If it weren't for bad luck

Sometimes a person, but in this case an entire country, simply can not catch a break, has absolutely no luck.  


That's true of the Greek state, a nation battered by bad leadership, bad economic problems - and even worse solutions.


Sports is one potential reprieve.  But whereas Friday's spirited fight and 1-1 tie with Poland was inspirational, today's depressing defeat to the Czech Republic was just 'throw up your hands' sad. 


What more can happen to the motherland?  We came out sloppy on defense, victim to a new back line made up of transplanted midfielders and a new goalie. The Czechs immediately took advantage of Greece's awkward back line to score two quick goals within the first seven minutes (a EURO record, BTW).


Our back line was weak, our goal keeper Halkias even weaker. The second goal in particular simply and sloppily squirted right past him.  Bad luck defense, bad goal keeping.


Like they did versus Poland, things proceeded to get a little worse. With five minutes left in the first half Ellas scored, but the goal was negated by another bad call - this time a terrible offsides call.  It's soccer's worst and most inconsistently called rule, and it stung the inventors of civilization today.


Greece did admirably fight back in the second half, and Fanis Gekas punched in a misplayed ball by Czech goalie Peter Cheh to cut the lead in half early in the second period. Despite outplaying the Czech Republic squad for the final 50 minutes Greece could get no closer, and lost a crucial game today.


All is not lost.  If Greece manages to defeat Russia and if the Czechs defeat the Poles the motherland could advance to the knock out round.


Greece miraculously won EURO 2004; no one expects a repeat of that improbably championship. However, it would be nice to see Greece win a game or two, or at least not run into so much bad luck, bad goal keeping, and tough calls from the refs.   But I guess when you are on a country-wide losing streak, complete with double digit unemployment, a 3-year long recession, record deficits, and a mean spirited and ineffective austerity plan' that's simply too much bad juju and bad karma for the Greek soccer team to overcome. 


Our Ethniki has admirably shown some fight at EURO 2012.  Let's hope the team - and of course the nation - is rewarded for that effort against Russia on Saturday.

Greece Still in the Euro . . . 2012 Football Championships

Greece will be in the Euro for at least one more month as the Ethniki Omada (national team) compete in the 2012 Europe Football Championship, the second most prestigious title in world football.  Greece kicks off the tournament Friday at noon eastern when they take one of the two (racist?) host nations, Poland, in group A (to be fair to Poland, the real racists appear to be in the other host country, Ukraine). The game will be shown live on ESPN.


Since World War II there have been 3 significant events in Greece.  One is the restoration of democracy after six years under the junta in 1973.  Two is Greece's entry into the European Union in 1980.  And three is the sporting events of 2004, a year that saw Athens host the Olympic Games and the motherland some how win the 2004 European Championship.


That 2004 title is one of the improbable in the history of sports. It's Villanova beating Georgetown in 1985, or Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson.  Consider that prior to 2004 Greece had NEVER WON A GAME in an international football tournament, let alone a title.


Of course, 2004 was the good old days in Greece.  The country was flush with money, some borrowed and some donated by the EU, to build new Olympic facilities, up grade ports and build a new airport (which is efficient but styleless, but what do you expect when you pick a German architect to build it?), dramatically expand the Athens Metro system (which was a huge success), and build new hotels.  


We visited in 2005, a year later, and the pride in their city was evident from every Athenian we talked to.  


Now we know the back story: that the government in power in 2004 and 2005 had been cooking the books and lying to the EU about Greece's deficit spending for years; the wealthy (who supported the conservative New Democracy government) continued to NOT pay their taxes; and the deficit got larger and larger and larger - and Greece's standard of living was not sustainable.


What a difference 8 years makes.  Greece was riding high in both sport and society in 2004.  Heading into Euro 2012 it's doubtful that this year's team can repeat that magic, or how long the motherland will even be in the euro zone once the Euro tournament ends the first week of July.


A few more EURO 2012 notes

• There is some good juju for Greece's team, however.  In 2004, Greece opened the tournament by beating the host nation Portugal 2-1 to put the tournament on notice.  Once again, Greece opens the entire tournament by playing the host nation.  If Ellas wins 2-1 again watch out!
• Why would you award EURO 2012 to Ukraine in the first place? Racist behavior by their fans has been a long-standing problem there, to say nothing of the performance of the Quisling government in Ukraine during World War II.
• During the 2010 World Cup, I read "How Soccer Explains the World." It was a fun read, but it was also depressing.  It should be called "How Soccer HELPS PERPETUATE SOME PROBLEMS IN the World.'  Chapter after chapter talk about soccer rivalries that serve as proxies for ethnic or political or racist strife and tensions in Serbia (Nazi collaborators vs. partisans), Scotland (Catholics vs. Protestants), Spain (fascists vs. Catalonian nationalists), etc.  I guess we can expect a new chapter or editor's note on new Ukrainian racism in the next edition.  

Big sports weekend

A good sports week keep rolling this weekend, with Greece playing South Korea and the US taking on England in the World Cup tomorrow, Evan's Tigers playing for third place (unfortunately at the same time the US is playing), topped off with Strasburg's second start of the season. Oh yeah, game 5 of the NBA Finals, too.

I'm excited about the World Cup.  If Greece hopes to advance out of their group they have to beat South Korea.  Getting 3 points in the biggest meeting of Greece and Korea since the Private Charles Lamb episode of M*A*S*H is a must for Ellas.  Well, not really a must - a win over Nigeria is doable, too - but getting points tomorrow certainly is.  If Greece loses advancing will be very difficult.  Either, it's a mega game for Ellas.


