The Third Dukes

Getter the petition started:

Well, I was following the results on the Internet, and here's my log of thoughts. A lot of it is bullshit, I'll warn you straightaway. All times are Central Daylight Time.

I agree with a lot of the ones said, so I'm just going to throw new ones out there. Metallica - Turn the Page Blind Melon - No Rain (instantly recognizable) Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode Steppenwolfe - Born to be Wild and Magic Carpet Ride And the greatest guitar riff of ALL TIME, and one that criminally hasn't been mentioned before now... Rolling Stones - I Can't Get No Satisfaction Air guitar on THAT.

USA 2-0 Mexico! See you in Germany, boys!

UPDATE: Romania wins 2-0! The Czoke Republic go down, and Holland have clear sailing! Poland mugging Austria, so it looks like they'll jump back over England for the time being. The Israel draw with Switzerland keeps FOUR TEAMS unbeaten in that group. That's going to be the most interesting group to watch down the stretch. France and Ireland aren't going to waltz in. Turkey rallied to tie Denmark, but that still means that they need to win in Kiev to keep their hopes of winning the group alive. South Africa loses to Burkina Faso, so now Ghana is in the driver's seat to make the Cup should they win tomorrow. Norway is up on Slovenia in Ljubljana with a half-hour to go. Portugal will kick off very soon. Of course, the real fun is yet to come. Argentina haven't started yet, Brazil plays tomorrow, and of course, the USA-Mexico derby clash is tonight, with the winner (if there is one) sealing their spot with three matches to go.

Mutu scores for Romania, and the Czokes are down 1-0!

Good show Scotland. Good show. In other news, Ukraine failed to win against Georgia, settling for a tie at 1-1. So they'll have to wait until Wednesday against the Turks to qualify. No score in Turkey against Denmark so far a half hour in. Holland unimpressive against Armenia, meanwhile, held to a scoreless first half before putting it in to go up 1-0. Along those lines, the Czechs are still scoreless against Romania in Constanta 20 minutes in. Having fun yet, boys?

Senegal beat Zambia, so Togo cannot qualify with a win tomorrow. Oh well. And Ukraine is up at the half on Georgia, 1-0. 45 minutes from history. Australia put a whupping on the Solomons, so odds are they'll face Colombia or Chile for a slot. I think they can beat Chile, but Colombia will beat them. And GO SCOTLAND! (Y)

What a week, eh? Matches from today to Wednesday, and all sorts of spots on the line. Look at the list of people who could (with a series of positive results) qualify for the World Cup this week: * Brazil -- if they beat Chile * Cote d'Ivoire -- if they beat Cameroon * Croatia -- if they win twice (Iceland and Malta) and Sweden loses twice (Bulgaria and Hungary) * Italy -- if they win twice (Scotland and Belarus) and anyone getting points in the Norway/Slovenia match fails to win on Wednesday (Norway gets Scotland, Slovenia gets Moldova) * Mexico -- if they win once (United States or Panama) * Netherlands -- if they win twice (Armenia, Andorra) and Czech Republic loses twice (Romania, Armenia) * Poland -- if they win twice (Austria and Wales) and England loses twice (Wales and Northern Ireland) * Portugal -- if they win twice (Luxembourg and Russia) and Slovakia loses to or ties Latvia * Togo -- if they beat Liberia and receive a draw between Zambia and Senegal * Tunisia -- if they beat Kenya and Botswana beats Morocco * Ukraine -- if they win once (Georgia or Turkey) or tie against Turkey combined with a Turkey loss to Denmark and a loss or tie by Greece against Kazakhstan * United States -- if they win once (Mexico or Guatemala) In addition, two of the four "playoff" spots will be determined this week, as Bahrain meets Uzbekistan and Australia meets the Solomon Islands. According to the FIFA rankings, the big match this week is #5 Mexico and #6 USA. But I'm sure you don't care about THAT. Okay, let's discuss.

Okay, so basically I'm too lazy to Google, and I'm also curious if I'm the only person who liked the musical act (which would explain the Whatever Happened To). So I've got my music video player on, and the jukebox dials up David Gray's "Babylon". It occurs to me that I really like this song, but that I don't remember anything else he did that came even remotely close to a level of rotation on MTV or VH1. Did I miss a few of his works? Did he have anything else? Does anyone else remember him?

Did anyone else see the Angels/A's highlights from last night (Aug 11)? If not, watch the last play of the game. It might be the single funniest blooper I've ever heard of. So Frank Rodriguez is pitching, Eric Chavez hitting, and Bobby Crosby is on 2nd with Jason Kendall on 3rd. The pitch to Chaves is a decent pitch, but just barely outside and called as such. Rodriguez is upset at the call and half-heartedly sticks his glove out to field the return throw from one of the Flying Molina Brothers at catcher. The throw bounces off his glove, and Rodriguez walks over to pick it up. In one of the greatest examples of baserunning and alertness I've ever seen, Kendall breaks from third to home. Rodriguez suddenly realizes he needs to hurry, fields the ball, and whips it back home -- about a foot away from the runner. There's no chance to make the tag, and Kendall scores the run. To make matters worse, it was the bottom of the ninth in what had been a tie game -- meaning the play ended the game and gave Oakland the win. Absolutely brilliant baseball by Kendall. I realize there's an MLB thread, but this play may deserve its own topic.

