Some Soccer Notes

I spent most of yesterday watching the Boo play in a soccer tournament down in the Toledo area. She's a fantastic goalie for a great team and they won both of their preliminary games by wide margins (7-0 and 9-0). I mention this because both the Boo and I are major soccer fans and are very excited that the USA Women's Soccer team has forged ahead and won their first two games at the Olympics (3-0 versus Greece; and 2-0 versus Brazil).

Is it only me, or is anyone else somewhat disappointed by NBC's coverage of the games? I enjoyed the opening ceremonies, except for the inane comments from Katie Couric (what is she doing there?). Bob Costas was somewhat better, and even made some interesting comments about women athletes from middle eastern countries (there weren't many, I assure you). But the biggest annoyance is that it is next to impossible to get a schedule of events over time in any particular sport. I have searched high and low on the internet, in the TV listings and I can only conclude that it is ok to watch the Olympics, but to try to make sense of what is going on is discouraged. For example, I would like to know the entire schedule of the women's soccer teams, who and when they play; how they move up in the standings; and be able to follow it over the course of the next two weeks. But that kind of comprehensive information just doesn't seem to be available; nor do they provide it in the cutesy coverage as the network jumps from sport to sport. It's very frustrating, especially since I don't remember having this much trouble in previous Olympics. For comparison, just think of the NCAA Basketball Championships. Newspapers are full of lists of all the teams, who they play and how the winners move on. You can even fill in the blanks as you follow the sport over the endless weeks of that tournament.

Anyway, the Boo has another set of games today at her tournament (they won the first one 1-0 this morning) on their way to winning the championship (we hope!). Keep your fingers crossed for her team, and for the USA Women's team!