Fob loves the World Cup

Ah yes, it's been four long years, but the time has finally come again for the world's most watched and most favorite sport: Football!

No, not the wussy American football where they don't even use their foot to play (save punting), but the real football. The one that millions love to watch and even more love to play. Football...World Cup... Just hearing those words or even glimpsing at a microsecond footage of past games makes me feel oh so joyous!

I never have one favourite team because in this game, anything, ANYTHING can happen. If you've watched the World Cup set in Korea/Japan, you know exactly what I mean. That tournament had the best of the best come crashing down by teams that had never before played at such an international stage. It was a glorious event for many countries, but also shamefully and painfully disappointing for others. No matter what happened, I always felt deeply for the winning AND losing teams.
For this year's World Cup we have a whole new game, in a whole new place, with many familiar faces and some not so familiar.

My reactions:

• Some teams that I was hoping would make it, but did not include = Turkey, and Senegal.
• Teams that I'm surprised to see are Australia and Toga.
• Groups A, E, G, and H are going to be the most interesting to watch since anything could happen in those groups.
• Saudi Arabia has been able to attend some of the Cups in the past, but they have failed to make a mark at all at the international stage. It's going to be interesting to see whether they can pull out a surprise and advance from their group.

Comments on some of the groups:

• Group G - Oh I'd love to see S. Korea make it once again, but they have some competition from the Swiss and France. France had a humiliating time in the past Cup. It was the first time that a World champ did not advance from the first round so it'll be interesting to see how they'll play this time.
• Group E - As you may have noticed, Italy is ranked 12th whereas USA is 7th and the Czech 's are 2nd. I strongly believe Italy will advance b/c they have a LONG history and they definitely want revenge for what happened last time. I'm sure the Americans will give the Czechs and the Italians a tough time though.
• Group A - Germany is playing at home and we all know that the crowd can be a plus factor. Germany should definitely advance because the other 3 are just wild card teams.

What do you think will happen? Which teams do you think will advance from the group stages?
Vote on the polls on the sidebar and see if others think the same as you!
*Thanks Mash for recommending something like this. /d^_^b\
For all you Canucks: The licensed broadcasters for the World Cup is Rogers Sportsnet and TSN. Click here for the TV schedule.

Victims like these don't deserve our sympathies

The bodies of eight men were found stuffed inside vehicles on April 8, 2006, on a farmer's field in southwestern Ontario. The police ---and everyone else in the media--- are calling it as one of Canada's worst mass murders.

On April 10, the police arrested five individuals who have been charged with first-degree murder. Police are referring to this incident as an 'internal cleansing' of a biker gang.

The victims were part of the outlawed Bandidos biker gang.

Stop.

Until Monday the police did not say anything about the whole tragedy. People were aghast that such a tragedy like this could occur in Canada, CANADA! People were scared and felt sorry for whoever those dead people were... that is until they found out the victims were bikers.
Should people have sympathy for victims who were part of a biker gang? A very good question that George Stroumboulopoulos asked on The Hour.
The viewers who answered the questions either said, "Good riddance! The less people like those roaming around on our streets, the better." or, "Human beings are just that. Everyone should care when someone dies."

Interesting.

Are these gangs any different from the gangs black youths join? When black youths shoot each other in troubled neighbourhoods, how do you react? Are these bikers any different from black youths who shoot each other? Why do we treat these bikers differently from black gang members? Are the bikers less human? Is it because they are white?

It certainly seems that the questions I have will never stop, but issues like these rarely have answers that everyone can agree on. They just have more questions.

The most important question, however, is whether you have any sympathies for these victims. Should one regard this mass killing as a tragedy or not? After all, they are only bikers...