On the docket today... Arg/S&M, Neth/IvC, Ang/Mex...

Did that make sense? If not, read on, gentle co-blogger...

Argentina vs Serbia (and soon not to be) Montenegro, 6-0

Touchdown, Evita!!! (Peron! Peron! Peron! Peron... as the crowd chant fades away audibly, well into the distant sub-conscience...)

I will not cry for you, Argentina! (Ahh, Sportscenter highlights were using this same joke, sorry originality and non-redundancy fans...)  I did think of that joke on my own. Kind of simple, huh?

Egads, Batman! Do all of you know the "Michael Keaton in outermost Patagonia" story?

Well if you do, allow me to blog it now and simply skip this part...

Not long after Batman II was in the can and fixing to debut domestically in the late winter of 1992, Keaton went on Letterman. He had gone on a fishing excursion in the wide open skies and vast wilderness of the Argentine Patagonia.

Fishing trips thousands of miles from most known civilizations are not supposed to be times of recognition. But as Mr. Keaton, a.k.a. Bruce Wayne, was out casting his fish fly or what have you under the shadows of the towering Andes, I presume, two young boys approached.

Maybe they were children of local sheep pastors or some type of outdoor laborers.

Imagine Keaton's surprise when the two boys noticed him a exctedly proclaimed, " Batman! Batman! Batman! (In thick Spanish accents).

It just goes to show you, where you go, there you are.

Even in the vast reaches of Patagonia.

Okay, more on this soccer juggernaut country known as La Argentina.

Imagine that the United States is the culmination of what we Americans would like to think is the best of both Great Britain and Germany. Now this is a gross over generalization, I admit, but allow this to be our country's formula of self-perception for the purpose of this mental exercise. Okay, got that conceptually implanted as the model?

Now, imagine that Argentina is the culmination of what the Argentines would like to think is the best of both Spain and Italy. (Indulge me here, I think I thought of this comparison in the shower at 5:50 am EST today, preparing to take my wife to the Landsdowne "Birthing Inn" to get our soon to be born child manually shifted to face heads down instead of breach in my wife's womb.)

Okee dokee...Do you see where I am going with this?

Argentines generally do think they are all that and and a bag of papas fritas...

Here is a joke that I internalized and then elaborated on to further illustrate the national reputation of this great nation of 40 some million:

What do you call the ego? The little Argentine that lives within all of us?

What do you call the super ego? (This is the part I invented) Diego Maradona!

Okay, that's enough of this American's perspective on that great Southern Cone land, from yours truly, who has lived in rival Chile three separate times, 1990-1991, 1994, and 2005 (last year)... 

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 Netherlands (Holland) versus Ivory Coast (Cote d' Ivoire), 2-1, Dutch Win by Scoring two early and holding on... 

Aka: the Dutch against the Ivoreans...sounds like a good read, no?

 Holland  has these things that keep the sea from encroaching called...

I can't remember! Can you? Make a comment and prove to me you're paying attention...Not dikes, not beams, but...berms? Maybe that is it. They help protect and extend the country into the sea. Real estate is tough to come by on the coast...

Speaking of coasts, the African oponnent is named after a place where the tusks of elephants abound. The neighbors are Liberia and Ghana, two English speaking nations. I think this may contribute to part of the instability and schizophrenia of the region, not to mention the dozens upon dozens of tribal languages...

My father in Sierra Leone (1964-66) said that sometimes a short path into another village could lead to a completely different tongue.

Sorry Ivoreans! Au revoir. Hope you can make it back for South Africa, 2010.

 

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  Mexico versus Angola, 0-0 tie

(Or: Old oil reserves versus New petroleum potential)

Mexico gets its fourth point and Angola gets its first and only point so far...

Did I tell you about the book I started on Mexico back in 2002? I'm pretty sure I did.

Quick breakdown of Mexican states I have visited in order of when I first entered them...

1. Tamaulipas (across from Texas)

2. Quintana Roo (west of Cuba)

3. Baja California North (across from California)

4. Guerrero (way the heck down there off the Pacific)

5. Morelos (between Acapulco and Mexico City)

6. Mexico and Federal District (look them up)

7. Sonora (across from Arizona)

8. Sinaloa (across from the Gulf of California)

9. Nayarit (north of Puerto Vallarta)

10. Jalisco (next to the state of Mexico, also on Pacific)

11. Chihuahua (across from New Mexico and El Paso)

12. Coahuila (across from Del Rio, Texas)

Please ask away on my blog in the future on any aspect of Mexico. i am no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I like to understand it better all the time...I think it helps us northern neighbors understand oursleves better.

Angola has a province to to the north which is non-contiguous called Cabinda. Good to know. Memorize that! It'll help you someday.

Another thing about Angola and potential precious minerals...My friend from Luanda Pedro Miala said that there are huge chunks of gold and other metals simply lying in open sight across the "bush" as my father calls it. Why is it not gathered? Too many killers with guns, but more savagely, too many unrespecting land mines planted ready to tear lins apart unannounced...

Yes, I would like to replace golf with alnd mine detecting and removal... 

Sorry Angola. Voces sao muitos dentro nus corazoes!

Tchauzinho y ate pronto queridos angolinos (assim se disse?)...