The Week That Was

My thanks to Walsh for keeping up the blog last week. I will ignore his repeated jabs at my dedication to this site, though, and play the role of the mature one in our blogging relationship...

So a lot has happened over the weekend in multiple sports; let's get to it.

1. U.S. National Team Insight -

A. Okay, so am I the only one who says that, relatively sight unseen in a U.S. uniform (only 2 caps), that Hercules Gomez (above) be on the World Cup roster? 8 goals in 10 matches (and they weren't the result of cherry picking either), has to include him in the squad, right? I mean, Brian Ching is out for several weeks, Conor Casey just hasn't been dependable, and Robbie Findley and Jeff Cunningham certainly are not able to go to the next level. Charlie Davies looks like he'll be back, but you can't depend on him to play a full 90 minutes after being out for 7 months. He'll be good for 15-20 if you need a goal. But Gomez could prove a good foil for Altidore, and then you could move Dempsey up if you need to. That would give Bradley the 4 forwards a team normally brings for these tournaments.

B. How obvious is it that Maurice Edu should be tabbed to start alongside Michael Bradley in the center of the U.S. midfield? Again, like with Gomes, it's all about current form. Edu is scoring goals as the d-mid for Rangers, something quite unusual for that position normally, but even more so in a rough and tumble league like Scotland's. His skills have developed over the past year, and he's big and athletic. Like a pro coach told me a few weeks ago, "we need to be more physical." Edu, when paired with Bradley, and backed up by DeMerit and (hopefully) Onyewu, gives the middle 4 a more athletic and physical presence the team has lacked for some time. And don't forget about Jermaine Jones' ability to contribute if he can get healthy...

C. There can no longer be any doubt that Marcus Hahnemann is the clear #2 'keeper behind Howard, right? Again, based on current form, if Howard somehow picked up an injury (God forbid), I wouldn't panic if Hahnemann was between the posts in June.

2. Redskins pick up McNabb - Honestly don't know what to think of this move. Sure, it's an upgrade at the QB position, but for how long? When was the last time McNabb stayed healthy for a whole season? Even if the Redskins take Russell Okung with the #4 pick, the line still has a long way to go before they have any credibility. This is the deepest draft in 10 years, at least that's what the experts are saying, and the Redskins have no 2nd or 3rd round picks (they used their 3rd in the supplemental draft last year to take a defensive lineman whose impact was so little that I can't even give you his name and don't care enough to look it up). They also gave up their 6th round pick in the Jason Taylor fiasco. The 'Skins faithful have to be both anxious and excited about this move.

3. College Basketball -

A. So it's a no-brainer that I'm pulling for Butler to beat Duke tonight, but I doubt it'll happen. Somehow beating MSU Sunday while only shooting 31% from the field ain't gonna cut it tonight. However, with a decided home court advantage, this could be the biggest upset since N.C. State beat Houston 25 years ago. And what would be tonight's over/under be for Duke getting charging call?

B. So it would be "beneficial" to expand the basketball tournament to 96 from 64? Wouldn't be beneficial to have an 8-team football tournament to decide the real National Champion of college football? Hello? McFly????? It's like beating your head against a wall, sometimes, isn't it?

4. PDL back to Fredericksburg? - So more than 1 little birdy has told me that the Fredericksburg area is going to field another PDL and W-League team in 2011. It's going to be created by the Fredericksburg Area Soccer Association (FASA), a well-structured and financially secure group that has been around for nearly 30 years. They have hundreds of kids in their youth programs, so stepping up a level is a logical progression. In full disclosure, my father is one of the people who started this organization when it was called the Hotspurs, so I'm a little biased in hoping this comes to fruition. No details have been released yet, and nobody has gone on the record with me yet, but I'm 99.9% sure this is happening next year.

I was going to make some baseball predictions, but then I realized how much I dislike baseball and don't really care...

Look for Scott Morath to give us a hockey playoff preview once it's determined whom the Capitals will face, and as always, Walsh can be counted on to contribute at least once a week.

As always, thanks for reading!