World Cup Wimbledon NBA Draft

I have few rules in life, but one of them is this:  Any time it's my first day of summer vacation and we have Wimbledon, a huge US soccer game, and the NBA Draft going on, I have to keep a running diary.  Being used to waking up at 5:15, I had a little trouble sleeping in today.  I woke up at about 6:45, but then went back to sleep until about 8:30.  I got in a little exercise and now I'm ready to just enjoy my first day of vacation.  I haven't watched much Wimbledon so far today, but I did see the end of American Sam Querrey losing to a French guy (14-12 in the fifth set).  That was disappointing.  Anyway, let's pick up the action about 19 minutes into this game between the US and Germany:

12:19- Germany has played better than the US so far, but (you're not going to believe this) this soccer game is tied at 0.  This US controls its own destiny, but I have Portugal vs. Ghana on my phone without sound.  You're not going to believe this, but that soccer game is tied at 0 also.  We're rooting for a draw in that game.  The next best result in that game would be Portugal winning a low scoring game.

12:22- Graham Zusi just misses high on a good chance for the US.

12:24- The rain is coming down in the US-Germany game, but it is bright and sunny for the Portugal-Ghana game.  I like that they play in the rain like they do in football.

12:31- Portugal just scored.  The TV is ahead of my phone so the play by play guy mentioned it in the US game and then I saw it happen on my phone.  So I want Ghana to even it up and then no more scoring.

12:34- Nice save by Tim Howard.

12:36- Kent Brockman calling the game.  How did I not get that clip into this post?

12:40- Corner coming up for the US.

12:40- The corner goes through untouched.

12:42- We're a couple of minutes away from a rant about one of my least favorite things about soccer.

12:45- One minute of additional time.  Hey, soccer, I have good news:  Clocks can stop.  Just stop the clock instead of this ridiculous extra time nonsense.  They say one minute, but it's never exactly one minute.  Do we have any idea if they actually add the right amount of time?  What if there are stops during extra time?  Do they add more extra time?  The US lost two points in the last minute of five minutes of extra time against Portugal, but even if that hadn't happened, I would still hate the idea of extra time.  You would think this was a group of friends playing and not having an exact clock.  "There was that one time when somebody kicked the ball way out of bounds and then we had to chase it.  That took like a minute.  And then somebody got hurt and was down for about a minute and a half.  And it went out a few times.  That sounds like three minutes.  Let's just keep playing for three more minutes."  Just stop the clock when play is stopped.  Every other sport has figured out that clocks can be stopped.  Why hasn't soccer?

12:46- The whistle blows after 58 seconds of extra time and we go to halftime tied at 0 (shocking, I know).

12:52- With both games at halftime, I'm watching Wimbledon.  Maria Sharapova is up three games to one in the first set against some girl from Switzerland with a last name that I don't feel like typing.

12:57- American Madison Keys won her first set against a Czech girl.

12:58- Top-ranked American male John Isner is in a second set tiebreak against a Finn.

1:00- I'm having salad for lunch.  Don't worry, I already know.  But I'm going to get Mexican for dinner, so we'll keep it light for lunch.

1:03- Isner wins the tiebreak and is up two sets to love.  Where does that term come from?  Here are Jerry Seinfeld's thoughts on tennis.

1:07- I'm back to soccer.  One thing I've noticed during the World Cup is that broadcasters will say things like, "Germany have played very well today."  Germany is a singular noun.  Germany has played very well today or the Germans have played very well today.  There was an example of this at the beginning of the game today, but I hadn't started the diary yet.  At least if you're talking about the United States, you could make the argument that "United States" is a plural noun.

1:11- Free kick for Germany is headed away by the US.

1:12- Now we have a corner kick coming up for the Germans.

1:12- Howard made one nice save, but Germany scores on the rebound.  Nuts.

1:15- Ghana scores on a header.  A draw in that game would be great.  Ghana winning could be problematic.  So either that needs to stay tied or Portugal needs to score again.  Or we could just score and tie it.  That would be cromulent.

1:17- Substitution for the US.

1:17- We have a German writhing on the ground.  The referee is from Uzbekistan.  Borat is not a fan.

1:19- Ghana just had a good chance on a header, but it went wide.

1:20- Yellow card on the US after they missed a foul on Germany.

1:21- If we finish tied with Ghana in points and tied in goal differential, they could advance by scoring more goals.  Why isn't the tie-breaker that we beat them head to head?

1:28- The US has a corner kick coming up here.  We need a goal.

1:28- The corner is headed away easily by Germany.

1:29- Notre Dame alum/my favorite soccer player ever Matt Besler clears the ball for the US.  I'm wearing my Notre Dame stars and stripes shirt for him/the United States.

1:31- We have two Americans down after a collision.

1:32- They're still down.  Why is the clock running?  This is so stupid.

1:37- Corner kick for Germany.

1:38- Portugal scores!  USA!  USA!  USA!

1:40- Another nice clear by Matt Besler.

