Bulletin Board of Bad Behavior

well as it is kickin' you'll be with family but there are four weeks after that to come.

the world cup may be every four years but i expect it will not again be in germany during our lifetime. so what's holding you back, money -- even after sloth offered to organize your flight finances?

I can't come because Mav is my boss now and he denied my vacation request.

Motherfucker.

holy shit!

In an entertaining (perfect) world the Post would send me over to cover the World Cup.

four years in the making and then nobody shows up. what a bummer, what bums.

oh well. as a businessmen i say, in such cases: it's ok; these things happen.

(to my japanese business partners i would say: i understand your situation).

but this is not business, this is friendship. and it's certainly tougher for you guys than it is for me.

you're certainly welcome here any other time, in the near or far future.

Has Maverick turned to the dark side?

of course, he is getting married isn't he?

Now I'm trying to come for 1 week, 1st week of July.

I might have my hand cut off but the furry ewoks are on my side.

Never underestimate the Chewbacca factor either.

If you come I will be there with sloth bells on.

promise!

You are 1/2 the reason I want to go. The other 1/2 is to see Martino. Fuck football.

If you come I will be there for sure. Let's make plans soon okay so we don't spend all our money on plane fare instead of beer.

what's nicer than watching a game with french girls, when the french win well enough to qualify for the next round!?!

this, without doubt, is one of the finest times of my life

it took a few months in 1989 to unify germany, but it didn't feel unified until after a few days of the world cup.

it does now. there are flags everywhere, mostly german. this taxidriver from ghana i know drives with a ghana flag on his merc, he says every day people give him friendly shout-ups ("ghana, ghana!"), so he will be flying a german flag soon too. turks drape the german flag too (though i believe they wouldn't if their team were in the tournement).

speaking of nations, the other day i gave some american guys a thumb up, and me being me, i couldn't stop from shouting "su-per-pow-er, su-per-power!", but luckily they grinned back and didn't try to smack me.

so, to continue with this half-joke half-serious nations thing, i wear my sweden tricot to the germany-sweden match. and nobody cares! i watched the games with the nicest 200 people you could find, at the hafen2, a concert-hall cum bar cum outdoor cafe, next to the harbor. enthusiasm abounds. i shouted my lungs out and had a ball.

mc put it well enough when he wrote about klose&podolski; i have nothing to add except that i found klose pretty swell four years ago but this year, he looks and moves superfit.

and what matty wrote about klinsmann: yes, i agree, he is the spryest and he is one of the smartest, epecially since as of this evening van basten is out.

next friday, german-argentina. man, that will be one hard match. my odds are slightly on the side of argentina: they may have been worse during this world cup, but they have been continuously better over the past few years. and i think ballack is yet below form and schweinsteiger is not quite where he should be either. but if it only took a few days to make this country feel united, then perhaps six days is enough to make the team good enough for the half-finals.

Martino,

It isn't often that I ask a favour of anybody, even rarer if I'm not in the position to repay. Could you see your way to making sure that Germany kick the fuck out of Argentina? Thanks.

Tony

tony, i'll do my best, but if i should succeed, then you owe me!

have i mentioned that it was miserably cold during almost all of the month of may over here, only to turn sunny two days before the first game? and it has been sunny and warm ever since.

i got in a nasty hailstorm the other night but until thursday or so it will be 30 degrees celsius, dry, practically mediterranean-bright and lovely.

what terrific luck! if i believed in them i'd say the gods are on our side this year.