SPORTS FOLDEROL

Their fans are getting restless … and the Richmond Kickers  are talking about  long-term sustainability ? Whatever that  means, especially when you’ve gone from having the best  regular-season record in the USL League One to failing the  make the playoffs a year ago … and appear likely to do it  again … Clearly, Kickers’ management doesn’t blame coach   DARREN SAWATSKY  ... who, this week, had his contract  extended for an undisclosed number of years for an  undisclosed amount of money ... even if the fans do. Only in America (Soccer) …  MAURICIO POCHETTINO  was named coach of the United States Men’s National Team  this week … except he only agreed  to replace  GREGG  BERHALTER  contingent on a number of things … like he  still must work out his contract as he exits EPL Chelsea,  which may not be (cliché alert) as easy as it sounds …  like terms of his USMNT agreement remain under  d...

  Once again, for the 15 th  straight game, your Richmond Kickers  gave up the first goal Saturday night … only this time they  didn’t tie or lose. STOP THE PRESSES! The Kickers won …  not that it was done the easy way … In a  USL League One   Jagermeister Cup match with the South Georgia Tormenta, the  home side snapped a five-game losing streak with a rousing 6-5  edge in penalty kicks after a 1-1 standoff in regulation …  Believe it or not, old reliable  EMILIANO TERZAGHI   missed his PK, skying the ball over the Tormenta goal in the  third round. But Kickers keeper  RYAN SHELLOW  made two  saves including a game-saving stop on  JACKSON KOURY   with South Georgia ahead 4-3. Then Shellow guessed correctly  again, diving to his left to handle a shot by  DANIEL  STEEDMAN  … and  RYAN SIERAKOWSKI  followed with  the game winner …  JUSTIN SUKOW , on a perfect f...

  An unimaginable 60 games under .500, on the verge of setting all kinds of records for futility, the Chicago White Sox easily are the worst team in major league baseball this season … quite possibly any season. So tell us,  why  in the name of … Bill Veeck, who by now would have done something off the wall to generate interest … why is  AARON McGARITY  still down on the farm? … The slender 6-3, 185-pound right-hander has the kind of numbers (7-1 won-lost, 2.62 earned run average, opponent s’  composite batting average of .169) with the Chisox’ AAA affiliate in Charlotte, N.C., that should be enough for a call up by any MLB franchise, much less one so bad it doesn’t deserve  even  mention as a   laughingstock . Yet there  McGarity is …  to date, a career minor leaguer …  and, to his  credit, the Richmonder, who attended Mills Godwin High  and Virginia Tech before signing with the Yankees eight  years ago, continu...

Lord help me … but once I discovered the English Premier  League several years ago and took  WAYNE ROONEY  as  my favorite futbol player … the next step was to get hooked  on Manchester United. Talk about bad – make that terrible –  timing! … The once-great franchise guided by  SIR ALEX  FERGUSON  was about to became an also-ran during a  parade of coaches … none of whom could live up to the  tremendous pressure … and leading to last year’s eighth- place finish, an all-time low … under  ERIK TEN HAG ,  who would have been fired except the new bosses in town  couldn’t find anyone to their liking … so they gave him  another make-good-or-be-gone contract that extends though  the 2025-26 campaign even if there are no guarantees the  Dutchman will be around that long. Injuries – 60 to be exact – plagued ManU in 2023-24.  Naturally, there were other factors, too, but lack of quality  depth (at least...