FIFA move this world cup from Qatar 2022. The entire voting process of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were controversial, from England which thought it was the favorite (but they think they are the favorite for everything…) receiving only 2 votes in the 2018 voting.. to Qatar winning the 2022. After Qatar wins, it seems all of FIFA except his Holiness Sepp Blatter either quit, was suspected of taking bribes, expelled from English soccer. With CONCACAF losing its former corrupt headman Jack Warner, and his second in command Chuck Blazer turning whistleblower on his boss but eventually realizing he was unwanted and stepping down.. to the former Qatar head of Football and want to be president of FIFA candidate Mohamed bin Hammam also being accused of bribery and going away..

But yet the most recent reason for Qatar to not host the world cup came this weekend with Ecuador national team player and bright star, Christian Benitez died after playing his first game. While it is being reported today by some news sources like CNN that it was heart failure, how sure are we that the heat did not have an effect, this is a player who grew up at the high altitude of Quito, Ecuador and played hundreds of games there and in Mexico. Also it should be noted the quote was released from the Qatar club Al Jaish, and while not saying they are not being truthful, the fact they paid $10 million dollars just a few weeks ago for the transfer of the player, and insurance issues could have something to do with their determination.

We have seen many players in multiple sports who had congenital heart defects die or have heart attacks when playing both soccer(Marc Vivien Foe in 2003) and basketball (Reggie Lewis, Hank Gathers come to mind). I’m not a doctor, I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn last night but the fact that the game Sunday the temperature in Doha was over 100F (41C) from 9am to 5pm. In best case the players will have great doctors, cooling fans/machines, defibrillators available for them but what about the spectators, the vendors, the workers in the stadium will they be treated as well?

The new plan proposed by genius Sepp Blatter to host the world cup in the “winter” months of November. This will upset domestic leagues all over the world including the end of the MLS season, and the start of European leagues..

Its time just to move the world cup to a country (and I am all behind my home the USA getting it) that is not incredibly hot and does not have to build the infrastructure from scratch. Lets put this this way, Qatar basically has 2 cities, Doha with a population of 340,000 and Ar Rayyan with population of 270,000. These 2 cities are about 30 miles apart, so basically the whole of the country live in suburbs of the two main cities. What are the plans for locations of the 8 stadiums needed, where are people going to stay, how to get around.. Hosting the Asian games is one thing, the FIFA World Cup is to a whole another level in terms of fans traveling and games to be player. Yes plenty of time before 2022 and this is a country so rich with natural gas/oil that the financial cost will not really be a burden.. but its geography is what the problem is.. MOVE THE WORLD CUP!!

Prices are out for 2014 FIFA Brazil World Cup Ticket Prices

I have not written anything in this blog in over a year. I figure this is a great time to start back writing as the initial origin for this blog was my 2006 trip to the FIFA World Cup in Germany. Since the ticket prices for the 2014 FIFA World Cup being held in Brazil were just released and the opening game is less than 11 months away why not start a countdown. My every intention is to travel to Brazil for that World Cup. The US Men’s National Team are currently atop the standings in the CONCACAF Final qualifying stage and looks to be a lock to be one of the 32 teams going to Brazil. I went to Brazil in January of 2012, so I already have my travel visa and a little knowledge of the country and how to get around it.. So lets start planning the trip here with hopefully more regular updates for others interested in the perspective of an American planning a trip.

I know from attending past Olympics and World Cups that tickets are expensive and there is a price premium attached compared to a similar sporting event. I found my 2006 invoice for the TST-5 (Team Specific Ticket 5 Games) that I purchased that allowed me to attend all 3 of the USA games, and then due to the USA failure to advance the next 2 games I followed the winner of the group (Italy, and eventual champion of the world). These 5 games cost a total of 402 Euros (before crazy high 25Euro delivery charge). At the exchange rate in mid 2005 when I was charged for the tickets, it was 1.30Euros for $1 USD, so the tickets in dollars cost $522 USD give or take a few dollars. Now fast forward to the announced prices for the same Cat 2, TST-5 ticket in Brazil and its listed at $869 USD for the 5 games, with the assumption your team does not play in the A2 slot, which is reserved for the opening game vs Brazil in Sao Paulo, which has a higher premium. So this is a $347 increase in ticket prices over the 8 years since the last world cup or a 66% increase. WOW this is higher than any inflation rate/stock market return around.. If FIFA was a stock, it would be worth investing in as they know how to raise their top line revenues.

Now for the Brazil 2014 World Cup a TST-5 or any Team Specific Ticket is not going to be a good idea for most fans, that is unless you have a private jet to fly around the country. The way the groups have been organized the games for your team are going to be spread around a very large country with limited if any inter-city transportation. Its simply going to be too difficult to get from City to City in the 4-5 days between games to see your National Team for all the games.

Lets look back at the 2006 and 2010 Draws for the USA. In 2006 we were in Group E, Slot 3(E3), and 2010 we were drawn into Group C, Slot 2 (C2). The distances and times in 2006 were much shorter as Germany is a compact country with First World A+ infrastructure in the form of high speed trains along with regional/discount airlines. June 12th game vs Czech Republic in Gelsenkirchen. This game was in the home of Schalke 04 team that plays in the Bundesliga. I stayed in Essen, the same city where the USA team set up shop, this was only a 10 minute ride on the rail. But other large cities in the area including Dortmund and Dusseldorf were less than 1hr away by rail.

June 17th game vs Italy in Kaiserslauten. This city K-town is close to the giant US military base at Ramstein and the area home to over 100,000 US personal and their familes. I remember I had to come here twice, the second time for the Australia vs Italy Round of 16 game, and I stayed in Mainz about 40 minutes away on high speed train. The accommodations were limited in this area but with the high speed rail it was easy to get around. But again in the 5 days between games I actually went to Amsterdam, Belgium and Luxembourg before heading back to Germany for this game.

June 22nd game vs Ghana in Nuremberg. This game was the further away from the last city, but still from the previous game, it was at most a 4hr ride on the high speed rail. In fact the longest high speed trip I took was from the far south of Germany in Munich to Hamburg in the far north. This was about 6hrs on the train. Again another reason why Germany was the ultimate host for the world cup. It had modern stadiums, great infrastructure, well organized helpers and security and easy to get around. Looking at how FIFA have awarded the rights since germany it seems no consideration is given to the fans and the difficult task of traveling to follow their national team. Brazil is huge, Russia for 2018 is huge and Qatar in 2022 well let me just say I hope it gets pulled and awarded to the USA. Even then the USA has horribly slow trains but its possible to get from one side of the country to the other in less than 72hrs by train/car/bus.

The 2010 Draw put the USA in Rustenburg, Johannesburg, and Pretoria. Rustenberg is listed as 125km from Johannesburg and about a 2hr drive. So these cities were easy to get between even within the contest of a game day. Pretoria is listed as 70km from Johannesburg again a simple day trip. The longest distance in south Africa is between the 2 main cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg, these is train service between these, along with airplane and bus service that can easily be done in less than the 5 days between games. Also anyone going to South Africa should visit these 2 main cities during the stay, see more of the country than just soccer stadiums.

So lets look at if the USA was drawn as an E3 for the 2014 Brazil cup. The games would be June 15th in Porto Alegre, June 20th in Salvador, and June 25th in Rio de Janeiro. Porto Alegre is the most south of the host cities and in June it is going to be “cold” that time of year with average temperatures of about 20C, or 68F. The distance to Salvardor is about 3,000km (2000 miles) and I don’t think any sane person would drive this who is not a local and given the condition of brazilian roads, so flying would be the next best option. Looking up a plane ticket for a trip 3 weeks from now in Mid-August 2013 I find a fare of $283 on Gol Airlines, with a stopover in Rio making the total trip 5hrs. We would have to expect that airfares will be higher and capacity limited during the World Cup. Salvador to Rio is about 1,500km, listed as an 18hr drive. There are buses that run between these cities as I know people who have taken this route before and it can be upwards of 24hrs travel time.

