Cardinals have lost the last six. The A’s lost their last three, even though any win would have clinched it. I’m sorry.

The AP via MSNBC.com is reporting that the US fatalities in Afghanistan and Iraq have now equaled (and then swiftly exceeded) the number of people killed on September 11. By any analysis, that’s a tragedy and it’s sad to realize that that figure is only going to increase. The problem with the story, of course, is that by folding the numbers of lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, the AP and MSNBC aren’t doing much to keep the distinction clear between those two theaters that technically have nothing to do with each other. Iraq isn’t really about the war on terror or 9/11 so why imply that it is? Other grisly figures include 2,390 who died at Pearl Harbor and, inexplicably, the 405,399 lost by the U.S. in World War II. Of course, the story concedes:

“Historians note that this grim accounting is not how the success or failure of warfare is measured, and that the reasons for conflict are broader than what served as the spark.”

The first part I totally agree with, but nice that the second part only serves to further confuse the issues. Good reporting, guys.

The magic number for the A’s is 4. The magic number for the Cardinals is 5. That’s the World Series I want. I’m pretending I haven’t jinxed it.

And not only is San Francisco the second “smartest” city in America, hometown Oakland the 18th, and most populus city in the metro area San Jose 15th, but those cities are also on the list of priciest places for renters. San Francisco lands at #2 (behind NYC and its wowza $2,469 average monthly rents), San Jose at #4, and even Oakland’s freaking out the renters at #7. It’s lovely that California has 6 of the top ten. I chalk it up to the weather.

Finally, I bought 14 books last night. I have a serious problem.

Update - 9/23, 12:19 am: The A’s magic number is now 2. Even better.

While the road to hell is paved with stadium plans that have never actually come to fruition (something about the irrationality of spending hundreds of millions in public money in what is little more than an act of charity toward a rich professional sports team), and both SF and Oakland have had their fair share each, I can’t help but be a wee bit giddy about the 49ers proposed new stadium plan. It would be pretty cool to have that random cut out that gives certain seats a view of downtown SF. Of course, you’d think you’d be more interested in having a good view of the game, but the park supposedly would offer that too. And while the fact that they want to build housing rather than a mall gives the SF Supes a perfect reason to squash the plan, wouldn’t housing be better than a mall - even if it requires infrastructure? And obviously, the stadium helps the possible Olympic bid, but like SFist Jon, I’m not in love with the traffic and crowding and potentially negative fiscal implications of actually hosting the Olympics.

 The real issue though - how much will ticket prices will go up?

It was almost too perfect that I chose to read Nick Hornby’s wonderful and engrossing football fan memoir Fever Pitch during World Cup month. Of course, it’s more than a football book, but I was really drawn to his frank admission of the very depths of his football obesession at the same time that the World Cup was reminding me how much fun and how intense it is to watch real top flight soccer. After a season of my own that was ultimately good, but at times beyond trying, it was nice to be reminded why I love soccer, to see impossible goals, to see the dramatic upsets and disappointments, the unexpected successes, the fact that, yes, on any given day, any team can beat any other team (sadly, the U.S. men’s squad never got that day), and all the ways the same result can mean radically different things to different teams.

I finished the book a few hours after Grosso sent the winning PK past Barthez into the back of the net. (At kickoff, Matt asked whether Barthez was “an adventure in goal,” the trite, by the end of it all, expression used for every keeper with a history of brilliant stupidity and stupid brilliance, which seemed to account for fully half the goalies there.) Excellent timing and closure, but now I’m ready to go into the backyard every night to kick around.

The writing is great. I can’t say much more about that. His good rep is well-deserved and I feel that I’ve been properly introduced and can go one to one day read High Fidelity, About a Boy, and all the rest. So on to the content.

It’s hard not to admire, and perhaps envy a little bit, Hornby’s obsession with football. I can think of nothing that I have been so devoted to for even close to the length of time chronicled and I’m only a few years younger than he was at the writing of the book. There are maybe obsessions that have been intense, but brief, flaming out when the quality declined, I got tired of waiting for the next big thing that would justify my affinity, or I inexplicably relocated the object from full-blown obsession to ordinary fandom - The Beatles, Cal Ice Hockey, Chris Noth, possibly soon Pete Yorn. To be able to count on one hand the number of games missed in the relevant lifetime is more admirable than lamentable. However, the book fairly recognizes the difficulty of cultivating such a devotion anew in this day and age. For one thing, even if I lived in London, I probably couldn’t afford to see every home game of my favorite team for the next couple of decades.

