And Then There Were Four...

The semifinals of the world's greatest sporting event are upon us, with Uruguay facing off against the Netherlands on Tuesday, and Germany battling Spain on Wednesday, each for a place in the final.

The last week of competition has left some nations heartbroken, to say nothing of those of us in the first annual Bellingham View World Cup pool.

Here's what happened since we last checked in...

STU
* As of last Sunday, Stu's remaining teams were Spain and Paraguay

* In the round of 16, Spain outlasted Portugal 1-0, while Paraguay played Japan to a soulless 0-0 draw, advancing by a 5-3 margin on penalty kicks

* This set up a quarterfinal matchup between Spain and Paraguay, so Stu was guaranteed to lose one squad. It turned out to be the South Americans, as La Seleccion -- behind yet another late-game goal from Barcelona-bound striker David Villa -- advanced with a 1-0 victory

* Can Spain stop the steamrolling Mannschaft? Vamos a ver.

* Remaining team: Spain

ROBERT
* As of last Sunday, my remaining teams were Portugal and Japan

* From the entry above, you can see that Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal couldn't match the Spaniard Villa's brilliance, and the Japan was unable to repeat its dead-ball prowess from the Denmark match and failed to advance past Paraguay

* Eliminated

KIMO
* As of last Sunday, Kimo's remaining teams were Brazil and Ghana

* Pre-tournament favorites Brazil looked stellar in the group stage and even moreso in their 3-1 victory over Chile in the round of 16, combining a sturdy Dunga-mandated defense with a strong attack. So, it was not a shock to see them go up 1-0 through Robinho within the first quarter-hour against the Netherlands, and narrowly miss going up 2-0 through Kaka just past the half-hour mark. What was a shock, however, was to see them give up two Wesley Sneidjer goals, then have to play a good deal of the second half a man down after Felipe Melo's stupid stomping of the otherwise lamentable Arjen Robben. No samba in Brazil this year.

* People with far greater writing ability than I have failed to come up with words that would adequately describe the sporting tragedy that was Ghana's hearbreaking loss to Uruguay in the quarterfinals. I still don't believe what I saw unfold on that TV screen, but Ghana is out, and we can only hope that the cheating Uruguayans will be rolled in humiliating fashion by the Dutch.

* Eliminated

JOHN
* As of last Sunday, John's three remaining teams were the Argentina, the Netherlands and Slovakia, the latter two of which met in the round of 16

* The upstart Slovakians couldn't keep the momentum of their historic defeat of the defending world champions Italy, losing 2-1 to the Netherlands, who then went on to deliver the above-mentioned knockout punch to Brazil

* Argentina was demolished 4-0 by a rampaging Germany squad, ending Diego Maradona's hopes of doing the World Cup double of winning as both a player and coach

* I'll be rooting for the Dutch to destroy Uruguay; oddly enough, John won't be, as a win will put the Oranje one victory from joining the exclusive club of World Cup winners, an outcome that offends Mr. Chamberlain's sensibilities to no end

* Remaining team: Netherlands

DAVE
* As of last Sunday, Dave's remaining teams were Germany, Uruguay and Chile

* The Chileans were dispatched with ease by Brazil

* As stated above, Germany continued its roll through the competition by crushing Argentina, and Uruguay parlayed a last-second goal-line handball/straight red card into an improbable and undeserved berth in the semis

* Remaining teams: Germany, Uruguay

Goals

For those whiny sticks in the mud who claim they hate soccer because no one ever scores, the first four knockout round matches of World Cup 2010 played yesterday and today resulted in a total of 15 goals, with no match having fewer than three.

Not bad, imho.

In terms of the pool...

STU

* The United States were eliminated on Saturday at the hands of Ghana, losing 2-1.

* Remaining teams as of Sunday night: Spain and Paraguay

ROBERT

* The Three Lions of England were unceremoniously dumped by a rampaging, counter-attacking Germany squad by a margin of 4-1 on Sunday

* Mexico was also bounced out, with the Albiceleste of Argentina besting El Tri 3-1

* Remaining teams as of Sunday night: Portugal and Japan

KIMO

* Mr. Proudfoot didn't lose a team this weekend

* Ghana showed the U.S. the door, 2-1, earning a quarterfinal clash with Uruguay

* Brazil plays Chile on Monday

* Remaining teams as of Sunday night: Brazil and Chile

JOHN

* Much to his chagrin, Mr. Chamberlain also survived the weekend without losing a team, but he'll bid farewell to either the Netherlands or Slovakia on Monday, as they play one another

* He can't bring himself to root for them, but his Argentines rolled over Mexico today

* Remaining teams as of Sunday night: Netherlands, Argentina, Slovakia

DAVE

* Dave's Germans are looking strong after the England victory, but they face a buzz-saw in Argentina for their quarterfinal match

* Uruguay beat South Korea on Sunday and faces Ghana on Friday in the quarterfinals

* Chile goes up against the biggest giants of them all, Brazil, on Monday

* Remaining teams as of Sunday night: Germany, Uruguay and Chile

The Knockout Stage

After two weeks of thrilling action, the group stage of World Cup 2010 South Africa has come to an end, with 16 teams remaining to enter the knockout stage of the competition, which begins today.

