Carey Talley Fan Club

“I’m not looking forward to the second half.”
- Me, Sunday, June 28, 2009; A bar in Hillsboro

Or I said something to that effect right before the second half of U.S. v. Brazil kicked off. And the bartender seemed to acknowledge the statement, or at least he momentarily set aside his quest to steer my father and me onto the one, true path of lacrosse (listening to a “come to Jesus” pitch from a fan of another “minor sport” makes for a weird experience, by the way; I feel more aware of how we must sound as soccer fans...

….now what else can they do? (The image may be cute-sy, but it replaces the earlier, ill-advised effort to post images of people in physical therapy.)

So, Columbus finally won, but not without frequent checks over their shoulder and – one my personal favorites – the late-game spaz. The late-game spaz – and we’ve all seen it – describes that time when no one on your team (or you, in the event you’re playing) can't make clean contact with the ball; players put a little too much in every pass, the turf, heretofore so friendly,...