Devastated Ghana football team gets an honored treat

Yesterday Ghana suffered one of  the cruelest exits in World Cup History.  They were on the verge of becoming the first African team to reach the semi finals in the first World Cup help on African soil.  The hopes of a billion Africans rested on their shoulders, the five other African teams having already been eliminated. 


They were playing Uruguay and had the better of them for most of the game as well as the 30 minutes of extra time but the score was still tied 1-1.  With virtually no time left they would have scored the winning goal had not a Uruguayan player who wasn't the goalkeeper stopped the ball from crossing the goal line with his hands.  The rules of football decree a penalty with a red card dismissal for the offender.  


Asamoah Gyan who had played his heart out strode up to take the kick.  On average 85% of the time, the kicker will score.  The final whistle would blow as soon as the kick was taken.  Gyan who scored twice previously from the penalty spot in the finals got under the kick, the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out.  

They went to the penalty shootout where each team gets 5 penalties, each to be taken by a different player.   Gyan went up first, fighting God knows how many demons.  He scored but two Ghanaian players subsequently missed and Ghana were out while Uruguay were moving on.   A stunned silence came over the 84,000 spectators save a small pocket of Uruguayan fans.  Gyan was inconsolable. 

They are the youngest team in the finals, oozing with talent so they will, in all likelihood be back at the next finals in Brazil in 2014 but until then, the nightmare end to the game with a tragic Shakespearean conclusion will live with them.  

Today they received a little bit of grief counseling from the man without whom there wouldn't have been a World Cup hosted by the Rainbow Nation of South Africa. They met with a frail 91 year old Nelson Mandela at his home in Johannesburg..  It's little consolation but something that the team will remember for the rest of their lives. 

Yesterday, a billion Africans were all Ghanaian.  They came agonizingly close but a continent is proud of them as they share their pain.  

Sen. Scott Brown (R - MA) makes a fool of himself.

Today he blamed Obama for in a radio interview for not following through on sanctions for Iran. Here is what he said,

BROWN: Well any time you have people breaking the law or influencing elections or really doing things that are inappropriate, you know, there should be repercussions. And there needs to be consistency. That’s kind of the problem with, with what I’m saying. The fact that they’re not making decisions. And if they make a decision, they don’t stick by it. For example, with Iran. You know, “we’re going to have sanctions! If you guys don’t do this by this date, you’re in trouble!” Ok, the date comes we don’t do anything. You know, “we’re going to have more sanctions, if you don’t do this, you know, you’re going to be in trouble.” And so, you need to, you need to stick to your guns and make sure you follow through and that’s not happening.

One small problem. President Obama signed the bill into law today.

Sen. Brown - here's a hint. Pay attention to the bills that are being passed in the Senate. You know, the place where you work.

Ghana - Uruguay - the most insane ending to a World Cup game ever.

And heartbeaking.

District 11 - The menace of football aliens in Johannesburg.

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World Cup Stories- The Battle of Berne 1954

Brazil v Hungary - Quarter Final

England hadn’t lost a home international against any team outside the British Isles in the eighty-three years since they first started playing international soccer in 1870. That was until the Mighty Magyars of Hungary came calling in 1953. Often dubbed ‘The Match of the Century,’ the game wasn’t even close. England lost 6-3, a score line that flattered England.

The Hungarians were the clear cut favorites to win the 1954 Cup in Switzerland. They won their first two games 9-0 and 8-3 and met Brazil in the quarter final, a highly-anticipated match-up between the contrasting styles of what were considered the two best teams in the world.

The Hungarian speed and fluidity proved too much for Brazil’s slower style at the time, and they scored twice in the first seven minutes. Brazil fought back relentlessly with some hard fouls, the game degenerating at times into a series of free kicks; there were an astonishing forty-two fouls called in the whole game. After Brazil scored from a penalty, Hungary scored again in the 60th minute but Brazil narrowed the gap with another strike five minutes later. Then all hell broke loose. A fistfight saw two red cards to Hungary’s Bozsic and Brazil’s Milton Santos. A fourth Hungarian goal secured the win by which time the game had devolved into a free for all; with fistfights and kicking at virtually anything that moved other than the ball.

