Making sure this Horse is dead...

First off, thanks to everyone (sans Jaynee) for showing up yesterday and making it the first every All-Lodge gathering. Maybe one of these times MCP will nut up and put his comics down long enough to enjoy some human camaraderie, possibly, but I’m still taking the under on the bet.

Kudos goes out to CTown for gutting out a class 5 hang-over that made me thankful it was him and not me, but he hung through like a champ and even gave some nice commentary, gold star buddy. Jeers goes to his sponsor, who arrived approximately 20 minutes late forcing the game to be delayed and ultimately putting the fate of the shootout in the hands of the DVR gods, who took a collective karmic dump on us during the 3rd set of the shootout. His punishment is serving a seven-day suspension from all associate-admin privileges. Sorry 2.0, mob rules mentality.

I wanted to throw a few things together to recap the last month of my life, and give it the proper conclusion it probably doesn't deserve. So with help from one of America's favorite Italian-American's, here goes:

"Brad, your sister's turning into a fox!"

From the way back machine and still one of Cameron Crowe’s best screenplays, comes the Ladies of the World Cup. The synergy of country and sport definitely benefited all heterosexual males for the last month, and one of the few kudos I can give to ABC/Disney is there camera crew’s ability to pick out International Beauties. Where will they go now? Can’t we get a reality show together pitting the hottest women from all 32 nations in a house with single elimination? I think Train is drawing up a pitch to FOX as we speak.

"That techno-rock you guys listen to is gutless."

Ahh yes Valley Girl, couldn’t leave this one out. Here’s to Zie Fahzerland and the many reminders during the Cup that Train and I dropped the ball by not making the pilgrimage. For many reasons this trip didn’t happen, but every match was a reminder that time is short and one day my eyes will be illuminated with the vision of beautiful green pitches and Brazilian Women. Also kudos to a great series by the Travel Channel featuring Drew Carey as a pro bono photograph showing you the spaces in between games proving that in Heaven, God has a personal tap selection of only German Biers.


"And this here's the TV. Two hours a day, either educational or football, so you don't ruin your appreciation of the finer things."

Besides for yesterday’s debacle, kudos goes out to Comcast for not only getting the DVR dual-tuner ready to go for us living in the PST, but also for adding ESPN 2 HD four days after the opening game. This single-act of kindness enabled clarify for seeing players like Ludovic Magnin run down the line with a bloodied nose and cro-magnum eyes. However, you know SoKo gets raw too!

“This is a snakeskin jacket! And for me it's a symbol of my individuality, and my belief... in personal freedom.”

Here’s to the Samba Boys of Brazil, the best 11 players on the field throughout the entire cup, a joy to watch every minute, but failing to remember what made them 5 time champions: 11 players 1 goal. Likewise can be said for the pathetic display by the English, that’s right, haven’t really given this the post it deserves, but the lack of overall leadership and focus started with the coach and ended with the worst penalty shootout of the entire Cup. Oh well, “For Club, then Country”.

“People get married and then they do the most hideous, unbelievable things to each other.”

To all the manager/country issues from the Togo Coach who almost forfeited over pay to Erikson to Lippi to Klinsman and finally Arena. The only conclusion I can make is managing a national soccer club is equivalent to managing the Yankees, Cowboys and Knicks all at the same time. You have a .01% chance of making people happy and a 99.99% failure rate. No wonder the best managers stay with Clubs.

Part II tomorrow…