OldSchoolSnapper

There are a lot of problems in US Soccer but one is just America in general and the way we idolize a forward every WC. That's a very American thing. Pulisic, Donovan, etc. are ok. They're ok. These aren't even top 50 world players. It's hard for me to get U13 players to even want to play defense. It's a cultural thing, our obsession with points and being the guy who scores, we would never glorify a player like van Dijk or Saliba in the US. We've fallen off at GK because GK has changed. It's not about elite shot stoppers anymore. Not coincidentally, shot stopping isn't a skill you'd need to be in Spain to develop as a youth, and a lot of it can be trained in a solitary manner. We were able to do that just fine because it was the one position very different from the others. The best ones now have excellent foot skills, play 30 yards off the goal and are essentially part of the offense. All things that other places do better than we do.

Brutal night. I was one of the suckers that flew out to SEA for the game. I wanted just to see a game with a home USA crowd, so I got to do that, and was fully resigned to losing this game, but the manner in which they did is the worst way it could have happened. It pretty much erased anything that happened prior, this is what their '26 team will be remembered for. They won a group that saw 3/4 advance and Paraguay went down swinging (perhaps literally). To make themselves a story with Balogun and then have him, and everyone, do nothing, was ouch. I am not so delusional to think him playing turned any kind of tide though. These squads weren't even close to each other. Our one goal was fortunate. I think reality is somewhere between they are still a long way away from European standards, and they had a bad night. Not sure they are as terrible as they looked, but they definitely had some artificial wind going in the sails. I'm not sure the casuals who hopped on realize how much worse Pulisic is than the best Belgians. That Pulisic is who he is in the US says a lot about where our program is. And that's okay, because honestly, he's had a very solid overseas career. But De Bruyne is one of the best midfielders of the last couple decades - in the world - not just a guy who stars for his national team and scores a few goals in Serie A. Not hating on Pulisic, he's the best we've produced, but that's the reality. And Belgium is a huge underdog against Spain. The goalie and backline are in dire straits right now. They have a back who's older than I am and there's not much to say about the goalies. US Soccer lacks a development pyramid that weeds out bad players. And an MLS problem. I think this level of play is about as much as this current system is capable of achieving. They're just nowhere close to that top tier. The crowd certainly did their part. Even though it was clearly going one way and we looked awful, they were still standing and screaming all the way through that 3rd embarrassing goal.

Had the US lost to Bosnia playing 10 v 11 we'd be the ones up in arms and the result couldn't be changed. They had to play 1/3 of the game down a man due to that ridiculous card. That was already unfair as it is. FIFA is terrible, no argument there. But this is nothing as far as "unfair" is concerned. Belgium can win the game with the roster at full strength and all is well for them. It'd be weak as hell to whine about him playing when his foul had nothing to do with them anyway.

Balogun isn't the best player on the team. I'd say it's the Packers having to beat a team that's maybe a bit better than they are and without Christian Watson. Balogun, like Watson, gives them something nobody else on the roster does. He's an elite finisher. They were sorely missing that in 2022. His story is pretty interesting. He is a birthright American due to his parents being told they couldn't fly back to London when his mom was 7+ months pregnant due to safety concerns with the pregnancy. Belgium is a tactically superior team but not as athletic as the US. Their best players are getting up there in years and they will be 4 days off playing a 120-minute game. Seattle is the best city in the country to have a home soccer crowd. It's a winnable game. But the USMNT has shown to be capable of playing horrible games against bad teams, which Belgium is not. I am hoping the energy in the air carries them through. If the US can dictate the pace and turn this into a footrace, they will win. If they go behind early and Belgium can sit back, it'll be tough. They will probably need another moment from somebody like Freeman, Tillman, Pepi. If he'd been playing, I really felt like this was going to be a huge night for US Soccer. A mild upset, getting to the quarters, a matchup with powerhouse Spain. It would be a big step forward. I don't see it as a sure thing without Balogun.

