England and France are Back

When I caught the game on Watch ESPN on my Verizon Galaxy Nexus phone, I was upset ESPN had prominently showed the UKR-FRA score at the bottom, then I realized the game was just in the 20' instead of somewhere in the second half.  So, lightning, eh?  Maybe it was the fact that this was the first match on ESPN2 instead of ESPN :-)  My DVR definitely had problems as it didn't record the first hour.  Anyway, a couple of goals three minutes apart silenced the home crowd as France beat Ukraine 2-0.  29 picked France as Walleye took a 2-win lead (4 pts). Sisyphus and Absolutely Clueless picked up their 5th win in a row.  After losing 7 in a row, V2 Wedding Bells!!! has now won 4 in a row.  Mikeonthemike lost for the 4th straight game.

England and Sweden played a wild match in which Sweden were looking to become the 2nd team to rally and win scoring twice (well, England helped with an own goal) to go up 2-1 but England rallied right back, a much different style of play from when they played France, to pull out a 3-2 victory.  24 picked ENG and Walleye maintained his 4-point lead (24) while Absolutely Clueless picked up his 6th win in a row to move into a tie for 4th. Mikeonthemike snapped his 4-game losing streak.

12 hours left... tick, tock plus busy sports weekend

Just over 12 hours left until the EURO 2012 kicks off and with racism still a hot topic, what better teams than Poland (Polish jokes) and Greece (Greek jokes).  Sigh.  UEFA couldn't have planned it better.  Very interesting though that the refs have the power (and with their judgement, that's scary) to stop a game if they feel the fans are racist which I hope means pausing the game to kick out the stupid fans rather than take the teams into the locker rooms to hide and cry.  If it's the latter, seriously, wouldn't that be a tactic by the fans, if they want to stop the opposing team's momentum by chanting racist chants to stop the game and give their team a breather?  You would hope the ticket prices are so high that it keeps the riff-raff out of the stands.  Let's hope for a racist-chant free tournament, or, more accurately, what the refs misinterpret as racist-chant free tournament (we already question their eyesight, now are going to question their hearing)?

Anyway, we have 30 entries which is outstanding!  Still just the big 3 picked to win it all (okay, plus the one outlier with Portugal).  I'm actually getting excited.  My first full-blown EURO watching (which is another reason why I acquiesced and started this pool) and my DVR space has been cleared.  Thank you ESPN.  And this on a very busy sports weekend -- the LA Kings can win their first Stanley Cup!    I'll  Have Another can win the Triple Crown!  The hated LeBron vs. the hated Celtics in Game 7 for a trip to the Final!  The LA Galaxy will not lose for the 2nd straight weekend!  Maria Sharapova in the French Open Final!  Smiles all around!

Edit: Not a boxing fan, but another pretty big sports event is a Pac-Man fight on Saturday.

Foster’s Futbol Brew, Batch Number Two

June 5, 2012

Foster’s Futbol Brew, Batch Number Two:

Some of you follow the World Cup, but perhaps this is the first or second time following the European Championships.  Some of you who may not be as familiar with the tourney’s top players, nearly all of whom play for Club soccer somewhere in Europe.  For those of you who follow Club teams like me in the English Premier League (EPL), Serie A in Italy, La Liga in Spain and other European clubs, you've probably begun to hear about some rising stars.  For some European national sides, the next generation is here.  This is a sneak-peak at some of the rising stars to follow on their national squads that should have a big impact: