Siberia or Uniondale... HMMM

Summer is just not a good time for me to be blogging, as I know you have all missed me very much. I’m going to attempt to be more diligent in posting during the summer months when all that goes on are football mini-camp reports, Tiger winning another major, and baseball playing another week in their 162000000 game schedule.

Luckily, I did find this little tid bit. Islander savior, Alexei Yashin, is back on the team’s radar. Oh what a joyous day. And if you heard a gunshot, that might be the sound of my colleague attempting to shoot himself. Somebody please call the police. Sure Yashin put up decent numbers, 16g 27a and 8g 6a in 16 playoff games, but he was in mother Russia and a comfortable situation, getting paid to live in obscurity by both the Islanders and his Russian team. If he comes back, he’ll want to get paid like the first line player he isn’t and that just seems dumb. The Islanders bought him out and they should just move on. The team mortgaged their future when they traded Chara, Spezza, Luongo, etc. Garth Snow would be wise to realize this team is going nowhere fast, stockpile young, high draft picks and finally rebuild instead of starting a rebuild and then changing the plan mid-way through.

Well there’s your update, now on to an even less popular sport in America, soccer. Yesterday, the 2nd round for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers began as the US took on Barbados in LA. Here are the highlights:


This absolutely cannot be good news for the US. Sure they won, but they were clearly a far superior team but continued to go to goal at every chance. Now as a kid I was always taught not to run up the score on an opponent because it could come back to bite you in the ass. Yes, I understand that it’s aggregate scoring, but are you really going to give up 8 goals away from home to a team you so clearly outclassed on the pitch? The answer is no, but you’ve put your team in jeopardy of bigger problems than losing the second leg. Now Barbados players and fans are angry that you embarrassed their team and they will be out for blood. If Bradley knows what’s good for his team he won’t play any of his important players, i.e. Donovan, Beasley, Dempsey, Onyewu etc. If those guys play, and I’m a Barbados player I’m going studs up into every tackle. I risk suspension but that player now has a broken leg and with only 3 substitutions, things could get messy for that US team. So congrats to team USA on the win, but running up the score to show off for the home fans has just put you in a most precarious position.

One last note about soccer, check out the Euro 2008 Championship going on on ESPN2 and ESPN Classic as it is about the highest level of soccer outside of the World Cup. And the English aren't in it so the number of teams that will disappoint you are less one.