I'm pretty demoralized by this soccer loss.

It's hard to have a worse five minutes than I did this morning. The alarm set for five was jarring. Then I open up the laptop and see we blew the lead for Cole after I went to bed, and in the 4th minute, douchebag retard elbows a guy and gets sent off, eliminating virtually all chance that I was entertained by that match.

I'm less disappointed than I thought I'd be. I think I took more of the pain from the last minute meltdown on Sunday. Some soccer guy said it right, we can't take every game or tournament as a referendum on US soccer. We tied a very good Dutch squad where if anything, we were the more dominant side. We beat Japan who aren't total scrubs, and we lost when playing with 10 men (and missing two of our 4 or 5 best players) against a decent Nigerian squad.

Dudes I am pretty sure can contribute in 2010:
Edu
Adu
Parkhurst
Altidore
Bradley

Dudes I don't think have it
Rogers
Orozco

Dudes I continue to not know what to think
Klejstan - I just don't know
Holden - so good and so bad
Wynne - Juan Pierre of US team?
Guzan - who cares, it's Timmy's job


I'd say the only bummer is that I already kind of knew Adu/Altidore/Bradley were going to be 2010 factors, so I don't know that I picked up much more info.

jeff2sf wrote:Some soccer guy said it right, we can't take every game or tournament as a referendum on US soccer.

I think this is important.

The worst part is, I really think they lost focus and got ahead of themselves at the end of Sunday's game. They committed a bunch of dumb penalties in a row, did all that stupid delaying, and an equalizer was almost a forgone conclusion.

I had it all Tivo'd and ready to go but I overslept and thus watched the match on fast forward so I'm curious, how did Feilhaber look in his half? Was Altidore performing that poorly that they had to pull him off? I gotta say, watching on fast forward, you gotta think Marvell Wynne may be the fastest human on the planet.

I don't know if any of us saw it?

I watched until Nigeria scored. We were in our own half the entire time, had none of the ball, but Nigeria didn't really have any clear chances. It was frustrating to watch, and once Nigeria scored, I didn't feel like watching anymore when I could sleep for two more hours.

Parkhurst and Edu were both pretty good till Parkhurst got burned for the first goal.

I honestly didn't even know Feilheiber was on the field, but I was watching it with the sound down really low so I didn't wake up my apartment.

Wynne's inability to find McBride when he was alone in the box on our only good run while I was awake made me sad.

Also, saw the replay of the pen that Babel was given. Really, really weak.

jerseyhoya wrote:I watched until Nigeria scored. We were in our own half the entire time, had none of the ball, but Nigeria didn't really have any clear chances. It was frustrating to watch, and once Nigeria scored, I didn't feel like watching anymore when I could sleep for two more hours.

Parkhurst and Edu were both pretty good till Parkhurst got burned for the first goal.

I honestly didn't even know Feilheiber was on the field, but I was watching it with the sound down really low so I didn't wake up my apartment.

Wynne's inability to find McBride when he was alone in the box on our only good run while I was awake made me sad.

Also, saw the replay of the pen that Babel was given. Really, really weak.

Benny didn't come on till after you had gone to bed. He was subbed in at the start of the 2nd half for Altidore. I thought that was a curious decision since we needed a goal, but I figured either Altidore wasn't playing well or they figured having two forwards is pointless if you have no one to get them the ball.

Just watched one angry Georgian win a Greco-Roman gold medal. I dunno though, maybe he's angry all the time, but he totally dominated the Chinese wrestler.

I don't like the new wrestling scoring system, by the way.

TenuredVulture wrote:Just watched one angry Georgian win a Greco-Roman gold medal. I dunno though, maybe he's angry all the time, but he totally dominated the Chinese wrestler.

I don't like the new wrestling scoring system, by the way.

Poor Chinese guy was getting thrown around like a rag doll.

TenuredVulture wrote:Just watched one angry Georgian win a Greco-Roman gold medal. I dunno though, maybe he's angry all the time, but he totally dominated the Chinese wrestler.

I don't like the new wrestling scoring system, by the way.

I'd be pretty angry too if my country was being invaded.

stevelxa476 wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:Just watched one angry Georgian win a Greco-Roman gold medal. I dunno though, maybe he's angry all the time, but he totally dominated the Chinese wrestler.

I don't like the new wrestling scoring system, by the way.

I'd be pretty angry too if my country was being invaded.

Buying into the noize and hype I see!?

flooded goggles are the new bloody sock

VFB wrote:flooded goggles are the new bloody sock

Or broken ice skate lace...

Is there an age restriction for gymnastics? Because there is no way some of those girls on the Chinese team are 16. They look 12, tops.

I remember there was a 14 yr old South Korean boy in the last Olympics and he got DQ'd b/c he fell into the water. So, yeah, any one know if there is an age restriction?

gymnasts are supposed to be at least 16 during the calendar year. so the youngest a gymnast can be is 15.

some of those chinese girls looked about 10, but supposedly all of their ages were validated by the IOC.

different sports have different age limits (or don't have any at all), so there's not a "global" limit for all sports.

td11 wrote:Is there an age restriction for gymnastics? Because there is no way some of those girls on the Chinese team are 16. They look 12, tops.

I remember there was a 14 yr old South Korean boy in the last Olympics and he got DQ'd b/c he fell into the water. So, yeah, any one know if there is an age restriction?

Supposed to turn 16 in the year of the Olympics.

1) I don't think you can base impressions of age solely on appearance. Many times Chinese kids and other East Asians look younger than their Caucasian counterparts.

2) That said, the fact that 2 of the girls entered other competitions with younger listed ages than their passports currently show is really something that's real evidence that the International Gymnastics Federation is ignoring because they don't want to piss off the host country.

3) The Chinese girls were really good and it isn't like there were 2 or 3 14 year old American girls who would've helped them win last night anyway. I take nothing away from the athletes, only the Chinese coaches and others who are manipulating the system.

thanks, guys.

lethal-- #3 is a good point, but one could argue that since the 12 yr olds were China's best gymnasts, the americans (or any other team) might've had an easier time beating them had they actually played by the rules.

Well, the Karolyi's are arguing to get rid of the age limits altogether. Bela coached Nadia when she was 14, so other 14 year olds should get that opportunity. Just because a girl is 14 or 18 in the year of the Olympics rather than 16 doesn't mean she shouldn't have an opportunity becasue 15 and 16 are the ideal ages or whatever.

Given his argument, that's why I chose my #3 rather than yours.

I think the problem with allowing very young athletes is that it can encourage nations such as China to run what amount to sweatshops for gymnasts. Those girls start training as young as three years old, and not just for fun either.