Monday Musings

"Would Somebody Please Throw Me a Lifeline?"

Big weekend of sports. I'll dispense with the formalities and get to the most interesting stuff. This is a blog originally intended for soccer, so let's get started there:



1. DC United - Tom Soehn, we hardly knew ye.' Of course, that's because the guy was pretty much a jerk to any and all media, and didn't seem to care too much what anybody else thought either. No, he hasn't been fired yet, but 2 straight years without the playoffs for the most successful team in the history of the league? It's gotta happen. In fact, Kevin Payne and Dave Kaspar might not want to answer their phones either. Hats off to Ben Olsen for stating that the players bear a brunt of the responsibility, but if you don't actually HAVE the talent to get to the next level (i.e. Redskins), then Management needs to shoulder much of the blame. Other than Chris Pontius and Rodney Wallace, who are primarily going to be solid role players with this team, do you see anyone in the future who will scare the opposition? Yeah, me neither. Gomez, Emilio, and Moreno are clearly on the downside of their careers, Olsen is beat up, and Simms and Namoff aren't getting younger. I wonder how long before the fanbase starts to get disgusted (again, like the Redskins dwindling faithful)? Time for some wholesale changes, Mr. Chang. How about a phone call to a guy who was dismissed from his MLS club maybe a bit too early and has had some success down in Puerto Rico? You might know him as Colin Clarke...



2. MLS Playoffs - The league got their dream matchup of the L.A. clubs going at it in Galaxy vs. Chivas, but the format still makes no sense to me. The Galaxy finish with the 2nd seed overall, but instead of playing the 7th seed Revolution, they play the 6th seed...something to do w/ the Conference. Ridiculous if you ask me (although nobody asked). The format is still weird, but I guess MLS has their reasons for doing things...whatever. So here are my predictions for the 1st round:



Columbus over Real Salt Lake

Galaxy over Chivas (Best 1st round matchup)

Seattle over Houston

Chicago over New England



3. Liverpool over Manchester United - As my buddy Andy said yesterday, "Liverpool wins their Super Bowl." Good point, as I think it'll be the only thing they win this year. That being said, great performance yesterday as the result was never really in doubt. Plus, they did this without Steven Gerrard, as Jamie Carragher stepped up big time and was the best player on the pitch (although he pretty much fouled everything on 2 feet). On a final note, is it just me or do Berbatov and Rooney seem to be on different pages this year? Just asking...



Other sports:



4. Alabama over Tennessee - The best team in the country was taken down to the wire and were 2 blocked field goals away from being upset. Now they have a bye week to get ready for a hungry LSU squad, with the winner more than likely facing Florida in the SEC Title Game December 5th. I've got a guy on my commuter bus who is a 'Bama alumni and has been giving me grief about Florida's close games...well, it's called the SEC, pal...every game is about surviving and advancing to the next week.



5. Undefeated Teams in College - You COULD (but won't) have as many as 5 unbeaten teams when all is said and done in the regular season. I would love to see this happen just to give a big fat middle finger to the BCS. However, the only time a tournament will happen is when a big time school goes undefeated, is left out of the BCS title Game, and the Conference decides to withdraw from the group (I'm sure there's a legal loophole somewhere they can use). Until then , we're stuck w/ this convoluted mess...



6. Jekyll and Hyde - I have no earthly idea what to expect on a weekly basis from the following NFL teams: Cincinnati, Chicago, NY Jets, and San Francisco.



7. Dependable - However, you know exactly what you're going to get on weekly basis from Indianapolis, New Orleans (although yesterday was a rough start), Denver, and now New England.



8. Dependable part deux - You also know what you're going to get from Kansas City, Oakland, Cleveland, and now Washington.



9. Scheduling - The Redskins play Oakland on December 13th. First team to 6 points gets the win. Also, how many Eagles jerseys will you see at Fed Ex field tonight for the game? Will Dan Snyder even care, or is he just as happy to take Philly fans' money?



10. NFL MVP - SI's Peter King has a hard-on for QB's, who are usually up for this award, but isn't it time Cedric Benson at least entered the conversation? I mean, who had the Bengals being this competitive? At this rate, Marvin Lewis might actually get to keep his job.



That's all for this week. Oh, one final thing; Pat's picture of drunken Homer Simpson and comparing that to me after the KISS concert last week? Pretty much spot on...