Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

This blog will pay for itself.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

T R E 4 5 O N

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

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133Comments

  2. 2.

    Ronnie Pudding

    A draw vs. Germany puts us through, or perhaps goal differential. We can’t get blown out, and should root for Portugal, if there is to be a winner there.

  4. 4.

    Baud

    Man, that was like when Tebow knocked the Steelers out of the playoffs on the first play in overtime.

  7. 7.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    I don’t want to piss on ya’lls cornflakes here but you do realize that most of the US team is made up of Germans right? And I don’t mean German immigrants or anything like that but German born citizens to US fathers (serving in Germany with the US military) who have never lived in the US? I am not one to start a huge conspiracy theory here but where do their loyalties lie?

  8. 8.

    JPL

    Thanks to Keith for letting me know we play Germany next. Since I am on antenna, yadda, yadda, yadda, I watched on univision. The announcers are way to hyper. They don’t need more coffee. I did look up alemania because I had never heard Germany pronounced that way.

  9. 9.

    Nicole

    Could be worse. A friend of mine is from Uruguay and he’s dreading Uruguay’s next match, because his boss is Italian. As he put it to me, “If we lose, I get tortured. If we win, I get fired.”

  10. 10.

    Chickamin Slam

    Face it the US were lucky to win vs Ghana. Their defense cannot play 90 plus. And unfortunately there’s almost always plus time.

    ulee can party now … his Portugal team will advance.

  11. 11.

    Morzer

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    most of the US team is made up of Germans right …. I am not one to start a huge conspiracy theory here but where do their loyalties lie?

    And most of the German team hails from Turkey, which presumably means .. ohmigod, the Muslim in the White House has betrayed us again!

    That was your point, wasn’t it?

  12. 12.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Except for that Chris guy who came in in the last minute. He’s half Native American — Kiowa, I believe.

    I watched a lot of it on Univision. The commentary was much more animated, and I learned some new words.

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    Turner Classic Movies: Godzilla, King of the Monsters. 1956. Raymond Burr. Yeah, it’s already started (8:00 p) but no monster action yet.

    Mighty Joe Young up next.

  16. 16.

    hitchhiker

    Wow.

    I don’t get people who don’t get soccer. That was just so much fun to watch, and there are still weeks to come!

    Yowza, holy shit, damn.

  21. 21.

    Elizabelle

    What does a draw mean? Do both teams advance?

    Germany and Ghana was a draw too, right?

  23. 23.

    ira-NY

    I do not know much about soccer. Was that last play by Bradley as poor as it appeared to my ignorant eyes?

  24. 24.

    Morzer

    @ira-NY:

    Arguably, it was worse. You just can’t screw around like that in your own half with under a minute to go.

  27. 27.

    JMG

    Seen enough sports in a long life to know what comes next, which isn’t good for the US.

  28. 28.

    Hill Dweller

    @ira-NY: Yes. Bradley looks like a child among men as much as he gives up possession. He also couldn’t steer a ball into a wide open net. He has sucked in both matches.

  29. 29.

    dedc79

    That line between “should have” and “did” is where a lot of the drama of sports comes from. But yeah, that sucked.

  30. 30.

    scav

    @Elizabelle: Be warned, You have now ventured into the fringes of the dark thick forest of why the youth of the rest of the world is better at probability and logic than the average ‘mercan. . .

  31. 31.

    Cain

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    I don’t want to piss on ya’lls cornflakes here but you do realize that most of the US team is made up of Germans right? And I don’t mean German immigrants or anything like that but German born citizens to US fathers (serving in Germany with the US military) who have never lived in the US? I am not one to start a huge conspiracy theory here but where do their loyalties lie?

    Their loyalty lies in winning and getting the glory. This isn’t a war, this is a game and making a name for self and to see who is teh best. That trumphs all.

  32. 32.

    ulee

    @JMG: If you’ve seen enough sports in your life, then you know that nobody knows what comes next.