1:41- Deandre Yedlin is in for Graham Zusi.  What up with that?

1:47- We have a fan on the pitch.  And the clock is still running.

1:48- Four minutes of extra time in both games.

1:49- We're likely to play Belgium if we advance.  As one of my students pointed out as we were watching Andy Murray take on some Belgian guy at Wimbledon, they make good waffles.

1:51- The US had a good chance to tie, but the shot was blocked.

1:51- Clint Dempsey just missed on a header.

1:52- Germany wins 1-0.

1:53- Portugal wins 2-1.  The United States advances!  USA!  USA!  USA!

1:55- I'll stay with Wimbledon for a little while and then I'll take a break until the NBA Draft.  Roder Federer is up a set on a Luxembourgian (apparently that's the right word, I had the red squiggley line under it until I fixed the spelling).

1:58- Here's my account of my day at Wimbledon last year.  It was July 1, the second Monday of the tournament.  The highlight of my day was seeing American Sloane Stephens win.  This year she lost on day one.

2:08- John Isner won.  He's the only American male left.  Lame.  I remember the good old days of Pete Sampras dominating Wimbledon.

2:14- Madison Keys is serving for the match against the 31st seed.

2:15- Madison Keys wins.  USA!  USA!  USA!

2:17- Rain is affecting Wimbledon.  They're closing the roof in the Federer match, but this seems like a good place to take a break.  I'll be back for the draft.

7:29- And I'm back for my second NBA Draft Diary.  Here's last year's diary of a terrible draft.  The highlight was Bill Simmons's reaction to Cleveland taking Anthony Bennett with the first pick.  For tonight, I'm joined by my dad and my good friend Sam will be making an appearance later.

7:32- Adam Silver makes his first appearance.  This is the first NBA Draft of my lifetime without David Stern.

7:33- Silver reminded us that the Spurs' stars were taken 1st, 15th, 28th, and 57th.  They know what they're doing.

7:37- David Blatt is the Cavaliers' new coach.  I've never heard of him.

7:39- We've heard some crazy ideas about how to change the draft.  My only change would be that you can't get the number 1 pick two years in a row.  If you win the lottery the year after winning it, you get the second pick.  Cleveland is making their second consecutive number 1 pick.  Minor change.

7:41- Andrew Wiggins is our second consecutive Canadian drafted number one overall.  This isn't the NHL.  The US needs to reclaim the number one spot next year.  Stephen Abootman is proud.

7:47- The Bucks take Jabari Parker.  We knew that was going to happen.  Now things start to get interesting.

7:48- Bill Simmons compares Parker to Paul Pierce.  That makes me think of the 1998 NBA Draft (it was only a matter of time until I referenced the 1998 draft, my favorite of all time).  I had my kids do reports on presidents and we had a presidential draft so that everybody had a different president.  It was like the 1998 draft.  Franklin Pierce went first (Olowokandi) and Lincoln and Washington went ninth and tenth (Nowitzki and Pierce).

7:53- The 76ers take Joel Embiid.  They show him on camera.  He looks about as excited as I was to be surrounded by hippies in San Francisco.  The 76ers might be going with the Houston Astros strategy of just not caring for a while and stockpiling early picks.  Not a bad strategy.  If he recovers, it's probably a good pick.  If not, he could be Greg Oden.

7:55- They show a happy Joel Embiid.  Rece Davis blames it on the the satellite delay.

7:57- Joel Embiid quotes the great philosopher Kevin Garnett in his interview with Rece Davis.

7:59- The Magic make a surprising pick with Aaron Gordon.  My dad is excited because he didn't want the Celtics to take him.

8:04- The Jazz are about to pick.  I don't think they're taking Doug McDermott, but we can't rule it out.

8:06- Aussie Aussie Aussie!  Oi Oi Oi!  The Jazz take Dante Exum.  I was kind of hoping he'd end up with the Celtics so that I could root for an Aussie.

8:08- The Celtics are on the clock.  My dad worries that they will take Marcus Smart.  I would not be excited about that.

8:09- Dante Exum is being interviewed.  The Australian accent is the best.

8:12- Simmons wants the Celtics to take Julius Randle.  I agree.

8:12- Marcus Smart.  I'm not a fan.

8:14- Jay Bilas likes the pick.  Jay Bilas is going to like every pick.  And I like Jay Bilas, but ESPN needs to find people who will criticize teams during the NFL/NBA drafts.

8:16- The advanced stats show that Marcus Smart is a great prospect.  NBADraft.net's comparison for him is Dwyane Wade.  I'm going to talk myself into being excited about this by the end of the night.

8:17- The Lakers take Julius Randle.  I wanted the Celtics to take him five minutes ago, but I despise Kentucky basketball and I despise the Lakers.  This is a match made somewhere and it's not heaven.

8:20- Only Michael Beasley had more double doubles as a freshman in NCAA history and we know how well he worked out in the NBA.

