Chicks Dig the Long Goals

On Wednesday night, Southern Methodist University defender Ryan Rosenbaum scored a 70-yard goal against the nationally ranked Tulsa Golden Hurricane en route to a 3-1 victory. Rosenbaum took an errant Tulsa pass and cleared the ball out of his defensive end. The ball travelled the length of the fielf and bounced off the artificial turf, rocketing over keeper Andy Aguilar’s head into the back of the net.



As if that weren’t cool enough, last night, Washington Capitals defenseman Jeff Schultz scored a 175-foot bouncing goal against Atlanta Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who then quickly let in two more goals in the next 88 seconds before finally, mercifully being pulled.



(Both Via)

Juan Roman Riquelme

People who know much more about soccer that I do swear Argentine Juan Roman Riquelme, a midfielder for the Boca Juniors, is one of the best players in the world. Wikipedia tells me he is a playmaker know for his passing and setting the tempo of the play. I never heard of him before, so I’m just going to have to play along, in both instances.

Whether he is all of these things is beside the point. All I know is that he's good with the ball. Here he is showing off his touch, while two men, in the distance, shoot paint pellets at his feet.



And here he is weaving his silky magic against the competition, an equally impressive display of skill. 

Copa N.Y.C.

Believe it or not, in about two weeks, New York City will host a 16-team world soccer tournament. Copa N.Y.C., a sort of mini-World Cup, is made up of national teams drawn from the Metropolitan area's diverse cultural and ethnic communities. Each team, according to Copa N.Y.C.'s website, consists of a team president, coaches, and 25 players who can at least claim some heritage to their country they're representing. 

The 16 teams-- the United States, England, Ireland, France, Ghana, Korea, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Greece, Trinidad & Tobago, Cyprus, Albania, Liberia, Jamaica and Ecuador-- have been split into four groups. The top two finishers from each group advance to the next round. For those scoring at home, the United Sates is in Group C with Cyprus, Argentina and Liberia. First round games are 50 minutes long, while the semifinals, quarterfinals and finals are all 90 minutes. 

The first round kicks off July 25 at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens. Semifinals and finals are scheduled for the following week at the Metropolitan Oval in Maspeth, also in Queens. This should be fun. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict Ghana comes out of Group B, and wins it all. 

Remi Gaillard

Below are two clips of Remi Gaillard in action. Gaillard is a French performance artist who rose to fame staging elaborate, high-profile pranks. The first clip is a mash-up of Gaillard performing trick shots in between footage of him posing as a Lorient footballer after the team won the 2002 Coupe de France. During the celebration, but sadly not included in the clip below, Gaillard also met Jacques Chirac and, later, gave a television interview about the victory. Which isn't to insinuate that the following clip isn't worth watching. It certainly is, if only for Gaillard's deft touch and the incongruous AC/DC soundtrack. 

This second clip, though, shows a much more creative use of Gaillard's talents and is, therefore, about a thousand times funnier. In it, Gaillard dresses up as Pac Man and descends, along with his Ghost-clad cohorts, into a local supermarket, a golf course and, later, a pool hall to wreak havoc on his unsuspecting compatriots. Enjoy.