Thierry Henry, Thief

There really is no other word to assign to French striker Thierry Henry anymore. In a moment Henry destroyed a career's worth of goodwill bought in blood, sweat, tear and good humor, with a blatant hand ball. And it isn't just that the ball went off of his hand and resulted in a goal. Sometimes that happens with no intent being involved. No, this was a case of a deliberate batting a ball which was heading for a goal kick back into play. It was the sort of play that, had a defender done it, would have merited a straight red card. It was cynical, sad, and a mockery of the FIFA "Fair Play" signs displayed at every World Cup match these days.

Here is how Lee Dixon sees things:

I played with Thierry Henry for six years at Arsenal and I can assure you he was as honest as the day is long.

But people will look at his handball in the build-up to France's extra-time equaliser, which sent them to South Africa with a 2-1 aggregate victory, and say he's cheated.

That's because he did cheat. That's the way it works. I can live my whole life without murdering anyone, but once I kill my first person I'm a murderer.

He has been a truly great footballer - one of the best players we've ever seen in the Premier League - but now people will remember him for that goal against Ireland. It's really sad.

From listening to the radio this morning, I've already heard a lot of Arsenal fans saying Thierry's gone down in their estimations. It's unfortunate, but he's put himself in this position by a moment of madness.

Yeah, he is the new Maradona. No one ever disputed that Diego had mad skills. He was a true wizard. Now, he's mostly known as the "hand of God" cheater. OK, so he's known as the insane, drug crazed, tyrant loving "hand of God" cheater. Some improvement.

Dixon sees the same thing:

So I'm not surprised at all he stuck his arm out in the first place. That is not blatant cheating. But the second part, when he scooped the ball back, is the deliberate bit and that's what will taint his reputation.

If you look at Diego Maradona's handball against England in the 1986 World Cup, that was not an instinctive movement.

That's a cheating movement and you look at the second movement of Thierry's hand and say it's deliberate. Like Maradona, he knew exactly what he was doing and, for the Thierry I know, that is out of character.

I'm sorry, but that now is his new character. He cannot undo this...ever. This didn't happen in a friendly or in an interminable mid-season club fixture. Henry saw his chance to steal from the Irish players what could be their only chance to make a World Cup final (you never know,) and he took it, if not with both hands then with the only hand he needed. For older Irish players this is obviously their last chance to get to soccer's ultimate stage. Will Robbie Keane or Damien Duff be around four years from now playing international soccer? Probably not.

"Moment of madness" or not, that will be the legacy of Henry's career.

Living in Flyover Country Strikes Again

I really think any sportwriter who voted for Lincecum #1 AND who doesn't live in the Bay area should have their right to vote for the Cy Young taken away from them as they have the baseball IQ of a gerbil. I also think anyone who would defend this vote knows nothing, and I mean nothing about baseball.

On Thursday, Lincecum became the only pitcher to capture the Cy Young Award in each of his first two full Major League seasons. The San Francisco Giants right-hander was named the National League's repeat winner Thursday in balloting conducted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

"It's a tremendous honor for me," said Lincecum, 25.

Fuck you Lincecum, you didn't earn it your little girly doped up asswipe.

The fact Wainwright got 12 (the most) first place votes, but only 5 second place votes, and 15(!)third place votes means that way too many writers are stupid ass motherfuckers, who are more interested in sucking the cocks of folks living on the East or West coasts then they are actually following the sport.

Fuck 'em.

Another Nice Win For Billikens

The Billikens did it again: Billikens ride hot shooting

St. Louis University has had trouble getting schools from big conferences to put it on their schedule, and games like Wednesday night's may show why.

For the second straight season, SLU took on a team from a BCS conference early in the season at home and came away with a win. Last year, it was Boston College of the ACC. This year, it was Nebraska, which SLU handled easily in a 69-55 win at Chaifetz Arena.

The Billikens (2-0) overwhelmed Nebraska on defense, holding it to 33.3 percent shooting in the second half, and draining a steady stream of 3-pointers that keyed an 11-0 run that gave SLU a lead it wouldn't relinquish. Kwamain Mitchell led SLU with 20 points, making seven of 10 field goal attempts. Willie Reed had nine rebounds and seven points. Kyle Cassity had a career-high seven rebounds and four assists.

