Well, really dug this one out of the archives...

Was cleaning out my email draft box today, and found this half finished transcription of a text conversation Noah and I had during last years confed cup us-eqypt group stage match.... ah, memories.

in honor of this afternoons preposterous result, im going to share the text message exchange between noah and myself:

2:33, JF: God, we're screwed
2:33, ND: Why even bother
2:52, JF: Even the goals we do score are terrible
2:52, ND: Let's not get too critical here. Also, we fucking suck. And thanks to Egypt for deciding not to show up
2:53, JF: I hate the long balls. I hate the timidness in front of net. I hate the panic at the back. Even if we win, this is still terrible
2:59, ND: Well, Egypt woke up
3:01, JF: Why is dempsey on the field?
3:45, ND: Once again we are being handed a gift and failing to do our part.
3:45, JF: Seriously. Jozy, how do you not find a way to score that? He was paying rent he was camped out over the ball for so long
3:46, ND: it has to be a handball
3:47, JF: Deflection off the thigh into the arm? I don't hate the non call
3:48, ND: The ball is going into the net even after it hits his thigh
3:49, JF: Well, that was almost a nice goal....
3:49, ND: Egypt is dead tired
3:50, JF: They are not interested. Landon needs to take this home.
3:55, JF: I will take anyone over Dempsey. Where is Torres?
3:56 ND: I thought Dempsey was great in the early going. Feilhabers coming on
3:57 JF: Jesus. I hope your eyes are better than mine
4:00 ND: Thanks. I'll be here all night.
4:00 JF: Well, you were right. And I love it. Great cross from Spector
4:01 ND: Wonderful ball
4:01 JF: Also, I should have been nervous when I was agreeing with harkes
4:03 ND Guzan is terrifying. Don't take any pointers from him
4:05 JF: Haha. Also, I may be striking up my love affair with gooch again.... going to be a good final 15
4:09 ND: He doesn't lose balls in the air
4:12 JF: Davies needed off 20 mins ago
4:13 JF: Or 82 mins ago
4:14 ND: Yep. Although he ran hard. And then he started falling over
4:17 JF: Very little intent, or execution. Everyone loves energy, but that was a mess
4:23 JF: Wow.

Yes, I have just compltely stolen this from Noahs other website

Bocanegra: just so classy

Control Tower

Bodog Odds from Awhile Ago

Bodog Odds

FIFA World Cup 2010 - Outright Winner

Spain 4/1

Netherlands 9/1

World Cup 2010 Finalists

Holland / Spain 22/1

World Cup 2010 - Tournament Top Goal scorer

David Villa (Spain) 9/1

Miroslav Klose (Germany) 25/1

Diego Forlán (Uruguay) 50/1

Róbert Vittek (Slovakia) 200/1

World Cup 2010 - England vs United States - First Goal scorer

Steven Gerrard 7/1

Will USA Qualify from Group C?

Yes -140

USA Top Tournament Goal Scorer

Landon Donovan 3/1

World Cup 2010 -USA Total Team Goals

Over/Under 4.5 Goals

World Cup 2010 - Group C Exacta

1.USA 2.England 6/1

World Cup 2010 - USA Group Stage Total Points

Over Points O 4½ (+120)

World Cup 2010 - USA Stage of Elimination

Second Round 7/5

Miscellaneous Odds

World Cup 2010 - Total Goals Scored in World Cup 2010

Over/Under 160.5 Goals

World Cup 2010 - Total Red Cards in World Cup 2010

Over/Under 19.5

The Goodbye Video

Artifacts from South Africa

Why have so many things changed since I left?

1) The entire Sox lineup is on the DL.

2) The V train became the M train?

I Traveled Far

So I decided to calculate how far I traveled during my entire around the world sprint.