Awakenings ←

Well, the game just ended and I was wondering if anyone over there caught it or was planning on seeing it. Chelsea were 2-1 victors in front of about 31,500 in DC. Both sides played well, but it was clear Chelsea just had more class, especially in the bench. DC played their starters a lot, but Chelsea basically switched the entire team (save Tiago, who came out later anyway) at the half. Cudicini, Crespo, Gudjohnsen, and Lampard all didn't play the first half which ended 1-1. Chelsea's game winner might have been offside, but Robben gets full points for a beautiful pass to Crespo who left the keeper with no chance. So, basically, did anyone see this or care? If so, do you think MLS teams could compete in England? I'm not thinking for European spots, but could they at least avoid Premiership relegation? (I have no idea, and I'm banking on someone who has access to MLS and EPL -- I'll be able to see more EPL games this season, so I'll have a better idea.)

One down, one to go! Good news for hockey fans everywhere. Not sorry to see him leave.

How did we get halfway to page 2 before Bambi came up? How? HOW? For me, parts of "Remember the Titans" caused me to tear up, since TC Williams is in the county I grew up in. Especially

Given that I'm 6'3 (or 1m89 for you in Europe) and 255 (116 kg), it should be no surprise that I play the positions where size is priority. In hoops, I play PF, if only because I'm not quite skilled enough at shot-blocking to be the man in the middle. When I played US football in high school, I was a WR/DE, but that was before I bulked up. In Euro football, they usually put me at keeper because I have wingspan and a good vertical to keep people from chipping me. I need better gloves, though; I spilled a goal in last time I played.

Minnesota Vikings receive: Herschel Walker Dallas Cowboys receive: 11 people/picks, including the one they used on Emmitt Smith So basically, Dallas wound up dumping a past-his-prime RB for a pick that became an even better in his prime RB, which would make it a bad trade. But they also received TEN OTHER PEOPLE. This trade was unfathomable even then.

For those bitching about Mexico: Mexico 1, Brazil 0, neutral site, Confederations Cup just three weeks ago. They are legit good, and they are almost invincible at home. Maybe if the European teams would bother to play anyone outside of the money-rich USA in a road game, they'd see for themselves what the US soccer fans know: CONCACAF deserves its ratings.

These rankings (just released) take into account the 2005 Confederations Cup and some World Cup qualifiers. They will be used in part (I believe) to determine the seeding for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Below is a reprint of the FIFA Top 25. Rank Team (Prev) Pts 1. Brazil (1), 846 2. Argentina (3), 787 3. Holland (4), 781 4. Czech Republic (2), 778 5. Mexico (6), 768 6. United States (10), 765 7. France (5), 749 8. England (7), 744 8. Spain (9), 744 10. Portugal (8), 739 11. Germany (21), 723 12. Turkey (14), 716 13. Japan (18), 715 14. Italy (11), 713 15. Iran (17), 711 15. Ireland (15), 711 17. Sweden (12), 710 18. Uruguay (18), 703 19. Denmark (16), 698 19. Greece (13), 698 21. South Korea (20), 696 22. Croatia (22), 695 23. Costa Rica (24), 691 24. Poland (23), 689 25. Colombia (25), 683 Dropped out: None. Within 10% of #25: Egypt, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Russia, Romania, Tunisia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Morocco, Norway, Ukraine, South Africa, Honduras, Senegal, Jamaica, Switzerland, Finland, Côte d'Ivoire. Notes: Obviously their third-place showing at the Confed Cup helped Germany as they are the big movers this month... Mexico and the USA are running away with CONCACAF's "hexagonal", achieving an unbeaten (7W1D0L) record against the other four teams... The Czech's place near the top appears to be slipping as they might miss out on their fourth straight World Cup... Japan and Iran receive major boosts for punching their ticket to Germany 06 with a game to spare... Honduras climbed 11 spots and might steal a place in Germany yet... Greece tumbled from 720 points to 698, the biggest point drop this month in the top 50... The biggest leap was by Panama (#98 -> #83), while the biggest fall was by DR Congo (#68 -> #78). As always, there is likely no relevance to this other than both neighbours on either side of the pond can laugh at the Italians. Which, really, isn't a bad thing, right?

I'm probably one of the few people of the target audience who was affected by this, but the episode of Sesame Street -- yes, Sesame Street -- where they deal with Mr. Hooper's death. It was one of the first times that I had actually had to deal with anyone I even remotely knew dying. I wanted to hold Big Bird and just cry with him. Stop laughing.

Al Pacino. John Wayne. Spencer Tracy (Father of the Bride, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Boys Town). Dustin Hoffman. Tom Hanks. John Belushi. Steve McQueen. And for a wildcard: Leslie Nielsen (Airplane, the Naked Gun trilogy, Forbidden Planet). It's strange, but I can't think of any ACTRESSES who could entertain me for 24 hours.