8:22- The Kings take Nik Stauskas.  And now I have a reason to root against the Kings.

8:28- The Hornets are about to pick.  Major upgrade in team name for the Charlotte professional basketball team.

8:29- The Hornets take Noah Vonleh.  His suit is appropriate for the Hornets.

8:31- Noah Vonleh has some big hands.

8:36- The 76ers take Elfrid Payton from Louisiana Lafayette.  I hadn't heard of this guy until two days ago.  I'm glad they didn't take Doug McDermott because I don't want to root against Doug McDermott.

8:37- When asked by Rece Davis what the 76ers are getting in Payton, Jay Bilas responds, "A great hairdo."  He then gave a serious answer.  He should have just stopped there.

8:42- Denver takes Doug McDermott.  I'm a big fan.  I'm not a big fan of Denver, but there are a lot of teams that would have been worse.

8:45- I love McDermott, but he looks pretty ridiculous with his hat on during his interview with Jay Williams.

8:51- The Magic take Dario Saric.  Where's Fran Fraschilla to tell us about him?  Because nobody has ever seen this guy play.  Or if you have, you're spending too much time watching basketball highlights on the internett.

8:52- There's Fran.

8:55- The Timberwolves take Zach LaVine while I'm on the phone with my brother Tom.  He's a Knick fan and he likes the trade they made yesterday.  I agree, but when getting two second round picks is one of the best things that's happened to your team lately, I think that tells you all you need to know about the Knicks.

9:02- The 76ers are trading Payton to the Magic for Saric, who won't be coming to the US for a couple of years..  The 76ers are definitely going with the Houston Astros strategy.

9:03- The Suns take T.J. Warren.

9:05- T.J. Warren's suit looks fine, but his shirt and tie combination is atrocious.

9:10- The Hawks take Adreian Payne.  He's wearing ridiculous purple pants, but he stayed in college for four years, so I guess I should root for him.

9:12- Rece Davis talks about Payne's relationship with a girl who died of cancer (the only person that Jay Bilas followed on Twitter).  I thought I had a reason to like this guy.  Okay, I'm in on Adreian Payne.

9:14- Isaiah Austin is recognized by Adam Silver.  He was expected to be drafted, but now his career is over because he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome.  That's an excellent job out of the NBA in that scenario.

9:19- The Bulls take Jusuf Nurkic from Bosnia and Herzegovina.  He's going to the Nuggets as part of a trade for Doug McDermott.  I'm much less excited about McDermott going to the Bulls, even though I am a Tom Thibodeau fan (2008 Celtics defensive architect).

9:21- The Celtics are on the clock and I'm joined by my good friend Sam, who is also a fan of the Celtics (he's from Boston).  I like Sam all year long, but he's at his best during the summer.

9:23- They're talking about the possibility of the Bulls amnestying Carlos Boozer.  Simmons thinks Jerry Reinsdorf might not be willing to do that.  You have to get Carlos Boozer off the cap for the chance to get a big free agent.

9:25- The Celtics take James Young.  My dad likes this pick.  Simmons is excited as well.  I don't know much about him.  The Celtics are loading up on guards, but when you're as bad as they were, you take the best player available.  If James Young was the best player available, I'm cool with that pick.

9:28- Simmons wants to do shots.

9:32- The Suns take Tyler Ennis.  This leads to a discussion of how Canada is dominating this draft.

This is the best day for Canada since they got all that gum and those Bennigan's gift cards.

9:35- The Bulls take Gary Harris for the Nuggets.  Simmons and Rose think it's a steal for the Nuggets.

9:39- Either Mitch Kupchak is really tall or Ramona Shelbourne is really short.  Boo Lakers.

9:41- The Heat want to move up to get Shabazz Napier.  I want the Heat to end so I hope it doesn't happen.

9:44- The Raptors take Bruno Caboclo.  Who?  Rece Davis says he was the MVP of Basketball without Borders.  Is that a thing?

9:45- Fran Fraschilla says he's the Brazilian Kevin Durant.  If you say so.

9:46- "He's two years away from being two years away."  So maybe Fran Fraschilla isn't so high on Bruno whoever.  And who had their money on Fran Fraschilla giving us the line of the night?

9:51- They just reviewed the James Harden trade, which is why the Thunder are picking now.  I made fun of them last year when they took Stephen Adams (who turned out to be better than I expected).  Now the Thunder take Mitch McGary.  I never had anything against the Thunder until now.

9:58- The Grizzles take Jordan Adams.  Jay Bilas says he's a scorer.

10:02- The Jazz take Rodney Hood.  Bilas says he knows how to score.  I've known how to score probably since I was four, but that doesn't mean I was good at it.

10:06- The Hornets take Shabazz Napier.  Simmons says they have a chance to be a top five team in the East next year.  Pretty low bar to clear.

10:09- Andy Katz says Shabazz Napier is going to the Heat.  Nuts.

10:11- Rece Davis says "calorie scap" instead of salary cap.  It's getting late.

