July 15, 2006
OFFSIDE REMARKS
It was a World Cup to forget
The World Cup was supposed to be soccer's great showpiece? You've got to be kidding me.
July 12, 2006
OFFSIDE REMARKS
Mikey Awards honor the dubious and unusual, and even some of the best of the World Cup
After a month of end-to-end games and even some non-stop soccer action once in awhile, here's a special edition of the Mikey Awards, which honors the dubious, unusual and the good, bad and ugly of a rather unremarkable World Cup:
July 9, 2006
DEAR DIARY -- SUNDAY
Going full circle and making it an even 100
As this writer reaches a milestone, he looks back on how his World Cup experience started in Mexico some 20 years ago.
July 7, 2006
DEAR DIARY -- THURSDAY, FRIDAY
Berlin's in, even with a tacky souvenir
I love Berlin. There is something special about this city, which once was divided, but now united since the wall fell in 1989. There is an energy that emanates from this cosmopolitan city that you don't see in many other cities worldwide. Berlin is in a league with the likes of New York, London, Paris, Rome and Tokyo, among others.
July 6, 2006
DEAR DIARY -- WEDNESDAY
Escaping Dortmund and Munich
Every World Cup there is a city that makes my must miss list and this time it is Dortmund, hands down.
July 4, 2006
DEAR DIARY -- TUESDAY
The train to nowhere
I'm scheduled to leave Berlin for Dortmund on the ICE 2701, but I can't find any information about it at the main train station in the capital. It makes me wonder if I have booked myself on a ghost train.
July 3, 2006
DEAR DIARY -- MONDAY
After surviving a cliffhanger, our hero strikes it rich in more ways than one
Sometimes these diaries or blogs come off as those old-fashioned cliffhangers the movies and even TV once featured. If you ready Sunday's version of Dear Diary, you will know that we left off the hero close to dire financial straits because none of the cash machines at the Dortmund main train station was refusing to cough up any Euros to him.
July 2, 2006
DEAR DIARY -- SUNDAY
Taking a walk or two on the wild side
A bizarre train ride home, followed by a midnight walk trying to find my hotel in Dortmund. All in the day at the World Cup.
July 2, 2006
OFFSIDE REMARKS
Why Germany 2006 doesn’t measure up
One thing is for certain. This certainly isn’t your grandfather’s World Cup. Or your father’s. Sometimes I wonder if this is the World Cup we all love, cherish and remember. With four games remaining, Germany 2006 doesn't measure up to the World Cups of the past. How sad.
July 2, 2006
OFFSIDE REMARKS
Djorkaeff would rather be with his old friends in transit than with the transient Red Bulls
When I first heard that Youri Djorkaeff was leaving the New York Red Bulls for personal reasons, the first thought that popped into my head was Frankfurt. As in Frankfurt, where underdog France would be taking on defending World Cup champion Brazil in Saturday's World Cup quarterfinals. His reason to bolt the team was probably two-fold: Djorkaeff had had it up to here with the the chaos that rules the Red Bulls these days and he wanted to watch his friends, and one of his best friends, Zinedine Zidane, try one last chance at glory.
July 1, 2006
DEAR DIARY -- SATURDAY
Watching out for mad dogs and Englishmen (which could be the same)
Michael Lewis, amateur and pop sociologist, always had a theory that when you put too many rats together in one place they will go crazy or crazier. Ditto for home sapiens, although that could get exponentially worse because we allegedly are of higher intelligence.
June 30, 2006
DEAR DIARY -- FRIDAY
World Cup's enduring dynamic duo
Through the years there have been many great duos. Ruth and Gehrig. Martin and Lewis. Simon and Garfunkel. Bogart and Bacall.We now can add this venerable dynamic duo to the list: Lewis and Bondy.
June 29, 2006
OFFSIDE REMARKS
Semifinals could have a Latin and samba beat
Here's an intriguing thought: if Argentina, Italy, Portugal and Brazil prevail in the World Cup quarterfinals, it will make it the first all-Latin final ever with a samba beat coming from Brazil.
June 29, 2006
DEAR DIARY -- THURSDAY
Dead Weight and other weighty problems
Four years older and wiser than when I covered my last big international event, the Athens Summer Olympics, I promised myself that I wouldn't bring as much stuff with me as in the past.
June 28, 2006
OFFSIDE REMARKS
Blatter lets ref situation get out of hand
It's certainly easy to have a certain deja vu feeling about this World Cup's officiating. This is what one writer wrote: "FIFA president Sepp Blatter, like a little boy with a game in which he can change the rules any time he wanted, did exactly that, admonishing referees for not awarding enough red cards one day and publicly criticizing them the next. It confused the hell out of the men in the middle, action that should have been taken many months before the opening kickoff." Yours truly penned that after France '98.
