Okay, it’s not the official FIFA WC Song, but that one is booooring.
Opening ceremony scheduled for 2pm EDT, will be livestreamed on ESPN3, and probably on YouTube by 3pm. Randinho, praise goddess, will be posting on the games as they happen.
For those of us who don’t usually pay attention, the SB Nation bloggers have a very entertaining “World Cup Beginners’ Guide,” a hilarious “World Cup Team Flowchart Rooting Guide“, and so much more…
…It may not get the respect of the moon landing or penicillin, but this competition, in all its planet-uniting attention-grabbing time-consuming glory, is one of humanity’s finest and most durable achievements. That durability may well be what lets FIFA get away with being FIFA, but it’s also what ensures that the World Cup has so far survived FIFA being FIFA. A poor World Cup is better than almost any of the other months that life will give you. A good one — and some people will tell you that there hasn’t been one of those since 1986, even as they sit down to their third group game of the day — is a thing of wonder.
Will this be a good one? It has every chance. The two favorites are each chasing a different version of history. Brazil are looking to stretch their record five victories into a sixth, in the process reinforcing their claim to be this tournament’s greatest nation and laying to rest the ghosts of 1950. Holders Spain, for their part, are looking to win a fourth consecutive major trophy, and in the process establish this generation of international players as perhaps the best of all time….
***********
Apart from that, what’s on the agenda for the day?
raven
Charter, our local cable company, went 100% digital three days ago. There has been a barrage of information about it but lot’s of people don’t get it. I suspect their office will be overwhelmed when folks find out no Copa!
OzarkHillbilly
Been following Spain for some years now and even tho my FIL is no longer here, I will continue to root for them. But they won’t win it all. It is just too hard to hold such excellence together and they have already done that for too long. Don’t know how many games I will catch, probably just a few.
Suffern ACE
Surprised the FIFA doesn’t sue Shakira for daring to use a football in Brazil in a video within 2 years if the event. There is someone making money who isn’t them.
cmorenc
It’s frequently argued that apart from parents watching their kids play soccer, mass interest in the higher-level adult game has never caught on in the U.S., and will continue to struggle to gain a foothold against the three established major pro team sports (baseball, gridiron football, basketball) or four if you count ice hockey. NEVERTHELESS, one clear sign it is gaining a beachhead is that less than 20 years ago, if you wanted to find a sports bar to watch e.g. the 1998 World Cup, in most places you had to look around hard to find one showing anything but the championship final, and most didn’t even do that. Heck, ABC (which carried the WC at the time) permitted local affiliates to elect to carry alternative programming instead of its feed of the US National team’s games in that WC (though truthfully we had a painfully weak squad that year). Now, fast-forward to 2014 and a majority of sports bars are advertising that they will show all WC games, particularly USNT games. Although the MLS is still way behind the big three team sports in mass following, and still significantly short of the quality of the top European leagues, nevertheless it’s rapidly improving and has gained a loyal following, financial stability, and most important, games are regularly available on cable TV on the regular rather than specialty sports channels, i.e. not on some exotic tier. In part, this reflects the changing demographics of the US.
askew
I don’t know what FIFA was thinking in not having Shakira do the official song for the World Cup in South America. She’s insanely popular in South America and her last 2 World Cup songs were massive hits. That said, I’d rank Shakira’s song this year above Hips Don’t Lie (FIFA) and below Waka Waka. But all three are better than that crap Pitbull and J-Lo spit out as the official song. Plus, Shakira’s world cup songs have always tied into charity programs to feed and education poor children which makes FIFA seem less like the heartless assholes that they are.
As for the actual soccer part of the World Cup, I don’t care.
askew
@Suffern ACE:
I am guessing that is why the video is just featuring her boyfriend and his soccer buddies not playing soccer. Plus, Shakira has had a relationship with FIFA for over a decade. They’ve been partnering on charity work and she made them a ton of money with her songs in 2010 and 2006, I’d imagine.
raven
Americans are increasingly polarized, ideologically divided, and hostile toward those they disagree with, according to a wide-ranging Pew Research report released Thursday, which finds that “partisan acrimony is deeper and more extensive … than at any point in recent history.”
raven
“These sentiments are not shared by all – or even most – Americans. The majority do not have uniformly conservative or liberal views. Most do not see either party as a threat to the nation. And more believe their representatives in government should meet halfway to resolve contentious disputes rather than hold out for more of what they want.
Yet many of those in the center remain on the edges of the political playing field, relatively distant and disengaged, while the most ideologically oriented and politically rancorous Americans make their voices heard through greater participation in every stage of the political process.”
