penguinpride

Andrew’s bust flags:

1. QB Cam Newton

2. LB Von Miller

3. QB Christian Ponder – while Andrew hates this pick (and I think he was picked to early at 12th overall) I think he’ll be decent if he doesn’t have to start in week 1. Now Leslie Frazier can move Joe Webb to WR where he belongs.

4. DE Robert Quinn

5. C Mike Pouncey

6. DT Corey Liuget

7. CB Prince Amukamura (?!)

8. G Danny Watkins

9. DE Cameron Jordan

10. WR Jonathan Baldwin

11. CB Jimmy Smith

Aaron’s bust flags:

1. DE Robert Quinn

2. QB Jake Locker

3. G Danny Watkins

4. WR AJ Green – after thinking it over a bit, I added Green to the list. I think the Bengals is one of the worst teams to play for, and they really needed a QB. Who’s going to throw the ball to AJ Green? Carson Palmer is a good backup but his starting days are over. Jordan Palmer is garbage and JT O’Sullivan is pretty bad as well. As far as receiving skills, I would have taken Julio Jones any day.

Late (4-7) round steals:

4-4 – OL Clint Boling, Georgia (Cincinnati Bengals)

4-7 – TE Luke Stocker, Tennessee (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

4-9 – DT Christian Ballard, Iowa (Minnesota Vikings)

4-16 – CB Chmdi Chekwa, Ohio State (Oakland Raiders)

4-26 – WR Tandon Doss, Indiana (Baltimore Ravens) – the fact that the Ravens just drafted TWO good receivers (Doss and Torrey Smith from Maryland) means they probably won’t resign TJ Houshmandzadeh.

4-28 – RB Taiwan Jones, Eastern Washington (Oakland Raiders)

5-1 – RB Johnny White, North Carolina (Buffalo Bills)

5-7 – OL Marcus Cannon, TCU (New England Patriots)

5-8 – CB Brandon Burton, Utah (Minnesota Vikings)

5-10 – TE DJ Williams, Arkansas (Green Bay Packers)

5-14 – RB Jacquizz Rodgers, Oregon State (Atlanta Falcons)

5-20 – S Ahmad Black, Florida (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

6-3 – OT DeMarcus Love, Arkansas (Minnesota Vikings)

6-6 – LB Quan Sturdivant, North Carolina (Arizona Cardinals)

6-33 – S Tyler Sash, Iowa (New York Giants)

7-41 – OL Lee Ziemba, Auburn (Carolina Panthers)

I pledge to myself:

Social Security belongs to the people who have worked hard all their lives and contributed to it. Social Security is a promise that must not be broken. If you pay in, then you earn the right to benefits for yourself, your spouse and your dependent children when you retire, experience a severe disability, or die.

We need to strengthen Social Security, not cut it. I oppose any cuts to Social Security benefits, including increasing the retirement age. I also oppose any effort to privatize Social Security, in whole or in part.

AARON DANDREA

If you cannot be the poet, be the poem.

Conducted a few polls in the Baltimore area. Naturally, they only concern local elections. When numbers don’t add up to 100%, the remainder were unsure.

Maryland House of Delegates – Dist. 42 Democratic Primary
1. Steve Lafferty
2. Oz Bengur
3. Art Buist
4. Lori Albin
5. David Kosak

Baltimore County Executive – Democratic Primary
Kevin Kamenetz – 51%
Joe Bartenfelder – 40%

Baltimore County Council – District 5 – Democratic Primary
Mike Ertel – 60%
Bill Paulshock – 20%

What the Jabulani just happened?? I knew Germany was going to beat Argentina, but 4-0? This is insanity!

“What the Jabulani?” or WTJ can be used interchangeably with WTF. However, it denotes even MOAR surprise and implies that the speaker is shocked, appalled, and flabbergasted at the exact same time.

Also, I hate it how every time somebody loses, they are taking the opportunity to blame it on the BALL. Srsly? You are the best soccer players in the world. Some people are able to score goals. Even if the ball is different, if you’re the one who can’t score with it, you suck more than they do, and therefore deserve to lose.

After the exciting Round of 16, here is a super awesome chart showing how the rest of the games are going to go:

As for the final four:

1. Spain will beat Uruguay to take third place, once again failing to win the cup.
2. The Netherlands will beat Germany to win first place. The Dutch will play total football and take full advantage of their opportunities, which is something most teams seem to fail to do. The Germans are younger and less experienced, and have less team chemistry than the Dutch squad.

And if you think I’m jumping on some sort of bandwagon after the surprise win over Brazil, I picked Holland to take first place since the first day of the tournament.

