Ugly out there

In the past week:

- Tim Donaghy: NBA integrity shot to hell.
- Michael Vick: Has never claimed innocence. A monster.
- Mikael Rasmussen: Booted from Tour de France while leading -- more doping in the cycling world. There's a sport that's lost all relevance in America. (Remember that Lance Armstrong guy?)
- Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield: Outed as both having used the clear and "excelled in the program." Thanks, Balco. Oh, but it's all racial, of course.
- Bud Selig: Yeah...
- Duke DA: Admits to never having a strong case.
- Iraqi soccer fans: Celebrate their Asian Cup semifinal victory by blowing up their own. Nothing like suicide bombing your own people to toast a big win. Tragic.
- Oklahoma football: Another scandal.
- Boise State RB Ian Johnson: Received racial taunts and death threats leading up to his own wedding -- more than likely from the same people who were cheering his 2-point conversion.
- Carlos Tevez: Probably going to end up with Manchester United. (NOOOOOOOOOO!)
- Pacman Jones: Make it rain.
- Sammy Sosa: Still a d-bag.

Is there any reason we shouldn't be hating life entirely, right now? It feels like the Four Horsemen have ravaged the sports world. Everything is stupid. Excuse me if I stop caring for a while.

FIFA U-20 World Cup

Look, I love international competition, knockout tournaments, and soccer. So, just for kicks, while I cannot say anything of substance about the U-20s, let's just make some predictions. Just for kicks. For giggles, baby. You in? I don't care, you're in now.

So what do we know?
- Tournament is being held in Canada and hosts tend to stick around for at least a little past their expiration date.
- Kicks off on Saturday.
- Argentina is the defending champ and favored to repeat
- Freddy Adu leads a very talented, up-and-coming, darkhorse US squad
- The US is in the same group as heavy Brazil
- If I had to guess, it looks like Group D is the group of death
- Just because you're on a power on the senior national team, doesn't necessarily mean you enjoy success at this level
- It's the old 24-team field, which means any picks beyond the group stage are moot because we don't know where the four 3rd place teams will be placed in the playoff tree. See? So the guessing will be all the more fun.

Group Stage Predictions * = one of the top four 3rd place teams

Group A
1. Canada
2. Congo
3. Chile *
4. Austria

Group B
1. Spain
2. Zambia
3. Uruguay
4. Jordan

Group C
1. Portugal
2. Mexico
3. Gambia *
4. New Zealand

Group D
1. USA
2. Brazil
3. Korea *
4. Poland

Group E
1. Argentina
2. Czech Republic
3. Panama
4. North Korea

Group F
1. Japan
2. Nigeria
3. Scotland *
4. Costa Rica

Round of 16
Congo (2A) over Mexico (2C)
USA (1D) over Scotland (3BEF)
Spain (1B) over Gambia (3ACD)
Japan (1F) over Czech Rep. (2E)
Canada (1A) over Korea (3CDE)
Nigeria (2F) over Zambia (2B)
Argentina (1E) over Brazil (2D)
Portugal (1C) over Chile (3ABF)

Quarterfinals
USA over Congo
Spain over Japan
Nigeria over Canada
Argentina over Portugal

Semis
USA over Spain
Argentina over Nigeria

Final
Argentina over USA

And there you have it. Much like their opening match in Copa America tomorrow, Argentina will knock off the US and win it all. Contingent entirely on placing ahead of Brazil in the group stages, the Americans, buoyed by good form and playing close to home, will surprise the Spanish who excel at the junior levels. Biased? No. Shut up! Nigeria slipping past the hosts would be a surprise, too, but I just feel like one African team is bound to make a big run. I would've favored Congo, if not for the draw.

End of the year

Well, it's that time. 2006 is coming to a close and everyone is spewing out their precious lists. (Actually, here's an entertaining one.) So why not pile on, just a little? To me, the athlete of the year is Roger Federer. Without question. 92-5 record this year, 12 singles titles including three grand slams (and he says he dedicating himself to winning the French Open in '07, so watch out!). It has to be Roger, this year, and the two reasons he isn't dominating Tiger Woods and LaDanian Tomlinson for the honor are 1) he isn't American and 2) because he plays tennis. That's just poor, Associated Press.

There are several moments that stuck out for me in '06. Agassi retiring, George Mason beating UConn to advance to the Final Four (among history's greatest upsets), the arrival of Ovechkin and Crosby. But here are the three moments, in descending order, that made me lose my mind

3. Liverpool winning the most dramatic FA Cup -- perhaps ever -- over West Ham United. The comeback was largely thanks to English Player of the Year and now living legend, Steven Gerrard.

