EL BRONX, EL BARRIO – I apologize for the late posting. By laws of marketing you are not suppose draw attention to this stuff (being tardy), but I had a great reason. I stayed up until 11pm to watch the USA play Honduras (more on that later). So there was that and the late night Matt Signal beckoning Pinch-Hit Matt for a second time this week. There’s the backstory, now let’s get to today’s piece. As with my new shtick, you get a Song of the Week and then you get the sports stuff. Here’s the menu: Bruce Springsteen, US Soccer, Madness Continues and Spring Practice.
Let’s begin with the music…
Song of the Week: As I was preparing for the USA match, someone in the soccer chatroom I frequent, brought up the 2002 USA team’s game against Honduras. I looked at that line-up and thought Glory Days! That 2002 was the first one to make it to the round of 16 in ages. Considering Short Matt believes Bruce Springsteen to be part God, I think he will like today’s pick. The song is… Glory Days!
Now for the sports…
US Soccer: After shedding the Fraud Fuehrer Jurgen Klinsmann, the US Soccer team is now lead by one of the most successful coaches in US Soccer history, Bruce Arena. Using the same players Klinsmann had at his disposal including one guy he refused to call into the squad, the USA won 6-0 at home in San Jose against Honduras. So, maybe the problem wasn’t the player pool or MLS being a poor league, bereft of top players. But I will leave this to the words of Bruce Arena: “My job is to get the most out of the players by getting them to play together well and putting them in the best positions to help the team. There’s a word for that. It’s called coaching.” You hear that, people?!
March Madness: The fact that Arizona fell last night hurts. I had them going to the Final Four. It is not a big deal but this looks like an upset-friendly tournament this year, so it will be a nervous weekend for some. I am more frustrated that I had Creighton losing and let my wife talk me out of it, while I backed Nevada – who sucked – and didn’t back Xavier enough. Oh well, nothing we can do accept watch and enjoy a few more upsets until Kansas wins it all (I hope!).
NCAA Spring Practice: I watch politics like I watch sports, which is very often. I have to admit to a certain amount of schadenfreude, as I watched the GOP unable to pass their own bill. However, this showed me the power of listening to zealots. I call the extreme right and left zealots because they have their purity test and if you don’t agree that coal is useful or that fracking is 100 percent evil, you failed and must be purged. Extremists have turned our politics into ‘Bama v Auburn or Ohio State v Michigan. They also have logic twisted, which was evident watching an Ohio State fan explain why the Buckeyes were right to be in the NCAA football playoffs – like Penn State – when if it was the other way around, that fan would be losing it. Hopefully the moderates will rise and people will see that this is Spring Practice and we are fighting to make each other better and the team, USA better, not a do or die rivalry.
That’s all I have… Please feel free to leave your thoughts below and come back tomorrow for our drunken bus driver, Cheesy Bruin. You can also find us on Twitter – @JunoirBlaber & @MeetTheMatts, Instagram -@MeetTheMatts and Facebook– Meet The Matts.
