So I apparently ran away from here for awhile, which caused great concern for my mother, it seems. I didn’t think I was writing that frequently to have a three-day absence cause that much panic. Go figure.

Thoughts since I’ve been away (many of you want to bear with me on this one, I promise)…

-Texas is tied for first at the All-Star break, which is nice. The whole AL West is within 2 1/2 games of each other, and if history is a guide, at least three of those teams will still be close in late August/early September, yet we’ll continue to have Boston (or the Yankees, whichever hasn’t bought their way to the top of the AL East at that point) highlights rammed down our throats as they fight for the Wild Card spot down the stretch. The good news is, Texas has gone through a horrible lull and managed to stay tied atop the standings. They’re known for tearing up July and August, hopefully that either gives them a big enough lead to weather the next drought, or they don’t blow everything they have come September 1.

-The World Cup ended in less than dramatic fashion, headbutts aside. I’ve already shared many opinions on this around the Internets, but something has to give. Don’t know what it is, and I hate when people tinker with things that already have a solid fanbase (if not in this country), but how even the most avid of soccer fans worldwide can look at some of what went on in Germany and not question if their sport could be better, I don’t know.

First off, the fans themselves. When the World Cup comes around, feel free to share it with those who might not be a fan, but are showing interest. Too many fans, writers, announcers and others treat it like a “secret society”. Don’t be afraid to dumb it down for the masses, especially in the States. It’s okay to call it a “field” instead of a “pitch”, and why are Associated Press writers constantly referring to the Italians as “the Azzurri”, sometimes without even mentioning that it’s a nickname or whatever for the Italians? It confused me more than once, and I even knew what they were talking about! (However, if “azzurri” is Italian for “dirty, whining, flopping, greasy pricks”, then feel free to continue using it.)

Second (and probably lastly, for now), I’m not about doing a million things to raise scoring, but teams going up 1-0 then sitting back and playing catch has got to go. They did it with the NHL to outstanding results (especially in the Cup Final, did I tell you that the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup? Really. Cause they did, you know), and I don’t know why there isn’t a thing or two about soccer that could be tweaked up. The main one I noticed this year was offsides. Find some way to reward players and teams who try to push the play ahead. Allowing all out cherry picking wouldn’t be right, but I don’t think the offense EVER gets the benefit of the doubt on these calls. If you’re a linesman and you have to think even for a split second if he was really offsides, keep the flag down. Tie goes to the runner sort of thing. And let the offensive player “touch-up” onsides. Maybe I saw it wrong, and maybe it was a bad call, but I caught a couple examples of a player running offsides, but holding up for the defender to catch up before continuing his run, and it got blown down. And why should there be offsides within 20 yards of the goal? Any advantage you gain that close in is the defense’s fault anyway. The goal that was disallowed in the US-Italy game because Brian McBride was in an offside position and supposedly “screening” the goalie was crap. He got himself in a position to help his team within six yards of the goal, no one covered him, and yet the offense gets penalized. As long as he wasn’t directly interfering with the keeper physically, let them play!

If I’m way off base here, feel free to share your comments. Especially you, Dan.

Still bearing with me? Good.

‘Cause I’m getting married.

And now…