Chicago Olympic Smackdown

Chalkie (unofficial Chi-town Bid Masot)

In the end, not even the bedazzling glow of an appeal by beloved President Barack Obama could sway the International Olympic Committee.  Chicago is out, Rio is in.  So much for all those ‘Chalkie’ t-shirt sales.  So much for a new corruption fiasco revenue stream for Chi-town.  In a fitting bit of irony, the Chicago bid appears to have been out-politicked by the international community within the IOC.   Too bad we still don’t have Blago heading up our fine state; with him (and his hair) given free rein to implement the Chicago Way and work all the bid-angles along with Mayor Daley, who can doubt the IOC would’ve eventually been persuaded.

From where I’m sitting, south of I-80, this failure is a good thing.  Sure the Olympics would’ve brought jobs, cash, and publicity to Chicago, but at what price?  Veteran Tribune Columnist John Kass knows the score.  He was ready to invest heavily in T-shirt sales along these lines: ‘Chicago 2016′ on the front, ‘Terra Haute 2020′ on the back.  Why, you ask?  Because, as he so eloquently puts it:

As every Chicago politician knows, Terre Haute, Ind., is home to a federal prison. That’s where a few would be tossed after boodling their way to Olympic fortunes. And why 2020? That’s how long it would take for grand juries to do their work.

Deserve’s Got Nothing To Do With It

Yeah, that’s what ol’ Clint as Will Munny told the nefarious Hackman before he blew him away in Unforgiven.

That’s what the U.S. Olympic Soccer team is telling themselves right now as they return to the states.

Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.

The U.S. didn’t really deserve to beat Japan.  They certainly did deserve to beat the Dutch in the second game but had to settle for the tie.  We can argue the merits of Michael Orozco’s red card in the third minute against Nigeria (the softest straight red I’ve ever seen), which pretty much led to defeat an elimination early Wednesday morning.  And the Dutch definitely did not, by God, deserve to beat Japan on a weak, weak penalty kick, thus ensuring the U.S.’s elimination.  But as Clint has told us…

So this Olympic soccer team was somewhat snakebitten.  Jon Spector out with injury, Jozy Altidore hampered by a sore ankle, Coach Nowak’s insistence on playing guys out of position.  Still there were a few bright spots: some good stretches by Holden, Kleijstan, Edu, Wynne, Parkhurst, Adu…  The way the midfield was able to dominate for long periods.

Now the question becomes how quickly some of these guys can be integrated with the full national team to prepare for the World Cup.  Unfortunately, with ultra-conservative Bob Bradley still at the helm, and judging by his most recent call-ups, we’ll have to wait awhile longer.

Steppin’ to the AM

Who gets up at 2:00 in the AM to watch Olympic Soccer?

THIS GUY.

Yeah, our boys were in action early (or late) Thursday for the preliminary rounds of Soccer’s run for the gold before the opening ceremonies began.  It was somewhat reminiscent of World Cup 2002, getting up early to watch the action from Asia.  And the first result was similar.  USA 1, Japan 0.

Stuart Holden with the game winning goal.

For this first match, the U.S. showed some patience and toughness and were a little lucky Japan choked in front of goal.  Man of the Match: Marvell Wynne at right back.  Next up, an early AM matchup with the Netherlands on Sunday. We’ll need more scoring punch and a few more breaks to beat the Orange.  Jozy and Freddy need to show up.  Join me, won’t you, in yelling goooooooooaalll!!! at 6:45 AM CST (I’ll be suffering at 4:45 Pacific).

RFK Trip

So there I am at RFK for the Superliga Match between D.C. United and Atlante (of the Mexican League).  This was the full 90 soccer experience, complete with pregame tailgate courtesy of Barra Brava, plenty of drums, beer, singing, and chanting.  Unfortunately D.C. lost 3-2. 

(photo from the new phone)

This game was so much more fun than the last baseball game I attended it wasn’t even funny.  A completely different experience.  When you go into the supporters section for a soccer match, it’s all about participation.  The guys welcomed me in, fed me some chips and beer, and didn’t even give me too much smack for being a Fire supporter every other day of the year.  Sort of reminded me of a really good college basketball or football game when you’re up and yelling the whole time.

Olympic Qualies Update

The U.S. bumbled around in three group stage games, only managing three goals (two on penalty kicks) and generally looked bad. This being CONCACAF, though, we still won the group. Oh well could’ve been worse. Ask Mexico.

The boys didn’t look sharp or confident. They sure didn’t look organized. You have to wonder what Coach Peter Nowak is thinking playing the 4-5-1. A lot of us were hoping for the 4-3-3, but Jozy Altidore found himself stranded alone far too often. A 4-4-2 with Freddy Adu at attacking midfield would be nice too; unfortunately Nowak just had so many guys out of position and there was so much bad passing, we just weren’t going to see any sexy football.

Speaking of which, the highlight of the group stage for the U.S. was clearly the pseudo-streaker. What–you didn’t see? Check her out after the bump…