A Danish Panda? How Fitting!
I’ve been back from China for a week now, and I can’t figure out what happened. Now that the NBA Finals are over, I’ve come to find my sports weekend consisted of soccer and golf. Now I’m not one of those people who talk shit about soccer and golf, but it’s just not for me. I appreciate the game of soccer, and I’ll find my way out on the links every month or two, but watching it on TV for me is the equivalent of popping a couple of Ambien. It just doesn’t do it for me. However, in the last week, I’ve watched three FULL soccer matches, which brings my lifetime total up to, well, three. Much of the credit goes to my screwed up sleeping schedule. The majority of night’s sleep has come to an abrupt stop somewhere between 3 – 4am. I’m actually thankful the World Cup is going on in South Africa right now. Those 4:30am games have been a lifesaver. But then, what’s my excuse for sitting down and watching the entire Cameroon-Denmark game on a Saturday afternoon? That one’s easy though. With the absence of a Chinese team, I’ve got to root for my other ethnicity, the Danish. I watched them lose to the Netherlands in their opening game, and after stumbling out of the gate against Cameroon, I was left texting Tony asking if the Danes were really this bad. Thankfully, right on cue, they scored a goal to tie it up, and then added another to give them the win, and eliminate Cameroon. Apologies to Tophatal. I would’ve actually been rooting for Cameroon had they been playing anyone else. This match was much better the other two I caught. First, the aforementioned Denmark-Netherlands game, and then later in the week, I took in the Argentina manhandling of South Korea. I guess I should be excited about seeing a hat trick, which has to be somewhat of a big deal, since three goals TOTAL in a game seems infrequent. Unfortunately, it came at the expense of an Asian team.
On to golf…. the advent of High Definition television has certainly made golf more appealing to me, but it still only can hold my attention for so long. I’d basically just be checking out the scenery, but not paying attention to who’s doing what. You’d think that’d be the case this weekend, since the US Open was right here in our backyard at Pebble Beach, but I found myself actually following what was going on. Maybe that’s not a good thing, as I found myself rooting for a young fellow named Dustin Johnson, only to watch him completely meltdown en route to a +11 day, surrendering a three stroke lead in the process. Perhaps I got hooked today because the players looked like me on the golf course. I’m pretty sure I could’ve hung in there with Johnson through the first three holes. What’s weird is the A’s were playing their way to a win in St Louis on the other channel, yet I found myself glued to the Open. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m ready for the NBA Draft, or the NFL season, something. Anyone know when the UFL season starts? I might be ready to go watch Daunte Culpepper play on the home field of the worst college football program in the history of the NCAA soon.
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 
June 20th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
mceezy
Don’t worry ’bout me my interest in the World Cup has since waned seeing the pi_s poor performances of England . They couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn were they given laser guided technology. That’s how poor this English team really is !
As for the US Open wasn’t that enthralling once you knew that Lefty and Tiger weren’t going to put up much of a resistance in the final round at Pebble Beach
AP
June 21st, 2010 at 8:50 am
I was roooting for Dustin Johnson too. Not just because I put $20 on him at 40 to 1, but beacaue I actually wanted to see him win… It was amazing to see the course play that hard. I didn’t think they could make it so the winner was at even par… I tried to watch some World Cup action, but in the end usually changed the channel…
June 21st, 2010 at 2:15 pm
chappy
Johnson disappeared almost as quickly as Van der Velde did in the British Open at Carnoustie in ’99. I know that’s he’s won at Pebble Beach before but simply put. Winning a regular PGA Tour event is so much different from a Grand Slam major tournament.
AP
June 21st, 2010 at 2:41 pm
I’m not really sure what you mean by “disappeared as quickly as Van de Velde.” Van de Velde made a mess of the 72nd hole, but still made a clutch putt to finish and was a part of the playoff. Johnson started off horrible and was off the leader board quickly. There is a big difference there. Johnson’s collapse was a much bigger deal, it was the highest final round score by a US Open leader in almost 100 years.
June 21st, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Dodder
To put it more succinctly neither player could handle the pressure when it came to winning and the handling of the events as they unfolded. Perhaps that ought to have been the way that I should’ve phrased it .
Either way it was undeniably a meltdown from both players who at the time had the event within their grasp. Not much was really being asked of them other than to play reasonably conservative golf . They wilted and that’s it …………. no excuses .
AP
June 22nd, 2010 at 11:22 am
Yeah, I’m not arguing that they didn’t both crap the bed, but Johnson set a new standard for choking on Sunday, which was then surpassed by the French soccer team today. Van de Velde is probably more memorable since he made such a mess of 18, but he played well all day, and put himself in a position where a 7 still got him in a playoff. Johnson really should be getting more grief for his epic choke job, but he was off the leaderboard early and we all had three hours to forget about him. To NBC’s credit, they could have focused on his round but I truly think they felt bad for him.
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Dodder
Hopefully what happened to Johnson won’t be his career defining moment as it was for Van der Velde . Hopefully that’s not also what defines him in the bedroom with the women or else he’d become a lost cause.
AP
June 21st, 2010 at 9:30 pm
[…] it’s because I haven’t followed soccer at any other point in my life or like MCeezy found, somethings just aren’t for you. Maybe it’s because I didn’t play soccer past the age of 10. Maybe it’s because we bring guys […]
August 15th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
[…] hard on the 2nd and 3rd holes, and was never able to recover. Even MCeezy, who never watches golf was pulling for him in the US Open. He was right there at the Brittish Open, but Louie had an insurmountable lead after getting […]