  34. 34.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    The best player for Spain in Euro ’08- Senna- is Brazilian. Lionel Messi The greatest player– or at least the best performer on the WC stage- that Portugal has ever had was from Mozambique.

  36. 36.

    Schlemizel

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Germany gains nothing in beating the US so the players are not liable to cough it up that way. Now it the majority of the German players were American it might be different.

  37. 37.

    Cain

    All I can say I was enormously entertained. Yeah it could have been better, but a draw is better than the alternative.

  39. 39.

    Mike E

    Posted this downstairs but I listened to the match via my local “99fm The Fan” and you shoulda heard Tommy Smyth on the radio, putting a fork in Portugal, packing their bags for them and putting a bow on the game before the cross by CR7. Then, sticking the shiv in Bradley.

    I really could picture his bare ass thru the speakers.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    Dammit. I just realized I have to work Thursday at noon and can’t take the day off. Bummer.

  41. 41.

    Hill Dweller

    The Bradley turnover was worse than I first thought. WTF was he doing turning back toward his own goal after gaining possession? Kick the ball into the f’n stands!

  42. 42.

    Brother Dingaling

    @Litlebritdifrnt: 4 out of 23 were born in Germany to American soldiers. As a bonus they are all black, so if you feel funny impugning the families of our people in uniform you can always cast aspersions that way if you want.

  48. 48.

    dmsilev

    @Elizabelle: There’s still one more set of games to play, US v Germany and Portugal v. Ghana.

    If the US beats Germany (unlikely…), we advance as the group winner
    If the US ties Germany, Germany wins the group and we advance as the second place (GER and US would have the same number of points in that scenario, but GER would have a bigger goal differential)
    If the US loses to Germany, it then depends on the outcome of the Portugal-Ghana game. In that scenario, the US has 4 points, and Portugal and Ghana go into their game with one each. If that game is a tie, the US advances. If one or the other team wins, that team will also have 4 points, and advancement would depend on goal differential as the first tie-breaker. Since Portugal got blown out by Germany, the thing to root for would be either a tie or a one-goal Portugal win.

  49. 49.

    Hill Dweller

    @LT: After gaining possession(with no one around him), Bradley started dribbling toward his own f’n goal. Kick the ball into the stands. He really has been the weak link in both matches.

  51. 51.

    FlipYrWhig

    @dmsilev: I assume Germany will want to half-ass their way to a 0-0 tie with the US so that the higher-ranked and more dangerous Portuguese can’t advance.

  53. 53.

    KG

    @Elizabelle: draw on Thursday means zee Germans and the US both advance. If Ghana and Portugal draw, I believe that zee Germans and the US both advance no matter what. If there’s a winner in both games, it depends on goal differential or other things that I don’t remember.

  58. 58.

    Mike E

    @Morzer: I think Smyth had put all of Portugal’s gear in it.

    I’m wondering what kind of tongue lashing he’s getting on social media for his “messin’ with Sasquatch” routine before the tying goal…karma got him good!

  62. 62.

    KG

    @hitchhiker: I’m not much of a soccer fan. I don’t watch any European soccer and will only watch mls if nothing else is on. I pretty much watch international soccer and that’s about it. This game was amazing, mainly because the US was actually attacking almost the whole game. I mean, shit, we had more chances to score in the first half than a rock band on tour

  64. 64.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @LT: Actually watching that again it looks like the rest of the match, the Portuguese were doing that the entire time, it was really frustrating to watch, the US kept losing possession.

    Just saying it was of a piece with what was wrong the whole game really, not just a momentary lapse. If they didn’t keep letting them steal it they might have more goals.

  65. 65.

    LT

    @Hill Dweller: No, not really. He didn’t get a chance to dribble, really, just trying to get control after the bad stop. Why he didn’t just punch it to his left – teammate right there – gah.

  66. 66.

