World Cup: Random thoughts

It’s been an action packed three weeks of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Sadly the United States bowed out in the Round of 16. Luckily, there is a lot more going on than just what the US has done and I took a lot of notes. Here are some thoughts I’ve had over the last three weeks.

– The Nike goalies will be leaving the World Cup and heading to Oregon to compete for the Ducks’ vacant quarterback spot. Seeing as they already have the Ducks jerseys.

– The Iphone and Droid all have a new app that is sure to find its way into American Football stadiums at some point this season. Can’t you see 20,000 Bengals fans rocking the Vuvuzela app on their Iphones at the same time? Chad Ochocinco has already said he will use a Vuvuzela in a celebration this year. Shouldn’t he put one for every seat in the end zone section and ask them to keep it quiet until he scores. I wouldn’t put this past him. Could Roger Goodell fine him for that? (What is the proper way to write Iphone, Ipod, Itouch? Am I doing it right or am I supposed to capitalize the first letter after the ‘I’? I thn a dash? Iconfused.)

– When I first saw Nike’s Murcurial boot I wondered why Nike made such an ugly shoe for the World Cup. I mean this is Soccer’s biggest stage. You don’t want everyone thinking about how ugly your cleats are. Then I watched the first game and it looked like a bunch of kids wearing the LA Gear shoes with the lights in the heels. Bright orange heels running around everywhere and I knew they were Nikes straight away. They think about their marketing through and through.

– Another marketing move that just shows why Nike is smarter than the rest of us. Their “Write the Future” campaign featured Ronaldinho from Brazil originally; he didn’t make the squad for South Africa. Now Robinho has one and the Ronaldinho commercials have mysteriously disappeared. I am a little surprised Nike didn’t call the Brazil Coach, Dunga, and curse him out. On second thought that could have happened. Here’s hoping an Alec Baldwinesque voice mail comes out of Phil Knight yelling at Dunga. This would make my year.

– I can’t figure out if Rigobert Song of Cameroon is better suited as a villain in a Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Segal or Wesley Snipes movie. (I don’t think I ever expected to put Wesley Snipes in the same category with those two, I mean this is Sidney Deane and Willie Mays Hayes. Now he’s a Kung Fu master. I’ve lost all hope.)

– How can Shakira have the official song for the World Cup, call it Waka Waka and not Fozzie Bear in the video at all!

– The Nigerian President, Goodluck Johnson, banned the Super Eagles from competition after a poor showing at the World Cup. He then receded the suspension for fear that FIFA might ban club teams and referees from competing as well. More importantly Nigeria’s president is named Goodluck Johnson! Come on, really?! What were his campaign slogans? Can I get a sign to put in my yard? Should I name my first son Goodluck? This has seriously changed my life.

– I know I’ve obsessed over the nickname thing for the last month, but what are the best ones out there? I’m leaning towards The Black Stars (Ghana) and Indomitable Lions (Cameroon). Just cool names. Could you imagine an American sports franchise decides to change there name to something like that. Can we get the Nets to do this when they move to Brooklyn? The Russian can do whatever he wants. Would he be able to get away with the Brooklyn Black Stars? Probably not. But the Brooklyn Unconquerable Bears might work.

– I love the story of the 36 Dutch women getting kicked out of the World Cup for wearing dresses used in a commercial for Bavaria brewery. It was called “Ambush Marketing” and Budweiser and FIFA didn’t like it. Seriously, the dresses didn’t even have any wording on them. What is the world coming to when we get angry at 36 attractive women wearing the same thing to support a soccer team?

– Can we get Martin Tyler to call an NFL game this season? I just want to hear the words he uses to describe the plays. That is one thing I love about the English broadcasters. They use words that you rarely hear American broadcasters use.

– I don’t whether I should be excited or concerned that my wife has been intently watching many of the World Cup games. I’m going to go with concerned since at the end of the Germany/England game she asked me, “Are they going to take off their jerseys now?” At least she’s watching right?

– With the Dutch beating Brazil and advancing to the semi finals early Friday, Nike doesn’t have any more of their “Write the Future” players in the World Cup. Never mind all of that “great marketing Nike has” stuff I said earlier. Plus, out of those players in the commercial they had a total of five goals. Three from Robinho who wasn’t in the original commercial and one each from Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba against the worst team in the tournament, North Korea. Where was Landon Donovan Nike? He is American, you are American. Oh yeah and he scored three goals. Nike only has Holland left in the tournament as a sponsored team. Crazy.

– There is one thing I like about the World Cup that doesn’t really happen in any other sporting event. I haven’t seen a single fluff piece. I am sure they’ve been done, but I haven’t seen them and that makes me happy. I just want the games, the goals, and the controversy of bad refereeing.

– Ghana’s big forward who scored against the USA, Kevin Prince Boateng, wears “Prince” on the back of his jersey. That is awesome. I would do the same thing, but my middle name is James, so I would just look like the English goal keeper David James. Maybe I wouldn’t look exactly like him, but the back of our jerseys would be the same.

– Why do I think it would be funny for two of the team managers to switch sport coats after the game? I would love to see Maradona ripping off his jacket after the game against Germany and switching with Joachim Loew’s cardigan. This needs to happen. I’m not sure how my wife would feel about it though.

– While watching Ghana’s chance to be the first African side to advance to a World Cup Semi-Finals go off the cross bar the first thing that popped into my head was the opening scene from The Mighty Ducks. Maybe the worst coach speech ever. Way to make the kid feel confident. Let’s hope the Ghanaian coach didn’t pull that one.

Please send any comments or questions to gheinrich@ktar.com.
Listen to Kyndra de St. Aubin and myself talk about the USA’s disappointing loss to Ghana by

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