Sport

West London is not going to welcome The Ricketts Family

It’s pretty clear that the Ricketts family, who own the Cubs, look upon Fenway Sports Group as something of an idol. They took their GM from Boston and made him the president of the Cubs. You know him as Theo Epstein. They have remade Wrigley Field and the neighborhood around it in the same fashion […]

Sport

Yeah, this Romelu Lukaku thing is going to be a problem

Well, a problem for anyone who isn’t a Chelsea supporter at least, which the most annoying of my close friends just happens to be. So that’s great. And no, I don’t mean colleague Julie DiCaro, though I’m sure she’ll be rocketing up the list this season. Also great. ( Ed. Note: – Blue will be […]

Sport

Denmark can absolutely win the whole thing

We’ve reached the quarterfinals of Euro 2020(1), which is when fans of the countries still in contention really start dreaming, and the rest realize that fucking-off-of-work time is probably going to run out with only three Monday-Friday match days left (#DayDrinkingIsForAllSeasons). For the teams that remain, all it… Read more…

Sport

France couldn’t just turn it on and off forever

Yesterday, we dove into the very nature of Spain. How its championship pedigree is still around, but how the frustrating, and at times incomprehensible, frailties that surrounded that glorious era are in their DNA, too. And you’ll see all of them in the same match. They can’t help it. It’s who they are. They can’t […]

Sport

That’s what Paul Pogba is supposed to be

It’s always difficult analyzing or discussing Paul Pogba. I’ve found myself on both sides of it just in the past year or two. How good was he at Juventus? Isn’t it easier to play when Claudio Marchisio is doing some of your running and Andrea Pirlo is there to spread passes to you? Maybe, but […]

Sport

Euro 2021: So how is England going to screw this up?

The English are the Chicago Bears of international soccer. Even though they basically created the sport, and have one of the biggest fan bases as well, they have sat by and watched others pass them as the game changed and evolved, still clinging to what they believed, all the while bleating about their divine right […]

Sport

How do you solve a problem like Weston McKennie?

There are about 400 lessons that fans could have learned about the U.S. Men’s National team last night. And they spread over the entire spectrum of endless hope of things we’ve never imagined to complete and total disaster we’re sadly all too familiar with. Projecting this team into the future, because of all that… Read […]

Sport

Man City’s Pep just can’t help himself

Perhaps the true sign of a great manager is how long he can leave his team on autopilot once his system and tactics are installed. While each game requires minor adjustments here or there, they shouldn’t amount to much more than the grade on the tires. The engine remains the same. And no team should […]

Sport

Leicester found a new way to blow it, and their fans probably won’t care

The warping of European soccer and its priorities make judging Leicester City’s last week of the season decidedly foggy. Twenty years ago or so it would be easy. Win the FA Cup, finish fifth, that’s an unqualified success. But that’s not the world we live in anymore, and that’s what makes it so unclear. Read […]