Sports

The US men’s national team made a real mess of the recent Gold Cup, despite making it to the final, and at one point, being up 2-0 on the eventual winners, Mexico. That result flatters a team that lost to Panama and scraped past Guadeloupe 1-0, and merely illustrates that the US can still be awful and be one of the two best teams in the CONCACAF region. To be fair, I can remember a day when that wasn’t the case, and the US qualifying for the World Cup wasn’t a given. But the team’s performance has hit a plateau, and shows no signs of picking up.

There are two basic schools of thought on what’s wrong: the pool of available players sucks, or the manager, Bob Bradley, sucks. Despite the way this argument is playing out online, it’s not an either/or situation. Both are true. (more…)

A salute to Roy Miller.

This Wednesday [June 15], myself, Justin Blalock, Tim Crowder and Quan Cosby – we are all going to Ft. Hood to welcome some new soldiers into the Army and also raise awareness for the memorial that they are building. It was just great that Coach Brown could speak on behalf of those soldiers, just encouraging them to come in and represent themselves well.

Roy was one of the best leaders in the locker room we’ve had in the last decade and you can see where it comes from. He was raised in Killeen by a military family and held his fellow teammates accountable when he arrived on the 40 acres, both on and off the field. In talking to a few current players, it looks like Keenan Robinson and Alex Okafor have stepped up to fill the leadership role on defense that has been void since Brian Orakpo and Lamarr Houston graduated. You know who is right there with them as a true freshman? Quandre Diggs. Natural born bounty hunter leader. (more…)

I like tacos.

Burritos — okay by me.

Enchiladas, I love you.

Chips and salsa, you complete me.

I adore Mexico. I love Mexican people.

I hate El Tri with the fire of 1000 suns. (more…)

The biggest problem with the media’s annual doling out of post-draft grades is that the 30 NBA teams are taking different tests.

You can divide them into three different categories: rebuilding teams trying to find players they can build a team around, mediocre teams trying to upgrade an unsatisfactory foundation and elite teams looking to make cosmetic additions — a third guard, a fifth starter, a back-up big man.

A player who would merit an “A” for a contender — a sixth man who can provide instant offense off the bench — would be a “C” for a rebuilding team who needs a front-line starter. On the other hand, whether the draftee “fits” with the roster around them and fills an immediate need becomes less important the worse a team is: elite teams already have a set rotation of 7-8 players; there isn’t a player on Charlotte or Cleveland guaranteed to be there in 3 years. (more…)