Thursday, December 31, 2009

Karim Benzema's Lamborghini


Real Madrid's Karim Benzema was out celebrating his birthday earlier this month on the island of La Reunion. At some point during the night, his car wound up crashed. Benzema may have been driving, or it may have been that his friend was driving while Benzema drove another car. There are suggestions that the two men may have been racing. For more information, click here. For a map to help you find La Reunion, see below.
For yet another video of people speaking French, watch the one below. Benzema is the guy in the tank top.

Match report: Portsmouth 1 - Arsenal 4

Things have been tough for Portsmouth lately:
  • They lost to Arsenal 4-1 yesterday. According to the announcers on my television set, Portsmouth have not beaten Arsenal in any competition in over fifty years.
Below: Eduardo is about to score Arsenal's first goal. His free kick will ricochet off the leg off one of the Portsmouth defenders and into the net.
  • The team are currently in last place in the Premier League.
  • Portsmouth have gotten a new owner and manager this year. Despite these moves, there is a real possibility that the team will go bankrupt this winter. I am not sure what will happen if that takes place. At the very least, the club will have to sell off most or all of their best players during the January transfer window.
Above: Fans protest at last night's match

Below: Portsmouth manager Avram Grant, in happier days

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Abandoned Books and/or Movies #6

Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob by Matt Birkbeck
Despite what I had hoped, this book is not about Sammy Davis, Jr. It is really about a lawyer named Sonny Murray who attempted to help Sammy's widow, Altovise Davis, deal with the millions of dollars in debt that Sammy left behind when he died. While it was interesting for a while, I gave up halfway through-- I felt that I read enough about insurance policies, legal documents, the Internal Revenue Service, and stolen jewelry.

I did learn two fun facts, however-- Sammy Davis, Jr. was obsessed with the video arcade game Pac-Man and spent hours and hours playing it each day. Additionally, both Sammy and his wife were close personal friends with Donald Rumsfeld, who would later go on to become Secretary of Defense under President Bush.
Above: Pac-Man

Below: Donald Rumsfeld


Match report: Bolton 2 - Hull 2


It is only December, but it is not too early to start talking about end-of-the-season relegation. Coming into this match, Bolton and Hull City were tied for 18th place, so obviously both sides wanted to win very badly. Bolton was up 2-0 in the second half (on goals by Klasnic and Davies), but Hull came back to tie on two goals by Stephen Hunt. (See photo above-- Hunt is on the right, raising his arms in celebration of scoring the tying goal. Bolton's Paul Robinson is trying, and failing, to keep the ball out of the net.) The match had all the energy and excitement of a World Cup quarter-final, minus the skill.

Post-match update: Following the game, Bolton manager Gary Megson was fired by the club.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Picture of the day


AC Milan manager Leonardo in his car

Monday, December 28, 2009

What I have been reading lately #41

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
Alexandra Fuller (see photo above-- she is the youngest daughter) and her family moved to Rhodesia in the early 1970s. There they attempted to farm and ranch; however, the war for equality and independence being waged by the black majority made it difficult. After the war was over, Fuller and her family left Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and ultimately settled in Zambia.

This book tells the story of her family. It is entertainingly written and quite fascinating. If you are interested in learning more about the white Rhodesians and what it was like to be on the losing side of the war, this would be a good book to read.

With Trotsky in Exile: From Prinkipo to Coyoacan by Jean van Heijenoort

During the 1930s, Jean van Heijenoort (pictured above, second from the right, directly behind Frida Kahlo) served as an assistant, collaborator, secretary, and bodyguard to Leon Trotsky during much of the time the Russian revolutionary leader was in exile in Turkey, France, Norway, and Mexico. This book was written in the 1970s and is based upon van Heijenoort's personal memories and papers as well as some of Trotsky's documents. Despite the fact that van Heijenoort later quietly repudiated Marxism and went on to become a mathematics professor, this book is, on the whole, sympathetic to Trotsky and his struggle.