Which brings us to our World Cup pool, in which four friends and I each drew six teams out of a hat, with $10 (I erroneously thought it was $20 in my initial post on the subject) from each to be paid to the person holding the golden ticket bearing the name of the eventual World Cup–winning nation.

And, of course, things didn't quite go according to form.

STU
1. Spain: La Seleccion were pre-tournament favorites, but they shockingly lost their first game to Switzerland before recovering with two stylish wins over Honduras and Chile. Player for player, they have the most talented squad in South Africa. It will be interesting to see if these Galacticos can put it together for a deep run. Next up: Portugal, on Tuesday, in what could be one of the most exciting matches of the Cup.

2. Italy (eliminated): The defending champion Azzurri were embarrassingly knocked out in round one, after three awful performances.

3. United States: Playing the role of comeback kids, the Americans rallied to secure two dramatic draws in their first two matches (albeit, the first via a gift from the English) and then won their third on a thrilling injury-time winner by Landon Donovan. Next up: Ghana, today.

4. Paraguay: The least-bad of the teams in Group F, Paraguay topped the group which defined underachievement. Next up: Japan, on Tuesday.

5. Australia (eliminated): The Socceroos couldn't repeat their charmed run of 2006, exiting the cup after a win, draw and loss in the group stage on goal differential to Ghana.

6. North Korea (eliminated): Their sole highlight was scoring against Brazil in their opening match.

ROBERT
1. England: The Three Lions have looked incredibly shaky, with a poor draw against the U.S. following goalkeeper Robert Green's gaffe heard 'round the world in their first match and a thoroughly disastrous draw against Algeria in their second redeemed only by an unexciting but effective 1-0 win over Slovenia to secure second place in Group C. Next up: Germany, tomorrow.

2. Portugal: One of world soccer's most stylish and yet confounding squads, Portugal had a truly bizarre first stage, with scoreless draws vs. the Ivory Coast and Brazil sandwiched around a 7-0 thrashing of North Korea. Can star Cristiano Ronaldo -- arguably the world's second-best player -- lead them to the promised land? Next up: Spain, on Tuesday.

3. Mexico: El Tri was fortunate to escape their opening match against hosts South Africa with a draw, then they thumped 2006 finalists France before losing to Uruguay by a goal to finish second in Group A. Next up: Argentina, tomorrow.

4. Cameroon (eliminated): Striker Samuel Eto'o is coming off two unprecedented seasons on club level, winning league titles, domestic cups and the European Champions League in each of the past two years with two different teams -- Barcelona and Inter Milan -- but he and his countrymen couldn't advance out of the group stage, losing to Japan, Denmark and the Netherlands in succession for a disappointing result to their 2010 campaign.

5. Honduras (eliminated): Losses to Chile and Spain and a draw to Switzerland equaled a hasty exit from the group stage.

6. Japan: Tenacious performances by Japan led to 1-0 win over Cameroon and a 3-1 decision over Denmark, enough to overcome their 1-0 loss to Netherlands and secure passage to the knockout stage. Next up: Paraguay, on Tuesday.

KIMO
1. Brazil: The Selecao predictably triumphed in Group G, defeating North Korea and the Ivory Coast before being held to a scoreless draw by an overly defensive Portugal squad in their third match. The world's favorite team has added a defensive mindset to their offensive flair in 2010, and they're hungry to take home the trophy for the sixth time. Next up: Chile, on Monday.

2. France (eliminated): Providing the best soap opera of the tournament, France drew their first match against Uruguay, had starting striker Nicolas Anelka thrown out of the team following their second-game drubbing by Mexico, then saw captain Patrice Evra benched for the game three loss to South Africa following an argument with Les Bleus' trainer that resulted in said trainer and the vice-chair of the French Football Federation quitting in disgust and the team refusing to train. Sacrebleu! And good riddance.

3. Serbia (eliminated): Shocking Germany with a 1-0 victory in their second match will remain their highlight of 2010, as losses to Ghana and Australia led to a quick ouster.

4. Nigeria (eliminated): The Super Eagles' hopes of being Africa's standard-bearers were dashed with losses to Argentina and Greece and a draw to South Korea.

5. Ghana: They lost talisman Michael Essien to injury before the World Cup even started, but Ghana have persevered, beating Serbia in their opening match and drawing with Australia in their second before losing to group toppers Germany in their last first round contest. Next up: the U.S., today.