I like offsides but a simple change that would be consistent with the rest of its rules (ball must be completely out, ball must be completely over the line) would just be making it that the entire player has to be offsides, not his finger tip.

.1% I'm guessing they don't even file any kind of injunction. Because it's FIFA the most likely way he'd play is if Trump directly bribed them.

Atrocious night of officiating even outside that laughable red. I really liked their chances to beat Belgium in Seattle. Without Balogun that's very hard to see happening. He is by far their most dynamic goal scorer. Just an awful thing to happen on a truly terrible piece of officiating.

Either Dyson and Shark aren't what they used to be or these things have limited use for certain homes. I've yet to see a robo vac that actually replaces a good full vacuuming of the house. Last time I went on vacation I set the thing up to go as I left. I wasn't even out of town before my phone lit up that it was stuck. Checked camera and sure enough, it was halfway off the top of the stairs having a seizure. It gets stuck on cords under sofas or a piece of fabric on a chew toy all the time. Even when I'm home and run them, I almost always end up having to kick it off of something. The actual vacuuming they do is great, but they are just not that smart despite the name. When I visit my brother in a medium sized apartment, the thing is great because he has nothing on the floor. For most families with kids and a good amount of stuff, I just don't find them all that impressive unless it's a controlled environment that you prepped for them - which causes my doubts about the lawnmowers. In the picture above it looks ideal for the little guy to do his thing, but I think most suburban homes would spend a lot of time cleaning up what it missed. I just don't see either as set it and forget it quite yet.

Jordan Love is probably already a Top 5 GB QB or maybe 6th if you are going the Arnie Herber route. There's nothing left to beat on the Fire MLF horse, but I think the big difference is that the latest extension seems to be an endorsement of mediocrity. 9-10 win seasons and the 7th seed is acceptable. That and if you believe Love is good enough, which I do, we're wasting precious years with futile leadership.

This is a great era of Brewers baseball but this line of thinking doesn't hit quite as validly when MLB continues inching more toward the NBA by letting half of each league into the postseason. It's much, much easier to do now. Yeah we would have made it anyway winning our division, but it's a completely natural progression for people to bore of simply making the playoffs and want to win once. There's nothing greedy or spoiled about it. I still think they will win in this era. They will get lucky once if they keep getting chances. Miz can almost singlehandedly give them 2 or even 3 wins in a 7 gamer against any team. Much has been said about the hitting, I don't think it can get much better than it is. They absolutely need steadier bullpen arms though.

Um, ok? I am breathing just fine. I think it's highly unlikely they don't make the playoffs especially in this new NBA format. They are one of the best 5 teams in baseball. But that doesn't change the fact that they have two highly volatile guys in a CBC role that struggle with command and like to put runners on base. That will be fun watching them close a potential game with ATL, PHL or LAD. And yeah, I'm not really concerned about the likes of the Reds. They could lose all 4 games but teams like that won't be their undoing.

They really don't have anybody who is. Uribe is best, but he is not what I'd want to call my best in the playoffs. They really need somebody.

Lol, probably not what I was hoping to hear. I've had robotic vacuums forever and I would describe them as "OK." They don't fall down the stairs, but they consistently get stuck on the top step molding and error and stop. Any cords or anything, forget about it. They're great if I can close a door and trap them in one fairly empty room, but outside of that they aren't that great. They're wonderful if you're older or without kids and pets.

I want one of these as I am mowing two properties, each are about .3 acre lots, but it's a huge time suck. I am most intrigued by its ability to go where it's supposed to, stay out of trouble, and go around objects. Lots of soccer goals, yard ornaments etc. I'm on a busy road so if it goes on an adventure that's a problem. I've been eyeing them up for years though. I'm just so sick of spending at least 3 hours a week doing it.

I'd put them about 50/50 against this iteration of Belgium on their home field. A win in that game would separate this WC from "they beat who they should have" and move into the territory of real progress for the national team, that they could beat a strong program in a real game. They'd have Spain in the quarters, so that would be it barring a Miracle on Turf.

