Purdue University senior Robby Donoho compiled an array of celebrations from all over the country, and beyond (Lyon, Durban), following Landon Donovan’s goal on Wednesday. This will get you maybe half as pumped up as that Spanish commentator from yesterday.

Well done, Robby. I’ve reached out to Donoho to see where he was when it all went down. Until he gets back to me, I’m assuming he’s that kid in the basement who fell down his stairs in merriment.

I’m still pondering what I witnessed this morning. I’ve been racking my brain to equate it to any other sporting event that I’ve ever seen. In the interest of not reacting too abruptly, I’m going to refrain from saying anything else about it right now, other than that is was just a remarkable thing to watch.

Oh, speaking of reacting abruptly, did you hear one of the Algerians slapped a reporter after the match?

Yahoo broke the story about Algerian forward Rafik Saifi’s postgame tirade, and Sporting News gets a link for including this photo:

Between his actions today, whenever this scene pictured above happened this photo (above) of Saifi celebrating Algeria’s victory over Egypt in a neutral ground victory in the Sudan earlier this year to make the World Cup (thanks, Dave), and (just for good measure) the guys on the team with haircuts from the mid-90s film Hackers, it’s like the douchiness just comes full circle.

London-based, English bred mando-rock quartet Mumford & Sons took the stage this past Saturday evening at Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN before a crowd of more than 75,000. After two songs off their absolutely excellent debut album Sigh No More, bandleader Marcus Mumford addressed the crowd:

Congrats on your draw.

It fell in stark contrast to say an ACDC-like Are You Ready?! greeting (source: Jim Breuer), and presumably most of the crowd had not even seen the ENG/USA World Cup game that day that ended in 1-1 tie (a tie is the new win in 2010). Still, it sounded like the crowd liked it.*

*I wasn’t at Bonnaroo, but I got to check out this set thanks to NPR, who archived lots and lots of performances from the festival. So far, based on what I’ve heard Mumford & Sons’ show falls a close second to The Dead Weather.

Photo via Nashville Scene

In my discussions with others gearing up for USA vs. ENG on Saturday, I’ve noticed that those who believe that the U.S. can win typically cite one or all of the following three points:

1. The U.S.A. won their qualifying group (which is nice)
2. The U.S.A. beat #1-ranked Spain last year (which is nice)
3. The U.S.A. beat England in the 1950 World Cup

The third has less to do with the current team’s chances, and more to do with being necessarily patriotic, obviously. If you’re not opposed to a little Nationalism, I suggest checking out ESPN’s Outside the Lines report on Joe Gaetjens, the sole goal scorer in that 1950 1-0 victory over the brits. Fair warning: the story takes a turn for the absolute worst after he scored what stands as the biggest goal in U.S. soccer history.

Source: MLive.com

Ethnocentric World Cup prediction of the day:

The game between the U.S.A. and England on the first Saturday of competition will be as highly regarded as a temperate Super Bowl – say Tampa Bay vs. Oakland in 2002.

The U.S. will triumph 1-0, resulting in, hopefully, a drinking freely in the street event for those of us who choose to get engaged. I’ll probably be here, if you’re in New York and would like to join in the fray.

Too bold?

….

Today indeed marks 100 days from the start of the World Cup. Seems like just yesterday we were talking about the draw ceremony – I learned what the group of death is, but am still not sure why Charlize Theron was part of the selection process?

FIFA President, Joseph F. Blatter marked the day by commending South Africa for their preparation. It full of praise, both literal and metaphorical.

From FIFA.com:

The FIFA World Cup in Africa is a love story – a love story between the African continent and myself which began when I was the technical director of FIFA. It has come a long way in a long time. It has been a road travelled with trust, confidence but with patience as well. When this country was awarded the World Cup, there was a lot of work to do. We had to convince people that one day we would give back something to Africa. Africa has given so much to the world and to the world of football.



I’m very proud and very happy that this love story is coming to the ‘wedding celebration’. We are speaking about 100 days to go, but this all goes back to 17 May 1998 when I was campaigning for the FIFA Presidency for the first time and I said that, ‘We have to bring the World Cup to Africa.’ This is what I mean by having patience, as South Africa did not win the first time in 2000 when it lost by one vote to Germany, but with patience and perseverance you managed to win the right to host the World Cup in 2004.

Check out the rest of Blatter’s remarks here: Blatter: The dream is alive

Photo via FIFA.com

I am a huge fan of pizza-man vigilante justice

Ann Curry can barely contain herself…

Then. Something. Changed. YOUR MIND!

I worked as a pizza chef for about eight years, and can say with authority that pizzerias have hundreds (if not, thousands) of ways for you to defend yourself from thieves.

For example, when the guillotine execution went out of style, what do you think happened to all that metal?

Bingo.

In college, I wrote a screenplay about my days making ‘zas. The story culminates with robbers being thwarted after taking deep fryer grease to the corneas. Real Tarantino-esque imagery.

Point is, that criminal is lucky he only encountered the fleet of fist Rudy Sandoval, and not one of the many psychopaths who are prevalent in the paisan industry.

I wonder if the U.S. Pizza Team has offered Sandoval a contract yet. Or if they’re even looking for an enforcer.