Today, in the United States, was a holiday. Memorial Day, started as a thought about the fallen in the Civil War, is now about Americans who died in every war.
We celebrate this holiday in many ways. One of them is sports.
An aside on American soccer, Major League Soccer. In the MLS, teams play for two things. The Supporter's Shield, for the team that finished with the most points. In any other league, this is the championship. The MLS Cup is a playoff that rewards the team that gets hot at the end of the season. Of course, there is also a national cup. The oldest is England's FA Cup. The second oldest the Scottish FA Cup. The third oldest is the US Open Cup. And I guarantee you that none of the teams the won the FA Cup or the Scottish FA Cup back in those day would even be able to give Bethlehem Steel a competitive game.
There is also a Canadian Cup, but there are only three teams in the MLS that play for it; Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps, and Le Impact de Montreal. No disrespect to our brothers and sisters up north, but the Canadian Cup is not that competitive.
Last season, Toronto FC won the Supporter's Shield, the MLS Cup, and the Canadian Cup. So give them a double and a half.
There was another, far more important soccer game on Saturday. So, if you support Real Madrid, I congratulate you. If you support Liverpool, I grieve with you. I do not like Liverpool, but I do like Juergen Klopp. Aftet this game, we can all see that Liverpool needs another striker or attacking midfielder who can score, another defender, and most of all, another goalkeeper!
Now, what I intended to do here, was paste some highlights of Dallas's victory over the double and double and a half winner Toronto, which featured several brilliant saves, just to give Coach Klopp a little advice. Shall we see if it works?
https://www.fcdallas.com/post/2018/05/25/highlights-fc-dallas-1-toronto-fc-0-may-25-2018?autoplay=true
So, if that actually works, how about one of those two gems?
Sunday was Race Day. The Indianapolis 500, followed by the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Indy 500 was won by Australian Will Power. He was running third near the end of the race when the first and second place car pitted, and held on to win. If you do not know about American racing, the Indy 500 cars look just like the F1 cars that ran at Monaco the same day.
The Coca-Cola 600, the longest night in racing, is run by cars it looks like you can drive off the dealership, but that is not true. A completely dominant run by Kyle Busch, who lead from the pole position and never gave it up. One of his sponsors is Nos Energy Drink, a Coca-Cola product, so that was nice. Of course, this series is known as the Monster Energy Cup, another Coca-Cola product.
Thank God for auto racing. Thank God for beer. Thank God for fried chicken. And thank God for the fallen heroes, who allow me to enjoy those things, and so many others, and allow me to breath free air. Thanks to them, I sing the battle cry of freedom.