USA's Clint Dempsey reacts after scoring their second goal during their Confederations Cup semifinal soccer match against Spain, at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Wednesday, June 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

I’m not going to get cute.

It’s simple.

The U.S. national soccer team beat Spain 2-0 today in the semi-finals of the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa.

Spain came into the game with a 15-game winning streak, a world record, and a 35-game unbeaten streak.

Goals from 19-year-old Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, 26, shook the undisputed No.1 team in the world to its core.

Spain has arguably the most talented midfield in the world. David Villa and Fernando Torres are the two most sought after strikers in the world. The Catalan defensive duo of Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique are supposedly unshakeable.

But it happened. Spain pressed and unleashed shot after shot, but Tim Howard, the U.S. goalkeeper, kept each of them out. The U.S. defenders, led by Oguchi Onyewu and captain Carlos Bocanegra, put in a valiant effort.

It’s the biggest soccer upset in years.

The U.S. faces the winner of Brazil-South Africa on Sunday.

Ali Karimi, left, and Kim Jung-woo battle for the ball in their June 17's World Cup qualifying match. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A lot is said about Iran and the recent controversy about the country’s elections.

Pictures of security officers and protesters fly across our screens day and night. Though it’s a world away, a small understanding of the experience is at our fingertips thanks to the Internet and the instant news cycle.

Several public figures opposed to the current regime have reportedly been detained.

That might be the fate of six Iranian soccer players.

The Guardian reports that the Iranian government “retired” four of the players from the sport, while the situation with two others is unknown.

The government took issue with the players wearing green wristbands during a World Cup qualifying match against South Korea on June 17 in Seoul. The captain, Mehdi Mahdavikia, also wore a green captain’s armband.

Green is the color protesters adopted in response to their belief that the government interfered with the election, particularly skewing the results to make sure Mir Hossein Mousavi did not win.

Ali Karimi, Hosein Ka’abi,  Vahid Hashemian and Mahdavikia were banned, while none of the team members were given back their passports after returning to Tehran.

Without their passports, the Iranian government can effectively hinder the players from working or traveling should they leave the country.

As of the now, the players have not been detained, but lacking a passport makes it basically impossible to travel and provides a way to enforce the ban on Hashemian and Mahdavikia, both of whom make their living playing for top-flight clubs in Germany.

Kim Dong-jin, left, and Mehdi Mahdavikia jump for the ball during a World Cup qualifying match. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

FIFA, the sport’s ruling body, discourages political expression on the pitch and encourages national federations to impose punishments. The Spanish federation fined French-Malian striker Freddy Kanoute of Sevilla €3,000 in January for revealing a black shirt with the word “Palestine” printed in multiple languages after scoring a goal against Deportivo La Coruña in a Spanish league match..

However, FIFA also has taken action against governments interfering with the sport. Iran was banned from official competition for a little less than a month in 2006 for excessive government interference in the running of the Iranian soccer federation. A similar ban could be imposed should FIFA find the government’s interference in violation of FIFA’s statutes.

Iran played in the 2006 World Cup but failed to qualify in 2010 after finishing fourth in its

World Cup qualifying group.

My friend's (left to right) Jonathan, Brad and Travis at the game, as photographed by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman. No, I couldn't find a picture of me.

It was only a little more than three years ago I was in the crowd at the State Fair Arena.

I was painted gold, head to toes. My friends were appropriately adorned in the same way.

It was the 2006 Class 2A Boys Oklahoma High School Basketball Championship game, and Blake Griffin was putting on a show.

Our school, Oklahoma Christian School, beat Washington 57-40 to win its third-straight state championship and fourth in five years. Blake would lead the team to its fourth-straight in 2007, but I was gone.

I graduated that May, a year before Blake and a year after his brother, Taylor.

Since then, my exposure to Blake has been limited to games on TV and a couple run-ins in various situations (outside the 2008 Bedlam women’s soccer game at OU being the most recent).

I never really understood he was famous. OCS is a small school where everybody pretty much knows everybody.

To me, it was still Blake, the kid I knew in high school who asked me how the soccer team was doing and with whom I shared a number (I wore 15 in soccer, he wore 15 in basketball).

Even as Blake destroyed teams in college and won the 2009 John Wooden Award, given annually to the nation’s best player, it never really registered.

Now it has.

Blake is on the cover of a video game.

Blake, I’ll give you a high five next time I see you.

That is, if you’re not too famous for me.

Blake's high fives are in high demand, as photographed by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman.

However, there weren’t flaws in my arguments. The Magic had, to that point, played better when no one believed in them (see Games 2-4). And, with the exception of the first and last games, the Magic were not adversely destroyed by poor matchups against the Lakers. The Orlando Magic were not beat by the Los Angeles Lakers, though the Lakers helped some. The Orlando Magic beat themselves.

I didn’t realize the Magic’s lack of an ability to finish games. If the Magic had the ability to close out when given opportunities, the series would have been 3-1 Magic going into Game 5 in Orlando. In that situation, I would have been right and the Magic would be celebrating.

However, the Magic apparently can’t finish games or capitalize on fourth-quarter closing-seconds opportunities. In nearly identical situations, games 2 and 4 were tied with mere seconds on the clock and the Magic had the ball. Game 2: In-bound to the only person I wouldn’t in-bound the ball to. Lee misses the game-winning layup, Lakers win in overtime. Game 4: With four seconds to work with, the Magic couldn’t get a crucial shot to tie the series up. Lakers win in overtime.

Maybe it was the Magic’s inability to finish games that The Oklahoman’s NBA Finals predictors saw that I didn’t. Maybe it’s because I’m an intern and they’ve been doing what they do a long time. Either way, I was wrong. They were right. And the Magic disappointed me.

