Woo Özil!
I realize Messi is as great as all that but I can't get a read on him and thus will happily root against him.
I can't remember an important game in relation to which I felt so effortlessly neutral.
From the headline of the NYT graphic comparing Messi and Prima Donna:
"On Sunday, Lionel Messi will have the opportunity to win the World Cup and match the one feat that separates him from Diego Maradona, who won it in 1986, in the hearts of Argentine soccer fans."
And you thought the weather in Qatar will be hot and humid.
Muslim brother Ozil?
I'm guessing Khedira too is a Muslim brother?
We're getting chatter about the Muslim Brotherhood.
I'm just so glad Brazil made it this far. What happens if they tie?
They reduce the number of players on the field by one from each team every 5 minutes, until it's just the goalies left and they have a MMA fight. Just like chess.
They have a war. If Germany win they get to keep the Falkland Islands; if Argentina win, they get Poland.
9- Only in World Cup rules. In confederation play that happens before the game.
I'll just be rereading The Odessa File and one or two of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther mysteries. No reason.
I've heard that the British left waffles on the Falkland Islands.
Definitely rooting for Germany. They haven't played great in every match, but in their best games they've hit peaks no other team in this tournament has. With the possible exception of the Netherlands against Spain. And I like the style of their play. Argentina haven't stunk and have had nice moments, but not enough to make me want them to win. Given that various other teams I had some affection for were put out in the quarters, it's been Germany all the way since then.
The British left waffles a lot on the Falkland Islands. They haven't been able to agree a coherent position on it sincr 1982.
So, where would I find these waffles that the British left?
What I want to know is, how did Jack let Mr. Oogie Boogie Man get so powerful in the first place?
I just hope at least one team will score a goal.
17. Indeed.
19. I mainly hope the two teams don't score the same number of goals, so we don't have to put up with people kvetching about penalties.
19 -- if you knew anything about soccer, you'd know that is literally impossible.
They sure don't care about concussions in soccer.
Yikes. That is one concussed-ass dude.
Isn't he a Sunni? Shouldn't that make you root for anyone else these days? Though I guess he could be a Shiite, like the Turkish origin Secretary General of the SPD - her brothers are very hardline Islamists with close ties to the Iranian goernment, she's living in sin with a Christian; iftar family meals must be fun.
I didn't know the ass could be concussed.
Boy, Messi just can't deliver in the World Cup. *gulp*
Huh, either this is an extremely fast-paced game or I didn't check the start time and thought the game would start when other night games have started, not an hour earlier.
I think the group stage was way more fun. Maybe they should go back to having multiple group stages.
If there's a shootout, I hope Argentina wins since it would be great if the World Cup was won by a team that didn't score in its final two games. And also because I'm tired of hearing about Germany winning on penalties.
Otherwise, I guess I'd like to see Germany win, although I don't really care. I was hoping the winner would be a country that hadn't won before.
If there's a shootout after 0-0, that is.
When was the last time the final match of the World Cup was a fun game to watch? 2002?
So punching a dude in the face and drawing blood is not a penalty then?
(the camera work is not that good in this game)
That was a nice goal.
Beautiful goal, guess the word got to the pitch from ajay in time.
Think we'll take the kids to some women's WC games next year in Canada.
So is this the first time ever that the countries of the two finalists, and the host country, all were led by women?
I can't ever remember anything about a match - including games I play in - once it's over. On the other hand I'm barely a sports-watcher in any sense.
I have to say I am a little depressed my prediction didn't come true:
I hope the WC final is 0-0 and decided through multiple rounds of penalties. For every penalty their team makes, spectators have to eat a donut. Winning will be decided with a complex algorithm calculated by penalties scored, number of donuts eaten, with an added aesthetic score based on the skillfulness of dives throughout the match. Voters can text with donut pics in to support their favorite team, Eurovision style. Unknown points will be added by a panel of judges from Russia, Qatar, N. Korea and Uzbekistan.
Oh well. There's always the next world cup in Russia.
55:I remember sequences from.games I played in from.more than twenty years ago
57: Me too, but mostly just of my triumphs. This is the opposite of my normal pattern where I only remember my most embarrassing moments. I should obviously play more sports.
That should definitely go on the list.
Man oh man, did Argentina have their chances.