Here it goes:

JFK to SFO: 2,580 miles
SFO to ICN: 5,620 miles
ICN to SIN: 2,890 miles
SIN to JNB: 5,380 miles
JNB to CPT: 790 miles
CPT to JNB: 790 miles
JNB to DKR: 4,170 miles
DKR to IAD: 3,970
IAD to EWR: 211 miles
EWR to PHL: 79 miles

Total miles traveled between 6/17 and 7/2: 26,480 miles.

Also, the length of the equator is 24,860 miles. So basically I went around the world and then flew from New York to Denver for good measure.

Recap Days 11-22

The last time I did this was June 20, before I embarked on my jaunt to South Africa. I will now, game-by-game, provide you all with some insight.

Day 11
POR-PRK. Complete demolition of the North Koreans. Apparently their hired-Chinese fans weren't enough. Still hate C. Ronaldo though.

CHL-SUI. This game was dirty. I think a Swiss guy got red carded in a questionable game. Right about this time I was driving in a car to Fedex to drop off clothes that I couldn't fit in my carry on bag.

ESP-HON. My passport arrived during this game. That's all that's important. Honduras did not rep CONCACAF well.

Day12
MEX-URU. Completely missed this game. I was somewhere between San Francisco and Seoul.

FRA-RSA. See above. Geoff, Nate and Noah were in a super market when bafana bafana scored. It was awesome. (Hey, remember in the URU-GHA QF when John Harkes said "baghana baghana"? He sucks.)

NIG-KOR. Saw a couple minutes of this game while running to my gate in Singapore. Along the way - in the airport - I saw a Red Sox bar. That's all I know.

GRE-ARG. I know nothing.

Day 13
SLO-ENG. All I know is that when this game was going on I was orbiting another planet. The closest I came to experiencing this game was when I was trying to get my fucking smartphone to tell me if Slovenia scored. At that moment, Donovan scored. Thank you smarthphone?

USA-ALG. Emotional high of a lifetime. See many other posts on this subject.

GHA-GER. Something happened in this game, I'm sure. But I was smoking a Cuban.

AUS-SRB. See above.

Day 14
DEN-JPN. I was rooting for the Danish because I like small central European countries. But the Japanese were actually exciting and I later joined their bandwagon.

CMR-NED. Love the Oranje. They won.

SVK-ITA. Hate the Italians. They lost.

PAR-NZL. My favorite team in the tournament may have been the Kiwis. I had to continuously fight myself to avoid buying a New Zealand jersey in the airport (which is, amusingly, basically just a white t-shirt with "New Zealand" in the corner; I really wanted it.) In any case, the Kiwis - completely written off - drew three games.

Day 15
POR-BRA. Brazil tied nil-nil. Really Brazil? I bet you are going to lose in the QF. Great work Dunga.

KOR-CIV. Really wanted something miraculous to happen with the Ivorians so they could advance. Not much more that you can ask than 3-nil. Pretty sure the 2010 World Cup was wiped off the North Korean history books. (I wonder what those looked like to begin with.)

CHL-ESP. Noah went to this game. Nate, Geoff and I got emotional over beer, scotch and a lot red meat.

SUI-HON. Remember the Swiss border patrol in 2006? That was funny.

Day 16
URU-KOR. Really joined the Uruguaian bandwagon here. Diego Forlan is pretty awesome, as is Suarez. This period of my life was spent preparing for the following four hours. Or, as Nate put it, preparing to yak later.

USA-GHA. Another incredibly emotional moment of my life. Please see elsewhere in this blog. Remember Ghana. Fuck Ghana.

Day 17
GER-ENG. Read the first chapter of Soccernomics. It explains everything that took place in this game with remarkable accuracy. I love Ze Germans.

ARG-MEX. Pretty exciting game here. No CONCACAF teams advance to the QF.

Day 18
NED-SVK. Dutch defend their unofficial world title again. Around this time Geoff was extremely close to killing: the GPS, the entire population of Sun City, an elephant (that was already dead) and several South African drivers.

BRA-CHL. Listed to this game on the radio after dropping Geoff and Nate off at the airport. It was a sad moment. I also liked Chile much more than Brazil.

