davehogg

The qualifying for the 2008 European Championship - the biggest soccer tournament in the world behind the World Cup - ends today. Well, it is supposed to end - it could actually be extended for a few days.

Here's an update from my post last week:

In Group A, my beloved Finns still have a slim, slim chance of qualifying for their first major tournament ever. They have to beat Azerbaijan on Saturday, which should be pretty easy, and then they have to beat Portugal in Portugal on Wednesday, which will be awfully tough. Even then, they need Serbia to draw or lose of their final two games.

So far, so good. Finland beat Azerbaijan. Now they have to beat Portugal, and they still need someone to help out against Serbia. That's why things might get extended - Serbia's match last weekend against Kazakhstan got snowed out and won't be played until this Saturday. So if Serbia beat already-qualified Poland today and Finland pulls off the miracle in Portugal, it would come down to Serbia needing to beat the Kazakhs on Saturday.

The odds are that Portugal will at least get a draw today and qualify.

In Group B, Scotland is in if they beat Italy tomorrow and out if they lose. If they draw, the Scots would get in if the Ukraine beats France on Wednesday.

Italy won 2-1 on a last-minute goal after a terrible decision by the ref, so Italy and France are in, and Scotland has Glorious Failure #721.

In Group E, England needs Israel to at least get a draw with Russia tomorrow, then needs to beat Croatia on Wednesday. If the Russians beat Israel, England would have to beat Croatia by 2-0, or if Croatia scores, by at least three goals.

Israel stunned everyone by beating Russia 2-1, so England goes to Euro 2008 with a draw today against Croatia. The English manager, Steve McClaren, is going to get fired if they don't qualify, and he's made a couple interesting moves. He's changed goalkeepers - Scott Carson is going to start instead of Paul Robinson - and David Beckham isn't going to start.

In some ways, the Beckham move makes sense - he's barely played in months, but it might be a mistake. England is only playing one forward - 6'7" Peter Crouch - and the one thing that Beckham can still do better than anyone is put a ball into the goal area for a tall guy to head into the net.

If England loses, Russia qualifies by beating Andorra. Thus far in the qualifying tournament, Andorra has played 11 games, lost 11 games, scored two goals and given up 41. They have lost all 29 Euro Championship qualifying matches they've played over three cycles - 2004, 2004 and 2008. They have, however, managed one win and two draws in 22 World Cup qualifying matches - a win and
a draw over The Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia and a draw with, um, well, Finland.

Andorra is currently ranked 173rd out of the 208 teams in FIFA, the world organizing body. They actually aren't the worst European team - the Faroe Islands are 19th and San Marino is 196th. So far in Euro 2008, the Faroes have gone 0-for-11 with three goals scored and 40 against, while San Marino is 0-for-11 with two goals scored and 52 against.

So combined, the three minnows of European soccer have zero wins, 33 losses, seven goals and 133 against.

You may say to yourself, "Self, what would happen if they played each other?". That's a good question. San Marino and the Faroes were drawn into the same qualifying group for Euro 1996, and the Faroes won 3-0 at home and 3-1 in San Marino.

(The Faroes used to play their home matches in Sweden, because they didn't have any grass soccer pitches. They now have one, in Toftir.)

Andorra and the Faroes played to a scoreless draw in 1999 in an exhibition match. San Marino has never played Andorra.

The other groups are simpler. In Group C, defending champ Greece is in, and will be joined by the winner of Turkey-Norway.

This isn't as clear as I thought. Norway was in with a win, but lost 2-1 at home to Turkey. Turkey now needs to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina at home to get in. They lost to B-H on the road 3-2 in June, so that's not a guarantee. If Turkey draws or loses, Norway will get in by beating hapless Malta.

In Group D, the Czech Republic and Germany are already in. In Group F, Sweden and Spain are in, barring a serious of ridiculous upsets. Austria and Switzerland are already qualified as co-hosts.

Northern Ireland still has a slight chance in Group F - they need to win in Spain today and for Sweden to lose at home to Latvia. Neither is very likely.

* Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man indicted for perjury and obstructing justice
It looked like might have gotten Greg Anderson to flip on him, since most of the perjury charges are about Bonds lying about conversations/actions with Anderson. Anderson, Bonds' personal trainer, spent most of the last 16 months in jail to avoid testifying against Bonds, but was released at the same time as the indictment.

This will almost certainly end Bonds' career. He's clearly one of the five greatest players in baseball history, based solely on his on-field achievements. He was my favorite player as a Pittsburgh Pirates fan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Even until 1998, when he was a star for the Giants, I considered him the best player of my lifetime and I was willing to overlook his surly disposition.

Apparently, he became massively jealous of the attention paid to Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa during the great home-run chase, since neither of them could hold his jockstrap as an overall player. He knew they were cheating and becoming popular megastars, and decided that he would do it too. Instead, even while putting together the greatest five-year stretch that any hitter has ever had, he became a pariah outside of San Francisco.

He's one of two great baseball players that I've never seen in person, and, despite everything, I will always regret that.

* Pistons agree to blockbuster trade with Lakers
You might have missed this, but the Pistons agreed to trade Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Amir Johnson to the Lakers this week. In return, they would get one of the few athletes I dislike more than Barry Bonds, Kobe Bryant. Luckily for me, and in my opinion, for the Pistons, Kobe vetoed the trade.

I interviewed Kobe for the first time at a high-school all-star game, and was amazed by his poise and maturity. Sadly, that didn't survive his transformation into an NBA star.

* Lions playing two huge home games in five days
The Lions don't usually play at home on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, but they've got marcy_italiano's beloved New York Giants on Sunday and my dad's beloved Green Bay Packers on Turkey Day. If they win both, they are in fantastic shape for their first playoff appearance since 1999. If they lose both, it could get ugly down the stretch.

* Dave about to be REALLY BUSY
Michigan-Ohio State on Saturday. Lions-Giants on Sunday. Lions press conference on Monday. Tuesday off. OU-Auburn women's basketball at 6:00 on Wednesday, followed immediately by Pistons-Knicks at 8:00. Lions-Packers on Thursday. Four high-school football championship games on Friday, followed by four more on Saturday. Pistons-Utah on Sunday.

So, in a span of nine days, I'll cover 11 football games, a football press conference and three basketball games.

* Huge soccer weekend coming up

Saturday and Wednesday are the final qualifiers for the 2008 European Nations' Championship, and there are three groups that are still up for grabs and of great interest to me. In Group A, my beloved Finns still have a slim, slim chance of qualifying for their first major tournament ever. They have to beat Azerbaijan on Saturday, which should be pretty easy, and then they have to beat Portugal in Portugal on Wednesday, which will be awfully tough. Even then, they need Serbia to draw or lose of their final two games.

In Group B, Scotland is in if they beat Italy tomorrow and out if they lose. If they draw, the Scots would get in if the Ukraine beats France on Wednesday.

(Speaking of Scotland, how many of you realize that my last name is pronounced with a long "o", not like "hog"? My grandfather always said that "hoag" was the Scottish pronunciation and "hog" was English, but I suspect he made that up.)

In Group E, England needs Israel to at least get a draw with Russia tomorrow, then needs to beat Croatia on Wednesday. If the Russians beat Israel, England would have to beat Croatia by 2-0, or if Croatia scores, by at least three goals.

The other groups are simpler. In Group C, defending champ Greece is in, and will be joined by the winner of Turkey-Norway. In Group D, the Czech Republic and Germany are already in. In Group F, Sweden and Spain are in, barring a serious of ridiculous upsets. Austria and Switzerland are already qualified as co-hosts.

There's also World Cup qualifying in South America, and the MLS Cup match in the United States, between New England Revolution and Houston Dynamo. This is a rematch of last year's MLS Cup, when Houston won on penalty kicks. Being a traditional soccer fan, I'm more interested in who wins the regular-season title (DC United, for the second year in a row), but a good Cup final is always fun.

NHL apparently still exists
The Red Wings are in first place in the Western Conference. Henrik Zetterberg is really good.

