Archive for June, 2006
Goodbye Melanie (the bird)
Some sad news from home in Brawley, Erin’s bird died today. I “inherited” Melanie when I moved into the house 4 years ago and although she was very much Erin’s pet I made sure she got fed, watered and some small amount of attention. I often referred to her as “the forgotten pet” as she’d just sit in her cage quietly most of the time being ignored. She’d come to life when Erin was around, talk and sqawk like crazy for her attention. We had a spell where I thought she was sick a couple of years ago but recently she seemed full of beans so I am quite surprised. She may not have provided the attention and affection that our dogs bring but she enriched our lives in her small way.
Single of the Week
No football today, and none tomorrow, suddenly my day seems a whole lot longer. What am I going to do when the tournament is over?! Anyway, this lull allows me to slip in a single of the week. Upcoming British star, Keisha White, performs a cover of Joan Armatrading’s The Weakness of Me. Just gorgeous.
Your Sex I.D.
I took this sex i.d. test from the BBC which tries to determine your brain’s gender. It takes about 15 minutes, and you’ll need a ruler but the results are somewhat interesting.
My brain came out as “50% male” which apparantly is the score that the average man gets when taking the test, and one of the tasks revealed that I strongly prefer masculine faces. No, it doesn’t say if that includes beards.
Round of 16 Over
A cracking game between Spain and France brings the round of 16 to a close. I correctly predicted 6 of the last 8 teams so I now have 25 points going into the quarter finals. My original final four prediction was Germany, England, Brazil and France but the group positions have put Brazil and France together so that isn’t going to happen. I’m guaranteed one team in the semi final but will be on the edge of the seat for the Germany and England games, very hard to predict how those will go. Argentina are playing great and England, well, England is England. Hopefully there will be a points update in the newspaper tomorrow to see how I am doing.
Beat the Press Update
In my previous post I wrote that I had 13 points (out of 16) from the World Cup first round. In Saturday’s edition, the newspaper revealed that the leader (a veteran of Beat the Press sports competitions apparantly) had 14 points so I am currently in joint second place.
I got the winners of the first three knockout matches correct (along with everyone else I bet) so I am still in contention. Today’s other match might see that change, I bet I am in the minority for picking Portugal over Holland. But if they win I’ll be moving on ahead for the $100.
Now It Gets Interesting…
The group stage is over, time for sudden death knockout – finally something the USA audience can understand! No more ties, from hereon the game will continue for an extra 30 minutes if the score is level after 90 minutes and then with a penalty shoot-out if still no result.
Going over my entries in my local paper’s Beat The Press competition, I see that I correctly predicted 13 of the 16 teams in the second round, missing Ghana, Ecuador and Australia. That gives me 13 points going forward. I missed seeing what the editor had picked so I don’t know how well they are doing but I doubt many people picked more than one of those. I think I am still in the running for the $100.
Ghana 2 – USA 1
One of the common complaints I hear about football is that the game shouldn’t have the “wildcard element” that is the referee. A few bad decisions can turn a game and that has definitely been the case in the last two USA games. From their performance in the first half, I don’t think the USA was going to beat Ghana but the late penalty award made that all the less likely. Its deals a psychological blow that is tough to get over, not to mention of course that now you need two goals rather than one to win. At the beginning of the tournament I thought there was a high standard of refereeing but recently that seems to have changed. As we move to the knockout round, one referee mistake could easily destroy a team’s chances of progressing. But that’s football.
Sweden 2 – England 2
And once again England show why it is so difficult to be a fan. A great first half, nice passing, good attacking and I really thought it would end up 2-0 or 3-0. But of course its England and it has to be hard or its not worth doing. A terrible second half performance and the second Swedish goal was an absolute disgrace in the England defence. When England went 2-1 up you could just tell it wasn’t going to last; I think few other teams have that trait.
On the plus side it is encouraging that we played 45 minutes of good football, which is more than the previous two games. If we can maybe play 60 minutes next game perhaps we will beat Ecuador and then in the following match 75 minutes…. by the final we’ll be a good team. Not sure my poor heart will be able to take it though.
Fashion Alert
A large number of people here insist on wearing socks with their sandals. At first I thought it was just a couple of people but it seems to be a growing fashion faux-pas epidemic. And now back to our regular programming….
Serbia & Montenegro 0 – Argentina 6
MEMO to England: Watch, review, learn.