pretty soft red there

sergi busquets just went down in a heap like he'd been knifed down the back of the calf by carl spackler, ala arbeloa v adebayor last year. but just when i thought i might become an inter fan for the rest of the night, thiago motta had to go ahead and ruin things by acting like a clown before hitting the showers. anyway, i definately wasn't rooting for them before, and i only kind of am now...

oil~!

there is an ounce of guilt i feel posting this. but these guys are able to laugh at themselves, which makes it ok, right?

ty wigginton: professional hitter

need i say more?

...they came bounding over

early, and i mean early world cup talk

will argentina finally man up?

With the O's off to their worst start since 88, and the arsenal season coming to a proverbial close wednesday night, i figured i might as well start to look ahead to the marquee event of every four years, (no not the lost finale) THE WORLD CUP.

One thing that a lot of casual people somehow dont realize is that the bracket is already set, to an extent. You can already see which groups are matched up with each other, A&B, C&D, E&F, and G&H for their first knockout round game. What cannot be determined is anything after that, because everything hinges on whether a team either wins or comes in second in their group because that places them on opposite sides of the bracket since the winners and runners up of the same group couldn't meet again until the final. got it?

Ok, so with that being said, I thought I'd take a look at who has the nastiest and softest potential roads to jo'burg (keep in mind that there sure to be a few surprises that will probably render this whole post worthless)

Right, so if someone asked me who the 5 teams I thought would be the most likely to lift the trophy I'd say England, Argentina, Spain, Holland, and Brazil. Then there's a small drop off for me on to the next tier of Italy, Portugal, Germany, and France. Suffice it to say that it would be a shock if the winner did not come from any one of these 9 teams.

Of the 9, you'd have to say Spain have the most undesirable path. They're sure to get a difficult first game whether they win their group or not facing either Brazil, Portugal or the Ivory Coast, (who i feel will stink it up at this world cup), and then likely play the holders, Italy in the quarters, and the Argentines in the semis, (assuming they both win their groups and progress). Thats a hell of a road to get to the finals.

On the other side of the coin, you really have to like the way this is shaping up for our beloved three lions. All internal demons aside, I think they have the easiest path on paper by far, long as they TCB in their first match, (which could be tricky mind you) against whoever comes out along with germany in what I think is the real group of death of this tournament. So assuming that the Germans win their group, England wont have to play any of the aforementioned frontrunners until the semis. Their first game is likely to be tricker than their quarterfinal date where they might face the experienced but ailing french (still dangerous, especially with low expectations as we saw in 2006), jayjay okocha's nigeria perhaps (yeah, they're not scaring anybody), or maybe the dreaded mexicans, (i know just hearing the killer B's of blanco and borgetti sends chills down my spine, and i'll never write a good thing about a mexican footballer, ever).

That's why Im thinking this might be the indian summer that the brits get it done. England over Argentina in the final. Rooney wins the golden boot, and as long as we take revenge on the Germans I'll be a happy man.

no ceilings

genius?

i dont profess to have been following rap, hell, i can't even honestly say that i listen to rap anymore. but even with just casual ears, what lil wayne is doing on no ceilings is hard to ignore. he's like a stand up comedian just cracking oneliner after one liner. i love all the name dropping, obscurity, and especially when he uses his white man's voice. i've only listened to about half on the way to work today and here are a few of my favorites.

Uh, I’ma bout to go planters,
I’m still in my prime, Dion Sanders

...now women kicking it with me like i'm nomar garciaparra,

I’m in the way you can’t pass like Aaron Brooks,

we are fine n-gga, like Amber Rose,
we ball n-gga, like Jalen Rose,

Yo flow never wet, like grandma pussy,
I'm always good, like grandma cookies,

New Orleans nigga, I get superdome

the way I’m eating n-ggas wish they had my appetite,
straight up out of Texas and I’m major like apple white
(not lilwayne)

Weezy Baby aka your highness, I just killed this shit
Moment of Silence, Uh

COME ON POMPEY

look at you avram. firing yourselves into europe (almost) at the expense of heartspur hotel. love it. i also love real getting their asses handed to them on a pupu platter but on to the nba.

too bad for the raptors and rupaul busted his/her face, but the playoffs are about to start, and i'll take the hawks over the lakers.

blatche's comedic attempt at a triple double

jianlian's all over the place
earl watson's been in the league way too long to let that happen.

and it looks like dwade's feeling a lot of pressure in the final minute of this riveting encounter with the sixers
eddie just sits there and takes it.