Seattle needs a name
Seattle will have an expansion team in MLS in 2009, and they are having a contest to name the team. Purists seem to be getting behind Seattle City or Emerald City, but there's also the tradition of the Seattle Sounders name.

kitanzi and I went to see "Our Body: The Universe Within" Saturday at the Detroit Science Center, and it was incredible. By using a process called "plastination", scientists have been able to preserve human bodies in a way that you can see muscles, veins, arteries, nerves and just about everything else.

It sounds horribly disgusting - after all, the exhibit includes 12 complete human bodies, including one sliced into two-inch lengths like a 3-D MRI - but I found it fascinating. It puts all of the anatomy diagrams you've ever seen into a 3-D human-shaped, human-sized package. I walked away from the hour we spent there with a much greater understanding of how human bodies work.

That's the good news. The bad news is that there are major questions about the origin of the bodies used in the exhibit. The official statement on the "Our Body" website says:

"All of the anatomical specimens contained in Our Body: The Universe Within originate from China and have been provided for the exhibit consistent with the laws of China. The anatomical specimens are not owned by the exhibitors, but are provided by a Chinese foundation to promote educational and medical research of the human body. While we do not have the specific identity of each anatomical specimen, they have been donated through medical schools and other research facilities in China to promote education, science and medical research of the human body."

That sounds vaguely legitimate, but "consistent with the laws of China" doesn't mean much. When the bodies for the Detroit show were obtained, it was still legal in China to sell the organs of executed prisoners, so the above statement doesn't rule much out.

The organizers aren't doing much to help the ethical concerns, either. In an interview with the Metro Times, "Our Body"'s medical adviser had trouble with what seemed like a simple question:

"When questioned where the bodies come from, Dr. (Walter) Hofman says it's a legitimate institute or foundation in China whose name he has forgotten."

Other reports credit the bodies to "The Museum of Life Sciences Project" in Beijing, which may or may not actually exist - there don't seem to be any citations to it other than this project - or Beijing University, which has denied any involvement.

The company that runs the show, The Universe Within Touring Company, has trouble keeping its own story straight. While the above quote says that some of the bodies "have been donated through medical schools", the CEO says in a different interview that none of the bodies are medical-school cadavers.

One of the groups running similar shows in the United States has been slightly more forthcoming, acknowledging that their bodies were "unclaimed and unidentified at death". A third group, led by plastination inventor Gunther Von Hagen, was confronted with evidence that some of its bodies came from China with bullet holes in their skulls, and eventually acknowledged that a few might have slipped through.

The exhibit is certainly highly educational. How does that balance out the questions about the bodies? Does it matter that, at best, it seems that these were people who died alone and unclaimed? Since the exhibitors don't know anything about the corpses' identities, there's no way to verify that they consented to be displayed in this way, and if they were Jane and John Does, they certainly didn't consent.

And if they are the bodies of Chinese political prisoners, sold after their executions?

I'm troubled by this. I learned a great deal, but I wish I had known this ahead of time.

Dennis Kucinich introduced the following resolution on the floor of the House today, calling for the impeachment of Vice President Richard Cheney:

( Call for Impeachment )

Lions defensive tackle Shaun Rogers, who probably weighs 350 pounds, just returned an interception 66 yards for a touchdown. It took about 11 minutes.

Denver running back Selvin Young caught the exhausted Rogers, but Rogers flattened him with a stiff-arm before collapsing into the end zone.

The Lions just scored again - it is 44-0 with 5:15 to play.

Final score in triple overtime:

U.S. Naval Academy 46
University of Notre Dame 44

Navy ends a 43-game losing streak to Notre Dame.

The Dropkick Murphys, one of the world's finest Celtic Punk bands, performed "Tessie" during the Red Sox victory parade today, aided by saxikath's future husband, Jonathan Papelbon. The original "Tessie" was a song from a Broadway musical(1) that, for some insane reason, became the Boston Americans'(2) fight song as they beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1903 World's Championship Series(3).

The song hung around until after the 1918 World Series(4), then faded from view as the Red Sox turned into one of the worst franchises in baseball for a few decades. It was revived in 2004 by the Dropkick Murphys, leading almost immediately to the Red Sox winning their first World Series in 86 years, and they won again this year, and now I'm actually tempted to go see them when they are in town next month.