I like having more teams in the WC. But this 3rd place finisher thing is already fixing to be controversial. Algeria and Austria may enter the game tonight knowing they can draw and both advance. If there is an outcome either way, the loser is out in favor of Iran most likely. They are both incentivized to play passively. It renders teams playing at the same time less relevant than it was and opens the door for another Disgrace of Gijon

That quote is one of the centerpieces of the article I mentioned. It stuck with a lot of the players.

About as big of a series as you can have in June. Ending the weekend 3.5 up is really inviting them back into this thing. Nothing is over in June but +9.5 is demoralizing. Really want to grab at least 2 of these.

Not true. The recent, lengthy, excellent post mortem on the divorce from JSOnline states in very certain terms that Giannis was not given any input at all as to hiring Rivers. There was universal agreement in the FO however that Rivers was the right call. Giannis has been desperate for coaching for some time now. Article also delves into the players souring on Bud because he was militant, only to regret it years later and cry out for a militant coach who had control of the team. Spoelstra is probably a huge reason Giannis wants Miami. The most painful part of all this is going to be watching how much better Spoelstra does.

I don't have a great feeling about the upcoming year. This team just seems loaded with "what ifs" and like a handful of them are banking on their best players to come back from serious injuries. Most of them might, but at least one of those guys is likely not going to the same player again. Parsons, as good as he was last year before being hurt, just gives me that feeling of something we'll be looking back on and wondering what it could have been. They are not going to be a deep team by any stretch either. Combined with MLF being given, to me, a very questionable extension, and the issues with Jacobs...it just gives me this feeling in my gut that the wheels might pop off this season and they are subsequently looking at a soft rebuild of sorts next year. It just feels reminiscent of how I felt going into 2018. Running it back too many times with a stale crew that just isn't good enough.

The rebound shot from whoever that was after Pulisic's first shot is embarrassing for a professional soccer player. Last night doesn't really change anything I thought about this team, whose ceiling I still think is the quarterfinal (MAYBE making the semi if they get a favorable draw and play exceptionally well), but it's clear they have very little depth. Ousmane won Ballon d'Or last year and he doesn't even automatically start for the French. Spain and Argentina's bench are starters almost anywhere else. The US ever winning this tournament was beyond silly. It's about the same as plopping Ohio State in the NFL and thinking they might win the Super Bowl.

I've probably asked myself why and how Tim Ream is still a starter 40 times the last 2 weeks, but I got my answer.

I was one of people pushing Favre out the door, and years before he left and had the surgent 2007 season. But Favre would had to have left in like 1999 for that to be an apt comparison, and it would have gone, very, very poorly.

Yeah, that is the crux of it though. There's nothing even remotely comparable about the Bucks to the city of GB on a Packers game day even if the team is bad. Also, if you walk into a bar in the Northwoods in March, you're more likely to see House Hunters on the TV than the Bucks game. They're just not a state team.

I mean, no you don't, because it is relevant to the question of overall impact on the state. The team moving isn't relevant either, really, since the structure of the Packers make it impossible otherwise it would have happened a long time ago. >All they did was bring a SB back and nothing more That's a huge simplification, especially since Favre was HUGE before they ever won it. Giannis may have saved the franchise from leaving, but a huge population in the state would have just shrugged if that had happened. They're by far the state's 4th team, after both professional teams and the Badgers. If the team's stature doesn't matter then we might as well throw Dennis Hall and Bonnie Blair in the conversation. Favre absolutely saved the Packers from a brutal period of basement dwelling and is the single person most responsible for the expectation of winning that has persisted since he got there. The whole relocation thing is just a bit disingenuous. It's not like if Hank Aaron had done a little more the Braves would have stayed in MKE. Because Herb Kohl kept them in MKE if we're getting technical, not Giannis. Giannis had no pull as far as Elon Musk buying the team and moving them to wherever.