10:14- Simmons predicted a foreigner for the Rockets and he was right.  They take Clint Capela, who Simmons says is one of the best 50 players ever from Switzerland.  The Rockets don't want to pay him yet.

10:15- Fraschilla says Capela is the second best player to come from Switzerland.

10:17- Josh Beckett gets a strikeout to end the top of the first in Los Angeles.  No runs, one hit, and nobody left for the Cardinals.

10:20- The Heat take P.J. Hairston for the Hornets.  And my good friend Sam has been replaced by my casual acquaintance Coors Light Summer Brew.

10:27- Adam Silver announces the 76ers-Magic trade from before.  The Suns take Bogdan Bogdanovic.  That has to be a made up name.

10:33- The Clippers take C.J. Wilcox.  We have two picks left in the first round.  Who's handling the second round?

10:38- World Cup talk during the NBA Draft.  I'm opposed to this.  Two hours of soccer today was enough.  Rece Davis says, "I embrace football all the time," talking about real football after Jay Bilas mentioned Americans embracing "football."  Good job, Rece.  But way too much soccer talk.  If you want to just mention it quickly, fine, but it shouldn't be a long discussion during the NBA Draft.

10:40- Oklahoma City takes Josh Heustis.  Bilas says he can really defend.  I say they'll regret not taking whoever the Spurs take with the next pick because whoever that is will be a good player because it's the Spurs.

10:42- Highlights of the Spurs dismantling the Heat.  That was fun.

10:43- The Spurs have $9 million in cap room.  They know what they're doing.

10:44- Simmons points out that Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili made less than Kobe Bryant last year.  That's why the Spurs won the championship and the Lakers stunk.

10:46- They're talking about the Heat while the Spurs are on the clock.  Of course they are.

10:46- The Spurs take Kyle Anderson.  He'll be a contributor.  I played basketball with a guy named Kyle Anderson.  I don't think it was the same guy.  Adam Silver informs us that Mark Tatum will handle the second round.  I know last year I covered the entire draft, but I didn't do the World Cup and some Wimbledon before that.  It's time to call it a night, but hopefully Marcus Smart and James Young turn out to be great players for the Celtics.

Better Than Perfect

I waited 18 years for the Dodgers to throw a no-hitter after Hideo Nomo's no-hitter in 1996.  Josh Beckett's no-hitter was awesome.  I only had to wait three and a half weeks for another one.

The Dodgers put this picture on Facebook early in the game:

Topanga and Cory

And immediately I thought of my favorite episode of Boy Meets World.  It was the third episode of the series.  Cory's father wakes him up to see the end of a no-hitter on the west coast (against the Dodgers actually) and then he falls asleep during a test the next day and fails.  Cory's father argues with Mr. Feeny.  It's my favorite episode because Cory's father is exactly the father I would want to be and Mr. Feeny is exactly the teacher I would want to be (especially at the end when he explains to Cory that his father did the right thing).  I was planning to show my class that episode today to celebrate, but it was a crazy schedule so maybe tomorrow.

With Clayton Kershaw pitching, I figured it might be the night that staying up late would be totally worth it.  Last year I went to Philadelphia to see Kershaw pitch because I didn't want to take the chance that I'd miss his first no-hitter (see that link for links to other posts about how much I love Kershaw).  That night, he took a no-hitter into the fifth, but it was not to be.  I've predicted that Kershaw would pitch one for a long time, even though the following pitchers never pitched a no-hitter:

Greg Maddux
Roger Clemens (a cheater, so I'm happy he never threw one)
Steve Carlton
Tom Glavine
John Smoltz
Pedro Martinez (although he was once perfect through nine and lost it in the tenth)
Tim Hudson
CC Sabathia (Hudson and Sabathia are the only active pitchers with 200 wins, they still have a chance)

So plenty of really good to great pitchers never did what Homer Bailey (career:  56-48, 4.29 ERA) has done twice.  But I know one was coming for Kershaw at some point.  And I didn't want to miss it.  Being a fan of a west coast team isn't easy when you're living on the east coast.  During the week, the Dodgers start almost all of their home games at 10:10.  The good thing about being a teacher is that it doesn't matter how late I go to sleep for two plus months of the year.  But for the rest of the season, I have to be smart about how much west coast baseball I watch.  So my policy is pretty simple for weeknights in April, May, and June:  I'll watch games on the west coast when Kershaw is pitching.  For other games, I'll usually catch a little bit of the game (especially if I'm staying up for NBA or NHL playoff games that start at 8:00 or 9:00), but I don't need to watch every inning of a game started by Dan Haren in May.  When we get to September, it really depends on how the pennant race is going.

