No Hope for Team USA in Women's World Cup

The United States has no Hope entering Sunday's third-place game against Norway.

Goalkeeper Hope Solo was kicked off the team by USA Women's Coach Greg Ryan. Ryan's decision had the support of the remaining 20 players. The decision came after Solo appeared to criticize Coach Ryan, saying the Coach made "the wrong decision" replacing her with veteran goalkeeeper Briana Scurry.

Solo hadn't allowed a goal for almost 300 minutes when she was benched. Ryan chose the smaller, quicker Scurry, who led the U.S. to its last World Cup title in 1999 and held off Brazil in the 2004 Olympic final.

Captain Kristine Lilly and star striker Abby Wambach said Solo apologized at a team meeting. On her myspace page, Solo wrote that she didn't intend to criticize Scurry. She maintained, however, that Ryan's decision was wrong.

After Team USA lost 3-0 to Brazil on Thursday, Solo said of her benching: "It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that. There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. ... You have to live in the present. And you can't live by big names. You can't live in the past."

Quite Frankly, it doesn't matter whether Brianna Scurry was in goal for the United Staes or Hope Solo. The United States would have lost anyway. I can't believe this actually came as a suprise to people. Brazil eats, drinks, and lives soccer. They have the best male and female soccer players in the world. Marta scored two of the four goals for Brazil in that game. I think what Hope Solo said was just a player mad that their team lost after they were benched. Solo had not allowed a goal in over 200 minutes. Her streak would have ended in that loss to Brazil, but that's irrelevant. Here's a quick recap of Brianna Scurry for all of you non-soccer fans out there. Brianna Scurry was a member of the 1999 World Cup team that defeated China in Penalty Kicks. Scurry, Brandi Chastain and Mia Hamm, and Kristine Lilly were the key players for Team USA in 1999. Scurry, Lilly, Chastain, and Hamm were together from 1999 until 2004 when Team USA was able to win the gold. The only two remaining players from the 1999 World Cup team are Christine Lilly and Brandi Chastain. Brandi was not able to stop the Brazillians from scoring four goals against Team USA.

Hope Solo was only trying to say her coach was wrong in taking her out. She wasn't trying to put down Brandi Chastain.

Week Four NFL Preview

Brett Favre is one touchdown pass away from becoming the all time leader in Touchdown Passes.


The NFL is one-fourth of the way through the season. Week four is about to kick off. Here is a preview with every game and a prediction of the winner.

EARLY GAMES
Baltimore At Cleveland, 1:00 PM EST
Analysis: The Baltimore Ravens are on the road in Cleveland, but they will pull out a win thanks to their defense. The Ravens are a subpar offensive team, but their defense is how they win ballgames.
BALTIMORE OVER CLEVELAND

Chicago At Detroit, 1:00 PM EST
Analysis: The Rex Grossman era in Chicago (for now) is over. Brian Griese takes over as the Bears starting Quarterback this week, and he is taking on a Detroit Lions defense that was shredded last week by the "perfect" Donovan McNabb. Chicago will win against Detroit on the road, as their defense will perform better this week.
CHICAGO OVER DETROIT

Green Bay At Minnesota, 1:00 PM EST (THE GAME OF THE WEEK)
Analysis: This game is the Game of The Week simply because Brett Favre is one Touchdown Pass away from becoming the new all time leader in Touchdown Passes. With one more pass, he will have career Touchdown pass Number 421. Many consider the all-time homerun record the greatest record in the history of American Sports, Second Place is the All Time Touchdown Pass Record. Brett Favre will go down as the one of the greatest Quarterbacks in the history of the game, perhaps the greatest pure passer in the history of the game. Green Bay's defense has stopped LaDanian Tomlinson cold, and I expect them to do the same to Adrian Peterson.
GREEN BAY OVER MINNESOTA

Houston At Atlanta, 1:00 PM EST
Analysis: Houston's defense will stop Joey Harrington from clompleting passes, and stop Jerious Norwood from finding the holes. Atlants's winless streak will continue.
HOUSTON OVER ATLANTA.

New York Jets At Buffalo, 1:00 PM EST
Analysis: Two good Quarterbacks going at it. J.P. Losman for the Bills and Chad Pennington for the Jets. These two teams also have two good runners. Thomas Jones for the Jets and Marsahwn Lynch for the Bills. I'll go with the Jets because they have more wepons than the Bills.
JETS OVER BILLS

Oakland At Miami, 1:00 PM EST
Analysis: Daunte Culpepper will get the nod for the Raiders. You know he wants to beat Miami, his former team. This game will be won with the running game. LaMont Jordan will try to run through the tough Miami Dolphins defense. Ronnie will have an almost as difficult time running through Oakland's defense. Who gonna win? It's a toss up. I go with Miami because they are at home, although this game really could go either way.
MIAMI OVER OAKLAND

