVA LA DISTRACTION!!!



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/17/sara-carbonero-iker-casil_n_615832.html

Sara Carbonero, a beautiful sideline reporter and girlfriend of Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas, is being blamed by some fans for Spain's shocking World Cup loss to Switzerland on Wednesday.

The Guardian reports that the gorgeous sportscaster is accused of distracting her boyfriend by being so close to the field before and during the crucial match. Casillas allowed the game's only goal, and Spanish fans are worried that Carbonero could be to blame.

The Spanish beauty later shot back at critics, dismissing claims that she "destabilized the team" as "nonsense."

After the game, Carbonero interviewed her boyfriend and asked him about the team's unexpectedly lousy performance. On live TV, she asked her lover, "How did you muck this up?" (Video of the interview -- in Spanish -- is below.)

Spain's former coach also criticized the team after the surprising loss, telling reporters that the team didn't have "enough conviction" against the Swiss.

Casillas is not the only World Cup goalkeeper whose performance is said to have been affected by romantic complications. English goalie Robert Green may have been torn up by his split with a young lingerie model when he allowed an infamous goal to the United States.

So, English goalie Robert Green may have been torn up by his split with a young lingerie model when he allowed an infamous goal to the United States, you say? You think?

I guess I will never fully be able to understand the full range of factors that conspire to effect the performance of today's elite athlete.

Yes, I suppose a split with a young lingerie model could affect one's focus at just the most critical moment in a huge international match. Sort of makes the case for limiting oneself to dating the older, skankier lingerie models now doesn't it? At least until one's playing career is over. Note to self and play on, I guess. Right fellas?

In other sports news, the Lakers beat the Celtics to win the NBA championship. BFD. My apologies to Joe Biden.

Also, now that the Giants seem to have a semblance of an offense, they have crawled back into contention in the NL West.

The bad news is the Giants best player this side of Tim Lincecum, Pablo Sandoval, is now close to hitting his weight. The real problem with having said that is, Sandoval is currently hitting about .280 recently. Apparently, the Camp Panda effort at weight management is not working well for the Panda. The dilemma becomes, do Giants fans and management want to see Pablo return to his career average of .300 plus or lose weight and get in better shape? Stay tuned.

I'll bet this World Cup will have higher ratings......and why I hate soccer

A minute and a half and you get to see all the scoring.



Final score: U.S.A. Nil + 1, England Nil + 1.

And they left in the VUVUZELAS, which I love!!!!

SERIOUSLY, WHO DOESN'T LOVE THIS???

Oh, like we're any better over here in the States with our goofy thundersticks?

Or our annoying Cowbells? Right St Pete.?

Or how about those idiots that go to Little League games with jugs filled with coins and shake them all game long? If ever there is a case for justifiable homicide at a LL game, this is it. There's actually a site that shows you how to make these and other noisemakers.

I mean, how much of a retard do you have to be to need instructions to fill a 2-liter jug with coins and shake repeatedly?

THE HARD PART FOR MOST OF THE ROCKET SCIENTISTS MUST BE SQUEEZING ENOUGH COIN OUT OF THEIR PAYCHECKS TO FILL THE JUGS ENOUGH TO BUG THE CRAP OUT OF DECENT FOLKS WHO JUST WANT TO WATCH THEIR KIDS PLAY BASEBALL (OR SOFTBALL FOR THE YOUNG LADIES) IN PEACE!!!

Oh, you gotta love them.

So let's leave South Africa alone and let them enjoy their moment in the international spotlight for just a few minutes, PLEASE!!

Anyway, getting back to why I hate soccer.

I just can't get over the memory of the Monty Python skit where the sportscaster is reading the evening's soccer...er, football scores.

Yorskhire Nil, Worchtershire Nil.

Blackpool Nil, Liverpool Nil.

Man City Nil, Man United Nil.

Arsenal Nil, Chelsea Nil.

Sorry, but here across the pond, we play on to victory. To Sudden Death if necessary. We like our opponents beaten, not tied. And we like scoring, we like it a lot actually.

Pity, I couldn't find that skit. IT WAS A CLASSIC.

Speaking of which, without a doubt the most exciting football match (soccer, really) ever witnessed. Also courtesy of the Monty Python crew. Funny chaps.

It's only 3 1/2 minutes long, what have you got to lose, really? And don't act like you were sitting there splitting atoms, or researching a cure for cancer. You're on my blog.

