SPORTS archive 1

04-01 Ron

What soccer players should definitely be called by Felipão to go to the World Cup and who should not be remembered?

My squad would certainly have room for Dida (goalkeeper), Anderson Polga (center back/ sweeper), Serginho and Roberto Carlos (left backs), Gilberto Silva and Emerson (inside rights), Kaka (inside left), Edilson (outside right), Luizão and Franca (center forwards), and Marques and Rivaldo (outside lefts). Regarding the other players that would form the group of 23 I haven't watched enough games to be categorical about who deserves to go to the World Cup. Romário? I don't think he's playing better than Franca and Luizão.

Write to english@lynnandron.com to let us know who the best Brazilian footballers are.

Mon. 3/23 March is the month of madness! Yes, that's March Madness in NCAA (college sports) basketball terms. All the school conferences are divided into regions, the draw beginning with 64 teams. They were down to the Elite Eight last week and now it's the Final Four -- Universities of Maryland, Kansas, Indiana, and Oklahoma.

Mon. 3/4 Not that there are many NBA fans/viewers out there, but everyone adores Michael Jordan. So the question is...Do you prefer Michael now or the memories of Michael before? There's no doubt that even after knee surgery, he'll get back into shape, but will it be good enough?

And just who was at fault in the Sat. Formula I crash? Everyone seemed to be blaming the next guy!

Feb. 5th SUPER BOWL TALK -- Too bad we don't get the game complete with the commercials. The most expensive TV minutes of the year becomes replete with creativity at its finest!

Can you believe that the fans were urged to show up 5 hours before kickoff to get through a perimeter that looked more like a military compound than a football stadium, with soldiers on the ground and sharpshooters on the roof?

The game was exciting , only to be matched by U2 in the halftime show!

Only point to complain about was the narration in Portuguese. So sad Fox didn't provide us with Pat Sumerall and John Madden

11-27-01 Ron

What a disastrous year for Brazil's national team and Cruzeiro! I shouldn't say disastrous because Brazil will play the World Cup next year after all and Cruzeiro won the Sul-Minas Cup. However, I could have never guessed how poorly these teams would play.

Managers, much more than coaches, are responsible for a squad's glory or disgrace. Here are some of a manager's duties:

Learn what soccer really is about by watching as many national and international games as possible and reading the local and national press (especially Tostão, Brazil's best soccer analyst by far).
Surround himself with smart ex-players, ex-coaches, enthusiasts, and businessmen, in order to hire good players and make sound business decisions.
Advertise and promote the team particularly through television.
Consolidate dependable sources of income, such as TV rights and merchandise sales.
Provide a comfortable and safe stadium for the fans.
Hire a coach and field assistants to work for at least one full season by interviewing different professionals interested in the job and evaluating their short and long term plans.
Soccer is simple.

10-24-01 Ron

A soccer team full of stars is every fan's dream. Great players almost certainly means great plays, goals, victories, and titles. This year Cruzeiro's Zeze Perrela and his assistants tried to form a team that would be unrivaled and would win not only the national championship but also the Mercosul Cup and its big money prize. The dream did not come true.

Vasco became Brazil's most successful team in 2000 by winning the João Havelange and Mercosul Cups. Romario, Juninho Paulista, Juninho Pernambucano, and Euller were the stars. Alex, Rincón, Edmundo, and Sorín were supposed to be Cruzeiro's big names and leaders in 2001. What happened?

No team chemistry was formed because the club lacked a sensible plan. Vasco reached last year's position after a long period practicing and playing together. The best athletes today are not that bright and need time to assimilate what a coach wants and adapt to different playing styles. In addition, young and quick players were part of the group.

Managers must always think long term and rely on people who understand (very few I should say) what it takes to play soccer well. Who said that Edmundo, Leonardo, Adriano Chuva, Sergio Manoel, Bill, Nenem, Alex Xavier, Alex Santos, Rodrigo, and Cleber Monteiro shouldn't be observed first before being hired?

09-10-01 Ron

Let me tell you what my opinion about Brazil's national soccer team is. Luis Felipe Scolari is a very good coach. What he did in Argentina last week, however, was despicable. Felipão has been a disappointment so far but I'm sure he understands that the national team can't play defensively against any team in the world, even better ones such as Argentina and France.

The reason Brazil was respected internationally for so many years was the coach's concern, whoever he was, to play well enough to score goals. In 1994 Carlos Alberto Parreira knew he could count on Romário and Bebeto to offset his defensive strategy. Unfortunately, Felipão doesn't have great offensive players available.

