OMG. U.S. stuns Spain; plus Wade 'n trade (for Bosh), Favre a Vike, greatest-sidekick poll, English-only & more

     [Click on Twitter.com/gregcote to follow us Tweet-wise. Click on Chatsville to join our live online chat Wednesdays from 1-2 p.m., to read past transcripts or to post a question/comment early].

      Stunning: U.S. shocks Spain 2-0 in soccer: The U.S. stunned world-No.1-ranked Spain 2-0 this afternoon in a semifinal of the FIFA Confederations Cup -- a huge shocker that must rank on a short list of the most impressive victories in international soccer history for the Americans. Spain had a record-tying streak 35 consecutive matches without losing, dating to November 2006, before today. There is a tendency, in international soccer, to think of the World Cup as the only event that matters, especially from the casual-fan perpsective held by most Americans. but this is a big tournament, and an even bigger win. Yeah I'll say it: "U-S-A! U-S-A!"

      Thoroughly unsolicited advice for Riley and Wade: Click here for today's column by me on the Heat. I'd like to see Miami accelerate the move from decent to contender by making moves this summer, not in 2010. That means a trade for Chris Bosh (interest is mutual) even if it meant giving up Michael Beasley. But only if Dwyane Wade would then commit to extend his contract this summer and not work the free-agent market in a year. By doing this you pair Wade-Bosh a year sooner and get to the future quicker. By waiting you make it tougher to get Bosh because competition for him will be more intense in a year. But enough about me. What do you think? (Notice I have tried my hardest to avoid discussing the Heat draft, which happens Thursday night. No first-round pick. Weak draft. Probably no Mario Chalmers this time).

      Favre in purple: Spreading wild across the Internet: Various reports that Brett Favre and the Vikings have an agreement in principle. Does that make a today a national holiday in Peter King's house? Think it makes the Vikings a little better, short-term. Think it helps Favre's legacy not a bit. Think a slew of Cheeseheads feel betrayed. Me? I'm just glad the protracted saga is (apparently) finally over. Let us now hear nothing more of Favre until his first three-pick day.

     Top sidekicks/second bananas poll: With Ed McMahon's passing the obvious impetus for this, name the No. 1 sidekick of all time. Our ballot only allows 10 answers, so we had to leave out the likes of Chewbacca, Donkey, Samwise Gamgee, Ethel Mertz, Dr. John Watson. Nobody from the world of sports stood out. Jim Kiick to Larry Csonka? Too parochial. Scottie Pippen to Michael Jordan? Can't bring myself to consign sidekick status to a player named one of the 50 greatest ever. (Who is sports' greatest or at least most prominent sidekick?) Poll time!

Online Surveys & Market Research

      English first! (Spelling second): A group of very conservative people frightened by diversity thinks English should be declared the official language of the United States, and this group met over the weekend at a national conference at which far-right Pat Buchanan, Spokesman for the Far-Right White Community, was guest speaker. I don't know about this language mania. What I do know is this: When trying to come off like an intelligent, thoughtful group that should be taken seriously, it may be a good idea to not misspell the word "conference" on your big fancy sign.

     A-Rod not a villain, after all (in this case): Update to a previous blogpost's "A-Rod snubs former team" item on Alex Rodriguez reportedly not meeting with the 2009 state championship Westminster Christian team prior to Saturday's Yankees-Marlins game here. The Yankees now say neither they nor A-Rod were aware of the ceremony honoring the team, and that Derek Jeter just happened to be out there at the time. Neither did the Marlins inform the Yanks or A-Rod. So there. 

     Vontae Davis claims an identity swipe: Seems more and more likely the report of the arrest of Dolphins top pick Vontae Davis was bogus. Click here for the word straight from the man's very own blog. (Stolen wallet? What are the odds a cornerback would be picked?) If Vontae is right, the media is wrong here. What happens is, the more we see athletes arrested, the more numb we become to it, and the more believable every report becomes.

     Signs Barack Obama may be too enamored of sports stars: A recent guest was Tony Hawk, who skateboarded down a White House hallway. Seriously. I'm not sure which is sillier. That going on in the White House. Or the very idea of a 41-year-old man skateboarding. Give it up, Tony. Adulthood calls!

     That'll do it for now.

Comments

[mike1]

Good sidekick list. Need to add some women. How about Xena & Gabrielle; Daryl Hall and John Oates.

[OC Dolphin]

You are spot on this one Greg. The Heat will flounder without a strong inside presence. As long as Howard continues to play for Orlando all other eastern teams will need two or three significant players. It goes without saying that one of those three needs to be a 7'er.

Sidekicks in sports:

Pippen to Jordan, Worthy or Kareem to Magic, Rice to Montana, Swann to Bradshaw, Warfield to Griese, Angelo Argea to Nicklaus, Steve Williams to Tiger, Dundee to Ali, Dundee to Sugar Ray, Ron Turcotte to Secretariat, Johnny Bench/Tom Seaver, Yogi Berra/ Whitey Ford. Who am I forgetting?

[ginrai]

Riley do the moves now. Don't wait until it is too late. The Cavs and other teams also want Bosh.

[mike1]

Forwards, Lato & Szarmach. #1 and #2 top scorers (7 and 6 goals) in WC 1974, for the Polish national team. Probably a lot more WC examples, but that was the first that came to mind.

[r. duke]

I gotta go with Kiick & Morris as sidekicks to Zonk's thundering mayhem. They made such lovely music together. Runnerup George Costanza who was awfully good in Seinfeld and as the central character in his own show "Duckman" which never gets nearly groundbreaking credit it so richly deserves. Blurrrp!

[WHAT!]