    Jay C

    OK” Serious soccer football question here: most of the rules seem fairly logical (even if the tournament scoring/advancement formulae are insanely arcane, IMHAO) – but why do they not stop the clock for injuries, etc.: the players have the same time, more-or-less for field play, why do they tack on “extra” minutes after the regulation 90?

  70. 70.

    LT

    @Jay C: They tack on extra minutes to make up for injurty time. Clock doesn’t stop. Wouldn’t be the same game at all without that.

  71. 71.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @LT: I don’t know the German word for *blush*, but consider it humbly inserted here.

  74. 74.

    Hill Dweller

    @Bill E Pilgrim: There was no one around Bradley when he first got the ball. Instead of just kicking the ball out of bounds or, at the very least, dribbling toward your opponent’s goal, Bradley turned toward his own goal and started jogging like it was the first minute of the match. The very last thing a player wants to do in that situation(30 seconds left with a one goal lead) is give up possession. Kick the ball in the f’n stands.

    The back line compounded Bradley’s stupidity by falling asleep.

  75. 75.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @LT: Did they? I don’t know, I just kept seeing how often they lost the ball. Maybe more at the start, it seemed like when the US scored I was amazed to see them near the goal finally.

  76. 76.

    FlipYrWhig

    @LT: But if injury time really does simply correspond to time lost, they’re playing the same minutes regardless of whether they stop the clock or use “extra time.” I don’t get the resistance to using the clock to… measure… time. Just stop the clock when there’s an injury and restart it when the guy is back on his feet or off the pitch or whatever.

  77. 77.

    HinTN

    The way I see it, the second US goal could have been disallowed for offside. That Bradley screwed the pooch just evened out the possibilities. We don’t like it but both teams advance with a tie, so Germany is probably down wit dat and it puts the “last match” bidness in an interesting perspective. “So it goes.”

  82. 82.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Hill Dweller: He definitely went in the wrong direction. Just saying that they were stealing it all match long, so even more reason not to give them the chance to do that at that point.

  83. 83.

    Heliopause

    Based on what I’ve seen so far the most likely scenario is US loses by one or two to Germany and Ghana wins by one or two over Portugal, which makes things very interesting. Or maybe the gentlemen’s agreement between Germany and the US…

  84. 84.

    scav

    @FlipYrWhig: I think they’re trying to preserve the flow of the game, avoiding the stop and start and jerky play of the locally popular sports. At least that’s how I’ve heard it explained.

  87. 87.

    LT

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Actually Port. had more by the stats. Just seemed like the US outplayed them overall to me. But although I did play it in high school, I’m miles from expert on such a thing.

    https://www.google.com.au/?gws_rd=ssl#newwindow=1&q=united+states+vs+portugal&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDQx-H0CPGDkZugScXeyWl6oVEuNgck0sy8_OEuLg4wvOLclKcSwuExLk4gwvyi0r8EnNTQRL6ufoGRmUVJkKqXGw-qYnppalC0kKSXNxuRampSYnFqb6ZKTBlxgaF5kLqXKy-iSXJGUJyQjKoqni5uEGqDA3yCqvKC3l4Xu36wxT2NFO-U3-hbLZg0YeSLycAkmdxxKsAAAA

  88. 88.

    Violet

    Did anyone else hear Klinsmann’s post-match interview where he said the favorites were given better venues and more rest between matches? Don’t think FIFA will like him saying that.

  89. 89.

    Devon

    On a more awesome note: Happy Birthday. You live, love and rule another year. I love you J.g.

  91. 91.

    ⚽️ Martin

    @Jay C: Futbol matches always finish in 2 hours. Always. Football matches, where the clock stops, can run an hour over. Once you stop a clock, there’s little pressure to start it again, and then you start inventing bullshit rules about timeouts and teams favor plays that will stop the clock over ones that don’t and all that. None of that here. You play through.

  92. 92.

    JMG

    Another damn good game. This has been the most entertaining World Cup first round I can ever remember.

