Losing all Dignity

It all began when Chivas went to Chile. They were recieved with jokes and insults. Fans and players refused to get near them. Players reported being treated like lepers their whole time there.

Then Boca Juniors refused to go to Mexico to play the Copa Libertadores.

Chivaz and San Luis are left in a soccer limbo. No one wants them.

The plan was to go to Colombia, both teams would play in Bogota for their ‘home’ game.

Local Colombian authorities, however, have just announced they will not allow the players to enter their country.

The US had considered allowing the game, knowing full well players for the four teams (Sao Paolo, and Nacional which Chivas and San Luis will play) would never get Visas in time.

What would be the right move? Completely forfeit the Mexican teams participation in the cup (They’re technically intruders as it is…IT IS the SOUTHAMERICAN Libertadores cup).

The series could be altered to one game series, or both games could be played at  home but if COlombia refuses to accept the players who is to say the countries will allow them in theirs.

Now mexicans will be faced with not only an increasingly likely early exit from Libertadores but depending on how the outbreak is handled, it is very likely that the next set of world cup qualifiers will be delayed as well or played outside of mexico.

HOpefully by now the local league will be canceled. For however much money the directives of these teams may have there is NO excuse for having games played when schools, business, and restaurants have been closed for public safety.

Is there some sort assumption that these players are superhuman, immune to the disease?

At the same time, Mexicans increasingly isolated in their homes are now left without a local soccer leauge, Libertadores, and in a smaller tragedy left without Marquez in Barcelona.

Slowly Mexico is becoming an international pariah and the things that usually distract people in situations like this are just exacerbating them–the canceled movie premiers, the canceled soccer leagues, the canceled boxing matches…

 Soon the people isolated at home will have nothing to give them hope.

Ghosts in the Stands

All games this weekend for the Mexican Soccer League will be played to empty stadiums. This is not a FIFA imposed penalty but a result of the state of emergency in Mexico due to the swine flue that has already killed 81 people.

Tommorow two of the biggest teams in the nation will square off to complete silence as the cameras watch.

What then is really the need of having the game at all? Yes, it’ll be watched on TV and while entertaining to watch a closed game once in a while (when you can hear the players every word on the field) by the eighth game it becomes dull and unemotional.

A huge part of professional sports is the fans, the twelfth man.

Aside from that, it seems an emergency that has led to the cancellation of all schools and universities should extend to a professional league as well.

While the game is reassuring and comforting in this time of need, perhaps the values need to be reenvisioned. One weekend without soccer will be fine.

It’s better than watching empty stadiums, a steady reminder of the tragedy lurking throughout the coutnry.

Choking in Utah

In their first loss of the 2009 Playoffs, without a doubt Kobe Bryant will bare most of the burden.

That’s the burden of being an MVP candidate, it always falls on you.

It certainly falls on you when you shoot 5 for 24 and score only 18 points. Bryant was completely non-existent in the first half and still had the chance to win the game with a three in the last possession and got nowhere close to making the game ending shot.

Was this a choke or just a day off? Maybe the talk of a predestined meeting with the Cavs in the NBA finals is getting to the Laker’s head.

The Lakers have nothing to worry about if they can get this close to winning a game with Bryant playing so badly and Carlos Bozzer having one of the best games of his career with 23 points and 22 rebounds.

As for the Cavs, Lebron James continues to uphold his MVP status by averaging more than 28 points a game and leading his team to cruise past an experienced, albeit clearly declining, team.

I do hope the Cavaliers-Lakers final happens just to see James prove to Bryant what a true team player is and what it really means to be a “valuable player”

Kinks in the Armor

After an Amazing start to the season, the Marlins have now lost three in a row.

Reason to worry?

The Marlins were swept by the Pirates, including a 7-0 loss in which the Marlins usually hot bats could only get two hits. The Pirates, who were at just .500 when they entered the series.

The last two games in the series were much closer, already proving the Marlins can put up a fight when they need to but clearly not quite enough.

The Marlins now have to face Philadelphia to show just how the young team can face up to their first real adversity of the season.

Hopefully, the beggining of the season was not a fluke and the Marlins can prove to be real contenders.

The city really needs it, especially since the Heat’s playoff appearance is nothing more than Wade continuing to vie for an MVP spot. Soon basketball will be gone and we’ll need the Marlins to pull us through to football season.

