Altidore Keeps U.S. at No. 1 for World Cup Qualifying

Jozy Altidore's three goals helped the U.S. Men's Soccer Team defeat Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 to show America they are the team for us to cheer for.

Over the weekend the U.S. soccer team nearly lost to El Salvador, a team that has not qualified for the World Cup since 1982. 82nd ranked, El Salvador was in control of the entire field for the first 60 minutes of playing time. The U.S. came back in the final 30 minutes to squeak out a 2-2 tie.

The previous game against El Salvador gave the team a much needed taste of reality. Coach Bob Bradley's team needed to see that even though they are the dominant team in the region, there is no room for slack.

However, the team that showed up to play tonight, against Trinidad and Tobago, proved their talent. The 19 year-old Jozy Altidore, scored a hat trick putting in all three of the United States goals.

Landon Donovan played to his full potential again, providing all three of Altidore's assists. If Donovan can keep his game consistent he is a beautifully talented player. It seems like his playing overseas on the German club, Bayern Munich, has kept his skills strong. But the U.S. will need Donovan to play consistently well in order to fully utilize him.

With this win, the United States was able to retain their number one spot in the final round of their grouping, with seven points. The top two teams of the group will play one another, with the U.S. playing in Costa Rica on June 3rd.

After the game against Costa Rica, the United States team will come back home to Chicago. Their game against Honduras at Solider Field will be their last game before they make the flight to South Africa for the FIFA Confederations Cup, the pre-World Cup tournament.

The United States has played well in most of their qualifying matches thus far. If they are able to keep the veterans like Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Frankie Hedjuk in the game making touches on the ball, and keep the young guns; Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan, and Jose Francisco Torres, playing strong and collected, the U.S. team should do better than past years in the FIFA Tournament.

Although as fans we don't expect them to make it to the final game or have decisive wins against the big boys of World Cup, the strength of the new young players, combined with the talent of the veterans give the team a good chance of making a run at some of the more dominant teams of the tournament. This is our team!

Feel free to leave comments about what you think regarding the World Cup and how the U.S. team is doing.

A-Rod Likes Himself More Than 'Roids

Alex Rodriguez posed for some questionable photos for a cover shoot for Details Magazine.

Why would the superstar take such glamorous pictures? There seems to be no real reason for the Yankee slugger to embarrass himself even more than he already has with all of the steroid accusations coming out.

The article in Detail Magazine was confusing as to whether or not it was fact or fiction. Apparently, the day before he came to the people at Detail magazine, he was being questioned in a gym by a Sports Illustrated reporter about his positive steroid testing.

But in the Detail article, Rodriguez seemed as though he was just as concerned about his statement of liking a particular Madonna song.

The article is more or less just an extended lunch interview with Rodriguez. He talks about his occasional subway rides to Yankee stadium for night games and also his relationship with the pop icon, Madonna.

It recaps A-Rod's press conference before spring training began and how his confession was typical and "isn't terribly convincing."

But why take pictures posing in front of a mirror for a simple article that is supposed to be about "the confessions of a damned Yankee."

Maybe Rodriguez is trying to make it seem like he's just another person. Maybe he is tying to show that he is no different from the rest of us and he can be tempted by power and money just as easily as an average person.

Or maybe he is just trying to get all the heat from the public away from his steroid usage. This would seem like something likely, considering how Public Relations agents of sports stars work these days.



The pictures are both revealing, and frankly a little disturbing. After all of the allegations against A-Rod, the public doesn't seem as though they are his biggest fans anymore, which doesn't leave the superstar with many people gawking over him looking at himself.

Photographs are one thing, but posing on a mattress with no sheets, in what looks like a warehouse, in front of a mirror leave people wondering...what the heck are you thinking A-Rod?

Too Much Rim

New York Knicks forward, Al Harrington decided, for a second time, to get a little too high grabbing the rim with a dunk over L.A. Clippers forward, Al Thorton.



With only 27.9 seconds left in the game against the Clippers, Harrington made a baseline spin towards the hoop for a great dunk to put the score at 127-124. The problem was that he was then called for a technical foul after he pulled his legs up to nearly the backboard.

This however was not Harrington's first time above the rim. In a previous game against the exact same team, with the score at 108-107, the Knicks lead, and only 25 seconds left on the clock, Harrington made a huge dunk, swung his feet up, and slapped the backboard with his hand. The exact same play...twice.


