My name is Bob Long (Twitter: @boblongsports), and I am the Founder and President of Bob Long Sports. I am the primary writer, reporter, and Radio Show Host for boblongsports.com. I began this sports website in December of 2009, and have been running it ever since. Bob Long Sports features Opinion Articles, News Stories, a Live Radio Show, Top 25 rankings for both College Basketball and College Football, and much more. I have experience covering every type of sports event or story, including: College Basketball, College Football, MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, and much more. If you love sports and are seeking interesting opinions about the hottest current sports issues, you will enjoy this website. The site’s contents are tailored to any type of sports fan, and I hope you enjoy reading.

19 responses to “Big Sports Day Roundup”

  1. KQ

    yo bob,
    i’m loving wimbledon right now! from fed’s first rounder and novak djokicik’s first rounder and now to the isner match! its been an outstanding tournament already and has barely started!
    next your boy from the mets, i was watching him pitch and knuckleballers might be my favorite part about baseball! there incredible… im working on my knuckler for camp this summer
    then jimmy got his first hit back in the majors and its a walk off homer! i think thats his like first or second of his career
    USA soccer game was also wonderful to watch. they have a great draw now in ghana and hopefully they can win that. i love their coach bob bradley but i wish that england woulda been knocked out instead of slovenia.

  2. Greg

    Bob,
    I dont know about your roundup in a big day of sports. I mean clearly the US soccer game outshined any other event today, and throwing RA Dickey’s 8 shutout innings into the article appalled me. Way to take away from one of our country’s greatest achievements. You know I also heard Johnny Cueto threw 7 shutout today and Carpenter 8, how about a shoutout to them as well.
    And by the way, “struggling in recent world cups” is incorrect, considering we made the quarterfinals in 2002, which was just two world cups ago (in case you didnt know, they happen every 4 years – i can tell you dont know too much about soccer judging the fact that you never replied to my comment on your first world cup post.)

    1. Bob Long

      Ok, to start, when I don’t respond to comments, it can be for a variety of reasons. Either 1) the comment doesn’t make sense, 2) I don’t have the time or desire to respond, or 3) the comment was answered in the article itself. Now your comment before corresponded to more than one of those criteria, and that is why I didn’t respond.

      Next, R.A. Dickey’s performance was important because he became the first pitcher in Mets history to record wins in each of his first 6 decisions. For a club that has won two World Series and has had elite pitchers interspersed in its rotation throughout its history, that is pretty impressive by Dickey. Johnny Cueto didn’t set any records last night for the Reds, neither did Carpenter. That is the significant difference that I don’t think you are seeing.

      Now to your comment about the US not struggling in recent World Cups. Here is the recent history. 2006-2 losses and a tie (total of 1 goal scored). 2002- reached the quarterfinals. 1998- 0-3 in group play (total of 1 goal scored). 1994- made it out of group play but did nothing from there. 1990- 0-3 in group play (2 goals scored). Before that the US hadn’t qualified for the World Cup since 1950.

      If you think that the last 20 years, with those results, have been successful, then God bless your optimism.

      Finally, I will conclude my comment with this. My blog is not a soccer blog. It is not a football blog, or a baseball blog, or a basketball blog. It is a sports blog. I try to cover all the important happenings in sports, not just what Greg thinks should solely be covered. Therefore, I am glad that you are reading, and I appreciate your thoughts, but I will just warn you not to expect only blogs about soccer or the World Cup. That simply will not happen, although I am excited and more than happy to cover it. However, I do not appreciate that you believe I am “taking away from one of our country’s greatest achievements” simply because I decided to cover other sports in my blog. There was more than just soccer on yesterday Greg, and my job is to cover it all.