No Room For Violence

Over the weekend, in a soccer match in the Ivory Coast, 19 fans were killed and 130 injured when people charged the stadium. The stadium, which has a capactiy to hold 35,000 had been overbooked by more than 10,000 people.

Despite players, specifically Malawi players, not only being aware of what had happened outside the stadium but having seen bodies carded off by the red cross the game was still played.

Ivory Coast ended up beating Malawi 5-0.

The deaths of almost 20 people was not enough to cause local officials to call of the game, nor for FIFA to force them to call it off.

Granted, calling the game off may have created even more chaos.

This event can’t help but hurt the bias already developed against underdeveloped countries which is likely to delay FIFA entrusting these countries its events any time soon. All eyes will be on South Africa to see how it can deal with the pressure of an international event of the scope of the World Cup.

Violence has been a problem in soccer for years, causing many families to slowly stop attending games.

Violence is regularly associated with European countries and leagues, including now regular violence in the Italian League yet it is not used against the countries as much as it is against the under developed countries experiencing the same problems.

One need only look back to the Juventus-Liverpool final in Brussels in 1985. It’s hard to think of countries more developed than Belgium, Italy, and England.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LWDfV-CebI&feature=related (Warning: Video contains graphic images)

Only English Clubs faced repurcussions at the time, with the Belgian police and infrastructure not facing the questions that Ivory Coast and Colombia have been forced to answer in the past when faced with issues of violence in their countries.

Better than the Rest?

Now that the US has kind of overcome their embarrasing 11-1 trumping at the hands of Puerto Rico by miraculously avoiding elimination to them last night, will the team abandon the absurd stand that they’ll leave the World Baseball Classic if they have one more injury?

It’s hard to believe the statement didn’t come out of a sense of embarrasement or entightlement at the hands of the United State’s baseball team who are embarrased to not be the equivalent of the Dream Team in Basketball.

We’ll have to see how they do against Venezuela to see if they’ll start threatening to leave the tournament once again or perhaps making the semis has healed all their concerns.

Also, politics and sports need to stay seperate. I’m sure the Venezuelans will cheer if Ordonez gives the Venezuelan team a win against the US today. Stop whining as well, Ordonez may have been stupid enough to support Chavez’ removal of term limits but he is JUST  a baseball player, so stop giving his stupidty creedence by booing everytime he goes up to bat and cheering everytime he strikes out.

How do you say Karma in Dutch?

Alex Rodriguez gets caught for steroids.

Alex Rodrigues has surgery for a broken labrum (how do you explain that to the wife? wait…yea).

Alex Rodriguez is forced to leave the World Baseball Classic.

Dominican Republic is forced to play without their star player.

Domininican Republic goes on to lose to the Netherlands TWICE in two very close games.

Dominican Republic, a heavy favorite, is eliminated from the Tournament.

By the Netherlands.

How else do you explain it?

Dream Deferred

Last night the Miami Hurricanes had an opportunity to make up some space in the ACC and continue to fight for a tournament Bid. In a horrible showing the Hurricanes were dominated by Conference Worst Georgia Tech. They never surrendered the lead.

The Hurricanes could not make any shots, while it seemed Lewis Clinch made all his shots for Georgia Tech, including 9-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Any ideas of a tournament are slowly dissapearing, and Coach Haith is right to want to focus on saturday games instead of continue to talk about the tournmanent. He has bigger issues to face.

Not only did his team just lose to the worst team in, an albeit very strong, the conference but they did so without putting up a fight. Even if the team could make the tournamnent, they really haven’t earned in the least.

As Hurricane fans mourn the latest dissapointing loss, they most also begin to get used to the idea of an even bigger loss. Star Jack McClinton had his second bad game, nursing a knee that has clearly not recovered.

He had only 13 points and the Hurricanes continue to prove they can’t stand up when he doesn’t lead.

The season is almost over but the last few games seem a horrible precursor for next season when our star will not be there. We’ve waited all year to see who would step up and fill his shoes but no one has  proven themselves worthy to replace him.

No wonder there’s so much hype for the recruiting class but it seems, hopefully, that the stature of the University of Miami team would yield a better product than one depending on recruitment.

By now there should have already been built a stronger base around McClinton with a truly dependable roster.