This is a general question about strategy and may reveal more about my ignorance than is helpful. In any event, here goes: we watch a lot of EPL, UEFA, and MSL soccer in our house and the biggest difference I see between the superior play of the Europeans and that in the MSL is in midfield control. To oversimplify,…

"Did we mention it was a Mexican officiating crew who carded Besler?" Are you insinuating that there is rampant corruption in world soccer? I don't Sepp Blatter would stand for that.

I am nearing 50 years old and have been a baseball fan all my life. My fandom has never translated into being a good baseball player, so it probably comes as no surprise that my baseball highlight didn't happen on the field. I've been a Dodger fan since my birth in Southern California (my dad was a Brooklyn Dodger…

This is the Fox "News" model.

It appears that the Reds are locks for the 2022 and 2023 WS crown, as they appear to be the only team with players on the payroll then.

I agree with IronMike that Scott's argument lacks intellectual rigor. "Multiple offenses" does not mean one offense for every individual use of banned substances; when someone is caught and punished, that is a single offense (whether there was proof of long-time, on-going use or merely once). It is my understanding…

Thank God! I've been waiting forever for a 5 hour, 9 inning game.

Yeah, I kind of thought ol' Zach there was a little grandiose in his offer. "I mean, I'll be bent waaaay over to make it work, but I'll do it!"

I admit I was surprised someone from ASU knew the word "suffice".

Did they raffle the names to the players? Did everyone clamor to be Pele or did they give it to the best player and then worked their way down?

Whew! Final, 4-3 US.

3 minutes extra time.

Jesus Christ, Bosnia just scored in 90'. Now 4-3 US.

Altidore had gone off: scored twice more in 85' and 86' for the hat trick. One minute before extra time.

I would really like to read Sheehan's "convincing" debunking of the steroids myth. I am one of the shrill believers that steroids (and other PEDs) combined with weightlifting equal increased power, which leads to faster bat speed, which leads to balls flying further, which means fly-outs at the warning track become…

Yeah, I'm going with Don'tCallMeChrisEvert on this one. The kid may be an idiot, but about 90% of male college Freshman and Sophomores are idiots (book smart, yes; life smart, not so much).

Actually, the analogy would be better if the Brooklyn Dodgers had integrated 15 years earlier than they did and had had Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, and Satchel Paige, while all the other teams abided by the "gentleman's" agreement that barred blacks from MLB.

Pretty much after Sepp Blatter and Juan Antonio Samaranch, Bud Selig is my least favorite sports executive ever. I have rarely agreed with anything the guy has said. But he's right on this issue. PEDs at least skew the sports in which they are used; I think that any sport where power, strength, and injury recovery…

You're right: drug testing in sports is always going to lag behind the biochemistry industry's ability to create new drugs. Its like the flu vaccine: it is based on the viruses already known and is susceptible to a new virus the vaccine is not built to deal with.

I don't think those are fine distinctions. Any activity that requires power and strength (like hitting home runs) derives a big benefit from steroids, a benefit that is cumulative. Any activity that requires alertness and focus derives a benefit of diminishing returns from amphetamines. Guys on set doping…