GERMANY VS. GREECE - PHILOSOPHY FOOTBALL ( SOCCER, REALLY ) FROM MONTY PYTHON



CLASSIC!!!!

I TELL YA' I HATE SOCCER, EXCEPT FOR THESE TWO EXAMPLES

THE GREAT DUSTY BAKER (AND STEVE STONE) VS. LOU PINIELLA DEBATE

THE GREAT DUSTY BAKER VS. LOU PINIELLA DEBATE

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/way-things-should-be/2010/03/dusty-baker-v-lou-piniella-who-will-win.html

These links provide some of the current debate that has provided a little sub-drama to the inter-city Cubs - Sox rivalry. I thought it was Kenny Williams who cautioned outsiders to stay out of White Sox business. I guess that caution doesn't preclude Sox employees and commentators from sticking their noses in other folks business.

It has morphed into a bit of a Lou Piniella v. Dusty Baker debate among the local reporters and commentators who are circling the wagons and defending the brethren against the evil "Uncle Lou".

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5275860

STEVE STONE COMMENTS:

"I think that means that Lou doesn't have a great grasp on what to do with young players," Stone said in the interview. "Because with Tyler Colvin, if you take a look at what he has accomplished in a short period of time, with limited play, you realize that he very well could be the one thing the Cubs have been looking for for six years. That's a left-handed run producer. Colvin could be that one guy. But he can't do it on the bench, so you make a decision that you play the guy."

LOU PINIELLA REBUTS:

Piniella said he's sick of hearing critiques from people that "haven't managed and won any games in the big leagues, but they think they know everything."

After railing against anonymous media for several minutes, Piniella outed Stone as the object of his ire.

"And Steve Stone, he's got enough problems doing what he does with the White Sox," Piniella said in the home dugout, his voice raising. "What job has he had in baseball besides talking on television or radio? What has he done? Why isn't he a farm director and bring some kids around? Why isn't he a general manager? Why hasn't he ever put the uniform on and be a pitching coach? Why hasn't he been a field manager? There are 30 teams out there that could use a guy's expertise like that.

"I'm tired of some of these guys, I really am. That's it. Let's go to baseball."

STEVE STONE ON RE-DIRECT:

Stone was asked by ESPN Chicago if Piniella is acting out of frustration.

"I can't look into Lou's psyche. I don't know," Stone said. "I do know he's getting $4 million a year to manage. I get paid to broadcast on Comcast SportsNet and WSCR radio. I have two TV shows and two radio shows a week. I also get the MLB package, and I watch a number of games every night. I spend my winter in Arizona watching the Arizona Fall League and seeing young kids from everybody's system. I go to all of spring training and make my way around various camps.

"I've seen more baseball players than Lou has. I just haven't managed them."

I'm with Lou via TKO on this one. Even though recently he has indicated that Tyler Colvin will get more PT, Stone's logic that because he has "seen more baseball players" than Lou has is a pretty weak basis for the validity of his points and perspective.

But this is the climate we operate in today. Everybody is a quasi-GM in waiting on the basis of directing a fantasy league team or two to their company championship. All the Monday morning QB's think that years of observation qualifies them to second guess those who are out there doing it.

I could watch doctors do open-heart surgery for years, read numerous books on the subject, watch the Heart Transplant Surgery channel on cable and play the old-school game "Operation" until my fingers fell off and my guess is most people would not want me to perform heart surgery on them should the need arise.

So Lou wins on the basis of the strength of his "there's a reason Steve Stone isn't a GM-Farm Director-Scouting Director-Manager-Pitching Coach for any team in MLB" even though he has openly pined for said positions in the past.

Lou Piniella was an accomplished hitting coach, a three-time Manager of the year, led the Mariners to a 116 win season, led the 1990 Reds to a World Championship and has a plus .500 record with the Cubs. He has led them to two first place finishes and while he has treaded water recently with the Cubs, all items that are not on the Johnnie Baker resume except for perhaps the hitting coach part. Piniellas Cubs teams have not fallen off a cliff like the D. Baker Cubs did. ( Baker's teams went from 88-89-79-66 win totals during his regime - Piniella's are all plus .500 )

Now I like Dusty Baker -- the Giants have not been the same since he left -- but in this argument, Lou Piniella wins by a decisive KO. It's not even close people. And the little weasels who even imply that there might be a racial component involved, should take another look at the Baker record before they wax nostalgic about how great those years were (ESPN1000 JHood is the leader of this cabal). Baker simply did not get the job done and the team stopped listening to him.

