it has been a big sunday for american sports.
following a 0-0 tie in the CONCACAF gold cup, the US men’s soccer team defeated panama in a shootout. the win came after the USA already obtained its highest rank ever in the FIFA/coca-cola world rankings: 6th. this win, i’m guessing opens up the possibility that the US team could climb even higher in the next ranking period. those will be made public on august 17th.
btw: i searched high and low to find the game…i finally found it on univision. did any english speaking US channel carry it?
btw II: does anyone else think the 8-letter acronym, CONCACAF is a little much?
earlier, lance armstrong, of course, had wrapped up his seventh tour de france win on a rain-slicked champs elysées. i was touched as CBS showed footage of the news conference in which lance announced his cancer diagnosis almost a decade earlier.
Six days after his diagnosis in 1996, Armstrong called a news conference. “I intend to beat this disease,” he said in a halting voice, “and further, I intend to ride again as a professional cyclist.”
That scene and those words stand in incredible contrast to the familiar one of him raising a glass on the Champs-Elysées. [news article]
incredible, familiar contrast, indeed. 7 times in a row.
Univision was the only channel carrying the Gold Cup match. CONCACAF is no worse than the acronym of the South American confederation: CONMEBOL.
CONCACAF is what you get when the confederation includes North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
I hope that the U.S. does well in the World Cup next year, but I have my doubts… Ranked 6th in the whole world? Ahead of England and Germany? We had to go to penalty kicks to beat Panama…PANAMA!
“PANAMA, jerry!!” — george