As previously mentioned, SU was totally into the US women’s team’s World Cup Soccer run. They seemed to play better with each successive round and capped it off last night with their best effort. For SU, what was most striking was how much of a team these women are. It’s refreshing after watching months of NBA basketball which as we all know is a player’s league and baseball which is as individual as you can get in a team type sport. Abby Wambach, arguably the best to ever play the sport, doesn’t even start and only gets in for a cameo at the end. Doesn’t complain, supports her teammates. Carli Lloyd gets all the acclaim for the hat trick but even non-fans like SU can appreciate how good the defense was for the US in this whole tournament. As a fan, it makes you appreciate the best of sports which is about team effort, chemistry and selflessness. We do not see it very often and you have to enjoy the moment.
There will be much talk about how this will boost women’s soccer in the US at the professional level and there will be buzz for a couple of weeks but as in 1999, it’s very hard to get people interested for a sustained period. That day may come but we are years and years away from it. SU will enjoy this for the moment.
As the MLB trade deadline approaches, you have to think that Brian Cashman will finally pull the plug on Stephen Drew. SU cannot listen anymore to Joe Girardi say how much tough luck he is hitting in with all his line drives being caught. I have watched enough at bats. .180 is .180. And going back to last year, it’s probably .165 for that time period. SU would definitely not give up any top prospects to get an established player for this year. Just bring up your top studs and slot them into the line up.
Stephen Matz had his 2nd strong start for the Mets. Now for them, they likely need to move one of the young starters for an established bat. Their fan base needs a pennant or playoff run this year. Time to increase the payroll. You can raise the price of beer and hot dogs to cover it.
SU is perplexed why DeAndre Jordan would leave the Clippers just because he doesn’t get along with Chris Paul. That was a great situation for him with a good, players’ coach and teammates in their prime. Surely the money would have been close. Of course, no one has ever accused NBA free agents of making the right decisions (see Melo in NY). Jeremy LIn is now heavily rumored to be coming to Dallas. That will be a great spot for him and he could start there. That will be SU’s team to follow for 2015-16. I will save you all seats on the bandwagon.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
I also have little patience for Drew but 2nd Base seems to have reverted to it’s low historical offensive production. While Drew is really bottom of the barrel, this might be the position where you can accept a weak hitter. Girardi says he’s hitting the ball hard. Francesa says he’s got a lot of HRs. I was at the game yesterday and saw what happened in the field when Pirela replaced Drew. It wasn’t pretty. Overall a very sloppy game though. Not just at 2B but a bad throw by Nova and a misplayed ball by Gardner that was generously ruled a triple but called an error by the scorers with the better view in section 423.
Yankee Stadium was not even close to full on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Announced attendance was 35,000 but I wouldn’t have guessed it was over 30,000. More importantly, it is just a boring place to watch a game. This has nothing to do with the team or the quality of the game. The Stadium asks nothing of the fans and gets nothing in return. Any time the speakers quiet down the place goes silent. There is more noise watching a game in my house than at the Stadium.
Which brings me to the Women’s World Cup which was fun to watch but you are right on that this is not the time to call for another stab at a professional league. For every well attended game like the one last night, there was a poorly played game like the one I went to with 15,000 people at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium (another soul-sucking venue). We know that American fans will show up to support their team every 3 years when games are nearby. This does not mean that they will show up to watch a match between two small-market teams with players nobody’s ever heard of. We’ve proven that American fans can get invested in a team of the best 22 women for a tournament. A league dilutes that across many more games and including hundreds of players. It may happen but not yet.
Seth, I agree about the new stadium. While I like it for the additional leg room, wider concourses, better food and the ability to see the field from the concourses, sound wise the Yankees lost any home field advantage vs. the old stadium. The old park had an upper deck that literally hung over the field and it was intimidating for the opposition. The new stadium caters to the 1%ers who can sit in the moat, talk on their phones and eat and drink up a storm without caring about the game. In the end, it’s a business and the Yankees paid for their stadium. But if you want people to want to come to the park or watch on tv, it’s still a business and you need to put an entertaining product out there. For the 3rd year in a row, they are far from that.
I, too, am perplexed by DeAndre Jordan. I don’t fault anyone for going for the money – but I feel that his game was really elevated by both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin around him. Of course – you can’t teach 7 foot athleticism and he is an incredibly mobile big guy. Maybe being along side Dirk will help him just as much (as well as SU fave Jeremy Lin). Will see what he does next year.
How about the Spurs – does SU see them as an automatic front runner next season?
Lastly – a few years back I was given a couple of those “1%” tickets to Yankee Stadium. What was described above is accurate. After chowing down like crazy – I will add that the seats in that area were comfortable beyond belief!
Sasha, I think Aldridge is a smart signing by the Spurs as he is in his prime, is from Texas I believe and can hang with Duncan for a year or so to get smarter and better. But… the Spurs are not a lock for the title next season IMHO as Golden State, LA Clippers, Memphis, etc. are all still out there making the West very tough. Popovich is a great recruiter and a great developer of talent. Star should want to play there. I think Mark Cuban did a good sell job on Jordan for Dallas and they should be very good. But Jordan needs a point guard who can lob it in to him and Lin could very well be that guy.