And there has been no comparable opportunity to get obsessed stateside. Once I was old enough to be aware, full professional soccer was non-existent in this country until I was in college, car-less and generally limited on funds, and that the closest team was in San Jose - and unfortunately named (seriously, the Clash with that crab-like logo?) - didn’t help either. Sure, I could have fixated on the Cal soccer teams - the oft nationally ranked women or the men. I did attend a number of Cal men’s games my freshman year for many reasons, love of soccer being only a tangential motivation for a 17 year old, but there was always an excuse not to go - they played up the hill at the rugby field, I could never get anyone to go with me, my idiot friend on the team quit, etc.

But still, I identified with Hornby on so many levels. For example, his fairly arbitrary reasons for being an Arsenal fan - they were the first team he ever went to see. Aston Villa is my favorite English Premier League team because the founder of the Oakland Soccer Club chose Villa’s colors as the OSC’s and, consequently, they were the first professional soccer team I ever heard of. That’s not much of reason, hardly defensible, but that was the reason.

The book is also fascinating because it reflects a soccer world I don’t really know.  I’ve been to one measly MLS game, watching the Earthquakes beat the Galaxy last season before the MLS proved it wasn’t really interested in keeping soccer in the Bay Area. But an Arsenal game, any Arsenal game, is clearly another world (even with the new luxury apartments at Highbury), with the only thing in common being the number of players and the presence of the goals. The fans, the game, the feeling, the quality, all must be different animals entirely. Further, I was appropriately troubled by how pervasive the hooliganism and the racism that echoed stories from Foer’s book - and I’m still curious about what motivates people to behave so terribly just because they’ve surrounded the pitch. And Hornby’s perspective and description of soccer tragedies and the almost inappropriate way the game just goes on are so well put.

A last bit of curiosity is the fact that for most of the book, the Arsenal Hornby describes is hardly the Arsenal I know. I won’t pretend to be a fully-engaged Premier League fan: I get the Aston Villa newsletter, which I’m more likely to delete than read; I check the tables every few months; I’ll watch a game on Fox Soccer Channel, but it’s not appointment television; and that’s the extent of it. (Notably, I probably have a much better idea of what’s going on in English pro soccer than the MLS. I suppose I’m part of the American soccer problem.) The Arsenal I know is one of the consistently good teams. They were entering this era toward the tail end of the book, in the early 90s, right before I would have started paying attention, but they had been so dismal, so good enough to avoid relegation, but not good enough to threaten to win almost anything for most of his recollection. But now, they are a powerhouse, one of the first teams I knew after Aston Villa, probably only behind Man. U. Heck, they were in the UEFA Cup in May versus Barcelona - sure they lost, but it’s an accomplishment, and I rolled into the World Cup thinking about how I had just seen the world class efforts of Ashley Cole and Thierry Henry. I find it interesting and ironic how much the club’s success has mirrored his own. He does have some thoughts on the subject on how football has changed since the book.

Next up - Jodi Picoult’s Harvesting the Heart. Picoult was recommended to me by a very nice girl I used to see on the bus who was getting her MFA in writing who I talked about books with a couple of times. I’m also starting Ozma of Oz.

Thought this might be fun and this game is really big given Ghana over the Czech Republic earlier - what a game!

4:35 - the first yellow. I agree with Franz Beckenbauer that the Cup has been lousy with yellow cards. I really feel like I haven’t seen so many yellows in so many matches.

8:30 - Onyewu really wants a yellow. He’s a big guy, but he’s got to learn to use that without fouling. Also, I’m kind of rooting for him as a fellow Nigerian.

11:11 - I love having HD. It really makes the game even more beautiful. 

12:00 - b.s. on the foul on Cherundolo. Thank goodness the Italians couldn’t convert.

