Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

T R E 4 5 O N

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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USA! World Cup Open Thread

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217Comments

  2. 2.

    SRW1

    Test: Did Baud bork the thread?

    ETA:
    Nope. Everybody went to have 2nd breakfast, obviously.

  4. 4.

    Lee

    The Dutch are playing the best they have so far this tournament.

    They are also playing heavy defense.

    Hope we can squeek one thru

  9. 9.

    Lee

    It seems that we are playing a really fast game. I mean we always do but they seem to be playing exceptionally fast today.

    I wonder if that is the plan is just to wear them down.

  13. 13.

    MazeDancer

    Doesn’t matter if one does not typically follow sportsball, gotta support.

    So, every time orange suits run for the goal without enough surrounding white suits, I start shouting “No, No, No!!” until white suits can catch up.

    Doing my part.

    But even I am having trouble bearing the tension of scorelessness. Do not want Dutch to score.

  20. 20.

    Doug R

    @cain:

    where can I watch??! I don ‘t have cable.

    On my Canadian cable box, it’s on TSN, CTV and FOX. You may be able to pick up a station on your antenna.

  21. 21.

    Doug R

    Has any league ever tried having like basketball an over and back rule and/or a shot clock?

  22. 22.

    MobiusKlein

    They gotta do something about the headers and head injuries.
    Allow subs for head injuries like that, or the team will just send players out to get concussed worse.

    Not a great way to run the railroad

  30. 30.

    Martin

    Yeah, that was a dumb play. Let’s see if Rapinoe learned nothing from the English.

  34. 34.

    Doug R

    @ThresherK:

    Reckless high boot, and the VAR giveth…

    She did touch the ball first and the American ran into her boot going for the ball. What’s the reasoning?

  39. 39.

    SRW1

    @Doug R:

    It’s a question of whether the Dutch player saw the US player when she went in that high with her foot. I have some doubts that she did.

  40. 40.

    James E Powell

    If I understood the rules, I’d have a fairly strong opinion on that penalty.

  43. 43.

    opiejeanne

    I may have to step away. Too much tension. Same reason I couldn’t watch HS basketball after a while. I kept forgetting to breathe.

  44. 44.

    MazeDancer

    Rapinoe was so smooth and in charge. What a woman!

    @cain: Try Twitter. They have a little “live” button. Or search Twitter for feeds.

  54. 54.

    dnfree

    Every time I see women playing full-out at some sport, I remember my high school days in the early 1960s, when there were no girls’ intermural sports at all. There was a “Girls Athletic Association” (GAA), where sports-minded girls could play against each other within the school. Friends recruited me to play even though I wasn’t athletic–that’s how desperate they were for enough players. In those days we played by the special girls’ basketball rules that allowed only three dribbles, and four players of a six-player team couldn’t cross the middle line. Some of those friends went on to become PE teachers, and to learn to be coaches when Title IX came in. I wish my high school friends had been able to play like women do now.

  55. 55.

    Doug R

    What’s happened to the Dutch defense?
    Not that I’m really complaining, any time foootball wants to resemble hockey, I’m happy.

  56. 56.

    opiejeanne

    @SRW1: I’m back. We’re watching in the kitchen but I’m about to take it upstairs so I can see what’s going on more clearly on the bigger tv.

  63. 63.

    MazeDancer

    @opiejeanne:

    The tension is insane. But the celebrating the goals is fun.

    But can’t imagine doing this every week. Inviting heart attack.

  66. 66.

    Steve in the ATL

    @dnfree: my high school had a bunch of boys teams and no girls teams. In our defense, it was an all boys school.

  68. 68.

    Martin

    @Doug R: The Dutch defense were living on borrowed time in that first half. You can’t maintain that level of pace and luck for long. US fitness really starting to show up now.

  71. 71.

    opiejeanne

    @MazeDancer: When my youngest was in HS we went to all of the girls’ basketball games. She was a cheerileader and the b-ball team was very very good. Of course we got plowed under by Berkeley during the playoffs but before then we became very involved in the games, and near the end I had to wait outside for them to end. I could hear everything but watching was murder. .

  73. 73.

    opiejeanne

    @Baud: Or rather, they don’t want to pay for women’s sports. I was making a funny, but failed.

  77. 77.

    debbie

    I cannot stand Fox Sports. They make everything they touch, even this, unwatchable. Oh well, local news will carry the highlights. :-/

  82. 82.

    debbie

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    I had the sound off. I know nothing about the game, so what I thought was the game turned out to be replays of the previous period. No labeling or anything.

  83. 83.

    Amir Khalid

    Again and again in this match I’ve seen the USA make a quick attack into the Dutch area and then give the Dutch defence time to get back in numbers. Frustrating.

  89. 89.

    SRW1

    Dutch attack reminds me of the entry ‘Earth’ in the H2G2 Enzyclopedia Galactica: ‘Mostly harmless’.

  90. 90.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @debbie: Frustrating. But we’re close to victory! USA looks like it’s just trying to run the clock out now.

  91. 91.

    opiejeanne

    @debbie: We had to suffer through the Angels game on Fox last night. In case you haven’t heard, one of our young pitchers died in Arlington, Texas before the game on Monday. Cause unkown. He was 27.

    The Fox idiots last night were absolutely disgustingly maudlin about it, harping on how the starting pitcher was so close to the deceased and how must he be feeling right now. Oh look, he wrote the dead guy’s initials on his cap (probably a fine by MLB, those MFers) maybe we can catch him weeping in the dugout between innings now that we see he hasn’t got good stuff. Etc.

  92. 92.

    Immanentize

    @opiejeanne:
    My wife was quite the basketball star in HS in Texas. At almost 6′ and with nice pointy elbows, she was able to score and defend in a very physical way. She broke at least one nose fighting for a rebound. They hated her at her H.S. She was a star athlete punk with a pink mohawk that would flop around when she got sweaty. And she was a top student. Who wouldn’t be talked down to. That was just 15 years after your three dribble rule experience.

  96. 96.

    HumboldtBlue

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Nope time-wasting, the longer they have the ball in the Dutch end the less time the Dutch have in theirs. Plus a lack of finishing.

  99. 99.

    Immanentize

    @Amir Khalid: @O. Felix Culpa:
    I think that they get possession, haul ass down to attack, but are slow on the set up. They have always played like a well tuned team machine. Fast breaks are just not what they prefer.

  102. 102.

    Amir Khalid

    Is this the bit where the USA team and their fans sing You’ll Never Walk Alone in unison?

  104. 104.

    Lee

    Give it up to the Dutch. They kept it close for a long time. I think the US game plan was just wear them down.

  107. 107.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    Well worth the watch, that win! The fact that the heat index is 101F here is coincidental.

    @Steve in the ATL: Explains a lot.

  109. 109.

    ThresherK

    Okay, who else had to guess that was the Netherlands’ king and queen on screen? If it weren’t for the orange scarves I’d have had no idea.

  110. 110.

    Amir Khalid

    @Immanentize:
    When the attack take its time setting up, it gives the defence time to set up too. And then the scoring opportunity goes poof.

  112. 112.

    germy

    Speaker Pelosi says ⁦⁦@AOC⁩, ⁦@IlhanMN⁩, ⁦@AyannaPressley⁩ and ⁦⁦@RashidaTlaib “have their public whatever and their Twitter world. But they didn’t have any following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.” https://t.co/PJk8nS63OG— Josh Jamerson (@joshjame) July 6, 2019

    I find it strange when members act as though social media isn’t important.

    They set millions of ? on ? to run TV ads so people can see their message.

    I haven’t dialed for dollars *once* this year, & have more time to do my actual job. Yet we’d rather campaign like it’s 2008.

    — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 7, 2019

  113. 113.

