Came up in French class, but that was about it.

I think so. Greg Lemond won it a couple of times in the 80's.

It also depends on what you mean by popular. Even when Lance was on his run I don't think the event ever got above "interesting" outside of cycling enthusiasts over here.

There isn't a huge rabid fan base I don't believe.

I forgot about Lemond. Fair enough, i was under the impression that it had become hugely popular in the last few years.

The first rule of the Velodrome is that you don't talk about the Velodrome.

The second rule of the Velodrome is that you don't about the Velodrome.

but if quality and not quantity makes a difference, perhaps this will start to change things.

I don't think talent and money are as big as being stated. There is a ton of young talent and the USA clearly has a wealthy Federation compared to a country like Ghana. When Steinbrenner and his cohorts try to buy a piece of Man. U., you know there is a decent interest in Soccer here in the states. Youth Soccer programs have something like 4 to 5 times the numbers that youth baseball programs have now, and Baseball is supposedly our national sport. You also have had people like Ronaldo and David Beckham being mention as finishing their career in the MLS and young stars like Freddie Adu being a hot commodity for next year in Europe.
Michael Vick and TO could never hack it on a pitch. They are fast men, but aren't built for a 90 minute game of running constantly. I think coaching had alot more to do with it than talent. Arena is/was a good coach, but he isn't the type of coach who leads a team with talent such as this to a miracle run or pulling a major upset. We never play above our level like Ghana and Trinidad & Tobago have done this cup.
I don't know what it is about Europe, but some how we play our worst there and we need someone to change the mentality that leads us to poor play when we are acrossed the pond.

I'm moving to Brazil.

Just like yo' gran'pappy that still wanted to have him some slaves after the War of Yankee Aggression ended.

Other than that Promethium seems to understand that the USA lost, I don't think I've agreed with anything else he's said in this thread.

Azuri balls

Yeah as things are now. My point is that the US starts scouting basketball players before they even get to high school these days and Colleges starting sending recruitment letters to freshmen in high school.

Football and Basketball are where the best PURE athletes go and these are the sports they practice and learn. Vick and TO are pure athletes and if the desire at a young age had led them to soccer I think would've been just as good at it than they are at football.

NOBODY told gran'pappy what to do.

Freddie Adu was basically scouted at that age too. I think they are moving in that direction, but they might also want to buy a few young players from abroad to move over here before they get a chance to play for their national team. Those Argentines have helped out Mexico quite a bit, America might as well buy some Brazillians, Germans, Brits and Dutch too.

The U-20 National team for America has done much better lately in International play than has are National team, so that is a good sign overall. The reason the Argentines are so good this year is due to them winning the last couple U-20 titles.

Japan is beating Brazil 1-0, and the Aussies tied it up with Croatia.

Ronaldo just scored a fucking goal. I believe that makes him tied with Pele.

Brazil must have taken the first half off, they are now up 3-1

Ronaldo scores his 2nd, and outscores the USA.

[Polly's sports knowledge]

The Italian team is hot.

[/Polly's sports knowledge]

Brazil still has not lost in group play.

Best game of the tournament so far, well done the aussies.

That was an even bigger farce than the Italy-US game.

Where the fuck are they getting these referees from?

2 penalties we should have been given
2 players sent off
Simunic getting 2 yellow cards but NOT getting sent off
Simunic getting his third yellow when the final whistle is blown, and finally getting a red

Ridiculous

And, fuck you Zeljko Kalac.

You can talk all you like about how you're a better keeper than Schwarzer, but that's TWO fuck ups you've had in your past two games, not to mention a terrible roll out of a goal kick that immediately put us back under pressure in the last 10min

Graham Poll, we have that idiot every week in the premiership. Guy is a clown. Bit nailbiting was it!

Oh yeah there was no farce in the US/Italy game.

Ha. When it was announced he was doing this game everyone here thought it would be a GOOD thing - that we would actually have a guy who could control the game. So much for that one...

And, I forgot, that Croatian guy that had his shorts tucked up in some strange way manhandled the ref when the first guy was sent off. How did HE not get at least a yellow? If that was a league game he would be at least on report.

Oh, and the Italy/US farce wasn't so much that the cards were underserved, but just the way it panned out to me as a neutral observer. Silliness all round there