The annoying swarm of African bees
Now that I think about it, I couldn't have picked a better time to be unemployed. Thanks to my status, I've been able to watch most of the World Cup games. This first round (officially called The Group Stage) has been really interesting. Here are some of the highlights:
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) FINALLY got a World Cup goal today. The look of elation on his face was priceless. And unlike so many other athletes, he didn't make a big deal out of it. He just grinned. In the end, Portugal walloped North Korea 7-0.
- The USA team may not have a snowball's chance in July of winning (or even making it to) the final, but they were clearly robbed of a victory in their recent game against Slovenia. The score should have been 3-2, USA. The ref who made the call to disqualify the winning goal was vilified for hours on Twitter and elsewhere. I'm not sure I agree with that, but hey.
- Spain, Germany, and France have all lost games. All of these losses were considered shocking.
- USA-England, Italy-New Zealand, and England-Algeria were all draws (ties) when there was a clear expected winner (England, Italy, and England).
- Italy is so far winning the award for Best Drama Queens. They were such Fakers in the New Zealand game. Everytime one of the All-Whites bumped into an Italian player, the Italian player pretended to be so hurt.
- The runner-up for Best Drama Queens would have to go to Cote d'Ivoire. In their game with Brazil yesterday, one of their players was grazed in the side by Brazilian star Kaka. He very quickly put his hands up to his face, as if Kaka had elbowed him in the eyes. (Link to clip here.) The ref fell for it and ousted Kaka from the game.
- The French team went on strike from practice for a day because the coach decided to expel one of the players for being rude to him during the halftime of the France-Mexico game. Hmmm.
- And then there's the vuvuzela, the nightmarish bumblebee-sounding stadium horn of South Africa. Or as Sandy calls it: "THE most annoying sound in the WORLD." Apparently, the vuvuzela is the only man-made sound you can hear in space. Maybe it will scare off any potential extraterrestrial invaders?
