The Week in Sports #4: Beckham, Rugby, NFL, and more

Published on by Chris Osburn

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This isn’t completely sports related, but what’s the deal with Twitter? Why is it so addictive, and why am I obsessed with gaining more followers? I’ve only been “tweeting” for a few months, but I already have just over 100 followers at the time I write this. Personally, I don’t know why anyone would want to follow me. I guess if you are a fan of my writing (who isn’t?), my twitter account is a good place to check out my most recent work. It’s also a great place to read such amazing musings as “I just realized that my new cologne smells like pee.” It’s true; I’ve since changed to a different brand.

Twitter and I have a love/hate relationship. I find myself “tweeting” at odd times about odd topics, hoping that someone out there might read it and get a chuckle out of it. I try to keep it short and sweet, and I’m doing my best to update my Twitter account on a daily basis. I’m not going crazy like Chad OchoCinco or Terrell Owens, who seem to update their accounts every 20 seconds. If you want to follow me on Twitter, check me out @chrisosburn. I know that I’ve done a great job selling how amazing your experience will be. If you don’t follow me, at least follow The Father Life’s Twitter account @thefatherlife.

NFL: I’m starting to get the NFL itch. Training camps start in less than a month; the Buffalo Bills camp is in suburbs of the City I live in. I’ll definitely go and check out the T.O. sideshow. I’ll let you know if he lives up to the hype. It’s only the beginning of July and I’m already looking forward to football season. There’s a lot of excitement with names in new places and highly touted draft picks ready to show off their skills. There are some questions swirling around in regards to the upcoming season. Is Matthew Stafford the savior of Motown? How will Matt Cassel play in Kansas City? How will Tom Brady look as he comes back from his knee exploding in game one of last season? Will Terrell Owens behave himself in Buffalo? And so many more.

US Soccer: The U.S. National team, fresh off one of the biggest wins in history (2-0 over #1 Spain), took on Brazil in the FIFA Confederations Cup final. It was a rematch of the first round match up that the Brazilians took 3-0. The Yanks came to play in this game, though, as they took a 2-0 lead heading into the half. Goals by Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan put the Americans in control, but the Brazilians attacked U.S. ‘keeper Tim Howard with a barrage of shots in the second half. Goals by Luis Fabiano, Kaka, and Lucio in the second half gave the Brazilians a hard-fought 3-2 win. Next up for the U.S. is the CONCACAF Gold Cup beginning on July 4th against Grenada in Seattle.

Rugby: A reader, Henry Adderley, requested that I mention Rugby in this column. The British and Irish Lions are a touring rugby squad made up of the best of the best from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Every four years, they tour Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa. This year they are in South Africa and the Harlem Globetrotters they are not. They started off strong in their tour, but now can’t seem to be able to buy a win. From May 30th until June 6th, they started off 6-0, including a 74-10 shellacking of the Golden Lions. They’ve lost their last three games, including 26-21 to the South African National Team.

Major League Lacrosse: After three straight losses, the once dominant Toronto Nationals are now a pedestrian 4-4. One of the reasons for the slide is the fact that Toronto’s defense and goalies, once highly touted, have let in the most goals in the league by far (118). Denver is the midseason front runner for the league title at 6-1. No team is happier with the loss of three of last year’s four playoff teams. Philadelphia, Rochester, and Los Angeles all folded after last season (along with non-playoff teams San Francisco and New Jersey). The Denver Outlaw’s Brendan Mundorf is tied with Washington’s Kyle Dixon for the league lead with 30 points through seven games. Check these guys out on ESPN2; you won’t regret it.

Tennis: Roger Federer beat Tommy Haas 7-6 7-5 6-3 to reach to Wimbledon final. His opponent will be the hard-charging Andy Roddick who upset the #3 seed Andy Murray 6-4 4-6 7-6 7-6 in a nailbiter. In womens action, the dynamic duo of Venus and Serena Williams will battle for the title. Venus easily upset #1 Dinara Safina 6-1 6-0 and Serena beat Elena Dementieva 6-7 7-5 8-6 in a close match. Both Finals should be really exciting and I might actually watch them, unless the Real World Cancun is on. In which case I’ll watch that, those kids are craaaaazy.

MLS: Los Angeles Galaxy and U.S. National team star Landon Donovan isn’t very happy with teammate David Beckham. He was quoted in a new book about Beckham called The Beckham Experiment explaining his dislike of the fact that Beckham doesn’t seem to want to live up to his Galaxy obligations. Donovan said, “If someone’s paying you more than anybody in the league, more than double anybody in the league, the least we expect is that you show up to every game, whether you’re suspended or not. Show up and train hard.” Beckham makes 6.5 million dollars per season; that’s a heck of a lot more than most players. Donovan only makes $900,000 himself. Beckham hasn’t even played yet this season because he’s been on loan to AC Milan. Beckham is scheduled to return to the Galaxy on July 16th. Let’s hope he and Donovan can be like Ari Gold and hug it out.

*Do you like any sports that you want me to cover next week or any sports stories you want me to mention? This is your article, not mine. Have at it. Throw me an email cosburn@thefatherlife.com

Image credit: Kriss Szkurlatowski, SXC

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