They may do the same to Lou, or he may get tired of talking, as he appears to be doing, but Lou Piniella is a better manager, by far, than either Dusty Baker or Steve Stone.

"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt

YOU GO LOU!!! YOU EVEN HAVE TEDDY ROOSEVELT ON YOUR SIDE!!!

HAPPY FLAG DAY!!!

HAPPY FLAG DAY!!!

CHICAGO VICTORY PARADE!!!

THE CHAMPIONS HAVE ARRIVED WITH THE STANLEY CUP IN CHICAGO!!

Our on-site photographer sent this picture (which I stole from FB) of Blackhawks fans descending on the downtown area where the victory parade will be held.

WAY TO GO, CHICAGO!!

Giants Draft Notre Dame WR Golden Tate

I LIKED THIS GOLDEN TATE, A LOT!!!

The wrong Giants, I really would have liked for the FOOTBALL GIANTS to pick Tate, but this has been my luck lately. Pretty much Bass-ackwards.


FROM BLEACHER REPORT BLOG:

http://bleacherreport.com/tb/b4vaS

With their last pick, the Giants selected Golden Tate, a former Notre Dame wide receiver who was drafted in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks.

Tate did not play baseball this season for the Fighting Irish, but started in 54 of Notre Dame's 59 games in 2009, batting .329 with four triples and 13 stolen bases. Tate was drafted out of high school by Arizona in the 42nd round of the 2007 Draft but opted to go to Notre Dame. Although it appears Tate will continue to focus on football, Barr said Tate's tools were too good to pass up.

"We felt he was one of the best athletes in the Draft. We felt like we took a great athlete at the top [No. 24 overall pick Gary Brown] and were still taking great athletes at the end of the Draft," Barr said. "Our scout in Indiana wrote him up as a prospect and said this guy could play the game and he pictured him as a guy with the ability and tools to play. Does he have football as an option? Sure, but it also gives us the opportunity to be able to talk to him or, if he changes his mind, then he can come to the Giants and we can give him the opportunity."

WHO KNEW ABOUT THIS GOLDEN TATE??

Another high-profile player, at least in baseball circles, was San Francisco's 48th-round pick, Devin Harris. Harris, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound right fielder out of South Carolina, was drafted in the eighth round of the 2009 Draft by Baltimore.

As a junior, Harris hit .344 with 14 home runs, 48 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. This season, he hit .324 with 13 home runs and 53 RBIs, and Barr said Harris didn't fall because of ability, but signability.

Barr said the Giants would monitor Harris in the Cape Cod League this summer and try to work on a contract agreement later in the summer.

Another late pick with some potential.

FROM MLB.COM

Giants pick #588 overall Austin Southall, 6-2,CF B-L, T-R from University HS (LA)

Comments: Southall didn't face the best competition this spring, so it made it a little difficult to evaluate him. He did hold his own at the East Coast Showcase last summer, a sign that he can rise to the level of better players. He has a strong arm from the outfield and has worked hard to get his body into better shape. At the plate, he has some raw power to the pull side. It might take him a while to get there, but he has the chance to be a decent big-leaguer some day.

Not a bad draft by John Barr, the Giants Scouting Director, and his staff. They have done a lot of the heavy lifting in bringing the Giants back to respectability.

Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup

As predicted here, the Blackhawks end a 49 year drought and bring th Stanley Cup home to Chicago.

http://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2010/05/this-is-how-we-do-it-in-chicagoa.html


CONGRATULATIONS BLACKHAWKS, PARTY ON CHICAGO!!!

LEGALIZE THE CONSTITUTION, STUPID!!

Kansas City Fed President Hoenig said that the US economy is in a sustained recovery, and he repeated his call to raise the Fed funds rate to 1.00% by the end of Sep.

Hoenig warned that "monetary policy can cause asset-price bubbles and that we need to take out the excess stimulus."

He also said that the US has a "very serious fiscal situation" and that "we need to pass a law that is very firm that says you cannot spend more unless you cut something else."

- What happened to PayGo? I thought we had such a law?
- What we need is a law that our reps in D.C. OBEY THE LAW, RATHER THAN CIRCUMVENT THE LAW - RESPECT THE CONSTITUTION, RATHER THAN TREAT IT LIKE TOILET PAPER.

THE CONSTITUTION MEANS SOMETHING