Rivaldo, the best Brazilian playing abroad, doesn't do much wearing a yellow jersey. Nonetheless, if the coach decides to call only the best players and put them to start games we'll be fine. Juninho Paulista, Juninho Pernambucano, and Vampeta, for example, deserve a second chance. Tinga, Eduardo Costa, and Mauro Silva don't.

09-03-01 Ron

Soccer is very simple, believe it or not. Cruzeiro is a much better team than Vitória and most of the other teams playing Brazil's difficult national soccer tournament.. However, I don't know for what reason, the players don't believe so. The coach doesn't help their self-esteem, at all, by replacing a center forward for a defender to guarantee a result when there are still 15 minutes left to play.

What's the story behind Palmeiras's and Atlético Mineiro's success? The reason the first is on top is the time they've been playing together, a simple rule that Cruzeiro's managers seem not to understand. Atlético's good fortune, so far, is due to Marques, Velloso, the coach Levir Culpi, and the pre-season preparation.

05-07-01 Ron

Soccer is, many times, funny. Actually, frustrating. In comparison to last year Cruzeiro has better players and a more united group. The team has started the season playing poorly but was able to turn the tables around during the South-Minas Cup playoffs. It won the cup and played Libertadores' first phase well. Surprisingly, though, the Minas Gerais tournament, which is being played simultaneouly with the Libertadores Cup, has shown a team with a lack of players that can score and a weak defense. Before watching Cruzeiro play the second phase of the Mineiro competition I believed Cruzeiro could've beaten Vasco to be the South-American champion. Now my enthusiasm has diminished considerably, especially after the humiliating defeat to Ipatinga at home.

2/10/2001 Lynn comments:

Speaking about the NBA, I can't exactly put my finger on the cause, but the games aren't exactly exciting this season. Maybe it's the distant aftermath of the MJ legacy. The All-Star game will be a bore (yawn, yawn)! If the stars don't even want to be there, why should we bother to watch?

2/12/2001 Believe it or not, the All-Star game turned out to be exciting! The players were actually trying to win instead of presenting one-man shows! Iverson was the MVP with impossible feats that were simply awesome!

The Davis Cup weekend isn't over yet but I saw the first day of games yesterday in Rio (did a slow bake in the sun) and although our guys did win, Guga lacked a spark and Fininho was his usual , despite a few brilliant shots! Tomorrow we'll se which countries are out!

02/12/2001 The level of the doubles on Saturday was so low, it was more fun to watch Guga's commercials during the breaks. Still more entertaining, however, was the fun the team had after winning...all the horsing around was great to watch!

Spain and the US are both out. I don't know what happened in Spain, but in the US, who can blame Sampras or Agassi for not wanting to play. No points, no money...just a bit of promotion they don't really need.

12-11-00 (Ron)

Gustavo Kuerten reached the top of the world on the first weekend of December. Deservedly so because he played flawless tennis against Norman, Kafelnikov, Sampras, and Agassi, in this order. His determination was more important than his powerful backhand, serve, and forehand and made the difference.

It's so good to see a Brazilian reach a position where he's admired not only by his countrymen but also by many around the world. Sports are a great way to keep children and teenagers in the right direction and I'm sure that Guga's victories will inspire many young ones to follow in his footsteps.

There was a sad note, though. Did you know that Portuguese don't like Brazilians much?. When Agassi was announced after the match his ovation seemed endless, as if he were the winner. Guga's applause was brief and lacked enthusiasm. I wonder if they consider us monkeys, as the Argentines do ( I regard the people from Argentina the same way I do Atleticanos: they're my rivals). I used to respect the Portuguese blindly but after this incident I would be on my toes if I visited Portugal.



***!! TIGER WOODS. You must have heard of him since he's turning the gold world upside down.. One of the sports geniuses of the century! Talk about excitement, Sunday's PGA tournament was the max. Now that's what champions are made of!

10-23-00 (Ron)

What soccer teams will be part of the playoffs of the João Havelange Cup? Many still have a chance but few have a real shot at the title. Among them are Cruzeiro, because of its great coach, good starting lineup who has been playing together since the first semester, and the deep bench; Vasco, that has a deadly attack with Euler, Juninho, Juninho Paulista, and Romário, and São Paulo, the state of São Paulo's best squad at the moment competently coached by Levir Culpi. Flamengo is a long shot but such players as Alex, Denilson, Petkovich, and Denilson, who can decide games, can't be forgotten. I don't believe that Atlético Mineiro and América Mineiro will be able to go to next round. They've been playing too irregularly compared to the teams ahead of them on the points table.