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: Kill them all. Let Dog sort ’em out.
WereBear
@raven: That’s what happens when one side is clearly, arrogantly, in-yer-face wrong.
Isn’t that the state that led to our Civil War? May there never be another?
We are fighting this one by changing the culture, and the other side is losing. Perhaps we can learn something after all.
Betty Cracker
@WereBear: That’s how I see it too. My guess is the unmoored center would read the report and be reminded of Yeats:
But it ain’t the lefties who were openly determined to vandalize the economy to deny their political opponent a win. It’s not Democrats who call a corporate-friendly, free market-based, watered-down attempt at healthcare reform “the crown jewel of socialism.” It’s not Democrats who respond to mass shootings by raffling off assault rifles.
In each of the examples above, it’s elected GOP officials or the party organization of record acting so irresponsibly, not random nutballs. Until the modern GOP’s pathology is understood by the “both sides do it” crowd, nothing will change.
WereBear
I don’t think that will happen, since the “both sides do it” crowd are being paid to say this crap. However, the erosion of traditional media is well underway… I’m not sure yet what will take its place, but it has to be earned with trust.
JPL
@raven: Climate deniers send me over the edge, so I guess that makes me polarized.
also, too… What Betty said.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: Speaking of the Devil:
Indiana GOP candidate: ‘No one has the guts’ to let poor people ‘wither and die’
WereBear
It’s a PSA!
My health condition has led to me ordering a Medic Alert bracelet. My rather exhaustive research turned up the astonishing fact that people who need such an item — remember, we are talking lives in the balance — have an astonishingly low 30% compliance rate.
To combat this, many companies have sprung up to create more attractive alternatives to the drugstore basics.
Here’s the one I picked.
I understand men might not be into bracelets, no matter how pretty. Get rugged with RoadId, then. Look like an athlete!
So if anyone in the Balloon Juice community has been hesitant, look around, there’s sure to me something you can live with.
I mean that literally.
WereBear
@OzarkHillbilly: Criminy!
This is how we will win, ultimately. They can’t help running their mouth, and in the age of social media, it gets out there despite the best efforts of the MSM.
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: Yeah, the Raw Story is full of GOP stupidity this morn.
Pat Robertson: Don’t ‘get your father busted’ if he threatens mom with a gun
David Brat warns ‘the weak modern Christian democratic man’ will submit to another Hitler
Creationist asks ‘hard question’: ‘If evolution is true, is rape wrong?’
OK GOP candidate: Let cities decide whether gays should be stoned to death
Fox reporter: Sex with underage boys becomes more acceptable the ‘hotter’ the woman is
It’s practically toxic.
WereBear
Well, it IS toxic.
I do think this is repugnant to most people. They just need to realize that running away is far less helpful than voting against it.
It’s obvious to the politically enlightened. The rest need to have their dots connected for them.
Baud
@raven:
As well we should be. The other side is shit, as the examples in this very thread demonstrate.
beth
@OzarkHillbilly: And I bet he calls himself a proud Christian too. After all, Who Would Jesus Starve?
WereBear
@beth: It’s a disgrace to Christianity. While I no longer am, I also despair of correcting these misconceptions when it is much easier for the nuts to get air time than the Nuns on the Bus or a sensible Unitarian to do so.
bemused
@WereBear:
Wow. I checked out the catalog and there are so many fantastic bracelets. Love the cuffs too. Who knew?! If I ever need one, this is the place to go.
rikyrah
Don’t even follow soccer, but for those who do, as a sports fan, I hope you get a lot of good sports moments out of this tournament.
JPL
Will Sebelius vs Hobby Lobby be decided today? Whatever the out come, someone will be outraged. The idea that a corporation can decide what medication I take, is outrageous.
NotMax
@WereBearNuns on the BusNot Samuel L. Jackson’s greatest flick.
SYFY has yet to produce Nunnado, but wouldn’t put it past them.
Scene fondly remembered (it may have been from Yes, Prime Minister, but memory hazy) wherein the candidate being interviewed as next Archbishop of Canterbury asks if a belief in God is a requirement, and everyone in the room unanimously chimes “No, of course not.”
NotMax
@WereBear2 a.m. blockquote fail fix.
Not Samuel L. Jackson’s greatest flick.
SYFY has yet to produce Nunnado, but wouldn’t put it past them.
Scene fondly remembered (it may have been from Yes, Prime Minister, but memory hazy) wherein the candidate being interviewed as next Archbishop of Canterbury asks if a belief in God is a requirement, and everyone in the room unanimously chimes “No, of course not.”
raven
Joe and Harold no likey mean people.
