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Hicks Watches Liverpool Blank ManU, End Skid

With Tom Hicks and co-owner George Gillett seated at midfield (together during the first half, separate during the second as seen on the telecast), Liverpool ended a four-match losing streak on Sunday and continued its Premier League mastery of Manchester United. It ended 2-0 with Fernando Torres breaking the scoreless tie in the 65th minute and Liverpool adding another in the closing seconds of stoppage time.

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And Now for Something Completely Different …

(Before discussing English football, the headline honors the 40th anniversary of the great English import Monty Python, subject of a new documentary.)

This has been more than simply a forgettable week for Tom Hicks’ Liverpool FC. It has been bad, bizarre and getting worse.

The Reds have lost four consecutive matches for the first time in 22 years, fallen well off the pace in the English Premier League only nine games into the season and are in danger of failing to advance out of opening-group play in the Champions League. They lost in stoppage time on Tuesday at home against Olympique Lyonnaise, and that wasn’t the worst of their week. Try losing when you give up a goal off a beach ball.

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Chatting Soccer with Bobby Rhine

It is a big day if you love the beautiful game today: First, you are seeing the first-ever All Soccer blog entry in the history of Inside Corner. I am sure it will be met with some level of resistance, but I can take it.

But, the 2nd reason for happy soccer time is that today is another chance for our beloved United States of America National Team to get their first ever win in Mexico City (3pm, Telemundo – Channel 39). We seem to have plenty of success on our home soil, but when the US heads south of the border, they have managed just 1 draw in 72 years of matches in Mexico City.

So, I wanted to mark this special day with a soccer chat with my buddy, Bobby Rhine. Chances are if you follow soccer in the area, you are quite familiar with his fine work – which includes well over 200 MLS matches for Dallas and now he is a member of the FC Dallas front office.

We will bounce around various soccer topics, and chances are, we will do this again soon. Enjoy:

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The Most Interesting Men In The (Dallas Sports) World – At Least For Thie Week, Anyway

10. Jordan Spieth: Big weekend for the rising Jesuit Junior golfer. Won U.S. Junior Amateur Championships on Saturday. Then his parents got a new driver. Spieth turned 16 Sunday.

9. Tommy Hunter: Big Rangers starter beat Josh Beckett on Tuesday. Has pretty much assured himself a spot in the Rangers rotation for the foreseeable future. Not bad for a guy who had a 16.36 mark in three starts last year.

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Rambling About Soccer

Me: My Name is Bob, and I love soccer.

All of You together: Hi, Bob.

No, not the soccer that you think you know. Not the soccer that your 6 year old plays because you don’t want them to get hurt in “real sports”. Not the soccer you roll your eyes at when someone tells you for the millionth time it “is the next big thing”.

I am talking about the soccer that every freaking country in the entire world lives for. The sport that is so consuming that most other countries do not require other sports to fill the off-season.

Soccer, when done properly – which our country has never really done with one of its domestic leagues – is as intoxicating an athletic endevour as you will find. And don’t tell me its boring. “It’s boring” is what your wife told you about baseball, and you knew that she might never know what she was missing.

And yesterday, was one of those moments when I thought that just for a brief moment, soccer might become mainstream.

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