It was standing room only.

It was standing room only, in a sports bar.

It was standing room only, in a sports bar, in June.

It was standing room only, in a sports bar, in June…for soccer.

That’s right a sports bar was turning people away to watch the Gold Cup Final between the U.S. and Mexico.

This particular bar, the Trident Bar, has been the hang out of the Tucson chapter of the American Outlaws, an official support group for USA Soccer, but even in the early stages they did not have a crowd this big.

The establishment set up several portable tables to accomidate the crowd and a number of patrons stood or sat in fold-out chairs. Five minutes into the game and the place had to turn away people. Room was at a premium.

It was an impressive showing for any soccer match, but especially a non-World Cup soccer match. Sure it was just one bar, most would have just a few people on hand for soccer, if any at all, but it shows a slowly growing interest in the sport. (more…)

I would be a very conservative NBA general manager. I would draft safe, sure things over guys with “upside.” I would rather draft a 10-year, solid veteran than an unproven kid with a lot of ability who may or may not be good several years from now. Give me instant production over guys who might get it done about the time their rookie contract is up.

Here are the guys in this draft who I think will have solid NBA careers.

 A few things to remember.

 1. I am biased against European players. Since I have not seen them play, I cannot judge. I also think for every Dirk or Pau, there are five who made next to no impact. Of the foreign players in this draft (other than Canadians) the only player I have seen play is Enes Kanter in a prep school game.

 2. If  he did not rebound in college, he will not rebound in the pros. If he did not work hard in college, he will not work hard in the pros.

3. Bad guys need not apply. Even if the player was supremely talented, I don’t want bad guys on my team. Last year I would have avoided DeMarcus Cousins.

With that in mind, here are the players I like most in this draft. (more…)

Just stop it!

I am talking to all the talking heads in the media who keep wondering if Rory McIlroy is the next Tiger.

C’mon, it’s lazy journalism and I can say that because I’ve been hosting a drive time radio sports show the past two weeks.

They are like Pavlov’s Dogs. Anytime a young athlete does something impressive, we have to compare him to the past greats.

Guess what? McIlroy has won ONE major. One. Tiger Woods has won 14 and became an international icon.

McIlroy is not the next Tiger. Kobe is not the next Michael Jordan. Sydney Crosby is not the next Wayne Gretzky.

There will never be another Tiger Woods. There will never be another Michael Jordan and there will never be another Wayne Gretzky. (more…)

Season one of AMC’s “The Killing” is over and the only thing we know is that there is going to be a season two.

The show that had moments of brilliance combined with moments of blandness, left viewers with a cliffhanger that was more frustrating than thrilling.

The show was wonderfully acted, looked stunning and was poorly paced and inconsistently written.

The season finale was one of the better episodes overall, especially when it involved the actual police investigation of the murder of Seattle high school student Rosie Larsen, or at least it was for the first 55 minutes. (more…)

Dana Holgorsen was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State last season. Photo by Matt Strasen-US PRESSWIRE

I think to some degree we all saw this coming. Few outside of West Virginia Athletic Director Oliver Luck thought that hiring Dana Holgorsen to be the Mountaineers “coach in waiting” this season while Bill Stewart remained head coach fro one more year was a good idea.

“Bill, good news and bad news. The bad news is we’re letting you go. The good news is that you to stay on for one more year and train your replacement.”

It was the second curious idea by the Luck family early in the year. Son Andrew decided to forgo the NFL Draft, where he’d be the top overall pick, to return to a Stanford team missing several key players and breaking in a rookie head coach.

They call them lame ducks for a reason, except Stewart was not going to be lame. He was not going to go down without a fight. And because of that, he is no longer the coach at West Virginia.

Even if he had remained it couldn’t have worked. Half the staff was still Stewart guys, while half the staff was made up of Holgorsen guys. The dynamic had to have been strained and strange. In reality Luck either needed to fire Stewart or wait a year to hire Holgorsen, and risk a bigger program swooping in and hiring his guy.

It would almost be like foreclosing on a house, but allowing the family to continue living there for a year, but also moving a new family in.

(more…)