The World Is Watching Now

Well, it has become an international incident now. Thursday night's brawl between the Chilean Under-20 team (their officials and delegation) and the Toronto Police Department has now become a matter between governments - as the Chilean government has asked for a full explanation on the incident. The Under-20 team is playing this one up to the max (like they did on the field) - painting themselves as innocent victims or an over zealous and over aggressive police force who beat them and used excessive force for no good reason; the party line is "we just wanted to speak to the fans".

The Chilean government is throwing out some pretty heavy statements in the context of international relations - stating that actions of police were "clearly not justified" and referring to "the excessive violence" used by police.

In Chile, protesters gather around the Canadian Embassy to chant "Racist Canada". The news media has also been all over this, painting a picture of these young, naive, innocent kids who "went looking for glory and found hell." Of course, the cartel known as FIFA issued a statement saying that they would "investigate the matter" - but would let the Canadian Soccer Association handle this matter (mess).

This whole incident, much like the tournament itself, has been a farce. Canada will undoubtedly accept/welcome blame for the whole incident and absolve the Chileans of any wrongdoing to maintain international relations. FIFA will close its investigation saying that they let the Canadian Soccer Association and government handle the matter and will deem the tournament a success in spite of what happened - and will never award another tournament to Canada.

The obvious question here is - Why are the Chileans being absolved of any responsibility for this incident? Less than a month after the senior team raised hell in Venezuela at the Copa America, the youth team gets into trouble in Canada of all freaking places. We think we see a pattern here. One last thing, isn't it ironic that a South American country like Chile is condemning police in Canada for use of excessive force - that strikes us as being freaking hysterical. Maybe the government leaders in Chile have forgotten who Pinochet was?

We aren't the type to say we told you so, but we told you so. This friggin tournament had NO BUSINESS (business is the operative word with FIFA) being held in Canada - we weren't ready for it and certainly aren't accustomed to handling events like this and the trouble they bring.

That's our rant for today.


FRIDAY'S THREE STARS
Tampa Bay Devil Rays CF B.J. Upton had three hits, including two home runs, and three runs batted in to lead the Rays to a 14-4 drubbing of Mike Mussina and the Yankees - he killed our three play last night.

Boston Red Sox SS Julio Lugo is now safely out of range of the Mendoza line after a three hit performance which included a home run and four runs batted in, to lead the Sox to a 10-3 win over the White Sox.

Baltimore Orioles P Eric Bedard struck out eleven Oakland batters over seven innings, allowing only one hit and three walks, in a 6-1 win over the A's. Unfortunately for us, his win came at the expense of Maeple Leafs starting P Joe Blanton.


SATURDAY THREE PLAY
It was ugly yesterday - really ugly, 1-2 but killed by favourites. We'll get back on track with three nooners - we'll post suggestions for night games later. Today's suggestions.

Chicago over Arizona - we like Rich Hill to put up back to back good starts as he faces Micah Owings and the DBacks. Lay $100 on the Cubs - $165.

Los Angeles over NY Mets - like we said with Beckett's start yesterday - the staff Ace has to stop the bleeding; we like Penny to do that today against Jorge Sosa and the Mets. Lay $100 on the Dodgers - $140.

Milwaukee over San Francisco - Giants starter Tim Lincecum has been very good all year, but we like the Brewers to hand him his first bad start in a while. Lay $100 on the Brewers - $135.

That's it for today gang - thanks for taking the time to check in. Have a great one peeps.

Hazel, we hope things are groovy in your world.

We're out.