The game is on the big screen in DuPont Circle, but a 7:30 kickoff likely means I will watch it from home (of course, if anyone is definitely going to DuPont tomorrow let me know).


But Greece Korea pales compared to US v. England.  I think we've got a chance of tying the Knights of Saint George, primarily due to our better goal keeping.  Tim Howard plays in the EPL so that should help.  


The US can lose and still advance out of their group; we're better than Algeria and Slovakia. The tilt versus the 3 Lions will be a great measuring stick for the US team even if we don't pick up points.  But here's betting that we pick up a point in a very exciting tie.


I didn't see much of the two ties today, between South Africa and Mexico, and France versus Uruguay, but the first one was a good game to watch and the second one made me a fan of Uruguay. Really hard to root for France this year despite their excellent national anthem.


Evan's last game of the season is tomorrow.  We thought his Tigers could win the Minor League title this year, but the team really stunk up the joint on Wednesday night so it's on to the consolation game.  The good news is that Evan had fun playing baseball this season, and was called up to the Majors twice.  


Finally, can't wait for Strasburg's next start on Sunday versus the Indians.  And now, after tonight's humbling loss to Manny Acta's Indians, taking the next 2 games of the series is even more important.  Adding insult to injury tonight was Austin Kearn's two homers against the Nats.  When a Jim Bowden Reds reject beats you it's a tough night.


On to the World Cup!

On to Presbyterian

I never like to blog after a loss, especially a loss to a team like Kentucky and a coach like Calipari. Say what you will about Krzyzewski, but Calipari makes him look like John Wooden.  As obnoxious as Duke's students and players are at least they run a clean program and have some integrity - something you can't equate with a school that has featured coaches that range from racist - Adolph Rupp - to corrupt - Eddie Sutton - to scumbags - Rick Pitino and now John Calipari. I'm glad in the depths of the post-Dean wanderings Carolina never got that desperate. 


Give me 8-20 over Calipari or Pitino any day.


Anyway, back to the game. The Heels' 66-68 loss did have some silver linings.  For me, the best part of the game was Larry Drew. He didn't play a perfect game but he continues to improve, and looks more and more comfortable running this team.  His decision making and shooting continue to improve, so much so that at one point in the second half I asked Evan 'why does Roy still have Drew on the bench?"


The second-half defense was also a highlight.  Amazing that a Carolina squad that only scored 66 points almost won a road game, so kudos to the second-half effort especially on the defensive end.


As it was against Syracuse, the Heels looked young during parts of the game - and Kentucky and John Wall took advantage. Questionable shot selection, and a failure to get back on defense - more to the point, a failure to stop Wall - killed the Heels.


Shot selection especially hurt us during their run. Kentucky's defense of our second unit - plus their transition baskets - made us look unathletic. And for a while in the first half, Kentucky out-Heeled the Tar Heels as the Wildcats rebounded and fast-breaked to a 19-point lead.


As I blogged after losing to Syracuse, that kind of stuff happens to a young team. 


The loss means the Heels are 2-2 against quality opponents (Ohio State, Syracuse, Michigan State, Kentucky), with a December 19th game at Texas (in Cowboys Stadium) wrapping up the meat of their non-conference schedule.  Has anyone played a tougher non-conference schedule than the Tar Heels?  Carolina fans should appreciate what this young team has done so far, especially if the Heels go on the road and down number 2 Texas in two weeks.

• Not many freshmen are as good as the hype, but John Wall is.  He was pretty impressive in the first half.
• Carolina  hosts Presbyterian on December 12th.  They really stand out on the schedule: Ohio State, Syracuse, Nevada, Michigan State, Kentucky, Presbyterian, Texas.  Only one of those teams did not play in the NCAA tournament last year.
• After a great game versus Michigan State, the freshmen really looked the part against Kentucky.  John Henson had two dunks blocked against the Wildcats, though Dexter Strickland had a nice dunk and overall good game.

Soccer Dynasty Continues


Carolina's womens soccer team won their 20th NCAA national championship (and 21st overall) on Sunday, 1-0 over Stanford. The Heels scored early,in the first 10 minutes, then clamped down on defense. Besides being their 21st overall, it is Carolina's third championship in the last four years, and the second year in a row they defeated an undefeated and untied team for the title.


As Dean once said, Carolina "is a women's soccer school."


World CUpdate


The U.S. got a great draw and should advance out of the group stage at next year's World Cup.  The U.S. is in the same group as England, Algeria, and Slovenia.  The U.S. and England should advance, and I'm going to predict a mild upset, picking the U.S. to tie England in their first game.


Greece got a tougher group but should still advance - a major accomplishment if they do.  Ellas is with Argentina but also with manageable foes South Korea and Nigeria (FIFA says Greece is ranked higher than both of those squads).  Look for Greece to lose to Argentina, tie Nigeria and defeat South Korea, and more importantly advance to the sweet 16 next summer.



More Good Nats News


Finally, I like the Pudge Rodriguez signing by the Nats.  A perfect mentor for Jesus Flores and our young pitching, and a more than adequate stop gap in case Flores is not ready for spring training.  It's not saying much when talking about a team that lost 103 games, but the Nats' off-season is going much better than their regular season did.

Greece to the World Cup

Huge and inspiring win today by Greece, 1-0 on the road in Ukraine, to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.  Panathinaikos' Dimitri Salpigidis scored in the 31st minute to give Greece enough offense to advance.  