The fighting wasn't over at the final whistle. The Brazilian team left the field first and smashed all the light bulbs in the tunnel. They then ambushed the Hungarian team in the dark. This time chairs and broken bottles were used as weapons. A few players and an assistant coach required medical attention.

Hungary went on to lose in the final in the Miracle of Berne to West Germany 3-2. Hungary were 2-0 up after eight minutes but Germany tied it in the 19th minute when a foul on the Hungarian goalie wasn't called. Germany scored their third on a lucky bounce on a rain sodden field. A Hungarian equalizer 2 minutes from time was ruled offside after the referee had awarded a goal. Allegations of doping by the Germans at half time were denied but finally admitted in a TV documentary in 2004.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

Postscipt: Two years later, the Soviets invaded Hungary while most of the players were on a club trip to Western Europe. Most decided not to return including the great Ferenc Puskas who joined Real Madrid. It was the end of one of the greatest football teams of all time.

Restaurants you don't want to eat at.

In Kalamazoo, Michigan.  More restaurants to avoid here.  

The Start of a Third Depression

A must read article by Paul Krugman.

We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression. It will probably look more like the Long Depression than the much more severe Great Depression. But the cost — to the world economy and, above all, to the millions of lives blighted by the absence of jobs — will nonetheless be immense.

And this third depression will be primarily a failure of policy. Around the world — most recently at last weekend’s deeply discouraging G-20 meeting — governments are obsessing about inflation when the real threat is deflation, preaching the need for belt-tightening when the real problem is inadequate spending.

G.W. Bush worst president in the modern era

238 historians agree on this. He also ranks in the bottom five of all Presidents.

Bush supporters continue to maintain that history will be kind to Bush. I don't think so.

1.7 million people have lost their unemployment insurance

The GOP stopped the passage of a bill to extend unemployment benefits for the third time today.

According to Sharon Angle the Tea Party favorite running for Harry Reid's Senate seat in Nevada think the unemployed are spoiled and don't want to accept entry level jobs, arguing that there are plenty of jobs available. She's totally wrong. There are 6 job seekers for every job available and that is only counting people who are currently looking for work, not those who have given up. Before the recession the ratio was 1.5 job seekers for every job available.

Unemployment checks stimulate the economy more than anything else because every dollar gets spent. It's estimated that every dollar of unemployment spent creates $3 in economic activity.

Someone should inform Sharon Angle that the average unemployment check is $294 a week. That is less than the average 'entry level job' pays.

The Republicans blocking the extension of unemployment benefits should read about Debra Rousey's plight.. Even better, they should try to get by in her shoes.

As I have stated before, the Republicans are intent on squeezing as many people as possible to use as an electoral message in November. Their own welfare comes before the nations.

GOP Senator implies we were more free without women on the Supreme Court.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R - OK) suggested that in the Supreme Court hearings for Elena Kagan.

Next he will come out and say we were more free before women were given the vote, or maybe even before the abolition of slavery because according to the Palin wing of the GOP, African Americans aren't 'real Americans'.

A soon to be former GOP Senator finally gets a grip on reality

Sen. Bob Bennett is the current GOP Senator for Utah. He will not be running for election in November. Despite his conservative credentials he lost the nomination earlier this year.

In Utah, the GOP picks it's candidates at a party convention and Bennett was just not conservative enough for the Tea Party crazies who packed the convention.

In a speech he said:

"As I look out at the political landscape now, I find plenty of slogans on the Republican side, but not very many ideas," Bennett said. "And indeed, if you raise specific ideas and solutions, as I tried to do on health care with Ron Wyden, you are attacked with the same vigor as we've seen in American politics all the way back to the arguments over slavery and polygamy. You are attacked as being a wimp, insufficiently pure, and unreliable."

That's the new GOP. Lot's of slogans and no solutions or ideas.