Money AUShot

via @PeterWilt1

Mr. Blatter, Teriyaki Down This Wall

Halleh Louie XI

Some meme-worthy screenshots at the end of the Ghana/England exhibition at Wembley on Tuesday evening, after an epic equalizer from Asamoah Gyan.

According to the Twittersphere it's this bloke.  Best of luck to him on his travels to the Gold Coast. Hope he doesn't start bible-thumping Elton John or do what the Brits did the last time they colonized west Africa -- or the last time a barefoot Black Stars team played in London.

That same evening across the Irish Sea, there was a friendly in Dublin with Ireland hosting Uruguay. Yes that same Ur-so-guay team that deflated our hearts with Luis Suarez's red-carded slap at the goal line at Soccer City last summer. If ever there was a time to put the past away and begin bilateral negotiations towards a peace treaty, it is now.

Bill & Luke's Excellent Adventures

Illinois won their first NCAA tourney game in what feels like a zillion years, and feeling nostalgic I pulled up a clip of their finest March Madness comeback. The best part of that clip, and for those of us improv Chicago dudes, is CBS showing orange-clad Bill Murray with his son Luke going bonkers in the stands during those frantic final minutes at the old Rosemont Horizon in '05.

Arizona, like the Illini, are also having their deepest run since then. The two schools have a burgeoning rivalry that began in 2001, when after splitting two regular season meetings, met with a birth to the Final Four at stake. That game was controversial for the officiating but also as a nuisance to Illinois fans because Bill Walton was calling the game for CBS while his son Luke was starring for the Wildcats.

Luke Walton was in Anaheim last night for Arizona's lost to Connecticut, and CBS couldn't stop zooming their cameras in on him. No word on whether Bill was there, but I'm pretty sure Luke Murray was supporting Arizona in the stands even without his pops' prescence.

Emirated-MA

The weekend after I posted this, the former Sex Pistols legend and TV personality finally put away his grudge and attended his first Arsenal game at their new grounds. Some cool shots from Getty Images of the Public Image Ltd. frontman were taken, while appearances on TalkBalk Live and some podcast with Ian Wright were among the stops for John Lydon/Rotten's new book.

I first found out Sir Johnny was a big footy fan in this awesome appearance on George Strombobolous' CBC show The Hour. In the clip the new transplant to Los Angeles provides a spot-on analysis of David Beckham's move to the Galaxy, among other things. Similiar sentiments have been shared by L.A. radio host Steve Jones, the Sex Pistols guitarist and Hollywood United fullback who's a Chelsea supporter.

Speaking of Chelsea Piers, Lydon seems like the perfect guest for CNN's new import to New York, Piers Morgan. The former Daily Mail columnist -- remember Larry King's USA Today column? -- spends a lot of his Twitter feed tweeting about his beloved Gunners. Unfortunately that same passion has yet to be shown on Piers Morgan Tonight, which has been taking 'starfugging' route instead of something vibrant and interesting. It's time for producers Jonathan Wald and Spank Rock to expand their horizons instead of old Americans, and think more of their CNN Int'l viewership.

Qatar Hero

Q

Seconds before gasps are heard at the @Newseum

Our 21st century plans our set by our FIFA overlords, so it's time to dust off the blog here. I've been busying micro-blogging over on Twitter, a platform you might have heard of, relaying as little minutiae that I can.

Twitter excels most during live moments, so after announcement in Zurich on where World Cups 2018 and 2022 are headed, I had a brief exchange with Brooks Peck of Yahoo's DirtyTackle blog. In essence I was using Mr. Peck as my muse in the matter, fighting the ignorance piling up with the decisions. But it was cathartic nonetheless.

Six and the City

The Brothers Touré

Bentiez sez something.

ESPN's Rob Stone and Taylor Twellman chat with SiriusXM's Charlie Stillitano

Henryal.

Thierry Henry took the PATH train to say bienvenue to his new home venue on Thursday night, but nothing could prepare him for this train-wreck of an interview.

Yes, leave it to the FOX affiliate in New York to leave out the truth and put a newcomer to our shores through their vacuous no-fact zone. Rupert Murdoch's New York Post had already fabricated a few headlines about the "stupid" sport of soccer this summer.

Henry looked to be in more welcoming surroundings on another morning show, hosted by newbie futbol fanatic Joe Scarborough. Having followed Joe on Twitter during the World Cup I thought his account had been hacked -- it was THAT fever-pitched.

Speaking of going high and wide, Henry thankfully avoided old-fashioned baseball blabbermouth Keith Olbermann on his way to 30 rock, choosing a more youthful appearance on Jimmy Fallon's late night chatfest.

Waving Flagged

©ourtesy of ESQUIRE

World Cup fever hit the interwebs in full force two days before the opening game, and the pace of the friend-zy was set when Twitter went ball-istic in devoting resources in getting armchair strikers situated.