Day 19
PAR-JPN. Boring 120 minutes. Exciting shootout. Rough way to get eliminated. No Asian teams get to the QF.

ESP-POR. Spanish win in a game that they dominate possession. I dislike C. Ronaldo. Every first place team won their R16 game... except us. No stars from the Write the Future ad reach the QF.

Day 20
There were no games this day. It was weird.

Day 21
See above. Noah left. I went to Cape Town.

Day 22
BRA-NED. HELL YES ORANJE. Caught the two Dutch goals while running through the Newark airport in the midst of my IAD-EWR-PHL connection (don't ask). Really excited for this team.

URU-GHA. Karma's a bitch ain't it? I hate Gyan. Can't believe that he missed that penalty at the end of time. Incredible. Fuck Ghana. Love that Uruguay gets through. Would be pulling for the Dutch anyways, but I don't think the Uruguaians can't get through without Suarez.

Pool leader: Guess who's back on top? ANDREW! (And Josh too). But seriously, I picked the Dutch upset of the Brazilians with the correct score. One of the top moments of my life.

chatting with katie....

Katie: i gotta root for africa now
me: i would like to be able to do that
cannot
which is why i think im not watching
Katie: plus, don't you want whoever beat us to beat everyone? so we can think we were almost good enough
3:35 PM me: yeah, ive heard that line of reasoning
Katie: they are the only hope of an entire, impoverished, corruption ruled continent
me: i mean, it makes sense
im just still upset
all of these things make sense
im just still upset
3:36 PM Katie: i'm upset, but i'm also proud of that us and i don't particularly feel like they deserved to go much further
3:39 PM me: i mean, i agree
but the disappointment is still too raw
im not actively rooting against ghana
i just..... i just cant handle it right now
Katie: haha okay fair enough
but they are a fun team
me: i mean, i liked them a lot in the group stages
3:40 PM Katie: and besides, we still have america as our country
me: ha, valid
but, i still feel like i was dumped by my girlfriend
Katie: haha
me: and its just going to take some time
3:41 PM Katie: i feel more like i was dating someone who looked good on paper, but the spark wasn't there, and we've broken up. i miss the idea of him, but not actually
that was this u.s. team for me- heart for sure, but passion and skill and grace, not so much
me: ha
see, i started dating them 2-3 years ago
ive stayed up late at night with them working on their problems
and while understood the limitations, didn't think they'd go crazy on me like this so quickly
i mean, we were never getting married/they were never winning the world cup
3:43 PM Katie: haha
me: but, i just thought it would end better
Katie: haha fair enough
3:44 PM fuck uruguay scored
3:45 PM me: ha
im not even happy about that!
Katie: good
3:46 PM me: bah
wish the germans and argentina were not playing each other so soon
i can root for both of those teams
the germans play like i wish we played
sum better than the parts
Katie: i cant root for the germans
i like the way they play, but don't root for them
and argentina has my future husband on the team
me: yeah, it is difficult to root for them, i agree
Katie: so it's no contest
me: ha
i just wish we were the germans
knew how to win
organized
thoughtful, purposeful passing
ability to finish
scrappy, everyone likes each other
Katie: yeah they play like such a team
3:48 PM me: they are the girl at the coffee shop i wish i was dating, but is out of my league
Katie: oh goodness
3:49 PM me: she's got some banker boyfriend, who does something fantastically interesting at night, like write short stories, or on the side graphic design
or, maybe build furniture
he's in shape, is funny
i've got nothing
except this damn girl who has a ton of problems, but i loved anyways
bah

Mara's just delivering the goods

Dutch upset of Brazil + beignets + cafe au lait + bloody mary's = happiness.

Who needs new orleans?

Favorite Quotes from South Africa

"There is nothing to do now but yak later."
-Nate, before the USA-Ghana game

Geoff: "I couldn't have done this trip then."
Andrew: "I couldn't do that trip now."
(general agreement)
Comparing the 2006 and 2010 World Cup trips

P.s. I got the Nederland-Brasil game correct, with the correct score. Fuck yeah.

