Fuck Charles Krauthammer

I have not posted on this blog since shortly after Nathan died. Sport are having an awful season in Serie A, Tottenham Hotspur have had their usual run of bad luck (losing world-class playmaker Luka Modric and most of the back line early in the season after a hot start), the Redskins suck so badly that even the DC faithful are finally turning on them (a close friend of mine attended their latest debacle against the Iggles on Monday Night, echoing a Jeff George-led loss to Philly that Nathan and I attended together that left Nathan cursing the ownership just as Josh is doing today), and it's all too goddamn depressing to write about.

Yet still there is some asinine bullshit, if I may paraphrase that great sage and eminent fool Winston Churchill for a moment, up with which I will not put.

Charles Krauthammer wrote recently as follows:

There used to be a cruel joke that said Brazil is the country of the future, and always will be; Obama is the Brazil of today's politicians. He has obviously achieved nothing.

The comparison is apt. Brazil has done, and continues to do, nothing except provide an example of steady, flawed progress in the face of constant triumphal noises from its ideologically hidebound neighbors, authoritarian Colombia and increasingly totalitarian Venezuela (I still love you Hugo, but you are, like Amanda Marcotte, a fabulously wonderful and vital voice about whom your legion of detractors are almost entirely correct.)

Obama is a steady, flawed man. His policies on the bank bailout were mostly wrong, but dogged and consistent in the way that Capablanca used to pursue lost positions, until finally wringing a staid draw from the ragged noose of defeat. His commitment to universal healthcare has proved transient and ephemeral, yet it has (as of this writing) produced a political landscape which appears to offer the promise of progress far beyond what could have been anticipated before his improbable rise to the position of the most powerful executive in the world.

Obama has been, so far, the worst possible president except for all the other available alternatives. He has run the country, with all its contradictions and impossibilities, the way an adult runs the organization in which he has been put in charge. As Ali once said, "Birds fly. Grass grows. Waves pound the sand. I beat people up. It's just a job."

Like Obama, Brazil does its job. In fifty years, will the United States be what it is today? What of Argentina, and its wreckage of a laissez-faire capitalist experiment? Russia? China? India? Qatar?

Perhaps. But Charles Krauthammer will be long dead before the issue is decided. The day Brazil falls apart, I will pour out an ounce of OE on his grave in Nathan's name. He'll have scored one on the both of us. Until then he can rot away alone, above ground or below. Viva Brazil. Viva Lula. And fuck Charles Krauthammer.

Strike Em Out - Throw Em Out

MY favorite double play just happened in the Mets game at Commercialstick. Juan Uribe on first, one out, 3-2 count. Bobby Parnell deals to Travis Ishikawa, runner goes! Ishikawa swings and misses on a fastball away as Ramon Castro guns it to second to get Uribe stealing. Strikeout to the pitcher, putout and assist to the catcher, putout to the shortstop, Alex Cora.

Sport Out

Palmeiras advances, Sport eliminated. Crushing.

Palmeiras In, Sport Miss

2-1 now and it's looking bleak.

Marcao In, Igor In

1-1 after 2

Palmeiras Miss, Sport Miss

Penalty shootout still knotted at zero. Ugly.

Correction

Looks like they are going straight to penalty kicks. In just a few minutes we will know if Sport will advance or if they have been eliminated from the Copa Libertadores 2009.

It's been a great ride but I don't want it to end. Valeu Sport!

Oh My

Palmeiras just had a man sent off. This will be controversial.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL

OK, so I'm behind. My bad.

Sport lost the opening leg of their home-and-home tie with Palmeiras 1-nil. That means that they need to win the match in Ilha do Retiro. The match proceeded without any great chances for either side until the 75th (or so) minute when Ciro broke through and hit Wilson with a perfect pass for an easy goal. I can't go further because I'm watching but suffice it to say it was thrilling as all hell.

Now, if this match ends 1-0 we go to extra time, then penalty shootout if two ET's fail to decide the issue. In other words, the next team to score will almost certainly advance.

Valeu Sport!

3-6-1

I'm a bit too lazy to go through the box scores, but the other night I was watching a Blue Jays game I think and they turned a 3-6-1 double play. I hadn't thought of it in years but that was Nathan's favorite baseball play. It made me smile to think of him extolling its virtues.