From reading this book, I learned the following facts:
  • Leon Trotsky enjoyed fishing, hunting, and riding horses.
  • Trotsky was a non-smoker and did not allow others to smoke in his presence.
  • Trotsky was very particular about the pens that he used.
  • While he had a very strict schedule of meal times, Trotsky was not at all particular about what he ate.
  • The only person around whom Trotsky seemed relaxed was Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.
  • Trotsky insisted that the outboard motor for the fishing boat in Turkey be operated strictly according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Merry Christmas from AC Milan

This arrived in my email in-box this morning.


Monday, December 21, 2009

Picture of the day


Left-wing demonstrators march in Nepal

Sunday, December 20, 2009

What I have been reading lately #40

Six Months in Sudan: A Young Doctor in a War-Torn Village by James Maskalyk
This book was written by a Canadian doctor who spent six months in Sudan with Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). He was not in Darfur, but, instead, spent his time Abyei, which is in the southern part of the country. For more on the situation in Abyei, click here.

I also read Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains which is about Dr. Paul Farmer who works in Haiti and other parts of the world. I think a lot of people have read this book.

Finally, I read Joe Sacco's War's End: Profiles from Bosnia 1995-96. It took me about twenty minutes to read because, after all, it is a comic book.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Match report: Fiorentina - Milan (postponed)


Due to snow and other bad weather, today's match between Fiorentina and Milan has been indefinitely postponed.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Yet another official announcement from AC Milan

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE EIGHTH FINALS 2009/10: MILAN TO MEET MANCHESTER UNITED

12/18/2009

NYON - Manchester United are the team Milan will face in the two-legged encounter in the eighth finals of the Champions League 2009/2010. Milan will play the first leg at San Siro and the second leg at Old Trafford.


Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Twelve members of the Eritrean national football team are missing


Twelve members of the Eritrean national team (the starting squad is pictured above) have disappeared while in Kenya for a regional tournament. They are presumed to have gone into hiding to escape from the oppressive regime of President Isaias Afewerki.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Berlusconi attacked

The man above (identified as Massimo Tartaglia) attacked Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Milan today, either by hitting him with a small souvenir statue or throwing it from a close distance. Berlusconi suffered a broken nose and some damage to his teeth, but was otherwise unhurt. The man's motives are not known-- hopefully he is not an AC Milan fan upset by the team's poor performance against Palermo.

Match report: Milan 0 - Palermo 2


  • Goals scored: Miccoli 49', Bresciano 62'
  • What happened: I am not sure, because this match was (thankfully) not broadcast on television. Milan apparently gave up two goals and did not score any. If you must watch the highlights, click here.
  • Other bad news: Thiago Silva (who was injured mid-week against Zurich) may be out until early January.
  • What this match teaches us: Nothing in particular.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Match report: Zurich 1 - Milan 1

  • Goals scored: Gajic 30', Ronaldinho 64' (penalty)
  • What happened: Milan looked mediocre and were lucky to get a draw. Real Madrid beat Marseille 3-1, however, so Milan advance to the knockout round of the Champions League.
  • Potentially bad news: Thiago Silva had to leave the game early with a calf injury.
  • Startling news: Bayern Munich defeated Juventus. (See photo below) Bayern Munich advance and Juventus are out.
  • What this match teaches us: Cristiano Ronaldo is not all bad-- his two goals for Real Madrid helped ensure that Milan advance to the next round.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Match report: Milan 3 - Sampdoria 0

  • Goals scored: Borriello 2', Seedorf 21', Pato 23'
  • What happened: The game was being broadcast at a time when I was not going to be home, so I decided to tape it using my video cassette recorder. Unfortunately, I forgot to rewind the tape. Fortunately, Milan scored all three of their goals early, so I was able to watch that part.
  • What this match teaches us: Remember to rewind the VHS tape.

Highlights are below:

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Match report: Catania 0 - Milan 2

  • Goals scored: Huntelaar 90+3', Huntelaar 90+5'
  • What happened: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar signed with Milan back in August. He rarely played, however, and, when he did, it did not go well. Many people believed that the signing of Huntelaar was a complete waste of money. Today, Milan went to Catania and played a rather dull match. Ninety minutes went by without any real scoring chances for either team. Huntelaar came on as a late substitute and then scored two goals in injury time, his first two goals of the season.
  • What this match teaches us: We like Huntelaar.
Above: Huntelaar celebrates after scoring.