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
Ok guys, it saddens me to discover that this is now a thing, but Himalayan salt is used for lamps now. I’ve seen a booth at two different shopping centers here in Melbourne. Are these making the rounds in the States now too? I have to fight the urge to snap photos and laugh every time I see them. Like that Arabic Baptist church a few miles down the road from me that always makes me think of the redneck portion of my extended family, wondering if heads might explode.
raven
@NotMax: Sorry I misfired on your in-country travel!
Baud
@JPL:
Could be, but I would guess it’ll be later in the month.
raven
NotMax
@raven
No harm, no foul.
At this point, leaving the house for anything has become a production. :)
NotMax
@Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
“Honey, what’s up with all those yaks with their noses pressed against the picture window?”
rikyrah
Elizabeth Warren Declares War on Mitch McConnell After He Blocked Her Student Loan Bill
By: Jason Easley
Wednesday, June, 11th, 2014, 10:22 pm
On MSNBC tonight, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) virtually declared war on Mitch McConnell after he blocked her student loan bill. Warren told viewers to donate money to Alison Lundergan Grimes, and announced that she will be going to Kentucky to campaign for the Democrat.
Warren said she is going to fight back and hold Republicans accountable for the obstruction by going to Kentucky to call out Mitch McConnell on his own turf:
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/06/11/elizabeth-warren-declares-war-mitch-mcconnell-blocked-student-loan-bill.html
NotMax
Been saying it for quite some time now to anyone who will listen: keep your eye on the actions of the Kurds in Iraq as a credible and able bulwark against the fanatical Sunni guerrillas.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: Saw that on Maddow (Or Chris Hayes? It’s a blur!) last night. Good for her. Down with Yertle!
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: The Kurds couldn’t give a rat’s a$$ about Iraq. It is Kurdistan they care about.
Botsplainer
@Comrade Nimrod Humperdink:
I think it was a late 90s thing. I won one at a silent auction for next to nothing several years ago, we use it as kind of a living room night light.
I actually like the thing, but I’m a saltoholic. Wife just rolls her eyes.
Botsplainer
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yeah, probably better that the ME break out of the Franco-British borders imposed after the Ottomans were defeated in the Great War, and go along a more clan/tribe based set of lines. It’ll administer better, cut back on conflict.
WereBear
Me likey.
Chris
1) Go, France
2) Go, Whoever Is Playing Against Italy
That is all.
Chris
@raven:
Any point since, oh, circa the Civil War, methinks.
Botsplainer
@rikyrah:
Sadly, this will likely change neither mind nor heart, even among unemployed cretards from out in the sticks with $40,000.00 in outstanding loans due to courses taken at Fred’s College of Fork Lift Operation, Cosmetology, Feng Shui and Clothing Design in Prestonsburg.
It’ll fail mainly because Warren and Grimes are just snatches who support the near sheriff in the white hut.
some guy
@NotMax:
they have a tough row to hoe. Cacti’s pals in al Qaeda have lots and lots of money coming in from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, France, Germany, and the United States. their car bombing campaign contineus wherever they are pushed out (Homs, Alleppo) and by taking Mosul, Tikrit, and Bajii they will be hard to encircle in the South.
Cacti and his ilk amongst the punditry are wetting their pants now that all that rhetorical support they gave to al Qaeda in Syria seems to be directed at the Iraqi government as well. alas.
Mike in NC
As John Oliver pointed out on his new HBO show last week, nobody gives a shit about FIFA scumbags.
Chris
@WereBear:
As noted on the Cantor threads, the GOP is increasingly slipping off the big money’s leash. It’s possible, then, that they’ll start paying the “both sides do it” people to diss the GOP more than they do now.
The problem is that the notion of a “liberal media” has been so well entrenched at this point that a lot of people (not just the 27%ers, but the idiots who still believe in a missing center) will simply see it as the liberal media getting more liberal and unreasonable and pay it no mind.
Morzer
The Guardian allows you to figure out which world cup team you are:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/quiz/2014/jun/12/world-cup-2014-team-quiz-england-germany-spain-holland-portugal
I am supposedly Spain, which feels … unlikely, but maybe I just need another cup of coffee.
WereBear
@Morzer: Thanks for this!
Story of my life.
JPL
@Morzer: I am Germany.
Morzer
@JPL:
Is this a new Lowe for you? Or do you feel Über Alles?
Personally, I am just glad not to be Portugal – I loathe Cristiano Ronaldo.