So last night, I took a nap and set my alarm for 10:05.  My mental alarm was ready and I woke up five minutes before my phone alarm went off.  And then I had a Summer Ale in my Dodgers pint glass and watched Clayton Kershaw pitch the best game of his career.  Sometimes I have trouble staying up (whether or not I take a nap before the game).  Last night I was good to go for the most part.  I did doze off once or twice while the Dodgers were batting.  They had a couple of long innings at the plate.  I totally missed Miguel Rojas's bases loaded double to make it 7-0.  But by the fifth inning or so when the no-hitter was becoming a legitimate possibility, I was not dozing off again.

By the fourth inning, the Dodgers were up 8-0.  The game was decided.  Either in the fourth or fifth inning, I started thinking about when Hanley Ramirez should come out of the game.  He's been horrendous in the field all year long and he hurt his finger the night before.  I decided after the sixth inning.  Unfortunately, Don Mattingly waited an inning longer and Hanley Ramirez's error in the seventh messed up the perfect game.  Miguel Rojas made an excellent play to field a hard hit ball down the line and throw the runner out at first to save the no-hitter.  That was the only play in the whole game with a particularly high degree of difficulty.  The Rockies only put 13 balls in play all game long.  Last night, I was just waiting for it to happen.  In other no-hitters or near no-hitters, I was kind of waiting for the pitcher to lose it and I would be surprised if he didn't.  Last night (especially the last couple of innings), the Rockies had no chance.  There was one ball that was hit hard, but foul (but as on the guys on MLB Network pointed out, it was on a pitch that you just weren't going to hit fair).  I was talking to a parent at school today and he said that Kershaw could have pitched 15 innings and the Rockies weren't going to get a hit.  It was so awesome to see him finish it off.  Just before the last out was made, A.J. Ellis chased a foul ball and crashed into the low fence by the Dodgers' dugout.  You could tell how much he wanted Kershaw to do it.  But perhaps it was better that he couldn't get to that ball.  It was appropriate for Kershaw to finish it off with a strikeout.

Finishing it off in the ninth

"Got 'em!  He's done it!" -Vin Scully

Clayton Kershaw has always had a great curveball.  Last night it was the best I've ever seen it.  After going back and watching all 27 outs, I didn't really appreciate how good his slider was last night also.  I've talked about the role of luck in no-hitters, but Kershaw didn't need much luck.  He was just dominant.  More on that in a minute.

There were a few nice things about this no-hitter compared to Beckett's (which was also awesome).  I've already covered how much I love Kershaw.  Besides how much I love the way he pitches, he's a Dodger.  When people think of Josh Beckett ten years from now, they'll think of him with the Marlins or Red Sox.  Also, unlike Beckett's no-hitter, Kershaw did it at home.  The crowd was great (46,069).  And Vin Scully got to call this one.  I've heard Vin's call of the end of Sandy Koufax's perfect game and it was awesome to hear Vin Scully call a no-hitter by the best Dodger pitcher since Koufax.  Vin Scully has called 7% of the no-hitters and 13% of the perfect games in baseball history.  Now he just needs to call another World Series championship for the Dodgers.  And finally, this win brought the Dodgers to within four games of first place.  Not that long ago they were nine and a half out.  The race is on.

After the game, I stayed up and watched some of the coverage.  The game ended just before 1:10, but the Extra Innings package stayed with the broadcast for the on field interview with Kershaw.  Then I watched some of MLB Network's coverage probably until about 1:30.  When I finally went to bed, I couldn't fall asleep.  It reminded me of trying to go to sleep after the Jets came back to beat the Dolphins on Monday night in 2000 (still my favorite NFL regular season game ever).  I probably fell asleep sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 for a little nap before my alarm went off at 5:15.  I wore my Clayton Kershaw jersey to work today over my shirt and Dodger tie.  I played the highlights for my kids, but I didn't get to the Boy Meets World episode.  Hopefully tomorrow.

Before last night, I had seen Clayton Kershaw's best performance in person (there are other contenders, but the fact that it was scoreless going into the bottom of the 8th and he hit the home run to give the Dodgers the lead put it at the top of the list for me).  I can't say that anymore.  

Here's an interesting question:  Was it the best regular season game ever pitched?  That thought didn't cross my mind until I started doing some reading this morning.  Kershaw had the second highest game score of all time last night (102).  Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game was the best of all time (105).  If you're limiting debate to those two games, you could make the argument either way.  Wood allowed the same number of baserunners (1) and struck out five more.  He also did it in a tight game (2-0), unlike Kershaw.  Kershaw threw fifteen fewer pitches, the one baserunner he allowed wasn't his fault (in essence he got 28 outs and Wood got 27), and he had to deal with the pressure of the perfect game/no-hitter whereas Wood gave up a hit in the third inning.  In my opinion, the game score measure overvalues the strikeout.  Strikeouts are good because a batter is much less likely to reach base if he strikes out than if he puts the ball in play anywhere, but they also increase pitch counts.  I'd rather throw fewer pitches and get quicker outs.  I'm giving the nod to Kershaw over Wood for throwing the no-hitter and doing it with fifteen fewer pitches (very biased, I know).

