Thats On Point: The Web Site

Fergie Time, Over

2013-05-08T14:30:00.000-04:00

Manchester United, Ho! The modern day English Premier League we've all come to waste a significant portion of our Saturdays and Mondays ... and sometimes a lot of other days, has been built more than anything else on characters and controversy. It probably has to be that way considering each year the level of play in the league seems to slip into some sort of soccer slime. That's why inane,

Blog 2 Live

2013-05-02T20:59:00.000-04:00

Oranges. Oh where to begin this post? Buckle up, this is going to be a weird one. With any luck a good one, too, but a weird one nonetheless. In the last couple weeks you've probably seen me on my Twitter account linking to stories on TheBigLead.com. It probably caused some confusion, or more likely your eyes glazed over. Guess it's time to come out and officially say I'll be writing for

Point of Pride

2013-03-27T00:48:00.001-04:00

Crazy like a fox. Mexico 0, U.S. 0 "And ... Annnnd .... Annnnnd ... you put the load right on me." -- The Weight, The Band *** That was kind of a dud, huh? Did either Mexico or the U.S. muster a quality attempt for 94 minutes of drab, uninspiring soccer? Okay, that's an even too cynical by my blackhearted standards way to look at Tuesday's game for Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in

Unkie Mo

2013-03-24T16:01:00.001-04:00

Brad Guzan: Cold ... blooded. "Momentum? Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher." -- Earl Weaver *** Momentum is a nebulous term once you apply it to the world of sports, as opposed to the realm of physics where, you know, it actually means something what with co-signs, velocity, all that jazz. Is momentum nothing more than a staple for lazy sportswriters? Is it the bane of people

Slow Blinded

2013-03-23T01:00:00.000-04:00

Rock. Snow. Flag. Eagle. U.S. 1, Costa Rica 0. Apologies up front, used up all my gold snow puns during course of the match's two-plus hours on Twitter. Sorry to freeze you out in blog form. You'll live. Where to start? Where to end? What to even talk about? There's the entire snow element, which overshadows the fact the U.S. got three-needed points to put its 2014 World Cup qualifying

Lost in Transition

2013-03-20T15:54:00.000-04:00

"It's just like pulling off a Band Aid." -- Cop with a Mustache, There's Something About Mary *** Everybody got their pitchforks and torches on standby? This could get ugly ... for Jurgen Klinsmann, anyways. Safe to say based his Klinsmann's roster selection for Friday's vital CONCACAF 2014 World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica it hasn't been the best week of all-time for the German.

Howard's (temporary) End

2013-03-08T18:45:00.002-05:00

Yo, Joe! So who would've thought late Friday afternoon news would break out of England that U.S. No. 1 Tim Howard has two broken bones in his back, sidelining him 3-7 weeks. Not a big deal, aside from the fact the U.S. will play World Cup qualifiers against Costa Rica and some country called Mexico in that time frame. In the words of Nile Rodgers and Chic .... Ahhhhhhhh freak out! Howard is

Alt-ered Beastmode

2013-03-03T15:55:00.002-05:00

heart u guys thiiiiiiiis much "Having an argument with myself down Elizabeth Street ..." -- Jens Lekman, "Argument with Myself." *** Let's begin this post with two statements of fact, which cannot be argued: a) Sunday Jozy Altidore scored his 24th goal this season for AZ -- a record for Americans in Europe. b) Altidore hasn't scored for the U.S. National Team since Nov. 15, 2011.

We Want the Wiz

2013-02-19T20:42:00.003-05:00

"Apu living with the Simpsons?! It happened." -- Troy McClure, The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular *** Most Hollywood actors have their dirty little secrets on their IMDB pages. It's doubtful Tom Hanks is too proud of his starring role in the 1982 made-for-tv movie, "Mazes and Monsters." (I would be.) George Lucas has spent years basically suing everyone in the galaxy who's tried to share

Ooooooooooooooops

2013-02-06T18:54:00.002-05:00

USMNT: What. The. Frick?!?! Honduras 2, U.S. 1 (FT) As the dude in the American Outlaws t-shirt at the bar (non-official or @ussoccer-approved) where I watched Wednesday's game said as time expired in San Pedro Sula, "Well, that sucked." Not exactly the greatest way to kick off the final round of CONCACAF 2014 World Cup Qualifying, was it? There's a tendency to freak out and overreact

The Hondurans are Coming!

2013-02-04T19:33:00.001-05:00

Roger "Danger" Espinoza Ho-lee crap. If you're like me, your sleep pattern over the last week has been flushed straight down the toilet. You're twisting. You're turning. You're having bad dreams -- nightmares in fact. All because of one man: Roger Espinoza. Goodness gracious, did you see the Honduran midfielder's debut for Wigan Athletic in the Barclay's Premier League vs. Stoke City last

Arresting Development

2013-01-28T19:15:00.000-05:00

Can he play in Europe? Can he start for the USMNT? Can Fiji Water hydrate me properly after a grueling day signing autographs? *** Remember paper? You know, that stuff we used to read stuff on. You might remember it referred to as "papyrus." It was made out of wood pulp, or something. It's hard to really say. This "paper" was invented by the ancient Egyptians and, presumably, the

