Big 12 football standings.... delicious

 

First off, it has been a long time since I posted, I know.

But nothing has changed since July, I still have no idea what is going on in the soccer world and I don't care. MLS still sucks, that is a given.

Also, I still don't follow hardly any other sports. Why would I? It's all stupid.

But I had to smile this week with what is going on in Big 12 college football. The State of Utah has been turned on its head, and it has been fun to laugh at under my breath.

For some reason, even though I'm bored with most sports, I seem to listen to ESPN 700 radio a lot. At least "the Drive with Spence Checketts." Is it because he is Dave Checketts' son?, maybe. I don't know, but he does a very good job with his radio program.

Last year it was fun to listen to ESPN 700 during football season because I could feel the anguish of all Utes fans when the greatest college football quarterback of all time, or at least that is what they build him up to be, Cam Rising couldn't play due to injury but every week they held out hope that he would come back. "Cam this, Cam that, blah blah blah blah blah." They even had a segment on the radio called "Conversations with Cam" which was hilarious because the guy comes off as, shall we say....annoying? Well, he never did come back and the Utes sucked it.

Now, BYU didn't do any better so nobody could really smile or gloat.

But this year, lol.

One week in particular stands out, the week before the season began. With Cam coming back the guys on the radio could not blow anymore smoke up anyone's butt more than what they were doing. They were picking the Utes to win the Big 12, without a doubt. They were even interviewing one of the Utes players, I can't rememeber which one, but the words "national championship" came out of his mouth. 

Contrary to that they had one of the sports guys from KUTV on, I can't remember the guy's name but he has been a Utah sports reporter since forever, and he was asked if he thought BYU would go "bowling" this year, meaning they would win at least half their games in order to qualify for a bowl game. 

The guy said, "No, they won't. They are going to struggle this year, I don't see them winning 6 games this year." Even Spence Checketts was taken back a little bit by that statement.

Well, well, what a difference a few weeks makes. 

After Cam got injured by some paper cups of Gatorade, the Utes are struggling. And BYU, at least at the moment, can do no wrong. 

BYU is ranked number one in the Big 12, where the Utes are, well, so far down you have to scroll once or twice to get to 'em. 

It has been delicious to watch. I even scared myself a little last Sunday as I giggled with delight at the hightlights of Arizona stomping on the Utes in Rice Eccles, the place where my flags once flew. My laugh was uncontrolable, almost sinister. It reminded me of the Joker's laugh from this deleted scene from"The Batman." 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZNWLGL_CxI

"You think they deserved it, you think they deserved it!"

So, I know there are still many games to be played, but at least for now, let's all raise our paper cups of Gatorade and give thanks.

Utah Royals in last place, in danger of being relegated

Oh dear, the Utah Royals are in last place. You know what that means, relegation.

Down to the minor leagues!

Somehow you knew this was going to happen though didn't you. 

Why must we continue with this charade? 

Amy Rodriguez out as Utah Royals head coach, along with team president

(ksl.com June 30, 2024)

Utah Royals FC announced changes to its club leadership Sunday, with head coach Amy Rodriguez and president Michelle Hyncik relieved of their duties.

Newly-hired Belgian assistant Jimmy Coenraets has been appointed as the team's interim head coach. Goalkeeper coach Maryse Bard-Martel has also been released from her position.

"This expansion season has been full of lessons and learnings, and we are now focused on reorganizing leadership efforts on and off the pitch," Real Salt Lake President John Kimball said in a statement. "We are grateful and appreciative of Amy, Michelle and Maryse and their efforts in helping re-introduce the Royals to Utah's incredible fans and the international soccer community."

Rodriguez was a first-time head coach after captaining the previous iteration of the Royals as a player and serving as an assistant at her alma mater, USC, in 2022. Hyncik will move to a legal role with Blitzer Family Office, the company of part-owner David Blitzer.

Kimball will oversee business operations for the Royals while the organization "spearheads the search for a new URFC president."

