Sporting Events From Last Night

There were two main goings-on in the world of sports last night: (1) an exhibition baseball game that carries more weight than it really should and (2) a fantastic soccer game that ended on a controversial call. I must admit that I generally do not give a rats ass about the Major League Baseball All-Star Game (but please tune in to ESPN2 tonight at 6:30pm CT (7:30 ET) to watch the Triple-A All-Star Game as you may recognize a certain last name when they announce the umpiring crew - and if you are in the Houston area, Judz and Brownie will be at the BW-3s in Midtown around 6) since they created this whole home field advantage for the world series goes to the winning league. I liked the game so much more when just about every player got to play a little and starters weren't playing into the 6th inning. I simply don't understand why HFA cannot be determined by the team with the best record. So, I only caught snippets of the game (and unfortunately, one of those was the atrocious national anthem by crooner Chris Isaak and some other dude) and thus, missed the ending where a Philadelphia Phillie flied out against an Los Angeles Angel of Anaheim pitcher. I am sure the Mets/Braves/Brewers/Dodgers/Padres players are so happy that a Phillie (or should LaRussa actually showed up to manage the game, Albert Pujols, a Cardinal with a slim chance of making the playoffs) may have lost HFA for them. Supposedly, it was an exciting conclusion.

Instead, I was watching the first semifinal of the Copa America tournament between Brazil and Uruguay. Let's just say that although Uruguay had numerous chances to take out the Brazilians, they did get screwed on that final penalty kick. My recollection of the rule (I was a soccer referee since I was 13 and all the way through college) states that a goalkeeper may not leave his line before the shooter has touched the ball (if I am wrong, please correct me). Referees have been very lax on this rule, especially for Brazil, especially back in the 1994 World Cup when Brazil faced Italy in the championship game. The Brazilian goalkeeper did the same thing back then as the new one did last night. What is worse is that it appeared that the assistant referee called to have the penalty reshot, but for some reason, the game ended. The announcer on GolTV (please somebody tell me where he is from - I am calling him Welsh because you don't see many Welsh people and they are cool and his accent didn't sound British, Scottish or Irish, so I selected the remaining British Isle) agrees with me and he was going @pe$h!t. Hopefully the winner of tonight's Argentina-Mexico match will go on and defeat the cheaters from Brazil.