Soccer

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen is a big fan of the U.S. women’s national soccer team—big enough to have his own customized jersey.

On Friday, the All-Star posted a picture of himself wearing a personalized Team USA jersey in anticipation for the team's opening World Cup match on June 8.

In life, and in sports, nearly everyone experiences prolonged periods of both success and failure. Of course, the 2014 sports year was far from different, as fans were treated to some truly memorable performances, of both the good and bad sort.

Madison Bumgarner, for example, had a downright iconic year, establishing himself as one of baseball’s all-time greats with the type of postseason pitching we’d never seen before.

Soccer is the most popular youth sport in the United States. In 2002, 17.5 million American kids played in organized soccer leagues, not to mention the countless other children who gather for street scrimmages or spontaneous exhibition matches. Compare that to the classic pastime of Little League baseball, which had only 2.2 million participants in 2006.

But while soccer dominates the amateur market, most serious athletes in the U.S.

Wait! Wait! What's that noise? Is the stadium holding the world cup built over the most ridiculously annoying bees nest in the world? I asked myself this question, the first game I watched of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Did you ask, the same thing? Admit it, you must have wondered.

Well it's that time of the year. Players rest. Minds are eased. A meaningless game is televised by Fox as fans listen to McCarver rant.

In every sport, there’s at least one team that seems to “stack the deck,” meaning rack up all the talent so that no one else can have any and the stacked team wins championship after championship. Sometimes, the team has so much talent, that great players languish on the bench, and they could be starring someplace else. When I say “broken up,” I mean that the teams should get rid of some of their talent so other teams have a chance at having a good team. McMullen’s Musings takes a look at teams that should do just that.