Immature Contador

Alberto Contador needs to get a clue. I've never been a Lance Armstrong fan but since he was drug tested at least 11 times this tour, according to his Twitter, I believe he was clean and made a remarkable comeback. But regardless of what Contador thinks of Armstrong, there's no reason for him to rip the man with five more Tour victories. Not to mention that Armstrong was gracious throughout the Tour and eventually conceded to Contador as the lead person on team Astana.

Funny sidenote. I'm watching "You, Me, and Dupree" and in one scene Owen Wilson is reading a book by Armstrong. Strange.

Hasta luego bandwagon soccer fans

The problem with the U.S.'s loss to Brazil today wasn't so much that the team lost the match. It was that it lost a number of fans who were tuning in just to see what this whole soccer thing is about.

Call them bandwagon fans if you wish - hell, you can even call me one, although I'd be offended - but those "bandwagon fans" are exactly what soccer needs to thrive in mainstream America.

Unfortunately, that group of fans saw a U.S. collapse. Most of them probably missed the first half in an ultimate bandwagon effort to watch the final 45 minutes and say they witnessed the U.S.'s first FIFA-based tournament victory. So what they really saw was Brazil outscoring a defenseless (in more ways than one) U.S. team 3-0.

The adage of "there's always next year" holds true in this case, because the World Cup will be right back in South Africa in 2010. To even make the quarterfinals in the World Cup would proabably be a surprise. And a championship opportunity like today's? Almost out of the question - much like the re-acquisition of all the fans lost today.

Some bread for your Mayo?

This should make it clear the Tim Floyd helped O.J. Mayo get paid while playing at USC.

Does Tim Floyd have a shot at getting back in the NBA?

Tom Glavine?

Should the Orioles consider signing Tom Glavine?

With all their young pitchers - the best of which are still in the minors - why not bring in this 300+-win veteran/Cy Young winner for the rest of the season to mentor the young players? He's had elbow and shoulder problems, but at the least he could be a middle reliever. Maybe Baltimore can ditch Danys Baez or Scott Williamson to make room.

I spoke too soon...

...in regards to comparing Kobe Bryant and LeBron James to Michael Jordan. (At the end of the linked blog.)

While I will still criticize Kobe for his failure as team leader in last year's finals, he's still the best player alive and one of the best of all-time.

As for LeBron, he's still very young and in much the same situation that Jordan was in early in his career (when I was too young to even remember.)

(Even if Jordan never lost a final and these two players have been on one of the losing finals teams in each of the last two seasons.)

Chris Broussard of ESPN the Magazine was my wake-up call.

Thoughts for the Night

Don't know how often I'll update but here goes:

11:14 p.m.

Three technicals in two minutes - here we go again.

11:12 p.m.

Did I curse Birdman? He just got dunked on for the second time tonight - neither by Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol.

10:33 p.m.

Nice ESPN2 shot of A.J. Burnett packing a huge wad of dip in the Yankees clubhouse. Is that the key to his shutout tonight?

9:35 p.m.

Cool story about Nuggets forward Chris Anderson. While traveling with the Mount men's basketball team this winter we happened to be staying in the same hotel (The Embassy Suites in Secaucus, N.J.) as Denver before they played the Nets.

I got in the elevator to go down to the bus before our game and who else was standing there but the Birdman? I had watched part of the Nuggets game the night before and he had gotten off to a hot start. When I asked him how he finished for the night (in a Denver victory) his numbers weren't much more than what I had seen in the beginning of the first half.

"I had to shut it down," Anderson told me. "We got another game tonight." It was interesting to hear a professional athlete talking about the need to save energy. If you think about all the traveling they do, though, it makes sense - especially after playing road games on consecutive nights. And the way he's playing this postseason it seems as if that was energy well-conserved.

Sidenote: Courtney Nyce of the Mount women's team got two autographs from Carmelo Anthony - one of them for me. That was a pretty good road trip.

8:10 p.m.

I'm torn as to who to root for in the Blackhawks vs. Red Wings Game 5. Detroit is a near lock to join Pittsburgh in its second consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, but there are pros and cons to the game ending tonight.

If Chicago wins, that will mean Detroit will have had to play at least one additional game before facing the Pens.

If they lose, however, Pittsburgh will have nearly a two-week wait between Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup. Not only is that too long for a hot team to have off (see Colorado Rockies 2007), but it would also be a complete buzzkill to the excitement of the NHL Playoffs. (Didn't think I'd say that anytime soon.)

I guess more rest while the opponent gets beat up would be better than seeing Game 1 a few days sooner. Go 'Hawks.