Hello everyone, except for Charlie Miranda, James Dolan, and of course, the woman I was talking to. Charlie doesn't want a new park for the Rays, Dolan for being a terrible owner even though the team he owns (in spite of him) are in the NBA Finals, and the last one I kinda alluded to in my last entry. Speaking of which, I haven't found a proper GIF to simulate what happened, but I did find this picture on Google:
And by the way, she is now blocked on EVERY platform she is on except one so I could tag her in a post that pretty much sums up what she did, and she promptly blocked me back. So, either she still feels for me, or she's crazy. Toxic? Definitely (who conveniently forgets that her children are going to be home from school the day we were supposed to have lunch?). She may have driven by my house this week because there was a random soda can that had landed from a vehicle I presume in the front yard of where I live, but since it was a Sprite can, I doubt it was her. Heck, I've never ever seen her drink soda period. Anyway, cleaned that mess up when I took out the recycling bin this morning.
By the way, do not go to Capone's. There are plenty of other pool halls to go to around here.
Well now that that's out of the way, I guess I should write about the soccer tournament that will be taking place over the next month. I can't say I'm excited for this edition, like 2022 and 2018 before then. One, Fox is carrying it, so we're going to get all sorts of right-wing propaganda being that this is the 250th birthday of our Nation, and unfortunately our president is a self-aggrandizing petulant toddler who is in love with Fox. Both tournament selections as then well as the one this year was surrounded in controversy with allegations of bribery, and I think this one was as well. By the way, you ever notice how the FIFA head (Giavanni Infantino) somewhat resembles Lex Luthor?
It was actually Infantino's predecessor, Sepp (overactive) Blatter, who was behind the corruption of the 2018 and 2022 selections, which ultimately got him impeached and removed. Hmmm, makes me think of what may happen in 2027...but I digress.
This year's tournament has a record 48 entries, which if you ask me is too many; it was fine at 32. Among those are Curacao, which is a Dutch-controlled island with about 150,000 in population. Haiti, which has been irrelevant other than governmental overthrows (one of which my ship took part in the fall of 1994) and tragedies, and honestly, I don't think they've recovered from that earthquake 16 years ago. Uzbekistan, which took advantage of an expanded field, and whose claim to fame is the birthplace to Milana Vayntrub, best known as Lily from the AT&T commercials back in the day.
.webp)
There are the other usual suspects, the defending champions Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Netherlands, Germany. But no Italy. Also in the field, Iran which is a curious dichotomy considering the US is currently at war (or are we?) with them. And of course, the hosts, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Happy Birthday America, here's a sports tournament created (allegedly) by your colonial parent for your birthday, that and a lame UFC fight that may or not take place.
Usually, the way the tournament works is that the teams are divided into groups of four and the top two from each group advance to the knockout stage. It was rather simple when there were 32 teams, but since there is now 48, it's now complicated, much like any romantic endeavor I'm in. You would expect that the top two from each group would advance to the knockout stage, but then you would have to give the top eight group winners (via goals scored, goal difference, FIFA rating, etc.) a first round bye and have the other four group winners play the four lowest rated second place teams, leaving the remaining second place teams compete for a spot in the round of 16. But FIFA didn't do that. Instead, the eight highest ranked third place teams advance to a round of 32, then go from there.
Anyway, here how the groups shape up:
A) Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Czechia
B) Canada, Bosnia, Qatar, Switzerland
C) Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
D) USA, Paraguay, Australia, Turkey
E) Germany, Curacao, Cote d'Ivoire, Ecuador
F) Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia
G) Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
H) Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
I) France, Senegal, Iraq, Norway
J) Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
K) Portugal, DR Congo, Uzbekistan, Colombia
L) England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama
Let's take a look at what has transpired the past 48 hours before the opening kick in Mexico City shall we?
• Swiss footballer Embolo's visa was put under review and he was only able to join his team days later.
• Iraqi national team player Aymen Hussein was held for questioning for nearly 7 hours upon entering the United States.
• The Iranian national team spent days dealing with visa procedures at the U.S. Consulate in Türkiye. The U.S. only allowed them entry on match days. Fifteen members of the delegation were denied visas.
• Omar Abdulkadir Artan, named CAF's Best African Referee of 2025, was denied a visa. Despite travelling to the U.S. with a diplomatic passport, he was refused entry and sent back. FIFA announced that he will not be able to officiate at the tournament.
• The South African national team arrived in the United States much later than planned because part of the delegation was not granted visas.
• Members of the Senegal national team staff were forced to remove their shoes and subjected to lengthy searches, sparking accusations of racism.
• The Uzbekistan national team was searched with bomb-sniffing dogs and the footage went viral in international media.
• Some Scottish supporters, despite being eligible to enter the U.S. visa-free under the ESTA programme, had their travel authorisations revoked just days before departure.
• Many supporters who had already bought tickets and booked accommodation had their visa applications rejected, resulting in financial losses.
Taken from The Other 98% on Facebook. Welcome to the sh*t show folks. So, who wins? Heck at the rate things are going from the above text, I'll say the USA. Hell, our country is being run like a bad episode of "Monday Night Raw" right now. I'm sure there will be plenty of shenanigans for that to happen.
Seriously though, I think it will be Portugal and Netherlands meeting in the final with the Orange Army finally lifting the first World Cup. Enjoy the soccer, if you dare.
BonyScribe
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