Sunday Morning Thoughts (Sports, An Absent Friend, and Mr. Rogers)

We are a little more than an hour away from kickoff of the Championship Game of the World Cup....oh, excuse me, the FIFA World Cup....between France and Croatia.  At the outset of the tourney, I predicted that a team from Europe would win the whole shebang, so, I believe I had that.  I also decided that I would place my rooting interest in France due to the fact that (a) the USA failed to qualify, and (b) because of the wonderful time we had in France on our vacation in May.

So, Vive Le France, and I predict that we shall all be doing  a Victor Laszlo impersonation and singing "Le Marseillaise" when France wins it all later this afternoon.

As always, watch, but don't bet.

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On his radio show last Sunday, Pirates GM Neal Huntington admitted that the Pirates were not playing well, and that, depending on how it went between then and the All-Star break, he might be forced to reevaluate the team and consider moving assets.  Translation: It will be time to dump high salaried players by any means possible and get younger and cheaper players.  No mention if they would be better players necessarily, but that sure would be a happy by-product of such a purge.

In what has to be NH's worst nightmare, the Bucs then proceeded to win seven of their next eight games, and a win today will mean a five game sweep of the Brewers, who were a first place team when they arrived in Pittsburgh on Thursday (they are now in second place).

Truth is, Huntington has to proceed with the fire sale.  The results of this past eight game sample do not negate the mediocrity that had been the hallmark of the team for the greater part of the season.  Still, NH will face severe criticism if it is perceived that he is trading away pieces from a "winning" team, which the Pirates are not.  He will face criticism if he stands pat as well.  He is almost in a no-win situation, a corner into which he has been painted by his penny-pinching bosses and by his own condescending attitude towards his paying customers.

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I would highly recommend the Opinion piece on the late Fred Rogers that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  this morning.  I'll even save you the trouble of looking it up.  Here it is:

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2018/07/15/Rev-Fred-Rogers-minister-to-children/stories/201807150023

Would that there be another Mr. Rogers in our midst today.

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To An Absent Friend 

Len Chappell

1942-2018

A wire service obituary for basketball player Len Chappell, who died earlier in the week at the age of 77, appears in the  Post-Gazette this morning.  Chappell was an All-American at Wake Forest, a two time ACC Player of the Year, a first round draft pick if the Syracuse Nationals of the NBA, a one time NBA All-Star, and he had a journeyman ten year NBA career playing with nine different teams.

What that wire service obit didn't mention (or perhaps the PG omitted it in the editing process or the real possibility that no one at the PG had ever heard of Chappell before the death notice came over the wires) was that Chappell was a Western PA guy, hailing form Portage PA in Cambria County.

RIP Len Chappell.

World Cup Thoughts

At the Caring Place last night, my new friend and fellow volunteer Janine Pischke, who has become a reader of The Grandstander, asked why I haven't commented on the World Cup as yet.  

OK, Janine, here we go!

Like many people here in the US of A, I am taking my quadrennial dip into the waters of international futbol by following the World Cup, although I guess I should say the FIFA World Cup so as to avoid potential lawsuits.

I have been following the fortunes of Team USA, and am hoping that they can make it out of Pool Play and into the knockout round.  We'll know after Thursday's match with Germany.  I watched the game against Portugal on Sunday afternoon in its entirety, and was heartbroken (OK, that may be stating it a bit strongly, but you get the idea) when Portugal scored the tying goal in, literally, the last seconds of the game.

Let me say right off the bat that I have nephews and nieces who play futbol on the high school level, so I really don't want to come off as an Ugly American when discussing the world's most popular game, BUT there are some things about the game that keep me, and I suspect many other Americans, from becoming a rabid fan of the Beautiful Game.  I will not even comment upon the lack of offense in these games.  That is too much of a cliche, but here are some things that bother me.

• Stoppage Time.  The clock never stops running in futbol games so when ninety minutes have expired, the referee adds "stoppage time" to the game for those periods during regulation when play, but not the clock, was halted.  The trouble is, no one has any idea how the ref comes up with a figure for stoppage time, and the time is nowhere to be seen on the field of play or the TV screen when the game is in "stoppage time".  That USA-Portugal game is a perfect case in point.  Would the USA have played differently had they known that there were only seconds remaining in the game when Portugal scored that tying goal?  Who knows?  By the way, if someone can correct me on this, I am happy to listen.
• Talk is already afoot that the USA and Germany will "agree" to play for a draw in Thursday's match because such a result will allow each team to advance out of pool play and into the knockout round.  That does not strike me as being altogether kosher in terms of any sporting event, but such are the machinations of the FIFA World Cup.
• Diving or Flopping.  People complain about players in the NBA "flopping" in order to draw fouls, but the NBA guys have nothing on these international futbol-ers.  I have seen guys fall down like they have been shot with an AK-47when replays clearly show that they have been barely touched, if they have been touched at all.  I mean...

To my many family members, friends, and readers whom I know to be big futbol fans, I apologize for what you will no doubt consider my narrow view.  I hope that my final observation will serve to put me back into your good graces.

• Clint Dempsey is one major badass dude who I would love to have on my team in ANY sport.

All that said, Let's Go USA!!!!!!