Not everything has gone so smoothly with the Nike Plus iPod system.

First of all, it is only compatible with the iPod Nano which meant my 30 gb iPod was useless. That didn't make sense to me because the remote sensor thing fit in the slot. So I had to shell out more than $150 for an iPod Nano.

Then not all Nike shoes have a place for the foot sensor. You have to buy the special Nike shoes. That set me back another $70 or so.

It turns out iPod Nano needs Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher to be able to use the Nike Plus iPod system. I had to ask five friends before I found one that had the discs so I could upgrade my laptop. It upgraded fairly quickly until I lost the internet connection.

Then I had to go to a fast food place and coffee shop for internet access to complete the upgrade. That took another three hours because the internet connection would get lost and I'd have to start over from the beginning.

I was close to breaking my laptop in half over my knee.

So after all this work, was it worth it? Yes.

It's a great motivational tool to be able to track your progress and get your friends involved in your workouts. I just hope other companies make compatible software that can be used with ipods other than the Nano so people don't have to shell out more money.

But who knows if that'll happen. It's all about the Benjamins...

JUAREZ - What makes one soccer team better than another?

That is the discussion I had with a colleague of mine during the big U.S. vs. Mexico match Sunday afternoon in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

While I do agree the U.S. team no doubt has better training facilities at their disposal, I disagree that that is the sole reason why the team dominates the soccer world.

Sure, lifting weights in a good facility do make a difference, but I maintain that cardio conditioning and stamina are two of the major factors that have helped the U.S. team separate themselves from the other teams in the CONCACAF tournament.

And those are two things you don't really need great facilities to train in to accomplish. Of course there is the talent factor, but I didn't want to get into that since my colleague drove us to the game.

Anyway.....

The game was everything that was expected and more. Some of the 22,000 fans sat and stood on the walls of the stadium.

It's funny, I never saw them climb up there. They just sort of appeared there. Driving around the parking lots and then walking around the stadium it was hard to spot U.S. fans.

Before the game we did interview a Juarense who wore a U.S. jersey. I hope he was able to enjoy the game without too much teasing from the fans of the Mexican team.

It was also great to see all the vendors outside the stadium. Don't have a Mexican jersey to wear? You could buy one there. Hungry? Get a burrito. If you needed an emergency luchador mask, they also had you covered.

My colleague and I finally made our way into the stadium to the press box to catch the last few minutes of the Canada-Costa Rica match. We sat behind the Trinidad and Tobago team, who were a lively bunch.

They would listen to their iPods, play their PSPs and watch the games all at once. True multiaskers after my own heart.

I realize of course that they can burn off calories in no time during a soccer practice or game, but I still found it funny to see the Trinidad and Tobago team eating large cups of potato chips with hot sause or two personal pizzas. Except for having no soccer talent, i could surely make the Trinidad and Tobago team if this is what they do in their off time.

I could certainly earn a gold medal in snacking and listening to music while playing video games.

Some of them didn't have to wait for practice to burn off the calories as they danced a little when music was played over the public address system.

As the first half of the U.S.-Mexico game wore on, I started to believe it could very well end up in a tie if Mexico was able to become more aggressive and stop playing so defensively.

Mexico finally tied the game 1-1, but it was a shortlived moment of hope for the team and its fans as less than a minute later the U.S. came back and scored again to take the lead.

The goal seemed to take the wind out of the Mexican team's sails even as their fans tried to drum up support with chants of "¡Si se puede!" and possibly good-naturedly calling some U.S. team players cry babies for perceived prat falls that left them lingering on their hands and knees waiting for a referee's whistle.

The Trinidad and Tobago team were very into the match, clearly cheering for Mexico. They gasped and shouted loudly in protest when U.S. goalie Hope Solo would carry the ball a few steps outside of the penalty box.

'A member of the Trinidad and Tobago team took ill during the game, first laying down on the seats before medical personnel were called. She was given oxygen for several minutes before she was finally moved for more treatment. Although we were in the shady area, it still felt a bit stuffy with not much of a breeze and a temperature hovering at 80 or above.

So maybe the heat got the best of her or it could have been food poisoning. Back to the game.

The Mexican team's strategy seemed to change during the second half with mid-fielder Tania Morales virtually giving up playing offense and almost exclusively worked on defending Heather O'Reilly.

The U.S. won 3-1 and will face Costa Rica at 5 p.m. Wednesday with Mexico playing Canada following that game. The winners of both games will receive automatic berths to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and will play for the championship April 12.

Tickets can be bought in El Paso at International Soccer on Montana. Mexico has its work cut out for them and hopefully the fans will show up again to try and help their underdog team.

Before going, I have to give propers to the U.S. Soccer communication staff for putting together a great blog at http://wnt-ussoccer.blogspot.com/.