I was pretty pessimistic going into this game. In Greece's last three big games - on the road versus Switzerland and Moldova, and Saturday at home versus Ukraine - the Hellenic squad either was overwhelmed or came out flat, especially on Saturday.  How you can come out flat in a once-in-every-four-years play off game is beyond me.


But it appears the Greeks were being well, Greek - clever, tricky, etc.  A few commentators, both on ESPN and on Greek TV, have hypothesized that Ellas' strategy was to frustrate Ukraine with a defensive game in Athens and then come out swinging and counter attack on the road.


And that's what happened in Ukraine this afternoon.  Greece played a fairly aggressive game, at least in the first half, and kept Ukraine on the defensive.  That must of surprised the home team today, as they probably expected Greece to hold back and play for a tie. 


It was good to see Greece play some aggressive football today, and GREAT to see them join the U.S. (who lost another friendly today, to Denmark 1-3, using mostly second-string players) in the 2010 World Cup.  Excellent day for Greece.


Wizards


Behind Tar Heel alum Antawn Jamison's 31 points the Washington Wizards soundly defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight.  It was Jamison's first game of the season after having to sit out the first nine games with a shoulder injury.  Twan did not look the least bit rusty; he hit threes, patented finger roles and scoop shots, and mid-range jumpers.   


More importantly, he led, and flatly stated he would not let the Wizards keep making mistakes, and would ensure that Washington played better basketball.  He did, and they did, and the Wizards won.   That's a Tar Heel.

Back to sports

After a 900-word blog on a serious matter it's back to sports. 


This week features three important and interesting games, starting with tomorrow's do or don't World Cup qualifier between Greece and Ukraine.  The teams played to a scoreless tie on Saturday in Athens, so it's a pretty straightforward scenario (for the most part; this is after all futbol): the winner qualifies for the 2010 World Cup.  Ukraine has to win to advance, however Greece can advance if the game ends in a tie if both teams score - advancing on away goals since Ukraine did not score in Athens.


The game is in Ukraine, in a city called Donetsk, and the weather will not be Mediterranean.  High is supposed to be 2 degrees Celsius so the Ukraine will have the home field and home weather advantage.


The game will be shown live on ESPN2 at 12:55 pm if you have a TV in your office/want to set your DVR.


From what I can tell from watching some Greek TV and visiting some web sites it appears that Greeks are very frustrated with this team - but especially with their legendary German coach Otto Rehagel.  The team looked tentative on Saturday, and Rehagel has been criticized for not starting Angelo Charisteas and for taking Fanis Gekas out with 20 minutes left in regulation.  Rehagel engineered what has to be one of the biggest upsets in soccer history, Greece's 2004 European championship, but as it is in any sport, in any land, that good will only lasts so long.  Many expect him to resign as head coach if Greece does not advance tomorrow.


Test for Carolina
While not playing do or don't games like the Hellenic side of this blog, Carolina does face it's first real test this week.  On Thursday the Heels travel to Madison Square Garden to take on Ohio State in the Coaches vs. Cancer semi-finals.  No Crusaders (B ABBEY and Valpo), no Dean Dome, just a tough game on a neutral floor against a top-25 team from a power conference.


On Friday night the Heels play either Cal (the only legit team in the Pac 10 this year; want proof, UCLA lost to Cal State Riverside last night) or Syracuse for either the Coaches vs. Cancer championship or the consolation game.

We'll see if the Heels played down to the competition in Sunday's uninspiring win over Valparaiso, or if this squad really IS a top 10 team - this early in the season. My gut tells me the Valpo game was an aberration.  The Heels may not be experienced enough to win on Thursday night (also on ESPN 2, BTW) or at all in New York, but I bet they will play well and cut down the turnovers and rotate better on defense.  I'm predicting big games from Ginyard and Thompson - and for Graves to find his stroke - and two surprising wins for Carolina this week.

The two games in New York kick off a brutal stretch for the young Heels.  They return to Chapel Hill for tilts versus Gardner-Webb and Nevada but then host Michigan State in the Big East-ACC challenge. [Man, we've played them a lot lately, but when the Spartans play the Heels it's the ideal Carolina Hellenic Blue blog match up.] 

After a breather against Presbyterian the Heels go on the road again for difficult games at Kentucky (remember, the 2006 Heels won a bid game in Lexington led by Reyshawn Terry and David Noel, who did THIS that game) and against Texas in the first basketball game in the new, obscene Texas Stadium on December 19th.

We'll know a lot more about this team in a month, that's for sure.

Watched Way Too Many Games On TV Today

Thanks to TiVO, two games played in Europe, a late afternoon start, and other factors I ended up watching 4 sporting events today - in their entirety - in between regular Saturday/parenting gigs (getting a hair cut, raking the front yard with Evan, going to dry cleaner and hardware store, buying a birthday present at Politics and Prose, and driving Ariadne to two events).  


