bullets13

What makes this "not a bad showing"...? The final score? Lamar actually getting a shot compared to 24 for the Red Raiders? Playing within four of the #7 team in the Big XII? Soccer is a weird sport if you did not go or watch on TV to get a good feel of "showing"... What makes it a good showing is losing 4-0 to a team that would've beat them 10-0 last year. Losing 4-0 to the #7 team in the big 12 is a good showing when the year before they lost 5-0 to the #7 team in an extremely weak SLC. SHSU, was of course, that super strong #7, and is consequently picked to finish 8th this year. Yes, Lamar got dominated, but they bent without breaking. for Lamar to lose 4-0 against a middle of the road team in a strong conference is a good result, no matter how you try to belittle it. There isn't a team in the SLC better than Tech, so if the girls can keep improving, they should be in a lot more close games this year than last.

"rivals" is an understatement

this will probably be a recurring theme this season, but it definitely looks like they're taking some steps in the right direction.

i've never heard about one, but i would definitely join one...

It's mandatory for all UT fans...

I tell you what, those numbers would be impressive against a bad 2A team, but to put them up against lufkin... WOW!

i'd love to see the rays somehow make it. talk about history! there's still enough time for them to fall out of the playoffs (there's no way they can be happy about having the red sox sniffing their rears) , but they're playing fantastic ball right now. if they keep up this pace, and go into the playoffs hot, who knows what might happen. so let's say... Rays/Brewers. That would be a series i could enjoy.

tough to see a hometown kid struggle, but the immediate success he had last year should insure that the BoSox won't give up on him too quickly.

i think it's more likely that i'll walk on and win a starting spot (did i mention i'm 5'6'', out of shape, and have already used up my my NCAA eligibility playing soccer?)

I'd rather eat a pee-flavored snowcone than cheer for OU

that's some serious cash for someone picked that late. i wonder how much cash the yanks dole out a year in signing bonuses.

sounds like a smart decision. if nothing else, he'll avoid playing for the royals

txprepsfootball.com has them ranked 8th.

sounds like a very impressive outing. how good is lufkin supposed to be this year?

i agree with you, to an extent. in 1999/2000 i played with a local club team that dominated everywhere we played. that team came together kind of by accident, with a solid core of wb and kelly players supplemented by some of the best players from some of the smaller schools in the area. We spanked teams from houston, dallas, san antonio, just about everywhere. the thing was, we were light years better than any other team in this area. there was nobody anywhere around that could compete. although beaumont was capable of fielding one such team, houston has entire leagues that could've provided us with solid competition during that time. we had to have a fluke of a team develop in order to beat those guys. i think at this point, it still makes sense for our better players to head to houston, ESPECIALLY if they want some exposure.

in my opinion we still don't have the skill level to keep throwing all of these big, slow, average-skilled players up top. i'd like to see a little more speed on the pitch (altidore, adu, beasley, etc). i just don't think our midfield is good enough yet to consistently get these big guys (ching, cooper, and the likes) enough chances for headers and redirects near the goal. at least give us one fast creative guy up front to go along with whichever brian mcbride impersonator that we're going to field. with donovan in the midfield, and dempsey playing like he didn't really care about scoring, we had very little speed and creativity up front. without a dominant midfield, we're going to continue to struggle to score in the run of play, unless we let some of these faster players have the chance to make long runs and get opportunities to beat defenders one on one for breakaways.

that's one hell of a run-on sentence. there are plenty of folks who care about US soccer games.

we cooked up a bunch the other day, and i didn't really like it too much. it was a bit too fishy for me. most everyone i've talked to really enjoys it.

This game was a joke. Guatemala might be the dirtiest team I've ever seen. Carlos Ruiz might be the dirtiest player I've ever seen. The ref was terrible. For every foul he called against Guatemala, he missed two more. Anytime the US committed a hard foul, they got a yellow. Then the Guats tried to start a fight after the game. It was ridiculous. USA won 1-0. They dominated the first half, and were on their heels the second, but pulled it out in a game that finished 10 vs. 10. The USA was hindered by an extremely wet field, and an extremely dirty opponent. Everytime they got any rhythm at all, the nearest Guatemelan would push, kick, or hit the person controlling the ball. More often than not, the ref did not call it. There were very few offensive opportunities for either team in the first half. Steve Cherundulo got a second yellow card in the 59th minute to take the US down to 10 men. He deserved both cards, but he picked up both cards in frustration after blown calls by the ref. Just a minute later the Guatemalens went down a man as well, when one of their players took about a 10 yard run up and speared eddie lewis in the face about a second and a half after Lewis had gotten rid of the ball. With all of the blood spouting out of Lewis' face, the ref would've looked too suspicious had he not given the red. Shortly there after, Bocanegra headed a corner into the bottom corner to put the US up 1-0 (Gooch was essentially tackled on the play, leaving a pretty big hole for Carlos to run into). After that, the US did a solid job of holding their backline and keeping the Guats from having too many chances. Towards the end of the game a shot was deflected in, and after Howard slid over to collect it, Ruiz reached backwards with his left foot and brushed his cleats across howard's face, who dropped the ball. Guatemala scored, but it was called back for the foul. Not surprisingly, Ruiz did not even get a yellow card (much less the red he probably deserved), but Howard was quickly awarded a yellow for yelling at Ruiz when came over and tried to make nice. Ahh... i hate games like this, but it is the States' first every win at Guatemala in a qualifier, so that's a dang good start in their quest to make WC 2010.

i'd rather watch synchronized swimming than oklahoma football.

man is good if you are facing a team with a bunch of good outside shooters, and feel that you can control their big men down low without double teaming too much. the zone is more effective if you need to double down low, but you're guys really have to hustle to avoid allowing tons of wide open shots outside. both defenses have their strengths and weaknesses, so it's important to evaluate your opponents before you decide which to run.

Tevez was home because of a death in the family... he should be back for the next game or maybe the one after next.

i was wondering the same thing

if it didn't make so much sense, i would belittle them.

Hull, no question. but seriously, Chelsea looked unstoppable today (even though Drogba and Schevchenko were hurt), pounding Portsmouth 4-0, and Man U and Arsenal were not that impressive. Liverpool will be good, but i see them as 3rd or 4th. I'm going to say that Chelsea wins, not based on this one game, but on the fact that Man U will be without Ronaldo until October. If they can avoid digging themselves into too deep a hole while he's gone, they'll certainly be in the running at the end of the year.