syhuang

To be fair, most of the instant replays used in other sports do not apply to judgment calls too. You can't challenge strike or ball by instance replay in baseball, you can't ask to review a holding penalty in NFL, referees can't review a double-dribble in NBA, and a high-stick penalty is not reviewable in hockey either. Instant replays are mainly used on non-judgment call situations where technology helps to verify if a flyball clears fence, if a puck clears goalline, if a player has both feet inbound, or if a buzzer beating shot is indeed on time. When MLB was debating to use instant replay, anit instant replay fans didn't like it because they thought it would taint baseball tradition and they were so afraid machines would call strike/ball that human factor would be lost in the game. This is just like what the soccer world is worrying right now and look what happened to MLB, instant replay doesn't use on judgment calls, just like other sports. As far as I know, people are asking for technology help on non-judgment calls in soccer like goalline technology, it's not like they want to apply instant replays to all kinds of foul calls on the field. I really can't understand why FIFA is so stubborn against instant replays on non-judgment calls.

After FIFA's review of Lampard goal, they conclude umpires didn't make any mistake, just like all other games: http://i.imgur.com/nrgC8.jpg </sarcasm off>

For NFL and NHL, I think it actually changes quite a bit. There are quite a few bad calls being corrected by video review. While many calls, especially judgment calls, are still bad, overall, video review improves the game imo. Honestly, I'd take the game being slowdown a bit than having the game decided by one bad call. To me, make it right is more important than ending the game on time. Of course, there are limitation on video review. For example, it shouldn't and can't be used on judgment calls like strike or ball in baseball, a foul or not in yesterday's game, and so on. However, it can help to make the call right in other areas like if a fly ball clears the fence, if a player is out-of-bound, if the ball/puck clears goalline, or if it's a hand ball in soccer games. Refs will always make mistake but video reviews can help to correct some of their mistakes and reduce the occasions when bad calls decide the game outcome.

On the other hand, Slovenia only needs a tie to ensure they advance. They may be very conservative in that game and play for a tie.

I think U.S. can still advance with a tie now if England and Slovenia also tie and U.S. maintain the GS advantage over England (currently +2). A win is definitely better so we don't need to worry about tie-breakers.

And this Slovenian defender claims it's U.S. players pushing and holding them........ link Slovenian defender Marko Suler was adamant the referee had made the correct decision to disallow Edu’s goal and accused the Americans of roughhouse tactics. “They were pushing and holding all the time,” Suler said. “You could see it was a foul and it was the correct decision. They did not deserve to win the game. It would not have been the correct result. We were the better team.”

Lychee. It's very hard to find lychee in U.S.. Even when I find it here, its taste is not even close to the fresh ones in Asia. Oh, I miss the great taste of lychee.

I can understand formation, 4-4-2, 5-4-1, 3-4-3, 4-3-3, etc, however, what I don't understand is how soccer makes in-game adjustments. I mean, coaches setup formation, personnel, and so on before the game, and that's pretty much it. Then, they basically wait till half time. I mean after the game starts and plays for some time, people pretty much know what works and what doesn't. How do teams make strategy changes to fix their weakness exposed by the opponent and attack opponent's weakness during the game? Substitute is the only thing I can think of, teams use it to replace tired or inefficient players or use it to change formation. Thus, I feel the strategy is pretty minimal in soccer compared to other sports. When people say watching the strategy part in the game, I don't quite understand what/where to watch. At the beginning, we can watch which coaches has good pre-game strategy and how their plans work out. But after that, there isn't much strategy in the game.

Not trolling or arguing, but I have a soccer question I can't get a good grasp. How much do strategy and adjustment really impact soccer games? I think most strategies are done before the game, for example, formation, lineup, and aggressiveness, while adjustments can be made in half time. However, how are strategy and adjustment being done during the game? For example, after seeing opponent does certain things, how can they coordinate to do X when the other team does Y but not Z? The only thing I know is substitution. Compared to NFL (every down), NBA (timeouts), and MLB (signals), soccer's strategy and especially adjustment seem quite minimal imo.

Bryant: I didn't tell Ireland dad a 'pimp' It looks like Dolphins try hard to save their face.

And look at Giants' 2007 draft, it's very impressive. And most importantly, all players are still with the team and contribute to their success. 1. Aaron Ross (CB) ------ starter, was injured last season 2. Steve Smith (WR) ------ starter, pro bowl last season 3. Jay Alford (NT) ------ very solid first 2 seasons, was injured last season 4. Zak DeOssie (LB) ------- primary LS, play all games in 3 seasons 5. Kevin Boss (TE) ------ starting TE the last 2 seasons 6. Adam Koets (OL) ------ O'Hara's primary backup 7. Michael Johnson (FS) ------ start 35 games in 3 seasons 7. Ahmad Bradshaw (RB) ------ very good backup, 900+ yards from LOS in 14 games last season

No no no, the purpose of draft is to get A+ grade from Kiper and other so-called draft experts. Front office needs to follow Kiper's guide and draft Clausen at #9, this selection alone would have guaranteed us at least a A- grade from Kiper. This way, fans want top draft grade immediately after draft and before any players play any NFL game will be very happy. Making these fans happy is much more important than improving our teams. Who cares we can't stop the run, we want A+ from Kiper. /sarcasm off

It's your freedom to predict future or trust any prediction. However, it's just not smart to base on it to make judgments on players before they even play a NFL game by arguing Fox Sports have the best crystal ball or Kiper's guide is the standard to decide reach or value picks.