  95. 95.

    KG

    @Jay C: I was reading earlier this week that “soccer” is an appropriate name for the game. Three types of “football” developed around the same time: gridiron (what we play here on most Sundays in the fall), association football (what we are watching now), and rugby football. Soccer derives from association, which is what it’s called in much of the English speaking world: North America, Southern Africa, Oceania, and even the Irish

  96. 96.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @LT: Be happy that it wasn’t marked as spam, spam, spam, WTF, and spam. That leaves a mark.

  98. 98.

    scav

    @LT: I believe they also laugh at all the padding involved. Common to rugby crowds as well. Might all just be viscous rumours.

  99. 99.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @KG: Yeah I read that years ago. As a general rule, most things that people in the UK complain about as hideous Americanisms actually came from them, just so long ago that they’ve forgotten*. I tease my friends in the UK about this often.

    *Interestingly, “forgotten” (instead of “forgot”) is one that they actually remember. That is, they find it kind of archaic and charming that we use that form. Unless my friends were lying when they said that.

  100. 100.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @Schlemizel: Not true. There is a lot of value to finishing first in the group, as it means playing (most likely) Russia or Algeria rather than a Belgian side that has underwhelmed so far but has the potential to be really dangerous. Germany finishes first with a win or a tie.

    And they aren’t guaranteed to go through, yet, either. If they lose to the U.S. and the winner of the Ghana/Portugal match scores enough to overtake them in goal differential (almost impossible for Portugal but doable if really unlikely for Ghana) than they finish third.

  102. 102.

    LT

    @scav: Oh yes, big time. Still more injuries in gridiron, pretty sure. But whatever. Rugby league is huge where I am, and yoiks, it can be brutal.

  105. 105.

    LT

    @⚽️ Martin: @scav: The grueling aspect, the *test* of the nonstop match, and all the building drama as it moves toward the finish is all so essential to the game. Just would not be the same with clock stoppages.

  106. 106.

    Ronnie Pudding

    As a matter of practice, soccer refs won’t end the match when a team is in the middle of an attack. That’s effectively the big difference between injury time and a rigid clock.

  107. 107.

    James E. Powell

    During the entire five minutes of extra time, I felt like I was back in Cleveland. When you’ve lived through that town’s sports history, today’s ending almost felt like it was supposed to happen.

  108. 108.

    Kylroy

    @KG: Which is why I’m not a huge association football fan. It’s not about which team had the better overall game, it’s about which team committed fewer of the kinds of grievous errors that are the only way anyone scores in world class matches.

  110. 110.

    gian

    @hitchhiker:

    you don’t see any value to the complaints when 90 minutes plus extra time results in a nil-nil tie?

    I can see why people like and don’t like it. there’s plenty of drama even in a 0-0 game, but I can understand thinking that 0-0 sucks as a result. I can also see where thinking that the game stealing from hockey and using a smaller field and fewer players might result in more scoring – and hence more US interest. (that will never happen)

  113. 113.

    FlipYrWhig

    @⚽️ Martin: of course knowing that the clock is going to just keep running leads to other nonsense, like substituted players taking forever to get off the field.

  114. 114.

    Hawes

    As bad as Bradley’s giveaway was, Geoff Cameron had the worst game. Entirely culpable for the first goal and allowed a guy to run right down the guy in stoppage time.

    And rumor has it Bedoya started, but the only time I noticed him was when he was subbed off.

    Thursday game could be awesome or could be 90 minutes of stalling. But this has been the most exciting WC I can recall.

    Viva Los Ticos!

  115. 115.

    pseudonymous in nc

    You can’t have the love without the agony, because the agony is what makes the brief glorious moments special.

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    There is a lot of value to finishing first in the group, as it means playing (most likely) Russia or Algeria rather than a Belgian side that has underwhelmed so far but has the potential to be really dangerous.

