that whenever anybody has a suggestion about how to make soccer a more entertaining game to watch, it is immediately dismissed by a group of soccer purists who consider any suggestion as a frontal assault. For example, the suggestion is made that maybe penalty kicks are actually a bad thing for soccer and what we get in response is a slew of purists trying to reach for any rationale or half-baked analogy to other sports, often seizing on the worst aspect of other sports, to justify why penalty kicks are the least bad alternative to breaking a tie. I mean instead of reflexively saying "that would never work" for every suggestion, wouldn't soccer fans have a lot more credibility in this country if they just said something like, "yeah, I hate penalty kicks too; maybe sudden death is a good idea"

I presume you people who keep repeating this claim mean that more often than not the players went into a defensive shell and no goal was scored. Could it possibly be that the fact that the players knew that a shootout was going to occur at the end caused them to play that way. Could it be that if they knew they would have to play all night unless someone scored that the game might have been a little different.

Italy may have been the best team. they were not a deserving champion. that is because they won 2 games in a manner which has nothing to do with playing soccer well. they beat Australia on an arbitrarily called penalty kick, which essentially awarded them the game and they beat France on penalty kicks and we've done that issue to death. Playing soccer is the best way to decide a soccer game. is that so hard to grasp?

Rivera's career is fascinating for the reason that in his first full year in the bullpen he was the "set-up" guy and pitched over 100 innings of highly effective ball. The next year he became the "closer" and has never pitched close to 100 innings since. Has it ever occurred to anyone that maybe using him in the 6th 7th and 8th innings of close games is superior to using him mostly in the ninth inning. Having said that, Torre is better than most at using his best pitcher in tie games or in the eighth inning or in extra innings, often for more than the customary one inning.

A great example of this odd use of the closer came up in last thursday's Red Sox-A's game when Papelbon threw one inning of relief in extra innings. Despite just having had three days off, Francona took him out and the Sox blew the game in the next inning. If Francona was thinking he needed to save Papelbon, he was mistaken as the next 3 games were blowouts. doesn't the right strategy have to be that you use your best guy when you know that you'll need him, rather than save him for a situation that may never occur. (king, I see simalarities here to taking basketball players out when they're in foul trouble). That goes for pitching him two innings or more in one game and for pitching him earlier in a close game. I mean if the bases are loaded in the sixth inning why wouldn't you have your best guy in the game. If there's someone out there who disagrees it would be good to hear from you.

My father was a die-hard Brooklyn Dodgers fan. He was born in 1931 in Bensonhurst and grew up with the team, through the Dolph Camilli era, the war years and finally, the team's glory years with Pee Wee, Jackie, Campy, Gil Hodges, Skoonj, Newk, and, of course, daDuke. Over the years I had a few conversations with him about the Dodgers departure. He mostly didn't want to talk about it, too painful it seemed. A wound that never healed. It was like his baseball life didn't exist from 1957 until the Mets were born five years later.

I always got the feeling he just didn't care much about baseball during that time. Who could he have rooted for. Certainly not the team that just betrayed him. Certainly not the hated Yankees, nor any other team in the National League, who he had spent a lifetime rooting against. Occassionally he turned on the radio or the TV and saw the Phillies or the Yankees play, even went to yankee Stadium a couple of times, but it was just going through the motions. In short, I think he was devastated and rendered a shell of a sports fan.

He was reborn when the Mets arrived and they became his team, and then my brothers and then mine. But it seemed like it was never quite the same for him. In time, he lightened up on the Yankees. They were the one team that stayed after all. Now my brother and I carry on the family tradition, we root passionately for the Mets and have renewed the hatred of the Yankees. We remember the Dodgers as an old ancestor, who was heroic in life and died under tragic circumstances. May they rest in peace and may the wrath of hell descend on the Hall of Fame if Walter O' Malley is ever inducted.

that the former Browns fan now roots for the Colts

Skoonj is short for scungilli, Italian for octopus or something close to it, I beleive