Bombing in Beijing

Ah, the bright future of American soccer. A roster featuring 10 MLS players crashed out of the 2008 Olympics with a 1-1-1 finish, good for third place in Group B of the group stages. A 1-0 win against Japan to start the tournament faded out of memory as the U.S. drew Holland, 2-2, before dropping a 2-1 decision to Nigeria.

I know many of my readers probably could care less. Soccer is something that people just don't follow in the U.S., especially in a place like Pittsburgh, where football is the only sport that exists to many. But when it comes to the Olympics and the World Cup, U.S. soccer is a way to smack the rest of the world in the face. It's a way to say, "Look at us, world. A vast majority of us don't even care about soccer, going out of our way to insult it, and we still can compete with you."

But in order for the U.S. to compete with anyone, something has to change. There can no longer be 10 MLS players on any roster taken to a regional or world competition. Taking MLS players to an Olympics or World Cup is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. And it shows.

I understand there is a sort of pride in building up a domestic league and trying to beat the world that way. But it doesn't work. And it won't ever work. If you think Landon Donovan is good, you are an idiot. You know nothing about soccer. He might be fast. He might be a nice guy. But he is not good enough to compete at a high level on a world stage.

Players like Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu got it right and left for Europe. That's where you hone your game. Not South America. Not the MLS. Not Africa. Not Asia or Oceania. Europe. You go to Europe to learn how to play soccer.

If the U.S. ever wants to compete, it has to abandon whatever system it's currently using to develop national players. It has to start over, with an emphasis on exporting talent to import international success. It's too bad Donovan couldn't handle life abroad. He might have turned out to be a decent player. Instead, he's wasting time at home.

My parents always used to say, "Don't just play [basketball] against your friends or in the driveway. Go play against bigger kids and older kids. Play against better kids. You'll get better."

They were right.

And with players like Altidore, Adu, Clint Dempsey, DaMarcus Beasley, Tim Howard, Jonathan Spector, Eddie Johnson and Michael Bradley leading the way, perhaps the Americans are moving in the right direction.

Hopefully, the MLS will be far less represented at the 2010 World Cup. Otherwise, expect another year of high expectations and hype building up to the tournament, then a colossal disappointment that actually shouldn't surprise anyone.

Let's get to the rapid fire ...
-- Sigh.

-- There is no truth to the rumor that Brett Favre, who is pushing 6,000 years old, will be John McCain's running mate. There is, however, some truth to the sidebar rumor that both will be tired by September.

-- Did you see this racist picture that surfaced of the Spaniards mocking the Chinese (and basically every Asian ethnicity)? Spain always seems to be in the middle of this kind of stuff ...

-- There's a lot of fuss over Ben Stiller's new movie, "Tropic Thunder." But I don't think anyone involved with the movie should care at all: The more people talk about it, the more people will want to see it. So everytime someone complains about the flick, another person is intrigued to go see it. Somewhere in the L.A. area, someone is smiling. After all, negative publicity is still publicity, and that's all movie execs want.

-- The ongoing age controversy. China is the new Soviet Union.

-- I've started a new fantasy football league. We're currently at 15 teams, with the very likely prospect of pushing 20. The goal of the league is to (1) create a larger winnings purse by having more people, (2) have each person pay less to join than they would otherwise to join 10- or 12-person leagues and (3) even out of the playing field so you actually have to draft a deep team with role players.

What do you think of this idea? Comment below and let me know what you think.