Utah lost 11 of its first 15 games in the team's return to the NWSL, with Saturday marking its second 0-0 draw of the season.

https://www.ksl.com/article/51057034/amy-rodriguez-out-as-utah-royals-head-coach-along-with-team-president

USMNT loses to Uruguay, crashes out of Copa América

(sports.yahoo.com 7-1-24)

The U.S. men’s national team crashed out of the 2024 Copa América here on Monday after losing a full-blooded fight.

It squared up to Uruguay, Group C’s most powerful puncher. For an hour, it neutralized one of the Copa’s most impressive contenders thus far. It endured bruising physical duels. In moments, it looked capable of winning.

What it needed, though, was to score.

Over 90 tense and frantic minutes here at Arrowhead Stadium, it never did.

Instead, it conceded a controversial second-half goal to Uruguay’s Mathías Olivera — which appeared to be offside, but was confirmed by a video review - and lost 1-0.

Panama, playing simultaneously, beat Bolivia 3-1, leaving the Americans in a distant third place and eliminated.

At the final whistle, some players sunk to the ground; others keeled over at the waist; others just stood there, defeated and dumbfounded.

In the end, though, it was their previous match that cost them. They arrived in Kansas City wounded and reeling, beaten by Panama and pushed to the brink in Group C. A week ago, it appeared so simple; suddenly, failure lurked in the bowels of Arrowhead, ready to pounce if the U.S. couldn’t beat Uruguay, a flyweight giant of the sport.

“We have to go and play the best game of our lives,” Christian Pulisic said Thursday.

On the eve of the Uruguay showdown, he amended that statement; it was hyperbolic; “maybe I was a bit emotional,” he said. But the size of the task and the stakes were clear. “We have to play a really strong game,” Pulisic said.

Thirty hours later, they tried.

In some respects, they did.

But Uruguay was stronger. Uruguay is stronger. Uruguay was the team that grew into Monday’s game in the second half and forced the U.S. to fade. Uruguay was the team less perturbed by the physicality.

The first half was forceful and occasionally unhinged. Crunching tackles floored several players. Two — Uruguay’s Maxi Araujo and U.S. striker Folarin Balogun — exited with injuries after scary collisions.

It was also littered with sketchy refereeing. On one occasion, official Kevin Ortega whistled for a foul on U.S. defender Chris Richards, and whipped out a yellow card — then tucked it away to allow Uruguay to play advantage. The resulting chance nearly yielded an opening goal, but Tim Ream scrambled back to clear.

The U.S., in general, matched Uruguay’s intensity — which was no easy feat. The Americans were better for the opening 30 minutes, a minor victory on its own given the strength of Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguayan team.

But, as has been the case far too often under head coach Gregg Berhalter, they couldn’t find a goal. They created just 0.3 Expected Goals to Uruguay's 1.3.

"I mean, we had a good start and brought a lot of energy," Pulisic said postgame, "but at the end of the day, just not enough quality. I felt like we gave it everything, but we just couldn't find the solutions to score."

Once Panama scored in the 22nd minute against Bolivia in Group C’s other match, the U.S. had to conjure some quality; it had to create something.

For a few brief second-half minutes, Bolivia gave the USMNT life. The Bolivians equalized against Panama. Had both games ended in a draw, the U.S. would have snuck through to the knockout rounds on goal differential.

But less than a minute after Bolivia's goal was confirmed by a video review, the U.S. conceded on a set piece.

Panama later scored a second to go back ahead, and then a third.

Uruguay maintained control, saw out its 1-0 win, and sent U.S. players trudging toward their locker room to confront failure, toward Copa América exits.

They trudged, crestfallen, shattered, despondent, earlier than anyone expected. Many had been asked in the preceding weeks about expectations and benchmarks for the Copa; external assumptions were that a quarterfinal berth would be acceptable and a semifinal successful, but some players went further: Why not try to win it?

Few seemed to even consider a group-stage flop. It was so far beneath the USMNT’s apparently inflated sense of self. And it would so clearly constitute colossal disappointment.

