some thoughts (the semi-patriotic holiday edition!).

independence day. tomorrow, 231 years ago, we officially left the british empire and started our quest to outpace them in every facet of life.

except one. no, not eating figgy pie...soccer. they dominated us last time we played (in chicago. they brought their b-team. richardson? downing? bent? yes, i know all of them, but come on).

will that change? the us and mexico are cleaning up at the u-20 world cup in canadaland, and it has me wondering: are we approaching the dawn of a new soccer century?

whoaaaa. slow down. argentina pasted us (though we scored the first goal!) and paraguay beat us (though, SUPPOSEDLY, we played much better and missed 2934729743 open goal chances) in copa america.

but it’s interesting:do u-20 results offer foreshadow future events? I looked up the winners, and argentina, brazil and portugal have won pretty much all of them (the ussr, west germany, spain and yugoslavia went on to each win one...and only one of these countries still exists). the best us finish? one 4th place title, in 1989. mexico was the runner-up in the first one.

Holland/The Netherlands/The Tulip People/They Who Got Building the Levees Right, Germany, France and England did not qualify for this year’s cup. Famously, Holland did not qualify for the 2002 World Cup.

Maybe the US and Mexico are getting better, but so is Europe, considering that most of the powers couldn’t even get in. The biggest difference is that the players from the powers are on the world club stage--Denilson captains Brazil’s U-20 and plays for Arsenal. I’ll buy into the new US Century when our players are at clubs with the big boys--not meddling in Salt Lake City.

Are you listening, Freddy? You’re being upstaged by Jozy Altidore.

Man, I’m starting to sound like a real US Soccer fan. Go figure.

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On the note of “building levees/dams correctly”, I heard an ad on the radio today for the National Guard. It said “we were there, on August 28, even when Katrina was still happening, and we saved 33,000 lives.”

O rly? How do you quantify that number?

I just don’t think anyone should use Katrina as a positive publicity tool. It was a travesty, and to say that you were “triumphant” and saved lives pisses on the graves of all those that died there.

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