If the USA was drawn as a C2 the schedule would line up June 14th Belo Horizonte, June 19th Natal, June 24th Fortaleza. From Belo Horizonte to Natal is about 2,200km, or listed as a 28hr car ride. Again this is far and not something of interest to most travelers. Lets just say for those people who have not been to Brazil and think it would be like renting a car and driving from say Chicago to Miami which is about the same distance, lets just look at the cost of gasoline. In Brazil gasoline is about 2.80 Real for 1 Liter. I find on the Sixt rent a car site a week long rental of a Chevrolet Celta which is a ultra-compact but great gas mileage (5.4 Liters/100km or about 43 mpg). The gas would be 118 Liters, total cost of R332 or $150 USD. The cost of the week rental I come up with $350 or so. So at $500 this compares to the one-way airfare again found on GOL airlines for a trip 3 weeks from now.. but we can expect all these prices to rise, and I’ve never driven 2,200km in Brazil so I can’t attest to the quality of the roads but I don’t expect them to be USA Eisenhower Interstate quality. Getting from Natal to Fortaleza, now this is totally easy to do in the 5 days between games at a listed distance of less than 600km, or a time of 7hrs.

So I guess what I’ve been trying to say in the last few paragraphs is that traveling around to follow your team with a TST ticket will be difficult no matter if your team is USA, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, etc.. And you have to hope that your team does NOT get drawn in a group that plays in Cuiaba or Manaus, as these cities are in the middle of the Brazilian no-where land.

More posts to come about my planning for the trip to the 2014 World Cup

Off to see Europe

So here i sit at JFK airport about to enbark on another trip to Europe. This will be my 3rd pure "backpacking" trip. The one in 2006 that is well documented on this blog was 11 weeks long and my first time doing such a trip. it was a great and eye opening experience. My second trip in 2010 was not as well documented on this blog, and i can blame that on the advent of facebook with quick status updates and photo sharing. 2010 was a great trip watching the World Cup games in 8 different countries when the home team was playing. Also on that trip i met many fellow travelers who i have continued to stay in touch, share travel stories and hope will be long time friends. So now 2012 trip is here, this trip will culminuate with a 9 day stay in the England for the olympics, between soccer games in Manchester and the main events in London i hope to watch a few events live and cheer on the USA in what is still the best "amateur" sports competition that we have ever known... yes its better than the NCAA Final Four etc.

So this 2012 trip might be my last pure backpacking trip, at least to Europe as with the exception of a few countries (Denmark, Sweden, and a smattering of former Yugoslavia places) i've been to most of Europe at least once if not more times. I can still see myself if i ever get spanish language skills doing a similar trip in South America, or with French in West Africa. Now that i'm mostly done with my graduate school classes with only one project left it will be time to hunker down with a job... a job that hopefully will allow me to travel but also save money for those trips and places in the world i have not explored yet. My route for this trip is rather structured after the first 2 weeks. the first 2 weeks is where i hope to meet interesting people, wander to places not inititally known about and enjoy myself. I have booked a few inter country flights and since those are paid for and the dates set, i will have to be in certain places on certain days towards the end of the trip. Due to the fact this is probably my last of these trips i'm going to try my best to keep this blog updated. While the domain name implies some crazy drinking all the time, and i've not turned down many of the finest european beers, i will also take in plenty of culutral sights and catch up with friends who i have not seen in years. But beaches and beer will be a theme hopefully talked about during this trip, along with chants of GO USA! USA! later on during the olympics. I will be exploring new countries for me, with stops in Northern Ireland, and Ireland towards the last 7 days of the trip before returning to the USA on August 20th.

I will for the most part using my frequent flyer miles for the long haul international segments of this trip. I want to try to use as many of these miles as fast as possible due to the changing nature of the airline business. My worry of precious American Airline Aadvantage miles being devauled with a potential merger or bankrupcy issues has me booking my one way over for 30k miles. On the way home i'm using a new trick that i read about on one of the many blogs devoted to frequent flyer travel and only 12.5k British Airways Avios points to fly from Dublin to Boston, this is possible as the route comes in at 2997 as the crow flies air miles. This distance is just below the higher threshold that British Airways has for its distance based awards, so lets hope Aer lingus continues to fly this route as for a short trip from my home in NYC up to Boston, it can give me twice as many flights to europe. I encourage anyone who can take advantage of this "quirk" to do so. Ok.. American Airlines flight 104, on my favorite current plane the Boeing 777 awaits me. I've not yet flown on the double decker Airbus A380 so the triple 7 will remain my favorite. Even in the back of the plane, seat 37C you get a personal TV on the back of the seat with good movies and music. power ports would be nice, or USB powered ports as American still only has cigarette lighter ports and who the heck has that adapter for our electronics??? While this flight across the pond will not compared to my International First class flight.. trust me LIFE CHANGING that i took from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Santiago, Chile this past January 2012, the fact my flight is at 9pm at night and i've had little sleep today it doesnt matter as i should be knocked out..

Ok enjoy the ride, next update from beautiful budapest!!

Post flight update, i have to thank the flight attendants as my seat had a broken video projector, i moved further back in the plane to seat 41G. But i must say this is a great seat, its in the middle but there are only 4 seats wide, instead of 5 seats in most rows so you get a bit more space, plus the legroom is vastly improved. Also while the TV set pulls out of the side of your chair, i like the fact you can adjust it sideways for better viewing.. So on American's 777 if you have to be in coach row 41 is a good row to go for!!

Euro 2012 Soccer Preview and Predictions

While I do love the World Cup held every 4 years, as I’ve been honored to goto the 3 USA group games in 2006 Germany, and have plans to get to Brazil 2014 to root on the USA team. Its been argued that the Euro Cup is the best soccer tournament around. The fact its limited to 16 teams and only takes place in a 3 week time span makes it fast paced and every point counts. This year we have some massive “groups of death” and should make for great watching. True that the south American players who have been so good this year such as Messi, Aguero, Falcao, and all the Brazilians won’t be playing there are plenty of good European players along with decades old rivalries that make this must watching viewing.. I mean anytime the Dutch and Germans met its not ever a friendly, and with 3 pts on the line in the toughest group you know that game will be super-competitive.

My initial thoughts were to try to goto some of the Euro cup games, but the host nations of Poland and Ukraine are getting a bad rap, and probably deservedly so if you can believe what you saw in the BBC documentary “Stadiums of Hate”, so I’ll sit this one out and watch on TV at the many soccer bars in NYC. The start times of Noon and 2:45pm can be rough but the magic of tivo and turning your damn cell phone off can solve some of those issues…

So on the eve of the tournament here are my thoughts of who is going to get out of each group.

Group A – Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Russia.. Ok this is the group that I really wont watch, and even Friday the opening day I might record the games, but unless the scoreline is dramatic I doubt I’ll watch these group games. As for who can advance, while Greece won the whole thing in 2004, I think they are a joke of a team, along with being a broke country that is going to take down the rest of the world.. so ZERO points for the greeks… The Czech Republic has Petr Cech in good form and confident off his champions league victory, so I’ll give them thru in first place. Russia will go thru in second place.. Poland despite the home crowds, sorry they will get beat up. First Place – Czech Republic, Second Place – Russia

Group B – Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands.. Oh boy the group of death for the ages.. all 4 teams are ranked in the top 10 of FIFA’s sometimes stupid but still relevant world rankings (remember when the USA team made it into the top 10 before the 2006 world cup to go out scoring 1 goal in 3 games.. yeah I do.. I was there..) This group will be must see live stop everything viewing. I will be supporting the Dutch, still got their Oranje jersey from back in the 2008 and my love for Robin Van Persie has not dwindled after his great year for Arsenal (now if he went to Manchester City or somewhere in 2013, love will quickly turn to hate). The Portuguese will be a test to see if slick back Ronaldo can continue his blistered form from the past 2 years at Real Madrid, but this team as always has questions beyond Ronaldo.. The Germans, well highly efficient is a term used about their cars and also their soccer players. Denmark I don’t know much about them, I’ll laugh at Nick Bentender as he tries to prove he is one of the world’s greatest players.. So in this group I have First Place – Germany, Second Place – Netherlands

Group C – Spain, Italy, Croatia, Ireland. Arguably another group of death here, I can’t ever root for the Italians (look at the tape of the 2006 World Cup game vs USA, boo still leaves a nasty taste in my mouth), and the last world cup they were horrible. Spain is just rolling on for the past 4 years.. Croatia has some great players and Ireland will be the beaten up dog wanting a Guinness and Jameson’s shot after the game. This again will be must appointment watching as some great skill players in this great. Gotta call an upset in this group First Place – Spain. Second Place – Ireland

