Come on! It's soccer's biggest competition and we're not talking about it?!

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2002

Answers

We just drew teams for our (extremely low-stakes) World Cup pool...

I pulled Denmark, Ireland and Ecuador. I'm thinking Ecuador has no shot, and Ireland will need help just to reach the second round, so I'm in all kinds of trouble already.

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2002

Anyone? Anyone?

WG, I know you watched England-Argentina today. Fess up.

-- Anonymous, June 07, 2002

Yeah, someone walked into work very late today.

My question: HOW did England win that game? The last ten minutes I watched were played entirely on their side. Hello? Did they collectively say after they scored, "Oh, we don't need to bother Argentina's goalie anymore, poor chap"?

-- Anonymous, June 07, 2002

Well, Beckham and Owen each missed a wide-open net in the second half...

...but yeah, I was shocked England packed it in for the last 30 minutes. The way Argentina dives -- almost, but not quite Italy- esque -- it's a big risk, since one foul in the penalty area ties the game.

Owen abused that poor Argentinien defender whose name I just forgot. He's just so quick.

I almost wore my Beckham replica jersey to work, but then thought it might be a little casual even for Casual Friday.

-- Anonymous, June 07, 2002

From the News of the Weird:

In Hertfordshire, England, 27 men with outstanding arrest warrants turned themselves in to police specifically so they could serve their relatively short sentences right away and not have to worry about being in TV-less jail during the World Cup matches.

-- Anonymous, June 07, 2002

Wow. Could the USA have played worse?

I mean, yay Korea and all that, but it's kind of a joke that the USA moves on and Argentina goes home. But that's the World Cup.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2002

How is this sport so damn popular if the losing teams can advance to the next round? Who designed the World Cup, the producers of Love Cruise?

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2002

Hey, when there were just 24 teams in the Cup you could advance if you were one of the top four third-place teams. Now you have to at least come in second.

But I like it. It's like combining the NCAA Tournament and the NBA playoffs.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2002

In completely unrelated but important championship sports news, The College World Series starts today, with one of the teams being Georgia Tech.

Go Yellow Jackets!!

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2002

You've not seen sadness until you've been in Paris the day after France's elimination. Man, that was awful.

Today at the Hotel de Ville (town hall) in Paris, there was a big screen tv set up and hundreds of people were watching the match. You could tell when someone scored from blocks away because of the cheering and yelling.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2002