LeBron Is DEFINITELY Signing In Chicago

…or Miami…or New York…or New Jersey…or Cleveland. Enough already! The entire LeBron watch has become more annoying than the annual “Brett Favre Retirement Watch.” A source says it is a done deal that James and Bosh are joining Derrick Rose in Chicago. Another source says Miami is the favorite. A different source says the Knicks are poised to explain to LeBron that they have the most flexibility to build around him for the next 5 years, something the other teams can’t offer. Listen, LeBron has not told anyone where he is going to sign. His inner circle probably doesn’t even know with certainty at this point. So all of these sources are full of it. No one knows and no one will until it is official. Thankfully that date is approaching soon – but keep in mind that he will declare for free agency tomorrow (July 1st) but he cannot officially sign until the 8th, so we will have a full week of bogus stories and sources from random people who claim to have a friend’s cousin’s brother’s girlfriend’s sister that knows.

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What is the deal with teams that I bag on suddenly making runs deep into tournaments? It happened with college basketball when I declared before the tournament that Butler had no chance to win it all. They promptly make it to the final game and came within a half court shot of winning it all. Fastforward to a few weeks ago when I questioned whether anyone was actually from Paraguay. And all they did was make their way to the quarterfinals of the World Cup after their penalty kick win over Japan.

The bright spot about Paraguay? This girl continues to get more and more attention and she has decided that if Paraguay wins the World Cup, she will run naked through the streets to celebrate. I don’t know about you, but that’s enough to make me a fan….at least of Larissa Requilme. (and here’s a link to more pictures of the only person I have ever heard of from Paraguay)

Somewhat Insensitive Thoughts on the World Cup

Random thoughts while watching the opening days of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa…..

- Does anyone actually know (or have heard of) anyone from Paraguay or Uruguay? I never hear anything about either country or even stories about people from those countries. I thought perhaps they were made up countries just for the World Cup. I even read the entire Wikipedia page on Paraguay hoping to get something interesting…..and all I found out was that it’s a land-locked country in South America with a river and all the the people live by the one city. So I was still in the camp that it was a made-up place until I saw this picture which completely changed my mind……..they’re real, and they’re spectacular.

- Enough whining about the vuvuzela horns. Honestly. Why are people so worried about the background noise during a broadcast? It’s a South African tradition, so who is to say they can’t blow their own horns if they want to? There are a ton of ridiculous US traditions at sporting events that are extremely annoying and no one tries to ban them: the rally monkey? Thunderstix? Dodger fans showing up in the 4th inning? Cubs fans preening and posing and being more aware of who is at the game than the fact that the team sucks again? All annoying traditions that aren’t going to change – just like the vuvuzela.

- I am a fan of soccer, having played it most of my life, but I absolutely hate the flopping and overdramatics of many of the teams – particularly the South American teams (the Europeans rank second in flopping). These guys are such great and tough athletes, but they act like the French when war breaks out any time a defender is within two feet of them. It’s pathetic and annoying.

- I’ve never been to South Africa (but it’s on my list), so I don’t really know what it is like there. However, judging by the ESPN presentation, I’m left to think it’s just like The Lion King. The dramatic, majestic music and continual pictures of zebras, rhinos and giraffes.

- The NY Times soccer blog is a great way to follow the games if you can’t watch them live. The amount of information during a live game in pretty impressive, keeping stats for touches by each and every player, and the heat map that shows minute-by minute where the action has been focused is awesome.

- This is another good site for all scheduling information for the World Cup to find out when the US plays again or who is playing each day. It’s also a good way to check when Team England is playing again, which is your next time to see some of the WAGs in the stands, like Abbey Clancy. By the way, they play Friday at 2:30 pm (EST), so set your DVR and hope for some shots of Clancy, Coleen Rooney or Alex Curran.