Group D – France, England, Sweden, Ukraine. This group has a déjà vu feeling to it. The first group game between France and England is a repeat schedule of the Euro 2004 tournament. It was watching this game at the now defunct Nevada Smiths in NYC that I become sold hook, line and sinker for the game of soccer. Watching a bunch of rowdy way past their legal limit England fans singing their songs, waving their hands, toasting their drinks and then the combination of Zidene Zidane and my man crush Thierry Henry combined for a free-kick goal extraordinaire and then a well earned penalty.. game over England snatches defeat from jaws of victory as they seem to do very well in big games, and I was like wow I love this game.. Sweden has Ibra but can he step up? England without Rooney for the first 2 games will be lost.. Ukraine has a bunch of racist fans, no love for them.. I will be watching these games and looking for a good place with atmosphere for the Monday England vs France clash. My outcome for this group First Place – France. Second Place – England(barely)

Now onto the knock-out phase Quarterfinals – Czech Republic vs Netherlands – While the Netherlands went out in the 2008 Euros in the quarterfinals against a Russian team that introduced me to Andrey Arshavin who would then haunt me for most of his arsenal career, this time I have the Dutch going thru.. just too strong and lets keep the karate kicks out of this game, save them for the final! Quarterfinals – Spain vs England – With rooney back for this game, and England having just squeaked thru but the British press hailing them all better than 1970 brazil team, it will be an easy win for the Spanish team. Back to the drawing board England.. Quarterfinals – Germany vs Russia – hey just like World War II, this time the weather wont prevent the Germans from beating the Russians.. Germany thru fairly easily. Quarterfinals - France vs Ireland – oh boy why can’t Theirry Henry and William Gallas come back for this game, I know all the Irish would just love that!! We can play a decent game of Olympic handball. Ok this is a tough call, I will give it to the Irish on revenge and momentum, they will be pysched up to play the French again, and them coming in second place in their group will be a surprise to most and have energized the team, enjoy the victory while it lasts

Semi-Finals – Netherlands vs Spain – a replay of the 2010 epic World Cup Final. Will the dutch keep their feet down below waist level? Hope so, I gotta go for the dutch in this game but it will be an amazing game for sure, and could go to extra time and penalties. Save the date Wednesday June 27th, take off work now if you feel the need to, regardless of who plays this semi-final will be must see viewing. Semi-Finals – Germany vs Ireland – ok Ireland the leprechaun was hung-over from drinking too much and didn’t make the game to give you luck. Germany through.

Finals – We have a Dutch vs Germany final, just what I want!! I would love to be brave enough to throw on my Oranje jersey and head to Zum Schneider but with my flight to Europe scheduled for July 2nd the next day, lets be safe and watch this with the Oranje army wherever they are in NYC. Come on dutch, come on Van Persie.. Lets win a big trophy~!~!

Amazon Kindle! Best gadget if you are traveling

Ok this post is not necessarily about beer drinking, but that is something i do hope to post about this summer as i will be mostly in New York City, but the city has opened a number of new beer gardens, some rooftop and some ground level. Outdoor drinking needs a boost in the city as all around the world it seems to be the only way to do it.

this post is about the Amazon Kindle.. On my recent trip i took one, and trust me for long plane flights, long bus rides, long anything in a foreign country when you just want to read something in English this is the device for you. its thin and light, plus it hold more books than you can ever read on a single charge that last for weeks. So if i should like i'm in the bank and a shill for Amazon, well i am.. i dont own their stock as i wish when i first saw an ipod back in 2004 i had bought apple stock. Missed the boat on those but if you want one or were thinking of getting one dont hesitate. do it

Grocery Shopping in Iceland

So I went to the grocery store today out in the big shopping mall. The store for huge for a New Yorker like me who is accustomed to smallish stores it was slightly overwhelming for the grocery store to basically be like a Super Target. I would say Super Wal-Mart but you know I haven’t ever been in one of them. Note for those exact sticklers, for prices I assumed an exchange rate of 1 USD to be 100 Iceland Kroner. The real rate I’ve been getting from the ATM is about 112, so if you want EXACT prices you can cut another 12% from what I’ve written here.. This is from the Hagkaup which i have no idea what the translates to and google doesn't give me anything good.

Orange Juice 1 liter $3 – Good deal considering how much a glass is at the café
Pretzel Sticks $2 – again decent, good for snacking when I go exploring the city
Icelandic Glacial Water 1 liter - $1.79 – I hope it’s better than Poland Springs, cause this was free from nature at some point
Cranberry Juice 1 liter - $5 – a bit pricey but always a good secondary hangover cure for me. Still at home I am getting 64oz (2 liters for my metric challenged folks) for $2.99 on sale, $4.50 normally.
PowerAde tiny bottle like 10oz probably - $2.69 – Damn I chug huge bottles at home for $1 each. But essential as my best hangover cure.
Pomi Tomato sauce $1 – great deal, I will be making some pasta for sure
Honey Ham $4 for a quarter pound, so that works out to $16 a pound – gotta make sandwiches for the 8hr Golden Circle Trip tomorrow.
Pepperoni - $3.50 for about 16 small round slices – probably works out to $15 a pound
Gouda Cheese - $4.50 for half a pound – not my favorite cheese but the only one I could easily translate
Pesto Ham - $2.75 for 5 thin slices, again probably in the $15-$20 pound range
Bacon $2.40 for 3.5 ounces(.1 kg), per pound this works out to $10. And it aint even oscar mayer
Potatoes - $1.45 for 2, the per pound price is $5.50. Come on Ireland is close even if you have to import them this is crazy.
Onions - $1.15 for a big one, per pound price is $5.50. Damn I’ve paid .99 cents a pound for sweet Vidalia onions at home before.
Box of 20 tea bags – $3.89 – not bad at all, I’m at Café paris right now and one tea bag, and a pot of boiling water is going to cost me $4.

Well despite spending $40 or so at the grocery store I will be saving money since the café I’m at now wants $18 bucks for a sandwich, and that is fairly normal for prices here when eating out. Since I have a great apartment with kitchen I’m staying at, and I’m not a big fan of eating at the most trendy expensive places in town I’m going to cook up a few breakfasts, and easy lunches. This way when I’m spending $8 or more for crappy draft beer I wont feel so bad since I’ve been able to save on the food portion of my trip. I did manage to check out beer prices at the state run liquor stores, the cheap stuff can be had for $1.50 a 330ml (12 ounces for my metric challenged friends), import stuff like Stella and Heineken about $3.50 for same 330ml, I bought a few “micro-brews” that are local for about $3.50 a bottle, they are in the fridge now I will report on them in a later post.

So the beer is a bit more expensive at the liquor store but still affordable, hard booze on the other hand is still downright crazy. I looked at what a 750ml of Jameson costs for a friend who will be here in June and love the stuff, that was $59, and a full liter was $80. I think in the states you can get a liter of Jameson for $25 bucks? No way the taxes make up the rest of that. I mean its farther to the USA from Ireland than to Iceland if my geography classes meant anything.


So overall I’m going to save a bit here, spend a bit there. I guess in the end it will wash out, but no doubt food at the grocery store is a sticker shock to this American. The beer prices of $8 for crappy draft also are a bit Norwegian/Swiss to my travels.. Oh to be back in Bulgaria where the good local beer at the bar is $1.50.

Day 1 in Iceland. I'm a Viking Now!

My first day or really 12hrs in Reykjavik, Iceland. I got here by taking the non-stop from JFK to Kefavlik airport, the flight was not full at all, on a Boeing 757. I was in economy and must say while its been a year since I’ve been on a plane the seats felt cramped, thankfully I had the middle row to myself. The flight was about one hour delayed due to rain in NYC, well that would be just the start of the rain I would be experiencing over the next 24hrs.

Slept about 2.5hrs of the 5hrs flight, landed in Iceland at an airport that looked like it would be in the middle of Montana, meaning there was NO ONE AROUND. Off the plane in a new york heartbeat and after a short bus ride I was into the terminal, the cold hit me hard at first but now its not that bad, the listed temperature was about 40 degrees. The wetness well that is another story, its been raining all day long, I’m giving my new reebok rainproof jacket a run for the money for sure.