***

Leão is not a bad choice to coach soccer's national team. No doubt that Felipão is the best but since he has no reason to leave Cruzeiro (his monthly salary of 150,000 dollars is not bad at all) any other well-known coach would suffice. I agree with Tostão -- by far Brazil's best soccer analyst -- who said that a basic team must be formed and kept in order to solidify a game plan and help the players familiarize themselves with one another on the playing field. The objective can't be other than bringing back the World Cup to Brazil.

Ron returning after a one month hiatus (9-25)

All the excitement, patriotism, xenophobia, hype, gargantuan coverage, excellence, mediocrity, joy, tears, medals, doping, cheating, disappointment, money, fortune, record-breaking, and fame of the Olympic Games are back! Are you one of the fans glued to their TV sets watching the electrifying, and the not so, competitions? I believe that during the two-week Games there are only three genuinely eventful sports, which embody the grueling practice hours and the mental toughness necessary to reach the very top of mankind's physical ability: swimming, gymnastics, and track and field. All the other competitive activities play, at different levels, a secondary role. Tae kwon do and boxing, for example, should not be considered sports. And we can't compare the high standard of the NBA, the Grand Slam tournaments, or the World Cup with the level played at the Games. I don't mean that basketball, tennis, and soccer don't bring excitement to the fans but they don't personify supremacy as the track and field events do.

*****

Poor Brazil! Why are the Africans so tough to beat? I'm not talking only about the soccer match played Saturday (9-23) against Cameroon but also the game against South Africa on the 13th and Nigeria four years ago.

The players are certainly blameful for Brazil's disastrous elimination. Ronaldinho isn't as good a player as Galvão Bueno wants us to believe. Alex was a complete disappointment. Helton should've never left Vasco. And Baiano... (Fabio Aurelio was by far the team's best).

Wanderley Luxemburgo has been trying to be as incompetent as Zagalo. He doesn't know anything about other national teams, the good players playing in Europe, and, worse, the virtues of the Brazilian players. Although considering Felipão Brazil's best coach, I was hoping that Ricardo Teixeira, the infamous soccer confederation president, would ask Paulo Cesar Carpegiani to be our new headcoach. I'm a Cruzeiro fan and wouldn't like to see Luiz Felipe go. Unfortunately the president's decision not to fire the incompetent Wanderley leads me to believe that the latter is too precious for all the improprieties happening among the soccer managers in Brazil.

However, the media is the one that should be held responsible for the Olympic disaster. They led the fans to believe that the team was a lock for the gold by not criticizing the coach and players and not telling us about the other good teams in the Games. Why can't most Brazilian journalists, TV announcers, commentators, and reporters be real professionals and cast aside their emotions? I think that vested interests come in first place, information a distant second.

Beach volleyball is another example of hype. The players Adriana Behar and Shelda were considered gold medalists, by the press, before the Olympic Games even started. They choked against the Australians in the final match.



8/18 - Lynn comments:

My team, the Chicago White Sox, are first in their division, with the best record in MLB. In case you didn't know, that stands for Major League Baseball, what you consider the most boring of sports, second only to golf. However, I don't think they have what it takes to reach the World Series!

At the Chicago Bulls, poor Jerry Krause is busy dashing around trying to paste together something resembling a winning team for the next season. They have tons of money to spend but no one seems to want to go to Chicago. Wonder why.

The NFL is just warming up. Soon we'll be catching Monday Night Football.

And this very week Guga is continuing to warm up for the US Open after that disastrous 0-7 tiebreak in Toronto! Every morning I click on hoping to see defects after his name rather than before. Andre Sa had a major victory over Mark Phillippousis (wild head) but quickly lost the following.

Tues. 2/19 The Olympics...The only fun things about these games were the fantastic suits in the speed skating events. Wow! Wonder how the athletes were poured into them! (Were also featured in Time and Newsweek.)
The quarrel over the Gold for the dance skaters brought the event to a new low...almost causing an "international incident"!

Ron 8-18

What happened to Brazil's fabulous soccer squads? Long gone as the demeaning loss to Chile's national team attested. Wanderley Luxemburgo is not as capable as I imagined and he's to blame as much as the players for such incompetence on Tuesday night. Salas is one of the best players in the world so being cautious against a team he plays for wouldn't be too much to ask. The Brazilians are good but so are the Argentines, French, and Dutch. The only guy whom I really criticize and condemn more than the other players for the defeat is Dida. Because he could be the best goalkeeper in the world and Brazil's all-time greatest if he were able to play outside the goal area (I don't mean penalty area). And it's just a matter of attention and some training. All three Chilean goals could have been saved if he had projected himself towards the kicker.