That is a heartwarming story, unless you are a fan of the Colorado Rockies(5), but my question is this: How many other songs that have nothing to do with sports - "Tessie" is an ode to a parakeet(6) - have become athletic anthems?

The two most famous ones are from British soccer - the hymn "Abide With Me" has been played, and loudly sung by the crowd, before every FA Cup match since the 1920s, and "You'll Never Walk Alone", another Broadway hit(7), has become synonymous with Liverpool since the 1960s.

A lot of basketball teams have specific songs that they use during pre-game introductions, but none of them have become iconic. The Pistons used "Final Countdown" by Europe during the Bad Boys era, and now play it at the beginning of the fourth quarter, so I guess that's had a 20-year run. The Bulls had "Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project, but while I know the tune because of hearing so many Michael Jordan intros, I just had to look up the actual name of the song.

There was a big debate in New York last year when new Mets closer Billy Wagner came into games to the tune of "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. Yankees fans were horrified that Wagner would steal Mariano Rivera's trademark music, even when it was pointed out to them that Wagner had been using the song with the Astros before Rivera started using it.

Trevor Hoffman of the Padres uses "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC, which is also what the Red Wings(8) use for a power play. Maybe that's why they both fail in the playoffs.

Footnotes:
1: "The Silver Slipper". No reason you should have heard of it - it only ran for seven months.
2: They didn't become the Red Sox until 1908. They were never officially the Boston Pilgrims, despite numerous legends to that effect.
3: That was the first "modern" World Series. The New York Giants refused to play against Boston in 1904, but did play (and beat) Philadelphia(9) in 1905, and the Series has been played every year since, other than the lockout year of 1994. The name of the championship series became the "World's Series" in 1912 and the "World Series" in 1931.
4: Babe Ruth and Carl Mays both won two games for the Red Sox as they beat the Cubs 4 games to 2. Two years later, both were playing for the Yankees. Ruth hit 54 homers, breaking the previous record of 19, and Mays killed one batter with a pitch, breaking the previous record of 0.
5: Fans of the Cardinals are probably over the 2004 World Series loss, given the fact that they beat the Tigers last year.
6: Really. A parakeet.
7: Slightly better known musical than "The Silver Slipper" - "Carousel".
8: A professional hockey team that played in a now-extinct league known as the NHL.
9: The Giants and Athletics played again in the 1989 World Series(10), now representing San Francisco and Oakland. That's the only time that has happened. The Braves and Athletics played in the 1914 Series, when the Braves were in Boston, but haven't met as Atlanta and Oakland yet. The Twins and Giants could also do it.
10: The 1904 and 1989 series were, obviously, 85 years apart. That's still the record, although it is a matter of time before it gets broken. This year alone, it could have been broken by Red Sox-Phillies (1915) or Red Sox-Cubs (1918). Other matchups that aren't particularly improbable for 2008 would be Tigers-Cubs (1907), Red Sox-Dodgers (1916) or Indians-Dodgers (1920). The record for two teams that have stayed in the same city is Tigers-Cardinals at 72 years.

3:55 Angie and I are going to take a nap to see if we can find the energy to go to a Halloween party tonight.

So here are the last three picks:

In the Distaff, Angie is picking Lady Joanne, the system is picking Unbridled Belle and I'm going to go with a longshot, Tough Tiz's Sis. Indian Vale scares me to death, though.

If the Turf, Angie has English Channel, and I'm agreeing with the system on the Irish star, Dylan Thomas.

Then the Classic. Angie has the Kentucky Derby winner, Street Sense. The system has the Preakness winner, Curlin. I'd make it a Triple Crown by taking the Belmont winner, Rags to Riches, but she's not actually in the race. So I'm going to go for the early speed in the mud - Hard Spun.

(Rags to Riches would have been in the Distaff, but she got hurt in her last race. She should be back in 2008.)

3:29 I hate Johnny Murtagh. Excellent Art was flying coming off the turn and the stupid jockey ran him right into the back of Nobiz Like Shobiz. He eventually figured out that he needed to go AROUND the horse, not through him, and Excellent Art got going again ... and lost by a length to Kip Deville. That should be 5-for-5.

