Monday Morning Thoughts – July 20

Going to try to get back in to the habit of writing these daily posts. After the weekend we just witnessed, it was hard to restrict every opinion to just 140 characters.

THE OPEN
I never thought I would ever open a multi sport post, with golf. But The British Open has been pretty compelling over the last four days. Especially if you’re an fan of wild weather captured on camera. Encouraged by the R&A there will be plenty of people who have called in sick to work today to enjoy what should be a ridiculous final round.

If 22-year-old Irishman Paul Dunne does pull off the miracle and win, as an amateur, he wouldn’t actually receive ANY of the $1.8 million purse. Because, amateurs don’t get paid. That would re-define the word ridiculous.

And here’s something that won’t surprise anyone that has ever been to a sporting event in Toronto. A ticket to the Pan Am Golf Medal Session will cost you $75. A ticket to today’s final round at The Open? $20.24.

BASEBALL
You can watch this game for 100 years and not see a championship deciding game end like the Pan Am gold medal game in Ajax last night.

If you didn’t see it, with Canada trailing 6-5 in the bottom of the 10th inning and two runners on, American lefty David Huff‘s horrendous pickoff attempt at first base allowed Canada to plate a pair and walk off to claim back-to-back baseball gold medals. The U.S. haven’t won since 1967. Insert Leafs cracks below.

How amazing was it to see Marco Estrada “Chris Archer” the Rays? All the hype around Archer, fully deserved I may add, but everyone forgot Estrada nearly perfect game’d Tampa last month. Great momentum to take out west on their 6 game road trip. Starts in Oakland tomorrow.

For you doomsday preppers, you may want to get ready. It hadn’t rained in California since 2007. But, yesterday the Padres AND the Angels were rained out, marking the first time 2 Major League games were rained out in California on the same day since Sep. 24, 1986. Pretty sure I saw moths fly out of the tarp at Petco when they rolled it out…

Can someone please find the kid in suburban Detroit, maybe he’s even in Windsor, Ontario, that’s pitching as well as Justin Verlander used to? JV must’ve been Space Jam’d. How else can you explain how bad he’s been this season? At some point he’s got to show the Tigers a glimpse of what’s left. If he’s done, so are the Tigers in the Central. For a while.

Just give Dallas Keuchel the A.L. Cy Young award already. I don’t know if I’m more surprised to see the Astros still contending in the West, or that his beard hasn’t become an athletic disadvantage. At some point his hipster circle is going to turn on him… As long as he’s throwing career high lines like he did yesterday against the Rangers, 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 13 Ks, it doesn’t matter who’s in his social circle. Though if I were management, I’d be concerned if he started dating Rihanna.

The second the Reds signed Aroldis Chapman, I was jealous he wasn’t pitching for my team. Yesterday with only 292 Major League innings pitched, the Cuban became the fastest player in MLB history to reach 500 strikeouts. Slow clap for ya, bro.

SOCCER
Full credit to the Canadian Womens Pan Am team for holding their own against Brasil‘s World Cup squad (minus only Marta). A 2-0 loss is nothing to shake your head at. But there’s something odd about a tourney, where a team with just 1 win and 1 loss can enter their final preliminary match knowing that anything better than a 4-0 loss would still see them through to the semis. But hey, won’t find a person in this country complaining. Good luck against Colombia on Wednesday.

And how does (assistant) referee Eric Boria give that penalty in the final minute of extra time? Costa Rica deserved to try their hand in a penalty shoot-out after Mexico wasted chance after chance in over two hours. I know everyone loves to see Miguel Herrera celebrate, but c’mon man!

Happy Monday everybody. May you go the entire day without being subjected to the song Steph Curry‘s daughter is dancing to.

Bags Packed Today. Bright Futures Ahead

This weekend Brasil 2014 said goodbye to two and a half top class sides, and Costa Rica.

Perhaps it’s fitting that France and Colombia bowed out on the same day. There’s more than a handful of similarities between them.

-Both were doubted favourites to win their groups, but did so with ease.

-Both succeeded without their best player.

-Up to Friday they were two of the most entertaining teams to watch.

-Both are solid and complete sides from top to bottom.

-Both were stifled by opposition they were expected to fall to.

Despite their shortcomings in Brasil, there’s plenty to look forward to whether you’re a fan of France or Colombia, or just a neutral that loves good football.

With Euro 2016 in France, Les Bleus did a lot this month to win back the faithful they lost and horrendously embarrassed over the last few years.

I raved about this French squad a few weeks ago saying that I could not find one weakness in this squad. Even after that quarterfinal loss I can still confidently say that.

Loaded with young talent Didier Deschamps could have several world class players to work with in two years time. I’m excited to watch the evolution of Rafa Varane, Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann. If you enjoy entertaining football, you should be too.

The same has to be said about Colombia. How much better can James Rodriquez get? If you are the opposition, it’s kind of scary.

As a 20 year old at Porto James was incredible. Now, he’s world class. He’s a leader and is driven by passion. If he has half the passion he has for his country for whatever club he pulls on a shirt for in the next few years, their mantlepiece is bound to be even more crowded.

Jose Pekerman has a tough defensive rebuild ahead of him. But with their strength in goal with David Ospina, in midfield with everybody and up front with Falcao, Bacca and Jackson, Colombia will be a South American force for years to come. Because there’s little doubt they will be able to replenish when those players have to hang em up.

Belgium quickly became the hipsters favourite and everyone’s dark house pick. Realistically a quarterfinal exit was a great success.

Littered with talent, Belgium are a fantastic team on paper. But as this tournament proved, that wasn’t the case on the pitch through 90 minutes. In fact they never once played a complete game.

But with their strength and depth from top to bottom, the Red Devils will be an even bigger threat four years from now when I would expect a quarterfinal exit wouldn’t be good enough. And that in itself shows how far Belgian soccer has progressed in a short period of time.

And let’s not take anything away from Costa Rica. They were one of the best stories of Brazil 2014. They played with no fear and with the exception of that match against Greece, were inspiring to watch.

Keylor Navas had a tournament for the ages! You won’t see another goalkeeping performance by a keeper from a nation ranked as low as Costa Rica ever again.

Costa Rican soccer will be taken seriously, for at least the next four years. And that only bodes well for the growth of the sport in one of the most beautiful countries on the planet.

Is This Real Life?

I feel like I’ve been asking that question a lot lately. If you’ve been watching the World Cup everyday, you know why.

Here we are three days in to Brazil 2014 and this tournament is already a gahtrillion times better than South Africa 2010! Maybe that’s because that’s exactly how much money Brasil spent on throwing the world’s biggest party. Thank God this Brazuca is better than the Jabulani!

Italy v England was exactly the tasty entrée we had hoped for. Despite Gigi Buffon sitting in the dugout rocking a fresh pair of D&G shades and looking like Henrik Lundqvist, the Azzurri took all three points from Roy Hodgson’s young men.

England fans tend to be very negative when it comes to their Three Lions. Of course this is for the sole reason that England are incredibly talented at letting down their fans, time and time again. But there were plenty of positives to take from yesterday’s loss.

The kids could hang with the uber experienced Italians and while at times they lacked a bit of creativity, they never looked to be over their heads. That’s not a sentence that could be used to describe England very often.

Raheem Sterling IS an international quality player. I couldn’t say that a couple of months ago. And I can’t say that today about Leighton Baines. He had a lot of trouble with the Italians and did not have the standard performance were used to seeing from him at Goodison. Maybe it was the heat, or simply the pressure of playing a top class opponent?

Daniel Sturridge should bag a handful of goals before his tourney is over. But when is Wayne Rooney going to score? He sent a great ball in to Sturridge for the equaliser, but that was the only £300,000 per week moment we got.

So what does Hodgson do with Roo?

Sterling played too well to move him out and if you put Rooney up top as the main man, you’re taking away from Sturridge and in all likelihood, lowering your odds of scoring on your opponent. Let’s not forget that while this is Rooney’s third World Cup, he has yet to score a World Cup goal.

I had no idea Matteo Darmian was as good as he is. And Lazio must be wondering why Antonio Candreva is incapable of playing like that everytime he pulls on a Sky Blue shirt. Claudio Marchisio reminded us all of how talented he still is and Ciro Immobile flexed his quality on the big stage enough to make Dortmund sleep a little easier the next time their club account looks at the books.

Yesterday started with a very positive performance from a Falcao-less Colombia, and a scoreline that made the Greeks look far worse than they actually did. If you don’t much about him before, you should know by now that James Rodriguez is a superstar. Colombia will go as far as he can take them.

Uruguay were picked by many to get out of Group D ahead of England. You feeling comfortable with that pick now? I wouldn’t. But I didn’t pick Uruguay to advance because I saw this team as ‘passed their best before date.’ They’re disorganized at the back, mediocre in midfield, and old upfront. Isn’t that the concrete recipe for disappointment? Nothing about them this year makes me say “this is a team that can win games.”

Good on Costa Rica for taking it to third best team in South Africa. Los Ticos won’t stand for being pushed around. Though I still don’t think they’ll have much of a choice versus England nor Italy.

But let me end on the Ivory Coast and their 2-1 win over Japan: there was a result I was not expecting! Often times The Elephants couldn’t finish when given the opportunity, but they created plenty last night to respond to a stunning goal from Keisuke Honda with a couple of their own. Second place in Group C is still very much, a coin toss.