The 2002 World Cup Thread

[Andreina]

No it's a double bet, so the total odds for England to win 2-1 with Rivaldo to score first are 66-1
Rivaldo to be first scorer is about 10-1 ish as well

Although other good bets are 33-1 on Brazil at halftime and England full time (which I also got), and 28-1 on England half time and Brazil full time
Strangely, the odds for a draw are real low....I thought a draw would be highly unlikely with these two teams.

if there is going be the same shoot-out as when Spain played Ireland I'm going to have a heartattack, I swear.

Is it just me or do more people think that this is the best WC we have had in a VERY long time?

 

[cybergirly]

Is it just me or do more people think that this is the best WC we have had in a VERY long time?

It's the best one I've EVER seen

 

[JazzManJim]

And once the bandwagon starts it gains it's own momentum by attracting other fans who can then go to the games and support the team in the way they deserve...

Speaking of the "Bandwagon"....here's a column I thought y'all might enjoy.

The columnist is Tony Kornheiser who started his career with the Washington POst and has gone on to national syndication weekly and a TV show on ESPN with fellow columnist Michael Wilbon. He still writes for the Post as well, and this is one of his local columns.

A word of explanation: The Bandwagon is an invention of Tony's. He came up with it in the 1980s for the Washington Redskins when they were having such great seasons and winning Super Bowls. It got to be kind of an in house joke among the 'Skins fans and Tony just ran with it. Let me also say that the Bandwagon is Sacred among Redskins fans and, here in Washington, the Redskins are *it*. There's nothing even close.




This World Cup Has Kinda Got My Engine Revved Up
By Tony Kornheiser
Thursday, June 20, 2002; Page D01

Bandwagon! Bandwagon! Bandwagon?

Yes, it's time. Start it up, and let it roll all the way to South Korea.

Ain't the kimchi cold!

World Cup, baby! There's nothing like the smell of nil-nil in the morning. Oh, to be down on the field when the teams face off before the game -- what a rush!

It's not the field, Tony, it's the "pitch." It's not the game, it's the "match." And they don't face off, you idiot. It's not hockey.

Yeah. Whatever.

For years folks have been begging me to take The Bandwagon out of the garage and crank it up. But I have resisted. The Bandwagon has been more or less retired to stud. The only public appearances it has made were once in Olney in 1997 -- playoff-starved fans were allowed to touch it, like at a petting zoo -- and the Schwarzenberg bar mitzvah, where they put an ice sculpture of Joe Gibbs eating a bagel on the hood. (Oh, like I should have started it up under Norv or Marty? Hahaha. Norv would have drafted the wrong driver. And we'd have needed to add a second vehicle for Marty's family.)

Now the time is right. Because 1) Soccer fever is sweeping the country like malaria. And 2) We can get a short-term lease on a quality vehicle. And that's good, considering we're in a single-elimination situation, and we play 83-time winner Germany on Friday. Not to put too fine a point on it, but many Germans rank soccer behind only "full scale war" as the favorite sport of the country. (Hey, how about France, huh? Talk about gagging on the fromage! Three games, no goals. Au revoir, Pierre. Isn't it just like the French to go out early and leave it up to us to beat the Germans?)

The problem is what size Bandwagon to hitch up? It's soccer, after all. No matter how many people are jumping on, it's still not a highway load. I was looking for a mini-Bandwagon. The first thing that came to mind was a VW bus -- but that's a German product. My editors thought an enormous, gas-guzzling domestic SUV, like a Cadillac Escalade, might send the proper message: "We're rich, we're gigantic and we can fit your Audi A4 in our glove compartment. So get out of the way, Dieter."

Now I should confess I don't know a whole lot about our World Cup team -- other than the fact that Martina Navratilova isn't on it. My editors bet me I couldn't name five starters. And I said, "You mean out of nine?" (Oh, come on, that's a joke. I know there are 10 starters.)

