Random Thoughts

• I thoroughly enjoyed the two Real Madrid vs. Barcelona games yesterday.  Messi is amazing- it didn’t really show up much in the World Cup.  I know that many/most Americans have two complaints about soccer: the low scoring and the hiiiiigh kicking! diving.  The former was not much of an issue in the two Barca/Real games, but low scoring doesn’t really bother me- I love baseball and hockey after all.  But the diving does bother me, and I have been pleasantly surprised as an EPL (English Premier League) viewer by the lack of diving- or the relative lack of diving.  But man, Barca and Real would drop to the turf rolling around screaming in agony at the drop of a hat.  It was distracting and the replays would show that it was always either completely fabricated or horribly embellished.  I’m starting to notice that the southern European leagues (Italy, Spain) have much more tolerance for pu$$y behavior like this than the ones further north (England, Germany).  Spain and Italy play, arguably, a more fun to watch style of play, but the diving takes away a lot of the enjoyment.

• A coworker’s brother may have to give away his dog because of a problem with his girlfriend and her dog.  It’s a German Shepherd mix, and I am considering adding her to my house, mostly because I want McBain to have some company when I’m away at work and wherever.  Anyway, the dog’s name is “Whiskey”, which I’m not crazy about- I might have to think of a Simpsons name that sounds similar to “Whiskey” so that I can make a transition (Wiggum?)…  Anyway, it got me thinking about that: the fact that when you rescue a dog, you have no control over the name that the previous owner gave the dog, and that is actually a big issue.  Imagine you’re a single guy like me and you decide to rescue a dog, and you meet the dog, and she’s sweet tempered and smart and obedient and a good looking dog and then you ask the dog’s name and the rescue person replies “her name is Sassy Pants”.  No dog is worth the ridicule that you would receive for having a dog by that name.

• This is not a criticism of Obama, but rather our country’s expectations of our President.  In Russia, Putin is deep sea fishing, hunting bears and scaling tall buildings in a single bound.  In America, our President wears a bike helmet when riding a street bicycle on asphalt bike paths like he’s Cartman from the episode where he pretends to be mentally handicapped to compete in the Special Olympics.  How big of a bunch of pussies are we?: