So I listen to Tony Kornheiser's ESPN Radio show regularly at work, and I occasionally write in. But today, for the first time ever, I got my email read over the air! In case you were listening, my comment was the one from Tim in Chantilly, VA about A-Rod and Showalter that brought up the Herman Edwards line "HELLO! WE PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!" Everyone on the show laughed at that one.

My life has been validated.

So the Eagles had their best week of the season so far...

A bye week.

Thank God.

So you may have heard that two days ago the WUSA, the pro women's soccer league in the USA, folded. Now, it actually "suspended operations", but believe me, it's in all likelihood done.

Anyway, the reason for this post is to point out what's happening over at the WUSA General Messageboard. No, this isn't a post to dance on the grave of a league that few people knew about and even fewer cared about, just commentary on what some of their fans are saying. I have to say that it's impressive to see how committed these people (mostly girls and some women, but a few men are on the boards, too (mostly fathers)) are to their league (though I've noticed that they seem much more loyal to their favorite players than anything else.) The responses have ranged from "let's all donate money to save the league" to "that corporate bastards should give the league money to keep going" to "those corporate bastards at Nike should give the league money to keep going" to "this country and government will never recognize equal rights for women" (the last one brought to you by a good Socialist, and by "good" I mean "dogmatic".) Nothing's going to come of these fan efforts, of course, since there's just no money in it for sponsors, but hey, give these fans credit for trying. There were some voices of reason who were explaining why fan efforts wouldn't work or that corporations are in the business of making money, not charitable contributions (and when you give money to a league that squandered its original 5-year allottment in one year, that's charity.) And I only noticed one real flamebaitish thread.

Interesting stuff, really.

SI.com has an interesting article up today about the upcoming Women's World Cup, and it's the only article I've read about it so far that talks about the difficulty that this tournament will have at matching the interest in the '99 tournament (which, honestly, did receive quite a bit of media coverage.)

Here are a couple of choice quotations:

"Every World Cup is awesome," says U.S. captain Julie Foudy, playing in her fourth Cup -- as many as have been staged. "The chance to have it here again is extra special, and I think you'll see it will be a huge success."

"Americans respond to big events, they love big events," she says. "Even if it is something like this, with the tournament coming to the United States at the last minute, they respond. I don't worry about attendance numbers, because it is not something I can control. None of the players can, but sure, we want it to draw well."

Brandi Chastain: "I think, unlike '99, people are ready for this World Cup," she says, noting how the buzz four years ago began when the tournament did. "They have their TVs set to the time of the games, they know what's coming, and they're excited. We didn't have that in '99. It was an unusual situation with the first-ever women's event on that large of a scale. We're looking forward to this tournament, I think, with even more anticipation in terms of people who will be watching on television."

And then immediately after that quotation in the article: ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will share the broadcast duties, but with so many games up against football, the ratings could be minuscule. And they will be invisible if the Americans don't advance. The top-ranked U.S. team is in the most difficult first-round group, with Sweden (ranked fifth), North Korea (seventh) and Nigeria. So this will be no cruise through Washington, Philadelphia and Columbus on the way to the quarterfinals.

My thoughts:

Sorry, Brandi, but people aren't ready for this tournament since the only reason that anyone in this country cared about the 1999 World Cup was that it was being played in the U.S. Now, this one is being played in the U.S., too, but that's only because it was moved from China because of the SARS scare, and it, therefore, has gotten virtually no media attention up to this point.

Julie Foudy is a fine soccer player, but I don't take what she says too seriously, since she's essentially a cheerleader when it comes to quotations at this point.

This tournament can be a "success" (meaning that some people in the U.S. will actually care) if and only if the U.S. makes it to the final, and even then, I wouldn't call it a certainty.

My God, they were awful yesterday. My weekend was going great until 4 PM Sunday. McNabb couldn't hit the broad side of an aircraft carrier. Christ, did you see that last INT that got returned for a TD? He threw it 5 yards behind his receiver! And even when he did find his receivers, the balls kept bouncing off their hands. And this defense can't defend a crossing route. Period.

Mad props to Akers for that 57-yard field goal.

Here's an editorial in today's Philadelphia Inquirer about the Microsoft high school in Philly. It seems pretty sensible to me. They're in favor of it, as long as there are limits to what Microsoft's reach would be.

Man, Johnny Cash and John Ritter on the same day? They used to say that these things come in threes. These days, they're coming in thirties....

My God, the Eagles were terrible last night.