Coach Mike D'Antoni was not thrilled to say the least. In a Newsday.com article D'Antoni responded to Harrington's second launch into space saying, ""He thought somebody was under him, I don't know. I don't have an answer for you."

Harrington said multiple times in a postgame interview exactly what he told his coach. "Al Thornton walked underneath me and I let go of the rim." The hang was a little longer than necessary for someone to walk underneath, but Thorton was in the general vacinity.

Unfortunately for the Knicks, after the chin-up dunk, the Clippers tied the game at 127 when Eric Gordon made the technical, followed by Zac Randolph's two free-throws. The Clippers would go on to win in overtime 140-135.

2 technicals, 2 exact dunks, the same 2 teams, 2 losses for the Knicks.

All but Arizona

There isn't a single team under a number five seed in the NCAA Basketball Tournament, except Arizona University.

The list thus far is comprised the number one seeds: North Carolina, Louisville, Connecticut, and Pittsburgh. The number two seeds: Michigan State, Memphis, Duke and Oklahoma. The Number three seeds: Kansas, Missouri, Villanova and Syracuse. The fourth and fifth seeds: Purdue, Xavier and Gonzaga. Arizona, is a twelve seed.

How did a team seeded seven spots lower than the next closest team keep from being eliminated?

The answer is Chase Budinger and Nic Wise. In Arizona's first round game against Utah, Wise scored 29 points, the team high, and making seven of seven free throws. Budinger added a significant contribution with 20 points, 6 assists, and 8 rebounds. Arizona won decisively 84-71.

In the second round game against Cleveland State, Arizona had yet another decisive win. The score was 71-57. Budinger helped out with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Wise yet again let the team by scoring 21 points, dishing 5 assists and grabbing 5 rebounds.

Although these two individuals have helped bring the team to a coveted Sweet-Sixteen spot in the tournament, the chances of winning their next game seem unlikely. They are lined up to play the number one seed: Louisville. But from the looks of Louisville's last game there might be a slight glimmer of hope for Arizona.

Louisville's first game against number 16 seed: Morehead, was an easy 74-54 win for the Louisville Cardinals. However, the second game is where Arizona could find their comfort and confidence. The Cardinals played number nine seed: Sienna. Even with Terrance Williams, Louisville's top performer for both games, scoring 24 points, and 15 rebounds, the Cardinals only managed to squeak by a 79-72 victory.

With Louisville getting by with a close win to a number nine seeded team, Arizona is looking for the upset and upsets during March Madness are definitely not unexpected especially since Arizona has eight previous NCAA Championships under their belts. Keep on the look-out for Arizona.

Iverson: A Help or Hinderance?

Has the super-star A.I. been helping the Pistons since his arrival in Motor City? Stats show otherwise.

Throughout his career A.I. has averaged between 25 and 27 points per game according to Yahoo's career stats. His two previous full seasons with the Denver Nuggets provided him with 24.8 points per game (2006-2007) and 26.4 ppg (2007-2008). Iverson was also averaging 7.2 assists in each of those seasons.

However, since his trade to in November 2008 to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncy Billups and Antonio McDysse his influence on games has decreased. Pistons president Joe Dumars thought the trade would bring Detroit a player who could take the clutch shots and keep the points flowing at a steady pace. Dumars' choice seems to have been his first bad trade decision.

A.I. has averaged only 18 points, 1.7 steals, and 5 assists per game. From his previous years this is a 8.4 point decrease and a 2.2 decrease in assists. Although his field goal and free throw percentages remain unchanged since previous seasons at 42.5 FG% and 78.1 FT%, his contribution isn't more significant than Billups.

Billups averaged about 17 points a game and 6 assists; while holding nearly 88 percent free-throw shooting and about 41 percent field goal percentage. These stats are not much more significant than Iverson's since the trade.

Richard Hamilton, one of Detroits go-to scorers has now had to share points with Iverson; which is part of the decrese in A.I.'s point contribution. With all of the scoring options Detroit has available to them: Tayshaun Prince, Richarm Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey, and Rasheed Wallace, Iverson has yet to take over a game.

Yes, the trade brought Detroit a 12 time all-star game player, but the help has not been as signigicant as Joe Dumars Pistons president had hoped. A.I. still makes his contributions to the team with 10 games scoring 25+ points. But since his injured back from which he has missed 12 games since February 27, 2009, Iverson has not been a key factor.