This is likely the most important issue the Senate will face this year. I’m so glad they are using the force of their Constitutional power to apply their valuable and limited time to an investigation of this society-wide issue of consequence. I mean, if sports is rigged and the coaches and players cheat, why- how could anyone stand to spend all that time at the watercooler dissecting and deconstructing new and clever commercials’ deep, meaningful cultural relevance? Think of the Children, won’t you?

Americans and their Leaders know what matters most, and I for one look forward to voting for Bud over Miller Light in the fall…

“When he told me I smiled, picture jewels being handed to an innocent child.” Tupac

I just want to say hello to everyone and say how glad I am to be here. I know, it’s corny. I’m still getting my “sea legs” with the new interface and thought I would experiment with some posts to see what’s what. I’m still a little tired and hung over from last night. In case you missed it, Da’ Bears pulled one from their nether regions  Read more 

Yes. Sports are so important.

Its also worth noting the threats to this World Cup are roughly comparable to those in a modern battlefield - peaceful and violent demonstrators, far right/left wing groups, multi-ethnic /multi-religious group tensions and possible foreign terrorism will make affective security and policing a challenge.

Along with the usual surveillance equipment associated with modern sporting events, some of the 2006 World Cup technology includes:

* Fast Fingerprinting devices allowing German police to transmit identification data to be matched against archives stored in the central database of the German Federal Intelligence Service.  Read more 

Steve Gilliard, this is for you:

“In reality, my father’s position on this topic isn’t deficient… Not only my father but Sharia also prohibits such activities which keep the followers too occupied for worshiping, keep people from remembering [to worship]. Habeebi, the West created things that keep us from completing ourselves (perfection). What did they make us do? Run after a ball, habeebi… What does that mean? A man, this large and this tall, Muslim- running after a ball? Habeebi, this ‘goal’ as it is called… if you want to run, run for a noble goal. Follow the noble goals which complete you and not the ones that demean you. Run after a goal, put it in your mind and everyone follows their own path to the goal to satisfy God. That is one thing. The second thing, which is more important, we find that the West and especially Israel, habeebi the Jews, did you see them playing soccer? Did you see them playing games like Arabs play? They let us keep busy with soccer and other things and they’ve left it. Have you heard that the Israeli team, curse them, got the World Cup? Or even America? Only other games…  Read more