Will I ever see a major sports team in Philly win a championship? I was born in 1980, which means that 1984 is pretty much the first year I can remember anything (and the last time Philly won a title was the 76ers in '82.) Admittedly, there have been some close calls for this city in the last decade ('93 Phils (lost World Series to Toronto in 6), '98 Flyers (swept by Detroit in Stanley Cup Finals), '01 Sixers (lost in 5 games to Lakers in the Finals), '01 Eagles (lost at St. Louis in NFC Championship Game), '02 Eagles (lost at home to Tampa Bay in NFC Championship Game).) But no titles. I've had to try to console myself with titles by the Philadelphia Wings (indoor lacrosse) and the Philadelphia Kixx (indoor soccer).

Sigh....

A terrible tragedy occurred yesterday when an old man plowed his car through an open-air market on a closed-off street yesterday afternoon, killing 8 and injuring many more.

So why are there no politicians making knee-jerk reactions and saying that old people shouldn't be on the road anymore? Is it POSSIBLE that because old people vote as a group more than anyone else that the politicians wouldn't dare say anything to upset them?

Man, I can't wait for some "expert" on violence in video games to declare that this old guy was playing GTA just before the incident.

WARNING: THIS JOURNAL ENTRY IS ABOUT SOCCER

FIFA released its June 2003 world rankings today, and wouldn't you know it? For the first time ever (I believe), the USA is ranked ahead of Mexico and is now the #1 ranked team in CONCACAF (that's North America and the Caribbean's regional association.) Despite managing only a couple of losses and a draw at this month's Confederations Cup (though we did notch a 2-1 win over New Zealand earlier this month), we still gained a couple of points and moved up one slot to 9th, while Mexico has slipped below us.

All I've got to say to that is BOO DIGGITY!

Page 1637, 13 June 2003 Science Magazine, caption to a picture of protesters tearing up GM plants:

Protesters tear up genetically modified rape [sic] plants in government-sponsored trials last year; 80 were arrested.

80 rape plants were arrested, right?

Anyone else here listen to ESPN Radio over the internet? They run internet-only commercials. Now, this is fine. The problem I have is that it's the same 10 commercials EVERY DAY. I am sick of hearing about Full Spectrum Lending, Watered-Down Milk, community coalitions, seat belts, lawyer business services, or digital cameras.

Fortunately, I can easily turn down the volume at the commercials until Tony K. or Dan P. comes back on.

Anyone else sick of those commercials?

Just like this article on CNN, I have used a misleading headline to pull in readers.

IT IS NOT A DEGREE IN VIDEO GAMING! IT IS A DEGREE IN GAME DESIGN! YOU DO NOT GET GRADED ON HOW MANY FRAGS YOU CAN GET IN Q2DM!

Ok, I KNOW that there are people on Slashdot who have seen Most Extreme Elimination Challenge on The New TNN (9 and 9:30 PM, Saturday nights; 8 and 8:30 PM, Sunday Nights) and LOVE IT. This show is fucking hilarious. I've read that it's basically a Japanese show from the 80's called "Takeshi's Castle" where 120 contestants would be eliminated throughout the day through difficult and wacky physical stunts. As far as I can tell, this version of the show doesn't really have that sort of elimination feature, since they don't really talk about individual contestants progressing.

The usual pattern for each game that they show is to show a bunch of people failing miserably and then towards the end of the segment they show one or two people succeeding. Then, at the end of the show, they have the Ten Most Painful Eliminations of the Day, which is always good for laughs. The games are basically American Gladiators meets Guts (that old Nickelodeon show) meets Fun House (that old FOX Kids show), and the hosts are dressed up as samurai. If you get The New TNN, you *must* check out this show!

The games are truly bizarre, such as one where players one by one choose a rope to pull in a tug-of-war competition, but since a wall divides them from their opponent, they don't know what they're up against. There might be a weak woman on the other side, or a bulldozer, or even an angry cow!

It is astounding how much I suck at Clue. You know, the Classical Mystery Game from Parker Brothers? Man, it's a lot of fun, but for some reason, I am absolutely horrible at it. Of all the times I've played it in my life, I've only won it once, and that was only because everyone else was wrong, so I didn't even get the satisfaction of pulling the cards out of the envelope and revealing that I was correct!

So I was playing just now with two other people, and I thought I had it all figured out. I was sure about the room and the weapon (lead pipe in the billiard room), but I was only speculating on the person, figuring that someone else must be on the cusp of victory, so I'd better decide to snatch it at that time. My thinking was that since the person on my left had called for Professor Plum several times, she must have him, since she wouldn't call her for him so many times and so blatantly if she didn't. So that put it down to Scarlet and Peacock, and when the suggestion on the turn just before called for Scarlet but didn't get it, I figured that I had my woman (Peacock). Alas, she didn't have Plum after all, though she kinda blew it when she said, "You're wrong," when I announced my accusation, thereby telling my other opponent that she didn't have Plum (the other opponent was pretty sure about the weapon and room.) So the other opponent won on her next turn. Sigh.

It's still a fine game. I'm sure I'll win it someday, maybe if I play with infants.