But it happened, and now all eyes will turn to what happens next. They’ll turn to U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker, and to Berhalter. A majority of fans and pundits now seem to agree that he should be fired. Will he be? If so, who will replace him? And if not, how will he and the USMNT respond?

A mostly-under-23 team will head to the Paris Olympics later this month. But for the full USMNT, the next 18 months will be relatively barren. There will be monotonous, low-profile friendlies. There will be tiresome regional competitions.

This Copa América fracaso will hang over all of them, because this was the tournament that was supposed to elevate the program; this was its stepping stone toward the 2026 World Cup in North America. Instead, the U.S. will enter 2026 with approximately zero evidence that it can hang with the elite of international soccer and contend.

https://sports.yahoo.com/live/usmnt-loses-to-uruguay-crashes-out-of-copa-america-230001552.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJdyLZ87TfAuX-bH-siB3XgyP-PFcOXzaqs3uW7H062zCVZ14AV7neS2PPRAmTGAlSYXhpifHCaJNNcay7Hz7UCpMKFgz20oTgHe-MZqPBPsL2z-cLfBfYolJVArGtc-qL4NHZQIUCLm-mQ-7EfbTiwqLkuAQJQbmYU4egROTe3M

Ouch! You have got to be kidding me

What the hell? RSL knocked out of the Open Cup by who?, New Mexico United?

Why am I not surprised?

(ksl.com 5-8-24)

New Mexico makes RSL 1-and-done in Open Cup with 4-2 loss

Real Salt Lake was eliminated in the Round of 32 of the U.S. Open Cup Wednesday in New Mexico after making it all the way to the semifinals last year.

USL Championship side New Mexico United took it to the No. 1 team in the MLS Western Conference early on their home turf of Isotope Field with two goals in the opening 20 minutes and a 3-1 halftime lead.

"We completely tuned out," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said of the early goals. "The emotion is like, 'Poor me,' and when you operate from that space, you can never think reasonably."

Fidel Barajas got his first goal in an RSL uniform for the lone score in the first half, and Diego Luna got the second-and-final goal for the Claret and Cobalt in the 49th minute.

Luna's strike just minutes into the second half made it a single-score game, 3-2, but Jacobo Reyes ended all hopes of an RSL comeback with New Mexico's fourth goal in the 85th minute.

RSL made six changes to its starting lineup in its first Open Cup fixture, granting Zavier Gozo, Tommy Silva and Philip Quinton their first starts at the club.

"I think Fidel and Luna in particular did really well," Mastroeni said. "I think Tommy Silva did a good job and Gozo helped create that first goal before he got knocked in the head. So from that part, I think there's some experience gained."

Leading scorer Chicho Arango came off the bench in the 82nd minute to try and find an equalizer, but Reyes shut that door three minutes later as the second-division squad secured a win in its first-ever matchup against RSL.

The schedule doesn't get any easier for RSL following the loss, traveling to the third-place team in the West on Saturday in a classic clash against the LA Galaxy.

https://www.ksl.com/article/51007183/new-mexico-makes-rsl-1-and-done-in-open-cup-with-4-2-loss

Utah NHL hockey team names... I had to chuckle

So I went onto the website for the Utah's new NHL hockey team because I heard you could vote for the team name.

That is a good way to get the fans involved so I applaud their effort. The only bad thing is you are getting the fans involved and if the fans want a dumb Saturday morning cartoon kind of a name you might just get it. 

On the other hand, had Dave Checketts let the fans decide on the name for the new soccer team back in 2005 we would now be cheering for the Salt Lake City Highlanders instead of Real SL. 

Remember, nobody liked the name "Real Salt Lake" when it was leaked in the SL Tribune that that was one of the names Checketts was considering. (The others were the Highlanders, the Alliance, and Glory.)

Everyone liked Highlanders, but Checketts wanted to try and woo Real Madrid into a partnership, tv deal, etc. etc. So Real Salt Lake it is.

Anyway, back to hockey.

Most of the names are awful. "The Frost, the Blast, the Fury" Ugh... lame.

