"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

...when you keep saying things like, "Really? Ten years? It was that long ago?"

Yes, ten years today since the US beat Portugal 3-2 in the first round of the 2002 World Cup.

Of, course, Jeff "Aguss" had to get on the scoring sheet... God love him, you could always count on him for rock-solid defending. And an own goal at a critical moment.

I will not ever have to listen to Ian Darke yapping on for another hour trying to get me to feel sorry for a dirty rotten cheater.

Congrats to Germany--well done!

One bookshelf assembled and reloaded.

Kind of didn't think about how much space the empty, rejected bookcases take up. Anyone in the DC area want two very beat-up, but still serviceable bookcases? (Matt Kadish, I think you gave them to me and Chris...)

Otherwise...craigslist!

Here's a song for my all my England-supporting friends...



There are bad times just around the corner,
There are dark clouds hurtling through the sky
And it's no good whining
About a silver lining
For we know from experience that they won't roll by,
With a scowl and a frown
We'll keep our peckers down
And prepare for depression and doom and dread,
We're going to unpack our troubles from our old kit bag
And wait until we drop down dead.

Brazil is, as a team, what I intensely dislike in individual players--tremendous skill combined with a sense of entitlement, an ego that presumes that nothing it does can ever be wrong, a feeling that if all is going well that's just as it should be and if something goes wrong it's deeply, deeply unfair, even if it's their own bloody fault.

And what infuriates me even more is how it's fed by almost everyone around them--referees, coaches, commentators. Twice in the match against Cote d'Ivoire, Brazilian players initiated dangerous challenges that ended up with them getting (temporarily) hurt. In both cases, play was immediately stopped, a free kick was awarded to Brazil, and the match commentators wittered on about how shocking it was that an opposing player was so careless of a precious Brazilian! FFS! THEY initiated the contact! A player *sliding* into a challenge with little or no warning can hardly blame his opponent if he gets stepped on. A player running into the path of a player sprinting down the sideline with the ball is responsible if he leaps into the path of the possessing player's foot, not the other way around.

I was very glad to see Kaka get sent off. The fact that the CdI player deserved a caution for simulating doesn't have anything to do with the fact that Kaka should have had a straight red for elbowing him in the chest. And about four Brazilians should have had cautions for simulating during the last ten minutes--instead, each of them got a free kick.

Brazil were simply furious and ill tempered because CdI didn't have the sense of humility to lie down and die after giving up three goals. They fought back, scored again, and had several more chances. Good for them, and shame on Brazil.

I've been cheering for the US and Nederlands, for obvious reasons. My third favourite team from here on out is whoever is playing Brazil. Let's go, Portugal!