Because international soccer is not my strong suit, I turned to former MPS soccer expert Eamonn Brennan for some anaylsis on the US’ pool for World Cup 2010 in South Africa. By all accounts, the US had a very favorable draw. Outside of England, the US should be able to handle the other two teams — Algeria and Slovenia. And, at least on paper, should advance to the next round.

Some thoughts about each team from Mr. Brenann:

First, England:

It’s better than playing almost any other great club, but England is good. They belong in the elite. I don’t think they’re a great matchup for the US. They have a recent history of choking in World Cups, but they are really good top to bottom and probably have the best midfield in the world. Their back line is bad for Landon Donovan because John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are both like 6′4″ and strong. They will own him.

Algeria:

Good draw. They have no real high-level club players to speak of. it’s a lot easier to qualify out of Africa; there are good African teams but they are not among their best. It should be an easy win.

Slovenia:

Great draw. We don’t have to even worry about England at this point. Because England should finish with three wins (nine points). We’ll likely lose to England but beat both Algeria and Slovenia (six points).

Slovenia and Algeria should lose to both us and England, and one will beat the other, or draw, or whatever. So three points and zero points, or one point each, if they draw.

Andy Murray is as recognizable a British athlete as there is. But you don’t need me to tell you that. Rick Reilly, ESPN columnist and cheesy video essayist extraordinaire can handle that task, as he does above. Yes, Reilly is examining the Brits’ newfound love affair with Murray, whose deep run into Wimbledon is the sort of thing British people get really excited about. Remember Tim Henman? He was actually pretty good in Virtua Tennis on Dreamcast; he was also the subject of yearly British exuberance, and ultimately disappointment, whenever Wimbledon rolled around.

Anyway, the point of Reilly’s little video is that Andy Murray is popular in England. Which is why it would make sense to score the piece with “God Save The Queen.” Except the producer didn’t do that. He or she, for whatever reason — and I admit it’s hard to notice at first — chose the German national anthem, “Das Deutschlandlied.” Minor mistake! Fortunately, England and Germany share no sense of ill will toward one another bred by any sort of recent historical conflict; heck, they don’t mind the occasional anthem swap! Hey, sure! Go for it!

Keep reading →

To be brutally honest, it’s understood that sex sells, especially in sports. Everyone’s on board with that right? Because if you’re not, no offense, but you’re wasting your time. There’s a reason Anna Kournikova is the most famous female tennis player in the world today, even though she doesn’t play tennis. There’s a reason girls I know were interested in the NBA Draft, and he’s a jail-bait inducing Spanish youngster named Ricky Rubio.

And, naturally, that’s the same reason why certain less talented but better looking tennis players find themselves on Centre Court at Wimbledon. No, that’s not a theory — the folks who run the ship across the pond admitted as much recently.

And last night, the All England Club admitted that physical attractiveness is taken into consideration.

Spokesman Johnny Perkins said: ‘Good looks are a factor.’

[...]A BBC source said: ‘It’s the Wimbledon play committee, not us who decides on the order of play.

‘But obviously it’s advantageous to us if there are good-looking women players on Centre Court.

So, here’s my question: should we have a problem with this? Because, well, yeah, maybe we should. As I mentioned, sex sells. That much is obvious. People like staring at other sexy people — it’s part of the reason why celebrity magazines are famous and the paparazzi stalk Tom Brady’s house. (Although it certainly doesn’t explain what I’m doing here behind this computer.)

And, obviously, Wimbledon would like to have higher ratings and make more money and have more fans excited to stare at the sexy people on Centre Court … but something about it just seems demeaning. Much less so, anyway, than all this talk about how grunting is bad for the sport and the image of the women; at least that’s their decision, as opposed to a bunch of snooty British people taking the athletic out of the athletics and forcing sex into the equation.

Don’t get me wrong — I love attractive women. But something about it just seems a little on the trashy side.