In the end, two were worth watching and two weren't.  In order, I watched:

• The U.S. men's soccer team lose a snoozer of a friendly against Slovakia, 0-1.  I know, Bratislava in November is a tough place to play (tell me something I don't know).  The U.S., playing without Landon Donovan (busy with the MLS playoffs) and injured players Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onweyu, looked listless and unorganized as coach Bob Bradley mixed in some new players.  It was a boring loss and a pretty bad game to watch.  But it was only a friendly, though it does give all my Slovakia friends the right to talk smack at work on Monday.
• That firecracker was followed by Greece's 0-0 tie with Ukraine - in Athens - in a very important 2010 World Cup qualifying playoff game (shown live at 1 pm via Setanta Sports).  Ellas looked tight and tentative while the Ukraine was content to - successfully - play for the tie.  The Hellenic squad succumbed to their serious and stern Byzantine Greek side instead of being ruled by their active and happy-go-funky Classical Greek side.  And I think we all agree, in sports, it's better to play happy-go-funky than stern, and it showed today in a lackluster tie.   So in order to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Greece needs to win in Ukraine on Wednesday, or tie and win on away goals (for instance, a 1-1 tie means Greece advances since they would have scored more away goals that Ukraine).
• Things picked up at 4:30 when I started watching Carolina host Miami.  The Heels led 20-7 at half time thanks to a 77-yard interception return by Kendric Burney.  However, in the third quarter Miami came back and every Heel on the planet - even Bratislava! - felt another FSU-style collapse was eminent.  As it has all season, once again the defense bailed Carolina out as Burney picked off another pass that was eventually returned for a touchdown by Melvin Williams; Burney fumbled on the run back but Williams caught it in mid-air and ran 44 yards for the score.    The defense was the story, but give some credit to the offense too.   When Carolina needed one more drive to ice the game the offense drove 60 yards on 11 plays while eating up more than 5 minutes to ice the game.  It's Carolina's 5th straight win over a ranked team - third overall - and continues the post-FSU loss renaissance.  And the Heels are now bowl eligible.
• Finally, wrapped up the night with the Wizards losing to John Kuester's Detroit Pistons.  Behind newly signed Earl Boykins the Wizards roared back from an 8-point halftime deficit to lead for most of the second half.  But down the stretch Ben Gordon and Will Bynum (who played against each other in the 2004 National Championship game - vote in the poll please!) got hot and Gilbert Arenas of all people had two big turnovers.   The Wizards have now lost 6 in a row, and it appears that Arenas' timing and touch are not back after missing most of the last two seasons.  The Zards also need Star Heel Antawn Jamison back in the line up.

That's enough now.  I'm tired from all the time spent on the couch. 

Playoffs

Baseball Playoffs

Though long, as long as 5 hours in one case, the baseball playoffs have been pretty entertaining, full of clutch plays, miscues, good pitching and loads and loads of drama.

As much as I loathed the outcome, Saturday night’s Yankees win was a classic. And it was good to finally see the Angels break through tonight. I thought they were definitely toast this afternoon, especially after Bobby Abreu got thrown out by whom else – Derek Jeter – trying to stretch a leadoff double into a triple.

But Joe Girardi will be mercilessly second guessed for taking out Robertson and bringing in Aceves, with TWO outs and nobody on in the 11th. Aceves gave up back-to-back hits, a single and a long double, and gave the Angels life in the process.

One random note: I think Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are doing a great job announcing this series.

I know he can sound smug, but I think in general McCarver is a pretty fine analyst. He sure has some juju over Mariano Rivera. In 2001, he practically predicted that a blooper against Rivera could drop with the Yankees playing the infield in, and as folks know that is exactly what happened as the Diamondbacks defeated New York to win game 7. Today he mentioned that in that same 2001 World Series game Rivera made a throwing error on a bunt seconds before Rivera made ANOTHER error fielding a bunt.

Despite the pummeling the Dodgers received in game 3 I am still on the LA bandwagon. I thought the game was over tonight when Howard hit that 2-run blast in the first. But the Dodgers made a nice comeback to take the lead as I blog between innings, 4-3.

One other random note: Besides Carolina blue, of course, is there a finer, more beautiful color than Dodger Blue? That uni is a classic; ditto the LA hat.

Greece is in the playoffs, too

The Greek men’s football team will play Ukraine in a two-game playoff with the winner qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Greece, Ukraine, and six other squads that came in the second in their groups are in the playoffs.

The first game, on November 14^th, is in Athens, and the second game is in Ukraine on November 18^th. Let me know if you want to cover over to watch that contest on Saturday the 14^th.

Greece has some history with Ukraine. One, we civilized them and they use the Cyrillic alphabet. And two, in 2006 the two nations played in the same group, with Ukraine qualifying while Greece, the 2005 European champs, finished a disappointing third.

This year, Ukraine came in second in their group - won by England - and even defeated the English squad 1-0 in London (though in fairness to the Knights of St. George they had already qualified and fielded a B-team in that contest).

Ukraine has some good players who are regulars in the English Premier League, but from a cultural stand point join Moldova, Latvia, and Luxembourg in Greece’s recent run of games versus utterly inconsequential countries.

However, like Switzerland – who defeated Greece twice in the qualifying round - Ukraine also has a sordid history of Nazi collaboration. The Nazi occupiers found many willing collaborators in Ukraine, mainly nationalists who hated that Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union (those same folks really hated Jews, too).

All in all it’s a decent draw. Having the first game in Athens should help, and the Hellenic team should want to avenge having Ukraine keep them out of the previous World Cup.

A birth in the world’s most popular sporting event, revenge and pay back for being Nazi collaborators should make it an entertaining two-game playoff.

World Cupdate

More football news to blog about.

Though Greece continued their winning streak against utterly inconsequential countries by defeating 'Luxembourg' 2-1 today in Athens, Ellas did not automatically qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Switzerland - hardly inconsequential due to inventing the cuckoo clock AND their compliance with the Nazis during World War II - won the group after tying Israel in a battle of nations with internationally-known flags.

