Archive | October 2014
October 11, 2014  

Donovan’s 41 Minutes Of Glory

By Cheval John

Landon Donovan made his final appearance for the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT) in an international friendly against Ecuador.

He played only 41 minutes in the match.

But his impact resonated with over 35,000 fans in Hartford, Connecticut, who were fortunate to witness Donovan’s final game for the U.S.

Donovan is the all-time leader for the USMNT in goals (57) and assists (58).

Though he did not score in his final game, he will always be remembered as a charasmatic player who understood his path to grow the game of soccer (football) in the U.S.

The one thing can be asked is this: If USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann had known that Donovan was going to retire this year, would he had chosen Donovan to be a part of the final 23-man roster for the World Cup in Brazil?

Klinsmann said in an interview earlier this week with media outlets that he still would not have taken him because the others were better than him. Paraphrased.

Klinsmann’s decision was correct in a large degree because the players he had chosen who did not had enough caps, (John Brooks, Julian Green and DeAndre Yedlin) played well in the World Cup.

Brooks score the game-winning goal against Ghana in the USMNT’s first game of the tournament.

However, Donovan’s exclusion proved to be costly because in the final minutes of regulation against Belgium in the round of sixteen, Chris Wondolowski had a wide open net to win the game for the U.S.

But he missed it.

On the other hand, Green scored on his first ever possession in overtime and it showed that he has a strong future with the team.

The unfortunate thing is that Belgium had scored two goals before Green put the ball in the net and won the game despite Tim Howard’s record 16 saves.

One can definitely say that Donovan had a fantastic career.

Unfortunately, he did not go out in the way that Derek Jeter went out in his final game at Yankee Stadium.

October 10, 2014  

The Growing Pains Of A Student-Athlete

By Cheval John

University of Georgia’s tailback Todd Gurley was suspended indefinitely by UGA’s athletic department.

Gurley is currently being investigated by the NCAA for an undisclosed rules violation.

One could suspect that it was for accepting improper benefits, which is an NCAA violation.

“I’m obviously very disappointed,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said in a statement. “The important thing for our team is to turn all our attention toward preparation for Missouri.”

If it’s true, then Gurley made a huge mistake on his part.

However, we have to look at the bigger picture at what is going on in college athletics.

The NCAA is making billions of dollars a year, mostly from football and basketball.

Though college athletes receives a stipend in the form of scholarships, they do not receive a share of the revenue.

We have heard from many prominent figures that mentioned that the NCAA is taking advantage of the student-athletes.

They might go even further as saying that the NCAA is run like a business despite being a non-profit organization.

If that was the case, then the non-revenue sports would not be there and it will devoid those, particular women athletes, the opportunity to gain an education.

On the other hand, the NCAA has so many byzantine rules that it is difficult for athletic administrators to really see if they are following the rules.

I could go even further to say that most of the rules are so petty and ridiculous that it seems that they want the student-athletes to remain poor while they are in school.

Though I am not condoning the alleged improper benefits violation of Gurley, a person can understand why he did it.

If the NCAA can ease up on some of their rules like allowing a family friend to pay for meals they can’t afford, then I think that we would not see so many violations of improper benefits.

That is something that they can think about.

October 6, 2014  

Texans’ Fans Showed Their Spirit At Jerry’s World

By Cheval John

The once in a few years rivalry matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans ended with the Cowboys winning in overtime 20-17.

Though they were some highlights like Tony Romo’s houdini escape from J.J. Watt that resulted in a touchdown pass to an unbelievable catch by Dez Bryant that set up the game-winning field goal in overtime, the real takeaway was the invasion of AT&T Stadium by the fan base of the Texans.

The Texans’ fans made themselves known in Jerry’s World that Romo criticize his supporters because he felt that the Cowboys was playing a road game despite being at home.


“We played on the road today in that football game,” Romo said after the game to Sports Illustrated. “We need to do a better job as a fan base.”

This is not the first time that the Cowboys felt that way.

In the opening week of the season against the San Francisco 49ers, there were a slew of 49ers fans at Jerry World in support of their team.

At times when I took to Twitter to tweet about the game, I thought that the Cowboys had made a play after I heard the fans cheering.

However, it turned out that it was the 49ers that were making the plays.

As a 49er fan, I felt relieved and happy that they beat the Cowboys in their own stadium.

Maybe the Cowboys’ fans are sending a message to their team that we will not accept mediocrity anymore with the lack of a turnout to the games.

Jerry Jones might have finally received the message after the Texans’ fan base showed who is Texas’ real team.

October 4, 2014  

“Royal” Magic

By Cheval John

The Royals are one game away from moving on to the American League Championship Series after pulling off another extra inning win against the Los Angeles Angels.

Coming into this series, the Royals were last in the AL in home runs.

However, it was the long ball that has led them to be 2-0 against the Angels.

The first game was tied at 2 in the 11th when Royals’ third baseman Mike Moustakas launched a go-ahead, game-winning home run to secure the win.

Then lightning struck twice early this morning.

In the top of the 11th inning with the game tied at 1 with a runner on, first baseman Eric Hosmer hit a two-run blast to right field that made it 3-1.

With the air lifted out of Anaheim Stadium, the Royals tacked on another run to make it 4-1.

The post-season has made heroes out of ordinary players.

Perhaps, this is a sign that the Royals are going to win it all this year.

If that happens, it will be 1985 all over again.

The Kansas City faithful, who traveled to Anaheim seems to agree.

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