In a Tie With Costa Rica, US Wins
For a game that meant almost nothing to the United States team’s World Cup hopes next summer, pulling out Wednesday night’s 2-2 tie against Costa Rica somehow turned into a suddenly crucial, karma-altering quest. With one of its most promising young players, Charlie Davies, lying in a hospital bed after a horrific car crash and another, Oguchi Onyewu, carted off during the game with a knee injury, the team’s world was rocked in two days. Coming back from a two-goal deficit, even if their spot in the World Cup was already assured, was their way of fighting back from something bigger.
That’s why the celebration was so full of emotion, as Luke Cyphers writes on ESPN.com, and how a meaningless game in the standings grew so much larger in their hearts, writes Grant Wahl on SI.com. The qualifying quest over, the questions now circle about how quickly Onyewu can return and if Davies can resume his career at all.
Baseball’s playoffs resume tonight, starring a team whose entire season has been spent dealing with the emotional after-effects of a car crash: the one that killed Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart. Now, they are thankful to have much more mundane concerns, like how to hit Yankees closer Mariano Rivera’s bat-shattering slider and a bleak weather forecast in New York.
The Yankees look so formidable that Gordon Edes writes on Yahoo.com that they are sparking comparisons to the legendary 1998 team, and WSJ.com concludes that part of their success is that so much of their huge payroll is being paid to players who are actually producing on the field.
The Phillies don’t look so formidable this season, but as Bruce Jenkins writes on SI.com, they have an annoying knack for refusing to go away. The Philadelphia Daily News’ Sam Donnellon wonders which Cole Hamels will show up for his Game 1 start. Much of the Dodgers focus is on its young, powerful outfield and Ted Keith writes on SI.com that much of the team’s fire comes from Andre Ethier. Bob Nightengale writes in USA Today that Dodgers Manager Joe Torre, meanwhile, has been busy trying to ignore the elephant in the playoff room: the Yankees. The Dodgers have another distraction brewing, the separation of Frank and Jamie McCourt. Divorces can get a little sticky when one owns the team and the other is its chief executive.
There is a metaphorical divorce going on in Washington, D.C., with the former Redskins star John Riggins taking to YouTube to blast the franchise, with television analyst and former quarterback Joe Theismann chiming in as well. Imagine if the Redskins had signed Michael Vick instead of the Eagles, then they’d also feature one of the most-disliked celebrities in America, according to a study by HCD Research. Meanwhile, Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey claims his divorce from the Giants does not mean Sunday’s game is a grudge match for him and a group bidding for the St. Louis Rams has (surprise!) divorced itself from Rush Limbaugh.
College football’s news includes the odd thought that Boise State may have lost ground even in victory Wednesday night and the inspiring story of how Cincinnati’s team has adopted a young cancer patient. Other heartwarming news comes from Southern California as Stafon Johnson left the hospital smiling on Wednesday.
There is very little heartwarming in the new memoir by the former hockey star Theo Fleury, who admits he considered suicide during his darkest days. Fleury, who also revealed he was sexually abused by the junior coach Graham James, has decided to file a formal complaint against James, who already served jail time for abusing the former N.H.L. player Sheldon Kennedy.
For a look at hockey’s brighter side, consider the resurgence of one of Fleury’s former teams, the Rangers, or watch a video of an incredible goal by a junior player while filming a promo for the Boston Bruins.
In the annals of self-promotion, however, there are more dangerous chapters and here’s hoping this one doesn’t go horribly wrong: Usain Bolt racing Asafa Powell in their souped-up luxury cars.
You can understand why that makes some people cringe. Just as the American soccer team.
Follow Leading Off on Twitter: twitter.com/zinsernyt
For a game that meant almost nothing to the United States team’s World Cup hopes next summer, pulling out Wednesday night’s 2-2 tie against Costa Rica somehow turned into a suddenly crucial, karma-altering quest. With one of its most promising young players, Charlie Davies, lying in a hospital bed after a horrific car crash and another, Oguchi Onyewu, carted off during the game with a knee injury, the team’s world was rocked in two days. Coming back from a two-goal deficit, even if their spot in the World Cup was already assured, was their way of fighting back from something bigger.