The immigration was probably the easiest I’ve ever had to get into a country and now this is 36 and counting. I mean the last time I went to Canada the border guard asked me since I was driving how many DUI’s I had and the purpose of my trip, if I told him the truth it was to rape and pillage the women while drinking cheap good beer I wouldn’t have gotten in, so I used the old friends and family line. Well for Iceland it was as simple as how many days are you staying.. my answer 4.. after that I never heard or saw from another immigration person, fresh stamp in the passport achieved.

My bags were there before I was even done getting some cash from the machine, at first the exhange rate got me. 1 USD is 112 ISK, lets just call it 100 to be fair, well my jetlagged brain tied to take out 60,000 ISK.. yeah just a bit above my max limit, I don’t need my card canceled on me the first day that I’m here, so I went with the more sensible 10,000 ISK.. but as I would learn that would barely make it for the first day, the roundtrip bus from the airport into the city was 4500, or $40 USD, am I at JFK or what?

Now the not-so-fun started since it was 8:30am when I got to downtown rejkjavik and my place I was staying didn’t do check-in till 3pm. I was able to stash my bags inside and then went to get some tea and croissants, yeah I’m not Iceland I know not Paris.. I wandered about the city for a bit and found the national museum of Iceland was free on Wednesday, so at 11am I checked out the 2 floors, where I was able to pose as an 11th century Viking warrior as such the picture above. City Hall was right on this pond full of ducks and had plenty of English language reading material.

In killing time I found a great place, called the Laundromat NYC. Its café with food and adorned with pictures of various Laundromats all over NYC. Knowing from past travels its not that easy to find a Laundromat when you got dirty draws, my get away from it all idea of a bar where you can hang out when you was your clothes well this place got into my dreams one night, as I went downstairs to piss they had 3 washing machines, not in use and if I was here long I surely would make sure to give them a whirl.

YAY finally check-in time, let me tell you the place I’m staying at Apartment K is one of the best deals/bargins I’ve ever had. For $55 bucks a night, I get an apartment that would make many a people on the lower east side of NYC totally jealous. A sectional couch, full kitchen with a fridge, stove, microwave(how the hell do I use one of these things??), freezer.. nice sized bathroom. Also a 32” HDTV Samsung with good English channels, also a mini-mac hooked up via HDMI to the TV with a ton of movies saved on in, some music also… Very happy with the room and would recommend to anyone, check-in was a bit rough with having to make phone calls all over the place, but once done its all good…

The city of Reykjavik is dead on a Wednesday for sure, after walking about the center city and basically in 3hrs seeing everything and having a good feel for things I have found a few bars that show sports. Watched some of the most meaningless champions league quarterfinals I’ve seen ever. Both teams who were down Tottenham and Inter Milan needed to score at least 4 goals to even have a chance and anything, and both epically failed in that quest. The semi-final between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid will be an epic 2 leg tie, it will be the 4th game between the teams in a 25 day span, talk about re-defining El classico.

Internet is fast here, 11Mbps at the apartment I’m staying and I’m about to try to stream some Rangers vs Capitals at the bar to hope its as fast at the bars. Beer is average at best, I’ve tried Gull, Viking and other local brands and its never cheaper than $6 a pint, and could go up to $9 each.. but then again this country didn’t start brewing beer till 1989, so they still have years to go..

Ok day 1 almost over, time to watch some hockey!

Top 10 Reasons NOT to have the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

Ok i'm slowly getting over the fact that FIFA and Sepp Blatter are a bunch of corrupt bastards who will host the World Cup where they get paid the best. Its no different than the Olympics in reality. Yet I really thought the USA should have hosted the 2022 World Cup and the fact tiny Qatar got it really struck my nerve. So i have come up with a Top 10 list of reasons why it should not be in Qatar. If you do venture to go, there are things you must bring with you

10) Bring your patience. You think our TSA is bad? Qatar has one international airport and its too small so they are building a new bigger one to open in 2011. So if you think our airport delays are bad, for a country bordering Saudi Arabia home of a majority of the 9/11 hijackers we all should just be nudist to try to get through the airport.

9) Bring your own tent as we are all sleeping in the sand. As of 2009 from the official Qatar tourism website, there are 9800 hotel rooms in the COUNTRY. Lets compare that to the 75,000 rooms in NYC, 100,000 rooms in Las Vegas, heck even Orlando has 80,000 rooms. The Germany World Cup had 3 million visitors (myself included), and South Africa about 350,000. I don’t care how many hotels you build you are going to come up short.

8) Bring your own medical travel insurance. June 11th to July 11th period of 2010 that the world cup was held this past year the temperature in Qatar was UNDER 100 F (37C) Twice (july 4th, an July 8th) And 4 days in a row above 115(45C) degrees (June 18 – 21). Does anyone in the soccer world want a player to drop dead in the heat?

7) Bring your own bottled water. Drink water is more expensive than gasoline, which costs a whopping 22 cents a liter (that’s 83 cents a gallon for my metric challenged friends).

6) Bring your own gas mask. For all my tree hugging green friends out there, Qatar has the world highest CO2 emissions in the world at 55 tons per person in 2007. Look on the bright side its down from 64 tons per person in 2005. Oh btw the USA who is NOT in the Kyoto protocol is a nice 18 tons per person.

5) Bring your own Emancipation Proclamation. Of the reported 1.6 million person population, only 25% of those are natural born Qatari people. The United Nations along with the US State department have said that working condition for the immigrant non-citizens is akin to SLAVERY. As a black man living in America I’m very happy for the Emancipation Proclamation and 14th Amendment to the Constitution and Lyndon Johnson pushing the Civil Rights act some 100 year later.

4) Bring your own 11. The Qatar team SUCKS. It is currently rated 113 out of 205 teams in FIFA ranking, right between the powerhouses of Central African Republic and Thailand. I think if you bring your own 11, you can probably compete with the host country that is going to get the automatic birth.

3) Bring your own Burqa. Women don’t even bother to pack your cute outfits, the clothing of choice in Qatar is the full face Burqa, lets all dress up like Snake Eyes from G.I Joe. So we wont be having any fans looking like this.

2) Bring your own tissues. No Prostitution allowed. I thought it was the worlds oldest business and isn’t this part of the oldest region in the world? The garden of Eden is suppose to be right up the road in Modern Iraq. Ok not that I’m advocating the oldest business in the world, but come on Germany set up drive thru sex huts, I mean that is taking care of the needs of the drunk soccer fan after a tough loss right? In a country that has 2.46 men (aged 15-64 so all fair game) per woman what to do? Oh yeah bring your tissues. But then again if we were holding The World Cup based on male to female ratio it would be in Armenia with its great .88 Men to 1 women ratio and we could all be chasing the Kardashian sisters 4th cousins twice removed.

And Number 1...

1) Bring your own booze. I love beer, there its said. While you can drink in Qatar if you are not Muslim and not in public, soccer and beer seem to go together. Every previous Host of the World Cup has brewed their own beer in the country and was proud to drink it.. lets go thru the list.
1930 Uruguay (Patricia),
1934 Italy (Peroni),
1938 France (Kronenbourg),
1950 Brazil (Brahma),
1954 Switzerland (Feldschlosschen),
1958 Sweden (Falcon, shite beer might be worse than british beer…),
1962 Chile( ChiCha is well I just love that name, Cristal is the most popular lager)
1966 England (Newcastle Brown Ale, not the most popular but I like it),
1970 Mexico (Corona, u get another chance in 86),
1974 Germany(Becks, but oh so many to choose from, u will get another chance),
1978 Argentina (Quilmes, I overdosed on this when I was in BsAs)
1982 Spain (Estrella is pretty good Damm Beer better than the on the street),
1986 Mexico ( Dos Equis the most interesting beer in the world),
1990 Italy (Moretti this time),
1994 United States of America (Budweiser, ughh still the most popular)
1998 France (u again love your Red Wine, but I’ll still have a Kronenbourg),
2002 Japan/South Korea (Ichiban means number 1 in Japanese, nuff said),
2006 Germany(oh I went to this one and drank everything you put in front of me, check the archives),
2010 South Africa (Black Label, I’ve sadly never drunk one of these)..
ok Qatar you got 12 years to start brewing you own beer and start a tradition….

