Messi: Argentinean For God?

You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him.

Have to start with the hot topic of the week: Lionel Messi. If you haven’t heard of him -- and even my mom was asking about him so I assume you have as well -- he’s good. It was almost like the Arsenal defense was Billy Madison “playing” the clarinet after Eric just ripped off a violin solo. There’s nothing you can do, so you might as well just admit it.

The four-goal eruption this week was just the latest example of why he’s the best in the world. I never thought Cristiano Ronaldo was better than him; the only thing CRon has an advantage in is free kicks and looking like an Oompa Loompa. Earlier this week I tossed out the idea to a friend or two that Messi is better, but Wayne Rooney was more important to his team because of all the help Messi has at Barcelona. Then I find out -- because I rarely get a chance to watch Spanish games -- that Thierry Henry only has three goals in La Liga, probably because those refs don’t let you use your hands in the box. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has 15, but Dimitar Berbatov has 12 (really?!?!) to give Wayne a similar foil.

So at this point, Messi is just the best. Period.

Diego Maradona said earlier this week that Messi is “playing a kick-about with Jesus.” Pretty sure he had to go pee in a cup after that comment, but I’m feeling what Diego is saying. There’s no one on his level and Messi is now must see TV. What ABC really needs is for the U.S.A. to get out of the group, beat either Germany or Ghana (this is assuming the U.S. finishes in second, and I hope I don’t have to root against our long shot in Ghana) and then play Argentina on July 3 (assuming Argentina win their group). I still don’t trust the Albicelestes to win the World Cup because of Maradona on the bench, but we’ve seen players win titles in spite of their coaches (see L.A. Galaxy in the Steve Sampson era).

This week’s thrashing of the Gunners leads in to El Clasico tomorrow at 4 pm. I was hoping ESPN would pony up and take the game away from GolTV for HD purposes, but they are showing the North Carolina spring football game (ESPN) and poker (ESPN2) so it’s understandable why they wouldn’t want to bump those. Plus, having Ray Hudson call the game is sufficient consolation.

So be sure to at least DVR the Barcelona - Real Madrid game tomorrow. It’ll be worth 90 minutes of your time.

Of course that’s not all that’s going on…

- Following El Clasico is the inaugural game of MLS’s newest rivalry: Philly v. D.C. Apparently United are taking at least 1,000 supporters, or an equivalent of a FC Dallas home game, to The Linc which should add to the atmosphere in the NFL stadium. With these two teams, I think the atmosphere is going to need all the help it can get. The Union are talking about adding Carlos Ruiz or Luciano Emilio, but they won’t have that offensive help this week. They will see Fred’s debut against his old club, but again I don’t see any goals coming without some help from Troy Perkins. Conversely, though I haven’t seen United, my guess is they’ll score, but only from the penalty spot thanks to Philly’s thuggish defense. After watching Barça-Real, this is going to be a tough one to stomach.

VP Joe Biden will be at the game for a ceremonial first kick. It’s a shame the Union didn’t open with New England so Biden and Steve Nicol could exchange F-bombs.

- So Tiger started out pretty good yesterday. Hope he didn’t blow his load early. I was shocked slash disappointed that he wasn’t the “featured group” on the Masters.com broadcast. But our boy Kevin pointed out they didn’t have a “featured groupies” channel. Should be interesting to see how the weekend plays out. CBS of course is hoping for a final pairing of Tom Watson -- how is he still getting it done? Viagra? -- and Tiger for a ratings bonanza. For my money, though, El Clasico is a tradition just like this.

- Speaking of CBS ratings, that was a hell of a game on Monday night. It was good enough that my girlfriend was even into it and complaining about calls Duke was getting. I don’t think the second half officiating was as bad as the first and a great example is Zoubek’s fouls: first half 0 fouls, second half 4 fouls. Having said that, you aren’t going to win a title shooting 32.8% from the field. Howard missed too many easy chances early on when they could’ve put some pressure on Duke. It was great resiliency from Butler, though, and a great tournament for them. However, as a Terp fan the tourney was all down hill after an amazing first day. At least I’m not a Georgetown fan.

Also, let me add my voice to the droves against expanding the tournament. Yes, I completely understand Gary Williams being in favor for job security. He wouldn’t have been under fire for missing the NCAA’s those few years as a bubble team much the same that Fridge hasn’t been because he can go to a crap bowl in San Francisco that, aside from alumni or gamblers, only has ten people watch. But the point is, it’s great to root for a George Mason or a Northern Iowa, but only when they’re playing the Dukes or Villanovas, not when they play each other. If they think that’s going to be a ratings boom, they need to look at the ratings for Bracket Buster Saturday and see how many people tune in to that. My guess is similar to those that watched the past few Maryland bowl games.

Back next week for probably a blog a trois. EDIT: As my buddy Chris said, it would be nice to see the Caps get to 120 points, but somehow we have to root for Pittsburgh to overtake New Jersey this weekend. I just threw up a little in my mouth typing that. It’s either that or rooting against Buffalo in the first round so the Caps don’t see the Pens until the Conference Finals. Scott should have a preview sometime next week and Bushman is claiming to have some good info for his stuff next week. That is, if he finds the time while not earning our tax dollars being hard at work. Yeah, I’m not taking the high road.

Have a great weekend and, as always, thanks for reading.

- Pat Walsh