Last week, I wrote that I had purchased a book entitled The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the World Cup. I’ve read about 8 essays so far, and some of them are good. Two of them are really, really good. There’s an essay by Jake Silverstein about Ecuador’s team that is phenomenal, but the best piece of writing in there (so far) is Tim Adams’ piece on the Czech Republic, which was, wonderfully, published on Salon.com at the time of the book’s publishing. You can read it here.
Well, you know, we all want to rule the world. Revolution in the MLS Finals.
Here’s ESPN’s statistical rundown of the game:
I like soccer as much as the next guy who kind of likes soccer (okay, just the World Cup), but that graphic’s gotta go. And “awarded” a yellow card? I am fairly sure that’s inaccurate. Not just the terminology — it doesn’t sound like an award I want — but you do not actually receive the yellow card. Otherwise, young soccer thugs could line their rooms with them, like runner’s numbers from road races or other things people keep from sporting events (like tickets), and… yes, it’s Friday.
So far 77 people have viewed this page today, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s by far the most for any day that I haven’t gone out of my way to publicize the content up there (in fact, I haven’t put anything up there at all really, just a link to the incredible 30 Rock episode from yesterday).
But I just wanted to thank everyone for reading. I’m just trying to create a sports blog over here that doesn’t suck.
If you didn’t see last night’s 30 Rock, watch it online if you have 22 minutes and you’re at a place where you can laugh. If your conscience is not clear with such an action, read the comments.
Bryan Joiner 