So was it the best regular season game ever pitched?  The easy answer is to put any perfect game ahead of all others.  But consider this:  Kershaw had the most strikeouts ever in a no-hitter without allowing a walk.  Like I mentioned before, he pitched well enough to get 28 out of 28 batters out and pitchers who pitched perfect games pitched well enough to get 27 out of 27 batters out.  Here's my answer:  perfect games and games pitched just as well as a perfect game (Kershaw isn't the first to miss a perfect game without allowing a walk) are equal.  Kershaw won't go down in history as being one of a small group to throw a perfect game, but he was every bit as good.  It's kind of like Armando Galarraga.  If you look up perfect games, you won't find him on the list, but if you remember the game he pitched on June 2, 2010, he was perfect that night even if the umpiring wasn't.  Clayton Kershaw was perfect last night even if the Dodgers weren't.

Open Wide for some Soccer!

Yes, I'm blogging about the World Cup.  But first, a few random notes.

1.  I haven't been much of a hockey fan over the last few years.  I like Olympic hockey much more than NHL hockey.  I like the outdoor games, but other than that, I don't watch very much regular season hockey at all.  The Rangers might have brought me back in.  Disappointing finish, but it was easily their best season since 1994.  I was once a big hockey fan.  From about fifth grade through high school, I was a really big Rangers fan.  Brian Leetch was my favorite player.  I don't think I've had a favorite player since he left, but I think the torch has been passed finally to Ryan McDonagh.  A couple of other factors, though.  Hockey and basketball have seasons that almost entirely overlap.  Growing up, I could watch the Rangers, but not the Celtics.  Being able to watch the Celtics all the time with NBA League Pass probably contributed to me drifting away from hockey.  It's hard to get fully in to both sports.  Also, I loved the NHL video games.  My days playing hockey video games are over.  So will I get fully back in as a hockey fan?  I don't know.  We'll have to see next season.  One thing I really want to do next season is go to a game at the Nassau Coliseum before the Islanders move to Brooklyn.

2.  Thank you, Spurs.  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing you take apart the Heat.  The Heat and Rangers both lost in five, but the Rangers could have won three of the games they lost (I know, they could have lost the game they won also).  The Heat on the other hand, not so much.  With no Knicks or Lakers in the playoffs, the Heat winning the championship was the only possible bad result.  The Spurs took care of business.  Tim Duncan is the best player since Michael Jordan until somebody takes that title from him.  Everybody wants to say Kobe Bryant or LeBron James.  No.  Kobe Bryant has won as many championships, but Shaquille O'Neal was the best player on three of those teams.  Tim Duncan was the best player on four of his championship teams.  LeBron James might pass Duncan, but he's not there yet.

3.  Rest in Peace, Tony Gwynn.  I don't like the Padres at all, but I really respected Tony Gwynn.  When so many players were cheating, he was playing the game the right way.  When I listed my favorite post-Cold War players, leaving Tony Gwynn off was an oversight.  Since Jose Canseco is on the All-Jim Team but permanently suspended, let's give Tony Gwynn his spot.

And with that, let's get to my first ever soccer post.  I am not a soccer fan and I don't pretend to be one.  However, I am a fan of the United States, sports, and international competition.  So am I excited about the World Cup with its fast kickin', low scoring, and ties?  You bet.  And we get to see all our favorite soccer stars.  Like Ariaga!  Ariaga II!  Bariaga!  Aruglia!  And Pizzoza!  Man, that's a great Simpsons episode.

To celebrate the World Cup, I'm going to rank the 32 teams in reverse order of how I want them to finish If you know me, you can probably figure out spots 1, 2, 3, 31, and 32.  These rankings have absolutely no connection to what is going to happen.  Anyway, here we go:

32.  Iran
31.  Russia
I have nothing good to say about these countries.  The Iranians want to wipe Israel off the map and I want to wipe them out of the World Cup without a win.  And Vladimir Putin is a scumbag.  If I ever wanted to visit Russia, they probably wouldn't let me in the country.  Either that or I wouldn't be allowed to leave.

30.  Mexico
29.  Germany
28.  Spain
We've fought wars with all of these countries, but that's only a small part of why I have them so low.  For Mexico, I don't like the idea of another country on the continent being better than us at anything.  Germany and Spain are two of the favorites (maybe? I don't exactly know what I'm talking about) so I'm going to root against them.

27.  France
I'm not as anti-France as I once was, but I still don't like them too much.  Ten years ago, they'd probably be number 30 on this list (I considered going there for a day last summer when I was in England, I wouldn't have even considered it a decade ago).  I'll put them this high just for the Marquis de Lafayette (an honorary American citizen), easily my favorite Frenchman of all time.

26.  Uruguay
25.  Colombia
24.  Cameroon
Two South American countries and an African country.  Whatever.

23.  Ghana
They're in our group and they're not Germany.

22.  Ecuador
21.  Algeria
20.  Bosnia and Herzegovina
19.  Chile
18.  Costa Rica
17.  Ivory Coast
I don't have any thoughts about Ecuador, Algeria, or Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Chile's flag is almost the Texas flag.  Costa Rica and the Ivory Coast are strongly named countries.

