"Choking Freakin´ Dogs" Rally in the Rain

(c) AP Photo/Alastair Grant

Yes, the American ladies beat both Sweden in ladies´ World Cup and then Europe in the Solheim Cup. This weekend saw plenty of the good, the bad and the real ugly. Speaking of which, former Solheim Cup player Dottie Pepper managed to get things going for her compatriots when she called them "choking freakin´dogs" while commenting for the Golf Channel. Her excuse? She thought they had just cut to commercial...

Pepper has a history to go with this comment: her behavior in former Solheim Cups drove the likes of Annika and Laura Davies to draw her face on a punching bag....now that ain´t nice.

More ugly: the weather. For years, decades, a lifetime, I have been trying to convince folks that the myth of bad Swedish weather is just that, a darn freakin´ myth. These are some of the adjectives used to describe the conditions in Halmstad "gloomy", "wet", "stormy", "cold" etc. etc. And I can´t say that it wasn´t all that and more. Besides, up here near the Arctic Circle, I woke up to snow yesterday.

But what I like is that the weather wasn´t dwelt upon by the players and for once the Europeans didn´t resort to excuses. Guess that would have been embarrassing due to the home course advantage. Trust me, over the years I have read countless interviews with athletes who have moaned about the weather or whatever, just in case they wind up performing poorly... lame.

OK, so it came down to the singles and the U.S. took 8 of the 12 matches, Europe 3 with one halved. Two U.S. rookies, Stacy Prammanasudh and Morgan Pressel won their matches. And how! As the Guardian reported:

The most significant point of the day was earned by Stacy Prammanasudh, who was matched with Suzann Pettersen. With Annika Sorenstam spending most of the year battling against injury, the Norwegian has emerged as Europe's best player, winning one major, the LPGA championship...

Meanwhile, Pressel, a mere 19, beat Annika - the best player in history and still number 3 in the world. Kudos (the photo is of red-clad Pressel´s dishing out a consolation hug to Annika; REUTERS/Bob Strong.) So much for choking...

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PIC of Schelin...

Returning to the world of football, I regret to report that Sweden was knocked out today. They managed to do what the U.S. couldn´t, beat North Korea, but it was not enough. They had to win by at least three goals to leap frog the North Koreans in the standings.

Oh well, they played well in this match and Lotta Schelin, the next big thing in women´s soccer, was awesome today, scoring both goals.
And you can argue that the rules should be changed since goal difference is less telling than the head to head encounter. My guess is that FIFA just wants to encourage more goals, but then you wind up with an increased likelihood of a losing team going through. But them´s the rules, so no whining...

To close, check out this clip from Friday´s U.S. - Sweden game. What a goal by Wambach, pure poetry...

Ladies First in the Wide, Wide, World of Sports

I'm talking about this weekend, folks.

It's all about the ladies! Move on over, male chauvinists....

For the first time ever (?), two major sporting events for women are being staged at the same time. And in two very different sports at that, soccer/football and golf.

1) The World Cup, contested by 16 of the leading ladies´ football teams in the world.

2) The Solheim Cup, one of the rare team events in Golf, features the U.S. versus a Europe team, flying the EU flag - kinda odd since among others a non-EU Norwegian is playing for Europe. Anywho...

In case you´re interested, most of this is on TV though surviving the live broadcasts may require caffeine and/or alcohol depending on what time zone you are in. The World Cup takes place in China and the Solheim Cup in Sweden. Currently, I am keeping an eye on Sweden v. the U.S. in Chengdu, Sichuan, China as well as the first day of the Solheim Cup in Halmstad, Halland, Sweden.

Some factoids, intrigue and trivia:

Over in the People's Republic, crazy things are afoot.

Danes are accusing the hosts of spying on them and ruining the pitches they practice on...


Back on the pitch, the game between the US and Sweden promises to be entertaining. The U.S. are heavy favorites, even if the Swedish media and team are optimistic. Currently that seems misplaced since the Americanas are up 1-0....scratch that, 2-0...the incredible Abby Wambach getting both goals. That´s 80 goals in 98 international appearances!!!!

Great game-saving dive by Solo!

(c) AP, Julie Jacobsen

In their first game, the U.S. faced North Korea, one of those politically charged games. This was especially true since there were thousands of North Koreans in the stadium - China being the one country, ol´Kim Jong-il lets his compatriots escape to. Anyway, it was an awesome game with Kil Son-Hui (props to anyone who can find me a hyperlink for this lady) firing projectiles towards the American goal all night long...


North Korea can win this tournament, Coach Kim ain´t all bluster, and that would be interesting...they have a great short-passing style.

(c) Jason Lee, Reuters

Meanwhile, in the world of golfing millionaires...(which btw is something, unlike their male counterparts, that soccer ladies most certainly are not.)

The U.S. is the defending Solheim champion, but with nice n´ rainy Swedish fall weather to help them, Europe hopes to stick to the tradition of home team victories.

Things get a little patriotic (Euro-patriotism?) bordering on nationalistic during these events, and for some reasons, things seem to get especially testy in the courteous world of golf. Recent Ryder Cups, the mens' team event, have been downright nasty.

So, how's this for attitude from the Swedish Euro captain, Helen Alfredsson:

"After a non-Swedish caddie remarked about a tasty cinnamon roll, Alredsson said it was called a "kanelbulle." When the caddie balked at pronouncing the words, she said, "Come on, learn a little Swedish while you're here this week. At least you'll get something good to eat." The kanelbullar, by the way, are spectacular." ( from this article)

The bun, whose
name you forget at your peril!!

Pretty innocuous, but let's see how friendly folks are after the weekend.

Sörenstam teeing off

(c) Reuters, Bob Strong

Paula Creamer with tattoos
(c) AP, Alastair Grant

So, are Annika Sörenstam and Hanna Ljungberg gonna show their mettle? Or will it be all about Hope Solo ( read this great piece on her and her father) - but why am I suddenly seeing the Millenium Falcon hitting warp speed? - and Stacy Prammanasudh?
jo



UPDATE: In Chengdu, the U.S. won 2-0 vs. Sweden and it´s all square in Halmstad, where it´s raining, raining, raining....