My Euro Picks

No sooner had I pointed out that I had 7 of 8 quarter-finalists picked then all but one of them went crashing out.  That’s right.  I had ONE semi-finalist right.  I also had one finalist right, though, so it wasn’t a complete bust.  Come on the Deutschland!  I’ve had them pegged from the start to be champions.

My Euro Picks

Just for the record, I correctly picked 7 of the 8 teams that advanced in the Euros.  I picked Poland over Croatia… which was the only team I got wrong.  I had Germany finishing in first in their group as well, so Croatia and Germany were flip flopped, but other than that I picked ’em all.  I could get all the picks wrong from here on out, but I’m glad that I was able to pick 7 or 8 quarterfinalists.  Maybe this bodes well for my weekly pick ’em during the upcoming club football season???

Uber Uber! Deutschland Deutschland!

First of all, thanks to Kenny Hassan of World Soccer Daily for coining the title phrase.

Second of all… DEUTSCHLAND!  DEUTSCHLAND!  The Nationalelf dispatched of Portugal yesterday.  Their Teutonic power and precision proved too much for the Portuguese.  Superman Michael Ballack netted another goal, only cementing his place as well… THE man.  Steven Cohen, the other host of WSD, said that week that Ballack was his favorite Chelsea player because “he is just a man.”  I wholeheartedly agree.  Great win for Germany.  Many people had them pegged as underdogs and didn’t think they could handle Portugal.  They showed why you should never count out a national team like Germany.  Next up for the Germans, the winner of Croatia and Turkey.

Shock and Awe

I’m still reeling from the events of the last week.  Germany loses to Croatia.  Shocking.  Poland draws with Austria because of an absolutely horrendously criminally terrible penalty decision by the referee.  Tim Russert collapses and dies.  The Celtics come back from 20 something down and beat the Lakers.  Turkey scores 3 goals in the final 20 minutes to defeat the Czech Republic and advance to the quarterfinals (this was probably one of the most exciting football matches I have ever seen in my life.  It not only featured 4 second half goals, but a red card for a goalkeeper in the final minute and a shot that hit the post… incredible).  Tiger Woods sinks his final putt to send the US Open into an 18 hold playoff.  And to cap it off Wang seriously injured his foot in the Yankees game on Sunday.  Wow.  What a week.  Each one of these events is worthy of two or three posts, but this is all I can muster for now.

The Importance of Scoring First

Everyone always talks about the importance of scoring the first goal in a football match… and for good reason.  This year’s European Championship has been no exception.  There have been 8 games.  Teams scoring first have won 7 times.  The 8th game ended in a goalless draw.