The blog is updated frequently with informative, sometimes entertaining, blogs and several pictures. If you have a strong stomach, click on the archive section and watch Solo's video where she describes an injury in Mexico she received during a game several years ago. It's sure to make even the non-squeamish squirm a little.

Watching the U.S. women's national team compete against Jamaica Friday night in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualification Tournament in Juarez was interesting on so many levels.

This was my first time watching a sporting event in Juarez and it was quite fun. First, the snacks looked yummy. They sold everything from fried pork skins to pistachios to even Pringles.

The thought of having Pringles covered in pistachios, doused with tobasco and covered with fried pork skins made my mouth water something fierce.

Darn it, why'd I have to restart diet Friday morning?

Noisemakers are severely frowned upon at U.S. sporting events and usually not allowed, but not in Mexico (and presumably at all soccer matches). Want to toot your horn to cheer your team on? Go right ahead. I giggled a couple of times because it reminded me of the toot of a certain "musical fruit."

The crowd at the game Friday night really confused me. They would cheer for the U.S. and then cheer just as loudly for Jamaica.

Gray areas are really bothersome to me so um, choose a side, please.

The crowd was entertaining in other ways. When a U.S. player pulled up limping, the crowd started chanting "beso! beso! beso!"

I thought that was a bit much considering the player looked genuinely injured, but it was certainly better than getting the "culero" chant.

The U.S. team simply overpowered Jamaica with a relentless offensive attack, defeating Jamaica 6-0.

Jamaica seemed rather tired right from the start. Instead of jogging to go throw in the ball, they walked to it. And that was a few minutes into the game.

One surprise during the game was when the crowd appeared to finally see the Mexican team in the stands and rush over for autographs and pictures.

It quickly turned into a scrum that bordered on scary as people clamored to meet Mexico's last chance to make the Beijing Olympics in soccer.

As the Mexican team left during the second half, fans got near the team's bus to take pictures of the players inside. As the bus left the parking lot fans and police smiled and gave the team thumbs up, wishing them luck as they face the U.S. Sunday.

PHOENIX - It wasn't much of a game as I'm sure most people saw. UCLA was unstoppable and are on their way to the Final Four in San Antonio.

One thing that is still confusing about Saturday's game is where did all the UCLA fans come from?

Thursday's game had a good amount of Bruins fans, but nothing like Saturday. I'd say 80 percent were cheering for the Bruins and had Bruins garb on

How did they score the tickets in one and a half days?

There were several funny moments that happened during the ho-hum game. One UCLA fan who appeared to be wearing an oversized colorful hat or a multi-colored wig (sorry, it was hard to tell from across the arena from my seats just below the clouds) was going crazy, cheering and dancing behind one of the baskets.

Eventually secutiiry walked him out and the crowd of 18,000 or so saw this and booed the staff person loudly.

Alas, a few minutes later the enthusiastic fan turned up in a seat on the upper level.

Another funny moment occurred when the UCLA and Xavier players started setting up to play before the timeout ended. That doesn't seem out of the ordinary untiil you saw the UCLA cheerleaders (or they may have technically been the Bruins dance team) still going on with their cheer, oblivious to the fact the players were setting up.

Anyway, the games were a lot of fun and were worth the over-inflated price I paied. Let's just say the tickets cost more than double face value.

Oh, I've uploaded pictures I shot at all three games. If you click on my photo gallery attached to my page here you will see them.

Now to go back to El Paso in a few hours!

For years, I have good naturedly "argued" with my friend that the song "One Shining Moment," played every year during the NCAA men's basketball tournament is far and away better than "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

Every year when spring training starts he sends me an email saying "One Shining Moment" sucks and every year when the NCAA tournament starts I send him an email bashing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

We use the songs to justify how each sport is better than the other. I'm sorry, I like baseball but it is waaaaaayyyyyy too boring.

We saw a spring training game in Tucson on Wednesday between the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers and even though we saw a grand slam, like four or five home runs and several funny errors by one player, it was still a rather borning game (three plus hours in the mid-day sun didn't help).

It was a good game, maybe even fun, but it still didn't compare to the excitement of the Sweet 16 games we saw Friday night.

Two underdogs, West Virginia and Western Kentucky, who shouldn't have even gone this far in the tournament, were getting blown out in their games Friday but battled back.

Players dove for loose balls whether they ended up crashing into tables or their own bench, giving it their all.

Go to youtube.com and search for "one shining moment" and see all the classic tournament highlights. And personally, I'd recommend looking for the videos with the original version of the song because Luther Vandross' version just didn't have the passion.

A column about the games will appear in Saturday's paper. I'll post pictures I shot at the game later on too. Time to eats!