Kip was rated fourth, by the way.

3:25- Turf Mile: Here's the trick - my system doesn't have the info needed to rank Euro-based horses, but I made up a workaround. That gives the edge in this race to Excellent Art with a 226 rating, ahead of two horses with full ratings - Trippi's Storm (223) and After Market (222). This is going to come up again in the Turf.

Excellent Art seems to be the best horse by far. The only negative is that he's starting way wide, but after Lahudood's rally in the F&M Turf, I'll take him. Besides, Trippi's Storm has a tendency to not run when they open the gate.

Angie's taking Jeremy.

2:43 Um. Midnight Lute just won with a crazed rally. A rating that I invented this morning that is taking me about 30 seconds to figure out for each horse has gotten ALL FOUR BREEDERS' CUP RACES RIGHT. The Pick 4? Just over $2,000 for a two-dollar bet.

2:30- Sprint: Midnight Lute (235) and Benny the Bull (234) are miles ahead of the field on paper - Smokey Stover is third-rated at 216 - but they are both horses that will come from behind, and that's not easy on the mud.

Commentator scares me - he's 3-for-3 on wet tracks, and he'll have mud caulks. I'll take him.

Angie is taking Greg's Gold.

2:03 Holy crap - Lahudood wins at 11-1, and the system is 3-for-3 today. A $2 bet on the Pick-3 would have paid $336.

Precious Kitten got wiped out of the race when a British horse blew the first turn and took two horses with her. None of the horses fell, but they ended up miles behind and 30 feet wide through the turn.

Angie got 2nd. I'm not going to feel bad about Argentina - I was so busy looking up yesterday's races that I didn't realize I hadn't made my own pick until they were loading into the gate. :)

1:55- Filly and Mare Turf: System pick is Lahudood, with a 215. Precious Kitten also gets a 215, but Lahudood has a better post position, and that's the tiebreaker.

All My Loving gets bonus points for having last raced Sunday ... in Ireland.

Argentina in the upset. Angie picks Honey Rider.

1:27 I'm curious now as to how the system did yesterday. It had Maryfield as a contender in the F&M Sprint, but picked Miss Macy Sue. In the Juvenile Turf, it saw the three Euros as vastly better, and wasn't even a fan of Nownownow among the Americans. In the Dirt Mile, the system loved High Finance, and wasn't a fan of Corinthian.

1:17 Well, the system is 2-for-2. That was almost an instant replay of the Juvenile Fillies - War Pass went out to the lead, no one went with him and he walked home. Pyro, which my system had second, made a big run at the end to keep War Pass from winning by 10 lengths, but it was never in doubt.

By the way, in all the years I had a big complicated Access database, my record for the Breeders Cup was 1.5 winners - I won the Classic and had a dead-heat winner in the Mile. Now a mathematical system that I invented this morning is 2-for-2.

12:56- Juvenile: System is picking War Pass (208), and he should have the lead, and he's won on a muddy track. I can't pick against him. Angie is picking Z Humor (202) for no real reason.

12:37 Well, the system is 1-for-1. Indian Blessing got out to an early lead, no one went with her, and she cruised home. Proud Spell finished second, so the mud caulks might be something to watch. Actually, horses with caulks finished 2-3-4, so this is definitely something to watch.

12:30- Juvenile Fillies: Indian Blessing, Proud Spell and Smarty Deb are both undefeated, and all serious contenders by my new rating system. The system actually picks Indian Blessing, with a 189. Angie, on the other hand, picks Tasha's Miracle, because her grandparents had a spoiled poodle named Tasha.

I'm going with Izarra. None of these horses have ever won on a wet track - only one has even raced on one - but Izarra has great wet-track breeding and posted a 187 rating in his last race despite being way wide. Her granddam is Bayakoa, one of the best female horses ever.

Late note: Proud Truth is wearing mud caulks - cleated horseshoes for wet tracks - and that usually gives a big advantage. We'll see how that works out.

12:15 I'm going to keep updating this post through the day instead of making 8 posts.

Now we're back to the traditional BC races. The smallest purse is $2M. Track is still swampy.