Signs Barack Obama may be too enamored of sports stars: A recent guest was Tony Hawk, who skateboarded down a White House hallway. Seriously. I'm not sure which is sillier. That going on in the White House. Or the very idea of a 41-year-old man skateboarding. Give it up, Tony. Adulthood calls!

hahaha Mr. Grinch speaks how he really feels....sounds like your mad you cant skate or have fun anymore hmmm

[r. duke]

Hey, Hey! Whatta 'bout Clyde Tolson to J. Edgar Hoover? How 'bout Rocky to Bullwinkle, Boris to Nastahsa. Dodley Do Right to his hourse Nell...Blurpppp! goddgamn Shark Beer keeps coming back on me. I just f***ing pissed myself for third time today. Is there a Ditropan or a Desmopressin in the house?

[r. duke]

Jesus L. Hubbard, Katie Holme's is pegnant again. WTF is Cruise trying to do create inbred branch of Scientologist's with his nasty little DNA and bad acting code stamped all over it?

[Jimbo]

yawwwwwn, is it football season yet?

[mike1]

Everyone was predicting that #1 ranked Spain would kill the US. Every American player said they were confident after Sunday's demolition of Egypt. Unfortunately, the US got their 3rd ejection of the tournament..all undeserved and will have to do without Bradley in the Final vs Brazil or Sout Africa. In any case, this is a tremendous feat.

It made the top headline of the Houston Chronicle. As soon as the game ended, I checked several newspapers around the world including germany, England Poland, Brazil..and it was the top headline. Most said
"US shocks the world, ended Spain's 35 game unbeaten streak!"

[Jimbo]

you gotta be excited Mike1.

[Quijote!]

How sad is it when most major news sources OUTSIDE the USA had the USA Shocking score, but ESPN.com had some LAME ASS SH*T about the college world series on the front page.

I don't expect the USA to beat Brazil, hopefully we'll face South Africa. Regardless, with our performance this past decade we are no longer the laughing stock of soccer.

[Paul in Boca]

Jimbo,
Mike1 is correct, as is Quijote!. A win of gargantuan proportion, an incredibly motivating win for the U.S., and will stoke the guys for the rest of the World Cup qualifying matches. I put a stop watch to a Dolphins game last year. I would start the watch when a play began, and stop it when the whistle ended the play. Continued on with a cumulative time of actual action. Sat there for 3 and a half hours, through 4 quarters - 60 minutes of "playing time" - and the actual time that lapsed was 14 minutes and 11 seconds.
Sorry Jimbo, the people who play football in the rest of the world play a significantly more difficult game than the footballers here in the US.

[the shadow knows]

mike1,

i was amongst those who thought spain was gonna win. two factors: both goals were on mistakes and not especially pretty (but yes they do count); more importantly, the manager of the US team put in the attacking feilharber (?) when it was 1-0 and he set up goal #2 with his presence up front. a bold move attacking when spain was having the "run of play", but similar to herb brooks forechecking against finland for the meal in 80 with a man sitting in the penalty box, if memory serves me, for the goal that gave the hockey team the 2 goal cushion. brazil on sunday (it seems)!!!!!!

[the shadow knows]

favorite sidekick? andrew h. brown, best "friend" of george j. stevens, the kingfish, and president of the mystic knights of the sea; the "raccoons" of the honeymooners were a great lodge, but they didn't have "lightnin" to tidy up after them.

[mike1]

Paul in Boca is correct. Somewhere between 20 - 30 years ago..yes, I remember this.. some major news program tabulated that an average NFL game had 12 minutes of actual play. So you're 14:11 is pretty close.

Shadow, I watched the replay of the game. In the 2nd half, Spain came out gunning. if not for some stellar positioning and saves by Tim Howard, Spain would've scored. The US scores were of mistakes, but not blatant ones; and it took some great play by Altidore and Dempsey to convert. However, once again, we had a player ejected erroneously. A Spanish player had a more serious, but similar foul earlier and only got a yellow..which is the accurate call. We have to play withou Bradley now, in the Final.

[r. duke aka D. Manley(sp?)]

Nice little murderous spelling spree I went on during this blog.

[the shadow knows]

mike1,

i am not seeing a blowout on sunday and be sure to watch the sports extravaganza on univision- i think it is their weekly sports show which gets amped up when soccer follows, especially if mexico, brazil, or the usa is in the game that follows; man, do they have "fun' on that pre-game show!!!

[the shadow knows]

mike1,

A) spain, as you pointed out, came out firing in the second half

B) the mistakes were minor by spain, but cost them a spot in the finals.

would be great for the gringos to win a major international compewition in the same country as the mundial!!

[the shadow knows]

mike1,

15 minutes into the pre-game sports special on univision and the richter scale is already registering the gyrations of the muchachas as they move! hope you are tuned in

[the shadow knows]

mike1,

as stated previously, the spaniards controlled the gringos only to lose on counterattacks; same is happening now as brazil controlled the run of play in half one only to fall behind 2-0; the second goal was a beauty with our #10 losing the defender in a change of direction and scoring a very nice goal. the lack of a brazilian "superstar" or two as they always seem to have is evident. brazil will force the pace in half two and again leave itself open to countrerattacks and possibly more goals for the stars and stripes!!

[the shadow knows]

mike1,

early goal completely changed the scenario in the second half; the goal that wasn't "seen" would have made for a 4-2 result and a score more reflective of who controlled most of the play. brazil's squad is made up of a bunch of "workmanlike" sub-superstar caliber players good enough to handle the USA pretty easily for the last hour of the match.

[mike1]

Shadow, placing my comments to the latest blog.