Boiling Heat, Summer Stench, 'Neath the Black the Sky Looks Dead

If this was a sports movie, and it sure felt like one for the first 46 minutes yesterday, it played to a conventional script for those who love Sisphyean futility.

The plucky underdogs stepped out onto the field with a team that many expected to embarrass them (just as the Brazilians had done to the U.S. only 10 days before by a 3-0 scoreline), but through a combination of opportunistic scoring by Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan in what were really the only two clear cut U.S. chances in the first half and bend but don't break defense led by Onyewu, DeMerit, and the stellar goalkeeping of Tim Howard, the U.S. of A. went into the break yesterday leading the legendary Samba Kings of Brazil, the only nation to have won the World Cup 5 times, by a 2-0 score.
The entire complexion of the match changed mere seconds after the teams had returned for the second half, however, as Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano snapped a left-footed shot past Howard in the 46th minute to bring the favorites within a single goal which seemed not to be a possibility but an eventuality.

It's hard to accurately describe that feeling that arises when you realize that something is inevitable, but from the moment that Fabiano scored, it was obvious to anyone watching the match that the Red, White, and Blue were already dead in the water.

When the tying goal came 28 minutes later, via Fabiano once again, one of the guys I was exchanging emails with as I watched the match summed up the fate of the U.S. in four words "Samba Kings will win" and I had no doubt he was right.
I say that you have to love Sisphyean futility to enjoy what happened yesterday if only for the fact that the audience for the Final likely included a large number of non-regular soccer viewers who were tuning in to see the U.S. take on the world's best and when those fans see their national team lose a (for soccer) seemingly insurmountable 2-0 lead, I'm not sure if that does more to help or harm the support of the U.S. Men's team in advance of next year's World Cup.

The angel on my shoulder tells me that the mere fact that the U.S. made it to the Final is on-balance positive for soccer in the U.S., but part of me believes that Patton was right when he told us that "America loves a winner".
I do know one thing, however. At least Cris Carpenter is happy.

In the Wink of a Young Girl's Eye

3 Lessons for the Week

1)If you're a celebrity, and during the course of a day you happen to hear that two other celebrities have died, don't fly, don't take any type of prescription medicine, and certainly don't engage in any "recreational chemistry" with the leading Columbian export not associated with Juan Valdez. In fact, you probably just want to, in the words of Ron Burgundy, "lay low for a while".

2)Beginning with the understanding that neither political party can reasonably claim to be THE only party of "family values", I'm pretty sure that if the G.O.P. wants to continue to make that claim in the 2010 and 2012 elections, they probably need to make sure that they inform some of their more prominent leaders that monogamy is usually one of those things that people usually refer to when they throw around the phrase "family values".

I'm a life-long conservative, but there have been a number of points in the last 9 years that I've tried to explain to people that you can be conservative while also daily loathing what the Republican party has become. I'm not sure what the lowest historical ebb is for the Republican party, but the current edition has to come pretty darn close to that mark.

3) As flawed as sports are, they have this capacity to surprise me that I suppose I will always find appealing. Ever since becoming a devoted soccer fan in the last few years, I've read as much as I could about the sport (big surprise there, huh?) and tried to follow the game with a real desire to understand its appeal on a global level.

With that said, in the run-up to last Wednesday's match between the U.S.A. and Spain down in South Africa, I must admit that found myself more interested in a Spanish victory, if only because the Spanish team features a number of Liverpool players that I follow on a much more frequent basis than anyone on the U.S. squad. In spite of that Benedict Arnold predisposition, and in spite my large doubts on the chances of the men in the Red, White, and Blue, I must say that I was quite pleased to see the response they delivered on a cold night in Bloemfontein.

On Sunday, since my Mom will be in town, I don't think I'll be able to watch the Final between the U.S. and Brazil, but given the very positive coverage that Wednesday's victory is receiving in the media, this Sunday's match does feel like a building block towards a more substantial footing for U.S. Soccer in the approach to next year's World Cup in South Africa.

I Am Not the Actor, This Can't Be the Scene

Congratulations to Mr. John Middleton for correctly naming "Brain Damage" by Pink Floyd as the Tuesday Song of the Day.

As many of you know, or will learn, the U.S. Men's National Team pulled off quite the upset today in South Africa with a 2-0 victory over the current #1 national team in the world, Spain, or as some like to call them "La Furia Roja". Let it never be said that Running Down a Dream does not try to reach a multi-cultural audience.
Courtesy of goals from Jozy Altidore and East Texas-native Clint Dempsey, the Red, White, and Blue will face either Brazil or host South Africa in the Confederations Cup Final on Sunday in Johannesburg.

If they do face the Brazilians, the U.S. will obviously remember the 3-0 pasting given to them by the Samba Kings last Wednesday, but for a team that just snapped Spain's world-record 35 game international unbeaten streak, it seems that, as the gentlemen from The Lonely Island know, Kevin Garnett was right.

Anything's possible.