Adjusted predictions after the second round of games:

Predictions on the rest of the round:
1. Uruguay will upset Mexico.
2. South Africa will beat an unpracticed French squad in turmoil 1-0.
3. South Korea will play well, as they have been, but Nigeria will rally and beat them with a strong right side attack and one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
4. In a massacre and a half, Argentina will kill Greece, who still has yet to win a match against a full squad.
5. Slovenia is not to be underestimated, but England will win by a goal.
6. The US and Algeria will draw.
7. Germany should have little trouble with Ghana.
8. Likewise, Serbia should have little trouble with Australia.
9. This game could really go either way, but I’ll go with Denmark due to their superior chemistry and flag.
10. Holland will win this 2-0. Cameroon won’t play poorly, but the Dutch team is simply better.
11. Italy will have learned from their mistakes in the last match and come back in their game against Slovakia.
12. New Zealand will play well and possibly even score first, but Paraguay will win this match to take the group 2-1.
13. In a game that will likely be EPIC, Brazil will win 1-0.
14. Demoralized, the lowest-ranked team in the finals will lose to the Ivory Coast, which is actually a very good team. It is unfortunate they are in the Group of Death.
15. Spain has not been living up to expectations this year, and Chile has a good squad and a great coach. This will be a draw.
16. Honduras will beat Switzerland by a goal.

Some things we have learned from the first matches:
1. Robert Green is the greatest goalkeeper England has ever seen. The fact that he looks like a leprechaun when dressed in green only increases his skill level. His greatest strength lies not in his extensive experience at the European Cup-and-higher levels, but in his uncanny ability to defend against the weakly-kicked shot.

Photo: Getty Images. FIFA.com

2. Serbia will self-destruct. At least, if they keep playing like they did against Ghana. Cards aplenty were thrown at Serbians, including one that was a deeper shade of yellow than the rest. Then, with a team of 10 men, some failure decided that he was actually a linebacker trying to deflect a pass. The obvious handball IN THE PENALTY BOX led to the game-winning goal for Ghana.

3. Uruguay is for real. Unlike Serbia, they’re not seeing the cards (so far) that they have been accustomed to. They seem ready to make a legitimate run at the cup, which they haven’t won in 60 years.

4. Greece is still horrible. It’s too bad they don’t play Australia, because the “Socceroos” are SO horrible they’d likely lose to Greece. All that false hope held by the Aussie fans, like “O we’ve got so much experience!!1″ translates to “Our team is old and we suck :(”

5. Cameroon had a shot, and now they do not. Cameroon’s offense failed against Japan in their first match. They still have a shot at the Round of 16, but they just have to beat Denmark and the Netherlands. Sounds simple enough. (sarcasm)

6. Denmark is terrific at scoring goals. As you can see in the video above, “On Team Denmark, there are no superstars or big names, just a perfect mix of experience, talent, and spirit…” or in other words, the Danes’ biggest (only?) asset this year is teamwork. This paid off greatly in their first match against the Netherlands, where two Danish players collaborated to score a goal on themselves.

In order to execute this move properly, make sure you are only inches from your own goal. Then, head the ball LOW, preferably into the back of your nearest teammate.

Not likely. And really, that answer has little to do with the 1-1 draw with Paraguay today.

One criticism of Italy is that they are too old; this is nonsense. Italy played with youthful vigor against Paraguay. The only reason it was a draw was Paraguay’s defense.

The reason Italy will not likely return to the final round this year is more because there are other teams that, unless they are eliminated in an upset, will destroy the Italian team we saw playing today. I do think they’ll win their ridiculously easy group, and then beat 2E, who will be either Denmark (the own-goal team), Japan (the team that can’t score), or Cameroon (the team that lost to Japan). Any of those three beating Italy would certainly be an upset.

Unfortunately, in the next round, Italy would likely play Spain, and that is where their run will end.

Does Italy have a bad squad? Definitely not. But they are not elite enough to repeat, I reckon.

Firstly, are the grammar correct in that question? LOL I feel like it should be “is Germany” but then again, I am not literate.

Germany beating Australia was no surprise. Germany beating Australia in the emphatic manner in which they did was.
FIFA.com wants to know if that 4-0 win has, in your view, established Joachim Low’s side as the favourites to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.

FIFA.com

Ya know what? It really has. Going into this, people were wondering if any team could beat Spain and England. While Spain has yet to play a match, England has come off to a shaky start.

Everyone had questions and doubts about Germany, given its young squad and several injuries. But all that was laid to rest today by the intensity of their game and margin of victory. Then again, they did play Australia.

Their next opponent is Serbia, on June 18th. If Serbia manages to NOT self-destruct as they did this morning against Ghana, this could be a competitive match. If Germany can pull this out, especially with a wide margin of victory, they will be solidified as THE team to beat.