August 13 - My Premier League preview is betting on Liverpool and Chelsea, two teams that don’t have to play anywhere but England this year.

August 6 - The USWNT headed to the Olympics as the heavy, unbeatable favorites - but it’s hard to climb to the top of the mountain again. (This looked a little prescient the next week, when they lost to Sweden in the quarterfinals.)

July 30 - Chelsea and AC Milan played a friendly at U.S. Bank Stadium this week, and as part of the promotion, I got a chance to talk to Chelsea keeper Asmir Begovic, who grew up in Edmonton. (I suspect his North American-accented English is why they had him do interviews.) Really nice guy!

July 23 - There’s more than one way to approach the tactical side of the game - as Minnesota United coaches Manny Lagos (former) and Carl Craig (current) have demonstrated.

July 16 - Christian Ramirez missed a penalty the previous week, so I talked to him about the mental side of the game. He basically brushed it off, so filled with confidence was he. Naturally, in that night’s game he took a penalty in the first ten minutes - and scored. (I covered that game for the Star Tribune, too!)

July 9 - With the transfer market in full swing, I felt duty-bound to try to explain this to Star Tribune readers.

July 2 - On the Great Baseball Road Trip, I heard people complaining about how soccer was so boring. It occurred to me that soccer’s made such great strides that I had no reason to argue with him.