Byron: July 2010 Archives

Today's diversion: two papers, two articles, one subject. Both the WSJ and the NY Times published a piece about Teach For America recently. The WSJ piece is (IMHO) a superior piece, but I think it's interesting how both articles play up the number of Ivy League candidates in the program, but WSJ takes a much more positive view of the TFA results than does the NY Times.

• Wall Street Journal: What they're doing after Harvard
• New York Times: A chosen few are teaching for America

In other news, some friends of mine are leaving to be missionaries in Uganda today. That makes headlines like this all the more alarming: 80 people were killed in Kampala by Somalian terrorists intent on breaking up the World Cup watch party with bombings. Please pray for peace and safety for both the Ugandan people and my friends John & Amanda.

My doggy turned 3 today. Granted, her birthday is approximate, but every dog needs a birthday, so I thought about the dates that would work as a good birthday for her... and then I realized I knew her real birthday. July 7, 2007. 7/7/7... you see, she's a lucky dog, so that had to be it.

To celebrate, we went on our normal afterwork walk. We met up with my mother and walked her to the bus, and then we walked all the way to the Grant Park Dog Bark where we played for a while before walking home. When we got back, both dog and human were thoroughly tired, and just a little wet thanks to a thunderstorm rolling through the city.

For one last something special, Lily is enjoying gravy with her kibble tonight... and she loves gravy!

So - Happy 3rd Birthday Lily!

The last month has been tremendous as World Cup 2010 captured the world's attention in South Africa. The US qualified atop CONCACAF and drew into a group with England, Algeria, and Slovenia. The conventional thought was that the US would lose to England and beat Algeria and Slovenia and advance to the round of 16 as the second team advancing out of group C.

Of course, what happened was a poor 45 minutes against England, followed by a muffed stop by England's keeper Robert Green, and then 45 minutes of the US outplaying England, but unable to come up with a victory. US, 1 point.

The next game, against Slovenia, saw the US down 2 goals before our boys kicked it into high gear and we rallied for 2 of our own. Then, in the last few minutes of the game, we scored again only to have the goal erased by a horrendous offside call. US, 1 point.

Entering the match against Algeria, the US controlled our own destiny, but it took us until added time for Landon Donovan to slot home a goal and deliver the 3 points we needed to advance. For the first time in 80 years, the US won our group, and we advanced to the round of 16.

Unfortunately, the US allowed an early goal to Ghana in the first elimination match and although we outplayed Ghana in the second half, we only managed an equalizer. In the first half of over-time, we allowed another goal and lost to Ghana 2-1.

Although the elimination was gut wrenching, I was proud of the team and am hopeful that we'll do even better four years from now.

Now, for two links: How MLS contributed to the USMNT success. And Why US fans should support the MLS.

So who's up to attending a Fire game with me?