Jim
Since the earth consists of a more or less rigid lithosphere floating on
a more gushy asthenosphere, and the thickness, mechanical properties, etc
vary quite a bit from place to place it seems unlikely that the earth
tides fit the simple model perfectly either. I think the arguement has to
be that although from place to place nothing fits the simple model, there
must be some sort of overall average of all the tidal effects that slows the
earth and speed up the moon.