USA national team members Landon Donovan, left, and Oguchi Onyewu, artistically out of focus, face Italy at 1:30 p.m. today in Pretoria, South Africa (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell).

I haven’t missed a USA national soccer team game in four years.

It’s a streak more important than Kobayashi’s six-year hot dog eating run.

Although people might be afraid that modern technology might eventually take over the world, I’ll happily accept our new robot masters, for that modern technology is going to keep my streak alive.

My digital video recorder will be humming away as the USA faces Italy at 1:30 p.m. today (ESPN, Galavision) in Pretoria, South Africa on the second day of the 2009 Confederations Cup, held the year before each World Cup as a dry-run of sorts.

Eight teams compete, including the six regional champions: Brazil, Egypt, Iraq, New Zealand, Spain and the USA. The hosts, South Africa, and the reigning World Cup champions, Italy, make up the rest of the field.

Thank you digital video recorder. While I’m trying to track down that last piece of information for a story, Landon Donovan and the boys will be facing Italy in a rematch of their 1-1 draw during the 2006 World Cup, a game that saw three red cards and is still fresh in the minds of American soccer fans.

It might be a little Big Brother-esque, but all their actions will be recorded and saved on a cute, inconspicuous black box next to my TV.

I’ll see you tonight, Landon and company. Until then, I work.

I’m loving it more than McDonald’s.

Yesterday The Oklahoman’s top sports writers told who they like in this year’s NBA Finals. Watch and read content here. But I think they are all wrong.

All five writers chose the Lakers in either five or six games, meaning they think the Magic will win only one–two at most–game in the series. And I don’t think that will happen.

If I’m not mistaken, wasn’t Boston supposed to deal with Orlando in five? Or Cleveland. “The Chosen One.” Wasn’t Lebron supposed to easily hurdle over the minor roadblock that was the Magic?

The entire postseason people have been second-guessing the Magic. Even when they took a series lead against Boston, analysts and experts said the Celtics had their wake-up call and would respond by winning the series. Remember all the talk after Game 2 of the series with Cleveland? That RIDICULOUS 3-pointer Lebron hit to put the Magic away (on my birthday)? People said King James would take control of the series and Orlando’s magic run in the playoffs was over.

But here we are. Magic and Lakers. NBA Finals. Guess who is the underdog for the third straight series in the postseason?

But I think it’s OK. I’m glad the sports writers chose the Lakers. I don’t think the Magic would win it otherwise.

The thing about the Magic is that they play best when few believe in them. They’re the NBA’s “Cinderella” team. But anyone who’s seen them play cannot discount the fact that Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu, Rafer Alston, Mickael Pietrus and the rest have played ridiculously incredible basketball the last few weeks, even without Jameer Nelson.

They took the Boston series and won the conference title against Lebron and the Cavs while the Lakers limped through the playoffs, a meltdown game coming every two or three contests.

The whole time, as no one has believed in them, the Magic have been playing better and better and better. The Lakers, as everyone believes them destined to win, have been playing sloppy and lackadaisical basketball.

My point is that no one believes the Magic have a chance. That’s why MY prediction is Magic in six.

Tweeting on Twitter? Taking over the world? Please, no.

Tweet, tweet. Tweet, tweet.

Did you hear something? That sounded an awful a lot like someone screaming in pain from social networking ruthlessly taking over their lives. Oh, it was just someone updating their status about life or sharing a TwitPic of a cute little puppy.

My mistake. But wait, isn’t that kind of the same thing?

As you can probably tell, I’m not exactly the spokesperson for Twitter, or social networking, by any means. I’m generally concerned that intimate relationships/friendships are drastically depleting every single day. With texting, emails, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, AIM, Google Chat and every other form of virtual communication, face-to-face contact is becoming a thing of the past. Funny too this comes from someone who didn’t live that long without a computer-based world, isn’t it? What really got me was an instance that took place a few weeks ago at a bar back home in East Lansing. A friend of mine wanted to approach this girl he knew from a class but couldn’t muster up enough courage to do so. What did he revert to? Texting. After an hour-long conversation via BlackBerry Messenger, he ran into her at the bar and began to talk there. Is this world we’re living in pathetic or simply a means to an “in”?

Girls, is this not creepy? Or is it a way to make things happen?

Sure, it doesn’t always work out that way and it’s not always in regards to picking up someone of the opposite sex. But whatever happened to approaching a girl and getting shot down like old times? That’s the world I want to live in. Ha!

I learned this my first day on the job. When I arrived in the press box at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium to cover the Women’s College World Series, writers Berry Tramel, Jenni Carlson and Scott Wright were already there. I was a little nervous (my first day and all) and a little intimidated (I’ve been reading those writers’ work for years), so I listened a bit to see what I could pick up.

It didn’t take long before I discovered Berry likes to give nicknames. A few examples: MKB, Miss Saigon and, my personal favorite, J.G. Whitfield.

Each nickname makes sense when you get him to explain the thought process that went into it and each is acceptable in all references to the person for Berry. I wondered how long it would take before I received a rite-of-passage nickname from Mr. Tramel.

Three days.

I arrived at the stadium on Sunday and was greeted by a shiny new nickname: Corleone. The nickname makes sense in and of itself to anyone who has seen Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” because my last name is Corley. But the explanation goes deeper, like it usually does with Berry. Apparently–and I have yet to check this out for myself–on the first day my work with The Oklahoman went in print, there was a column in the paper that mentioned either the Godfather or Don Corleone himself. It was meant to be.

Welcome to The Oklahoman.