  3. Greg

    Wow, i almost dont even know where to begin. The easiest would be the “elite pitching” throughout the mets career. Ill give the mets tom seaver and dwight gooden, no one else. No, Al Leiter was not an elite pitcher, and dont even say david cone or tom glavine, because they had their best years with the royals and braves.
    As for the US and “recent” world cups, it is hard to define recent, so ill let you have the past 20 years. For a nation that has totally disregarded the sport of soccer throughout its history, to have qualified for 6 consecutive world cups and to have reached at least the round of 16 in 3 of those 6 tournaments, i would say that is unarguably successful. Yes, we are still far behind the powerhouses in the world of soccer but in terms of realistic expectations, barring the massacre in germany i would 100% say we have been recently successful.
    Thanks by the way for clarifying that this isnt a soccer blog but an all around sports blog. I was simply suggesting that you did not, and still do not, understand the magnitude of the victory yesterday. By including some random fact regarding RA Dickey, you are downplaying the significance of one of this country’s greatest sporting achievements in our lifetime.
    By the way, regarding my comment on your other article, im still waiting for a reply. Im just going to go ahead and assume you dont have time to defend your idea of increasing the size of the nets, because the defense you gave in your article was downright poor and did not address anything i commented on.

    1. Bob Long

      1) If getting out of pool play is good enough for you, then that is fine. I don’t care that we didn’t have success before then, the fact that we struggle to be in the top 16 in any sport is by my count not successful. To each his own, however, and I am not judging your opinion on the issue, I am simply responding to your remarks about my comments regarding the recent success of the US soccer team. If you think what we have done is good enough, that is fine, but I would like to see the team and the country do better, no disrespect.

      2) I’m not downplaying anything about the US team because of any other comments I made. I covered the most important and interesting occurrences of the day, and no matter how much you dislike it, or disagree with it, R.A. Dickey did something pretty cool by recording 6 wins in his first 6 decisions (putting him in the Mets history books). However, R.A.’s performance doesn’t downplay the US team’s great victory, I am still trying to figure out how you put those pieces together. (In addition, it is crazy that my mention of Jimmy Rollins’ home run was good by you, but R.A. Dickey’s performance set you off. Just an observation.)

      In addition, you stated that the US game was “one of this country’s greatest sporting achievements in our lifetime.” However, you and I have both stated that the US has done this (advanced to the qualifying stage) 3 times in the last 6 World Cups (50% of the time). So is it really one of the greatest sporting achievements in our country’s history? Granted, we won the Group, and beat England in the process (on goals scored), and did it in unbelievable and breathtaking fashion, but we haven’t done anything yet that we haven’t done before in the World Cup. Therefore, I am excited for what comes next, but I wouldn’t say quite yet that we are experiencing the most success or accomplishing our greatest achievements. We will know if that is the case by early July.

      1. Matt

        I think the confusion with the RA Dickey comment was because I guarentee you if you were not a mets/ cubs fan then RA Dickeys astronomic achievement would absolutley not have made this blog. By saying that it was important and impressive and then not including the name Stephen Strasburg on your blog is a bit contradicting. Strasburg set an MLB record for most strikeouts in his first 4 career starts. A record that i think is far superior to Dickeys not just because he beats out the pitchers in all major league clubs and not just the mets but because his record does not depend on the amount of run support he gets. Sure Dickey has had 6 straight wins but a win for a MLB pitcher is more than throwing a good outing, just ask Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee, you need the offense to provide runs for you so while yeah RA Dickey has been good he cant recieve all the credit. The fact that hes on here and the pheonem Stephen Strasburg is not is flabbergasting to me, and by the way say what you want about J-roll but we didnt put him on your blog, you did.

    2. Bob Long

      And about my contention about the nets, I did make my point quite clear in my article, and while you disagree by saying that defense is also important, my point is that because players have gotten quicker, stronger, and more athletic as the years progress, goals aren’t nearly as easy to come by as they were, say, 40 years ago. Therefore, quite simply, I don’t think teams are consistently rewarded for superior play because of the inability to score. In the same vein, superior defense isn’t always rewarded either, because many times a superior defense will be portrayed as just as good as a mediocre defense simply because the opposing offenses can’t score. So it does go both ways.

