6/26: Worst Day Ever

Slick Rick once said, "It's like a day, where nothing seems to go your way." His quote was in the context of a failing relationship, but for those of us not in a relationship, or who take sports a little too seriously, the line still applies.
Any sports fan can tell you that there's nothing better than having two big games in one day. Especially if these two games don't overlap each other. Such was the case on Saturday when the US and Ghana capped off the round of 16 at 1:30 CT, followed by game 2 of the Cubs and Sox at 6:05 CT.
To keep things in proper perspective sequentially, let's start with the US game. I can't lie, I have a March Madness like bracket of the round of 16 for the World Cup. I penned in each team after they advanced and looked at the thing for what amounted to over an hour. I couldn't get my eyes of off the US road to the Semifinals. It looked so good, I could already envision myself smiling, slowly but surely writing U-S-A into the next two thin white boxes.
Maybe I got ahead of myself, considering the US national team has exactly zero appearances in the World Cup semifinals. If they were going to do it, this was the bracket to do it in.
The US got outworked, out hustled, and were just plain slower than Ghana. Speed is usually an advantage for our strikers, and we didn't have it. We missed at least three easy opportunities that more experienced players would have converted. The officiating was terrible. The amount of yellow cards issued to us in the first half was ridiculous, coupled with the lack of foul calls in our favor.
It was a frustrating game all around. The US gave up their customary goal before the 15 minute mark, and to prove that wasn't a fluke, allowed another one in the first few minutes of the first overtime. Tim Howard let in two stoppable goals, especially the first one in the 6th minute. At the end of the game, rather than compete, Ghana fell to the field and rested for a few minutes while they let time go by. It's frustrating to watch all that, knowing the World Cup experience is over and won't be coming back for another four years.

Expecting the Cubs to win was a little irresponsible on my part. For the third series in a row they will drop their first two games and win the third. That first game should have been the tip off. But no, it wasn't. The season had been so utterly hopeless that splitting the season series with the White Sox, not winning but splitting, was the only thing left I could look forward to.
It took a half inning to know there was no way the Cubs were winning this series. Four runs and a Carlos Zambrano tirade (more on that in a future post) with all of Chicago watching, was all it took to showcase how this team has unravelled. 
I'm not even ashamed to say it. I turned the game off after the top of the 1st. I reluctantly listened to some of it on the radio. I hung out with some friends and was able to keep myself busy enough to miss the first 7 innings of the second game of the series, only to watch the Cubs blow it in the bottom of the 8th. "At least they'll win Game 3," I said after the loss.
On second thought, any sports fan can tell you that there's nothing [Edit] worse than having two big games in one day.