Curse of the Future

My first post about the 2010 World Cup is the Nike commercial aptly titled "Write the Future". It shows some of soccer's best players showing off their skills in the beautiful game. The premise of the ad is that with the World Cup as its stage the players performance will define their future. It is in their hands, or in this case it is in their feet.

Alas, that is not the case. The ad became a curse to the players. Not one of the players' teams reached the quarterfinal round.

Here's a recap:

Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast. The Chelsea striker was so excited to play at South Africa, the continents first time hosting the World Cup. One week before the tournament, in a warm-up game against Japan, he fractured his right arm, ruining his thoughts of playing in the Cup. After a successful surgery, his arm was placed in a protective cast and was given a go signal by FIFA to play. It wasn't the same Drogba. Playing in the Group of Death, he was only able to head home one goal against Brazil and that was it. The Elephants were done after the group stage.

Fabio Cannavaro, Italy. The 2006 FIFA player of the year, team captain for the defending champions, at 36 years old is one of the oldest players in the tournament. In fact the Azzurris are the fourth oldest of 32 teams. In the Nike commercial he made a great goal line save. In a game against New Zealand, he failed to clear a free kick enabling Shane Smeltz to score. Although Italy was able to salvage a draw against the Kiwis, it wasn't enough to propel them to the next round.

Wayne Rooney, England. With his performance for Manchester United at the English Premier League, he was supposed to create noise in this tournament. But after a scoreless draw against Algeria, Rooney made his noise by shouting in front of the camera, "Nice to see your own fans booing you," before muttering a swear word. He later on apologized for his outburst but the damage has been done. England lost to Germany in the round of 16, 4-1. Rooney was scoreless in the tournament.

Frank Ribbery, France. It was supposed to be his time, his team. Before the Cup he got entangled in an underage prostitution scandal. During the group matches, Les Bleus showed the new meaning of French drama with shouting matches, players being thrown out, coaches and federation officials resigning. The actions of the team both on and off the field were a disgrace. They stumbled to 2 loss and 1 draw record for last place in their group.

Ronaldinho, Brazil. What else there to say? The 2004-05 FIFA player of the year wasn't even included in the team.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal. The 2008 FIFA player of the year is one of the highest paid players in the world. However, the knack on him is that he disappears in big games. Nothing is bigger than the World Cup. It was this stage that he was supposed to silence his critics. Nike showed him as bigger than life. The result, only one freakish goal in a 7-1 drubbing of North Korea, enroute to losing to Spain the round of 16.

With their performances in the tournament, what does the future holds for them.

Mexico's Equalizer

Rafael Marquez game-tying goal. It saved Mexico from a potentially disastrous start to their campaign.

South Africa vs Mexico

The first World Cup ever held on the African continent, South Africa, the lowest ranked team in the tournament scores the first goal of the 2010 World Cup courtesy of Siphiwe Tshabalala.

Shrek and Donkey

There are a lot of NBA duos that made their mark in the finals. There's Magic and Kareem, Duncan and Robinson, Erving and Malone, Kobe and Shaq, and the ultimate Batman and Robin tandem of Jordan and Pippen. But never in the history of the NBA Finals had a tandem of second stringers rally their team for a series tying victory. That's just what Glen 'Big Baby' Davis and Nate Robinson and the rest of the Celtic's bench did on their 96-89 Game 4 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers. Davis scored 18 points and would have been the Celtics' top scorer if not for Pierce's late game free throws. His partner Robinson chipped in 12 points. More than their points, it was their energy on the court that jumpstart the Celtics and their fans in that fourth quarter rampage.

"We're like Shrek and donkey," said Robinson. Just like the fourth installment of the Shrek series being a hit to movie fans the Game 4 antics of this duo was a hit to the Celtic fans. In the movie the duo had helped from other characters for the Celtics it was the same. Fellow bench players Rasheed Wallace and Tony Allen put up one heck of defensive job against Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant. But they also did it in the offensive end, Rasheed had a clutch three and Tony Allen had a three point play.

Game 5 is on Sunday. Boston has been getting contribution from nine players while the Lakers have been relying on their starting five. With Bynum hurt and the Celtics playing at home the Lakers need to play with much more emotion than what they've shown. Doc Rivers has outcoached Phil Jackson in this series. Let's see what the Zen master have up on his sleeve come Sunday.

Write The Future

Rematch

A few minutes before game time. For the 12th time, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics will do battle for the 2010 Larry O'Brien trophy. The Celtics are looking to hang their 18th banner while the Lakers try to narrow the gap by winning their 16th title.

It is a rivalry that is rich in tradition, drama, suspense, heroes and villains.

The Celtics won nine out of eleven finals meeting against the Lakers. Only Magic, Kareem and James Worthy can say that their the only Lakers to defeat the Celtics in the finals, and they did it twice.

After waiting for two years and one championship, Kobe's chance for redemption has arrived. The last time Kobe's Lakers faced the Celtics they were manhandled. Not only were they physically beaten but they lost in the most embarrasing way. They lost Game 4 at home after leading by 24 points. In the Game 6 clincher they lost by 39 points. The following year, the Lakers vowed to be physical. However, the Celtics didn't reach the finals.

The superstars will show up in this marquee finals. The players to watch are Rasheed Wallace of Boston and Ron Artest of the Lakers. Both are veteran players but are temperamental. In a series that will be very physical and highly emotional it will be quite interesting to see who will burst their bubble first.

Prediction: Lakers in six.

Another Game 7

Washington Capitals fans are now anxious and nervous. The series against the Montreal Canadiens boils down to a one game winner take all. The Caps boasting of the best record in the regular season earning them homecourt advantage in the playoffs will host Game 7 tomorrow night at the Verizon Center.

Being number 1 and homecourt advantage doesn't mean a thing in the NHL. In the last four years, of the eight number one seeds, one per Conference, only one team went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. The number of one seed losing in the first round (quarterfinals) is greater than the number of the one seed winning the Stanley Cup champions, 2 to 1. That's how the puck bounces in the playoffs.

And what about the homecourt advantage. What advantage? Ask the Capitals, they knew nothing about it. This is the fourth straight series for the Capitals that went to a seventh game. In all of them, the Caps have the homecourt advantage.

2008 Conference Quarterfinals, the Caps rank number three against the Philadelphia Flyers. They trailed the series 3-1 and won Game 6 on the road to force a seventh game. They lost, 3-2 on a powerplay goal in overtime.

2009 Conference Quarterfinals, this time the Caps were rank number two against the New York Rangers. They lost the first two games at home and were down again 3-1. Washington won the last three games including a 2-1 Game 7 victory to advance to the next round.

2009 Conference Semifinals against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Again the Caps have the homecourt advantage. Washington won the first two games at home before the Penguins reeled of a three game winning streak. The Caps lived for another game after winning a Game 6 thriller at Pittsburgh, 5-4 in overtime. The Penguins won Game 7 in a 6-2 blowout.

2010 Conference Quarterfinals. The Caps already lost twice at home and a third one seems probable. It comes down to who wants it most.

Let's Go Caps!