That’s why the celebration was so full of emotion, as Luke Cyphers writes on ESPN.com, and how a meaningless game in the standings grew so much larger in their hearts, writes Grant Wahl on SI.com. The qualifying quest over, the questions now circle about how quickly Onyewu can return and if Davies can resume his career at all.
Baseball’s playoffs resume tonight, starring a team whose entire season has been spent dealing with the emotional after-effects of a car crash: the one that killed Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart. Now, they are thankful to have much more mundane concerns, like how to hit Yankees closer Mariano Rivera’s bat-shattering slider and a bleak weather forecast in New York.
The Yankees look so formidable that Gordon Edes writes on Yahoo.com that they are sparking comparisons to the legendary 1998 team, and WSJ.com concludes that part of their success is that so much of their huge payroll is being paid to players who are actually producing on the field.
The Phillies don’t look so formidable this season, but as Bruce Jenkins writes on SI.com, they have an annoying knack for refusing to go away. The Philadelphia Daily News’ Sam Donnellon wonders which Cole Hamels will show up for his Game 1 start. Much of the Dodgers focus is on its young, powerful outfield and Ted Keith writes on SI.com that much of the team’s fire comes from Andre Ethier. Bob Nightengale writes in USA Today that Dodgers Manager Joe Torre, meanwhile, has been busy trying to ignore the elephant in the playoff room: the Yankees. The Dodgers have another distraction brewing, the separation of Frank and Jamie McCourt. Divorces can get a little sticky when one owns the team and the other is its chief executive.
There is a metaphorical divorce going on in Washington, D.C., with the former Redskins star John Riggins taking to YouTube to blast the franchise, with television analyst and former quarterback Joe Theismann chiming in as well. Imagine if the Redskins had signed Michael Vick instead of the Eagles, then they’d also feature one of the most-disliked celebrities in America, according to a study by HCD Research. Meanwhile, Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey claims his divorce from the Giants does not mean Sunday’s game is a grudge match for him and a group bidding for the St. Louis Rams has (surprise!) divorced itself from Rush Limbaugh.
College football’s news includes the odd thought that Boise State may have lost ground even in victory Wednesday night and the inspiring story of how Cincinnati’s team has adopted a young cancer patient. Other heartwarming news comes from Southern California as Stafon Johnson left the hospital smiling on Wednesday.
There is very little heartwarming in the new memoir by the former hockey star Theo Fleury, who admits he considered suicide during his darkest days. Fleury, who also revealed he was sexually abused by the junior coach Graham James, has decided to file a formal complaint against James, who already served jail time for abusing the former N.H.L. player Sheldon Kennedy.
For a look at hockey’s brighter side, consider the resurgence of one of Fleury’s former teams, the Rangers, or watch a video of an incredible goal by a junior player while filming a promo for the Boston Bruins.
In the annals of self-promotion, however, there are more dangerous chapters and here’s hoping this one doesn’t go horribly wrong: Usain Bolt racing Asafa Powell in their souped-up luxury cars.
You can understand why that makes some people cringe. Just as the American soccer team.
Follow Leading Off on Twitter: twitter.com/zinsernyt
Source: New York Times
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In a Tie With Costa Rica, US Wins Oct 15, 2009 @ 01:16 AM
For a game that meant almost nothing to the United States team’s World Cup hopes next summer, pulling out Wednesday night’s 2-2 tie against Costa Rica somehow turned into a suddenly crucial, karma-altering quest. With one of its most promising young players, Charlie Davies, lying in a hospital bed after a horrific car crash and another, Oguchi Onyewu, carted off during the game with a knee injury, the team’s world was rocked in two days. Coming back from a two-goal deficit, even if their spot in the World Cup was already assured, was their way of fighting back from something bigger.
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