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OK, my new teaching job gives me a lengthy summer vacation, which gives me some time to kill. I've decided to fill some by taking up some minis painting. In the past I've vowed never to by non-prepainted minis, (before that I vowed never to buy minis--counters were fine for me), but now I'm...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5180404.stm

I'm in as FC Greyhawk United (cheesy name, I know)

The thing that gets me about all the Sven criticism is that if Beckham, Owen, and Rooney had been at or near 100% fitness for the WC, England probably woulld have played better and Sven would be praised. He should be blamed for not having a Plan B, but in the end, I'm not sure he could have had...

I sure hope that sort of thing is frowned upon. Prices in Germany are high enough as it is. :)

I would imagine most people who watched the WC concentrated on the matches. Here's some links you requested: WashingtonPost WC blog entries: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/worldcup/2006/06/german_hospitality.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/worldcup/the_scene_in_germany/ WP article...

When I was in Hong Kong I was approached by a salesman offering 'fake rolexes'. Guy got straight to the point. Don't really see the point in buying them though. If you're not really rich enough to have a real one, I'm not sure wearing a fake will convince many people otherwise.

How is the offside rule different now? I agree it's the AoO of football. Changing it should be done carefully. In particular, you've got to think how defeneces will adapt to it. That goes with any rules tinkering. Agreed. Perhaps one more plus a keeper specific substitution, so that...

Hey Klaus What do people generally say in Brazil about the need to improve scoring, and reduce matches decided by PKs, in soccer and what suggestions to people make? I read a lot of British press and I generally find people there conservative about any rules changes in matches. I certainly...

He's my sentimental favorite, but... He missed one game in the 1st round due to suspension. His play up until the Spain match was relatively unremarkable. he committed one of the WC's worst fouls (OK the vote was held before that incident) He let his team down at a crucial stage (again, and...

What's this past tense stuff? I ain't even close to finished discussing this!

A European team has never won a WC held outside of Europe, so, well, there's that. I'd say Brazil will have a tremendous chance at winning in their home country in 2014, unless the team that year is terriible by Brazil standards. I wonder how well African teams will do in 2010?

Grrr! I'm still so disappointed in the French. They clearly had the advantage after halftime, yet they never sent enough attackers forward to score. Had they done so, they surely would have won. One particularly defining moment was when a French forward won the ball from an Italian near the...

I'll agree with Klaus here. Pele is a tier above Maradona, though public opinion doens't always reflect this. Maradona's career was absolutely brilliant for a period but shortened by drug use and fitness problems. Absolutely great, but below Pele. In AD&D terms, Pele's a Greater God, and...

Just about agreed totally. That was incredibly stupid by Zidane. It's no excuse but it looks like the Italian player might have said something that really provoked him. And I was hoping Zidane would cement his status as among the very best--this mistake will have a huge impact on his legacy.

Final predictions My predictions certainly haven't been relieable enough to use for betting purposes but here it goes. FWIW Italy is a very slight bookies' favorite, at 5/6. 3rd/4th place match This match is usually won by the team capable of mustering enough pride and effort for the match...

Can't argue with 2000/2002 but 2 red cards in the 2006 World Cup is hardly a 'dirty team'. I can easily think of several teams that have had 2 red cards. Heck, one player nearly received 2 red cards in one game :). Their diving antics have been horrible at times but diving is endemic in...

fell asleep after the French goal (the games start at 11 pm here). The penalty awarded to France was probably fair, but it wasn't that clear-cut, and Henry seemed to exaggerate it. It's a real shame that was the game's only goal.

It's a bit of a shame we didn't get a Portugal-Brazil match, which would have been very interesesting, particularly wiht Scolari coaching Portugal. Have those two teams ever met in the World Cup?

Prediction for tonight. Hard to call. Portugal were poor vs England but will have two key players back. France are playing really special football right now but a worry with some of their older players has to be that they might run out of steam. It's hard to imagine that if France play the...