I named Brad Friedel. And Landon Turner -- no, wait, Landon Prep. No, Landon Donovan. That's two. Claudio Reyna. That's three. I knew there was an O'Brien. (They gave it to me even after I missed on a few first names including "Hugh," "Pat" and "Conan." That's four. And that kid with the Mohawk who looks like Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver." I mean, really, a Mohawk? Tell me the sky marshals aren't parked next to that kid every time he gets on a plane.

Sadly, I was told Mohawk Boy isn't a starter. That left me to scramble.

I knew I couldn't use Jeff Agoos. He vanished so thoroughly after the Poland game I assume he's in a witness protection program.

"Beasley," I shouted. "Isn't there a Beasley?"

"Mrs. Beasley is the doll on 'Family Affair,' " I was told.

But there is a Beasley. DaMarcus Beasley. (Not Don Markus of the Baltimore Sun. DaMarcus.)

Oh, DaMarcus, you Da Man!

See, I've got World Cup spirit. I'm totally juiced to watch the Senegal-Turkey game. (The truth is I would have to be totally juiced to watch that game. I'm trying to imagine the circumstances under which I ever thought I would use the words Senegal and Turkey in the same sentence, besides: "The first gal I dated liked lamb chops; the senegal liked turkey. I mean, come on, raise your hand if you had Senegal and Turkey in the pool!)

Just deliver me from "Soccer Poets." They're worse than baseball poets are. The baseball poets are pretentious with their timeless game, their emerald chessboards and their elegiac symmetry. But at least they've got the good sense to shut up when Roger Clemens is pitching to Mike Piazza. Soccer poets are unbearable gasbags.

A few years ago one of them told me the reason I didn't like soccer is because I couldn't possibly understand the complexity and subtlety and nuance of soccer. "Soccer is beyond your intelligence," he told me.

"Really?" I said. "You think you have to be Einstein to handle 1-0? Excuse me, one-nil."

He proceeded to tell me that every time the players ran up and down the field "was like a novella." He came close to swooning at the sound of his own voice.

At that point I threatened to kick him in the groin.

Look, soccer's cool. World Cup is big fun, because it's the best players in the world, and they do amazing things with the ball. But it's never going to take over America. For 25 years now the soccer people have been saying, "Tomorrow." Just wait until tomorrow, when the next generation of soccer players grows up. But tomorrows have come and gone, and generations have passed. Hey, we've already got futbol. It's called the NFL. They fill 70,000 seats every game, and when you get "tackled" there, pal, believe me, you get tackled. There's no "Injury Time" in the NFL; this ain't no disco. (Talk about delivering a huge hit, though, how about the flying head butt that Mexican guy landed on Cobi Jones? Oooooh. That was strictly Stone Cold.)

Soccer gets a big run every four years, like the Olympics. We glom onto World Cup because we're Big Event people. When we're going good, like we are now, it creates an excitement the whole country can get lost in. But soccer will always feel like a foreign game here, because it is. Americans like sports where they can use their hands -- football, baseball, tearing into barbecued ribs. Did you ever see how Brits throw the tennis balls at Wimbledon? What a bunch of nancy boys. Americans have opposable thumbs for a reason -- to elevate us from kicking a soccer ball. My dog can kick a soccer ball, but she can't catch a 20-yard out. I rest my case.

I hope we crush Germany on Friday. I hope we pound them like wienerschnitzel. I hope we win the World Cup.

You wanna be on The Bandwagon, there's room.

Just don't ask me to steer with my feet.

 

[juicylips]

BTW- I like watching Pardon the Interruption on ESPN, Jazz.

 

[fanzee1]

if there is going be the same shoot-out as when Spain played Ireland I'm going to have a heartattack, I swear.

Is it just me or do more people think that this is the best WC we have had in a VERY long time?

I have only followed WC since 1990, and really closely only since 1994 but i have heard many people say this, yes. Mostly because there have been a lot of goals scored and it has been truly unpredictable.

 

[fanzee1]

The Bandwagon

Speaking of the "Bandwagon"....here's a column I thought y'all might enjoy.

The columnist is Tony Kornheiser who started his career with the Washington POst and has gone on to national syndication weekly and a TV show on ESPN with fellow columnist Michael Wilbon. He still writes for the Post as well, and this is one of his local columns.

A word of explanation: The Bandwagon is an invention of Tony's. He came up with it in the 1980s for the Washington Redskins when they were having such great seasons and winning Super Bowls. It got to be kind of an in house joke among the 'Skins fans and Tony just ran with it. Let me also say that the Bandwagon is Sacred among Redskins fans and, here in Washington, the Redskins are *it*. There's nothing even close.




This World Cup Has Kinda Got My Engine Revved Up
By Tony Kornheiser
Thursday, June 20, 2002; Page D01

Bandwagon! Bandwagon! Bandwagon?

Yes, it's time. Start it up, and let it roll all the way to South Korea.

Ain't the kimchi cold!

World Cup, baby! There's nothing like the smell of nil-nil in the morning. Oh, to be down on the field when the teams face off before the game -- what a rush!

It's not the field, Tony, it's the "pitch." It's not the game, it's the "match." And they don't face off, you idiot. It's not hockey.

Yeah. Whatever.

For years folks have been begging me to take The Bandwagon out of the garage and crank it up. But I have resisted. The Bandwagon has been more or less retired to stud. The only public appearances it has made were once in Olney in 1997 -- playoff-starved fans were allowed to touch it, like at a petting zoo -- and the Schwarzenberg bar mitzvah, where they put an ice sculpture of Joe Gibbs eating a bagel on the hood. (Oh, like I should have started it up under Norv or Marty? Hahaha. Norv would have drafted the wrong driver. And we'd have needed to add a second vehicle for Marty's family.)

Now the time is right. Because 1) Soccer fever is sweeping the country like malaria. And 2) We can get a short-term lease on a quality vehicle. And that's good, considering we're in a single-elimination situation, and we play 83-time winner Germany on Friday. Not to put too fine a point on it, but many Germans rank soccer behind only "full scale war" as the favorite sport of the country. (Hey, how about France, huh? Talk about gagging on the fromage! Three games, no goals. Au revoir, Pierre. Isn't it just like the French to go out early and leave it up to us to beat the Germans?)

The problem is what size Bandwagon to hitch up? It's soccer, after all. No matter how many people are jumping on, it's still not a highway load. I was looking for a mini-Bandwagon. The first thing that came to mind was a VW bus -- but that's a German product. My editors thought an enormous, gas-guzzling domestic SUV, like a Cadillac Escalade, might send the proper message: "We're rich, we're gigantic and we can fit your Audi A4 in our glove compartment. So get out of the way, Dieter."

Now I should confess I don't know a whole lot about our World Cup team -- other than the fact that Martina Navratilova isn't on it. My editors bet me I couldn't name five starters. And I said, "You mean out of nine?" (Oh, come on, that's a joke. I know there are 10 starters.)

I named Brad Friedel. And Landon Turner -- no, wait, Landon Prep. No, Landon Donovan. That's two. Claudio Reyna. That's three. I knew there was an O'Brien. (They gave it to me even after I missed on a few first names including "Hugh," "Pat" and "Conan." That's four. And that kid with the Mohawk who looks like Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver." I mean, really, a Mohawk? Tell me the sky marshals aren't parked next to that kid every time he gets on a plane.

Sadly, I was told Mohawk Boy isn't a starter. That left me to scramble.

I knew I couldn't use Jeff Agoos. He vanished so thoroughly after the Poland game I assume he's in a witness protection program.

"Beasley," I shouted. "Isn't there a Beasley?"

"Mrs. Beasley is the doll on 'Family Affair,' " I was told.

But there is a Beasley. DaMarcus Beasley. (Not Don Markus of the Baltimore Sun. DaMarcus.)

Oh, DaMarcus, you Da Man!

See, I've got World Cup spirit. I'm totally juiced to watch the Senegal-Turkey game. (The truth is I would have to be totally juiced to watch that game. I'm trying to imagine the circumstances under which I ever thought I would use the words Senegal and Turkey in the same sentence, besides: "The first gal I dated liked lamb chops; the senegal liked turkey. I mean, come on, raise your hand if you had Senegal and Turkey in the pool!)