6. Denmark (eliminated): The Danes were not great, losing 2-0 to the Netherlands and then being dumped 3-1 by South Korea. Consolation prize: their second-match 2-1 win over Cameroon.

JOHN
1. Netherlands: The Dutch won all three of their group stage matches to win Group E on nine points, but their Total Football style was never truly in evidence. The return of Arjen Robben from injury will help in the knockout round. Next up: Slovakia, on Monday.

2. Argentina: The Albiceleste have gone marauding through the group stage, easily topping Nigeria, South Korea and Greece to cruise into the knockout round on nine points, behind the scoring exploits of Gonzalo Higuain and the playmaking of the world's best player, Lionel Messi. Caution: The Argentines similarly dominated group play in 2006 only to flop in knockout time. And who knows what distraction manager Diego Maradona will provide. Next up: Mexico, tomorrow.

3. Greece (eliminated): The Greeks were hammered by South Korea and Argentina, rendering their win over Nigeria useless. Their win in Euro 2004 must be hereby consigned to an aberrant fluke.

4. Ivory Coast (eliminated): Didier Drogba gamely played through a broken arm but even his brilliance couldn't pull Les Elephantes through what many deemed the "group of death," with Brazil and Portugal ultimately proving too much.

5. Slovakia: After a draw to New Zealand and a bad loss to Paraguay, Slovakia thought they needed a miracle to advance out of the group stage. Luckily for them, they got one better: Italy for an opponent. Slovakia completely out-hustled and outplayed their more celebrated final-match adversaries and deservingly went through after a thrilling 3-2 victory. Next up: the Netherlands, on Monday.

6. South Korea: A 2-0 win over Greece got their campaign off to a nice start before Argentina kicked them all over the park 4-1. A 2-2 draw with Nigeria got them into the knockout round. Next up: Uruguay, today. UPDATE: In a very good match played in a driving rain, South Korea was level with Uruguay deep into the second half, before succumbing to some individual brilliance by Luis Suarez and losing 2-1.

DAVE
1. Germany: A favorite to perform well at any major competition due to superior organizational skills and a deep sense of national pride, the three-time World Cup champions got off to a rousing start at South Africa 2010 with a 4-0 demolition of Australia before stumbling a bit in a 1-0 loss to Serbia. They regained their footing with a 1-0 victory over Ghana to top Group D. Next up: England, tomorrow.

2. Uruguay: Two-time champions Uruguay drew with France in their opener and then easily handled South Africa (3-0) before edging Mexico 1-0 to win Group A. Next up: South Korea, today. UPDATE: A terrific brace by Luis Suarez has taken Uruguay to the quarterfinals after a 2-1 victory over South Korea.

3. Chile: A pair of 1-0 wins over Honduras and Switzerland put Chile in position to win Group H, but a 2-0 loss to Spain left them second. Next up: Brazil, on Monday.

4. Slovenia (eliminated): When Slovenia beat Algeria 1-0 in their first match and jumped to a 2-0 lead over the U.S. in their second, they must have thought their football dreams were about to come true. Two second-half strikes by the U.S. left Slovenia smarting at having to settle for a draw, and when they couldn't score against England, their campaign was over.

5. Algeria (eliminated): It's hard to win if you don't score, and the Algerians never found the net in South Africa, going scoreless in a draw and two losses in Group C.

6. South Africa (eliminated): The hosts have put on a nice tournament, but Bafana Bafana unfortunately became the first host in World Cup history not to advance out of group play. But, they did have that glorious win over the hapless French in their last match.

More to come...

Mondiale di calcio

World Cup 2010 is upon us, with the world's premier sporting event set to kick off this Friday as the Bafana Bafana of host nation South Africa square off against Los Tricolores of Mexico.

And what would a major sporting competition be without a wager? So, four friends and I drew teams out of a hat, with $20 from each to be paid to the person holding the golden ticket bearing the name of the eventual World Cup–winning nation.

After dropping what we agreed were probably the two lowest seeds in the tournament – New Zealand and Switzerland – we put the remaining 30 teams in three pods of 10, roughly according to the most recent FIFA world rankings, with seeds 1–10 in group one, seeds 11–20 in group two and seeds 21–30 in group three. Each player selected two teams from each group, for a total of six national teams per player.

And the results...