16.  Brazil
They're the home country and the favorite (I think).  It would be cool for them if they won, but it wouldn't do anything for me.

15.  Honduras
14.  The Netherlands
I'm putting Honduras ahead of two countries in their group (France and Ecuador).  I once had a professor from the Netherlands.  He was a good guy.  But what's up with the whole the Netherlands/Holland thing?  And why are their people Dutch?

13.  Greece
12.  Italy
These countries seem like interesting places to go to.  They both have a lot of history.  And to get to the Vatican, you'd have to go through Italy.

11.  Portugal
The Wall Street Journal put out the World Cup of Everything Else.  Portugal would win for most Catholics as a percentage of the population.  Also, Homer Simpson is a fan.

10.  Nigeria
9.  Belgium
Nigeria is in the same group as Iran.  Belgium is in the same group as Russia.

8.  Croatia
I guess they're the team I want to win Group A.

7.  Switzerland
My brother Sean was in Switzerland 14 years ago and he seemed to like it.  I want them to win Group E.

6.  Japan
5.  South Korea
I like these countries, but I have no desire to ever travel to a country where I can't even read the writing.  But I give them credit for their commitment to capitalism.

4.  Argentina
For Pope Francis and Manu Ginobili (number 6 on my list of favorite NBA players*).

3.  England
Our most important ally in the world.  But why is it England in the World Cup but Great Britain in the Olympics?  Why do Scotland and Wales get included for the Olympics, but not for the World Cup?  I would love to know the answer to this.

2.  Australia
Our most loyal ally in the world.  And they have the best accent in the world (at least of English-speaking countries, but probably the entire world).  They have kangaroos.  Father Miscamble came from Australia (my favorite professor at Notre Dame, he should be president of the university).  I really need to go there someday.  My only question:  Why do they wear yellow and green?

1.  United States of America
You knew this already.

Oh Canada.

My first day in Canada was a very American day (baseball).  My second day was much more Canadian.  This is how I prepared for my trip to Canada.

These Canadians were upset about the Blue Jays' loss the night before.

Adam and I followed the only road in Canada.  Fortunately, we avoided Scott and we didn't end up in Newfoundland.

Canada has a solid flag.

Adam and I started the day with breakfast at a place near our hotel.  I had breakfast poutine.  Poutine is a Canadian thing with fries, cheese, and a "light brown gravy-like sauce," according to Wikipedia.  I was not interested in a "light brown gravy-like sauce," so breakfast poutine was a better option.  Actually, it was quite delicious.

Breakfast poutine

Then we were off to the Hockey Hall of Fame.  Hockey is my fifth favorite sport, but its Hall of Fame is really good.  This was my third hall of fame trip in less than a year (baseball and basketball last summer).  The entrance reminded my of the Basketball Hall of Fame.  You have to go down to the bottom level of this little shopping mall and that's where you enter.  Most of the stuff you see is on that level.  I would say that a little more than half of that level is dedicated to the NHL, maybe 30% is dedicated to international hockey, and the rest is other stuff (the broadcasting history of hockey, for example).  It was really good.  There was the net that Wayne Gretzky broke Gordie Howe's goal scoring record on with 802 pucks stacked up.  There was a lot of stuff on Brian Leetch and Mark Messier (my two favorite players growing up).  They had a little mock Montreal Canadiens locker room.  Interesting, considering this was in Toronto, but the Canadiens are the Yankees of hockey.  There was a 3D movie that was pretty well done (it was big on water bottles getting knocked off of the net by the puck).  The international stuff was cool.  There was the net that Sydney Crosby scored the winning goal in against the US in the gold medal game in the 2010 Olympics.  They had jerseys from countries around the world.  It was pretty cool to see the jerseys that you never think of as hockey countries.  According to the world rankings, Britain is 22nd, Australia is 32nd, and Ireland is 42nd (out of 48).  The bad thing about being in Canada was that they didn't have a lot about the Miracle on Ice.  They had some stuff on Herb Brooks and a jersey from the team, but I would have loved to see a lot more about that.

That's a lot of goals.

If I could go back in time and go to any ten sporting events, the Miracle on Ice is making the list (that could be its own blog post).

Brian Leetch's jersey from the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.  The US beat Canada to win.  It was our best hockey accomplishment since 1980.

The fake Canadiens locker room.

