"Before the start of the men's soccer gold medal match at the London Olympics, conversation tended toward two topics. The first was the shocking truth that Brazil had never won a gold medal in its signature sport. The second was the absence through injury of Mexico's Giovani dos Santos. Logic seemed to dicate that the latter fact would take care of the former reality.
It didn't take long for Mexico to turn that line of thinking upside down en route to a 2-1 win, clinching the first gold medal in soccer in its own history. In the 29th second of the game, Mexico striker Oribe Peralta capitalized on a Brazilian turnover to open the scoring with a spectacular goal."
And of course Google made a doodle for the closing ceremony of the 'London Olympic Games 2012' tonight, which will occur at 02:00 Monday morning here in Thailand. Coverage here in the Land of Smiles has been phenomenal, since at any time I was able to watch any one of eight channels showing Olympic events.
Spectacular diving footage of Greg Louganis at the '84 Summer Olympic Games. Greg Louganis wasn't just a Gold Medal diver, he was an artist without equal and is an incredible human being.
"Greg Louganis is openly gay. After he tested positive for HIV in 1988, he recounted his story in a best-selling autobiography Breaking the Surface co-written with Eric Marcus. The book spent five weeks at number one on the New York Times Best Seller list. His story was also documented in the 1996 Showtime movie Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story"... [Wikipedia]
Today's match between Uraguay and Germany will determine the third place winner, and tomorrow's game will establish the 2010 winner. However, according to Paul the 'psychic/precongitive' octopus it is already a done deal with Germany defeating Uruguay, and Spain taking home the coveted World Cup. I think I could agree with that.
BTW, there was a sighting of a religious figure of sorts present at this year's world cup matches. None other than the Mormon angel Moroni who came equipped for making noise with his very own 'golden vuvuzela':
It was already all over for Brazil when Melo, obviously in a snit, deliberately stomped on the ankle of a downed Dutch player, and which was captured on TV for all to see I was waving my personal red card long before the referee produced his.
Yes, of course I have been watching the World Cup matches from South Africa. My normal blogging will be a bit sparce until the final World Cup match on July 11. Here in Thailand, the first two games occur at a perfect time for evening viewing, at 18:30 and 21:00 [6:30 and 9:00 pm]. The third game of each day is broadcast at 1:30 in the morning, usually a bit late for my taste, but in special cases such as last night's game of Brazil vs North Korea, I wouldn't miss it for the world.
Last night's first match, between Slovakia and New Zealand, was especially noteworthy for me since it was my native country's first ever world cup match. And Slovakia held their 1-0 lead for most of the second half of the game.
New Zealand vs Slovakia 1-1
"A last-gasp Winston Reid header snatched New Zealand an improbable draw against a dominant Slovakia side in their Group F opener in Rustenburg" [the annoying background sound in the video is the 'vuvuzela' ]
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Note: since the original YouTube video which I posted seems to have been taken down, try FIFA's video:
This is probably a proper place for me to voice my displeasure at the constant annoying sound of the 'vuvuzela' horns. Said to be an integral part of South African fan culture, but that exceedingl loud, constant buzzing sound.is basically just a real pain in the ass. Not in any way connected to the actions of the players or what is happening in the game, but rather is mindlessly tooted and the resultant sound is so loud that nothing else can be heard.
"Just five days into the World Cup, and the No. 1 topic of conversation around the world isn’t about results or tactics, but rather the vuvuzela — the $2.50 plastic horn that, blown nonstop by the thousands, has provided a bleating soundtrack to every match at South Africa 2010.
As Jere Longman reports from Johannesburg, tournament organizers have rejected calls to ban the vuvuzela from some international broadcasters who have complained that the incessant drone is annoying viewers and despite complaints from several players that they can’t hear what’s going on at field level because of the unrelenting din. ...."
