It's Gold Cup Time Again; Who Knew?

It's an odd-numbered year, which used to mean one thing.

Americans would have a respite from the deluge of political ads that jam themselves into every media platform known to man.

These days, though, that's gone the way of the dodo bird.

The nation's hope for summer relief, then, may just lie in the added distraction of a tournament that flies so far under the radar, trees have to duck.

If only more would notice that the Gold Cup is underway.

It's a nifty little biennial event that pops up every other year and has done so since 1991. However, July's sports calendar is so saturated with other stuff, the Gold Cup can easily be overshadowed.

This is true even with soccer fans, whose attention is transfixed on happenings across the Atlantic, where a dynamic summer transfer season is in full force. Not to mention soap operas.

Suffice to say that in every Gold Cup tournament but one, either the Yanks or El Tri have hoisted the hardware.

In essence then, the preliminaries consist of nothing more than CONCACAF's two big dogs circling each other until it's time to play the final.

Mexico put six shots on target and one off the woodwork tonight at home against Jamaica in a 0-0 draw where the Reggae Boyz never even put one on net. In their opening match, they made short work of El Salvador in a 3-1 cruise.

The USA's on four points, too; frankly, it could be argued they're fortunate to have that many.

Check this 1-1 sleepwalk in Nashville against Panama:

Simply put, dudes caught a couple of breathtaking breaks.

Lesson learned, right? They'd pick it up against Martinique, right?

Do bears ... actually, no. They poop in cars.

And the Yanks damn near wet the bed against a one-island tourist destination:

Jordan Morris, a Seattle-area product who now players for his hometown Sounders, kept some serious egg off a lotta faces. Dude saved the day in that 3-2 cliffhanger.

Their performance to date is putting out vibes akin to being worried a pipe's gonna fall outta the sky on them. Or something.

So what's happening, here? Group B is full of roaring mice or a particular Cup co-favorite needs to get its collective act together.

And not in a car.