      1. Bob Long

        Matt,

        Talk about a critique, wow. Should I ask you if something is OK to put in the blog before I do so, just so that I don’t have to deal with this crap from people like you and your buddy Greg every time I write a blog?

        Here is what I am hearing. Since I put R.A. Dickey’s stat in (I really can’t believe this has transformed into what it has), why do I then have to include every other statistic pertaining or relavent to it? I think your comment is a reach, Matt, with all due respect.

  4. Greg

    Matt’s comment was a reach? I think the reach in the blog here was including RA Dickey’s feat. Stephen Strasburg has been the story of the year in baseball thus far, and his record has bested every pitcher who has ever played baseball, not just the likes of guys like steve trachsel and al leiter. Quite frankly, im just not impressed by this feat. RA Dickey isnt some young phenom on a tear to start his career, i mean his lifetime ERA is over 5 in his 10 year career. As a 35 year old baseball player, he couldnt even make the mets starting pitching staff at the beginning of the season, losing out to the likes of oliver perez and jonathan niese. Pretty embarrassing. But hey, that describes the mets.
    And how is the stephen strasburg statistic relevant to RA Dickey’s? They have nothing to do with one another, yet you chose to include the lesser, more unimportant statistic of a washed up pitcher getting a 2nd wind compared to a young kid who’s been practically unhittable so far.
    As for the nets comment, yes you did clearly make your point in the article, a point that is quite frankly embarrassing to hear from a “sports fan.” You know in the nba players have gotten a lot bigger and better, maybe they should go with 12 foot nets. You clearly just dont appreciate the beauty of the game of soccer, where scoring a goal is the ultimate reward for a strong offensive attack. Only someone who truly didnt understand how a 0-0 game can actually display brilliant offensive and defensive schemes would suggest increasing the size of goals. No one blinks an eye at a 0-0 score, they happen and they are a well accepted part of soccer. USA-Algeria was 0-0 for over 90 minutes, yet it was one of the most entertaining games i have watched in recent memory. Bottom line, there is absolutely no need to change the size of the nets just because an uneducated fan only sees the box score rather than how the game actually plays out.

    1. Bob Long

      Greg, did Strasburg win or lose that game? Oh, that’s correct, he lost. Listen, I am not trying to say that Strasburg hasn’t been impressive, I am just saying that I shouldn’t be crucified for blogging about something other than that, and just because you may think differently (I have no problem with that) you don’t need to be a jerk about it by insulting me with, let’s face it, not very valid claims.

      And to your analogy about the 12 foot basketball nets, that also makes no sense because the increase in athleticism makes scoring easier. The other thing about basketball is that scoring isn’t a problem. There is already more than enough scoring to differentiate the quality of play between the two teams, and I think that is what is lacking at times in soccer.

      That brings me to my final point. My contentions have absolutely nothing to do with the entertaintment aspect of the sport as you have mentioned. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and a sport that I truly enjoy. My feelings on the issue stem only from the fact that I do not think that the game of soccer always rewards the better team. Simple as that, and if you disagree with that, I have no problems, but again, don’t be a jerk about it. Take that to someone else’s blog.

      1. Matt

        Strasburg lost the start bob and i apologize that he didnt get run support, he tossed 6 innings of 1 earned ball. Also an interesting statistic to point out. RA Dickey continuing with his quest to put himself in the Mets record book with his performance tonight. He set a franchise record for worst start coming off a record breaking performance with his 5 innings 5 earned line in that 10-3 loss to the Marlins. But the fact that RA Dickey had a bad start isnt shocking news to anyone that follows baseball, just ask Texas, Seattle and Minnesota. What is shocking is that shane still has the privledge to post on this blog. I mean talk about embarassing posts. Shane this is a sports blog so arguing about a kid that you never met getting laid or not is neither a funny or a legitimate post in fact you should be crucified for that but I think the fact that you actually posted that under your name is pathetic enough. As for me keeping it classy bob, im not sure how i get the call out and Shane’s left off the list. I simply stated my opinion ( which i believe is the purpose of writing on a blog), meanwhile Shane sent a personal attack at a kid he never met, so shane next time you go to post on a SPORTS BLOG put down world of warcraft for a week on turn on sportscenter.