STU

1. Spain

2. Italy

3. United States

4. Paraguay

5. Australia

6. Korea DPR (North Korea)

ROBERT

1. England

2. Portugal

3. Mexico

4. Cameroon

5. Honduras

6. Japan

KIMO

1. Brazil

2. France

3. Serbia

4. Nigeria

5. Ghana

6. Denmark

JOHN

1. Netherlands

2. Argentina

3. Greece

4. Ivory Coast

5. Slovakia

6. Korea Republic (South Korea)

DAVE

1. Germany

2. Uruguay

3. Chile

4. Slovenia

5. Algeria

6. South Africa

I'll be rooting for the Three Lions of England, as they're my highest-rated squad, but I'll happily forego the $80 prize if the Azzurri of Italy – my favorite team since childhood – can somehow regain form to repeat as champions and tie Brazil's record of having won five World Cups.

Forza Azzurri!

Beautiful Game Turns Ugly

The Confederations Cup rolled into its second weekend today with stunning results.

But before we get to that, let’s salute Spain and its 2-0 victory over South Africa yesterday, in which La Selección set a FIFA record for 15 consecutive wins in official competitions and tied Brazil’s streak of 35 matches in a row without a loss.

Now, for today’s positively absurd results.

Italy went into today’s match vs. Brazil needing to beat the South American giants and then get some help to advance to the semifinals. If they beat Brazil outright, a U.S. win over Egypt would likely put them through, depending on the goal situation. Failing that, they needed to hold Brazil to a draw and then hope that the U.S. beat Egypt 1-0.

Egpyt could advance by beating the U.S.

The only possible way the U.S. could advance would be by destroying Egpyt and having Italy be trounced by Brazil.

You know where this is headed.

After an initial 10 or 15 minutes in which they had a few scoring chances and looked aggressive, Italy then proceeded to fall apart completely, in a debacle reminiscent of the fast-breaking counter-attack whipping they suffered at the hands of The Netherlands in last summer’s Euro 08.

Brazil ran rampant toward the end of the first half, sprinting up and down the pitch to earn three goals in a 10-minute span, including two by now-ubiquitous striker Luis Fabiano and an own-goal by Andrea Dossena that, to be fair, would’ve easily been converted by Brazil for the third had the defender not accidentally pushed it past keeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Neither side could score in the second half, with Brazil coasting to a 3-0 victory and nine points from three wins to take Group B.

Now, Italy would have to hope the hapless U.S. -- which had lost to Italy and then been eviscerated by Brazil -- could somehow find some heart and beat Egypt in a low-scoring match.

But, no, Egypt went right into the tank, improbably losing 3-0 to the Stars and Stripes, leaving Italy, Egpyt and the U.S. all tied with three points.

Both Italy and the U.S. had goal differentials of -2, eliminating Egypt (-3) in the first tiebreaker.

The second tiebreaker – goals scored – favored the U.S., who’d managed to net four vs. Italy’s three, sending the Italians home and the U.S. into the semifinals where they’ll face Spain on Wednesday.

Good luck with that.

The Beautiful Game

A year from now, the world’s attention will shift to South Africa for the FIFA World Cup 2010 Finals, the quadrennial assemblage of global soccer’s best national teams.

A year in advance, a smaller group of international squads have gathered there to compete in the Confederations Cup, a precursor to the big dance. Europe 2008 champions Spain, defending World Cup champions Italy, global soccer powerhouse Brazil and the United States have joined Egypt, Iraq, New Zealand and host country South Africa for the two-week tournament that began yesterday.

And what a tournament it has been so far! Spain picked up right where they left off in dominating Euro 08 with a 5-0 thrashing of New Zealand yesterday, behind a hat trick within the first 15 minutes of play by striker Fernando Torres.

Today brought a barn-burner between Brazil and Egpyt, a seven-goal seesaw thriller that the South American giants were fortunate to win 4-3 on an injury time penalty kick by former world footballer of the year Kaka, he of the recent enormous transfer from Bellingham View faves AC Milan to the mercenary Real Madrid.

Following Brazil’s great escape was Italy vs. the United States. The Americans took a 1-0 lead on a penalty conversion by Landon Donovan, but playing with 10 men after an early red card proved to be too high a mountain to climb for the U.S. They were ultimately outlasted and outclassed by the Azzurri, who won 3-1 behind two terrific goals by the young Giuseppe Rossi who, ironically, was born in the U.S. (“In Clifton, New Jersey, which wasn’t a crime at that time”) to Italian immigrant parents and later chose to play for Italy over his birth country.

Can't wait for more great matches.

Side note to Italy: Immediately burn those hideous alternate kits worn in today's match. Unless there's something I've missed completely, with the U.S. in all white, Italy could easily have worn its blue shirt-blue shorts-blue socks ensemble and not clashed with their opponents. Today's disaster -- think a duller version of Carolina blue for the shirts and a duller version of a Cleveland Browns football jersey color for the shorts and socks -- was atrocious.

"Forget it, Jake."

Full slate of weekend activities on tap:

* Attend a double-dip of Polanski -- "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown" -- with a buddy and his wife at the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian on Saturday night. Beers to follow.

