Much ado about losing

By Greg Wiley
The Phanatic Magazine

Beckham arrives, Mickelson getting ready for another choke job and other rantings from the week that was in sports

The Phillies lost their 10,000th game in franchise history on Sunday and the bottom line is that it really doesn't matter. It's been said before, but it's the truth, some franchise was going to be the first to 10,000 losses, it just happened to be the Phillies.

The bottom line is that the current group of Phillies are not responsible for the franchise's milestone loss. Yes, they are the group that suffered the 10,000th loss, but it was the horrid teams in the early 20th century and late 19th century that were responsible.

While the current group of Phillies have been disappointing, they are not losers. This is a team that has found a way to be competitive the last few year's despite a management that's not even suited to run a hot dog stand.

Beckham Mania has begun

Here's the absolute truth, I will watch David Beckham's first game with the LA Galaxy this Saturday when the club plays an exhibition against Chelsea. I will also watch his MLS debut and if Philadelphia had an MLS club I would go to see Beckham play there as well.

While Beckham will not turn soccer into the most popular sport in this country and while he won't convert non-soccer fans into followers, he will help MLS draw at the gate by getting the fringe fan involved. People, like myself, who grew up playing the sport competitively and are now adults with families have not been supporters of the league for the most part.

My biggest gripe with the league is that the level of play isn't high enough for me to spend my disposable income on attending. Heck, most of the best American players would rather play in Europe. But the addition of Beckham definitely raises the level and my hope is that more players like him follow. I know that the MLS will never turn into the English Premiere League, but if
some of the world's best players come here while they can still play the sport at a high level, then I'll watch.

British Open

Believe it or not, I'm pretty excited for the British Open, which starts this Thursday at Carnoustie. I'm interested to see if Tiger Woods is going to win it for a third straight year and want to see if anyone is going to pull a Jean Van de Velde. If you remember, it was Van de Velde who let a three-stroke lead slip away on the 72nd hole at Carnoustie in 1999. I have that image of him standing ankle high in the water stuck in my mind and it makes me wonder who,
if anyone, can pull the next Van de Velde.

The favorite has to be Phil Mickelson. He choked away the U.S. Open two years ago and this past weekend he let a one-stroke lead on the final hole slip away and lost in a playoff to Frenchman Gregory Havret at the European Tour's Scottish Open.

ESPY's

Anyone watch? I didn't.

WNBA All-Star Game

Never mind, I didn't watch it either.

Fantasy File

All you Manny Ramirez fantasy owners must be overjoyed that I traded him. Since he vacated my roster, Manny is 6-for-16 with one homer, seven RBI and three runs scored. Look for Ramirez to catch fire the rest of the way -- that is until he decides to take the final month off to rest for the postseason. On a positive note, I climbed to fourth in the standings in my keeper league, securely in the playoffs. My roster still needs some tweaking, as I still need to upgrade my batting average and stolen base weekly totals to make a strong push for the title.