Below: Huntelaar's teammates congratulate him after scoring.


Highlights are below:

Saturday, November 28, 2009

What I have been reading lately #39

Blood, Sweat, and Tea: Real-Life Adventures in an Inner-City Ambulance-- by Tom Reynolds
Tom Reynolds (real name-- Brian Kellett) is an emergency medical technician in London. He writes a blog about his job. Some of the posts from the blog were collected and published in this book. The book was very entertaining.

The Class-- by Francois Begaudeau

Francois Begaudeau was a teacher in Paris who wrote a novel about his experiences. The novel was then turned into a movie. I liked both the book and the movie.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Match report: Milan 1 - Marseille 1


  • Goals scored: Borriello 10', Lucho Gonzalez 16'
  • What happened: Both sides looked like they were trying to lose the match on purpose. Defenders failed to defend; midfielders turned the ball over; attackers missed wide open shots. Milan were lucky to get a draw.
  • What this match teaches us: Match-fixing scandals can make us wonder whether out favorite players are incompetent or deceitful.
  • What happens next: On December 8, Milan travel to Switzerland to play FC Zurich. If they win, they qualify for the next round of the Champions League. Marseille are at home against Real Madrid, who have already qualified for the next round. If Marseille tie or lose, then Milan moves on to the next round. The only way Milan cannot qualify for the next round is if they lose or tie and Marseille wins.

Monday, November 23, 2009

MLS Cup 2009-- Real Salt Lake 1 - LA Galaxy 1 (5-4 on penalties)

The new champions of the MLS are Real Salt Lake, who beat the LA Galaxy last night in the MLS Cup in Seattle on penalty kicks.
Above: Real Salt Lake fans on their way to the MLS Cup

To celebrate the victory, the King of Utah has declared a two day holiday of thanksgiving for later this week. He has also announced a general amnesty for all political prisoners in the kingdom of Utah.

For a match report, click here.

For highlights, click here.

For more photos, click here.

Below: Waiting for the match to begin

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Match report: Milan 4 - Cagliari 3

  • Goals scored: Seedorf 5', Matri 9', Lazzari 30', Borriello 38', Pato 40', Ronaldinho 62' (penalty), Nene 69'
  • What happened: Milan scored first. Then Cagliari scored twice. Then Milan scored three times in a row. Then Cagliari scored.
  • Which goal was the best: Pato's
  • Milan players who could not play due to suspension: Nesta
  • Milan players who played very well: Ronaldinho, Pato, Borriello, Dida
  • Milan players who played very badly: Pirlo. He was basically unable to run, pass, or keep control of the ball.
  • Milan players who played very, very badly: Kaladze. He filled in for Nesta and contributed to all three Cagliari goals.
  • Things Kaladze seemed unable to do today: Mark opposing players, clear the ball, execute the offside trap.
  • Milan players who made their first appearance of the season and who look eerily like Seedorf even down to the white shoes: Rodney Strasser
  • What this match teaches us: Without Nesta, Milan's defense appears to be terrible.
Above: Borriello scores Milan's second goal

Below: Ronaldinho scores Milan's fourth goal
Below: Leonardo congratulates Ronaldinho


Highlights are below:

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Six more teams qualified for the World Cup finals today

Six more teams qualified for the World Cup finals today. I believe that this means that all the spots have been filled. Here were the results over the two (or more) legs:
  • France defeated Ireland on a controversial goal by William Gallas that followed an uncalled handball by Thierry Henry. (See photo above of French coaches celebrating.)
  • Portugal beat Bosnia-Herzegovina.
  • Slovenia upset Russia.
  • Greece upset Ukraine.
  • Uruguay beat Costa Rica.
  • Algeria defeated Egypt.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The MLS Cup finals are set

Last night Real Salt Lake defeated the Chicago Fire 0-0 (5-4 on penalties) to earn a spot in the MLS Cup. Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando (above) stopped three penalty kicks at the end of the match to help his team advance. It is not known whether the King of Utah called Rimando personally to congratulate him on his heroic efforts.