    HumboldtBlue

    @SRW1:

    Just the Golden Boot which goes to Rapinoe. They will also name an all-tourney team and a best young player I believe.

  115. 115.

    Immanentize

    @Amir Khalid:
    I know, but in this game, being able to not lose control of the pace seemed to be more important than adding goals.

  117. 117.

    HumboldtBlue

    And on the back of the 13-0 thumping of Thailand, the USWNT set the record for most goals scored at a WWC with 26.

  118. 118.

    mrmoshpotato

    @opiejeanne: That’s goddamn fucking disgusting. Fuck FOX. RIP Tyler Skaggs. I hope his family and friends find healing.

  122. 122.

    MisterForkbeard

    @germy: This is another case if Pelosi being right but not needing to say it. AOC has a great twitter following but not significant additional support in Congress, that’s all that Pelosi is saying.

  126. 126.

    Immanentize

    I just checked, for possession time it was US 54% to NDL 46%. The tale of the tape….

  130. 130.

    JPL

    Went to watch the game with family to a sports bar. This is my verdict, food was passable, beer okay and crowd roars exhilarating.

  131. 131.

    Immanentize

    @MisterForkbeard:
    I agree. I think Pelosi got sloppy because she was talking to her longtime friend Maureen D. I read the whole article, it is very interesting, if you just ignore everything Dowd writes in her own voice.

    And there is the possibility that Pelosi said something else, or had more words around it. Dowd loves a Dem scrum especially against lib upstarts.

  134. 134.

    Amir Khalid

    Will this victory help the USA women in their fight for gender parity in pay?

  135. 135.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @HumboldtBlue: Title IX is why I got to row crew. Couldn’t manage any spheroid-based sport. Turns out I wasn’t very good at rowing either, but I had fun.

  138. 138.

    Another Scott

    LOLGOP:

    And now they get the reward every woman in America dreams of — not having to meet Donald Trump.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  140. 140.

    Raven

    “The massive difference in pay is tied to the FIFA purses. France earned $38 million for winning the 2018 World Cup, while the USA or Netherlands will earn $4 million for their win. This number is double the $2 million the USWNT earned after their 2015 World Cup title.”

  141. 141.

    Baud

    @MisterForkbeard:
    @Immanentize:

    I’m not sure Pelosi doesn’t need to remind voters that there are many Dems in Congress, and in the freshman class, other than just AOC and a handful of others. Both media and social media tend to ignore everyone else.

  143. 143.

    Plato

    Quite the ad from Nike: "I believe that … a whole generation of girls and boys will go out and play and say things like, 'I want to be like Megan Rapinoe when I grow up.' And that they'll be inspired to talk and win." pic.twitter.com/D0PfztNyXr— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 7, 2019

  145. 145.

    HumboldtBlue

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    There are a couple of good articles regarding the WNT success and Title IX and they will jog your memory with the name “Patsy Mink” the Hawaiian Rep. who steered it through passage the first time and then again over a veto from fucking Reagan in the 80s when Jesse Helms was still befouling our government and arguing vehemently against anything not geared to white Christian men.

  146. 146.

    Amir Khalid

    @Immanentize:
    Possession is not always a useful stat. Particularly when one team is holding back to go for the quick counterattack, and leave the opposition stranded too far up the pitch.

  148. 148.

    opiejeanne

    @mrmoshpotato: They didn’t catch Andrew Heaney crying on camera, but our own broadcasters caught the rookie pitcher crying during Tuesday’s game, after he came out. They didn’t remark on it, but the cameras showed other team members comforting him. Everyone was sad, and Gubie and Rojas harped on it quite a bit because of the shock, but they knew him and their comments were less than 10% of the idiocy expressed by the Fox morons.

    It seems to always work this way when a team or an individual dedicates a game to a dying or dead relative or team member, that they lose. I think they put too much psychological pressure on themselves when they focus on winning one for that person.

  150. 150.