The silver lining is Greece did finish second in their group (final tally: inventors of cuckoo clock, 21 pts.; inventors of democracy 20 pts.) and thus qualify for the European playoffs. Greece is one of four seeded teams, along with France, Russia, and Portugal, and will play one of the four unseeded teams - Ireland, Bosnia, Slovenia and Ukraine - in a home and home series on November 14th and 18th. The draw is Monday, October 19th.

The U.S. has already qualified but still played an exciting game tonight against Costa Rica here in DC. Team USA tied with Costa Rice 2-2, and scored the tying goal in the 4th minute of stoppage time on a dramatic header in the 95th minute. The win eliminated Costa Rica, the only nation in Central America without an army, and put Honduras into the World Cup playoffs versus Uruguay.

It was a dramatic goal, but the U.S. celebration seemed oddly over the top. It was tie, at home, and you would think by the celebration the U.S. had WON the World Cup. I like soccer more than I ever thought I would but some parts of the football culture, such as celebrating a tie, A TIE, is still odd and kind of stupid.

Finally, one day after I blogged about Rush Limbaugh buying his way into the socialist NFL the big-fat lier was dropped by his partners in the ownership group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams.

The power of the Internet is strong.

Cornucopia

It's a cornucopia blog this holiday Monday - lots of different sports topics to cover including a new one! I know, cornucopia is more of a Thanksgiving thing, but they both involve indigenous peoples so why not?

Baseball playoffs

The Twins did not deserve to win their series against the Yankees. The Twinkies had multiple chances to win games 2 and 3 and could not make a play, or plays, when needed. The Yankees did the opposite; even players like A-Rod stepped up. From Nick Punto to Joe Nathan to 17 left on base Minnesota had chances but simply did not capitalize.

Jonathan Papelbon caught some of what Joe Nathan had in giving up a two-run lead on Sunday as the BoSox were swept by the LAAofA. But unlike the Twins, who were in two of the three games they lost, you never got the sense that the Red Sox had a chance against Anaheim. The game one shut out by John Lackey seemed to sap the strength from the Sox, and their offense never recovered.

It should be an interesting ALCS. Petite and Sabathia will make the Yankees tough to beat. If those two start four of the seven games it will hard for the Angels to match up with New York.

In the NL, in sweeping St. Louis the Dodgers reminded everyone why they were the best team in the Senior Circuit for much of the summer. Andre Ethier, rejuvenated starting pitching, and timely relief pitching and hitting did in Tony LaRussa's squad.

Vicente Padilla's start, where he dominated the Cardinals in game 3, is making me believe that the AL may be that much better than the NL. In Texas, Padilla had an ERA of almost 5 (4.92 to be exact) before getting cut by the Rangers. With the Dodgers he went 4-0 with a 3.20 ERA, then pitched 8 innings of shut out baseball against Albert Pujols and company. In the playoffs. On the road.

Finally, the Phillies look like they will pay back the Rockies for the 2007 playoffs after winning game 3 last night. I still think the Phillies are the team to beat in the NL.

Change ups in Little League

Evan's Major League Little League team (majors is 10-12 year olds) lost a scrimmage game on Saturday 7-3. He went 1-3 but struck out in his final at bat. He was way ahead of the pitch he struck out on, and I thought he just was anxious or he simply struck out.

Then two batters later, one of his teammates struck out on the same pitch. I was coaching third base, near the other team's dugout, and asked one of the coaches if their pitcher was actually throwing change ups. The coach said yes, he was throwing change ups but only in certain situations. This is a 10-year old kid mixing up pitches and using a change up - in Little League - as his out pitch.

Quick Soccer Update

The U.S. went on the road to defeat Honduras on Saturday to clinch a spot in the 2010 World Cup. Any road win in Latin America is big. Not only was it a road win, but it was a come-from-behind road win. I'd write more, but the game was not shown on cable or free TV so I only saw highlights. The U.S. TV rights were held by a company that only offered the game via pay-per-view ( a la boxing and ultimate fighting).

Similarly, Greece dominated Latvia in the second half in a 5-2 comeback win. Fanis Gekas, the 2007 Bundesliga scoring champ who has been a non-entity in European soccer ever since, netted four goals for the Hellenes. Greece trails Switzerland by 3 points as both teams head into their final qualifying matches. Press reports say Greece can win their group outright if Ellas wins (at home versus Luxembourg) and Switzerland loses (at home to a surging Israel team). That would leave each team with 20 points. However, Greece lost to Switzerland twice so I can't see why Greece would advance unless the tie-breaker is goal differential and not head-to-head competition.

FYI, Greece's game over an obscure team and nation like Latvia sent me to the Internet. I could only find one Latvian restaurant listed in the entire U.S., the 'King of Latvia Deli' appropriately located in the great American melting pot of Brooklyn. And wikipedia lists Buddy Ebsen as the most famous Latvian-American of all time. That's right, Jedd Clampett/Barnaby Jones's mom was Latvian.

BOXING in the blog!

Great article on Sugar Ray Robinson in Sunday's Post. It's a mini-boxing boomlet here, as in addition to the Sugar Ray article I watched the Mike Tyson documentary over the weekend.

I've always found Tyson fascinating. He's very introspective and unsentimental about his failures in the movie. And only 20 minutes into the film he starts to cry when discussing his former manager Cus D'Amato, who discovered Tyson in a state juvenile facility when he was 14-years old.