The MLS Cup final will take place next Sunday in Seattle. It will feature Real Salt Lake versus the LA Galaxy.

Below: Chicago Fire fans during the match.

Picture of the day - Cameroon has qualified for the World Cup finals

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Picture of the day - Egypt vs. Algeria


Above: Security guards in Cairo for today's World Cup finals qualifying match between Egypt and Algeria. Egypt won 2-0 to force a one-game playoff next Wednesday in Sudan to see which team goes to the World Cup finals.

One half of next weekend's MLS Cup final pairing has been set

The LA Galaxy defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-0 in extra-time last night and will be coming to Seattle for next weekend's MLS Cup. Los Angeles will face the winner of tonight's match between the Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake.

Last night I rooted for the Dynamo, mostly because of their long-standing association with the Soviet secret police. Unfortunately, due to an inaccurately disallowed second-half goal, Houston lost.

Below: Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts leaves the field during one of the two power outages that halted the game.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Match report: Lazio 1 - Milan 2

  • Goals scored: Thiago Silva 21', Pato 35', Thiago Silva 64' (own goal)
  • What happened: Milan scored two first half goals, both on headers. They let Lazio back in the match in the second half when they scored an own goal. It rained very, very hard off and on throughout the match.
  • Why it is good that Thiago Silva scored today: He has played well this year (except for brief moments against both teams from Rome). He has almost scored twice in recent weeks (an incorrectly disallowed goal against Real Madrid in Madrid and hitting the crossbar against Parma). He deserved this goal. (See photos above and below of the goal and the celebration afterwards)
  • How the own goal took place: Zarate shot from the top of the box. The ball hit Oddo and ricocheted right into the running feet of Thiago Silva, who neatly rolled into his own goal from ten yards out.
  • How Lazio reacted to the own goal: Lazio was rejuvenated by the own goal and had several excellent shots. Only fantastic goaltending by Dida kept them from scoring again. Lazio has had a terrible season so far this year and would have really liked to come back to tie or win this game.
  • Number of Milan players who used to be captain of Lazio: One (Oddo)
  • Number of Lazio players who had lengthy careers at Milan: One (Cristian Brocchi)
  • Number of Lazio players who have names that rhyme with another Lazio player: Two (Cristian Brocchi and Tommaso Rocchi)
  • Number of well-known former Inter players who now play for Lazio: One (Julio Cruz)
  • Number of Inzaghi brothers who played today: One (Filippo-- he managed to pick up a yellow card for shirt pulling within minutes of coming on as a substitute. On the bright side, he was only called for offsides once. Note: The photo above is not of Inzaghi.)
  • What this match teaches us: Milan have become very dangerous even though they still do not seem to have put all the pieces of the puzzle together. They are now in third place.
Above: Pato celebrates his goal.

Below: Leonardo congratulates his players at the end of the match.

For highlights, watch the video below:

Friday, November 6, 2009

MLS playoff update #1

Real Salt Lake defeated the Columbus Crew last night 3-2 (4-2 on aggregate) to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals of the MLS playoffs. It is not clear how a team from Salt Lake City ends up in the Eastern Conference bracket, but that does not matter. What does matter is that the King of Utah will be happy when he receives news of this result.

Below: Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis receives a hug.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Champions League update: a new team to root for

Rubin Kazan are from Russia, somewhere in the Tatarstan republic. They already have snow on the ground there. Their players appear to be a mix of Russians and Latin Americans. In their last two Champions League matches, they played Barcelona. They won 2-1 away, and, yesterday, the two teams played to a scoreless draw.

Below: Coach Kurban Berdyev celebrates his team's victory in Barcelona.


For highlights of Rubin Kazan's 2-1 victory, watch the video below:


For a more complete view of Rubin Kazan's first goal, click here.
"Hockey ought to be sternly forbidden, as it is not only annoying but dangerous." Halifax Morning Sun, quoted in Michael McKinley's Hockey - A People's History