Just deliver me from "Soccer Poets." They're worse than baseball poets are. The baseball poets are pretentious with their timeless game, their emerald chessboards and their elegiac symmetry. But at least they've got the good sense to shut up when Roger Clemens is pitching to Mike Piazza. Soccer poets are unbearable gasbags.

A few years ago one of them told me the reason I didn't like soccer is because I couldn't possibly understand the complexity and subtlety and nuance of soccer. "Soccer is beyond your intelligence," he told me.

"Really?" I said. "You think you have to be Einstein to handle 1-0? Excuse me, one-nil."

He proceeded to tell me that every time the players ran up and down the field "was like a novella." He came close to swooning at the sound of his own voice.

At that point I threatened to kick him in the groin.

Look, soccer's cool. World Cup is big fun, because it's the best players in the world, and they do amazing things with the ball. But it's never going to take over America. For 25 years now the soccer people have been saying, "Tomorrow." Just wait until tomorrow, when the next generation of soccer players grows up. But tomorrows have come and gone, and generations have passed. Hey, we've already got futbol. It's called the NFL. They fill 70,000 seats every game, and when you get "tackled" there, pal, believe me, you get tackled. There's no "Injury Time" in the NFL; this ain't no disco. (Talk about delivering a huge hit, though, how about the flying head butt that Mexican guy landed on Cobi Jones? Oooooh. That was strictly Stone Cold.)

Soccer gets a big run every four years, like the Olympics. We glom onto World Cup because we're Big Event people. When we're going good, like we are now, it creates an excitement the whole country can get lost in. But soccer will always feel like a foreign game here, because it is. Americans like sports where they can use their hands -- football, baseball, tearing into barbecued ribs. Did you ever see how Brits throw the tennis balls at Wimbledon? What a bunch of nancy boys. Americans have opposable thumbs for a reason -- to elevate us from kicking a soccer ball. My dog can kick a soccer ball, but she can't catch a 20-yard out. I rest my case.

I hope we crush Germany on Friday. I hope we pound them like wienerschnitzel. I hope we win the World Cup.

You wanna be on The Bandwagon, there's room.

Just don't ask me to steer with my feet.

Virginia native and lifetime skins fan here, jmj. I read Tony's column at the post's site this morning. I thought the Bandwagon had been retired as well. Leave it to Tony to milk yet another (quite entertaining) column out of it.

And for everyone not familiar with the Redskins and their fans, Jazz man does NOT exaggerate. The Redskins OWN D.C. when it comes to sporting loyalties. It goes beyond that even. Despite franchises that tried to move in over the years in various sports, The area from our nation's capital, all the way down to north georgia is still known as Redskin Territory -- politically incorrect name and all.

 

[p_p_man]

Is it just me or is this thread just not the same without Starblayde?

*sob* *sniff*

JL


BTW- I like watching Pardon the Interruption on ESPN, Jazz.

Two timer!

 

[p_p_man]

12 hours to go for England's finest moment and

17 hours to America's...

My butterflies are starting early...

 

[JazzManJim]

Re: The Bandwagon

And for everyone not familiar with the Redskins and their fans, Jazz man does NOT exaggerate. The Redskins OWN D.C. when it comes to sporting loyalties. It goes beyond that even. Despite franchises that tried to move in over the years in various sports, The area from our nation's capital, all the way down to north georgia is still known as Redskin Territory -- politically incorrect name and all.

There's no way I can state the Redskins mania that overtakes this town. It's the closest thing to the mania that overcomes a soccer city in England when they play. The city starts talking Redskins even before Training Camp. It's really close to insanity. But just as a correction, Redskins territory even extends up into Pennsylvania (the central part, at least).

And the Bandwagon gets mentioned every once in a while, too. It's always there, it's engine shined and purring and just ready to hit the road once more.

 

[JazzManJim]

Is it just me or is this thread just not the same without Starblayde?

I'm doing my best to keep the SB2K tradition alive!

