@ClintonPortishead: These are the proud papas. I would be far more alarmed on multiple levels if that had anything to do with it.

Huh. Three people on my facebook announcing births today. Should I be feeling shitty?

@DM: Jogo Bonito = "the Beautiful Game."

@ClintonPortishead: Better if there's a barbershop window nearby.

@Candace Parker Secret Lover: Read your first three sentences. Holy shit. You're Batman.

@spinachdip: Boom.

@Matthew Keffer: That's a pretty apt comparison. Donovan's been tarred in the eyes of some US soccer folks by his multiple unsuccessful forays to Europe. First, he was heavily hyped in his early teens and was in Germany at 16. Didn't stick. Then back to Deutschland a few years later, after leading SJ to a title. …

@Colin White Devil: That's allowed? Off the bar? Didn't know that. Damn.

@Wampeters, Foma, and Pat Falloon: The Caps game? Yes.

@Matthew Keffer: Donovan's work ethic is outstanding. I heard from people inside US soccer/MLS that he's the fittest player in the pool by far, a machine. What's questionable is his mental toughness and desire to go abroad and work his way up to the highest level (meaning some stays in places like the Ruhr Valley or…

@spinachdip: And in the Bahamas, they let the dogs out on the pitch.

@Skating Tomato: Well, you gotta start with the precedent set by Pedroia's brother, and go from there.

@Wampeters, Foma, and Pat Falloon: I felt like it was some sort of absurdist existential play; every night, Columbus vs St. Louis. St. Louis vs. Columbus. Unto eternity. Hell is other people. Like Keith Tkachuk.

@Marques J. Brantley: The same here. WTF?

@Wampeters, Foma, and Pat Falloon: I don't get whatever channel that's on (MSG Ocho?), or I would. Instead I get CSN and their wall to wall coverage of the Caps.

Great - there's a 4-4 goalfest between the Caps and Blueshirts to enjoy before getting around to the Tool Academy on tWWL.

Still, Michael Bradley only gets to play 'cause his father's the coach.

@Count Antonio Alfonseca Rugen's Sixth Finger: That depends on the drummer - if they have rhythm, if they're supporting the crowd's songs with a beat.

@vicemonger: The plastic horns are a traditional Mexican soccer fan thing. Read about it in my free pamphlet, "Join me in my campaign to collect all plastic horns and shoot them into the sun."

Seriously, if you told a US soccer fan in 1998 that more than a decade later, Surfer Boy Hejduk would be starting in qualifiers and looking good for a spot in the World Cup, would they have believed you?