Twice before.

Your logic is that, in breaking the tie between Team A and Team B, how Team A played against Teams C and D is more important than that it lost to Team B. That does not seem fair or logical to me.

If they can do it (and the smart money is on them doing it), then you are correct that it is in Germany's best interests to outright beat the U.S. But given that a tie advances them, Germany will want to balance the risk of aggressively going for the win (aggressive offensive play increases the opposition's…

Its kind of fucked up that the second tie-breaker isn't head-to-head. If the U.S. and Ghana have same record and have the same goal differential (meaning they played the other two teams mostly equally), Ghana shouldn't advance over the U.S. because of Portugal's defense failing. What am I missing?

I have soooo been there.

Can you give me the cite for this case? I want to read it in context. Also, why was a trademark case appealed to the D.C. and not Federal Circuit?

Nerd.

I will give the mom a pass on this.

You're talking about details. Strike zones are a joke, every player travels in the NBA, and, as you point out, line play in the NFL is one illegal move after another. But at the end of the day, the team that plays better that day almost always wins in MLB, the NFL, the NBA, and the NHL. As I said, this isn't true…

I agree with you that that lack of a viable advertising platform greatly impacts soccer's ability to break into the U.S. sports market. However, I stand by my assertion that the single greatest reason it will never catch on is the inherent unfairness.

I agree we don't need any more comments about how soccer is doomed to never be as popular in the U.S. as it is in the rest of the world. So here's mine:

I'm a total homer, so I was ecstatic after the game. Originally, I thought we had no chance to escape the group stage. Although I think Greg is dead right in his assessment of the quality of the U.S.'s performance, I can see a glimmer of hope, but its purely based on circumstances, not talent. I can see a scenario…

These things are becoming a "thing", but I'm concerned what these type of tattoos will do to future forensic anthropology" "My God, Johnson; look at this! This bog mummy has a tattoo of the Lions winning the Super Bowl in 2015." "But, Wilson; everyone knows that 49ers won that Super Bowl when Peyton Manning's arm…

I hate to get down in the weeds here, but where is the Grierson & Leitch logo in the picture?

That was a pretty big beat down by El Tri; score should have been 3-0, even though Cameroon was playing 8 or 9 in the box all game.

I think you are afraid of a ghost. Wade and Bosh are definitely on the downsides of their respective careers, so I don't think you can say the Big Four are in the primes of their career. Remember the 2003-04 Lakers: Shaq, Kobe, Karl Malone, Gary Payton (plus 5-time champion Derek Fisher and 4-time champion Horace…

Everyone who is upset that signing Anthony would upset the NBA's competitive balance should relax. He will single-handedly destroy any chance the Heat have of winning. (ref.: http://www.theonion.com/articles/dribb…).

A couple of Uruguay comments: (1) Uruguay won TWO fluke World Cups in its history, thank you very much, and (2) eating people is nothing new to Uruguayan athletes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan…

Re: Jeff's shower question, I've heard Herm Edwards has some interesting thoughts on shower behavior.

What with all the "best interests of the sport" punishments being handed out recently, I really thought Selig would have given Machado a tougher suspension. His behavior over the weekend took one of baseball's most promising young stars and turned him into the most hated player since A-Rod. That is not good for…