      2. Bob Long

        Matt, everyone here has been a problem, and I’m not just calling out one person, I’m cautioning everybody. In addition, Shane’s comment was made after my comment in which I warned the three of you.

    2. Bob Long

      And I am going to need you to back off the uneducated comments. You have no idea who I am, and just like hockey fans in the playoffs, you think that you are the only person who has any idea what he is talking about. I tried to stay away from that to avoid coming off as a pompous fan who thought he was better than anyone else. Maybe you should do the same, because you come off to others as a jerk.

    3. Shane Denecke

      Hi
      Greg: I’m going to ignore everything you just said regarding sports because honestly I don’t care. Bobs a good friend of mine and he does this because he loves sports. You on the other hand are a loser.
      You probably found bobs blog after sitting on the computer all day (cause lets face it, who likes going outside) and you’re just looking for someone to argue with. Getting cut from the soccer team in 7th grade really must have sucked for you but you are just going to have to deal with the fact that you’re parents just don’t love you. Good luck in your never ending quest to get laid

      Thanks

  5. Bob Long

    Joe, your comment was deleted due to profanity and disrespect, and any comments that fall under any of those two categories will likewise be removed. Now, I do not mind disagreements or even arguments (in fact I think many times they provide for vibrant discussion boards) but comments must be respectful in order to be visible on this blog. That said, Joe, Greg, and Matt, you need to watch what you say in the future on this blog. You can comment and express your opinions, but keep it classy please.

  6. Greg

    Shane, that post wouldn’t even be funny if we were in the third grade, but im going to show some class and just disregard your post because it had nothing to do with my arguments regarding the articles. Feel free to make a post though regarding sports, after all this is a sports blog, so i mean if you feel you can hang with the big boys on here try and get a comment in if you think you can, but i doubt it, with all due respect of course.
    Bob, i didnt realize that i would be a “pompous fan” by bringing some actual perspective to your sports blog. Im just telling you, while trying as hard as possible not to act like i really know soccer because apparently thats frowned upon on here, your idea regarding the size of the goals due to lack of scoring is utterly ridiculous and unnecessary. Your right that the lack of scoring in soccer makes it more difficult to distinguish a better team in an individual match from another, but guess what, thats part of the beauty of the sport. Anything can happen in 90 minutes, just ask italy and france, and thats what makes the game so exciting. Goals are difficult to come by, so when a team finally scores a goal, they will happily try as hard as they can to preserve that lead. A 1-0 win will almost due the same as a 5-0 win, they both get 3 points except for the difference in goal differential. Bottom line, a win is a win, and teams dont feel the need to get involved in the 4-3 score lines to pull out a victory. 1 goal is enough for teams, the nets dont need to be altered to force teams to rethink their tactical strategies.

    1. Bob Long

      Greg,

      I never asked you to act like you didn’t know soccer, I just asked you to not have the attitude that “I’m better than everyone else” and respect the opinions voiced by myself and others on this site. I respect your opinion, and understand your point of view, but I still stick to my argument. That’s how sports debates should go, and I am hoping that from here that is how we can agree to do things on this blog. Feel free to continue posting, but keep in mind some simple rules.

  7. Greg

    BREAKING NEWS: RA Dickey gets his first win since June 23rd… waiting for the article on him resurrecting his season

    1. Bob Long

      Reached for that one didn’t you Greg. Well done. Going back a month to comment on an article that mentions R.A. Dickey.

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