Sad to see what has happened to boxing, how a simple and elemental sport can become so vulgar and grotesque and buffoonish. How can a sport turn fighters - serious, skilled, sober men - into cartoons? Is it Muhammad Ali's fault, who acted more clown than sober champ after regaining the title from Joe Frazier? Most of the blame rests with promoters like Don King, who shunned free TV in favor of pay-per-view, and multiple governing bodies and the alphabet soup of associations handing out titles.

Boxing, along with baseball and horse racing, used to rule the roost in the U.S., and being heavyweight champ was like being the king of the world. Boxing used to be great and the Sugar Robinson article, excerpted from the book "Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson" by Wil Haywood captures both the era and the tactics and challenges that were the reasons boxing used to be called the 'sweet science.'

I Hope This Run Continues

If Carolina wins their fifth NCAA championship this weekend it will conclude a great great week. Passing the lands bill, visiting the White House, Ariadne getting admitted and deciding to attend Burke next year, her performance in the Phantom Tollbooth where she was fantastic as Tock - she has a real gift for acting, and has great timing, facial expressions, can ad lib, and is funny and charismatic, but I'm biased -  Evan already hitting the cover off the ball and doing a good job in the play too, AND Carolina in the Final Four is almost too much for me to handle.

Villanova will be a tough game but one I expect Carolina to win in the same way they handled Gonzaga or Duke this year, especially the game at Cameron.  Don't be surprised if Carolina leads early, Villanova goes on a run to make it close or take the lead at half before Lawson and Ellington assert themselves in the second half and Carolina ends up winning by 12 to 16 points.  The Heels will end up wearing out the Wildcats, and Carolina's talent will eventually overwhelm Nova.

Not too much else to say about that game, but that won't stop me from making two more points.   One, Villanova has more scorers than Oklahoma did but I expect Carolina's defense to replicate what they did against the Sooners.  The Heels did a great job moving on defense and playing the passing lanes in the regional final win. 

And two, their improved defense is one reason the Heels should prevail but the most important factor is their resolve. I like the way everyone from Roy to the walk-ons has reference last year's flop in the first half against Kansas.  That memory has produced a very focused North Carolina squad, one that should handle Villanova tonight.

FINAL FOUR FULMINATIONS

•  I'm sentimentally picking Michigan State to defeat Ed and Jim's Huskies.  A state school representing an economically-battered state playing in Detroit is too sentimental of a story for me to pick against (at least in the semi-final).  Plus, everyone who plays for Michigan State is from Sparta so it's the only Greek squad in the tournament.
  
• Greece picked up 4 points this week in tying then defeating Israel in World Cup 2010 qualifying.  Greece leads their group but is essentially tied with Switzerland.  Mark you calendars for the first week of September when Ellas plays their home and home series against the inventors of the kookoo clock!
• I follow Greek soccer fairly close, and would like to do the same for MLS.  We usually go to a few United games, and the women's league is back this season so I bet we'll go to the two or three United-Freedom doubleheaders planned for RFK.  I think MLS would be better served if they moved their season up or back a few weeks.   Instead, they launch their season during March Madness and around opening day for baseball and no one, least of all ESPN or sports TV, seems to pay much attention.  I'd start earlier, in February if possible when the sports scene has a lull between the Super Bowl and March Madness/MLB opening day.
• Finally, congrats to Run-DMC for being admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  The trio made their mark rapping over rock records, and their songs featured hip-hop beats and lots of guitar and became a bridge between hip-hop and rock and roll.  Their song and video for 'King of Rock' is a punk rockish kiss off to mainstream rock and roll, complete with a great anti-Beatles lyric that makes fun of John Lennon's death ('there's three of us but we're not the Beatles;" the Meatmen had a similar song called "One Down Three To Go").   Lots of punks/scenesters listened to Run-DMC, Public Enemy, etc. back then.  Ironic that their greatest 'hit' - their cover of Aerosmith's 'Walk this Way' ended their career. Covering a classic rock song cost them their street cred with hip-hop fans and with punk rockers, and both groups of fans stopped buying Run-DMC records after that album came out.

Great Win for the Heels Today

Great win for the Heels today against Notre Dame, 29-24.  Carolina trailed for most of the game but their defense repeatedly made big plays.  The Heels picked off 2 passes - one for a touchdown to start the second half and another big one late in the fourth quarter - and recovered two huge fumbles including one to end the game on their own 7 yard line.

For much of the game Notre Dame moved the ball with ease against the Heels, but all afternoon Carolina refused to break despite lots of South Bending against the Irish. 

Though the defense carried Carolina, the offense played well in the second half, including a nice drive to end the 3rd quarter than ended with Sexton diving in for the go-ahead touchdown to start the 4th.  

The Heels are now 5-1 with a head of steam as they head into the meat of their conference line up.   In fact, the rest of their games are all winnable.  Next week they travel to Charlottesville to play a suddenly hot Virginia team. The next two games are home games against Boston College and Georgia Tech, followed by a trip to Maryland, home against NC State before finishing the regular season at Duke.  Carolina has an outside shot at 11-1; how crazy is that?  At a minimum Carolina should win their three home games and at least one of their road games, so at worst should finish at 9-3.

Ellas Wins Too

Hellenic blue had a good day of football, too.  The opponent, Moldova, is hardly in the same class as Notre Dame but Greece dominated in winning 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Piraeus today.  Christeas had two goals, including one off a nifty pass out of a free kick, with Katsouranis (off an assist from my man Fanis Gekas) netting the other. 