    Baud

    @HumboldtBlue:

    befouling our government and arguing vehemently against anything not geared to white Christian men.

    Thank God those days are behind us!

  151. 151.

    Immanentize

    @Baud:
    Reading the article, it seems like AOC is the new house member most like Pelosi was. Daring, willing to take unpopular stands (AIDS in Pelosi’s case). Maybe Nancy is just trying to mother (grandmother?), mentor, keep her humble? Of the four: AOC, Omar, Tlaib and Pressley; AOC is clearly the strongest politician.

  155. 155.

    Immanentize

    @SRW1:
    Hmmmm. White also got 6, but zero assists. Rapinoe and Morgan each had 3…. Says a lot about White’s playing style.

  156. 156.

    Baud

    @Immanentize:

    For all I know this is all just Kabuki. Meaningless disputes with the Establishment help maintain AOC’s street cred. AOC could be instrumental in keeping the left in line for the 2020 election.

  158. 158.

    Barbara

    @Immanentize: I don’t read Dowd or Friedman at all anymore, because they are beyond stale. Hiring Michelle Goldberg and Jamelle Bouie was a stroke of unexpected acumen for NYT. Bret Stephens and his sidekick are execrable. I can’t think of any other way to show disdain except not to read and for God’s sake not to comment.

  162. 162.

    burnspbesq

    @Doug R:

    Has any league ever tried having like basketball an over and back rule and/or a shot clock?

    Men’s lacrosse has both in college and the pro leagues, but not (yet) in international competition.

  163. 163.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Steve in the ATL: I was not in the first class, but one of the early years of coeducation in a venerable all-male institution. Mostly a good experience, although there was crusty white male opposition to our presence. Shocking, I know.

  164. 164.

    Lee

    Anyone know which morning show the team will be on?

    4 years ago it was hilarious to see them so hung over.

  165. 165.

    Baud

    @HumboldtBlue:

    I like to tell myself that they are worse because they are weaker than ever before in our lifetimes.

    Whether that’s true or not….

  166. 166.

    Immanentize

    @Baud:
    That would be a smart play and both she and Nancy are smart enough to do it.

    I got pissed off yesterday when some writer at Huffpo ascribed to AOC a quote that was actually from one of the Justice Dem publicity hogs. I do hope she shakes them loose.

  167. 167.

    Soprano2

    @opiejeanne: Oh yeah, they can be ghoulish about stuff like that. I’m so sorry for what happened to him; I hope they figure out the cause. One of the Springfield Cardinals players was a friend of his; a local TV station interviewed him about their friendship.

    I’m a Cardinal fan; I was in St. Louis when Josh Hancock was killed in a car crash. We’d been to the game the previous day, and someone in the dining room told us that day’s game had been cancelled due to his death. I also remember Darryl Kyle’s sudden death due to a heart attack. It’s tragic because they’re so young and you don’t expect them to die.

  172. 172.

    L85NJGT

    @Raven:

    The crooks at FIFA just can’t figure out how to monetize that massive global TV audience.

    $¯\_(ツ)_/¯$

  177. 177.

    burnspbesq

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Somebody had to win it, and no other U.S. player stood out. If the Dutch had won, it probably would have been Miedema.

    Lucy Bronze gets the silver ball (say what, now?) and Lavelle gets the bronze.

  179. 179.

    Steve in the ATL

    @opiejeanne: @O. Felix Culpa: and yet Bella Q, if that’s even her real name, calls me a sexist pig but not you two. Totally unfair!

    Who’s the shop steward at B-J? I need to file a grievance.

  183. 183.

    L85NJGT

    @Baud:

    I flipped on the LPGA tourney yesterday for an old golfer – he says: “I don’t watch anymore, there’s no Americans, it’s all Asians.” Four of the top ten were Americans. They don’t see vast swaths of the population as their fellow citizens.

  184. 184.