Hey, my initial prediction (except that Spain thing) was pretty good: http://www.unfogged.com/archives/week_2014_06_08.html#013803
The underlying bracket, of course, was a disaster.
57, 58: Me too, but mostly just of injuries.
So is this the first time ever that the countries of the two finalists, and the host country, all were led by women?
Yes. It's had a female hostess before (Angela Merkel in Germany in 2006) but that was Italy-France, both male-led at the time. Glancing down the list, I don't think a female-led country has ever made it to the final before, but I could be wrong.
Off topic, but this just dropped in on me from a cover letter for a job:
[blah blah blah previous work experience degree charity work kickboxing crossfit blah blah] ...Closer to home, I have just returned from a road trip around the UK in an obscenely decorated campervan.
I suppose he might mean "ornately", but I really hope he doesn't.
You should totally hire him just based on that.
65 is right. At least interview him, so you can ask about it.
"I see from your letter that you have an obscenely decorated campervan. Would you like to expand on that point?"
Oh, that phrase alone has earned him the interview.
Actually, what with that and the Crossfit, I am wondering if he is some sort of apo/Halford hybrid who has made the leap from the unfogged unconscious to the real world. I must ask him about water engineering or Samoa or mobile phone technology.
Check if his kickboxing is Frenchy kickboxing [elegant, Unfogged approved], Dutch [hard as nails], or American.
69: Muay Thai. Also jiujitsu, jeet kune do, and SAMBO. Frankly I'm giving him the interview because I'm too terrified not to.
Are you in a position to say what the job is? We can all dream up ways of making it relevant experience.
re: 70
Ah. I know some sambo and jkd people. The latter is a bit of a mixed bag, ranging from pretty interesting/good to delusional-Bruce-Lee-fanboys. I'd guess with the Sambo and Muay Thai, probably not the last.
Muay Thai, Crossfit, and an obscenely decorated van? I'm having a hard time seeing how you can not hire him, regardless of what the job is.
He's a shoo-in for anyone who wants to do a Christopher Nolan/HBO-style dark, gritty reboot of the Scooby Doo franchise. He even has his own van!
Heh. I'd watch a Nolan Scooby-Doo.
This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll whisper "Yikes".
"Gee, it was hard taking the rubber mask off the crook who was pretending to be the villainous old prospector!"
"...he wasn't wearing a mask, Velma."
He's a shoo-in for anyone who wants to do a Christopher Nolan/HBO-style dark, gritty reboot of the Scooby Doo franchise. He even has his own van!
"And I'd have gotten away with it too it wasn't for that knee to the face."
Heh. I'd watch a Nolan Scooby-Doo.
No joke.
On the subject of Frenchy kickboxing, Batroc the Leaper, famous Marvel Comics savate-kicking villain, has now made it to the big screen in "The Winter Soldier" which I saw on the flight back from Narnia. Short review: too much Redford, not enough Batroc.
Gritty Scooby-Doo: the Mystery Machine is a resprayed army-surplus MRAP. The settings continue to be decaying funfairs, factories, mansions etc - the general feel is a kind of Robocop Detroit where industry and society have been crushed into near-collapse. Scooby is an immense dog who doesn't talk but just rips people's faces off (Shaggy can understand what he's thinking; he was Scooby's handler when Scooby was an Army search dog in Afghanistan).
What you ignoramuses are missing is that Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated is already substantially darker than the original. Do some research people.
Still no blood or whores, but it isn't bad. There are politicians.
Thanks for 83. 76 is brilliant, of course, but that was bothering me more than I cared to let on. Oops.
82. Scooby Doo meets Robocop meets A Boy and His Dog.
86: But does it include nonlinear storytelling?
Has it been adapted as a bloated 30 minutes too long movie?
Yes, but not the non-linear, dark version.
What you ignoramuses are missing is that Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated is already substantially darker than the original. Do some research people.
Halford is Chris Sims of Comics Alliance*?
On the subject of Frenchy kickboxing, Batroc the Leaper, famous Marvel Comics savate-kicking villain, has now made it to the big screen in "The Winter Soldier" which I saw on the flight back from Narnia. Short review: too much Redford, not enough Batroc.
Huh. I also saw this on a recent flight, and I would not have pegged that guy as adapted from comics - he just came off as the penultimate boss.
94: in the comics (as I know from John Holbo) he has an outrageous, Pythonesque French accent.