South African and Australian hockey jerseys

Hockey Muppets

The highlight is definitely when you go upstairs and see all the players inducted in the Hall of Fame and the NHL trophies.  All the trophies are behind glass, except for the Stanley Cup.  I was surprised that you can actually touch the Stanley Cup.  They take your picture and you can pay a little over $11 for three prints and online access to the picture.  Definitely worth it.  And they don't rush you (although maybe they would have if it had been more crowded).  They gave us time and we found the 1994 Rangers on the Stanley Cup.  Hopefully the 2014 Rangers will be added soon (but it's not looking too good right now).  Overall, it's easily better than the Basketball Hall of Fame.  I'd probably put the Baseball Hall of Fame ahead of it for giving you a better sense of the history of the game, but I like baseball more than hockey.  There's nothing quite as awesome as being able to touch the Stanley Cup at the Baseball Hall of Fame, so I could see somebody making the argument that the Hockey Hall of Fame is better.

This was awesome.

The 1994 Rangers on the Stanley Cup

Later we went to the CN Tower.  I didn't realize how big it is until I looked it up.  It reminded me of the Space Needle in Seattle, but it's almost two and a half times as tall.  Until recently, it was the tallest freestanding structure in the world.  For $32, you can go most of the way up (you can pay more to go higher up).  You can see everything in Toronto and Lake Ontario.  Directly south across the lake from Toronto is still Canada, but the United States is off to the southeast.  The Blue Jays were playing while we were up there.  I saw somebody hit an RBI double (I couldn't really see the ball, I was just going by the baserunners).  There's also a 3D movie about flight and there's a ride.  The ride was called Himalamazon.  It was one of those simulator rides like they have at Disney World.  The theme of the ride was something about growing super trees in the Himalamazon or something.  It was really confusing.  There was a little girl who was sitting in front of me who was laughing the whole time and then when the ride was over she said, "That was boring."  I thought that was pretty funny.

The CN Tower

This view of the Blue Jays game was more expensive than the one I had the night before.

For dinner, we went to the Mill Street Brew Pub in the Distillery District, which was a cool area of Toronto.  They have a tasting room with four beers on tap that you can taste for free.  When we sat down, they brought us two more samples that we didn't even ask for.  We both got beer flights to sample four more beers.  I had a pint that the waitress recommended to pair with my fish and chips.  I can't say that I loved any of the beers, but most of them were good (there was one out of the several that I tried that I didn't like, but the rest were decent to good).  So although I wouldn't rate any of the beers I tried as great, I would strongly recommend the Mill Street Brew Pub if you're ever in Toronto.  A lot of the bars around Toronto have the Mill Street logo in their windows.  The Blue Jays need to get a Mill Street concession stand in the SkyDome.

Beer.

As we were walking to dinner, we passed a Bulk Barn.  Adam recognized Bulk Barn from advertising in hockey games played in Canada.  He wanted to go to it based on his theory that anything that ends in barn is good.  Anybody who has been to Boardy Barn could probably debate both sides of that issue.  So the Bulk Barn has all sorts of food items that you can put in a bag and pay for by the pound.  When we walked in, Adam said, "This is better than I ever could have imagined."

Smarties at the Bulk Barn.  Those aren't Smarties.

We went home on Sunday.  I got up early and went to mass at a church that was being renovated.  Then we got breakfast at a crepe place.  I had really hoped to go to Crepes a Go Go.  Why?  Leigh Ellis had always talked about it on the Basketball Jones podcast last year when they were still in Toronto.  So I was hoping to eat French food in Canada on the recommendation of an Australian.  But their hours were really weird so it didn't work out.  The crepe I got on Sunday morning (dark chocolate and bananas) was really good anyway.

I had never had a crepe until I went to Canada.

And that was my time in Canada.  I'm pretty sure I've seen enough of Canada to be satisfied.  There's a good chance I'll never be back, but it was a good trip.  I've now been to three other countries and they all speak English.  I really don't have a desire to go to any other countries other than Australia and Italy/Vatican City.  I've taken trips abroad in 2012, 2013, and 2014.  Maybe I'll take another trip abroad in 2015, but I definitely don't have anything planned yet.

I'll finish with my currency power rankings (I've only used four in my life, everybody is competing for second here):

4.  Euro.  The euro is very boring.
3.  Canadian Dollar.  It's got a weird texture, but I was okay with it.  All the notes are different colors, which I was also okay with.  The notes are all the same size, which I liked.  And they fit in my wallet, unlike some of the Euro and Pound notes.  So why don't they get the second spot?
2.  British Pound.  They come in different sizes and some of those sizes don't really fit in my wallet (like the euro, if I remember correctly).  They have the queen on them, which is a drawback, but so does the Canadian $20 bill (and it's more understandable having the queen on British currency than it is on Canadian currency).  The reason that the pound gets the second spot is the 20 pound note.  What's so special about it?  It has Adam Smith on it, the father of capitalism).  Now that's somebody that belongs on money.
1.  American Dollar.  Andrew Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant have no business being on money, but Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Hamilton, and Franklin certainly do deserve to be honored that way (actually, I guess you could debate Jefferson since he certainly didn't see eye to eye with Hamilton, but he's worthy of being honored even if money isn't the most appropriate way).  It's the right size and we don't have any royalty on our money.  God Bless America!

Adam Smith is my favorite person on money other than Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin.