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“U-S-A! U-S-A! You did WHAT?”
A monumental breakthrough moment for the U.S. World Cup team was in some ways overshadowed by a questionable call that led to a disqualifying red card for striker Folarin Balogun.
Balogun scored the match’s first goal in the U.S.’s 2-0 win over Bosnia & Someothernationoverthere.
It was the USMNT’s first knockout win since 2002 and pushed them to the Sweet 16.
It was the first time the USMNT has notched three wins in a single World Cup.
It was on American soil, and the party was palatable. (And the TV numbers are through the roof. The group play numbers were up 92% from 2022.)
It was in a lot of ways the punctuation to a decades-long lament from American soccer fans that the movement was coming to this country.
And the announcers going dead silent as the sellout San Francisco crowd sang the post-match “Take Me Home, Country Roads” was Al Michaels-like perfect.
But Balogun got a red card — a very questionable call according to folks who know way more about soccer than I do — and now will be forced to sit in the Round of 16 game against Belgium.
It was a great night for U.S. soccer assuredly, but dang.
Monster NBA trade
Hide your eyes, Spy.
For those unaware, Spy is a longtime friend who reads from afar and is a mailbag regular. He’s somewhere between 50 years and five centuries old.
And he’s the biggest Boston sports fan I know.
All of them, and especially the Celtics.
And Wednesday was a dreadful day for the Boston NBA franchise.
Look, maybe they are playing Stratego while everyone else is content playing Connect Four, and there are a few more dominoes left to tumble.
But dealing Jaylen Brown — who finished sixth in last year’s MVP voting and was second-team All-NBA — to the hated Sixers for the oft-injured and extremely overpaid Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks seems nonsensical.
In practice and policy.
If you are going to deal a top-10 player at his apex, the return has to include at least a top-20ish player in the package.
And Paul George was barely a top-five player last year in Philly.
The Sixers got better, and unless Boston flips this into the next move, the Celtics got noticeably worse.
Side note: I saw this starting lineup for players who have been traded for Paul George in various deals, and it would be a pretty strong NBA crew.
At the point, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Oladipo at the 2, Brown at the 3, Jaylin Williams as a stretch 4 and Domantas Sabonis in the middle.
Caitlin getting clocked
Look, the WNBA has a Caitlin Clark problem, whether it realizes it or not.
Be it jealousy, racial or even strategery, the league is battering its most popular star.
It’s literally punching the nose to spite the league’s face.
Here’s more from USA Today columnist Christine Brennan on the suspension of Alyssa Thomas for putting her fist in Clark’s throat recently.
As for the tactical decisions of playing physically, well, we’ve seen it before.
Remember the Jordan Rules back in the 1980s?
It’s a similar approach to combating (quite literally) a supremely skilled basketball star.
But the league has emerged on Clark’s coattails. Is she the best player in the league? No.
But she is the most popular. Check the TV numbers and merch sales. Check the attendance numbers of her Fever games and the ticket pricing differences when Clark is involved.
It’s clear, and as Brennan notes, whether Thomas knows it or not, her life is better because of the ripples Clark has created for all of her sport.
This and that
> Braves played. Braves actually won. That’s news of late, friends.
> Dave & Buster’s is struggling, but it may save its business model by becoming a rage hangout. Here’s more.
> The national media is becoming more and more aware of Baylor School superduperstar David Gabriel Georges, and now some are speculating he will be the highest-paid college running back ever. Here’s more, but I hate to break it to the folks that are saying he’ll become the first $1 million RB in recruiting. Gang, DGG could very well get triple that from what I’m hearing, and I know that both THE Ohio State and Tennessee have made it very clear that they are committed.
> Busy day in the NBA, but the Lakers dealing for Walker Kessler was an eye-popper as they move on A.L. (after LeBron).
Today’s questions
It’s the AGT — Anything Goes Thursday — so fire away.
We’ll ask this for the group, you get one topping — one ping only https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr0JaXfKj68 — for your Saturday, July 4 hot dog, whatcha picking?
Also, what’s the worst trade your favorite team has made in your lifetime?
As for today, July 2, let’s review.
The Salvation Army was started on this day in 1865.
Margot Robbie is 36 today. Well done, God.
Richard Petty is 89.
As for our weeklong celebration of America turning 250, who’s on the Rushmore of American military members.
Go, and remember the mailbag.
Jay is a sports writer and columnist at the Times Free Press. He writes a daily online column called “5-at-10,” and he started with the newspaper in May 2002 as the deputy sports editor.
He was born and raised in Smyrna, Ga., and graduated from Auburn University before starting his newspaper career in 1997 with the Newnan (Ga.) Times Herald. Stops in Clayton and Henry counties in Georgia and two years as the Sports Editor of the Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal preceded Jay’s move to Chattanooga.
He has won local, state, regional and national awards as a writer, designer and section editor. Jay and his wife Kathleen were married in 2004 and have a son, Lee, and a daughter, Madeline Ray.
Contact Jay at (423) 757-6273 or jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter at @jgreesontfp.