I live in Atlanta. I grew up in Florida. I'm supposed to hate international soccer, right? I'm supposed to think it's boring and slow and there isn't enough scoring, correct? Well, instead I love it. It's one of my favorite sports. I'll explain why in a future blog, but I have to tell you, yesterday I watched the entire EURO Cup finals. I admit, it was a bit of a sleeper -- Spain won 1-0 -- and probably turned away a lot of casual fans, but I enjoyed watching it nonetheless. Spain's Fernando Torres scored one of the most athletic goals I've seen (check YouTube or RedLasso), and being a little tired after a late night adventure to Waffle House, it was a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

It is amazing how passionate people are about the sport overseas. In Germany, 26 million viewers or 80 percent of the market watched the game. Spain set a ratings record with 14.5 million or 81 percent. In terms of percentage, this is ...

Well, we’re almost finished the first week of Wimbledon and Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have already shown why they are the best in the world. The contenders Andy Roddick, James Blake and Novak Djokovic all lost in the second round. While Nadal, who plays his third round match Saturday and Federer, who is already in the 4th round, have had relatively smooth draws. Now it seems a Federer-Nadal matchup is inevitable.

Before Wimbledon began on Monday, SportsUnlimited talked with Tennis Channel personality and former ATP player Murphy Jensen. He and his brother Luke (now a tennis analysts for ESPN) won the 1993 French Open doubles title and were one of the most popular doubles teams on tour. In the mid 1990s, the duo was featured in the Rolling Stone, Spin, Sports Illustrated, Wall Street Journal, Racquet Magazine, Tennis, Cream, Movie Line, Tennis De France and Esquire.

Murphy is now ...

Last night Shan (yes, Shan) Foster was drafted No. 51 by the Dallas Mavericks. He must have been pretty happy because "He can't wait to play in the NBA." This is great. Thanks Fox.

Bobby Reynolds, the only American men's player left after Roddick's deflating loss, is scheduled to play on court 18, the farthest court from Centre Court.

RedLasso has popped up on sports blogs everywhere in the last few months. It's the most useful tool for watching (and embedding) clips of live video. This morning I logged on and searched "Wimbledon." I was surprised to find this mornings coverage of Wimbledon from ESPN2 in full. Normally copyright infringement prevents YouTube from hosting clips from the ESPN networks. RedLasso, though entrenched in a lawsuit with the big three NBC, CBS and FOX,  says it avoids copyright laws by sharing revenue with its "content partners." I would make the best use of it while it's still available. When you si ...

With Tiger's absence, we have a feeling the PGA Tour will warm up to the antics of Cordova, Tenn. native John Daly. Like Tiger, he attracts crowds to PGA Tour events that wouldn't normally attend. His fans arrive with the promise that he will do something like play a round without his shirt.
    At the Buick Open's pro-am he was paired with Kid Rock. He didn't disappoint by teeing off a budweiser tall boy. Here is the video.

"First beer: About 150 yards down the first fairway. Rest assured, it wasn't his last. At one point during Wednesday's Buick Open pro-am at Warwick Hills, Kid Rock held up a cigar and his ever-present Budweiser t ...

The Wimbledon draw started with only 10 American men's players. Now it's down to two. James Blake lost in a five-set match to German Rainer Schuettler. Blake has had trouble finishing big matches in the past and this is just another example. Andy Roddick is struggling in the first set of his second round match with Serb Janko Tipsrevic, who is relatively inexperienced at Wimbledon. If he wins, Roddick has a pretty good chance to make the semifinals, where he would most undoubtedly face Rafael Nadal.
    The most significant surprise on the American side has been Bobby Reynolds. The Acworth, Ga. resident is the only American already in the 3rd round. During his first two matches, he's kept his enforced errors relatively low, though he hasn't really played a top-tier opponent yet. He'll face his first seeded opponent Friday, Spain's Feliciano Lopez in the third round.

The other day I was fishing with a couple friends on Mountain Creek Lake in southwest Georgia and one of them started talking about grabbling. I had no idea what he was talking about. He said you stick your arm into the fish’s mouth, let it bite you and pull it out of the water. I thought he was making it up. Then today I read a story in the Clarion-Ledger about grabbling. Not only does it exist, there is actually a season for it.

“Mississippi

With the draft only three days away, it seems college players are being a bit more cautious about declaring for pros. [Stay or Go? Collegians decide at NBA Draft deadline - UWire]

UGA represents the Southeast in the College World Series today. The three-game series which begins at 7 p.m. is televised on ESPN. For readers unfamiliar with UGA, here is a slide show of the players. Here is another story from the AJC about the pitching rotation and one in the Athens-Banner Herald about Coach Perno and his winning ways. SportsUnlimited featured Georgia's Gordon Beckham, ...

The US Men’s National Team plays its first FIFA World Cup qualifying match this weekend against Barbados (5 p.m. EST - ESPN2). Though the World Cup qualifying roster is often different from the actual World Cup roster we’ve compared the 2006 World Cup roster that failed to survive group play with the roster that will play on Sunday.

2006 World Cup Roster
From International Clubs
Beasley, DaMarcus     M     5'8"     145     05/24/82     55/12     Ft. Wayne, Ind.      PSV Eindhoven (Holland)
Berhalter, Gregg ^     D     6'1''    &a ...