How done is Vladimir Guerrero? “Well done,” would appear to be the correct answer. “Thoroughly cooked through and through.” The Angels keep putting him in the lineup, hoping for some last flashback to his younger days, perhaps hoping that whatever physical issues he has will somehow fade away … and he keeps doing a whole […]

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Here is a chance for the Dodgers to show that they stand for doing what’s right. Instead, they are going to stand for doing what makes money. What a disappointment. I thought this franchise was supposed to be better than this. Apparently not. The Dodgers can hardly wait to have Druggie Ramirez out in left […]

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I am a Landon Donovan partisan. I’ve known him since he was 15, and he’s an extraordinarily decent guy, great with fans, polite to reporters, always ready to step up for club and country. To have spent any time with the U.S. midfielder/forward is to like him. But, then, not everyone has spent any time […]

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Confederations Cup final: Brazil 3, United States 2 The Americans led 2-0 in this. No. Really. Led 2-0 at the half, and deserved it. But Brazil scored in the first 40 seconds of the second half, and probably everyone watching who has seen even a bit of soccer in his/her lifetime had to realize that […]

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Taking another shot at the live-blogging thing. Championship match of the Confederations Cup between the United States national team and Brazil, taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lineups: U.S.: Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector, Landon Donovan,  Benny Feilhaber, Ricardo Clark, Clint Dempsey, Charlie Davies, Jozy Altidore. Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, […]

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The United States vs. Brazil in the Confederations Cup final on Sunday. Tough assignment, which not everyone may remember at the moment, given that lots of U.S. fans are all giddy over the Spain result and the Egypt demolition. But I still make Brazil about a 4-to-1 favorite. It would be more, but soccer is […]

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I have confessed to my weakness for bobblehead dolls. I will drive distances, see games I don’t care about and pay for tickets I can’t afford if there is a bobblehead involved. I plan to go to the Manny Ramirez bobblehead game on July 22, even though Manny is a fraud and a cheat. So, […]

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You’ve heard about the trade. Shaquille O’Neal from Phoenix to Cleveland for Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic. And now the NBA is supposed to be quaking in fear of a LeBron-Shaq pairing. Having trouble seeing that.

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Soccer is one of those sports in which competition is infrequent enough that we can do a top 10 list — and have some hope of defending it. Imagine trying to do the 10 best Dodgers victories, or even the 10 best Lakers victories. Well, you could, but you’d be left with 50 games that […]

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If my play-by-play (next item down) wasn’t enough for you, let’s try to synthesize what went on. United States national soccer team 2, Spain 0. That would be the U.S. team that was spanked, last week, 3-1 by Italy and 3-0 by Brazil. That would be the Spain ranked No. 1 in the world. The […]

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