* At some point, attempt to catch one or all of these: French film "A Girl Cut in Two," Ricky Gervais-starrer "Ghost Town," or Neal LaBute's latest provocation, "Lakeview Terrace," toplined by Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington.

* Golf's Ryder Cup will take up 16 hours of daytime programming on NBC ... although the absence of Tiger Woods take a bit of the bloom off that rose.

* Keep Fox Soccer Channel tuned for much of the weekend: Chelsea host Manchester United in a clash of English Premier League soccer titans, and matches involving three of the four major Italian Serie A squads -- AC Milan, Roma and Inter Milan -- are also telecast.

* Pittsburgh Steelers bid to open the season 3-0 in an intra-state matchup versus the Philadelphia Eagles.

* New episodes of "True Blood" and "Entourage" on HBO.

* Clean the condo, get the car washed, go grocery shopping and do laundry, somewhere in there.

* Finish it all off by watching the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards and rooting heartily for "Mad Men," "Damages" and -- on behalf of the company -- "Two and a Half Men," "Pushing Daisies," Kyra Sedgwick and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Ready. Set. Go.

Reallllly fast, mon

Usain Bolt completed his dominance of the Olympic sprints earlier this week, winning the 200 meters in a world record time of 19.30 seconds, then running a lightning fast third leg of the 4X100 meter relay to set up Asafa Powell for his triumphant burst down the track to a world record finish in a time of 37.10 seconds. That's three-tenths of a second faster than a Carl Lewis-led U.S. team ran in Barcelona in 1992.

Three gold medals for Bolt, with three world records. The most dominating Olympic sprinting performance of all time.

Argentina dusted Brazil 3-0 in the semifinals of men's soccer and then beat Nigeria in the final to defend their gold medal from 2004 in Athens.

The U.S. men's basketball team goes for gold in about 20 minutes against Spain, a team they shellacked by 30+ points last week in group play.

Oh yeah. I almost forgot.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played a 29-song, three-hour-and-15-minute show tonight. In St. Louis, Mo. Sadly, I was not there.

Tomorrow, they play again. In Kansas City, Mo. Sadly, I will not be there, either.

They Had Me at Hello

OK, so my last post -- 10 days ago -- summed up my general lack of interest in the then-upcoming Olympic Games, except for men's soccer and men's basketball.

The next day, I set my DVR for the United States' opening soccer match, airing in the middle of the night on the West Coast. Upon waking on Friday morning (8/8/08), I attempted to watch the game, only to find that Time Warner Cable managed to capture the scoreless first half ... but somehow experienced a technical snafu that resulted in a cultural arts/dance program from KCET occupying the hour of recording where the second half should have been.

So, I'm now fuming and basically ready to write off the whole Games, period, in an irrational fit of pique.

Yet, I still recorded the Opening Ceremonies, figuring everyone would probably be talking about it, so I might as well watch, if only not to be left out of the conversation.

Of course, the spectacle that unfolded was among the most stunning presentations ever seen at an Olympic games. From the chilling drum-powered countdown to the human artists beneath the boxes making the visual story come to life to the former Chinese Olympic gymnast lighting the torch in mid-flight while being suspended above the stadium by wires ... it was amazing.

(Sadly, the subsequent revelations that much of the fireworks were CGI fakes, an anthem was lip-synced because the original singer was deemed not photogenic enough by Chinese authorities, and some offensive casting imbroglios took a bit of luster off of the presentation.)

My favorite parts of the ceremony involved the backstory of two participants:

Lopez Lomong was one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, ripped from their homes at a young age and left for dead. He survived 10 years in a Kenyan refugee camp, was adopted by a family in New York and is now a U.S. citizen and decorated distance runner. He was given the honor of carrying the U.S. flag into the stadium. Read more about his amazing life experience in the Los Angeles Times.

Lin Hao is a 9-year-old Chinese boy who survived the devastating Chinese earthquake in May and had saved the lives of two of his classmates by going back into the rubble of their school and helping them escape. When asked why he did it, the young boy responded that he was a hall monitor, and it was his responsibility to look after his fellow students. Cue the tears.

We're a week into the Games now, and the performances have been inspiring.

Michael Phelps has captured the imagination of the world by equaling Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics, and he's going for eight later tonight.

My dormant love for track and field has been reignited by the historic performance of Jamaican sprinter Usaine Bolt.

A 200-meter runner by trade, Bolt only began running the 100 meters this year. He bettered the world record twice in 2008 before the Olympics, establishing 9.72 as the fastest time in history in only his fifth 100 meter race of his life, according to NBCOlympics.com.