LATE GAMES
St. Louis at Dallas, 4:05 PM EST
Analysis: Tony Romo and the Cowboys Offense will score a lot of points in this game. The Cowboy defense will prevent Marc Bulger and The Rams from breaking out of their winless streak.
DALLAS OVER ST. LOUIS

Seattle at San Francisco, 4:05 PM EST
Analysis: This is a Huge NFC West Matchup beacuse of what it means for both teams. San Francisco is coming off a loss to the recharged Steelers. Seattle is coming off a last minute win over The Bengals. Whoever wins this game will lead the NFC West. This game could come down to the running backs, Frank Gore for San Francisco and Shaun Alexander for the Seahawks. This is another tough one. I'll go with Seattle because of Matt Hasselbeck and Deion Branch.
SEATTLE OVER SAN FRANCISCO.

Tampa Bay at Carolina, 4:05 PM EST
Analysis: It doesn't matter who's starting for Carlolina, they're in trouble in this game. Tampa Bay will win this game. Carolina has been plagued by inconsistent play. It hasn't helped them win ballgames.
TAMPA BAY OVER CAROLINA

Denver at Indianapolis, 4:05 PM EST
Analysis: This is Indianpolis' first meet up with Denver ever since Adam Vinateiri kicked the game winning Field Goal for The Colts with five seonds remaining. Peyton Manning has been all calm and collected so far. i don't expect that to change. Jay Cutler may have a good day passing the Football, but Indianapolis will still win the game.
INDY OVER DENVER

Kansas City at San Diego, 4:05 PM EST
Analysis: Two underacheiving teams playing in this game. Kansas City is so desperate to win, Larry Johnson will play injured in this game. San Diego will win, simply because San Diego is at home and they feel like they have to prove something after losing to Green Bay last week.
SAN DIEGO OVER KANSAS CITY

Pittsburgh at Arizona, 4:05 PM EST
Analysis: Arizona Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt and Assistant Coach Russ Grimm are taking on the team that they were with in the Bill Cowher Era.Arizona is coming off a tough, last second defeat to the Ravens last week. I'll go with Pittsburgh in this game because they have looked really good so far in the season.
PITTSBURGH OVER ARIZONA

LATER GAMES
Philladelphia at New York Giants, 8: 15 PM EST
Analysis: This is a big NFC East Matchup with both teams coming off a couple of big wins in an attempt to save their season. I'll go with the Eagles in this game. Thier Offense has been hot, and their defense had played well enough for Philly to break out of their winless streak.
PHILLY OVER NEW YORK GIANTS

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
New England At Cincinnatti, 8:30 PM EST
Analysis: The Bengals will be reeling in this game without Rudi Johnson. Tom Brady will light up the Cincinnati Secondary, and New England will pull out another victory.
NEW ENGLAND OVER CINCINNATTI

Enjoy Your Weekend! Watch The Games!

THE CHICAGO CUBS HAVE WON THE NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL!

Carlos Zambrano (right) sprays Alfonso Soriano (center) with Chamagne.

Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Zambrano were the Cubs two biggest investments this season, and they paid off in a big way for the Chicaco Cubs. For the first time since 2003, THERE WILL BE OCTOBER BASEBALL AT WRIGLEY FIELD!!! THIS IS THE YEAR! Am I dreaming? Did the Cubs actually win the National League Central? I've pinched myself several times, and this is no dream. This is reality.

Alfonso Soriano has gone on a tear unsurpassed in Cubs history. He has 13 homers in September, matching Ernie Banks' record of 50 years ago.

His six leadoff homers in September are the most by any major leaguer in any month — and that's wasn't the end of it. The left fielder also threw Joey Votto out at the plate in the fourth inning, matching Hank Sauer's team record of 19 assists for the season.

From Soriano's emphatic opening homer, this one had a playoff atmosphere with all those blue-shirted Cubs fans giving the visitors a home-field advantage.

Nothing made Carlos Zambrano sweat. Keeping his emotions in check, the right-hander allowed six hits in seven innings and strengthened his case to start the first game of the playoffs.

In June, Zambrano was the epitome of Chicago's tumultuous start. He got into a fight with former Cubs catcher Michael Barrett in the dugout and again in the clubhouse, the low point of Chicago's slide to 8 1/2 games out.

The Cubs turned themselves around and popped some corks in the city where their volcanic manager is still revered for blowing his cork and leading the Reds to a World Series championship in 1990.

Piniella had a new look on Friday — the customary two-day stubble was gone from his face, shaved clean after that stomach-churning visit to Florida. Piniella kept his eyes on the bigger picture: That four-month comeback to win the majors' weakest division.

Piniella's top starter had a new way about him, too.