FIFA you CORRUPT BASTARDS

How the hell does Qatar get to host the 2022 world cup? Out of all the bids for both 2018 and 2022, this was rated HIGH RISK by the FIFA technical committee? reason why, well the heat for June and July is over 100 degrees EVERYDAY of the month. Oh and aren't we suppose to have climate change/global warming worse by 2022.. Also the whole population of the country is less than 1 million people... So you want 300,000 people to travel there, how are you going to house, feed, transport, heck even remove their shit? That is totally unstainable for this small country.. Ok yeah they hosted the asian games a few years back but this is the DAMN WORLD CUP. the games are going to be some 8hrs after USA Eastern Standard Time, so more games in the middle of the night and early morning, thus bad for the fans in countries that give a crap...

Also what sort of host team are they going to field? I guess Budweiser wont bother to try to be a sponsor for FIFA by 2022 as its a damn DRY COUNTRY... Ok this is just a sign of how corrupt and horrible bidding for not only the World Cup, but the Olympic games are, its basically how much money and what promises you can make, i guess beach front villas on the persian gulf for all the executive club memebers is what counts..

A total disgrace for the worldwide game of soccer...

Thanks for everything Amsterdam.. now on to Brussels

I write this as i leave amsterdam and must say that the city was lovely. Amsterdam has special place for me, as when i was 6 weeks old my mother sat me on her lap for a 7hrs KLM flight from NYC. While i dont remember that trip at all, it was my first international trip of what i hope is a long lifetime of many flights.

The Atmosphere on Monday for the Netherlands game was amazing, much better than the drunken Brits. Things were very quiet in the city on Tuesday but at night we managed to find a Brazil bar to watch the Brazil vs North Korea game, the atmosphere in there was nothing short of electic. From the DJ playing a cheesy "BRAZIL" chant after every chance the Selacio had, to the halftime entertainment of a Samba band marching into the bar and playing there drums as the ladies showed off whatever moves they could in 15 minutes it was great. The game kicked off at 8:30pm, and we got seats and a great view at 8:05, but by kickoff time the entire bar was PACKED and people were even outside watching on a TV in the window, i must say the crowd arrives right on time for these matches here, its not like in NYC where you might pre-game adn get a good seat at the bar for a while before the game starts.

Wednesday was a day to wander around the less tourists parts of the City, i had heard alot about the Jordaan neighborhood of Amsterdam and after a slightly confusing but nice 30 minute walk from the Lesipledein we arrived. Kickoff was approaching of the Spain vs Swiss game and low and behold just 5 minutes before the game we found a real Spanish bar. Real in the sense that 2 guys were wearing Espana shirts. The place said it was closed the kitchen till 6pm, i figured it was just their mid-day siesta but as it turned out the whole staff were the only customers in the bar and they were not going to be working if La Fuerja Rioja were playing. A few San Miguel beers, a nice place of the finest spanish meats and bread, a glass of rose wine for my buddy Paul and we had the first real upset of the tournament. Spain a team that has only been beaten twice in what seems like the last 4 years lost 1-0 to Switzerland. The Swiss a suprise at the 2006 World Cup are off to a flying start in their group.

Later Wednesday night being the americans we are and wanting some english language entertainment we opted to pay 15 Euros for the Boom Chicago improv show at the theatre in the leisplein. I would recommend it to any tourists in town as we got a free beer and a solid 90 minute of decent improv entertainment from the 4 member cast. After the show wandering around the bar on every corner streets, i saw a beer that i had not had before. It was called a Leeuw Bier, and like so many of the nice amber lagers here it was tasty. More interesting conversation with some Dutch football fans with the main topic being if Johan Cruijff could play as well in today's modern game as in the Total Football days of the 1970s. I think that any of the greats in the past could easily compete at todays game, while they dont have the size and speed of todays players, the game is not always about that.

More wandering at night ensued and a cool bar was found. The Mini Bar is a relatively new joint from what i was told. Check it out online at www.minibaronline.com the concept is a cute one, there are about 40 lockers/mini bars in the place. You can buy a key for a locker and like a hotel its your own mini bar. Pull out a little bottle of Vodka and mix it with Cranberry, or take a beer for a friend. At the end of the night your tab is computed or if you are a real baller you just have the send you monthly statements on your credit card. Since i was only in town for a night and not buying a locker, i had the waitress bring me a 3.50Euro Henieken. That price was about the average for a bottle, with a full half liter(US 16oz draft ) running about 5 Euros. With the 400 year Dutch tradition of not tipping, the costs of beer here in Western Europe is not that bad. When you do leave a 1 Euro tip for 2 beers, they treat you like they just saw Jesus come down from the mountain. If in Amsterdam i would recommened checking out the Mini Bar. The Address is the unprounceable Prisengracht 478, its right near a canal like so many other places.

I must say as i approach Brussels on the "slow" High-Speed Train i'm looking forward to the thousands of great beers available there. Compared to the crap UK beer i was drinking my first week, these Dutch and Belgian beers are a marked improvement.

The Oranje Crush in Amsterdam

Amsterdam is a city that has it all as many of us do know. I came here this trip not for the drugs, not for the sex, heck not even for the beer, but for the Football or as its known back home the soccer. Yesterday got to watch a Netherlands vs Denmark game in Amsterdam with lots of fans dressed in Orange. So far in terms of being in the 2 home nations that i've seen play in person England and the Netherlands, well the Dutch won hands down. Both in terms of attitude and passion of the fans. Whereas in England the backpages of the newspaper all have but promised making the World Cup Final, winning the World Cup, turning Rooney into a player better than Pele, Maradonna, Zidane etc and thus putting all the pressure on the team if they don't exceed beyond expectations. Here in the Netherlands despite my total and utter lack of knowledge of Dutch i surely don't see any headlines about the Dutch winning the world cup. Heck for a team that has been to the final game of the World Cup twice, only to lose they seem to take things day by day.

The game started at 1:30pm local time, it would have been 7:30am back in New York and i know i would have barely been able to get up for the game, much less get to a bar with any sort of atmosphere to watch it. I got seated at the Cinema Cafe outside area on a great closed off street in the RemebrantPlein about 12:30 and watched some of the pre-game, the crowd was thin but then around 1:15pm it seemed that everyone just left from work, home, school whatever they were doing and all showed up on the place. there are at least 15 bars in the area and its closed to cars so a great place to watch and mingle. The bars all had TVs on outside, strangely as is the case with many live sporting events some TVs were a second or so ahead of the others, thankfully i made sure to sit at the one with the exact live feed and not a delay.

The game was rather boring, with the Dutch getting on the board first from an own goal from a Danish defender. He headed the ball away from the goal an it was going wide, but then it hit the back of his teammate and went into the goal. It was bad luck, but a great play by a Dutch player to even keep the play alive and make the cross into the 6 yard box. The second Dutch goal was a bit better with the intital shot coming off the goalpost and then Duyt Kuyt finishing off easily from a few yards out. The Dutch seemed to dominate the game to me with most of the possession and scoring chances. Denmark had one decent chance early in the game but my Arsenal man Bendtner as usual missed an easy header from a few yards out.

The atmosphere after the game was great, despite seeing one dutch fan and bartender get into a fight. Not sure the cause of the fight but the bartender won as he flung a whole tray of just washed glasses at the fan and when the fan was outside he was cut up and pretty bloody. The cops came and unlike NYC didn't drag both people away to jail, just seemed to separate and calm things down. Just goes to show you that in Amsterdam its laid back and anything goes just fine.

Later today i'm probably going to try to get to Amsterdam Stadium and the FC Ajax tour and do the stadium tour. Hope to learn a bit about the legendary Dutch team and their glory. I had a blast after the game talking to fully decked out Oranje fans about their team, past players, other teams, the Dutch legends at Arsenal etc. Always enjoyable to talk to knowledgeable footie fans anywhere in the world.

USA vs England in London June 12th

So the first big game of the World Cup that i wanted in fact HAD to watch was the USA v England game that was held June 12th. I was in jolly London to watch the game, the number of American fans was well less than you could count on your hand. Watched the game with probably 400 drunken English fans at the Montague Pyke Pub near Leister Square. From my week stay in the UK (Edinburgh Scotland and London) the most consistent thing between the cities was that the beer was utter crap. Even drinking imported beers such as Stella, it seemed not as good as when had in Belgium or even the East Village in Manhattan. I only found one UK beer that i found which was an Inns & Gunn from Scotland.

