I should've mentioned her name: Rebecca Lowe. She's just terrific.

The hell? He was right—it wasn't good news for the US.

I'm surprised she wasn't mentioned in the article above; she's the polar opposite of the blonde on NBC Sports coverage who is terrific, by the way.

I thought the article was great but I don't get the Howard hate. To each his own.

It's not dissimilar to the way folks felt about Bill Walton: insufferably haughty tone bordering on condescension (and sometimes not even bordering) with virtually every comment prefaced by the unsaid "obviously" and an eye roll to boot. You know what else they both have in common? Both are genuinely cool people…

He was very, very strong in the Nigeria matches and not just with regard to Nigeria; the guy is pretty damn good, period.

Lalas I've actually met and I wanted to dislike the smug sonovabitch I see on TV but in person, he couldn't be nicer—more than patient with fans, extremely kind. Again, hard to reconcile with the on-air persona. For what it's worth. I agree with your comments and I am *terrified* of what Fox will do with the World…

+1 wish I thought of it, you bastard.

+1 Damn you.

+1 and kudos, sir. Kudos.

I think longtime followers of the man's behavior recognized his comments as a symptom of "Sepp being Sepp." Meaning, inexplicable, inscrutable, with a healthy dose of obtuseness.

Love, love, LOVE the NBC coverage of the Premier League.

Points 2 and 3 are fine but, jeebus point 1? Yeah, I used to love Man City but since getting kicked out of the FA Cup by Wigan the last two season? Fuck that team.

That's gotta be it. The one I read was a screenshot of an actual newspaper and, IIRC, had a much earlier date (I think he wrote when he was a player). This looks like a reprint but the content is very familiar. Looks like I didn't Google all that hard this morning. :) Well done.

Neville had a helluva an article on the culture of diving, drawing comparisons between himself and a valued teammate, CR7. He wrote something to the effect that in England, the culture was to take the tackle head on whereas CR7 told him he never got a reputation for diving... until he came to England; CR7 was raised…

At the end of the first half, Robben really deserved a penalty and didn't get one.

I'd suggest Robben wasn't knocked down at all. I'd suggest he fell upon contact which he does very, very frequently. I'd further suggest Robben had falling down in mind the moment he entered the box because, again, he always falls down when he gets in the box. I'd close by emphatically disagreeing with your claim that…

Yeah but if Robben doesn't milk it, the call doesn't get made and it's not a penalty. That's what drives me nuts about this game I love. And not for nothing but there are strikers who refuse to flop as if they took one from the bell tower—Sergio Aguero comes to mind.

Not whining you herpes infested asshole. Just trying to have a conversation with an asshole.

Ruud Van Nistelroy, not exactly a neutral observer, disagrees.