But I had to chuckle a little when I saw one of the names, the Utah Freeze. 

Do they not know we've had a Utah Freeze before? 

C'mon man, indoor soccer !!!

I went to a few of their games over their 3 year existence. It wasn't bad, it was indoor soccer, so what can you expect. 

Their attendance was pretty good though, averaging 5,700 roughly a game. 

Hopefully nobody votes for that name, let the Freezz always be Utah's indoor soccer legacy.

Back to hockey, I voted for "the Mountaineers, or the Black Diamonds."

You can't say those are Saturday morning cartoon names. I got a bad feeling though we will end up with a cartoon name. We shall see.

If you want to vote, go here: https://nhlinutah.com/

So the talk of new arenas has died down... bummer

So now they are going to remodel the Delta Center for the new hockey team instead of building a new arena.

On one hand that is great news. Some of these politicians and millionaire-billionaire sports franchise owners get drunk on their own ideas of spending our tax dollars on crap we don't need. Remodel the Delta Center? yeah, I can see that and justify that. 

Build a new arena? nah, c'mon. The Great Salt Lake is one or two bad years of snowpack away from disappearing and you want to spend your energy on dreaming of new sports arenas. Wake up! 

Now, on the other hand, I am kind of bummed. I was hoping with all this talk of building new arenas, (don't forget they are still trying to woo a new Major League Baseball team to Utah), I could present a plan to Salt Lake City and the legislature to get a bullfight arena built to help vitalize the city. 

I mean, it would be perfect. 

They are talking about revitalizing the Rio Grande area and building a new train station and all, maybe even one underground. They could put a Plaza de Toros right by the train station, just like they have in Valencia Spain. It would be perfect.

 

I can just picture a beautiful Plaza de Toros in an old Spanish architecture style right down there by the Rio Grand train station welcoming weary travelers to our bustling city.

We could hold a Spring Fair like Sevilla does in April and have a week of bullfigths, in July just like Pamplona we could do a running of the bulls through the streets of Salt Lake City in celebration of the 24th, and in the fall as the leafs are changing color and the weather is perfect in Utah we could have a Feria de Otoño like Madrid and Zaragoza and have a week of bullfights then too. The possibilities are endless.

And if the animal rights activists get their panties all in a knot like they probably would we could make the bullfights "bloodless bullfights" like they do in California. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/bloodless-bullfighting-a-portuguese-tradition-kept-alive-in-central-valley/

And these wouldn't be amateur bullfights, we would get the biggest and best matadors. Do you know the most popular bullfighter in the world right now, and has been for the past few years, is a kid from Peru?  Andrés Roca Rey. 

He just had a very successful performance in Sevilla on April 20th where he was carried out "la Puerta del Principe" after cutting ears from both of his bulls that day. 

I mean, we could get him here, the Peruvian community would go crazy. It would be so awesome. We could tie it all together and have a huge Latin America festival with bullfights as the center piece. Sure, we'll have dances, concerts, farmer markets as part of it, but the bullfights will be the most important part.

But no, now that they have decided to be somewhat fiscally responsible and not build a new hockey arena I'm going to have to forego my dreams of having a world class Plaza de Toros in Utah. 

Hmmmm..... wait a minute. 

Ogden is kind of a dump, always has been. I know, I grew up there. 

They could use some revitalizing down and around the train station on Wall Ave. 

We could still do a running of the bulls through the streets of Ogden for the week of the 24th of July! 

This has possibilities !!!

Keep your calendar clear Roca Rey, I will get you to Utah yet to fight some bulls.

No new arena? Ryan Smith reveals new vision for Delta Center

(ksl.com 4-19-24)

Ryan Smith envisioned a new arena being constructed when he set out to bring in a National Hockey

League franchise to Utah, but that vision hit some snags.

There wasn't much land for a new arena in downtown Salt Lake City; and while he looked for land "south" of Utah's capital, following a trend in sports of relocating stadiums to the suburbs, there wasn't much support there from state or local leaders.

Smith, who finalized a deal to acquire and relocate the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday, was left to reimagine his initial vision.