Bolt stunned this blogger, the crowd at the Bird's Nest stadium, and the global TV audience last night by winning a quarter-final heat in a lightning quick 9.92 seconds, all the while appearing to jog for the last 40 meters or so while swiveling his head from left to right to see if anyone was going to catch him.

The semi-finals and finals have already taken place today in Beijing but won't be televised in the U.S. until tonight.

Therefore, SPOILER ALERT ...

According to the official NBC Olympics site, Bolt ran 9.85 in the semi-finals today, again shutting down after 80 meters to cruise in unimpeded.

He then went on to do the unthinkable in the final, winning the gold by covering the 100 meter distance in 9.69 seconds, the first time in human history that a person ran under 9.7 without the aid of wind.

And, of course, the first time in human history that someone ran under 9.7 with his arms hanging at his sides for the last seven strides and celebrating his victory before even crossing the finish line ... making other world-class sprinters in the race literally seem like turtles.

END SPOILER ALERT...

Looking forward to seeing this on TV tonight.

The U.S. men's basketball team is rolling along, beating Spain handily today.

Brazil's mens's soccer team made the semis today, beating Cameroon 2-0 after being forced to extra time. Lionel Messi scored one and assisted on the game-winner in Argentina's extra-time win over the Netherlands, setting up a semi-final clash versus Brazil.

Can't wait.

Games of the XXIX Olympiad

The 2008 Summer Olympics officially commence on Friday (8-8-08), after some sports kick off with early-bird preliminaries on Thursday.

As a kid (and beyond), I loved the Summer Games. Track and field was my favorite sport to view, and I have fond memories throughout the years of watching the exploits of superstar Carl Lewis, hurdler Edwin Moses, long-jumper Mike Powell, decathlete Daley Thompson, 400-meter runner Quincy Watts and the irrepressible 200- and 400-meter legend Michael Johnson.

My favorite track athlete of all time is Renaldo "Skeets" Nehemiah, the unstoppable 110-meter hurdler of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Alas, Nehemiah never got to shine on the world's biggest stage, his Olympic dream having been dashed by the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow games.

Anyway, my passion for the Olympics has diminished these days. With all the drug and doping controversies in track coupled with the human-interest-story-over-actual-sports approach to primetime coverage on NBC, my interest level has now basically been limited to men's soccer and men's basketball.

Will Brazil finally capture the one soccer title that has eluded the game's most accomplished nation?

Will the USA basketball team reclaim the gold medal that has eluded them on the international stage since the 2000 Olympics?

Tune in.

¡Viva La Seleccion!

Weekend recap...

* With my regular weekend moviegoing friend, I saw the new release "Wanted" at the Arclight. The film is not for the old, grumpy or the non-videogame player. Therefore, she (being younger and optimistic) loved it, and I ... well, I didn't care for it too much. Anthony Lane of The New Yorker opened his review of the film with the following graph, which basically sums it up:

What is it like being Timur Bekmambetov? No artist should be confused too closely with his creations, but anybody who sits through “Wanted,” Bekmambetov’s new movie, will be tempted to wonder if the life style of the characters might not reflect or rub off on that of the director. How, for example, does he make a cup of coffee? My best guess, based on the evidence of the film, is that he tosses a handful of beans toward the ceiling, shoots them individually into a fine powder, leaves it hanging in the air, runs downstairs, breaks open a fire hydrant with his head, carefully directs the jet of water through the window of his apartment, sets fire to the building, then stands patiently with his mug amid the blazing ruins to collect the precious percolated drops. Don’t even think about a cappuccino.

* Went here for a friend's 40th birthday party. MUCH fun was had by all.

* Sadly, missed a different friend's summer party on the Westside. Hopefully, he'll forgive my non-attendance.

* Woke up early Sunday, ran some errands, then hit the freeway to Santa Clarita to hang out at the home of a friend/fellow futbol aficionado (the real deal ... a native of Manchester, England, season ticketholder and lifelong fan of Man United, etc.) to watch the Euro 2008 final and enjoy a traditional English breakfast of bangers, potato cakes and eggs.

* In the above-mentioned Euro 08 championship match, Spain continued its stylish run through the tournament, besting Germany 1-0 on a dashing goal by striker Fernando Torres. (Of course, this just killed my friend, as Torres plays club soccer for the dreaded Liverpool, and the Mancunians just don't seem to like those Scousers very much.)

* Typed this entry.

* About to head to an undisclosed location to watch additional episodes from an advance copy of a highly anticipated (by me) miniseries soon to premiere on premium television. Personal note: I'm adhering to the grooming standard ... but suffering from the root cause of global instability.

Rough Week

First, the Lakers lose the NBA Finals in historic fashion.

Then, Tiger Woods shuts down his season due to injury.

Now, Italy gets bounced from the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 on penalties by Spain.

