Sunday, June 18, 2006

A rather pedestrian weekend...

Ghana? The Czechs lost to Ghana? They lost to a country that I couldn’t find on a map (which shows that I’m not dominant in all aspects of trivia)? I did watch the game on Saturday and it wasn’t just that Ghana won but that they basically demolished and demoralized the Czech side. It could have just as easily have been 4-nil.

I’ll have to say that I was impressed by the US in the game against Italy. Sure our only goal came when an Italian player, who I believe was technically smoking a cigarette at the time, kicked the ball into his own goal in one of the worst plays I’ve ever seen by a soccer player over the age of six. That did help us get a draw and given that Italy didn’t score while having a man advantage for the entire second half you’d have to say that the U.S. put up a very good fight. It will be interesting to see what happens on Thursday morning as any of the four teams can make it to the next round. And hey, Mexico drew with Angola showing that you just can’t look past the Angolans.

Switching gears, there is still one more aspect of Slugger’s (the Royals Mascot) tenth birthday party last week that has left me perplexed. They had a number of other baseball mascots (the Phillies Phanatic, Billy the Marlin, whatever the hell the Devil Rays mascot is) in to celebrate along with Slugger. I find this rather disconcerting as it means that the mascots do hang out together, which means they probably also hit the bars together while in full costume. I really don’t want to imagine Billy the Marlin as a mean drunk, or the Phanatic macking on some chicks, or Mariner Moose chainsmoking camels. And I don’t even want to know what type of connotations you can make from the phrase “a moose smoking camels.”

It was a pretty quiet weekend this time around. Saw Richard Buckner in concert yet again and he did pull off eighty minutes of uninterrupted music where his only statement to the crowd was “Thank you and goodnight.” I’ve been watching him try for the past three years to pull it off and he has finally made all the transitions seamless and you really don’t know where songs end or begin anymore. It’s probably not the first concert that I would take someone to but if you are into music it is a rather amazing performance.

Otherwise this was one of those weekends when I had to accomplish all of those dumb things that seem to take up most of my life. Like grocery shopping and doing laundry and shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Yes, as much as it pains me to admit it that last one is true. Look, even I get to the point where I am forced to go “I can either get a new shower curtain or hope that I will win a Nobel prize for whatever might be potentially growing in there.” But I did like the fact that I was asked at the register “Is this from a bridal registry?” only because that would be the coolest wedding present ever. “Here’s a shower curtain, hope you live happily ever after.” Can a shower curtain be symbolic of your undying love?

The five random CDs for the week
1) The Jayhawks “Rainy Day Music”
2) Gomez “In Our Gun”
3) Tori Amos “Boys for Pele”
4) Veruca Salt “American Thighs”
5) Wilco “Summerteeth”

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