His new plan — now that the NHL in Utah is a reality — is to remodel the nearly 33-year-old Delta Center and instead focus on ways to improve the city experience around the arena. It will also keep the Utah Jazz, the other team Smith owns, in downtown Salt Lake City.

"The entrance of the experience for this downtown isn't when you come in the door, it actually starts in the blocks surrounding," he said. "That's way more important to me than building a new arena."

Remodeling the Delta Center

The switch from considering a new arena to a revamped arena started with pushback from the Utah Legislature and local leaders, Smith explained during an introductory press conference Friday afternoon. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also weighed in on stadium discussions.

But the biggest turning point may have come last week.

Smith said he was presented with a plan to remodel the interior of the existing Delta Center, which helped him stick with the new vision.

Interior renderings have not been released yet, but he said the plan would fix the arena's sight lines issues and bump the seating capacity to about 17,500 people — a significant boost from the 10,400 seats that were made available during NHL preseason games played at the arena in recent years. What's more, he said it wouldn't change the Jazz experience that much.

"We're using new technology to figure out — specifically on the ends, behind the hoops and behind the goals — to be able to turn from hockey to basketball, and back and forth," he said. "I'm actually super excited about it. I think it will be an improvement on the arena; it'll be an improvement of the fan experience."

Those adjustments would come "in relatively short order the next couple of years," according to Bettman, who has seen the proposal.

The vision, Bettman said, appears to be much less controversial than a brand new stadium, something that held up the Arizona Coyotes for years before this week's sale and relocation.

"I've been assured by a number of the local leaders that we'll have no arena drama. Based on where we came from, I'd prefer no arena drama," he said with a chuckle.

Minimal construction is expected to take place this summer to prepare for having a second home team in the arena. This would include a new locker room for the new NHL team. A genuine remodel of the arena could begin as early as next year, but that may depend on what happens between local and state leaders over the part of the project Smith says he's now more invested in.

A reinvestment zone

Friday's update comes after Smith Entertainment Group applied to partner with Salt Lake City on a downtown "revitalization" zone on April 4. It launched what will be a series of processes outlined in a bill that the Utah Legislature passed this year to set up the zone.

The legislation allows for a district of up to 100 acres in downtown Salt Lake City surrounding an NBA or NHL arena.

The group's proposal has yet to be publicly released; however, Smith dropped some hints on Friday about what is included. He said he would like to see more residential spaces surrounding the arena and more places for people to stick around downtown before or after a game.

He added he'd like to see some adjustments to existing downtown locations, such as the Salt Palace Convention Center across 300 West from the arena, so the whole area can "come flow together a little bit better."

The biggest hurdle is how it all gets funded. The bill authorizes Salt Lake City to implement a sales tax increase of up to 0.5% for 30 years within "the local government's boundaries" to help pay for projects or repay bonds used to make improvements within the district.

Salt Lake City Councilman Darin Mano said he's excited that professional sports is slated to remain in downtown Salt Lake City. He's also happy that Smith is interested in bringing in more residential spaces and entertainment options to the area, something that the City Council has looked at for years.

Yet that doesn't mean he's completely sold on approving the tax increase.

"Raising our sales tax is not a small thing, and I don't take it lightly," he said. "It's going to be really big, and I think (there are going to be) really difficult conversations."

If approved, the state would also sign off on any agreement. All of this would have to be completed by the end of the year.

Mano said he's not sure what happens if any of it falls apart.

Smith sidestepped that thought, instead focusing on the plan ahead. That plan, he said, goes beyond sports. He argues it's something that can help Salt Lake City as it continues to grow.

"This isn't about the arena. ... It's actually about having more flow, more energy, more passion, more activity, more arts, more education and being able to look back 30 years from now and saying that's the center of Salt Lake City, that's a center of Utah. That's where it starts," Smith said. "These are the things that we're needing to reimagine."

https://www.ksl.com/article/50986404/no-new-arena-ryan-smith-reveals-new-vision-for-delta-center