Our Cup Runneth Dry

The United States men's national soccer team played the Netherlands this past Saturday in the round of sixteen at the World Cup and, as expected, lost. 3-1.  As Billy Joel would have said, they had the Midas touch . . . until they met the Dutch.

This raises a lot of questions.  How come we keep getting our hopes up with these lovable losers?  Why does the women's team always have to save our honor by winning their World Cup the year after?  Why did the Yanks blow so many scoring opportunities?  Who honestly thought they could beat the Dutch anyway?  And if the Dutch national color is orange, why do they have a red, white and blue flag that's virtually indistinguishable from Luxembourg's?

I keep hearing stories about how the U.S. Men's National Team has yet to peak, and that they could be real contenders in 2026, when the World Cup is held in North America (the United States, Canada and Mexico) and play mainly on their home turf.   All they need is a better striker, a stronger midfield lineup, and yada yada yada . . .

That's as may be.  American sports fans woke up Saturday morning excited about soccer and went to bed Sunday night after watching twelve hours of NFL games. 

Kramer Versus . . .

. . . no one else.

Sven Kramer (pronounced CROM-mer) of the Netherlands just won the men's 5,000-meter speed-skating race at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.  He has won more Olympic medals than any other male speed skater (sorry, Eric Heiden) and he's won the 5,000-meter Olympic race for the third consecutive time.

And who is second.  There is no second.

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands was in attendance at the race, and he was ecstatic to see Kramer's victory.

It's good to be king.

I meant Sven Kramer. :-)

Spanish Tide

Yesterday's World Cup championship game was one of the most tedious and poorly played soccer games I have ever seen. The overall quality of the play was far more mediocre than I expected from two national teams that had never won the Cup before, especially when the Spanish team was playing for the FIFA championship for the first time in the tournament's history. The biggest miracle in Johannesburg was that anyone scored at all.

That said, I'm glad the Spaniards won with that goal at literally the last minute. Spain played diligently and arduously throughout the tournament; they deserve the victory. Some people might be tempted to compare this to the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl. It's not that big. It's bigger.

The Netherlands? I'm kind of glad they lost. The Dutch playing style in this World Cup was aggressive to the point of being nasty. I don't care if they were in their third championship game and lost yet again; I come from a country that was in the same boat with Spain until now. Besides, it's hard to get excited about the Dutch. Because apart from founding New York City, giving the world Rembrandt and Van Gogh, cultivating tulips, building levees and dikes that don't collapse, perfecting wind energy, and reclaiming land from the sea, what have the Dutch really done for Western civilization? ;-)