2. The Lakers weren't supposed to beat the Suns in the first round of the playoffs (and they didn't), but Kobe's winner at the buzzer in game 4 was one of those magical moments in Lakers lore and it had everyone believing that LA had a real shot of winning this thing (they were one rebound away in game 6 from doing so). Anyway, this shot had me screaming "Black Mamba!" and jumping around for a good five minutes straight.

1. His name is Fabio Grosso and he's my personal hero for 2006. The Italian fullback scored the decisive penalty kick that won the World Cup for Italy over France (I haven't been so mental in my life, I think), but he etched his name in glory the match before during the semifinal where, in the 128th minute (final two minutes of extra time), he famously broke German hearts. Everyone in the bar lost their minds. It was the best.

Some predictions for 2007

Orange Bowl - Louisville vs Wake Forest: Doesn't matter.
Fiesta Bowl - Oklahoma vs Boise State: Doesn't matter.
Rose Bowl - Michigan vs USC: Doesn't matter.
Sugar Bowl - LSU vs Notre Dame: Doesn't matter.

All of the above games are as relevant as the prestigious MPC Computers Bowl or the Papajohns.com Bowl. Maybe not as much as the prestigious Emerald Bowl, though.

BCS National Championship game - Ohio State vs Florida: Chris Leak throws not one, but TWO shovel pass interceptions in the first half, allowing the Buckeyes to set the pace early and coast to the 4th quarter where the Gators salvage some dignity, but fall short. Final score: Buckeyes 36 Gators 22

Allen Iverson and the Denver Nuggets will finish either 7th or 8th in the Western Conference, then get knocked out of the playoffs in five games.

Roger Federer will win all four Grand Slams.

The Colts will not reach the AFC Championship game.

The Bears will not win the Superbowl.

The Spurs will win the NBA title, beating Phoenix in the Western Conference Finals. The representative from the East will be swept by either team.

Sidney Crosby will win the Hart Trophy.

Florida will repeat as champions in college basketball and UCLA will repeat as runners-up!

Greg Oden will go #1 in the draft.

It doesn't matter who the Oakland Raiders select with the top pick in the NFL draft, they'll screw it up.

Daisuke Matsuzaka will have a relatively strong first half of the season before completely folding after the All Star break.

The Phoenix Coyotes will finish ahead of the Los Angeles Kings this season. I will get $10 from my dad.

The fans will screw up balloting for every All Star game. Again.

Terrell Owens will not be in Dallas next season.

If Barcelona doesn't win the Champions League, it'll be because they lost to Olympique Lyon.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will miraculously find a way to remain in Pittsburgh.

I still won't give a crap about Nascar or golf.

Your mom.

I can watch Euro 2008!

Unless I happen to be on the continent at the time, all I have to do is turn on ESPN to enjoy the best soccer competition this side of the World Cup. Not since '96 has ESPN carried the event. This is by far a vast improvement over the PPV deals of the last two tourneys, as well as pathetic Fox Soccer Channel (featuring inane and idiotic Max Bretos) showing a couple of first round games. Color me pleased.

All hail Fabio

I have to say, he won my vote, too. And I'm not even a European journalist! In all seriousness, though, Cannavaro has for some time been the best defender in the world. His spectular play for deserved champion Italy during the World Cup alone (leading a defense that conceded two goals in the entire tournament, one of which was an own goal) is reason enough to give him player of the year. Pity (or perhaps not) for Juventus that they are not able to share this win. Being relegated to Serie B seemed a soft punishment for their part in the sickening match-fixing scandal. Seems only fitting that one of their former players take his glory elsewhere.

I'm still beaming over the World Cup, by the way. Italy raising the trophy has to rank as one of the greatest moments in my life as a sports fan.

The passing of a legend

A real loss in the soccer world, today, as Hungarian Ferenc Puskas died today. For anyone unfamiliar, let's just say that Puskas was like the Mickey Mantle of Real Madrid. A true legend whose due probably won't be recognized here.

On the eve of Freddy Adu's two-week training session with Manchester United, there's another American being linked with the English Football. Eddie Johnson had a bit of a struggle this past year, dogged mostly by injuries and disappointed by a lack of playing time in the World Cup. If he ends up with Reading, the Royals will have quite an American national team faction with Convey and Hahnemann in place.

Liverpool absolutely MUST win tomorrow at Middlesborough. They'll be without the services of Luis Garcia, once again, but as I see it, these next seven league games are all more than winnable.
@ Boro
Man City
Portsmouth
@ Wigan
Fulham
Charlton
@ Watford

If they don't pull at least 19 out of a possible 21 points from these matches, then they may as well cancel the rest of their league season and just focus on the FA Cup and Champions League. Anyway, I'll be watching tomorrow morning when we hopefully get our first away win of the season. The Riverside is a tricky venue (Chelsea stumbled there), but if Liverpool fail now -- after how pathetic we looked against Arsenal on Sunday -- forget a top four finish.

Walk on!