Another Year of Pitching Duels: The last couple years, I’ve been on record saying the San Diego Padres were a couple legitimate bats away from being favorites in the National League. But year after year, those bats don’t come. Instead, the team relies on a bunch of veteran role players to fill holes. While the pitching staff of this team remains among the game’s elite, an awful offense is keeping this team from being true World Series contenders.

Bats. Padres CEO Sandy Alderson has attempted to carry over the blueprint he used to build winners in Oakland. He’s a fan of inexpensive guys with good on base percentages. However, you’ll find few of those in this lineup. While the infield is full of young talent, San Diego’s Opening Day outfield is arguably the worst in baseball.

1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez, a former #1 overall pick and San Diego native, has flourished with the Padres. In his second year with the team, Gonzalez hit .282 with career highs in homers (30) and RBIs (100). Despite playing in a pitcher’s paradise, his left-handed bat has emerged into one of the league’s best at the position. Now if only he could avoid a month long slump that has plagued him the last two seasons. Across the diamond, 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff overcame a terrible start to post solid rookie numbers of .275-18-74. With a full season under his belt, Kouz should be hearing far more “Koooooz” than “Boooooo” in 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

The United States complemented their new home jersey with a spanking new away jersey yesterday. The new shirt must have good luck, as the boys took down Poland 3-0 in Krakow. The Americans will keep the away jersey through World Cup qualifying, which runs all the way until November 2009.

Upon first glance, I must admit that I really wasn’t blown away by the design. I know it’s a national team jersey, but in the past, we have seen some sort of fashion. Not here though. This jersey is just about as plain as you can get. It reminds me of Brazil’s and Russia’s uniforms. A typical template by Nike, but it works well for national teams who try to go with a traditional look.

I can see right now that there will be fans out there who will not approve of the new look. However, these supporters have to realize that when it comes to national team jerseys, there is no need to go flashy. Jerseys on this scale need not to be electric and flamboyant. They need to represent the country and I honestly believe that this jersey suits that purpose well.

All in all I am going to have say this new shirt is sharp and classy. It’s simple and provides U.S. soccer fans with a jersey they can be proud of. Also, don’t forget about the “don’t tread on me’‘ inscription on the inside collar; a nice little touch added by Nike which is also on the home jersey.

USA soccer supporters, rejoice! The USA Men’s national team has unleashed a new jersey that ranks amongst the best I have ever seen. The jersey was put on display yesterday when the Stars and Stripes played to a tie against rival Mexico at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

The one thing that makes this new thread unique is the simplicity of it. There is nothing too fancy or electric about the white jersey. Completely white, the uniform has five red stripes that go across horizontally. Thats it! No weird lines, no horrific markings. Nothing! Without a doubt, Nike has put its mark on this jersey, creating a beautiful shirt.

Now there are some little things about the jersey that could go unnoticed. On the inside of the jersey near the collar, an inscription reads, “Don’t Tread On Me.” That motto for the U.S. national team is flanked stars and stripes. Finally, on the back collar, the countries name is displayed to give it a nice finishing touch.

I am very pleased with the U.S. Soccer Federation and Nike. They’ve teamed up to create a subtle, classy design. The jersey will be worn by the United States for the next two years and will appear mostly in the qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The jersey can be purchased here at U.S. Soccer Store.

The news is out, it’s spreading fast; Brazilian midfielder Kaka is taking home this year’s Ballon d’Or. The Ballon d’Or (The Golden Ball, which we will refer to it as) is awarded to the best individual soccer player from around the world and not just in Europe. The award which prior only selected a player from a European based club is now open to candidates world wide. The Golden Ball is handed out by a French magazine France Football.

In past years this award recipient has been visibly apparent. When Fabio Cannavaro took home an Italian Scudetto and a World Cup trophy home in the same summer he was a shoe in for the award. The year before that in 2005, Ronaldinho put put FC Barcelona on his back to lead them to a Champions League. And now with a replicate performance by Kaka, he too will have a Golden Ball for the achievements he achieved throughout Europe last spring.

Kaka played 31 games for AC Milan in the Serie A last year in which he scored eight times. Best part about this story is that he played 15 Champions League games last year and scored 10 times. Those Champions League numbers are insane. In fact Kaka scored the most goals out of any other player last year with 10. Who can forget when Kaka single handily silenced the entire city of Manchester with his dominating performance against United in the semifinal stage with three goals.

All in all the kid from Brasilia deserved this one. Plus, the fact that Kaka won the UEFA Footballer of the Year Award and the FIFPro World Player of the Year in August sealed the deal. He is only 25 years old so another award is not out of the future. Question is: Can he surpass Ronaldo at 2 awards, or can he even take a shot at Platini, Marco Van Bastan, and Johan Cruyff at 3?

When Milan Baros isn’t striking home goals for Lyon or the Czech National team, he is speeding in his Ferrari. French Police caught the goal scorer cruising along a motorway going 271 kph. For those of us who don’t know how fast that is we’re talking about 168 mph.

Their are some interesting notes about this story that seem to be more than amusing. The facts get better as the story goes on :
1. Milan Baros broke the speeding record for the French region which was previously held by a motorcyclist who went 241 kph back 2000.
2. Baros is currently injured and has not participated in any Lyon games since October 2nd.
3. Baros will probably face a huge fine that could include a three-year driving ban.
4. Milan Baros took a taxi back into the city of Lyon as both his Black Ferrari and his drivers license were confiscated.

Someone could have been seriously hurt in this incident as the people of Lyon must feel scared to even walk to a market as long as Baros is playing for Lyon. Will this affect the playing time of Baros and his reputation? Maybe, but as long as Baros continues to get paid and score goals for the Czezh National team, I don’t think a lot of people will hold it against him. I mean come on, what is a guy from the Czech Republic supposed to do in France when he is not scoring goals? Paint pictures? Go to a museum? Ride a bike? Speeding 168mph in a Ferrari?

Before I begin I would like to throw out some things to the readers. I have been playing FIFA since I was a child. Remember the old school diagonal field back in FIFA ‘94? Yeah, that’s how long I have been playing. Second, soccer is my life; and if there is one thing that makes me enjoy my favorite sport more than anything else, it’s FIFA. The one game that I look forward to every year is this one. The FIFA 2008 staff didn’t disappoint me. The presentation: minimal to no flaws. The gameplay: significantly better and more challenging. The satisfaction: rewarding.

*Game review based upon XBOX 360 version.

Presentation: If there is one attribute that FIFA does not lack, it is the presentation. Year after year, EA Sports continues to deliver the most fashionable soccer game out there. Gameplay aside for the moment, FIFA always provides gamers with more authenticity than any other sports game on the market. To me, licensing is important. If I would like to play with Manchester United, I would also like to play with their actual jerseys and player names. Another soccer game out there does not feature that and quite frankly, I won’t even consider buying it for reasons like that. FIFA offers 621 licensed teams with 15,000 players. If you did your math from last year, that’s a 20% increase.

Upon turning on the game, you can still enjoy messing around with your favorite player on the menu screen(one of my favorite parts of the game). One presentation flaw? The graphic which shows the score, time and teams in the upper left corner of the screen is horrid. You can’t tell which teams are playing in the game because the logos for each team are about the size of a grain of salt.

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