The Worldwide Leader
By: Chris | June 30th, 2008This is a completely personal post, in which I will profusely toot my own horn and give thanks for blind luck. You see, I, your worthless humble HSV scribe, am the winner of The Offside/World Cup Blog Euro 2008 Bracket Predictor. I was going to wait to post this entry until the main page is updated but what the hell.
You see, I haven’t won anything since I was voted in as parliamentarian in the student council election in the fourth grade. And as I wrote earlier this week, the greatest of ironies is that I seem to have won a voucher to a football shop, but I am now sidelined due to an injury for the next 9 months. The reallly funny thing (as was pointed out by Budesliga meister Jan) is that I was HORRID at predicting the scores of HSV matches this season past in my blog. My excuse this time: I was picking with my head, not my heart; and there was no Holsten/Astra/Paulaner involved. 
A big shout of thanks to Ian Rose of the Offside for serving as Admin for the Pick’em game. Ian, I’ve run enough sporting pools to know what a pain in the arse compiling the results is. The secret to my success? As stated previously, copious amounts of blind luck. I seem to recall making my picks at work and sticking to my old college (gridiron) football pool addage, “If you’re spending more than 30 seconds on your picks, you’re wasting your time.” Well, maybe I can take the voucher and buy myself the strip of whatever club Rafael van Der Vaart lands with.
Category: Team News
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Congrats, Chris! Now this will take away the fact that my father has been trying to rub salt into my wounds that Spain won Euro 2008. He was rooting for Spain to win after his dream Spain-Portugal final didn’t happened.
As you can see, I can’t stand the look on his face these days…that is going to probably ‘haunt’ me for as long as he reminds me who was the winner in Euro 2008. But then again, Spain deserves to win.
‘You see, I haven’t won anything since I was voted in as parliamentarian in the student council election in the fourth grade.’
I know the feeling.
The last time I was having such dizzying heights on a personal scale is that I was in the top three in my class. That was like, six years ago. Being the class treasurer the following year didn’t count. For some reason, I had never like my position. Almost the entire class sabotaged me into becoming one! Just because okay, I am always the most honest person in class…whatever.
Posted from
Singapore
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Thanks for your kind words, Diana.
“I never win anything” is a cliche in America; anytime someone who wins a lottery or contest is interviewed, they always say that. I felt compelled to include it in my post.
Spain really were the class of the Euro. My dream matchup would have been to see Spain versus Holland (the Holland who played France and Italy, not the side that played Russia). You really have to give credit to Spain’s back line. We always knew they were extremely skilled up front and in the midfield, but their defense was superb.
As I sit here at home on this balmy evening when I cannot get in the swimming pool with my children (because of the sutures and cast on my left leg), I wonder where is van Der Vaart going to play next season now that Chelsea have Deco and CR7 doesn’t seem to be going anywhere? Could he be taking Deco’s place at Barcelona? Could he (VDV), *GASP* play for Hamburg? These are the things that are occupying my time right now with no football for another six weeks. Lucky for us, the Champions League qualifying gets under way in the next couple of weeks. UEFA Cup qualifying (Yech! The real dregs-HA!) has already begun.
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‘You really have to give credit to Spain’s back line. We always knew they were extremely skilled up front and in the midfield, but their defense was superb.’
With Iker Casillas at goal…I know from the start the battle between the goalkeepers will be won by Spain, hands down. Sometimes it’s hard to think that Casillas is actually only 27 years of age.In a way, I was smart enough not to have a wager a bet with my father on the final. If not, I will be losing heavily to him! My father has wagered bets with his friend on the Holland-France match, the two semi-final matches and he won each time. I swear back then my eyes almost popped out when he said that he went for Germany to beat Turkey. It’s my father…he had never followed German football at all! The same guy who will always ask me what went wrong for Germany if they lose a match.
What I regret is that I didn’t wager a bet with him on the Germany-Portugal quarter-final match. At least I can still say ‘Hey, I still won something!’. Beating my father in football predictions is always a big deal for me given I ‘flunk’ half the time. You can imagine the look on his face after the final whistle was blown back then!
Speaking of that CR7, I will probably have to reconsider my soft spot for the HSV if he heads there. I just cannot stand the thought of him there. And this is coming from someone who is a ManU supporter.
‘Lucky for us, the Champions League qualifying gets under way in the next couple of weeks. UEFA Cup qualifying (Yech! The real dregs-HA!) has already begun.’
You are lucky.
Stuttgart is stuck with the Intertoto Cup. If we want to enter the UEFA Cup, we have to play that first. Ah, whatever it takes to bring us into Europe…Posted from
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Hey don’t forget-Hamburg are the current holders of the Intertoto Cup. It’s the only silverware they’ve won in 25 years!
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Wow, congrats! That’s pretty neat.
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United States -
Okay okay, Chris. Thanks for the reminder.
Posted from
Singapore -
Well Chris,
Hope this is you, will be keeping tabs on your blog
Annie from Achilles Blog
Posted from
United States
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