World Cup predictions, Take 2

It would seem that I stopped blogging about the World Cup right around the time that, oh, the United States suffered an embarrassing and crushing defeat at the hands of (granted, the #2 ranked team in the world) the Czech Republic. I am still hoping, of course, that we somehow manage to rally against the Italians to make it out of the first round. But the loss, quite frankly, was deserved. And, given the luck of the draw, the best the United States could manage would be a second-place finish in this group, which means the next team we would play would be… Brazil.

In any case, having now watched all the first-round games (or at least most of them), my brackets have changed a little. I now think that the “surprise” teams won’t come from Africa, but there will be a few Latin American spoilers around. That said, interestingly enough, my original prediction for the final two remains.

Here are my predictions – with potential scores!:

In the Round of 16:
GERMANY d. England, 3-1
NETHERLANDS d. Mexico, 2-1 <--(this should be a good game)
CZECH REPUBLIC d. Australia, 3-1
SWITZERLAND d. Ukraine, 1-0
ECUADOR d. Sweden, 2-1
ARGENTINA d. Portugal, 2-1 (penalty kicks)
BRAZIL d. Italy 2-1
SPAIN d. France

Quarterfinals:
NETHERLANDS d. Germany, 2-1
SWITZERLAND d. Czech Republic, 2-1 (penalty kicks)
ARGENTINA d. Ecuador, 2-1
SPAIN d. Brazil, 2-1

Semifinals:
NETHERLANDS d. Switzerland, 3-1
SPAIN d. Argentina, 2-1

Third Place Game:
ARGENTINA d. Switzerland, 2-1

Final Match:
SPAIN d. Netherlands, 2-1

I must express my utter disappointment at the now-established fact that Germany has qualified to the next round and Poland is out. After playing in such a disorganized fashion against Ecuador (who turn out to be very good), Poland really came back and deserved to win the last game against Germany. That last-minute goal – shot while I was between the two traffic circles on the way to work – was truly agonizing. To make it worse, in the scenario I have set up, Germany will then play the lackluster British team and get a bye to the next round for sure – where, thankfully, they will be crushed by the Dutch. (Of course, nothing would make me happier than to see England fall to Trinidad and Tobago today…)

Meanwhile, Señor Pájaro wanted to know whether Naked Boy Day and watching the World Cup were complementary activities. Xan would reply firmly in the affirmative. I mean, shouldn’t everyone watch the World Cup in the buff?

Why did the Japanese lose to Australia in the World Cup?

Perhaps they did not have the proper English lessons.

Because I am generous, I offer the following video, which also demonstrates some lovely calisthenics. (For complete hilarity at the randomness that this embodies, watch the whole thing.)


Thanks, naturally, to Angela for causing me to laugh hysterically while trying not to wake up my napping child.

My son is like a dandelion

Let me take a moment away from World Cup madness to relate something that happened while taking a little time off soccer action yesterday.

I needed to go to University of Maryland's campus to photocopy an article that our library couldn't get in time for my class. Admittedly, they could have gotten it for me, but I only discovered it on Thursday and needed it to distribute for Tuesday so, to be safe, I decided to go pick it up myself. Naturally, Xan cam with me.

I must say that Xan has far more fun in AU's library -- particularly the Media Servcies section where there are stools that can be turned round and round and round and... -- but the periodicals section was still fun. Afterwards, I realized that the front of the library featured a very large open grassy area with very few people on it -- a good opportunity for little boys to romp. We wandered under a tree and I set him down. Which was a very silly thing to do, for two reasons. One, this meant we were still on a rather steep incline, not down to the flat area yet. More to the point, however, yesterday featured some rather strong breezes.

Picture this, then: Xan is standing up with a very determined look on his face. He looks into the wind, hair blowing fiercely all around him, not upset but not particularly at ease either. He stands there for about a minute and a half... before being blown backwards by a gust of wind.

This made me smile more than anything else, with the realization that my boy, no matter how fast he is growing and changing and learning these days, is still little.

You don't want me as a fan

Let's take a look at how I thought the first few games of the World Cup would turn out in order to make my previously articulated brackets work. My predictions:

• Game 1: Costa Rica d. Germany
• Game 2: Poland d. Ecuador
• Game 3: Paraguay d. England
• Game 4: Sweden d. Trinidad & Tobago
• Game 5: Cote d'Ivoire d. Argentina

OK, granted, at least two of those -- Costa Rica and Cote d'Ivoire beating relative powerhouses Germany and Argentina -- would have been major upsets, but at least two of the above games should have been pretty much no-brainers, with the England-Paraguay match supposed to be a good match.

This is the reality:

• Game 1: Germany d. Costa Rica, 4-2 in what turned out to be a relatively exciting game since the Central Americans made the Germans work for it
  
• Game 2: Ecuador d. Poland, 2-0 in a really impressive rout
  
• Game 3: England d. Paraguay, 1-0 in a deserved trouncing -- England played very well and Paraguay has no more Chilavert
  
• Game 4: Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago draw (which is pretty much a major Trinidadian victory in everyone's eyes, including the Trinidadians)
• Game 5: Argentina d. Cote d'Ivoire, 2-1 in a game that started out boring but got more exciting as things went on
  

As I mentioned to someone today, this all goes to prove my expert knowledge... in film.

So when I say I'm gunning for the Netherlands, Mexico and Portugal tomorrow -- well, perhaps you should expect some impressive work by Serbia and Montenegro, Iran and Angola respectively. Egad.

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh

As I type this, there is less than a half-hour to...

THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD CUP!

As I plan to watch nearly all of this on Univision, I'm watching a hysterical set of commercials catered specifically to the event as well. I'm particularly impressed that the anthem of the event happens to be in at least five languages that I could determine.