Ok back to the game, I was not at all worried that the USA went down in the 4th minute, it was a lovely piece of skill by new Captain of England Steven Gerrard, it was a horrible piece of defending by Riccardo Clark, but he has not been one of my favorite midfielders for the USA, and one Gerrard was past him it was up to Tim Howard to do something. While Howard might have stopped Gerrard in a few Mersyside Derbys in this game Gerrad got the best of him.
I thought the USA looked decent in the first half with a couple of decent chances. Clint Dempsey had a header that was stopped at the post, and Altidore had a free header that he missed wide. Landon Donovan was basically invisible the whole game. The eventual goal that Clint Dempsey scored while not a lovely piece of skill on his part like the Europa League chip over Juventus that saved Fulham, the goal did fit Dempsey motto of "Just Do Shit". With a ball that the keepers don't seem to enjoy stopping no problem with taking a 25 yard blast. In fact i've always screamed why American players dont try more long range shots. Yes it was a total howler from Robert Green. The sort of blunder than can ruin a guys confidence for years to follow and i'd be shocked to see him in goal for a dnother England Game.
The 2nd half had stretches where it was dominated by the English. In fact there was about one 5 minute stretch that had me incensed. Riccardo Clark i believe had a horrible first touch to give up an easy turnover. At that point England simply held the ball for minutes, had a few shots on net and earned at least one corner. While nothing came of it, the USA simply has to control possession more and not make blunders like that.

My heartbreaking moment of the 2nd half was when Jozy Altidore beat old ass Jamie Carragher like a rented mule around the outside, cut into the 18 yard box and blasted a shot. Green got his hand on it and then it went off the post. I wanted that goal!!!! While Jozy made a great effort, i think there is something about proven goal scoring assassins like Drogba, Torres, Eto'o, Messi that they simply dont miss chances like that.. I seriously thought we should have had that goal, and a 2-1 victory for me would have turned the 7 quid i bet on the game into 70 quid!!!!
Timmy Howard had to easily be our man of the match he stopped 6 shots in the 2nd half, while a few were great saves, at the same time Emile Heskey had an open shot and put it RIGHT INTO HIS CHEST, you gotta aim for the corners.

At the end of the game i was a grumpy miserable louse, i had not been drinking beer during the game as i was too nervous and really felt a 2-1 victory should have been ours. My friends were trying to cheer me up, but it was only after i started reading facebook posting from English fans and their utter self loathing/hatred for the team, the nation, etc that i finally felt it was a "victory" for the USA team. One point is always better than zero points in your first match.

As I write this i'm speeding thru the Netherlands on the way to Amsterdam for the early Netherlands vs Denmark game. Should be a great scene as for a 1:30pm kickoff time, there are already 4 or 5 Dutch fans all decked out in Orange ready to pre-game.
Glad that in the next couple of days we will get the first games from the Netherlands, Italy, Brazil, Portugal all the so called contenders, we will see if any of them can destroy a team 4-0 like the Germands did.

World Cup Group Predictions

Ok with only one more day until the start of the World Cup i figure this is the perfect time for me to do my predictions and pre-tourney analysis of the groups and how the draw is going to work out.. here we go group by group

Group A - I think the 2 teams going to advance from this group are Uruguay in 1st and Mexico in 2nd place. While France has a world of talent, they have not been in good form since the 2008 Euros and with the controversy about 3 of the players screwing an underage hooker still going on back in France at the first sign of trouble that story is going to pop back up. south Africa as hosts are simlply not good enough, remember they got the bid as automatic hosts and would have not qualified on their own given their recent form.

Group B - on paper this is a fairly straight forward group with favorites Argentina taking the top spot but the 2nd spot will be a fight. The greeks can play good defensive form and show up like they did winning th 2004 euros. The Nigerians could get a nice boost from the support from the african home advantage. South Korea is an unknown to me as they did well in 2002 with help from officials and home crowd. I will go with Nigeria as the 2nd team coming out of this group.

Group C - This naturally is the group i will be most interseted in as my beloved Yanks are here. i think by now most British and world fans have to give props to the English based Yank players such as Dempsey, Altidore, Howard and Donovan. Hopefully this cup will have better group stage results than the horrible 2006 performance. Our Defense is still very shaky with Gooch not really having played in 8 months. England to me are not in good form, from injuries and the like. I will go big with an upset here and USA getting 1st place in group and England 2nd place.

Group D - This could be one of the most competitive groups, even more so than the annointed Group G of Death. Germany will be without its leader in Michael Ballack, and top goal scorer Miroslav Klose not in any sort of form. Serbia did amazingly well in qualyfing and have unknown talent in some of their players. Ghana will be without their leader Michael Essien out to injury for most of this season, but might get an Africian boost, we saw how talented they are at the 2006 Cup. Australia while having advanced in 2006 and heartbreakingly robbed by a crappy offical call in the Italy game, did not look good in their warm up against the USA last weekend. I have Germany number 1, and Serbia number 2 in this group.

Group E - The Netherlands are always one of my favorite teams in any tournament, they start out hot but find a way to fade in the knockout rounds, but i think this will be a much better result for them this year. Cameroon had made this tournament and playing on african soil should give them a boost. Denmark making a well deserved return to the tournament but i simply dont know who their players are, and Japan i have not seen ever on the big stage. I have the Dutch in number 1 spot, and Cameroon getting the 2nd place out of this group.

Group F - One of the weakest groups as i dont see New Zealand or Slovakia doing anything ofnote, New Zealand were horrible at the 2009 Confederations Cup. I have Italy going number 1, and Paraguay going 2nd. but that order could easily flip if Italy have trouble early on as they have in past tournaments.

Group G - The much talked about group of death. There will be some great games played in this group. The apparant loss of Didier Drogba for Cote D'Ivorie is a huge blow and at age 32 this was probably his last world cup, his form has been spectacular this entire season and hopefully we will get to see him play at some point. It will be inspiring to the team if he can get out there broken elbow or not. Brazil are brazil everyone favorite to get out of the group and mine also. Portugal has one of the most exciting players in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo, but barely made it to the tournament and have been disappointing as a national team. I have Brazil in first, and Cote D'ivorie in 2nd. Gosh i would love to be up in little west africa in Harlem to watch some of the ivory coast games.

Group H- Spain by far is in top form, having won the 2008 Euros and donig well in the 2009 Confederations Cup and brining the same nuclus of a team. Star Striker Fernando Torres has injury problems that have seemed to plague his career but new Barca signing David Villa will fill in just fine with his goal scoring prowess. The rest of the group should not be very good and whoever comes out 2nd will have been in good form. i'll go with switzerland coming out of this group as they did well in the 2006 cup.

Ok my breakdown of the knock-out stages will come a bit later

T minus 3 days and the World Cup Begins

3 2 1 and we are going live..

Well this blog is about to come to life for what is hopefully a great 2 months. After going to the world cup in Germany in 2006 and attending 5 games, my goal had been to do at least the same for the 2010 edition in South Africa. Despite planning for a while, i found it simply too difficult to manage travel both to and within South Africa, along with questions about accommodations, tickets and security. It seemed to me that people in South Africa were boosting the prices of everything as much as 5 times, while this is common during big international events such as Presidential Inaugurations, Olympics etc it was not the best light for your country to seem to be full of people wanting to retire from making money on the tourists.

So instead to get my World Cup Football fix, i am headed over to Europe. The time zone for the games is the same, i couldn't imagine waking up on the east coast of America for a 7:30am Argentina vs South Korea game, both in terms of waking up that early and finding any bar/pub/restaurant with proper atmosphere. In Europe that game will be at 1:30pm and folks will be skipping out of their afternoon from work in order to watch the game and surely in most cities in Europe you will find passionate fans from both countries.

My plan for travel is going to start in United Kingdom, in fact i'm writing this pre-world cup right now from Edinburgh, Scotland. l have read and been told its one of the most lovely cities in the UK but right now its just grey and raining for the 2nd day, not really inspiring an adventure spirit. When the games start on June 11th, I plan to be in at least 5 and possibly 6 countries when their home teams are playing. So far if travel plans go according to plan i will be in London for the USA vs England game on June 12th, and passionately supporting my Yanks, despite whatever bodily harm might come my way. June 14th calls for an early game in Amsterdam to watch the Netherlands take on Denmark. Then after a few days in Belgium who don't have a team that qualified its off to France, plan to be in the South of France, possibly Nice for the final group game June 22nd between France and South Africa, which could be pivotal to see if France makes it to the knock out rounds. Then its across the border to Italy probably in Milano for the June 24th Slovakia vs Italy clash. Right now surely not many people think much of that game and its an early east cost 7:30am, or an ungodly 4:30am California game, but i think that Slovakia will be dangerous and could be a 2nd place team in what is a weak group.

