For the record, Jozy Altidore, all of 19 years old, is an amazing player to watch in person.  Almost always double and triple teamed, he rarely lost the ball and was fascinating to watch.

Anyone have a couple extra tickets to South Africa next summer?  Just wondering …

As fun as it was watching the Lions look like they actually belong in the NFL, it will be just as fun watching this town try to figure out what happened.  They take their Redskins football just a tad bit seriously.

In their semi-final match, U.S. beat Spain, the number 1 team in the world.  Spain had a 35 game unbeaten streak heading into the match, but the U.S. won with a stunning 2 – 0 shutout, easily marking it as one of the biggest U.S. victories of all time.  Unfortunately, in its first-ever FIFA tournament final match, the U.S. gave up a 2 – 0 lead, losing to Brazil 3 – 2.

While they came up short, I was proud of the turn-around they made, and it gave me a bit of hope for next year’s World Cup.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching Tim Howard in goal.  He was easily my favorite of the tournament.

While it was heartening to see the U.S. do well on the world stage, I’m anxious for the day when those types of results are expected.  Donovan’s quote after the game summarized my sentiments well: “We are in the position where we don’t want respect, we want to win.”

First, Michigan came from behind to beat Michigan State. After an embarrassing start to the season, the Wolverines have now won 8 in a row (including 6 in the Big Ten), getting them ranked in the top 20 once again. I don’t want to take too much credit, but they haven’t lost a game since my last post on the subject. Coincidence?

Second, the Lions looked like an actual NFL team when they walked all over Denver 44 – 7. I was surprised CBS was showing the game here, but who am I to ask questions? With about 5 minutes to go in the third period, CBS interrupted the announcers mid-sentence and cut over to a tied Minnesota vs. San Diego game … and never switched back. Obviously, the Lions beating up on Denver isn’t quite the same as switching away from a game with actual consequences. Even so, the Lions are more than capable of blowing a comfortable 3rd quarter lead, and the Minnesota/San Diego game ended up not being close at all (35 – 17). Nonetheless, I was happy to see part of a game wherein the Lions looked impressive.

And lest you think I watched football all weekend, we painted our entry way, front hallway, and one kitchen wall this weekend.

Lastly, since we’re talking about “football,” I need to say congrats to the soccer teams at both my high school and college almae matres (is that really the plural of ‘alma mater’?). The East Kentwood High School boys soccer team won the Div. 1 boys state soccer title last week, marking the first time a school from the west side of the state has won. I’d like to think I helped lay the foundation for the soccer program, but who am I kidding. And on the college side, the Calvin College Knights wrapped up the MIAA and are heading to the NCAA tournament once again.

I went with my older brother and his father-in-law. When we got the tickets months ago, we never imagined it would be 90 degrees and sunny for an October game, but it was. Fortunately, the sun was at our backs, and we even had some shade for most of the second half. Our seats were on the 40 yard line, up in the 4th tier. We were a long ways up, but the seats were great.

We saw a surprising number of Lions’ fans. (Surprising that the Lions have any fans?) Unfortunately, it looks like the Lions used up all of their offensive prowess in the first 4 games of the season. They were completely dominated in all areas of the game, providing the let down we Detroit fans have come to expect.  Even so, we had a good time amidst the home crowd, unlike other Lions’ fans I know who felt the need to hide out in a suite.

Maybe all the Lions need is a marching band …

While I’m still in a bit of shock from last week’s upset (Appalachian Who?), the spectacle today went a long ways to help reality set in in fairly short order. It wasn’t worth the 5.94 GB of space it occupied on the TiVo.

I realize I have high expectations, coming from a long tradition of excellent teams, year after year after year. But losing two weeks in a row, in the Big House, to start the season … that just doesn’t happen at U of M. Until this year, I guess. It appears this is going to be a season of records: the 1st time losing four games in a row since 1967, the first time opening a season with two straight losses at home since 1959, the second-most yards surrendered in program history, etc.

There wasn’t much in today’s game worthy of analysis, and I offer no suggestions for turning things around. I’m merely a loyal fan settling in for what appears to be an historical season. They may not be the best Wolverine team in recent memory, but they’ve got enough talent to be far better than this. Come on, Wolverines– the Big Ten season and the Rose Bowl await.

Even so, Easy Targets will be playing a couple dodgeball games tonight.

It’s comforting that the locals think this is hot weather, too, in spite of their insistence that it’s been a mild summer.

Our first couple games last night were incredibly fun, which is a good thing considering the pain we’re all in today. My biggest problem is my throwing arm. The league uses a type of nerf ball that’s small enough to grip and throw with one hand. Unfortunately, that means it’s incredibly hard to throw with any velocity, at least for us rank amateurs. (It was painfully obvious that some of our opponents last night do not consider this child’s play, and have learned how to hurl these nerf balls in punishing fashion.) I need to know how they do it, without rendering their throwing arm useless for the duration of the season.

Any tips on how to throw a nerf ball without dislocating shoulders and elbows?