In some rather startling news from today, Real Madrid has overtaken Manchester United as the most valuable sports franchise in the world. At $3.3 billion, Real Madrid narrowly edged out Manchester United, which is valued at $3.15 billion. 
For comparison to some American sports, this is over three times the value of any NBA team, and the highest ranked American sports team is the Dallas Cowboys at $2.1 billion, over a billion dollars less than the top two teams. This really just shows, in my humble opinion, just how important soccer is in the world despite many Americans disliking or bashing the sport. In fact, soccer is now one of the top three attended sports in the country after football and baseball after the 2000s have seen such a dramatic growth in the popularity of Major League Soccer and international football.
In Champions League news, Barcelona and Real Madrid have managed to avoid each other in the semifinals, potentially setting up a goliath affair of the two Spanish titans in the final to be held at Wembley stadium in London, England. 
However, both will have tough tests, as Barcelona must face off against last years runners-up Bayern Munich who have already secured the German Bundesliga title. Real Madrid will face another German club in Borussia Dortmund, winner of the past two Bundesliga titles. Although not necessarily a sign of decline of English football, the fact that only Spanish and German club teams have reached the Champions League finals sends a message to the rest of Europe and also bodes well for the nations’ respective national sides. With that, I am officially done with this blog for the semester! I hope you guys have enjoyed everything and have a great summer!
An article on the Huffington post poses the question, one that I think is valid, is what sort of impact will these kids have on the ultimate decision of the supreme court? They are the future, all six million children in the United States today, so in theory the court should listen to their beliefs. Over 70% of youths support same-sex marriage according to the article. However, the real question is will they? Check out this video from a 19 year-old named Zach Wahls who testified in the Iowa House of Representatives, trying to get the message across that the fact that he has lesbian mothers has had no detrimental impact on his life.
Although there is a good deal of confidence in the minds of many same-sex supporters, I am wondering what you guys think the results will be. Will the court legalize same-sex marriage? Will they rule that they should not have heard the case? Will they ban same-sex marriage? What will the repercussions be? This is a volatile time in America, and the Supreme Court has a life-making decision on its hands.
The first huge victory for the supporters of gay marriage came in the form of Senator Rob Portman announcing that he supports gay marriage, becoming the first Republican in the Senate to do so. Senator Bob Casey from Pennsylvania quickly followed this by announcing his support for the measure, reducing the number of democrats who have yet to endorse same sex marriage to seven. And then yesterday, Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois became the second Republican to support the measure publicly. While this is incredibly relevant and important to the repealing of DOMA and advancement towards equality for the LGBT community, my question is whether or not these announcements are either too late or simply bandwagon decisions.
After 90 minutes of intense play with some missed penalty calls probably, the United States came out improbably with 0-0 draw that means we now sit in third place in world cup qualifying, having already finished one of our hardest matches. We have also played two away games already and have a streak of two at home coming up that should see us secure some vital points. For those of you who don’t know, in order to qualify for the world cup out of North America (CONCACAF), you have to finish in the top three of a group of six after home and away matches against each team. The fourth placed team faces New Zealand in a home and away series to see who will get the final spot. So with this current record of four points, hopefully we will qualify and get to Brazil in 2014!
Manchester United have increased their lead atop the premier league to an astonishing 15 points with only nine games left to go. To bring that into perspective, as long as United win four of their final five games, they are more or less guaranteed an incredible 20th premier league title. In reality, second placed Manchester City is not likely to win all nine of their remaining games, meaning that United should in fact only need to win two or three games to clinch the title. Compared to last year, this is an incredibly comfortable lead for the Red Devils that will allow them to focus on the FA Cup and staying healthy. As for Roberto Mancini at Manchester City, he is in the hot seat as another failed Europe campaign has already smarted. Compounded with a poor second place finish could see the Italian leave Manchester at the end of the season.
Owen, who starred at Euro 2000 and won the Ballon d’Or in 2001 while at Liverpool, has struggled in recent years, being picked up for free by Manchester United a few years back only to be released and picked up by Stoke City this season. However, continuing with his streak of disappointments, Owen has failed to recapture his best form, and at the age of 33, he will be calling it quits. For all of you who are not too familiar with European football, Owen was truly one of the greats at his height, competing with the likes of Ronaldo and Zidane for the title of best player in the world, and David Beckham for best Englishman. A sad day indeed.