“To me and the organization, its huge. I’m a huge fan of this tournament. I think that it is our opportunity as a league to showcase ourselves regionally and internationally. We as an organization feel like we’re giving it the right amount of respect and attention. I would hope that our partners in the league do the same.”

“I think we as a league can do more to continue to promote the tournament and make it an important part of the soccer calendar. Just to give an example of that, if we as a league decide the CONCACAF Champions League is important and we’re playing eight extra games jammed into the middle of the summer, then perhaps the Champions League teams in MLS need some sort of support league-wide, whether that means cap space, allocation money, roster space. There are some things that our league can do to show that it’s important to us.”

“I sit on the competition committee, those are just discussions that are ongoing. I hope to be able to push that as we move forward here. It may not ever help us but I think it’s important for the league.”

More of Hanauer’s comments from the Seattle Times: Click here.

There are two matches scheduled today:

Mexico v. South Africa: I’m choosing Mexico to win the game outright even though many feel RSA could draw or win.
France v. Uruguay:  I like France in this one.

For detailed news about the World Cup, check Google News at the following link:
http://bit.ly/2010FIFAWorldCup

Get all your news about the 2010 FIFA World Cup from this comprehensive Google News (U.S.) link.

http://bit.ly/2010FIFAWorldCup

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Karo white corn syrup
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups nuts (your choice, whole or chopped)

Directions:

1. Bring all ingredients, except nuts and extract, to a slow boil over medium heat, stirring well.
2. Lightly boil for 5 minutes and then remove from heat.
3. Add vanilla and nuts, stir well and allow to cool.

Enjoy!

Ciao for now!
Mike

The news came swift and sudden. My cell phone chirped.

MYLAC: Breaking News --- Griffin to undergo season-ending surgery.
For more info visit Clippers.com.

It was 4:29pm in New York; 1:29pm in the home of Clipper Nation.
According to Clippers.com, in a press release 89 minutes earlier, “Griffin was examined Tuesday afternoon by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles. As a result of that examination, it has been determined that the healing in his left patella area has not improved to the expected required level. Griffin will undergo a surgical procedure in the near future, with a recovery prognosis of four to six months.”

My immediate reaction was to forward the bulletin to an L.A. friend of mine with the addition: “Can you say ‘Greg Oden’?” There are worse things than the thoughts of a cripped career like the one Oden possesses in Portland.

Griffin injured his kneecap in the last pre-season game against, ironically, tonight’s opponent — the New Orleans Hornets — on October 23 last year.

There are worse things than being a Clipper fan tonight.
February 26, 2007: In a game against the Charlotte Hornets, Shaun Livingston dislocated his kneecap landing following a missed layup. According to Wikipedia, he “injured almost every part of his knee, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), and the lateral meniscus, badly spraining his medial collateral ligament (MCL), and dislocating his patella and his tibia-femoral joint.” He has never been quite the same player again and another bright career was snuffed out in a Clipper uniform.

There are worse things than being a Clipper fan tonight, worse than being even Blake Griffin himself. Presumably Griffin had a smart agent and/or business manager who made sure that his client would be paid no matter what. So, while he sits on the sidelines, I assume that he doesn’t have to worry about money, just perhaps a career doing the thing he loved.

There are worse things than being a Clipper fan tonight, worse than being an organization that rolled the dice, thought it came up sevens only to learn it came up snake-eyes. You have to wonder what Donald Sterling thinks he has to do to get just a little bit of… not luck… just normalcy. When things like this happen, you have to wonder if the franchise really is cursed. Yet, Donald Sterling is a smart businessman and I have to think that the Griffin contract and the player Griffin were both insured.

I know it’s hard to imagine, but yes, there are worse things.
There are worse things than being a Clippers fan tonight.
However, it shouldn’t be. You could be buried under rubble with the cries of many people around you in a far off land known as Haiti.

There are worse things; it just takes a little perspective.

And so it goes.

Ciao for now!
Mike