(Get) A Sporting Life

When it all comes down it, I really am quite a loyal fellow... most of the time. Damn qualifiers. Damn germane qualifiers. You see, the thing is, every once in awhile situations will arise that expand my sporting world in ways I would have originally thought impermissible. I'll just come right out and say it. I sometimes find myself rooting for the Minnesota Twins and Chelsea. Look, I can explain... The Twins thing is really a matter of convenience. I live in "Twins Territory" so those are the baseball games most often on television. I'm a firm believer that any baseball, even inferior American League baseball, is better than no baseball, so I've watched a lot of Twins broadcasts over the last six years. I know the players and a bit about the ins and outs of the organization. Now, it isn't quite the same as my love affair with my hometown Cardinals. I don't get pissy when the Twins lose, and I certainly haven't forgiven the Twins cheating t...

I just had a weird little few minutes. So, I'm watching the Ghana v. Uruguay match, and I'm generally rooting for Ghana. It was a nail biting match with Ghana taking the lead, Uruguay fighting back, and a see-saw battle taking up the rest of regulation and much of extra time. However, in the dying seconds of extra time a Ghanaian player took a dive. It was a terrible play. If they were allowed to give a straight red for a dive this would have merited it. It was dishonest, it was cynical, it was the very worst thing one can see in soccer, and (of course) the refs gave the foul against Uruguay. I went immediately from rooting for Ghana and wanting them to win, to hoping they didn't benefit from their bout of cheating. And, damn it all, they nearly did. A ball was sent in which took a couple of bounces, was cleared off the line once, and then was sent back on goal again only to be punched out by an Uruguayan not wearing a goalie shirt. Red card. Penalty kick. The red card and ...