The granddaddy game of the group stage has me flying off to Porto, Portugal to make the June 25th Brazil vs Portugal game that will surely be important to see who gets 1st place and who gets 2nd place in what is considered the Group of Death. Assuming Spain makes it to the knockout stages and beyond i hope to be in the Basque region to watch a potential Spain vs Ivory Coast/Portugal/Brazil round of 16 match.
After that i'll simply be traveling with the World Cup schedule in mind, no flights or busses this time that in 2006 had me missing the Argentina vs Netherlands game cause i was on a flight. This time the travel will be made around the game schedules.

I hope to meet some interesting people, see just how passionate the game is watched overseas and even visit in the off-season some of the great football stadiums such as the San Siro in Milan where so many great world cup and champions league games have been seen by myself.

I hope the readers stay tuned here for what hope to be daily updates on the food, culture, citis, bars and great football games taking place in europe during this world cup 2010 summer.

I know I will be enjoying this year, hope you can enjoy my musing here on the blog.

Made it to Vancouver..

Hey anyone out there reading, made it to vancouver. Check me out on Twitter
www.twitter.com/DrinkingEurope as i find that the best way for quick updates from the olympics. Today is a slow day, Men's Skelton, Men's Super-G (will Bode Miller choke??) and some hockey games. Hope to take in Latvia vs Czech Republic at 4:30pm local time. Will post a seattle update and 1st day of Vancouver in a bit.. bear with me.. thanks

Vancouver Bound...

Well in keeping with my love of sports and big events, i'm headed to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver later this week. I'll be there from the 18th to the 26th and hope to take in at least one or so men's hockey games, and speed skating. There will be plenty of beer consumed for sure as Vancouver is suppose to have decent microbrews..

So stay tuned here for hopefully what will be daily exciting updates.

Now the Silly Season Begins

Now that the Champions League game is over, we can get into all the rumors of who is going to transfer to what team. The hottest and first rumor out of the gate is that Kaka (real name as born Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite) will move from AC Milan to Real Madrid for a whopping 65 million Euros, well now is just a rumor and we have to wait until probably after Brazil's important 2 World Cup 2010 Qualifying games.

Well the UEFA Champions League Final was a great game as long as you were not a Manchester United fan. Wow the first 10 minutes it looked like a totally different game, with a great chance for Ronaldo in the first minute, but from when Eto'o scored in the 10th minute until the last whistle. As an adopted Barca fan for the game, i must say I totally enjoyed it, and have to say the Spanish midfield duo of Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta were amazing controlling the pace and tempo of the game.

This summer there is still some soccer to look forward to, this weekend the first team might be able to punch their ticket to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. If Australia simply win against Qatar then they are in, and the whole Asia group will be wrapped up by end of June.

The Europe group should show some clarity by the end of June with some teams almost locks and some team elimiated.

The USA team have a big 2 games coming up, tonight vs Costa Rica in Costa Rica a place we have never won a game, while we can't book our place until September at the earliest we can go a long way for sure.

Well until then, it will be a bunch of transfer rumors, and wondering if said player is worth that many millions of dollars, pounds, euros. Even in this recession, football is not feeling it and i expect to see some mind boggling numbers thrown around for good, great and even some washed up players.

UEFA Champions League Finals Preview

Ok well after a great season of Champions League football, we are less than 24hrs away from the final being played in Rome. This has been a season of some brilliant games and great goals in the Champions League this season. As an Arsenal fan, i was hoping that my team had a chance to make it to the finals with a shot at their only silverware of the season but Manchester United spoiled that dream. So in the style of most American sports fans i have to root for the other team, in this case FC Barcelona. This is not a problem as I adore Thierry Henry, in fact he is partially the reason that i'm such a huge football/soccer fan over the past 5 years since watching him with France in the 2004 Euros.
This will be billed as one of the better Champions League Finals in recent years. With Barcelona and Manchester United both having won their leagues and a few pieces of silverware already they are clearly the best teams. The season long argument of who is the best player in the world Messi vs Ronaldo will take centerstage in all the hype and build up to the game. As a neutral observer i will have to say Ronaldo is the best player in the world, his ability from the dead ball/free kicks, along with his use of both feet, head, and other tools tell me he is the best. Yes he is a whiny prat when he is knocked on his butt, never letting his hair get messed up on the ground, as he looks up at the ref for a call going his way but he is still the best. Messi can have moments of brilliance, but he is not a dead ball player, and being only 5 foot something tall he can't outjump defenders and use his head..
THe supporting casts of these teams is where the game will really be won. I think Barcelona is LOADED.. look at the scoring trio of Henry, Eto'o and Messi this season. They combined for 71 goals between them, that is more than all but 2 entire TEAMS have scored, with only Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid having scored more goals as a team than that trio of player. Barcelona will be hurt by the suspensions of Dani Alves and Eric Abidal for sure, but they are a deep squad and should be able to manage for 90 minutes.
The coaching advantage everyone is saying goes to Sir Alex with his years of experience, but i think that Pep Guardiola has the full respect and trust of his team, not saying that Sir Alex has lost his dressing room, i just think this is an even matchup.
I hope everyone gets a chance to watch this game, 2:45 EST in the USA, just before Noon on the west coast, and the evening in Europe.. catch the game..
I'm calling for a 2-1 Barcelona win and a helluva a party that night on Las Ramblas.. whatever the case lets hope for a game for the ages!!!

Best and Worst of 2008

After a little thought about this past year that is leaving us I thought it would be good to write a Best and Worst list of 2008 in a number of areas. 2008 saw extremes of good and bad in many categories so I thought I would put my mind to it and give some examples of what happened this year that made me go WHOA!!

Best Moment 2008 –
By far the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America on the night of November 4th, 2008 will live in history for a number of reason. Not just because he is the first African-American president, but because he showed that if you are smart, work hard and stay out of trouble you can do whatever you want. In looking at the history of the past 100 years of Presidents I cannot think of anyone who has been elected who came from less. This is a man who grew up to an 18 year old single mother who had no money, status or connections. Despite a time of hanging with the wrong crowd and doing drugs, he managed to graduate from an Ivy League school – Colombia University and then go on to an Ivy League graduated school – Harvard Law School. The true American dream as the son of an immigrant from Kenya and a mid-western woman. Having only served in US Government for 2 years and state government for 7 years before running for office it is true his experience might have seemed lacking but the people of America believed in him. It was not a black thing, as he manged to get more percentage of the votes in ALMOST EVERY CATEGORY over the last democratic candidate John Kerry did in 2004. It was only the 65+ year old White people who favored Kerry. And for those folks I have a giant F U, most of yall probably still think Black people should use different water fountains, ride in the back of the bus and not be allowed into public swimming pools.

Anyway as good as the night of November 4th, 2008 was, so will be the morning of January 20th, 2009 when Barack Hussein Obama swears to protect and serve the constitution of the United States on a bible used by Abraham Lincoln.




2008 Best Book - Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman


In the year that oil prices shot past $100 and up to almost $150 and then crashed with the rest of the global economy down to $35, Thomas Friedman wrote a book talking about how American can re-invent itself as an industrial superpower again with a Green revolution. Thankfully Friedman knows a bit about the subject writing back in 2005 The World is Flat, which if you don’t believe in that after watching one country after another following into global financial panic caused by the credit crisis well then you need to go back and read the book. We are all interconnected as a society now, so any gains that America makes in the Green Energy Technology revolution can help the whole planet that yes is getting Hot, Crowded and is already Flat. A great read for the new year, as hopefully President-Elect Obama and his awesome true freakin GENIUS Secretary of Energy nominee Stephen Chu, nobel prize winner in Physics can help lead us into a true Green Revolution and that $1.65 gasoline will not encourage people to dust off their SUVs and fill them up again.



