Ouch, that's gonna leave a scar....

but *LOL*

Inneresting article by gavin brown this morning 'less goals than at the same stage of *any previous* tournament. No goals scored directly from free kicks in the first round of games' [emphasis mine]. He also goes on to make the same observations as me about corners and log range shots but without figures. It is ironic given that the accepted between-the-lines reason for tinkering with footballs is to make their flight less predictable and so result in more goals.

I might get to watch the US game in an hour. The rest of the company has a field trip to the new office today and one of the directors staying behind because we have a deployment tonight is trying to get the game hooked up in the video conference room.

Wouldn't this affect all teams equally though? It's not like the 2 teams on the field use a different ball.

true
but some have been using the new ball for nearly a year, some since Feb/March, some the last 3..4 weeks.

its a managing change issue I suspect. Some have had suffiicent time to get to grips with the changes.
ferinstance Adidas sponser the Bundesleiga and have been using the new ball all season. Nike sponsor the EPL and therefore use a Nike Ball. I think the French, Spanish and one or two other European leagues have the same sponsor related issues as the EPL.

still it does seem odd to my mind that once the new ball is selected its not immediately picked up by every top flight league, especially in a world cup year. mind you I suppose its not that different to blaming the wrong type of boot or stud or whatever other justification is proffered by the loosing side

Correct. I am not using it as an excuse for England (I actually think they did fine last week) - you are right everyone is playing with the same ball. I am just pointing out that although there is usually moaning about new balls I think this tournament the moans are valid and there are statistics that correlate both with what the footballers say and my own observations.

Obviously we have to weigh all of that up against George and his testimony when he has a kick about with his mates so the evidence is very mixed.

Is there any other kind?

I think that's his date!

I told you games against the Ozzies don't count. Given the achievements of Spain and Germany these last two days suddenly we don't look so bad.

Assuming of course we get a result tonight....

...and france, lets not miss out the French

Almost doesn't qualify as a shock they are that poor.
But yes - one should never pass on an opportunity to mock the French.

I often have a kick around with the likes of Rooney, Gerrard, Crouch, Defoe, Lennon and Lampard

Three business days to decide whether to give it back and follow's Thrasy's lead and go for a stang instead:

http://i47.tinypic.com/22ny34.jpg

Thoughts?

Speak for yourself.

Good God. If you truly believe women have a clue about what they actually want, or how to woo them, then you truly shouldn't be giving advice. Almost without exception, women date guys who are the exact opposite of what they describe as their ideal partner. Paul's Bolivian was really looking for a short intellectual dude, and see what happened?

Zing ?