    David Koch

    You know that tear jerking scene ? at the end of “Reds” at the train station:

    Pinoe-Bird (photo)

  186. 186.

    trollhattan

    Well, that was more nail-bitey than I’d expected but Netherlands are big, fast and fearless so well done. W/O their keeper it’s easily 5-0 or worse.

    Congratulations US gals, and a fitting handoff to the next generation with Lavelle’s amazing, amazing dagger at the end. Surely one of the tournament’s best goals.

    Thank goodness Le Tour is on to fill the enormous sportsball hole. We’ll be seeing Thorns-Pride next week but I suspect all of the several USWNT players will still be either on the massage table or taking a media victory lap. Have not yet managed to see Morgan play, but Marta will ease the disappointment considerably. Also, too, if you ever get to see Tobin in person, you’ll see the 80% of her magic tricks the cameras don’t catch.

  187. 187.

    Brachiator

    Has Trump sent the US team a congratulatory Twitter message yet?

    Where is Trump, anyway? Is he in the US? In DC? Down in Florida?

    A new poll says his popularity has risen a bit. Surely an opportunity to brag would get him to climb out of the hole he usually hides in.

  188. 188.

    HumboldtBlue

    @burnspbesq:

    The Golden Boot goes to the high scorer in the tournament regardless of team. SRW1 nailed it I believe, Rapinoe got it because she scored her goals in fewer minutes, I just don’t what official tiebreaker method FIFA uses.

  194. 194.

    opiejeanne

    @Soprano2: I don’t remember such ghoulish behavior in 2009 when Nick Adenhart was killed by a drunk driver just two hours after his first game as a pitcher for the Angels that season. That was just so shocking and it happened in Fullerton, just north of where we lived, and I heard it on NPR before any other station had it. I was coming up on that intersection just as it was announced, and then I saw that the car was still there, against a light pole. Two others in the car died and the one survivor had terrible injuries. He’s been honored numerous times at Angels stadium over the years since he “recovered”. I haven’t seen him recently. The driver was “blackout drunk”. He had a record of DUI, was out on probation after serving time for a previous DUI arrest; he had no license but he was drinking heavily at a family party, got mad at a cousin and HIS DAD HANDED HIM THE KEYS TO HIS VAN. He continued to drink and drive all over the San Gabriel Valley, then down into the OC. When he ran the red light he was doing an estimated 90 mph. I don’t know why the dad wasn’t considered culpable.

  197. 197.

    Aleta

    From a beautiful piece of writing by Sue Bird (Jul 2 2019),
    So the President F*cking Hates My Girlfriend (At Players Tribune. It’s much longer, with lots more that’s good in it.)

    …
    (O)ne thing that you kind of have to know about me and Megan: our politics are similar — after we won the WNBA title in Seattle last season, no way were we going to the (f*cking) White House! — but our dispositions are not.
    …
    And as we’ve been talking through a lot of this “stuff,” as it’s been happening to her, you know, I’ll be honest here… some of it scares the sh*t out of me!!
    …
    It would be ridiculous to the point of laughter, if it wasn’t so gross. (And if his legislations and policies weren’t ruining the lives of so many innocent people.)

    And then what’s legitimately scary, I guess, is like….. how it’s not just his tweets. Because now suddenly you’ve got all these MAGA peeps getting hostile in your mentions. And you’ve got all these crazy blogs writing terrible things about this person you care so much about. And now they’re doing takedowns of Megan on Fox News, and who knows whatever else.

    It’s like an out-of-body experience, really — that’s how I’d describe it. That’s how it was for me.

    But then Megan, man….. You just cannot shake that girl. … So when all the Trump business started to go down last week, I mean — the fact that Megan just seemed completely unfazed? It’s strange to say, but that was probably the only normal thing about it. …

    She’s always been confident….. but that doesn’t mean she’s always been immune.

    She’s as sensitive as anyone — maybe more!! She’s just figured out how to harness that sensitivity.