2008 Best Music Album – Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See It

Raphael is a talented cat no doubt, while his solo albums have not had the widespread success that he had as a member of Tony Tone Toni, for music lovers his stuff has hit the spot. From his “gospeldelic sound” on Instant Vintage, to his straight back to the 60s Soul revival on his current album, its always a good listen. I must say as I grow older I not as hip to all the new artists coming out, anyone who tells me that Katy Perry is a groundbreaking artists needs to either be taken out to the woodshed or just given a copy of the last stupid “I Kissed a Girl” song done by Jill Sobule and I’m sure there will be another copycat in 10 years. If you like the sound of the 60s or was not alive and wondered how the 1960’s sounded in terms of black music, check out this release. Note a great talent of the 60s Mr. Stevland Morris aka Stevie Wonder does his harmonic thing on a track, worth the price of admission alone.




2008 Best Movie – Iron Man


Ok yes I’m a comic book nerd, and if was not for my collection of Marvel’s back in the 1980’s I would not be into reading at all. While Iron Man was one of my favorite it was not my favorite book back in the day, that honor would goto Spider-Man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four or the Avengers. Well 3 of those above have had movies made and were all rather disappointing in ways. Yet for the true Comic Book nerd out there IRON MAN is DA SHIT. Taking his origin as literal as possible and just changing Vietnam with Afghanistan the movie has great acting from Robert Downey Jr, great supporting cast I mean I never thought I would see a movie with Gwyneth Paltrow and LOVE IT. This movie is the best comic book movie possibly ever, and surely my favorite movie of 2008, yeah it won’t win any big-time Oscars, but hell if you didn’t enjoy this check your pulse.




2008 Best Sports Event – UEFA Champions League Final Manchester United vs Chelsea


While my soccer/football allegiances fall to Arsenal, I totally enjoyed the semi-finals and finals of the 2007-2008 Champions League final. Played in the middle of the night on a rainy wet miserable night in Moscow, the game that went to extra time and then penalties featured everything you could want. From a goal by the player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo, to a stupid sending off by the moody Didier Drogba for girl slapping someone in the face. Yet it was the penalty shoot-out that would decide it all, with Mr England Captain himself John Terry with a chance for Chelsea FC to win their first ever Champions League title, well his shot was wide and then Manchester United won it. Overall a great game. Also don’t overlook the semi-final 2nd leg game between Chelsea and Liverpool that went to extra time also that was a thriller. We can only hope for 2009s games to be as good as last years.




2008 Best Technology – Apple ipod Touch 2nd generation


While I do not yet own one of these, having seen and played with one, this is all you need in your pocket. While it does not have the phone capacity, I think the whole sign you life away for 2 years to AT&T/Apple for $120 a month is sort of crazy. For everything else you might need the iPod Touch does it. With WiFi, email, browser, music, video, youtube, and access to the 3rd party apps store which then lets almost unlimited expansion. 36hrs audio playback life and 6hrs video playback, in a package that fits in your hand I must give Apple props for doing it well. I have been an anti-apple person from way back in the Apple 2e days, when my friends had those and I was given a crappy IBM PCjr in 1984. Yet I stuck to IBM, DOS, Windows operating systems forever and never been seduced by the Mac zombie crowd. Well in 2009 that probably will change when I get my first true Apple product (yeah I have own a ipod shuffle before but that does not really count now does it?)




And now onto the worst things that happened this year.

2008 Worst Event – Sub prime Crisis/Credit Crunch/Global Financial Meltdown


It can be called by so many names, but basically the economic malaise that spread from a bunch of overpriced unsold houses in California, Arizona, Florida and other states has spread around the world taking out Iceland in the process along with wrecking financial markets. We living today get the privilege to live through the first ever worldwide recession, and while much of it might be called just Fear, the reality of it is cheap money is gone. The US Government will print up as much as needed, and yet the rest of the world feels safe in knowing it’s the USA printing these dollars and not say Mexico, Brazil or Argentina. In the past financial crisis have been limited to one country or region, but hell this one is worldwide, it has even affected the seemingly untouchable Gulf Arab states as we have watched oil plunge to $40 a barrel from $140 on worries about lack of demand. The US Consumer has been cut off, so therefore has 70% of our economy that relies on buying cheap shit from China. While its good to see 2008 behind us in terms of the crisis, its just the start and anyone who tell you that by the 2nd quarter of 2009 cheap credit will be flowing again might have already had too much holiday cheer in terms of adult drinks. It will take a bit longer, how much longer no one can easily predict but this problem that has taken us 20+ years of easy money to get into is going to take more than 2 quarters to get out of.




2008 Worst Downfall – Eliot Spitzer


As years of being the so called Sheriff of Wall Street, the now governor of New York State took a nasty spill after being caught up in a high end prostitution ring. Well high end if only you talk about the amount of $$ being spent, as the ‘ho he was last caught with certainly was not some worldly, speaks all these languages and fine wine/culture whores her agency said she was. Nope she was a New Jersey run-a-away who featured in Girls Gone Wild videos and then decided to sell her cooch to horny old men who were happy to pay it. The thought of Spitzer spending $4500 bucks and then being able to keep on his black socks while he banged away is more comical than it is sad. Bye Bye Eliot.. Oh and to my peeps overseas, yeah its amazing that American political figures can take a big tumble for this, when you can goto Amsterdam and anyone politican, sports star, or regular Joe the Plummer can get whatever on the menu that you want for 50 Euros and its all good.

2008 Worst Technology – Blu Ray


After a nasty 2 year battle with HD-DVD, it seems that Blu-Ray won. Well there is no winner as despite the demise of the competing format, people are not flocking to Blu-Ray out and out. Reasons could be the cost of replacing your whole DVD collection that you have been slowly building since 1997. Or it could be the fact that hell many people(my sister included)who buy nice big HDTV, don’t even subscribe to HD service and wouldn’t know the extra quality of Blu-Ray if it slapped them across the face. Anyway with DVD sales finally slowing down, and better technology to stream HD images and 1080p into the home over internet/cable/satellite lines I doubt that Blu-Ray will ever amount to much more than a few year fad. And hell other than 2% of the videophile population out there, who can tell the difference between a standard DVD movie up scaled or a broadcast in 720p vs 1080p, not many of us. The extra cost is just not worth it.




2008 Worst Sports Collapse


Either the NY Mets or the NY Jets, funny both teams played at one time in Shea Stadium, it could be that stadium is cursed and many are glad to see it being torn down this year. As a partial NY Jets fan, I’ll have to say the Mets Collaspe for the 2nd straight year to not make the playoffs has to win, but the sting of the Jets losing 4 of the last 5 is still fresh in my mind. Whatever the case, both teams hit the golf course early this year.

Get Some Nikka Costa Funk in yo Trunk

If you have never heard of Nikka Costa, now its time for your lesson in Funk. She has been a performer all her life, from age 10 being a child star and opening for the Police in front of 200,000 in Chile, to her recent spell for the last 10 years playing rock, soul, funk, blues, you name it. Her new album comes out today entitled "Pebble to a Pearl". I have been listen and watching Nikka in concert since 2001 and since then very few if any live concert experiences has been as amazing. She puts her whole soul into the performance and her band is FONKY.

Her new album released today October 14th features 12 tracks. I must say many of the funky tracks are throwbacks to 1970s sweaty in your momma's basement funk. Be sure to check out Can't Please Everybody, Pebble to A Pearl, Cry Baby, Keep Wanting More for your workout of funk. Pick it up from Amazon for only $12.

She will be performing on Conan O'brien show airing October 16th, and also is on tour till the end of October, if she comes to your town check it out here are a list of some of the remaining dates. All shows are $25 or less for concert tickets, so even in this recession its something hopefully everyone can enjoy.
14-Oct Ft. Lauderdale, FL Culture Room
15-Oct Orlando, FL The Social
17-Oct Atlanta, GA The Loft
19-Oct Baltimore, MD Recher Theatre
20-Oct New York, NY Webster Hall
21-Oct Philadelphia, PA World Café Live
23-Oct Boston, MA Showcase Live
24-Oct Burlington, VT Higher Ground
25-Oct Montreal, QC Saints
26-Oct Toronto, ON El Mocambo
28-Oct Chicago, IL Park West
29-Oct Milwaukee The Rave
30-Oct Minneapolis, MN Varsity

to leave you here is one of my favorite live songs that she performs back from the 2005 tour, i shot this with my digital camera in Philly. the song is On & On, from her 2005 release can't never did nuttin'. Still waiting for the day I hear this at a strip club, that girl will be happy cause i'll be doing my best Pacman Jones to make it rain.