Wednesday Blogdome: Could Arizona immigration mess ruin U.S. World Cup bid?
May 5, 2010, 6:00 PM EDT
And What’s The Deal With Mexico? The city of Glendale, Arizona is home to the University of Phoenix Stadium which was submitted as one of the possible host stadia for the US World Cup bid. Although only 12 of the 18 proposed sites will actually be used during the World Cup, there is concern that the immigration law presents Arizona (and by extension, the USSF) as unwelcoming. The fact that USSF spokesman Neil Buethe refuses to comment on the possible ramifications of the law has been taken by some as proof that Glendale should immediately be dropped from consideration. [Unprofessional Foul]
* Former Royals coach beaten by fans hopes Taser curbs violence on baseball diamond. “I just wish, like everybody else, that the only place for fans is in the stands,” Gamboa told USA TODAY in a telephone interview while playing golf in San Luis Obispo, Calif. “I’m glad I didn’t see it. It would have brought back bad memories.” [Daily Pitch]
* Wade McGilberry Wins $1 Million Playing Baseball Video Game. The 23-year-old from Mobile, Ala., accomplished the feat in just an hour and a half, becoming the first to pitch a perfect game in Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.’s “Major League Baseball 2K10.” He and his wife, Katy, plan to pay off their mortgage and start a family with the winnings. [Huffington Post]
* Let’s Just Hope the Only Thing They’re Stained With is Victory Sweat. Poor Eric has resorted to selling a pair of autographed, game worn Chase Utley underwear for much needed dough. But this isn’t just any ordinary pair of boxers from any old regular season game-supposedly Utley wore these during Game 3 of the 2008 World Series when he and Ryan Howard hit back-to-back jacks en route to a 5-4 win. Bonus selling feature, as per Eric – “they have not been washed.” [The Last Angry Fan]
* Freddie Roach on the Possibility of a Mayweather-Pacquiao Fight: ‘It’s gonna happen.’ “Just talked to Bob Arum yesterday. Bob Arum’s flying to the Philippines today to make Manny the offer. We are trying to make this work the best we can, yes. I think we have ammo to get it done quickly because there’s a lot of money out there.” [Sports Radio Interviews]
* John Calipari and the Bulls: Makes (Some) Sense, Won’t Happen. This one really doesn’t pass the sniff test. It just seems incredibly unlikely that Calipari would actually jump from Kentucky to the Bulls. And, as Woj notes, “the Bulls have been hesitant to pay the $4 million-$5 million annual packages it would take to lure high-profile coaches like Calipari.” [Tremendous Upside Potential]
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Contact Rick Chandler at rickchand@gmail.com.
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- TheWizard - May 5, 2010 at 8:47 PM
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Contrary to liberal opinion, 70% of Arizona citizens are reported to support the law.
The World Cup can stick it.
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- NickLA - May 6, 2010 at 5:02 PM
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This article is probably written by a fool who knows nothing about soccer in the US. Whenever the US plays Mexico in the south west in “friendly” matches, it is a home game for Mexico ! They come here, eat our burritos, spit on our flag, urinate on our soccer jerseys, the lowlives use humane american laws to their advantage, falsely scream racism when they are the biggest bigots on earth, and the only pride they can hang on to is a minor scrimmage with the french many decades ago, while true to their aztec nature, they continue to massacre each other in dozens daily. In meaningful world cup qualifiers, US always plays Mexico in the North east, especially columbus ohio in winter, and kicks their tricolor butt. Don’t u think i would love to go watch the red white and blue beat mexico in LA ? of course, but i trust the american brothers in the north east to better safeguard our national colors.
If the US wants to host the world cup, it should stay as much away from south west mexican cities as possible, otherwise it becomes a home game for mexico, on american soil !!!
Forget trying to host the world cup, president sunil gulati. we don’t want another million crossing the border fence never to go back.
we’re better off playing mexico in a neutral zone like the 2002 world cup when we gave them a 2-0 whooping that they all cried about.
every american soccer fan root for uruguay, france and south africa to kick mexico’s behind in a few weeks time.
