Suomi Takes the Gold

The Sweden vs. Finland game was painful to watch... it was all bearable until the 3rd period. 

1st: Sweden 0 : 0 Finland

2nd: Sweden 1 : 1 Finland

3rd: Sweden 1 : 6 Finland

Finland scored 5 goals in the third period!!! How did this even happen??? I'm actually still in shock....

In any case, my congrats to the Finns, no hard feelings... I guess. (IKEA is still more awesome than Nokia!) 

Today's Random Quote: 

"Man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people." - Will Rogers

Tre Kronor Going to the Finals

For those of you interested in hockey (having playing hockey for about five years, I have some interest in the sport), the International Ice Hockey Federation has an annual World Championship event, as you may already know. Of course, the young U.S. team failed to advance to the semis, but Sweden's Tre Kronor has managed to pull it off and is heading to the finals after defeating the Czech Republic! Just had to put that out there... not many people in England have any interest in ice hockey at all, so I feel a little as though I might as well talk to the wall. Oh well, I will definitely have to watch the Tre Kronor vs. Suomi game on the 15th! Hopefully, this game will not be a repeat of 1995... 

Today's Random Picture:

A more efficient traffic light? 

Soccer, Summer, Suprises

So I have to say there were more than a couple surprises at the 2010 World Cup games in South Africa. My speculations proved mostly wrong in terms choosing the teams for the Round of 16.

Group A: Uruguay France (Winner), Mexico Uruguay (Runner-up)

Group B: Argentina (Winner), Republic of Korea (Runner-up) 

Group C: United States of America England (Winner), England United States of America (Runner-up) 

Group D:  Germany (Winner), Ghana Serbia (Runner-up) 

Group E: Netherlands (Winner), Japan Denmark (Runner-up)

Group F: Paraguay Italy (Winner), Slovakia Paraguay (Runner-up) 

Group G: Brazil (Winner), Portugal  (Runner-up) 

Group H: Spain (Winner), Chile (Runner-up) 

So my speculations only went through for Group B, G, and H... and I was correct for a handful of other teams or with an inverse of finishing order (U.S. finishing ahead of England in Group C). This makes for quite a different set for the Round of 16, which in turn changes speculations for the quarter-, semi-, and final games: 

Round of 16 Predictions:

URUGUAY - KOREA REPUBLIC
USA - GHANA
NETHERLANDS - SLOVAKIA
BRAZIL - CHILE
ARGENTINA - MEXICO
GERMANY - ENGLAND
PARAGUAY - JAPAN
SPAIN - PORTUGAL

Quarterfinals:
URUGUAY - USA
NETHERLANDS - BRAZIL
ARGENTINA - GERMANY
PARAGUAY - SPAIN 

Semifinals: 

USA  - BRAZIL
GERMANY - SPAIN

Finals:

Third Place Game: USA - GERMANY

World Cup Game: BRAZIL - SPAIN

It's now the start of summer vacation for me. No more school, no more work, no more exams... I'm just planning on hitchhiking to the micro states next week before heading to Scandinavia for my birthday. I'm a little sad that I might have to celebrate the 4th of July all alone in a foreign country where people don't speak my language. 

Today's Random Picture:  
Hypothetical situation, kids fighting off kid zombies?

FIFA 2010 World Cup Games

Four years later, the World Cup is taking place for the first time on the African continent, with a series of month-long soccer games in South Africa. I thought I'd have a go at predicting the outcomes, just for fun. 

So the group arrangements this year are: 

Group A: France (Winner), Uruguay (Runner-up)

Group B: Argentina (Winner), Republic of Korea (Runner-up) 

Group C:  England (Winner), United States of America (Runner-up) 

Group D:  Germany (Winner), Serbia (Runner-up) 

Group E: Netherlands (Winner), Denmark (Runner-up)

Group F: Italy (Winner), Paraguay (Runner-up) 

Group G: Brazil (Winner), Portugal  (Runner-up) 

Group H: Spain (Winner), Chile (Runner-up) 

Round of 16 Predictions:

FRANCE - KOREA REPUBLIC
ENGLAND - SERBIA
NETHERLANDS - PARAGUAY
BRAZIL - CHILE
ARGENTINA - URUGUAY
GERMANY - UNITED STATES
ITALY - DENMARK
SPAIN - PORTUGAL 

Quarterfinals:
FRANCE - ENGLAND
NETHERLANDS - BRAZIL
ARGENTINA - GERMANY
ITALY - SPAIN 

Semifinals: 

ENGLAND  - BRAZIL
GERMANY - SPAIN

Finals:

Third Place Game: ENGLAND - GERMANY

World Cup Game: BRAZIL - SPAIN 

I could be wrong, of course, since one thing that goes wrong in a game can change the outcomes dramatically, so these are just rough estimations. I'll definitely be watching the games with lots of anticipation and enthusiasm =). 

Today's Random  Picture: 

Going for the Gold?

So the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games have come to a close and so has the medal counting. I'm going back to this topic because I had an interesting conversation with a language exchange partner who's considerably older than I am. He mentioned that back in "his day" (so... like 30 years ago), the Olympic medal count used to be based on how many gold medals a country won, and not the total medal count. Although he learns English, he does seem to harbor some resentment towards Americans since he also added that this system was changed so that the United States would also "be first". Thinking about it, I couldn't help but notice he had a point. Even at Vancouver, while we did win the most total medals, both Germany and Canada had more gold medals than the United States. (Maps are from nytimes.com)

Top 9 Countries

Then I realized, it's not just the Winter Olympics either. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, while we won the most total medals, we were behind China when it comes to total gold medals. 

 So guys, what do you think? Is this an "evil American scheme"? I personally think it might be, but I don't agree with it being "evil". I mean, is gold really that much better than silver or bronze? Is it that much worse to be second or third? I don't think so. I mean, these athletes worked so hard and oftentimes the difference between gold, silver, and bronze is 1 second/point or less. Still, I was wondering if I was alone in thinking this way. It's all in healthy competitiveness, of course. I don't think the Olympics should be about how many medals a country wins or which country is "better" than another. Rather, it's about the best athletes from across the world engaging in a once-in-a-lifetime-experience in healthy competition and just sharing the wonderful world of sports.

Today's Random Quiz:

You Are Combat Boots

You are a complete and total rebel. You refuse to do what you're told, and you're quite stubborn. You really don't care what other people think of you. You are tough and often ruthless. You are independent, iconoclastic, and counter-cultural. You resent authority figures. You are very headstrong. No one is going to pressure you into being someone you're not!

What Kind of Boots Are You?

I Love Tom Brady!!!

Lately, I've been fortunate enough to follow a handful of NFL games thanks to Pete (thanks you so much!!!). Last night was one of the best games of the season so far. The New England Patriots versus the Tennessee Titans. Results? Patriots 59 - Titans 0. Here are highlights from the game:



That just made my otherwise lackluster day. I'd better get back to work now. Thought I'd share the fun ;)

Today's Random Picture:
Tom Brady: Impossibly good looking, smart, tall, an American football god... what more could you ask for? Heheh