Saturday Short Stuff

The Beckham experiment of Major League Soccer isn't the unqualified success people expected it to be. Not unless we're counting jersey sales here. There have been no rash of defections from Europe to American teams. If anything, Landon Donovan made a bigger splash by playing for Everton FC.

But that's okay... India's top footballer Sunil Chhetri, who played forward for Dempo Sports Club in the Indian league signed up to play for the Kansas City Wizards. Taking it in, it doesn't seem much since India is hardly seen as a footballing nation like the Philippines. However, in the big picture, it's good for India as Chhetri has scored 16 goals in 35 international games, and it will bring in Indian journalists to cover MLS. Much like the Chinese media who follow Yao Ming in the NBA. It's also good because you'll never know if there's a possibility that a Filipino player could be given a tryout with an American team.

The New Jersey Nets beat the Sacramento Kings for their eighth win in 71 games. Do you even need to know the match score? At this point, it's all about Ws and Ls. T-minus 2 and counting. They don't just want to tie the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers with a 9-73 record. They want at least two more wins to even avoid being a co-holder of that dubious record. They should even play to win every game. Not just circle in red the winnable games. But in this picture, Courtney Lee, on the fly for a slam, makes the Nets deceptively look like a world beater.

And to Nets CEO Brett Yormark who got into a shouting match with a fan, Chris Lisi of Middletown, NJ for wearing a paperbag on his head... chill! You should get mad at yourself for putting a shitty team on the floor that can't win. You should wear that paper bag on your head now because you just got yourself on the news. See the pic below for the confrontation.

Since we're on the subject of non-winning teams, MY TEAM -- the New York Islanders -- got an underwhelming win over the Calgary Flames to snap a three-game slide. Does the score matter? Okay, it was 3-2 and now the Isles... have a 30-34 record; good for 14th spot in the 15-team Eastern Conference. In the picture below, NY's Finnish left winger Sean Bergenheim lands an elbow on a Calgary player's face while battling for the puck. You go, Sean!