The Cubs gave Zambrano a five-year, $91.5 million contract extension on Aug. 17 despite one glaring flaw. The 26-year-old pitcher has tended to let the big games get to him, imploding in his last three opening day starts.

Could he handle the pressure this time?

He stayed as serene as those 30 cases of Korbel California champagne stored in a room off the visitors' clubhouse. Zambrano kept his cool — no arm thrusts after big outs, no muttering to himself between innings — while limiting the Reds' injury-depleted lineup to one infield single over the first three innings.

Congratulations as well to the Boston Red Sox, who have won the American League Eas Divison away from the "Evil Empire" for the first time in Seventeen years. The Red Sox beat Minnesota with the arm of Daisuke Mastuzaka. Alex Rodriguez hit his 54th homerun of the season in a loss. Look at the bright side Yankee fans. You're still going to the playoffs.

The San Diego Padres eliminated the Milwaukee Brewers from the playoffs with a 6-3 win. The Cubs may meet up with San Diego in the playoffs, bringing back eerie memories of Steve Garvey and 1984. Hopefully, we do better this time.

How about the New York Mets losing their lead in the National League East to the Philladelphia Phillies? Willie Randolph is on the hot seat in New York and may be fired if The Mets don't make the playoffs. Meanwhile, what a turnaround for the Phillies. The team that was so bad in the beginning of the year have cleaned up their act and a couple of days away from winning the National League East.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have also clinched a playoff spot, thanks to the clutch hitting of pitcher Micah Owings, who a late substitution as Brandon Webb was supposed to start for them. The D-Backs will play in October. Watch out for the young Diamond Backs. Randy Hohnson will be cjeering for the Diamondbacks as he is still trying to recover from a bad back.

October Baseball is just about set. Get ready baseball fans. It's going to be a fantastic show.

The 2007 New York Mets: One of The Biggest Chokers in Baseball History

The Mets are coming apart at the seams, and if they can't right the sinking ship, there will be no October Baseball for them.

Thank goodness for the Cubs, they are not the biggest chokers in baseball this season.

The New York Mets' lead in the NL East is gone. They might not even be in the playoffs if they can't snap out of their near historic funk.

The spiralling Mets managed just three hits off Joel Pineiro and Jason Isringhausen in a 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night that dropped them into a first-place tie with Philadelphia in the division.

New York has led the division alone every day since May 16.

The Mets were ahead by seven games on Sept. 12 with 17 remaining but have lost 10 of 14 overall and seven straight at home, a monumental tailspin for a team that counted on being in the playoffs.

No major-league team has failed to finish first after having at least a seven-game lead with 17 to play. But with three games remaining in the regular season - a weekend series at home against Florida - the Mets might fail to win the division or qualify as the wild card.

Philadelphia, which beat Atlanta 6-4 on Thursday, closes the season with three games at home against Washington. San Diego, which beat Milwaukee 9-5 in the opener of a four-game series Thursday, leads the Mets, Phillies and Colorado Rockies by one game in the NL wild card standings.

The Mets are having a historic collapse. The Mets are injured, angry, and struggling. As a result, they have allowed Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and the Philladelphia Phillies to catch up to them. This was a team that everyone expected would be back in the National League Championship Series, particularly since they have the "Thunder and Lightning" combo of Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado. Well, Beltran and Delgado have been on the Disabled List, and Jose Reyes and David Wright, as good as they are, can't pick up the slack. The Mets bullpen has also been a huge letdown for them. Last season, the Mets were pitching to use their bullpen. This season, their trying to keep their bullpen out of the game because of the number of leads the bullpen has blown for them this season.

If the Mets don't right the ship, The 2007 New York Mets will go down as the biggest chokers in baseball history. Will the Mets wake up in time of starve off the surging Phillies? Or will New York prove Jimmy Rollins correct when he said in the beginning of the year that the Phillies were the team to beat?

The Letter C in Cubs Baseball Stands For Chokers, Not Champions

The Bartman Ball from the 2003 NLCS.

The Cubs fans know all about their team's historic chokes. I do not want to do this, but I feel, to get the point across, here is the list of all of their legendary chokes:

1969
In 1969 the Cubs held a comfortable 8½-game lead in the National League East during the second week of August. They appeared on their way to the playoffs, but on September 9th, the curse visibly raised its head for the first time since 1945. The Cubs were playing the Mets in a key series. The Cubs lost that game, they lost the next day to the Phillies, and from there it was all down hill. They folded like a cheap suit and coughed up the lead; finishing an incredible 8 games in back of New York.

1973
In 1973, the Cubs were once again cruising along, with a large division lead in July. However, they proceeded to lose 49 of their last 76 games and wound up seven games under .500, but only five games out of first in a year when the Mets won the division with an 82-79 mark.

