Sometimes we have no choice but to cover up some despicable people in the movement because they are doing something that cannot be ignored.Trevor Bauer is not that, but that That didn’t stop Bob Nightengale from auditioning for a paychecknext to Rachel Luba, who does whatever she does except occasionally serve as a megaphone.
Nightingale took great pleasure in trying to cover up the reasons for Ball’s dismissal from Major League Baseball, arguing that Ball was completely useless against the Dodgers’ minor league team. Nightingale also seemed eager to point out that there were fans cheering for Ball, but no one was booing, forgetting that you can find 100 lazy people to support any cause. Gosh, you can find 70 million people to do that, as we learned from the last election. The fact that no one was around to boo doesn’t mean baseball has forgiven Ball. We were both pretty sure we had successfully banished him to the land of wind and baseball ghosts, and that he was here to stay. And besides those sick people who want to broadcast to the world that sexual assault is not a disqualifying factor, who would actually bother watching a backfield game without MLB players?
Nightengale could have ignored it all, like everyone else, but perhaps he couldn’t help but pick at the scab (Bauer was a particularly pus-covered man).He only mentioned that Ball was suspended for violating MLB’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy, not the horrific things Ball was accused of. many kinds of Female, which was at least enough to get MLB to kick him out of the league.
It didn’t matter to Nightengale, what mattered was that Ball hit the radar gun, or how some minor leaguers couldn’t hit him, as if there was some doubt about Ball’s talent, or that was some Stories of comebacks due to injury or age. This is yet another infuriating example of how sports issues, like so many other issues, are perceived to have two sides. It starts with Skip Bayless yelling the plague at someone like a regular tornado siren test, but then slides into this much darker territory. Just because Bauer is suspended and wants to play in the MLB again doesn’t mean someone needs to take on his case, nor does it mean he has the right to do so.
Everyone would be happier if Ball lost the privilege of being an MLB player. There is no redemption arc here. Nightingale didn’t need to make one just because he liked it. Let Ball take the Nowhere World he deserves and we’ll all move on. But then again, Nightingale always existed in his own silly world. Maybe that’s why he was drawn to Ball in the first place.
USWNT rebound
The U.S. women’s soccer team found its groove to win the W Gold Cup, at least to some extent. After a bizarre tug-of-war with Canada in the semifinals, they played a real game of football against Brazil in Sunday’s final and won 1-0.
Do they play free-flowing, artistic football? Well, no, not really, but as we said in the loss to Mexico, most of the team’s players are still in the NWSL preseason and lack sharpness. Not surprisingly, it looks like the best players are Lindsay Horan or Corbin Abbott, who are in the middle of the European season.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t some positives. The U.S. women’s soccer team played a 4-4-2 diamond formation in the final, something they’ve never really shown before. Sam Coffey and Albert continued to destroy the ball in midfield, providing an attack the team hadn’t had in some time. In fact, Coffey’s instincts and courage resulted in the only goal of the game:
While Brazil may have put together the better moves, they didn’t have a shot in the first half thanks to an iron curtain from Naomi Gilma and Tierna Davidson. After causing mistakes in midfield, the U.S. looked lively on the counterattack, and they will likely still play like this even if Emma Hayes emerges this summer.
This win doesn’t completely erase the defeat against Mexico, but it basically does, and if anything, it’s that the team will know they’re vulnerable against any opponent and can’t afford too many nights off. There was a lot of experimentation going on with both personnel and tactics, likely to give Hayes plenty of film to look at and balance out those with different fitness levels on the team. We saw back three and four systems with and without wingers. Hayes will certainly have samples of any system she wants to use.
Coffey has grown up at the World Cup after a memorable performance against Mexico and she remains the go-to option at the base of the midfield, whether holding the ball, resisting pressure or launching direct attacks. Albert also announced her arrival. All in all, very useful.