And my son? He is napping right now.

In a half hour, let me tell you, he won't be. Naps will wait. Food shopping will wait. Academic work will wait.

Germany vs. Costa Rica. If you're reading out there, Stefan -- I fear that once again I'm rooting against you. (As for the second match, Poland vs. Ecuador? Well, given that my son is at least part Polish, I'm going to have to go against the Latins this time...)

So excited.

One day off, perhaps?

On my subway ride home from work, I get a call from the Kaiser-Gleasons, they who seem to do everything (PhDs, babies, etc.) in multiples. While on the phone with them...

• My SmartTrip card didn't work for a moment.
• I come upon the remnants of a burning bus in the middle of downtown Takoma Park. (No, I did not leave off the "h" there and Xan is not Isaac in disguise.)
• I discover when I get home that there is a dead racoon in the street immediately in front of our house.

Omen, perhaps?

BREAKING NEWS: Escaped Reptile Found in Swedish Megastore; Father Expresses Relief, Devotion

COLLEGE PARK, MD - A dinosaur, missing since Saturday in the College Park IKEA, was found unharmed and returned to his best friend early Monday.

The troubles began on Saturday when brain-addled professor Jeffrey Middents, 34, brought his son Alexander, 1, and his son's stuffed dinosaur, Dino, to shop for plastic tumblers and to examine the annual sale. Middents only discovered the missing reptile in the children's department after having gone through the entire 2nd floor of the store.

"I thought it would be funny to have the dinosaur fight this octopus they have there, kind of like Godzilla vs. Mothra, or something," said Middents. "But man, that dinosaur is like his best friend. You have no idea what kind of guilt I felt."

Middents apparently walked the length of the store three times before calling Jeffrey Bird and Amy Hightower, who had given the dinosaur as a gift to the younger Middents. Ms Hightower, reached at her visit to an relatively fertile woman in California, commented that the reptile had been purchased at TJ Maxx two years ago and would be very difficult to replace. Sources at the Ikea store indicate that a person matching Middents' description was seen talking into a cell phone with an expression of doom and giving off the stench of despair.

Angela Dadak, mother of Alexander, confirmed that this event, coupled with two further hours of food shopping that followed, turned Middents into a pissy jerk for a large part of that afternoon.

A woman who would only be identified as "Lynda from IKEA" called early Monday morning to say that the dinosaur had been located. "He thanked me but then said something about loving me immensely for finding it," she told reporters. "All I did was pick it up."

The reunion was held Monday at around 1:00PM EDT. "I felt so guilty," said the elder Middents, "despite the fact that it's this little guy who threw it out of the cart. Though we may have to transition to the panda because that at least we know how to replace." Sources confirm that the reunion consisted of much cooing and hugging with only some extraneous drool.

Alexander Middents and Dino could not be reached for comment for this story, due to their relative lack of language ability. Both celebrated, however, by having a ball.

No more pictures! said Alexander Middents. I'll drop you as if I were Sean Penn! said Dino.

Nirvana to reopen!

I've just heard that my high school discotheque of choice, Nirvana, will reopen. This disco was an amazing place: an old Spanish-style house with many small rooms, virtually all of which were painted black and featured an amazing amount of blacklight, where an angst-ridden teenage boy with frizzy hair could dance with a speaker to the sounds of Depeche Mode, Peter Murphy and Soda Stereo, under the influence of several screwdrivers. I even tried memorializing it through a dystopic short story written when I was in college.

But you (the very few of you in the know) say that this can't be true: Nirvana closed in the early 90s, to be replaced by an ultramodern laundromat. It hasn't existed for years. Indeed, Nirvana is just a nostalgic memory, a product of your life in Lima from the late 1980s.

Perhaps you haven't heard about this yet, that situations we thought it would be impossible to return to in Peru are suddenly back with a vengeance. And as long as we're bringing back the bad stuff, why not bring back the good too? Come to think of it, maybe we can bring back short films before all movies in Peru as well!

With a mau-mau and a cow-cow and a...

Well, blow me away. Of my three favorites (see entry below), I picked the final two -- and the fact that the winner (pictured here, Katherine Cross) won makes me especially pleased. Why?

Because she got to spell "hukilau"!

And what is so special about "hukilau"?

Hmmmm... let's see who manages to answer this first... everyone together now......

So geeked!!

No no, it's not time yet for the World Cup. That's next week.

Right now it's time for THE NATIONAL SPELLING BEE!!! And I don't care what JJ says, spelling makes for compelling television. I'm a little scared about what ABC is going to do to the poor spellers as they hit broadcast TV during primetime tonight. That said, we members of the cable-less population are happy to have it on broadcast. I may actually end class early tonight to make sure I catch it all. I even brought Angela's bike in so that I can zoom from class to metro to home quickly. Woohoo!!

UPDATE: In getting my clips together for today's class, I got sucked into the preliminary rounds. The bad news is that I didn't get the amount of work done that I wanted; the good news is that I now know who I'm rooting for! (Early favorites already out: Bonny Jain, winner of this year's national geography bee, and Samir Patel, last year's runner-up who I remember as an 8-year-old in the bee making it all the way to 5th place.) Here are my choices:

• Finola Hackett, because she knew how to spell "bdelloid" (of or pertaining to leeches -- great word)
• Katherine Close, because she's coooool as a cucumber
• Charley Allegar, because he seems like a total jock lunkhead who them pulls words like "reliquiae" out of thin air because he really seems to know them

And now, I must apologize to these three who, now that I'm rooting for them, will undoubtedly lose. Still, I can root.