You want your belt to buckle, not your chair...

I had a fatty weekend. Can't lie. I spent the majority of my time watching the World Cup, hanging out with friends, helping my brother move, and attending his going away dinner. Plenty of good times, but these activities equated to a less than stellar diet: the lowlights included a renewal of an on-again, off-again affair with McDonald's dollar menu, a Papa John's gorging session slathered with guilt-infused garlic butter, a breakfast and lunch consisting entirely of chicken fingers and Newcastle Brown Ale, and some of the weirdest tacos I've ever seen.

In light of my recent indulgences, I revisited a website I had found last winter entitled 'Eat this, not that,' which I believe is based upon a book of the same title. The following are a few of the random facts that I found:

-A Burger King cheeseburger with small fries has the same amount of sodium as 5 Big Grab Bags of Lay's Potato Chips.

-One 24oz Coldstone PB&C shake has the sugar equivalent of 30 Chewy Chips Ahoy cookies, and the saturated fat content of 68 strips of bacon. Wow.

-One 12oz Sierra Nevada Bigfoot beer=One 12-pack of Michelob Ultra (in terms of carbs). Granted, it's a strong beer (9.8% abv), but still.

While I was temporarily relieved to know that it could've been worse, the only real relief from my gutbomb-laden weekend came in the form of a hard workout at the gym, running around outside coaching soccer, and eating split green peas with brown rice. However, I am headed to the Twins game tomorrow night, we'll see how many Iroquois Twists it takes for me to make up for the walleye on-a-stick, Kramarczuk's brats, and Summit that I won't be able to resist. Bonus points if you got the Iroquois Twist reference.

World Cup Update

Apologies for the lack of posts, I figure it's time to share my thoughts about the Cup so far.

Team USA:

Exceeded my expectations, but ultimately underachieved. I thought Bradley coached a good tournament (Findley and Clark's inclusion in the starting 11 vs. Ghana aside), but our back line lacked quality and I think we missed Charlie Davies sorely. Deserved a win vs. Slovakia, but simply did not play well enough against Ghana. Personnel issues aside, the psychological preparation apparently was insufficient/ineffective as we never looked hungry out of the gates.

Referees:
Excruciatingly painful. Far too many games have been dominated by card-happy, nit-picky, ticky-tacky refs that are so intent upon 'cleaning up the game' that there is no opportunity for flowing soccer. This is to say nothing of the absolutely appalling blown calls that have cost teams dearly, which simply goes to show that video replay needs to happen. I won't get into that, but I think everyone is starting to realize the need for a solution.

Predictions:
I see Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Portugal in the semifinals, with Brazil ultimately taking down Argentina in an all-South American final. So yes, that means Spain will choke in the Round of 16. I would normally like to see the Netherlands progress as I usually like their style, but the Oranje haven't done much for me yet in terms of attractive and flowing football. I'd actually love to see the young speed demons of Deutschland get through, but I can't see them out-gunning Argentina (especially as Messi seems to be finding form). Portugal over Uruguay in the 3rd place game as Ronaldo hits his stride too late.

Thoughts?

Winning Hearts and Minds

I don't give the U.S. much chance in tomorrow's highly-anticipated showdown with England in its opening match of World Cup 2010. I would of course love nothing more than a major upset, and even a point from a draw would be a fairly significant accomplishment.

But what would a victory mean for soccer in the U.S. as a whole? Would a win whip up enough pride and excitement to get soccer truly on the map in America? Probably not. For right now, no one game will have a significant, long-term effect on U.S. soccer, unless of course that one game involves the U.S. winning the World Cup.

Similar to the Olympics, the World Cup simply does not sustain lasting momentum for soccer in America after its conclusion. Europeans watch European football on Saturday or Sunday, Americans watch American football on Saturday and Sunday. South American kids play pickup soccer, American kids play pickup basketball. Soccer simply cannot compete with the tradition of baseball, ruggedness of football, or swagger of basketball.

That said, soccer in the U.S. will get there. Sam's Army, the die-hard group of U.S. National Team supporters, is growing. MLS is gaining increasing airtime on ESPN, and more American fans are following their favorite players in foreign leagues, especially the English Premiership. I'm not sure it will ever become the most popular sport in the country, but as the Latino population continues to grow, my guess is that soccer will eventually nudge out hockey as the fourth biggest sport in America.

My prediction: England wins 3-1

Your Lucky Stars

I just got back from an International Refugee Festival in downtown Minneapolis, and the presentations reminded me of two things: first and foremost, I am damned lucky to have ended up here in the U.S., and secondly, I can't stand it when privileged Americans complain about how terrible this country is and how much they wish they were living somewhere else.

The U.S. is far from perfect in a billion ways, but most of us have a very high standard of living compared to the rest of the world. So when I overhear some hipster bitching about his life in America, and how he wants to go live 'somewhere real and free,' I really wish he could hear the stories I heard today; stories about torture, starvation, untold suffering and humiliation. The pure elation of the Burmese or Libyan refugee and his family when they arrived here.

Now, if you got sent off to Vietnam and came back a shell-shocked amputee, forgotten by the government and scorned by your fellow countrymen, you can bitch. If you were living in poverty in southern Louisiana, lost what little you had to Hurricane Katrina and were shipped off to a forsaken and hopeless FEMA trailer park in the middle of nowhere, you can bitch.

I'm talking to all of the young, privileged people that 'can't stand another day in this oppressive hellhole.' Please stop and remember that you could have a much worse life here in the U.S., and an even worse life somewhere else. Every country has its problems. If you're not happy, do something about it. Otherwise, quit ripping on your home country. It's insulting to the people who have literally risked life and limb just to make it to our shores.

As Cold as the Rockies

I love the Coors Light NFL press conference commercials, almost as much as I don't understand their whole cold-activated can and 'windowed' case campaign. Does anyone really need to be told when their beer is cold enough for consumption? And yet, Coors has apparently ridden this decently clever but ultimately worthless gimmick to a virtual tie with Miller for second place in the American light beer market behind Budweiser.

These three light beers are all essentially the same: cheap, weak, and watery. What's interesting to me is how the different companies try to set themselves apart through advertising. All three target the same young, male, sports-mad, coed-chasing, chicken wing-craving market, and all of their ads seem to unfold in more or less the same way: drink our beer, because we understand you and your desire to be clever, charming, athletic, dominant and drunk.

So, how do certain ad campaigns like these manage to succeed or fail? Some individual ads are particularly good, but do people actually buy beer based on a single commercial? Do people really buy Coors Light because the mountains turn blue at 34 degrees? Or do young men make their light beer selections based upon stronger points of association and identity, like family tradition, location of alma mater, or local happy hour specials? Just something to think about during the next commercial break.

I need to learn how to blog

Upon review, I've come to realize that I am not blogging so much as op-eding. Future posts will be much more concise, and more conversation starters than essays.

AA