Random Thoughts 1.0

• Good news, loyal readers. I am pleased to announce that we will have the opportunity to interview Grant Wahl, a senior writer/soccer authority at Sports Illustrated, about this tournament. Anyone who talks sports with me regularly knows that I think Wahl is one of the best sports writers around, so the fact that he will be contributing his insights to this blog is pretty sweet. Stay tuned for more details.

• Speaking of Grant Wahl, he says in a recent article on SI.com that the European Championship is the best soccer tournament in the world. I've heard this declared by other writers as well; the thinking here is that while you don't see South American powerhouses Argentina and Brazil, you also don't have nearly as many easy matches in group play against the weaker squads from other continents (remember Togo and Saudi Arabia in the 06 World Cup?). I don't think anything beats the World Cup, but a glance at June's FIFA world rankings shows you that there aren't going to be many pushover matches in the coming weeks. The World Cup might be the best tournament to follow and watch, but the European Championship may very well have the best competition. With 10 of the top 12 ranked squads in the world, the level of play figures to be outstanding.

• In every international competition, there seems to be an impossibly difficult group; this is usually known as the "Group of Death." In this tournament that honor undoubtedly goes to Group C, which boasts France, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania as its members. They are ranked 3rd, 7th, 10th and 12th in the world. While this makes for some dynamite matchups (see: World Cup Final rematch on June 17th), it definitely calls into question how the groups are chosen. Surely there is a way to seed teams so that we don't have a loaded Group C and a mediocre Group B (Germany got a great draw with Austria, Croatia and Poland). If you want to figure out a way to reward teams for how well they perform in Euro qualifying, that's fine; but there has to be some consideration for world ranking and recent form in international tournaments. If they did this, we'd get groups that were more even and later rounds with juicier matchups.

• As you familiarize yourself with the groups and teams in Austria and Switzerland this summer, you may notice the glaring absence of England. Their failure to qualify for Euro 08 was both shocking and embarassing for their soccer-obsessed fans, and it's also a disappointment for many Americans following. Not only does England present the most logical team to root for, as one of the only English-speaking nations in Europe, they also have a roster loaded with stars whose skills draw attention wherever they play. No Frank Lampard or Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard is a big loss for this tournament. There's no getting around it.

• I realize that nearly all of the links lead you to ESPN content, and I swear I'm not pimping their stuff for any personal gain, but isn't it awesome that every game is going to be on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN Classic? This is just what this tournament needs: more exposure stateside.

• One of the reasons international soccer is so difficult to follow is the lack of fluidity in terms of teams and individual stars. In the time between World Cups, a guy can go from being a world class player to irrelevant (looking at you, Rivaldo). If you don't follow club soccer closely, as I suspect most reading this blog do not, you're basically looking at following teams for one month every two or four years. Can you imagine how skewed your perception of the NBA or NFL would be if you only saw them play at that clip? If you'd picked up the NFL for a month in 2006 for the first time since 2002, you'd be wondering what the heck happened to Rich Gannon. It'd be hard to follow the stars, let alone the role players. While there are plenty of stars in Euro 08 who were prominent in the World Cup, guys like Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres, Thierry Henry and Michael Ballack, there has also been a decent amount of roster turnover on some squads. Others, like Russia, Romania and Turkey, weren't even in the World Cup, so we're being introduced to completely new peeps. It'll be interesting to see the stars and names that emerge over the coming weeks, but rest assured that this competition certainly won't be lacking in names in the beginning, middle or end.

• All the group previews will be up before their first day of competition. (Group A before Saturday, Group B before Sunday, etc.) Anybody have any initial thoughts as they're perusing the schedule? Favorites? Sleepers? Teams who are going to gag? Feedback is encouraged.