    And I think Megan’s sensitivity is what drives her to fight for others. I think it’s what drove her to take a knee. The Megan you’re seeing at this World Cup? It’s an even stronger version of the one who knelt in the first place. All the threats, all the criticism, all the fallout — coming out on the other side of that is what now makes her seem so unfazed by the assholes of the world. 

    I think in trying to help others, Megan has cemented who she is.

    1/3

  198. 198.

    Aleta

    2/3
    By Sue Bird, So the President F*cking Hates My Girlfriend (At Players Tribune. Linked above.)

    A few 100% random and 100% unrelated facts, presented without commentary.

    Donald Trump has never invited a WNBA champion to the White House.

    In 2017, when South Carolina Women’s Basketball — coached by a black woman (the legend Dawn Staley) — won the national championship, they were not initially invited to the White House.

    In 2019, when Baylor Women’s Basketball — coached by a white woman (also a legend, Kim Mulkey) — won the national championship, they were invited to the White House with no issues.

    Stumbled across this cool website the other day. Check it out.

    If you’re not on the right side of this fight, and advocating fiercely for equal pay — whether it’s in soccer, or basketball, or in any other industry, and across every intersectional boundary — then I just straight-up feel bad for you. Because you’re sad, and wrong, and going down.
    …
    I feel that in my bones, increasingly, over these last couple of years — having seen our NBA counterparts start (START!) to stick their necks out for us, more and more, in solidarity and out of respect.

    And I feel that in my bones, increasingly, right f*cking now — having seen these indestructible USWNT women stand up for themselves and (this seriously can’t be stressed enough) crack a LAWSUIT over the heads of U.S. Soccer while they go out and grind for a freaking World Cup.

    Oh right and they literally are MORE PROFITABLE THAN THE MEN.
    COOL!!!!!!!!!

    TLDR: Pay us.

  200. 200.

    opiejeanne

    @dnfree: By 1968 I know we had some girls’ teams that competed against other schools. I don’t remember a basketball team bur I’m pretty sure we had a softball team, and our volleyball team was one of the best in SoCal for a while.

  201. 201.

    Aleta

    3/3
    By Sue Bird, So the President F*cking Hates My Girlfriend (At Players Tribune. Linked above.)

    So there’s this thing that I invented called Megan Goggles.

    They’re hard to explain, but I think I’ve almost got it. I think it’s like….. O.K., so:
    Megan, she just does things sometimes. Do it….. then love it….. then — later, at the very end, if there’s time — worry about it. That’s her M.O. Me, on the other hand….. I’m nothing like that. I’m more of the worry about it first….. and then later, if there’s time, do it type.

    So the idea of Megan Goggles, I guess, it’s this idea of like — they’re this thing that I put on, and it helps me loosen up a bit?? And just open my eyes, and see the world from Megan’s Extremely Megan perspective.

    And anyway, in the beginning of our relationship, I think I would use “Megan Goggles” as a sort of running joke.
    …
    (L)ast Friday — in the lead-up to that USWNT game vs. France, and then during the game itself, and then after?? 

    I swear, it was like the most amazing thing happened: It was like the entire country, all at once, for this one improbable but also somehow very very very very possible moment….. PUT ON MEGAN GOGGLES.

    It was like the entire country, all at once, said — Soccer? YES. Women’s soccer? YES.

    An openly gay superstar swagging out with two goals and batsh*t celebrations and leading us to a huge-ass win in women’s soccer? YES.

    That same openly gay superstar not just taking some preapproved level of pride in her sexuality, but actually being the world’s biggest most kissable goofball queen and literally crediting her sexuality for those two goals and her batsh*t celebrations and our huge-ass win in women’s soccer? YES.
     
    “This is the American flag now,” someone tweeted — and it’s a photo of my girlfriend, BEAMING ear to ear, smiling her BOOBS off on a football field, mugging for the camera, weirdo dye job and all — just totally and completely over-goddamn-flowing with excellence? YES.

  205. 205.