Both sides played a lackluster 90 minutes, with Spain mustering less than a handful of genuine opportunities to score and Italy even fewer.

Extra time proved equally uneventful, and so both sides squared off from the penalty spot.

Of course, the last time Italy was in a penalty shootout in a major competition, they made the most of it and won the 2006 World Cup.

This time, it was not to be. Spain's Iker Casillas got his hand to two Italian tries, and those two key saves made the difference for La Seleccion.

Spain will face Russia in one semifinal, while Germany and Turkey will square off in the other.

Shock Value

The big sports month continued today, with professional golf's second major of the year -- the U.S. Open -- commencing in San Diego, the Lakers squaring off against the Celtics in game four of the NBA Finals, and day two of the second round of soccer's Europe 2008 championship kicking off in Austria and Switzerland.

And, of course, nothing went according to plan.

Tiger Woods -- returning from a lengthy layoff following knee surgery -- made double-bogey six on the first hole at Torrey Pines but rallied to finish just four shots off the lead at one-over par, recovering from a second double-bogey on the back nine.

International soccer powerhouse Germany was upended by fiery Croatia, whose 2-1 victory propelled them into the quarterfinals of the tournament. Germany can still advance by beating Poland on Monday.

Finally, the Lakers jumped out to a 24-point first-half lead, withstood a strong Celtics run to maintain an 18-point advantage at halftime ... only to flop completely in the second half and lose the pivotal game four in a collapse of historic proportions.

The only good part about the Lakers loss was meeting up with an old friend to watch the game over dinner. So I had that going for me. Which is nice.

Sports Week

It's been a big week in sports.

* U.K. soccer giants Manchester United followed up their winning of the English Premier League title by outlasting British rivals Chelsea to win the European Champions League in a thrilling match Wednesday. Tied 1-1 after regulation and extra time, the two clubs squared off in a penalty kick shootout in the pouring rain in Moscow. United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo had his unsteady penalty try saved easily by Chelsea keeper Peter Cech, opening the door for the London side to win the European title on Russian owner Roman Abramovich's home turf. Chelsea captain John Terry slipped as he pushed the would-be game winner wide of the goal, and the Blues were done for good when United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar denied Nicolas Anelka's attempt, securing the Cup for the Red Devils.

* The Los Angeles Lakers rekindled thoughts of the early 2000s -- if not the 1980s -- by taking a 2-0 lead over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA's Western Conference Playoffs. Down by 20 in the third quarter of the first game, the Lakers rallied to win behind a surreal 25-point second half performance by Kobe Bryant. Second game: Lakers by 30.

* I don't really follow hockey, but the Pittsburgh Penguins blanked the Philadelphia Flyers 6-0 to earn a trip to face the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup. Since my family hails from northern West Virginia, just 30 miles from the 'burgh, and since Sid "The Kid" Crosby is the best thing to happen to hockey since Mario Lemieux: Go Pens!

Cristiano Eleison

A month ago, I opined about a great goal scored by soccer star Ronaldinho, and in passing, noted that AC Milan and Brazil international Kaká was widely considered the world's best current player, much to the consternation of Manchester United and Portgual fans who no doubt favor superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

Mea culpa.

Last weekend, Ronaldo presented a pretty compelling case for himself as king of the pitch, turning in as fine a performance as I've ever seen by a footballer in a 4-0 United victory over Aston Villa in a Premier League matchup.

He opened the match's scoring with an amazingly creative goal, flicking in an improbable side/backheel through a thicket of defenders and past a disbelieving goaltender helpless to stop it.

On United's second goal, seen at 00:40 of this clip, Ronaldo showed the fundmentals and passing accuracy of the finest crossers of the ball, delivering pinpoint service to an onrushing Carlos Tevez for a header to put Man U. up 2-0.

The third goal, captured at 01:23 of this clip and put deftly into the back of the net by Wayne Rooney, resulted from a magical no-look backheel pass by Ronaldo that seemed not of the soccer field but out of the playbook of basketball stars Magic Johnson or Steve Nash. Amazing stuff.

And, finally, United's fourth, viewable at 02:05 of this clip, was also sent home by Rooney after another brilliant lead pass by Ronaldo.

If that dominating performance weren't enough, Ronaldo broke hearts all over the Eternal City earlier today with a stunningly powerful header to open the scoring in Manchester United's European Champions League victory in the first leg of their quarterfinal match versus AS Roma.

Cristiano, have mercy on these mere mortals.

UPDATE, 4/10: Crap, all the links are dead, as they were removed from YouTube. Trust me. Ronaldo was spectacular.

Weekend of Upsets

There was no full moon, nor was it April Fool's Day, so it must have been the onset of daylight savings time in the U.S. that caused this weekend's trip into Bizarro-land.

