For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been avidly watching the World Cup.  For me, this is really my first time to consistently watch top-level soccer.  I haven’t been a big soccer fan for very long, only about 4 years.  But I’ve really enjoyed watching this Cup run.  These are my thoughts so far:

1.  The U.S. has talent, but didn’t show up to play.  I have nothing against Claudio Reyna, but the U.S. doesn’t play well when he starts.  It’s a fact.  And Demarcus Beasley needs to get off his ego trip.  Get out there and play hard.

2.  Brazil is shaky.  Sure, Ronaldo is coming back into scoring form and Brazil has won all of its matches.  But how many times did Ghana have good chances?  Way too many for a team of Brazil’s supposed caliber.

3.  Since when did the Refs start becoming the determining factor in games?  The officiating has been rediculous.  The U.S./Italy game, Italy/Australia, etc. have been determined by the ref.  Let the players play a little.  It’s a universal constant in sports…the officials aren’t supposed to determine the outcome of the game.  Yet, these officials seems think it’s their job to determine a winner.

4.  Why isn’t anyone giving England or France a chance?  I know neither team has played particularly well, but both have a lot of talent and, with a small change of philosophy, both could erupt down the stretch.  I personally think England and France will both move on to the round of 4.

On to basketball.  I had a final in a summer class last night, so I missed out on the NBA draft, but from what I’ve read, I have to be wondering, what are the Denver Nuggets doing?  More and more, I’m wishing we had never traded for Kenyon Martin.  Not only is his contract really ugly and his play (when he even plays) sub-par, but we don’t have any first round draft picks.  This year, our only pick, in the second round, we traded away.  Which I can understand, since we drafted ANOTHER power forward.  But why did we draft a guy at a position where we already have 4 guys who play it?  I don’t understand.  We have Martin, Najera, Kleiza, and hopefully Nene who play PF.  And yet…we don’t have a guy who could hit a trey to save his life.

As for other teams.  I don’t like Chicago trading away Aldridge.  They needed a good low-post threat and they don’t get that with Thomas.  Sure, Thomas is an amazing athlete, but Chicago already has a couple of those with Gordon and Deng.

Could Paul Pierce and Allen Iverson really co-exist together?  I don’t know.  Paul Pierce is my favorite NBA player, but I don’t know if he would play the same with Iverson.  And Portland.  Well, until Portland shows me otherwise, I still think they stink.

Also, don’t look now, but the Rockies are still above .500, in second place in the West, and only 1.5 games back of the Padres.  Could this be the year we win the division?  Quite possibly.  Over the past 4 seasons or so, I’ve been down on the Rockies.  But I have to applaud the team for sticking with the youth movement.  I’m excited for this team for the first time since they went to the playoffs in ‘95.  Even if they don’t make the playoffs this year, next year could be something really special.

That’s it for my sports thoughts this week.  I’ll post more thoughts on the World Cup next week.