Morzer
@WereBear:
More Hodgson’s Choice than Absolutely Fabio these days, I fear.
JPL
@Morzer: lol
My mother’s maiden name is Cain so I guess if the sneaker fits, ………..
Morzer
@JPL:
i wonder which teams John Cole and Anne Laurie are?
schrodinger's cat
I know less about soccer than I know about football. I don’t get the fuss. I am more curious about the political situation in Brazil.
piratedan
@OzarkHillbilly: most def, the thing is, with the meltdown in Iraq, we may see the establishment of a Kurdish state (may not make the Turks overjoyed but then again, neither does the sectarian fighting amongst the Islamic factions) arise from the ruins of the failed construct of the Iraqi state. Last lines of the old British empire map being redrawn along regional/ethnic boundaries.
Scuffletuffle
Portugal here, I’ll have to google Cristiano Ronaldo. Tho’ if he’s a bad boy, I’m all in by default.
piratedan
I am Germany… strangely enough was a bit of a surprise….
schrodinger's cat
Thread needs a Purrlock Holmes and John Catson adventure.
Belafon
@OzarkHillbilly: Not even Jesus.
some guy
ISIS have been quite explicit that their goal is to destroy Sykes-Picot and establish a Caliphate. This is what scares the bejeesus out of their funders in the Gulf. Not their car bombings, not their beheadings, not their mortars dropped on civilians, not their chemical weapons attacks. All of those things were just fine and dandy to their supporters in the Gulf states. But when you declare that your goal is to destroy Sykes-Picot then the ruling autocrats placed on their thrones by Sykes-Picot start to get a tad antsy.
Amir Khalid
@Morzer:
Either great minds think alike, or fools never differ: I’m Spain too.
mellowjohn
what’s on my agenda? ignoring the world cup (and soccer in general) as much as humanly possible.
the real world cup starts in england next year and will probably be won again by new zealand’s all blacks.
Morzer
@Amir Khalid:
Well, I’m no great mind.. so, I guess it’s bad news for you too.
Sorry and all that.
Belafon
@Comrade Nimrod Humperdink: Yes. You can buy them at Earthbound Trading Co., which is in a number of malls.
Gin & Tonic
@mellowjohn: When do tickets go on sale? I think I might like to go, having never been to one.
Amir Khalid
@Morzer:
Speaking of whom, he’s currently appearing in billboards all over KL (and the rest of the planet too, I imagine) shilling for the Colonel: He shoots! He scores! He eats a bucket of fried chicken! I’m sure the Real Madrid nutritionist recommends that diet to all the players.
gene108
@raven:
So conservatives are closed minded people who do not want to associate with people different than them.
And they elect people to Congress and state government, who share their beliefs about not wanting to deal with people different than themselves.
And it is the non-conservatives fault there is no compromise in government.
Sigh
Morzer
@Amir Khalid:
Every time I hear of the Colonel, I remember this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSBFTKI-zIM&feature=kp
I must say, I can think of few things less likely to tempt me than Cristiano Ronaldo’s endorsement, even though I liked KFC well enough when I had it (in China, oddly enough).
Mike in NC
@gene108: I’ve met plenty of conservatives who prefer to home-school their kids because that way they won’t have to mix with other children of the wrong color or religion.
Not to mention those who refuse to donate blood to the Red Cross lest it be given to undesirables not worthy of their precious bodily fluids.
catclub
@Botsplainer:
Well, Kurdistan will in Iraq, but the parts in Turkey, Syria and Iran are still in some doubt.
rikyrah
Travis County prosecutor fired over remarks about juror
KVUE News 11:40 p.m. CDT June 11, 2014
AUSTIN — A top Travis County felony prosecutor was fired Wednesday after comments he made about a juror during a recent court proceeding for a convicted killer about to go to trial on a related charge.
District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg fired prosecutor Steve Brand, who loosely compared a juror’s membership to the NAACP and what he perceived as her activism to a white supremacist group.
Brand removed the juror from the panel, but a judge later ruled that removal was improper because it was based solely on race. State District Judge Julie Kocurek ordered a new jury be seated in the case.
According to a transcript of a recent hearing, Brand said, “It’s not because of race. It’s because in part she appeared to be an activist, and that’s what we don’t want. Just as if she was white, we wouldn’t want a white activist or a white supremacist.”