More verbal goal scoring

Have come to really like the michael davies and roger bennet blog/podcast on espn through this cup, and found another good one today. this summed up a few things:

"When did I last feel this bad about a loss? England's 1990 semifinal defeat to Germany, perhaps?

But I am not talking about England's 4-1 battering. It was the U.S.'s ouster that left me devastated this weekend. England's failure was, regrettably, all too predictable. We are a nation that has long mistaken fame for skill. But the U.S. team created a sense of endeavor, nobility and optimism -- all too rare a commodity in sports and rarer still in American soccer. We will always have Landon's goal, a totemic symbol that will be played and replayed, even as we debate how or whether America's fascination for the big-event nature of the World Cup will translate into a more lasting passion for the sport of football itself."

all from some englishmen too... god, miss this team still.

Simmons just putting the ball in the back of the net

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100701

Favorite part:

"I hate how teams milk leads in the last 15-20 minutes by faking injuries and taking forever to sub players. When that Ghana player had to be carried off on a stretcher at the tail end of the America game, then hopped off like nothing ever happened as soon as the stretcher was out of bounds, I thought that was appalling. Actually, it made me want to go to war with Ghana. I wanted to invade them. I'm not even kidding. That's another great thing about the World Cup: Name another sport in which you genuinely want to invade other countries when you lose."

and of course:

"Rasheed Wallace loved to say "ball don't lie." YouTube don't lie, either. We will always have the Algeria game. Always."

Why I Still Love the World Cup

On my flight back from Cape Town, a group of 10 Uruguians (spelling?) were really rowdy. Then the loudest one got up and walked all the way down the plane taking a poll to see which passengers were rooting for Ghana and which for Uruguay. When I said Uruguay I got an applause. Ghana was favored about 2 to 1 though.

Then I struck up a conversation with the guy next to me. Turns out he is a Brit who is at his fourth World Cup. His first was USA '94 and he stayed at the Sharon Motel. Unlike Swansea, Sharon is in Massachusetts, but I still thought that was hilarious.

As far as Cape Town, I have a few thoughts:

1) Holy crap is it a beautiful city. Infinitely nicer than Joberg. Lush, green, on the water. I was really unprepared for it.

2) Had we stayed there, we would have died. I don't think it's any more dangerous than Joberg, but the problem is it feels too much like home. Long Street is the "Bourbon Street of South Africa" because it is lined with balconies with bars. While enjoying a beer on the balcony we saw a ridiculous scene take place about 20 feet away that included three police cars, two ambulances, a fight, a gate used to keep people out of an ally, several people on their knees with hands against the wall, a guy getting into a moving cab, and general confusion. The woman standing next to us said she saw a guy come out of the ally with a stab wound and get into a cab to go to the hospital while his friends yelled at police to do something. Overall, I could see some issues arising for us.

3) I also, for the first time in RSA, felt like a jackass for wearing my USA hoodie. The scene that I witnessed was very Euro/hipster and - although it could have beeen because it was the first day without a game - I did not see any World Cup spirit around. Except for the Uruguains. I love the World Cup.

A.G. (After Ghana)

B.G. (Before Ghana)

See you in Brazil

I can't put everything into words yet.

But this trip has been an incredible experience.

Last night's loss was terrible. The hatred that I know have for Ghana is solidified in a way that it wasn't in 2006. They spent 30 minutes diving left and right. Terrible. That being said, we didn't finish; we didn't possess in the midfield; our back line got beat; and Tim Howard didn't show up in a major way. Crushing defeat.

We were in the stadium until they kicked us about 45 minutes after the game ended. But the experience was summed up by our time at the bar/cafe across the street, where we spoke with Germans, South Africans, Brits, hundreds of Americans, some Ghanians. Incredible, global experience.

As I sit here, delirious and exhausted, my heart is still very full.

In Which We Briefly Enjoy Nature