 

[p_p_man]

Re: Re: The Bandwagon

There's no way I can state the Redskins mania that overtakes this town. It's the closest thing to the mania that overcomes a soccer city in England when they play. The city starts talking Redskins even before Training Camp. It's really close to insanity. But just as a correction, Redskins territory even extends up into Pennsylvania (the central part, at least).

And the Bandwagon gets mentioned every once in a while, too. It's always there, it's engine shined and purring and just ready to hit the road once more.

All Brits and I suspect all people of any footballing nation will recognise that emotion...

 

[fanzee1]

Re: Re: The Bandwagon

There's no way I can state the Redskins mania that overtakes this town. It's the closest thing to the mania that overcomes a soccer city in England when they play. The city starts talking Redskins even before Training Camp. It's really close to insanity. But just as a correction, Redskins territory even extends up into Pennsylvania (the central part, at least).

And the Bandwagon gets mentioned every once in a while, too. It's always there, it's engine shined and purring and just ready to hit the road once more.

Kornheiser is funny with his bandwagon stuff. And you're right, Redskin Territory heads north, too, I'm just more familiar with the southern end.

 

[fanzee1]

Re: Re: Re: The Bandwagon

All Brits and I suspect all people of any footballing nation will recognise that emotion...

Y'know, this just occurred to me this year but I really think the u.s. sporting event/fan base that most closely parallels the World Cup and its fans is March Madness, our annual Division One men's basketball tournament. All the elements of World Cup are there.

Teams have to qualify to get in, meaning many teams wind up on the bubble or having to participate in playoffs to get in. Certain teams rejoice just getting into "the big dance" while others have higher expectations, nothing short of winning will satisfy their fans. Games take place at many venues all over the country. Rabid fans paint themselves, make road trips, come up with chants pumping up their team and slamming the opposition, betting is rampant, with office pools all over the place. The whole country stops to watch the games in the middle of the day, all day while they are on.

The flavor of the two events really is quite similar.

 

[juicylips]

Two timer!

Awwww....let me turn that frown around

JL

 

[p_p_man]

Awwww....let me turn that frown around

JL

Awww...alright then.

I'm over it now anyway...

 

[cybergirly]

7 hours to go.
I'm off to get some sleep! Gotta get up at 1:30am!

 

[District Line]

cybergirly

You've had the generousity to buy a U.S. team jersey, I hope the players are aware of this and have the consideration to win the match against Germany.

 

[p_p_man]

4 hours to go to the first one and...

the nerves have taken over completely...

 

[fanzee1]

don't sweat it p_p man...

England will win today.

I wish I was as confident of our chances.

 

[p_p_man]

Re: don't sweat it p_p man...

England will win today.

I wish I was as confident of our chances.

Funnily enough I fancy your chances more than ours...

That's why I put my £50 bet on Germany being out in 12 hours time...with apologies to Rex.

 

[fanzee1]

Re: Re: don't sweat it p_p man...

Funnily enough I fancy your chances more than ours...

That's why I put my £50 bet on Germany being out in 12 hours time...with apologies to Rex.

we're typical fans, always more nervous about our own side's chances.

 

[p_p_man]

Re: Re: Re: don't sweat it p_p man...

we're typical fans, always more nervous about our own side's chances.

All day yesterday (still your today) they were showing a news report from Brazil.

Apparantly they're as nervous as we are!

At this rate the the populations of the countries of the four teams playing today will end up with anxiety attacks, hyperventiliation and extreme nervous exhaustion.

And that's before a ball's been kicked...

 

[Ukin]

Re: Re: Re: Re: don't sweat it p_p man...

All day yesterday (still your today) they were showing a news report from Brazil.

Apparantly they're as nervous as we are!

At this rate the the populations of the countries of the four teams playing today will end up with anxiety attacks, hyperventiliation and extreme nervous exhaustion.

And that's before a ball's been kicked...

2 hours 15 minutes to go...I am glad I live in CA...11.30pm the kick off...trouble is..I have to be up at 4.30 to watch..i HOPE..the USA to kick the arrogant Germans out

 

[District Line]

Bring it on !

 

[District Line]

Look - Gary Neville isn't wearing any shoes in the studio, has he no respect for such an auspicious occasion.