World Cup reads

I’m not a huge soccer guy. I don’t dislike it. I just can’t bring myself to follow the MLS and certainly not any of the Euroleagues. But I love the World Cup. I get into it every time. So as it appraoches and once it gets started I’m reading as much as I can to be a better informed viewer.

I'm curious about this World Cup. Will it have more American media coverage than any previous one on US soil? I think so. Will this be the one that makes us care more about the world's game? I doubt it. It won't be a quick transition anyway.

So I'm hoping to have regular links. If I'm feeling particularly ambitious I might even start looking at overseas English language papers. For today though just a few stateside links.

Frank Dell’Apa says expansion has watered down the World Cup.
The Los Angeles Times has some lighter side World Cup anecdotes.
This New York Times article about soccer in England will remind many of life as a Red Sox fan before 2004.
The Times travel section has a story on how to get the most out of traveling to the World Cup. I wish I was.

Tulane, lacrosse, Gagne

Now that UMass is done until September. I'm planning to update this more regularly.

Richard Justice has a fine piece on the Tulane baseball program. There have been so many well-written sports stories of people affected by Hurricane Katrina that its easy for them to run together a little bit. But there's still so many great stories to be told. Not surprisingly, Justice delivers.

John Smallwood says Philadelphia served as a great host for the continuing growth of lacrosse, whose Final Four drew almost 50,000 people on Saturday. Having been there, I agree with him. Lacrosse feels likes its on the verge of breaking through on the spectator landscape.

Bill Plaschke looks at Eric Gagne, ready to be dominant again.


Ian O’Connor compares Tiger and Barry Bonds.

Jerry Izenberg looks back at Hank Aaron.

Michael Wilbon has a good piece on Alonzo Mourning.

Drawn to bullfighting

I stumbled upon ESPN's Wright Thompson story on bullfighting. I liked it, but it felt like this was a topic he'd written about before. So I did a good search and sure enough he did this brilliant piece in the Kansas City Star from Dec. 27, 2005. Thompson is excellent, so are both of these stories.

Soccer, steroids and two great non-sports stories

I'm not a huge soccer guy, but I'm hoping to do have a considerable amount of World Cup links here as the summer goes on.

The Miami Herald has a good piece on the concerns about racism in soccer. It included this passage:

...during the Cup, which is expected to draw 32 billion TV viewers...
Is that a typo? Or are all 6 billion residents of the world expected to watch 5.17 games each. Either way I'm not buying it.

Gordon Edes has a funny little baseball piece after vactioning in Germany.

David Whitley on the Game of Shadows writers facing a grand jury.

I have a couple of non-sports related stories too good to ignore.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution has a series about hospitals that dealt with Katrina. They described the series as:
Through Hell and High Water,” a serial narrative told in 22 daily chapters, reveals what happened inside two hospitals, one private and one public, during the days after the levees broke in New Orleans.

The LA Times has a two-part series on a polygamous sect that controls a town in Utah. Part 1 and Part 2.

Ortiz and Clemens

On the morning of another Yankees Red Sox series, Mike Vaccaro suggest its time the Yankees knock Ortiz down. Not surprisingly he doesn't like the idea and says so in the Herald blog.

The Herald had a nice package on the two rivals' pursuit of Roger Clemens.
Herald Clemens package. It included a look at the pros and cons of all four teams in pursuit. The Herald and the NY Daily News traded columns on where Clemens should go. The Daily News says he should go to the Yankees. The Herald's Tony Massaroti takes Boston's side.

Hartford's Paul Doyle handicaps the race. Sean McAdam weighs in too.

Get rid of the draft?

I started this Berry Tramel column thinking his idea was silly and I came away agreeing with him. He suggests the NFL should get rid of the draft. Of course this would bum out Jim Pignatiello.

Bill Plaschke shreds the Lakers, who shriveled against the Suns.

Delmon

John Romano says the punishment for Delmon Young won't be harsh enough.