To wit--

* In English soccer, current Premiership titleholders Manchester United were unceremoniously bounced out of the season-long FA (Football Association) Cup tournament on Saturday by Portsmouth, which won for the first time in 51 years at United's home ground, Old Trafford.

* Continuing on that side of the pond, English second-division club Barnsley -- which plays in the English Championship division, which is roughly the equivalent of Triple-A compared to Major League Baseball -- continued its amazing run of knocking off the big boys in the FA Cup. Barnsley followed up their shocking road defeat of Premier League stalwarts Liverpool at Anfield by claiming another Premier League scalp in defeating London giants Chelsea.

* Back in the U.S., the seventh-ranked Stanford men's basketball team lost by 13 points to the University of Southern California at the Galen Center in downtown Los Angeles.

* Across town, the UCLA Bruins narrowly escaped an epic upset of their own, rallying from four down with 20 seconds left to beat the California Bears in a thrilling -- and highly controversial -- ending.

* USC's wildly hyped freshman guard O.J. Mayo and UCLA frosh phenom Kevin Love both hinted that they might not leave school after one year, after all. My guess is they're both gone, but stay tuned.

* Setting the chutzpah bar pretty high, Hillary Clinton, currently running second in the race to become the Democratic party's nominee for president, found it appropriate to offer Barack Obama -- current leader of the popular vote, current leader in elected delegates and current leader in primary/caucus states won -- the number two spot (Vice President) on the Democratic ticket in November. Obama declined. Never let it be said that Hillary doesn't have balls, but the entitlement act is wearing thin.

* Actor Jason Statham has been in some good movies ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," "Snatch," "The Transporter" and "The Italian Job," among others), but he's also been the only watchable thing in some real dogs, such as "Cellular," "Crank," "London" and others. His latest film, "The Bank Job," looked like another one of the misfires, but to my sheer delight, it was a crackling heist/gangster saga in the vein of "Sexy Beast" and "Layer Cake," coupled with the intrigue of the best spy movies. In the happy upset of the weekend, I fookin' luv'd it.

All of these unlikely events couldn't top today's head-scratchers, though.

* New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, the highly successful former prosecutor who rode to the statehouse after a career spent rooting out corruption, crushing organized crime and breaking up prostitution rings, is about to find the shoe on the other foot. Today, The New York Times broke the news that Spitzer was caught on a federal wiretap arranging for a hooker to visit him at a Washington, D.C. hotel last month while he was in the nation's capital for business. Nice.

* In more wholesome news, the men's hoops team at my brother's alma mater -- the University of San Diego -- won the West Coast Conference tournament championship on their home floor tonight, beating the number 22-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs and earning a trip to the NCAA tournament. March madness, indeed! Go Toreros!

Calcio Bellissimo

Italian soccer has deservedly gotten a bit of a bad rap in recent years, with match-fixing scandals and fan violence besmirching the good name of the sport and threatening to overshadow the success of the national side (Forza Azzurri!) in winning the 2006 World Cup.

The Italian game -- at least the style most usually associated with the national team -- is often marked by slowing things down, hoping to score a goal on a counter-attack and then holding on with a fortress-like defense to eke out 1-0 victories.

On the league level, thank goodness, the clubs in Serie A play at a more aggressive pace than the Azzurri, and the venerable AS Roma squad, led by captain Francesco Totti, is normally always good for an entertaining display.

Today, Rome beat Parma 4-0, with the third goal coming on a beautiful strike by the aforementioned Totti, set up nicely by a one-two punch of a cross by Brazilian Cicinho and a deft backheel from substitute Mauro Esposito. Check out Totti's gollasso here.

Joga Bonita

A mention of the world's most popular sport -- soccer -- will still elicit yawns or rolled eyes from most of the American population, but no matter what my pal Stu thinks, the game is beautiful.

Brazilian superstar Kaká, leader of current European Champions League cup holders AC Milan, is widely considered to be the world's best player by most soccer observers, with the possible exception of some disgruntled Mancunians who favor Portuguese international and Manchester United standout Cristiano Ronaldo.

But before Kaka, the player who captured the world's imagination was the irrepressible Ronaldinho, another Brazilian star who led his club, FC Barcelona, to the 2006 European Champions League title.

The Barca number 10 has lately been dogged by allegations of disinterest, hampered slightly by injuries and saddled with a persistent backlash after not following up his club success with a dazzling performance on the world stage at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Today, all that was forgotten, after a stunning, bicycle kick goal in a Spanish La Liga match versus Atlético Madrid brought back memories of Ronaldinho's most memorable scoring exploits.

Unfortunately, the goal didn't provide a win for Barca, and the Catalan giants still have some work to do to reclaim their standing in La Liga and Europe, but it was nice to turn back the clock for a moment.