It is, indeed, virtuous.

Victory is Sweet

Very sorry I wasn't able to get a more thorough liveblog of the game, but two things intervened. First, I was working on a project for a charity auction that is way behind schedule (not my fault, for once - I was given the project on Tuesday and when I asked the deadline, the woman said "yesterday" and I laughed, but then when I looked at the materials the deadline really was Monday). Second, it's a peculiarity of liveblogging that when there's nothing happening it's very easy to liveblog and when it starts to heat up you're too busy watching.

Here's how it went down - Colo Colo missed so many chances in the first half, you knew that unless Sport somehow turned their defense around at the half they would break through. Indeed, Colo Colo got a two-on-one break inside the box and Rodrigo Millar barely squeezed it past a diving Magrao into the goal.

Things looked bleak after Paulo Baier blew a perfect chance from about eight yards out, blasting it over the goal when he had only the keeper to beat. Just a few minutes later, though, a run by Dutra set up a square pass to Fumagalli, who in turn set up Hamilton on a wide-open shot from about twenty-five yards. It was a nice-looking low drive that unluckily hit off the left post and bounded out of the goalmouth to the right side of the box, but a streaking Moacir pounced on the ball and stuck it first-time into the back of the net!

Just like that all the wind went out of Colo Colo's sails, and a previously subpar Moacir was infused with new life. Colo Colo's only hope seemed to be to hang on and split the points, but it was not to be as a streaking Dutra popped the ball into the middle of the box for Vandinho, who got by with a push in the back before getting a nifty flick on the ball and sneaking it past a bewildered Christian Munoz.

The rest of the match was mostly made up of Sport just missing chances to go up 3-1. All in all, hard to argue with a hard-fought win to secure a spot in the knockout round, but Sport still have some questions to answer on defense. If they are going to use Igor to bolster the attack as they did through much of this match, they need to be sharper in their communication and discipline on the back line.

Victory!

Full report as soon as I can get a download of the match and comment on it. The bottom line is Sport are through to the knockout stage - they defeated Colo Colo 2-1 in a great finish.

Valeu Sport!

The Good News

It's still 0-0 at the half. Here's hoping Sport come out with more in the second. Only Hamilton and Magrao look decent. Moacir's not been bad but not up to his usual standard. Sport's forwards are nearly invisible and their back line play is a mess.

Ugh.

Igor Creates a Chance...

But it's denied. Then another, but it too comes to nothing. Still, things are looking up in the 25th minute.

Magrao Magical in the Seventh

Colo Colo got a free run at the goal and somehow Magrao kept his cool and caught the shot taken at point blank range. Great play by the keeper but this doesn't look good.

Colo Colo Dominate First Five Minutes

Sport got nothing in the run of play in the first five minutes; their best moves were a couple repeated Hamilton ground passes to Moacir, one of which yielded a free kick just outside the attacking third.

Colo Colo had a couple decent moves but never got a good look at the goal.

It's On

ibid

...or Not

Turns out the game is at 8:50, not 8:30. My bad.

...and Away We Go

Sport have Colo Colo in about 10 minutes. I'm not sure if I might incur some problems by openly posting a link to a site that shows bootleg broadcasts but since almost no one in the US actually gets these games, as far as I know, I would think it's not that big a deal.

This match is Sport's best chance to make the knockout stage - if they win they are in. If not, there could be trouble.

Valeu Sport!

Magrao Shines

Though Palmeiras was blasting open shots at the net all night, somehow Magrao let in only one goal, on a penalty that never should have been called. A finer performance could scarcely be imagined.

Unfortunately, that's about the only positive you can take from this admittedly decent result. Moacir was fluid and smart, like always, but the degree to which he stuck out as the ONLY player with his head in the match for long stretches doesn't bode well for Sport's chances to win the cup.

They need to find some consistency and upgrade their defensive play during these last two group matches. If they head into the knockout stage as a group winner, it will be because someone besides Moacir, Magrao, Paulo Baier or Ciro steps up his game. At that point, they'll be darkhorse darlings to win the cup; if it stays like it is now, forget it.