Poor goalkeeping was on display in South Africa again on Sunday. Fawzi Chaouchi had an easy ball bounce off his arm into the goal as Algeria fell 1-0 to Slovenia. Australian greybeard Mark Schwarzer was at fault on Germany's first two goals as the Socceroos were thrashed 4-0.

Goals were largely hard to come by on the first weekend of the World Cup, but Chaouchi, Schwarzer, and England's Robert Green have all done their best to make the strikers look good. None of these atrocious bits of goalkeeping can be chalked up to the controversial match ball.

To be sure, the ball has world-class goalkeepers spooked. They're punching the ball with their fists instead of catching it. At that level, that's an indication that something's wrong. As a boy, I was repeatedly trained that if I punched the ball, I'd be benched. (I wasn't playing in the 19th century: Schwarzer and I are each 37.) Now this ball has men who are better goalkeepers asleep than I am awake simply flailing like Mike Tyson.

That's bad, but that's a red herring. The goalkeeping mistakes this weekend have been about butterfingers on soft shots, not knowing when to come off the line, and lapses of concentration. Tim Howard played a nice game for the USA on Saturday, but by and large the men with the gloves have been disappointing.

The world is watching. Maybe I'll turn on Sunday Night Baseball tonight and see somebody go deep then run the bases backward, but somehow I doubt it.