Greece plays Switzerland on Wednesday in Athens.

McCain defends Obama

In an attempt to stem some of the hate-speech and vitriol his supporters have been spewing towards Obama, we saw the old 2000 John McCain today.  McCain-Palin rallies have increasing turned ugly, but here's some video of McCain urging his supporters to show some restraint (still, you hear some boos when he does). 

Ironic that the only time McCain has looked presidential in the last month is when he's defended his opponent.

Electoral College, plus Ellas, Nats, Rays.

I watched more of the Republican National Convention than I thought I was.  Initially, I planned to check out Palin's speech but skip McCains, but ended up watching both.  Palin was charismatic in a red-meat kind of way, and will keep the R base motivated until November.

But the base won't be enough this year.  I think the bottom line is an inexperienced, hard-right conservative - who could serve with a 72-year old president - will not help with swings in key states like Colorado or places like northern Virginia.  Palin may help turn out the base enough to win semi-swings states like Missouri or my home state of North Carolina (though Zogby had Obama up 7 in late August; I image Palin will eat into that lead, which was too good to be true anyway).  

And no matter how fired up she makes the base, swing voters - like most voters - vote for the candidate running for president, not vice president.  Finally, I doubt a significant number of Hillary voters will go to Palin out of clitorisolidarity.

Obama will win it with turnout and new voters, and more importantly as a result of Bush/GOP fatigue.  

I've been spending lots of my free time at 270towin.com, playing with various electoral college scenarios.  My conservative estimate has Obama narrowly winning the electoral college vote 273 to 265.  That scenario has him winning all the New England states - MD/DE/DC north to ME - the 4 Pacific states, the reliably Democratic Big 10 states - MI, WI, IL, MN, IA - and two crucial western states in New Mexico and Colorado.  This scenario is intriguing in that he wins without Ohio or Virginia.  

I think it's very likely that Obama wins Virgina (13 electoral votes), and is up by a few points in recent polls (conducted prior to both conventions) in Ohio (20).  He'll win at least one or both of those states, so could finish with anywhere from 286 to 293 to a landslide-like 306 electoral votes.  And Obama could pick up other states in play, for instance Nevada (5).

That said, my final pick is Obama at 293.  That basically is my original conservative scenario but with Ohio plus holding Colorado and New Mexico.

Hard to believe isn't it - Joe Biden will be vice president!

One last political note: word in some Hellenic circles is that if Obama wins, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (the only Eastern Orthodox governor in America, he's Serbian; Florida's Charlie Crist is a third-generation Greek Cypriot but somehow ended up a Methodist) will appoint Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulis to fill his Senate seat. 

Greece Beats Luxembourg

Greece's quest to qualify for just their second World Cup ever got off to a good start today with a 3-0 win over Luxembourg in Luxembourg (city?).   Charisteas scored, as did my main man Fanis Gekas.  I thought Gekas would lead Greece out of the first round of the EURO 2008 championships.  But he didn't play much or that well in Euro 2008, so I'm particularly glad to see that he scored today.

The other significant item from today's win was the shut out by goalie Constantine Chalkias, who plays for PAOK in Thessaloniki.  Chalkias replaced legendary keeper Antonis Nikopolidis who retired after EURO 2008.  Nikopolidis was magnificent in EURO 2004 when Greece won the championship, but played terribly in EURO 2008.   He was especially bad in Ellas' second game, a critical 0-1 loss to Russia

Coincidentally, Gekas and Chalkias are both from Larissa, Greece.

 

Nats have stopped hitting

After playing great baseball - and really hitting - the Nats have gone to Atlanta and reverted back to their July selves. Zimmerman has hit against the Braves but Guzman and Dukes - those three led the hit parade against the Phillies and Dodgers as the Nats won 7 in a row and 8 of 9 - have not.

For a while Evan and I entertained the notion that the Nat could sweep the 4th-place Braves, keep this roll going for the next month, eventually catch Atlanta, and therefore avoid finishing in last place.   But after dropping the first two games in Atlanta it is almost a certainty that Washington will once again be 'first in war, first in peace and last in the NL East."

Rays Bandwagon

I'll spend the rest of the baseball season rooting for the Tampa Bay Rays.  Nice to see a small market team succeed, but also impressive to see a recent expansion team win what Sports Illustrated calls the toughest division in professional sports.

Greece Takes Down Portugal Again

Playing a day after Greek Independence Day the reigning European champs defeated Portugal in a friendly match 2-1 on Wednesday.  Panathinaikos' George Karagounis scored both goals for the motherland.  

It was Greece's fifth straight win over Portugal.  The two most important of those wins were of course in Portugal during EURO 2004, including in the final.

Greece will defend their title, the second most prestigious in football after the World Cup, in 71 days at EURO 2008.  

Hellenic Football Update

Greek professional football teams generally do not fare well in European competitions. But that had changed a bit this year, as all of the big 3 of Hellenic soccer - Olympiakos, Panathinaikos, and AEK - advanced in their respective tournaments.

That momentum came to a halt this week, as Pana and AEK were eliminated from the UEFA Cup tournament after reaching the round of 32.

And despite outplaying UK power Chelsea for most of the game, Olympiakos had to settle for a 0-0 tie. They really needed that game since it was on their home pitch in Athens. Game two of the two-game series is in March at Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea is very tough to beat. The winner of that game advances. But if it's a tie I think the Reds advance; havingn scored an away goal is one of the tie breakers.