Why do you agree with draft grades before players even play a NFL game? Let's look at 3 years ago, Fox Sports gave Falcons a A+ and Raiders a A in 2007 draft. Who did both teams draft and how well did they play in last 3 seasons? Falcons: 1 Jamaal Anderson ==> starter, 2.5 sacks in 3 seasons (44 games). For comparison, Kelsay had 7 sacks in his first 3 seasons. 2 Justin Blalock ==> starter 2 Chris Houston ==> not with Falcons now 3 Laurent Robinson ==> not with Falcons now 4 Stephen Nicholas ==> only became starter last season, will probably lose it after Weatherspoon was drafted at #19 4 Martrez Milner ==> not in the league now 6 Trey Lewis ==> backup, only play 17 games in 3 seasons 6 David Irons ==> not in the league now 6 Doug Datish ==> not with Falcons now 6 Daren Stone ==> not in the league now 7 Jason Snelling ==> backup RB, played a bit last season because of injuries of Turner and Norwood Raiders: 1 JaMarcus Russell ==> One of the all-time busts 2 Zach Miller ==> starter 3 Quentin Moses ==> not with Raiders now 3 Mario Henderson ==> only became starter last season and struggled at LT, allowed most sacks (9 1/2) in NFL last season 3 Johnnie Lee Higgins ==> 6, 22, and 19 rec in last 3 seasons 4 Michael Bush ==> missed first season, rushed for 421 and 589 yards in following 2 seasons 4 John Bowie ==> not with Raiders now 5 Jay Richardson ==> starter in first 2 seasons and a backup last season, 7 sacks in 48 games 5 Eric Frampton ==> not with Raiders now 6 Oren O'Neal ==> not with Raiders now 7 Johnathan Holland ==> kickoff returner last season, only 19.6 yards per return which is 97th among returners.

special teamer

you got it

The main issue is that most people in China don't know the difference between football and rugby. Besides, Yao Ming was already a household name before NBA while very very few people there know who Wang is. A good comparison is Hines Ward. Before Steelers won superbowl, nobody in Korea cares about him or football. Only after Steelers won in superbowl XL, Ward's Korea heritage is a big news in Korea media and Ward become a super star there.

Guys, Kiper is always right. None of NFL teams' GM and scouts know anything about draft. Look, it's not Kiper's fault that he ranks Clausen 4th best player this year and Clausen only gets drafted in mid 2nd round. It's not his fault that he ranks McCoy 2nd round talent when McCoy is picked at late 3rd round. It is also not Kiper's fault that he rates Cam Thomas 2nd to 3rd round talent and Thomas is drafted at mid 5th round after 16 other DT have been drafted. Need more example? The main problem is that 32 NFL teams have no idea about evaluating college players and they don't follow Kiper's draft guide. All teams should just fire all their scouts and use Kiper's guide to be their big boards the day before draft. Problem solved. /sarcasm off

Not sure if this is already posted: Wang's Draft Diary To be honest, I didn’t feel that I was one of the best O-linemen in the ACC over the past two years. I always felt like there were people better than me. I think that’s what made me work hard. I never, ever felt like I was a top-of-the-line tackle because I always expected more out of myself than what people expected out of me. That was always my mindset: You can’t be complacent with where you’re at because that’s when people start catching you. And then, that’s when things start going downhill.

or Dr. Juliet Burke? or Dr. Ethan Rom?

You do realize 7.5 of Jared Allen's 14.5 sacks are from two games, both against Green Bay, right? How about Elvis Dumervil's 4 sack game against Browns? James Harrison's 3 sack game against Lions? Robert Mathis's 2.5 sack game against Seahawks? Banta-Cain's 3 sack game against us? Andre Carter's 2.5 sack game against Panthers? Brian Orakpo's 4 sack game against Raiders? I guess they all suck because of outlier.

I think facemask is not reviewable, neither is tuck rule.

Warning: another internet tough guy. BTW, ESPN and NFL.com just report that Wilson decides to only hire coaches with HC experience to make tonyd19 happy because everyone gives a damn about tonyd19 being a Bills fan or not.

The same Belicheat who ordered the tarp to be removed at Foxboro before a playoff game against Colts so the heavy snow can destroy the field to slowdown Colts' WR?

the classless welker