I'll admit I had this game down as loss when I looked through the Bills' schedule. Taking care of business at home is always the first priority for any young team. If SLU learns how to do that consistently this year that will bode well for upcoming seasons.

I'm pleased, and I'm bumping up my season prediction on wins from 7 to 8.

I'll gladly do that a few more times this year.

IN OTHER BILLIKEN NEWS:

The SLU soccer team takes on Missouri State in the NCAA tournament today. If recent tourney history means anything for the Billikens I'd be expecting a loss. However, this team was such a long shot to even make the NCAA's in the first place (they needed to with the A-10 tournament for the first time ever to qualify), maybe they will surprise. They don't have anything to lose really.

Well Done

I figure if I was gonna bitch about the Billikens before the season even began I should praise them when they put forward a good effort.

Willie Reed scored 15 points and had 12 rebounds and Brian Conklin had 15 points to lead Saint Louis to a 59-41 victory over Southeast Missouri State on Saturday night.

Kwamain Mitchell added 13 points for the Billikens (1-0), who helped coach Rick Majerus improve to 22-1 in season openers.

It is particularly good to see Reed get off to such a good start. Not only did he go for 15 and 12, he also chipped in 3 blocks as well. The Bills will be a little undersized this year so it will be vital for Reed to contribute on a regular basis.

I'm not ready to shift from season prediction yet (it was only SEMO after all and they only won 3 games last year), but they took care of business easily.

It's a start.

When Won't The Billikens Suck?

You know, as a longtime fan of a mid-major college basketball program I don't think I have unreasonable expectations. There is no possibility of long term sustained success for a team like SLU and I accept that. Sure, UCLA or Duke or North Carolina can have such expectations with a clunker team only coming along once a decade or so. The Billikens will always be more of a roller coaster ride, or at least should be a roller coaster ride if things are progressing as they should.

The one thing this team has not had since Majerus arrived is "progress". They've gone 16-15 and 18-14 the last two years, and now there are no upperclassmen to speak of, and this collection of Freshmen and Sophomores are predicted to get absolutely spanked. Maybe I should be more patient, but I really thought there would be better recruits in the pipeline by now. (Dwayne Evans, who will come in next year is a decent signing, but I'm hoping for more of this type of recruit.)

I'm predicting the Bills win 7 games this year total.

I'm just hoping I'm not being too optimistic.

I Need An Assistant

Really, I've no time these days. It feels like I should have time, but every day I look up at the clock and, shit!, another day is in the books and I'm dragging my tired carcass off to bed. Oh, I wake up early enough in the morning but by the time I update my radio station, drink my morning tea and eat my morning bagel, I'm nearly late for work. Once I'm at work I've got my nose in a book prepping for class, or I'm studiously avoiding grading papers with office banter.

As a result sports have fallen off the radar to an unusual degree for me. I'm still watching it a bit, but I'm not really following it. For example, I've no idea if the Cards have made any moves since the season ended. Not only am I not looking at the baseball blogs but I'm not even reading the P-D.

I do miss it, most of the time, but I'm pretty sure there isn't much I can do about it right now. If only I was paid enough to be able to afford to hire a manservant...

I'm Tired Of Being Sodomized By Baldomero Toledo

The worst official in American professional sports strikes again...again! Baldomero Toledo single-handedly destroyed what was shaping up to be the most entertaining game in MLS this year. Missed call followed hard upon missed call. True the PK called on Hejduk was probably correct, but multiple hand balls were missed (both outside and inside the box) and all of the missed calls hurt Columbus resulting in officiating that was horribly one-sided. (It doesn't matter what Toledo's intent was, the one-sidedness was the result.)

Now, Salt Lake may have won this game anyway, but I hate the fact we will never know for sure. This isn't a case of a tight game with a lot of close calls where the refs are always dancing on a knife's edge to keep in under control. No! The problem here is Toledo is always nowhere near the play. Obviously the game moves way too fast for him to keep up, and the result is missed call after missed call. The average fan is let praying that the poor officiating will even out over the course of 90 minutes.

Last night it did not even out.

Another game ruined.