14:50 - the US couldn’t convert that free kick, but getting a corner started that great oppoturnity for Convey. Shooting early and often is the key for the US.

17:40 - great look by Dempsey.  I love that the US is keeping play in the Italian defensive end. So much better than the Czech game.

21:40 - oh! nice finish by Gilardino. I guess I spoke too soon about the US dominating. Not scoring first isn’t a good sign for the US. Of course, Daruma never scores first and we usually win, so . . .

26:40 - ouch! own goals suck! so unlucky. Poor Zaccardo.

27:45 - a red card! this early! poor Brian “bloody face” McBride there, but two lucky breaks in a row. This is exactly the little help the US needs. Hope they don’t blow it.

30:14 - this feels familiar to soemthing I’ve said before in other contexts (clears throat), but just because you’re up a man doesn’t mean you don’t have to play defense.  

32:05 - nice corner by the US. 

33:15 - Does the fact that US’s bus not have its team name on it make it easier to spot? Don’t all the buses look the same? I’m just asking.

39:50 - It seems that teams get off-sides on the US a lot. I wonder how much of it is the trap and how much is teams feel they can take a lot of offensive chances versus the US. 

41:20 - Mastroeni’s shot’s just a shade too high! Pretty though. Love to see more of that. A step back and it dips under the cross bar.

42:23 - nice little set of passes between Donovan and Reyna etc. This is so much better than the last game. Really creating opportunities.

44:05 - That’s brilliant Mastroeni’s late tackle gets him a red card. Not at all a red card foul. That’s not at all consistent foul-calling. Unforunately, there goes the numbers advantage before the US fully capitalized.

45:00 - Convey’s making some nice runs. Hopefully, he keeps it up in the second half and someone actually converts on his crosses.  

Ah, half time. That kind of ended on a down note, but holding on to the tie - and maybe going ahead? - is a real possibility for the US.  

I’m never going to get tired of those Adidas Jose + 10 ads. 

But, I really am sick of those AIG ads. Whatever bouncing soccer ball pimping insurance, investments and retirement. Boring even if you sponsor Man U. 

46:03 son of a . . . ! Eddie Pope got a second yellow and is out of the game. 10 v. 9. Also Marcelo Balboa is so mad. It’s hilarious.  

48:32 - on the replay, um, totally no foul by McBride. I hate the whole there must be a foul if someone hits the ground. Dave Eggers has a good piece on this excerpted in Slate. (Scroll down to the section on “flopping.”)

50:25 - I love how they put the team names on the balls. It’s so cute. 

51:23 - Thank Jesus for crossbars.  

55:55 - Matt made the great observation that the US needs to get Italy to get another red card . . . or two. “It was pretty competitive when Italy was down a man.” 

57:25 - Claudio Reyna did a great job of tackling (without fouling or creating the perception thereof), but too bad his shot was wide. He’s always been on of my favorite players.

60:20 - Perrotta’s shot, thankfully for the US, just high. Whatever on the handball in the box on Italy a minute ago - that happens a million times.

61:48 - Beasley for Dempsey? I thought Dempsey was playing ok.  

62:43 - Nice pass from Donovan to McBride, too bad Brian shanked it left.

63:11 - clear Italian off-side, but what took the ref so long to blow the whistle? 

64:23 - OH MY GOD! nice shot from beasley, but alas, off-side! good call, but stupid of brian mcbride to block the keeper and interfere.

67:47 - Zambrotta’s shot was scary, but thankfully wide. Good pressure if poorly timed leg block by Donovan 

69:37 -  what is that? yellow card number 375 today? This reminds me of the occassional ggwsl ref who thinks that girls shouldn’t play rough and call fouls on everything.

72:08 - Best save from Kasey Keller all night. One hand knocking out a high volley. 

78:40 - another nice Keller save.

86:14 - nice defensive clear by Onyewu. Very dangerous Italy chance.

88:52 - (parts of) the crowd are chanting “USA! USA!” We really need a cool song.

90:00 a draw, the US stays alive, despite playing most of the second half down a man.

I’m not sure the value of the live-blogging experiment. It was fun and interesting, but it’s hard to blog and watch at the same time! Also, it’s totally reactionary without context, so I’m not sure how it reads.