Mariotti, You Fucking Fag

Ozzie Guillen was right. Jay Mariotti is a fucking moron. And so anybody else who is calling for Bruce Arena's termination as head coach of the U.S. National Soccer Team. Obviously you people don't understand the situation.

Yeah, so the U.S. was eliminated in the First Round of the World Cup. At least we were there-- we are still among the top 32 teams in the world. Did we expect better-- yes, we had very high hopes after 2002... but how smart were you for that? Let me put it this way, times change, teams change, the world changes, and on any given day any team can win. As was the case in Group E-- the Group of Death.

Let's look at this a bit more intelligently. The U.S. was divied up with perrenial power Italy who are always a threat to win the tournament, the #2 ranked team in the world (Czech Republic), and the highest ranked team from Africa. That is a tough draw. If you want it in other sports concepts, it's like having the 2005 Chicago White Sox playing against the 1927 Yankees, the 1934 Gas House Gang (Cardinals), and the 1919 Black Sox... or like having to choose between Vlatislav Tretiak, Ken Dryden, Tony Esposito, and Martin Brodeur (you didn't honestly think I'd go without a hockey reference, did you?). Anybody from the group could be the one.

Did we play our best soccer? No. But considering where the U.S. National Team was 16 years ago (when a bunch of college kids were lucky to qualify and were eventually manhandled by Italy, Czechoslovakia, and Austria--look familiar?) we are making serious progress. And we still took a couple of step forwards in this World Cup. We earned our first point in a World Cup in Europe. Sounds mundane, but if the team hasn't done it before, it goes down as progress.

And in earning that point, we saw the greatness that was Bruce Arena as a coach. The U.S. faced a monstrous challege, playing short two men (while the Italians were short one man). Arena could have made one last substitution, but he didn't. Don't, for a minute, think he should have made that change. Let's look at this in a team perspective. Those 9 gentlemen who ended the game on the field give everything they had, the came together as a unit, and gave us every reason to be proud of them-- shit, they damn near won the game and made a World Cup first. Making that final change might have disrupted that, and Arena knew it. He knew what he was doing.

As we look forward to 2010 and South Africa, I have no doubt that Bruce Arena is the right man to lead our National Team. If we fail to qualify, then you can come looking for his head.

Back to Mariotti, there is a reason you work for a third-rate news paper (hell, even the suburban Daily Herald is more repsected than the Sun-Times). It's because you are a no-talent, know-nothing bag of hot air. For him to call out the manager of the defending World Champions (Guillen), and then go on ESPN calling for Arena's head-- when it was blatantly obvious he doesn't understand soccer at all-- is astounding.

Mr. Mariotti, what makes you think you are any sort of an authority on anything, with the possible exception of being an idiot? Shut the fuck up. You, Stephen A. Smith, Travis Justice, and Simon Cowell need to get the fuck off my television set, and disappear from society. You're Done.

You can't expect the American people to fully understand soccer when fucknuts like you only car about squeakball and football. Make an attempt to round out your mind, not just your body. You make me ashamed to be a journalist.