Thrill is gone

2012-11-28T15:31:00.003-05:00

Insanity: Actively choosing to spend two hours watching Sunderland play QPR. Anyone remember that delightful 1990s sitcom, "Mad About You"? For a while there you couldn't avoid it, either through it's part of NBC's so-called "Must See TV" lineup or in reruns. Now, in 2012, it appears to have disappeared entirely (much like it's female lead Helen Hunt although I read she's in some new movie -

Go back to Russia

2012-11-14T12:13:00.002-05:00

Russia 2, United States 2. So the American script under Jurgen Klinsmann survives to live another day and make the long winter before the qualifier against Honduras in February a little more palatable. This game was the United States, as it stands currently in a nutshell. Sloppy play in your own half to give up a goal? Check. Minimal creativity from the midfield? Check. Tim Howard

Nyet Gains

2012-11-13T15:37:00.000-05:00

"U-S-A, c'mon and raise up" -- Petey Pablo. 2012 was supposed to be an "off" year for the United States national team, wasn't it? That was the impression most of us were working under, right? It wasn't a World Cup year or even a Gold Cup year. The U23s failed to qualify for the London Olympics, so we couldn't even circle that on the calendar. On top of that, as the calendar turned to

Job, done

2012-10-16T21:36:00.000-04:00

"Congratulations Elaine on a job ... done." -- J. Peterman, Seinfeld Crisis averted. The U.S. National Team will advance to the final round of CONCACAF 2014 World Cup qualification. That was fun. Realistically, there's not a ton to say following the U.S.'s 3-1 win over Guatemala in Kansas City. It was a fairly straightforward stuff and an overall solid American performance all things

Fear fun?

2012-10-15T11:40:00.003-04:00

He'll never be the head of a major corporation. Sometimes you wouldn't know it, but investing your god-given free time in following sports is supposed to be, umm, fun. Right? For instance, the 2012 baseball season following my Detroit Tigers was, in essence, six months of agita and misery -- until Justin Verlander's epic pitching performance in the ALDS Game 5 clincher vs. the Oakland

Trust me?

2012-10-11T14:45:00.000-04:00

He's saying foul, yes? "You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati," -- Ex-Bengals coach Sam Wyche during a 1989 incident when fans were throwing stuff on the field at Riverfront Stadium. Part of what many people would argue that makes soccer the best game on the planet is that "everybody" plays it, meaning different cultures influence the way the game is played in perceived in

Game Theory

2012-10-05T12:09:00.002-04:00

If this picture is 'Greek' to you, I both envy and pity you at the same time. When blogs die, to they go to digital heaven? Perhaps the only way to answer such a question would be with a series of 1s and 0s. It's likely not important anyway. Or maybe that was the title of recently discovered Philip K. Dick short story. I'm not entirely sure. Either way, it's always sad when you run a

Buy Moi

2012-09-21T11:22:00.002-04:00

Thank you Malaga for being poor overnight. One of the many terrible things about sports media is, in general, we're a lazy sort. Stereotypes, cliches, assumptions are all a lot simpler than digging deep for the hard truths. This isn't the be-all, end-all to the business, simply a reality. Writing big, dumb headlines or links to goofy videos to draw eyeballs and traffic tends to win out over

Three points, mon

2012-09-11T23:30:00.000-04:00

U.S. 1, Jamaica 0 There's probably a very rote way to discuss Tuesday night's 2014 CONCACAF World Cup qualifier from Columbus, Ohio, including two massive, mandatory points which must be discussed. 1. The U.S. took care of business and got three points, erasing the memory of the ugly defeat in Kingston three days ago. 1a. Jurgen Klinsmann's five lineup changes, notably taking big gambles

Just win, mon

2012-09-10T19:07:00.000-04:00

Super Timmy Howard "Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten me into." -- Oliver Hardy The dust has settled, somewhat, from the U.S.'s "shock" defeat in Kingston to Jamaica on Friday night in the second round of CONCACAF 2014 World Cup qualifying. Every round of qualifying for the United States is filled with some temporary peril, even if it only lasts a few days -- or hours. You'd have

Uncool runnings

2012-09-08T11:45:00.000-04:00

All part of the "process." Jamaica 2, United States 1 Part of me didn't even want to do a postgame analysis, talking points, rant, etc. The simplest thing would have been to simple run a list of what Twitter had to say about Jermaine Jones following the match, which was some variation of the following: I hope Jermaine Jones never wears a U.S. jersey again. A disgrace, and not even a

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme

2012-09-06T11:27:00.000-04:00

"That's all well and good for sheep, but what are we to do?" -- Rod (maybe Todd) Flanders, "Homer Loves Flanders" A nice title for a preview of Friday's CONCACAF World Cup qualifier between the United States and Jamaica would have been, "Hooray, Soccer ... that actually counts" which probably would have been too long, so I'll use the Red Stripe joke here and get it out of the way so we can

Transformers

2012-08-31T19:07:00.000-04:00

Winner two years running: Natalie Sawyer. Simple question: what's the better way to do your Christmas shopping? 1. Carefully map out a plan to make your purchases online and at the malls, big boxes and what have you at your own leisure? 2. Camp out on "Black Friday" in front of your local Best Buy to save 17 percent on Dre Beats headphones? 3. Wait to the last second, fight off Arnold