The good news on the Hellenic football horizon is the upcoming June Euro 2008 Championship where Greece will be defending their Euro 2004 title.

Heels, Hokies, Hoops and Hellenic Football

Great to watch the Heels rout the Hokies on Saturday afternoon. It reminded me of those halcyon days of yore, you know January.

It was a great win no matter how you look at it, but especially sweet in the context of recent nail biters and over time wins, to say nothing of the many injuries and ailments the Heels have had to deal with. Under normal circumstances, a 39-point beat down by the Heels would not be that noteworthy, but for me me there were three nice story lines from the 92-53 win.

One, don’t forget that Virginia Tech swept the season series against the Heels last year. The loss in Chapel Hill was the most galling, as Carolina lost another overtime game to Jamon Gordon and last year’s pretty good Hokie squad. This year the Heels are excelling, or at least making plays and winning, in overtime.

Two, the Heels blew out an ACC team while using second and third-string players for much of the game. Not only did Q have a tremendous game - more on that later - but Alex Stephenson played a great game on both ends of the court and Will Graves was on the floor during key stretches of the tilt versus Tech. It’s been said quite a bit lately, but the silver lining of these injuries is more time and experience for players like Graves and Q.

And three, how great was Q today? By far this was his best game as a Heel. He is playing with such confidence now, as evidenced by his two DUNKS against the five from Blacksburg. His dunk in the first half also featured a great cross over dribble to get him into the lane and to the rack. Great to see a guy who has persevered play so well when given the chance. Thomas finished with six points, seven boards and six assists against Virginia Tech.

I think he will be able to handle State on Wednesday, and the Heels should be in great shape again when Lawson returns.

Hoops Random Thoughts

• I guess Wake has recovered from the post-Chris Paul talent slump they’ve endured, to say nothing of the challenge of recovering from the sudden death of Skip Prosser. I only watched the second half of that game, but came away impressed by the way Wake fought back after Duke retook the lead after trailing at half. It was the first time I’ve seen Wake play, but they looked pretty athletic on offense and defense.

• Wake’s defense kept Duke’s perimeter game in check, but the foul trouble didn’t help the Devils either. Most of those fouls looked legit; I don’t know if Duke was tired or that much slower than Wake or what. But whatever the reason, I think it’s ridiculous for the referees to foul out six players - six starters - in a game. And here’s an excuse for me to repeat one of my core hoop beliefs: 9 times out of 10, when an offensive player drives to the hoop and a foul is called it SHOULD be on the defense for a block; let the offense flow.

• It was quite a Wake Forest weekend with the NBA all star game in New Orleans revolving around Chris Paul. Interesting to note that only three schools had two players each in the All Star game: Wake with Paul and Tim Duncan, Carolina with Sheed and Antawn Jamison, and UConn with my man Caron Butler (nice article in the Post), Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton.

• UConn and Carolina makes sense, but who would have ever thought that Wake would be in that company? [Then again, 20 years ago who would have thought the Huskies would replace Indiana in the college hoops pantheon of Carolina, UCLA, Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, ?Arizona?UConn?] Also interesting to note that neither player was able to lead Wake to a Final Four in their six years in Winston-Salem.

• Wake has to be considered a bubble team for the NCAA tournament now, and Miami can played itself back onto the bubble after their win this weekend over Georgia Tech (if Tech had held on to defeat the Huskies two weeks ago they could have gotten back on the bubble too). So the ACC should get at least four: Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Maryland; hopefully five with Wake, and maybe six if Miami rises to the occasion.

• The Canes are intriguing. They are 4-6 in the conference but control their destiny. Their next three games are key: they host Duke and Maryland, then visit Clemson before finishing with three winnable games - against Virginia and BC in the Gables then a rivalry game at FSU - to close out the season. Eight wins in the ACC should get them in, especially if - and it’s a HUGE IF - they can take down Duke and/or Maryland and Clemson on the road.

Random NBA Thought

• I didn’t watch any of the All Star game though I intended to since Jamison and Sheed were in there. The whole weekend has gotten too hype-driven and superficial to watch or enjoy. That said, I have to give David Stern and the NBA props for going to New Orleans. The mandatory service day on Friday was nice, but almost more importantly it was good to focus the media - what media the NBA generates - on the still shameful state of post-Katrina New Orleans. How that story has faded off the front page of the papers is embarrassing.

Hellenic Football Thoughts

• Finally, some Greek soccer news. Olympiacos plays at Chelsea tomorrow in the sweet 16 of the European Champions league. Chelsea is favored but Olympiacos comes in feeling confident after winning a road game for the first time in 32+ years in the Champions league.

• Panathinaikos plays Rangers in the round of 32 of the UEFA Cup (the consolation-prize tournament to the Champions league). Pana scored a mild upset in the first game of the two-game series by tying the Scottish squad over the weekend. Game two is in Athens on Thursday.

Almost Completely Random Presidents Day Musing

• How about that James Knox Polk, UNC 1818? He helped launch a semi-bogus war against Mexico in an effort to spread slavery (plan was to admit Texas but also New Mexico and Arizona as slave states). But the Mexican-American war also got us California, which seems like a good thing. The war also gave a one-term Congressman from Illinois a national platform to criticize an unjust war. Of course that lanky member of Congress was Barack Obama, I mean Abraham Lincoln.
  

Have a nice presidents day!

February 18, 2008