Lehmberg said in a statement that she was offended by Brand’s remarks and fired him.
http://www.kvue.com/story/news/local/2014/06/11/travis-county-prosecutor-fired-over-remarks-about-juror/10356985/
Tommy
@Mike in NC: My parents sent me to public schools for several reasons, when they could have easily paid for private school. One of the top reasons was diversity. That I went to a school where the best athlete and valedictorian were not white, like myself, well they cared about that.
schrodinger's cat
@Mike in NC: How do these hot house flowers survive in the real world?
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Note to self: Do not fuck with Elizabeth Warren.
Tommy
I am 44. I don’t know if things have changed but in the 70s you started sports by playing soccer. Even before t-ball. Soccer.
Morzer
@schrodinger’s cat:
By and large, the plan seems to be that they survive in a conservative bubble adjacent to the real world. Of course, this creates problems for all concerned when they venture into that real world.
Gin & Tonic
Mixing the topic of this thread with another (ahem) sometimes popular topic here, Raymond Domenech has been interviewed as stating that France is partly responsible for the crisis in Ukraine by having eliminated Ukraine from the World Cup.
Splitting Image
Provincial election in Ontario today.
Likely another Liberal minority, with about equal chances of the Conservatives fluking a minority or the Liberals fluking a majority.
Villago Delenda Est
@Suffern ACE: Seriously. If “The World Is Ours”, then it needs to be taken away from those corrupt assholes, then they should be sent to bed without their heads.
Villago Delenda Est
@Tommy: Yes, the prediction that “soccer is the next big thing on the US sports scene” has been going on for as long as you’ve been alive. Someday the little kids playing soccer will be the vanguard of the soccerficaction of the US.
Still waiting for that to happen.
Gin & Tonic
@Villago Delenda Est: The cover of this week’s Economist carries the title “Beautiful game, Ugly business.” Lead editorial and at least two articles about corruption and mismanagement at FIFA. Worth reading, I just don’t know how much is behind their paywall, as I am a subscriber.
Amir Khalid
@Gin & Tonic:
We should run that theory by our man in Portland, and see what he makes of it.
schrodinger's cat
@rikyrah: I like this woman, we need more like her.
Villago Delenda Est
@catclub: Which is why those other countries don’t like the idea of a sovereign Kurdistan state…such an entity would naturally want to bring the Kurds in those countries into Kurdistan. Along with chunks of Iran, Turkey, and Syria…
PurpleGirl
@WereBear: Thank You, thank you, thank you for this PSA post. I’ve been telling myself that I do need an alert bracelet but the tags are so ugh. I like that they have different styles of tags. They are good looking.
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah: I fully support the efforts of Elizabeth Warren and wish her the greatest of successes in her campaign against the vile Yertle the Turtle.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: Probably that the Ukraine side put themselves at a disadvantage anyway, by wearing their Wehrmacht uniforms on the pitch instead of shorts and jerseys.
Tommy
@Villago Delenda Est: I don’t have any kids myself. I live through my five year old niece there. We are close! Even at 44 I can often do things with a ball that will leave you scratching your head. I showed her things with a soccer ball, and it took me a little to get it right again, and she was like wow that is cool.
What I am most happy about is she is starting to play tennis.I can do things with a tennis ball that will blow your mind. For most of my young life I went to tennis camp when others went on vacation. I can do amazing things with a tennis ball. Can’t wait to show Katie!
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
I think it was this episode of YPM.
Tommy
@Betty Cracker: She is a rock star.
Little story. In the mid-80s by parents paid for my college. A state school in the Illinois system. I think it was $3,700/year. I am scared to go Google it, but assume it is like five time that now.
Villago Delenda Est
Turns out I”m Spain.
VIVA ESPAÑA!
SiubhanDuinne
@Morzer:
Ha-HA!!
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
A Brass Figligee with Bronze Oak Leaf Palm for meritorious work above and beyond.
Morzer
@SiubhanDuinne:
Well, howdy, little neighbor!
Friends of mine tell me that there is a Portuguese proverb which translated says:
“Nothing good from Spain – neither winds nor women”.
Morzer
Clearly the Wrath of Warren is having an impact in Kentucky:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/poll-alison-grimes-slim-lead-over-mitch-mccconnell
Morzer
And apparently even the poets have turned against Scott Brown:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/donald-hall-scott-brown-poem
I await the epic version with eager curiosity.
Bob In Portland
Report in Russia Today says that an entire National Guard unit has gone rogue and is heading back from the front lines to Kiev. Claims that they haven’t been paid or fed and there is no official paperwork to show that they exist.
I haven’t seen any coverage of this in any western media. Maybe nothing is happening in Ukraine anymore. Shuffle on.
scuffletuffle
Heyyo!