    Ah, once you get out of the group, there are no easy matches. I think the value is marginal.

    @Jay C:

    why do they not stop the clock for injuries, etc.:

    Just because. It’s a fundamental principle of the game that time is unstoppable but also slightly wobbly. The NCAA has a variant with a countdown clock that the referee can stop and start for injuries and goals and time-wasting, but that’s just weird.

    @Kylroy:

    It’s not about which team had the better overall game, it’s about which team committed fewer of the kinds of grievous errors that are the only way anyone scores in world class matches.

    First: there are no style points in football. Second: the group matches have had plenty of goals where you can ascribe no blame to the defending team, and just have to tip your hat to the scorers.

  116. 116.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @gian:

    Last game of the 1987 baseball regular season. Tigers versus Blue Jays in the D. Blue Jays win, there’s a playoff on Monday. Tigers win, they get set to host the Twins. Game is a pitchers’ duel between Toronto’s ace, Jimmy Key, and Tigers’ junk-baller, Frank Tanana. Tanana gives up six hits and three walks, Key gives up three hits and three walks. The Tigers’ lf, Larry Herndon, hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second inning. Electric game, at least for those of us who like that sort of a baseball game. Tied as the most exciting sporting event I’ve ever watched (and I watched the 1980 USA-USSR Olympic hockey game without knowing the final score before it aired).

    The game that ties it? The 2008 Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea. 0-0 game through not just added time, but through overtime. United won on penalty kicks. It was awesome- and not much different than that Tigers-Blue Jays game.

  117. 117.

    Red Apple Smokes

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): That season was my first season of really following baseball, and that game is probably the earliest that has stuck out in my memory. I watched it on an old black and white set in my bedroom and drove my parents a bit crazy by yelling at the tv.. The next day I sat in line for hours to get Trammell’s (Who got screwed out of the MVP that season) autograph at the opening of a local hobby shop. I’ve pretty much hated the Twins since that year’s ALCS.

  118. 118.

    burnspbesq

    @HinTN:

    The way I see it, the second US goal could have been disallowed for offside.

    I suppose it’s theoretically possible to be more wrong about something, but as a practical matter …

  119. 119.

    burnspbesq

    @burnspbesq:

    ETA: Yedlin was in an offside position when the ball was played from Zusi to Dempsey, but he was 25 yards away from the play. No doubt that Dempsey was onside. Even in a World Cup that has featured some really egregious officiating, that one’s not going to be called.

  120. 120.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Red Apple Smokes:

    Tram got screwed, no doubt about it. Jorge Bell did jackshit for the Jays in the clutch weeks at the end of the season.

    I can’t hold anything against the Twins. The Tigs owned them in the regular season. I think that after wrapping up the East, we all overlooked how grueling the pennant race had been.

    I’m too young to remember ’68, and I only have fleeting memories of ’72, but I’ll take that ’87 season over any other Tigers’ season- including ’84- that I’ve seen. Tram, Mike Heath, the Alexander trade, Walewander…And that last, absolutely wonderful week of the season…Yeah.

  121. 121.

    JimV

    Despite having played soccer for all four years of high school (my school was too small to play American Football), I don’t know much about how soccer is/should-be played at that level but … it looked to me that on the tieing goal the centering pass from fairly deep in the right wing could have been intercepted by the goalie (the guy who headed it in had to lean his head way down to get it, and it was in the air long enough for the goalie to take the three or four steps to intercept it) – instead of waiting in the goal mouth and hoping that the ensuing header from point-blank range would be directly at him.

    There is more risk of an injury that way, but I don’t recall any red shirts near enough to contest the interception. If I played goalie (which I never did except for fooling around in practice) I would go for the ball in the air in front of the goal as much as possible (including corner kicks) because being able to use my hands to catch it above others’ heads seems like too big an advantage to give up. Maybe most goalies didn’t grow up catching balls (playing softball bare-handed). I’ll grant you that a hard drive from close is tough to catch and hang on to. I could only do it about once out of three times in practice. So maybe goalies are taught to block the ball rather than trying to catch it.