1984
On Friday the 13th of April, 1984, the Cubs decided to try something different and allowed Sam and his goat onto Wrigley Field. It appeared to reverse the curse as the Cubs won the division and took a 2-0 lead in the best of five League Championship Series against the Padres. The Cubs then lost three in a row to blow their chance at the Series. A ground ball that went through first baseman Leon Durham's legs sealed their fate, much to the horror of the Cub faithful.

2003
The Cubs won the division, beat the Braves in the first round of the playoffs, and held a 3-0 lead on the Marlins in the sixth game of the League Championship Series that they had a 3-2 games lead in. Five outs away from the World Series, disaster struck in the form of one of their own fans, Steve Bartman. As a lazy foul ball off the bat of Luis Castillo looked to be coming down in the outstretched glove of Cubs' left fielder Moises Alou, Steve Bartman (who was just doing what any other fan would have done if they were in his shoes)appeared to deflect it enough to get it ot of Alou's Reach. Angered fans were ready to pounce on Bartman; they were ready to lynch him after the Cubs fell apart and allowed the Marlins eight runs before the inning ended. Bartman had to be escorted out under protective custody as the Cubs lost Game Six. He became a lightning rod of anger when the Cubs were beaten in the seventh game.

2004
In 2004 when the Cubs held a couple of games lead in the wild card chase over the Astros late in the season. Naturally, they lost seven of their last nine and failed to reach the post-season. In one vital game they held a 3-0 lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth over, whom else, the Mets, but lost when rookie Victor Diaz hit a three run homer to force extra innings, before a solo Mets' homer beat Chicago in the eleventh to eliminate them from the playofs.

2007
As I see The Cubs get swept by the Marlins, I cannot help but shake the feeling that The Cubs are in a repeat of 1969, 1984, 2003, and 2004. The Cubs are choking away their division lead, and depending on teams like St. Louis and San Diego for help. it's ironic how the Cubs are asking for help from the Padres when these two teams may meet up in the NLDS in October, if the Cubs stay alive.

The Cubs had better turn the page and start anew against Cincinnatti, or this Cubs team will go down with the '69 and 2004 Cubs as choking up the division lead and missing the playoffs.

Both The Cubs and Milwaukee determine their own destiny entering the final weekend of baseball season.

Right Now, Wrigley Field will be open for October Baseball, but will it stay that way?

The Public Has Spoken on the Fate of Number 756

Fashion Designer Marc Ecko, with homerun ball #756.

The ball Barry Bonds hit for his record-breaking 756th home run will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Fashion designer Marc Ecko, who bought the ball in an online auction, set up a Web site for fans to vote on the ball's fate, and Wednesday announced the decision to brand it won out over the other options — sending it to Cooperstown unblemished or launching it into space.
Ecko said he believed the vote to brand the ball showed people thought "this was shrouded in a chapter of baseball history that wasn't necessarily the clearest it could be."

Ecko, whom Bonds called "an idiot" last week, had the winning bid Sept. 15 in the online auction for the ball that Bonds hit Aug. 7 to break Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs. The final selling price was $752,467, well above most predictions that assumed Bonds' status as a lightning rod for the steroids debate in baseball would depress the value.

Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey said accepting the ball did not mean the Hall in Cooperstown, N.Y., endorses the viewpoint that Barry Bonds used drugs.

Hall of Fame officials and Ecko are discussing how to affix the asterisk on the ball. It's not yet known when the ball will go on display.

The Giants announced Friday they will part with Bonds after this season, the seven-time NL MVP's 15th in San Francisco and 22nd in the majors.

Although I thought the ball should have gone to the Hall Of Fame unblemished, I am glad that the majority got their way. The Hall of Fame gets what they wanted (the ball), and the fans get what they want (an asterisk on the ball.) It's a win-win situation for everyone except Barry Bonds, who will be looking for a new home this offseason.

Brian Griese To Start For Bears Against Detroit

The NFL Network is reporting that Brian Griese will start at quarterback Sunday for the Chicago Bears.

Griese, the son of NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback Bob Griese, will replace Rex Grossman, who threw three interceptions as the Chicago Bears fell to the Dallas Cowboys 34-10 on Sunday night and did not get a vote of confidence from his coach a day later.

Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith was evasive Tuesday as to whether or not Rex Grossman would start for the Bears Sunday against Detroit.

This is a much needed move for the Bears that could be the move that could save their season. Grossman had struggled through the first three games, throwing an interception in the San Diego game that took the Bears out of scoring range, throwing two interceptions against a mediocre Kansas City Secondary, and Grossman throwing three interceptions against the Dallas Cowboys, including one that was returned for a touchdown by Anthony Henry. Grossman has strugled. The Bears' fans have labored through the first three games of the season, clamoring for Griese to start, and the cries only got louder after the Dallas Game. This was a move Head Coach Lovie Smith had to make. Brian Griese is now starting for the Bears. Will he be better than Rex Grossman?