As a futbol fan we appreciated all their intentions, and the attention they gave the World's Game. But the execution, some might say, left a lot to be desired.

Esquire, who I generally find uninteresting as a trendy celebrity-mongering self-important 'lad' mag, had a pretty good article breaking down the #worldcup hashtag phenomenon and some poll results.

Internet records were broken throughout the month-long festivities in South Africa. Which is a sign of the tournament increasing popularity -- particularly in North America -- but perhaps also a sign of the fragile nature of Web 2.0 platforms.  Big goals immediately meant a big sperm whale notifying us that "something is technically wrong" -- something I'm sure fans of France, Italy and England were probably already thinking, but for reasons on the field, not online.

©ourtesy of Twitter

Interestingly enough, 145 goals were scored at this year's FIFA World Cup. So it's no surprise we went a bit over the limit on Twitter.

Cup d'état

Pres. Obama watches USA-Ghana during break at G12 summit

It was unfortunate that the first African-American president in the White House  couldn''t head out to the first World Cup on African soil. But with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the G12 summit in Canada, it would have been a public relations risk with our ever-fickle populace. Pres. Obama got into the spirit at the hotel in Toronto with other world leaders, and lived to tweet about a few times.

But it was to the U.S. embassy in Pretoria did really took the social media cake, posting and commenting some interesting stuff down on the ground in South African through their Facebook and Twitter sites.

The White House sent out VP Joe Biden to the VIP box at the opening match in Jo'burg, sitting behind Desmond Tutu while the Arch got his groove on in the booth after Tshabalala scored a spectacular opening goal of the tournament.

Then it was Bill Clinton's turn to take charge, going BYOB after the Algeria match and then turning up the glitz in rusty Bloemfontein for the second round against Ghana. Instead of bringing the beers he brought along famous friends like Mick Jagger, Kobe Bryant and, uh, Katie Couric and Wolf Blitzer. It was then announced that Mr. Clinton will spearhead the American delegation to Zurich at the end of this year to campaign for the 2022 World Cup in the USA, which Bill knows something about.

A day after the final at Soccer City, Pres. Obama sat down with South African state broadcaster SABC for an exclusive interview from the Oval Office, lauding the hosts for their fine management of the tournament and what the event will mean for further investment into, not out of, Africa.

LEGOAL !

BEATween a Rock and a Rap Place

I skipped out from buying the CD soundtrack to the last World Cup in boring ol' Germany, but I didn't want to miss a beat with the first World Cup in black Africa.

The official album released via Sony/Columbia was a letdown, as they usually are since they're restricted to only artists on their label. Instead, what I did was scour the internet for all the awesome music I've heard during the World Cup and leading up to it, from commercials to radio to music video outlets. All the songs officially written and produced for the event.

The hard drive from here to there, music accompaniment to the sounds of a pulsating planet. Here's what the CD I compiled and burned earlier today sounds like...

Track 1: K'naan feat. Nancy Arjam - 'Waving Flag' (Arabic)
Track 2: Weezer/Rivers Cuomo - 'Reprezent'
Track 3: Richard Ashcroft feat. the U.N.O.S. - 'Are You Ready'
Track 4: Akon feat. Keri Hilson - 'Oh Africa'
Track 5: Safri Duo feat. Velile - 'Helele'
Track 6: Ziggy Marley feat. Angelique Kidjo - 'Africa Land'
Track 7: South African Pop All-Stars - 'Shosholoza 2010'
Track 8: Daddy Yankee - 'Grito Mundial'
Track 9: Shakira - 'Waka Waka (Esto Es Africa)'
Track 10: DJ Sharam - 'Waka Waka Arena Mix'
Track 11: R.Kelly feat Soweto Gospel Choir - 'Sign of a Victory'

West Wink

Let's play a game, shall we?

Which one of these two pics was photoshopped?

In Awegrated

I've never come across a South African bar or restaurant in the States, but a Brooklynite did and lived it up to tell about it.

Even better, someone else got a cellphone capture of the first goal of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. After the final whistle, a crowd gathered outside the Paley Center in Manhattan for a singalong of 'Shosholoza' that we hope to hear more of the next month. Thanks to the MLS Insider for recording the clip below, btw.

I was asked to briefly share some of my thoughts on Bafana Bafana's run over at the World Cup blog for Drew Carey's Seattle Sounders, who also included me in a Puget Sound Business Journal article on bloggers during the extra-time extravaganza. Ayoba!

Polkaface

Out of the woodwork every four years come bandwagon fans and minivan suckers.

I can tolerate them. But with them comes the condescending contrarians ready to prove that they're above the fray with their uber-whiteness.

Are these three twats the same person? If you know anything about these semi-popular writers, it's glaring how they sure seem to look the same, write the same, and like the same things.

Click on each image to find out the same thing they don't like.