    Anyway, if I had a magic wish right now it would be to be in the goal with a young, athletic body as the centering pass was kicked, because I think interception would be the winning play.

  122. 122.

    Red Apple Smokes

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): I probably hold it against them because I was eight years old. Then they went on to beat the Braves in ’91 (In one of the best World Series ever, top 5 for sure). I had watched them a lot that season on TBS and was rooting for them because of their worst-to-first thing. The things you end up carrying with you from when you were a kid can be weird.

  123. 123.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @JimV:

    it looked to me that on the tieing goal the centering pass from fairly deep in the right wing could have been intercepted by the goalie

    Nah. You’ll see far more goals scored when the keeper has a rush of blood to the head and tries to parry those kinds of crosses and either misses or deflects it into harm’s way, especially when it’s in a zone that’s the responsibility of the centre-backs. It was a perfect cross. Sometimes you just have to tip your hat. I don’t really feel the hate for Bradley either.

  125. 125.

    SFAW

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    You’ll see far more goals scored when the keeper has a rush of blood to the head and tries to parry those kinds of crosses and either misses or deflects it into harm’s way,

    Of course, if the keeper doesn’t even get his hands up to try to make a save, it has the same effect.

    I’m certainly no hexpert, but I don’t think Tim Howard is going to make people forget Lev Ivanovich anytime soon.

  127. 127.

    hitchhiker

    @gian:

    you don’t see any value to the complaints when 90 minutes plus extra time results in a nil-nil tie?

    I see value in watching athletes at the top of their physical capacity play a game that relies on teamwork, finesse, luck, stamina and guts.

    Yeah, there are lots of head-banging issues, but what I meant was that there are people who think the game is boring because the scores are low. I do not get that.

  128. 128.

    tk

    There is no finer expression of athleticism than rugby union. But I have begun to really enjoy soccer thanks to this wc. Rugby league is an obscene desecration of art, btw.

  129. 129.

    SFAW

    @tk:

    There is no finer expression of athleticism than rugby union rowing the single

    Fixed for accuracy.

    Unless the meaning of “athleticism” has changed to “having great drinking songs/cheers.” Otherwise, no.

  130. 130.

    burnspbesq

    @tk:

    Rugby league is an obscene desecration of art, btw.

    It had to be said. Thank you for beating me to the punch.

  131. 131.

    Irony Abounds

    The problem is that Ghana is probably going to beat Portugal, which is beat up and will have one less day of rest (as will the US against Germany). Ghana has a good shot at the tiebreaker if it wins and the US loses, given the fact that the World Cup is idiotic and goal differential is the first tiebreaker even if one of the teams in a two team tie beat the other team. I also agree with the poster above about the tacking on of time based on some judges guess as to the amount of time that should be added, when any sport that isn’t stupid would stop the clock when something happens that creates time added rather than just having everyone guess as regulation time runs out. Of course, the US screwed the pooch by doing a slow substitution during added time – the time judge added an additional minute of play, and of course it was during that additional minute that Portugal scored.

    Unless Germany and the US have a tacit agreement to tie to ensure that both teams move on (it would give the Germans first place in the Group, but I think the US would take a tie in a New York minute), I think the Germans win, Ghana wins easily and in all likelihood Bradley’s brain fart costs the US at least a game in the knockout round.

  132. 132.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Red Apple Smokes:

    I still hate the Orioles because they were the team to beat in the early ’70s AL East. It’s the same reason I hate the Vikes much more than I hate the Bears (Packers’ fan- got roots in the UP)- the Vikes were serious business, while the Bears were coached by Abe Gibron.

  133. 133.

    Glocksman

    Bradley tanks

    Bradley’s are technically APCs, not tanks.

    Oh, you weren’t talking about the military Bradley’s
    Never mind.

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