    Soprano2

    @opiejeanne: Oh man, that’s so terrible. Maybe they were different because other people were killed. What a douche that dad was, to give car keys to an obviously drunk person. We had a great prospect, Oscar Tavares, die in Puerto Rico when he was 21. He was driving drunk and crashed. Sometimes I think it’s bad when these poor young guys get so much money so fast.

    Are you enjoying watching Pujols play? He got a great reception when they played in St. Louis few weeks ago. I feel lucky to have watched three great Cardinals play over my lifetime – Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, and Pujols. We miss his bat but not his contract!

  206. 206.

    cmorenc

    @Doug R:

    She did touch the ball first and the American ran into her boot going for the ball. What’s the reasoning?

    When a player goes after a contested ball with leg extended at shoulder-level and studs exposed and thereby makes nontrivial contact with an opponent, it’s irrelevant that she “got to the ball first”, it’s a foul and at least a yellow card for reckless play. In fact, had the contact been a bit harder, that would have been a clear straight Red Card for “Serious Foul Play” endangering an opponent.

    A persistent myth is that if a player makes contact with the ball first before an opponent, the contact can’t thereby be a foul. Getting to the ball first only counts if you *fairly* get to the ball first, rather than e.g. sliding with studs up directly at an opposing player.

    [Note: I am a soccer referee of 20+ years and 2500 games experience speaking here].

  207. 207.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @cmorenc: Thank you for that explanation. My Danish friends were also clear that it was a foul, but couldn’t explain the rationale as well.

  208. 208.

    cmorenc

    @SRW1:

    It’s a question of whether the Dutch player saw the US player when she went in that high with her foot. I have some doubts that she did.

    Whether the Dutch player actually saw Alex Morgan is irrelevant to whether trying to play a ball at shoulder level with your leg studs-up is a foul in that situation if in the course thereof the Dutch player’s studs collide with Morgan. Consider *why* the Dutch player attempted to play the ball in that manner in that situation rather than wait for it to come down below waist level – precisely because of the strong likelihood a nearby charging opponent like Morgan could get to it first dangerously near the Dutch defensive goal. If you’re going to try to play the ball in a manner that would be dangerous (to safety) if an opponent was in the way, you’re charged with the foul if an opponent does turn out to be in harm’s way, even if you didn’t see them.

  209. 209.

    Aleta

    @cmorenc: Thanks for explaining.

    Re impaired drivers, accidents

    The Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles has suspended an additional 330 drivers whose past violations in other states had gone unprocessed after thousands of notices piled up in mail bins inside a registry facility for the past 15 months.

    In all, 876 Massachusetts drivers whose out-of-state traffic infractions had previously been overlooked have now had their licenses suspended in the two weeks since a deadly motorcycle crash in New Hampshire exposed severe deficiencies within the RMV.

    A total of 1,106 new suspensions – including alcohol-related violations that weren’t tracked – have been processed. Some drivers have accounted for multiple suspensions. 

    (USA T.)

  212. 212.

    opiejeanne

    @Soprano2: The grief was so extreme when Nick was killed that it was all the team could do for a month to show up for a game. Then Torii Hunter pretty much picked the team up and carried them until they were ready to do the work themselves. I don’t think we had a national broadcast on Fox during that first month, and ESPN’s announcers only talk about the Yankees and Boston when they call our games, rarely noticing that there’s an actual game on the field.in front of them.

  213. 213.

    trollhattan

    @HumboldtBlue:
    “We’re going live from this sports bar” is a fraught statement from any reporter, much less one posted in France.

  215. 215.

    catclub

    @dnfree: I know an 88 year old woman who was on a girls basketball team, in rural Mississippi, when she was in high school. So 1945.

  217. 217.

    ChuckInAustin

    @cmorenc: Exactly.
    I think a lot of Americans are confused because of football pass interference rules, if the defense touches the ball before contact there can’t be pass interference. The NFL has changed that with the targeting rule, but that was the rule for a long time.

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