No Whammy, No Whammy-STOP!

Back in the 1980’s there was a TV game show called “Press Your Luck” where the objective was to stay away from those little red devils called “Whammy’s” You land on a Whammy on the PYL big board and you lose all of your money. The board would move in a random fashion so you never know when you would land on one of those little buggers, but when you did, it was one of the worst feelings ever to see all the cash dissolve off to Whammy land.

Well, following the World Cup this year has been no different than watching Press Your Luck, when a Referee at any given moment can come in and steal away a good goal or make an absolutely atrocious call that will take your winnings way back down to zero.

Yes folks that is what has been happening over the past couple of weeks. Poor, poor, poor refereeing has marred this tournament and makes you wonder, why are we even wasting our time watching a game that is being determine in an unfair fashion.

So much so, soccer has got to have the worst refs in the business. The NBA finals were not great and I complained about the referees’ inefficiency, but this has got to be 100% worse. Between the referee and the linesman you would think that these guys are either both blind or both being paid off.

MLB & the NHL have their fair share of bad calls and we have seen some this season ala Galaragga perfect game that wasn’t. But again the brutal calls in the World Cup have totally affected the outcome of numerous matches.

Let’s look at yesterday’s England Vs. Germany match up. The Germans, who I will admit were the better team in the first half went up 2-0 until England struck back to pull the game to one goal and then seemingly ties it up a few minutes later. But hey wait a minute, no goal. But the ball crossed the line, clearly, not even close crossed the line for a goal. What do you mean no one saw it go in? Not a goal? Can’t be! It was a mile into the net. How can it be that no one saw it go in!

This brutal no goal call killed England, killed them. Going into half time they were down 2-1, obviously upset and they came out the 2nd half trying to tie up the game as quick as possible, but when you press and only have 2 defenders back instead of 3-4, well you are pressing your luck. And they were burned on goal number 3 & 4 by not having enough defenders in place to stop the German break.

Of course had the second England goal have counted there would not have been any need to have only 2 defenders back and they could have and would have played more conservatively. But the ref ruined that and we finish off a German massacre of 4-1 and a date with Argentina in the quarter finals.

Fabio Capello and his charges, should be disappointed and they should never have put themselves a 2-0 deficit position so early in the game. When you look at the English team you see some stark similarities to the USA from the horrible refereeing calls to the fact that they just weren’t good enough to advance past the second round.

The fact remains that the USA had a total 2 minute lead in the tournament and had to continuously dig out of a hole. Against Ghana they were good, but as they did in games 1 and 2, they began behind the 8-ball. Down to an early goal because of poor mid field play. Tactically the USA looked pretty good in this tournament compared to tournaments of the past, but they ended a little short yet again, and a little disappointed.

Bob Bradley made two mistakes in the game against Ghana. One by starting Ricardo Clark, the other by starting Robbie Findley. Both were not in the league of being on the a pitch at the World Cup and tough Bradley corrected himself by the second half, the killer goal had already been scored.

As well, the USA didn’t have someone who could finish like they have had in the past with the likes of Brian McBride. But could they have used him this year.

But as they say, the cream always rises to the top and we are now beginning to see that with Uruguay, Ghana, Germany and Argentina (who handily beat a young Mexico last night). And we will continue to see it over the next two days with most probably Holland and Brazil advancing.

The questions remain as to who of Japan Vs. Paraguay will move on and Portugal Vs. Spain. I believe that Spain will move on as Portugal are perennial chokers who never know how to win the big tournament. However, we said that of Spain before they won Euro 2008.

But please as the games become more critical and more crucial for each team, can we have no more Whammys!

Thoughts from the Pulpit

1) The New York Yankees had a great comeback win over their former manager Joe Torre and the Los Angeles Dodgers by the score of 8-6. The Yankees down 6-2 in the 9th came back against Jonathan Broxton by tying the game up to go to extra innings. In the 10th Robinson Cano hit a two run home run and Mariano Rivera closed out the game with a 2 inning save. You can’t get better than that!
2) The Texas Rangers finally lost non Friday night but then reeled off 2 straight wins and are just behind the Yankees for the best record inn baseball.
3) The Sports Rabbi picked the USA to win the World Cup but we now know that will not happen. Too bad. I am not sure who will win the tournament at this point, but Argentina who were led by Carlos Tevez last night with 2 goals seem so strong, that they may be the ones who will, take it all this year. The only worry I have for Argentina is their coach, Diego Maradona and can he continue to stay away from the limelight and just let his players, play.