They will be back on Friday, a bit more on that later.
Today was a nice day for a ride down into the city. I rode through the Fairgrounds and discovered that the church dining hall to commercial restaurant conversion involves a pretty much complete rebuild. About all that they are retaining for the new business is the old roof and parts, only parts, of the exterior walls. Everything else must go.
I passed these in Saint Anthony Park.
Pleased to be of service.And this struck my fancy as well. Within the Saint Paul city limits seems an odd location for the Minneapolis and Suburban Bus Company.
Shouldn't they be located in one of those other places?Minnehaha Falls is always a good destination. The very plentiful recent rainfall has resulted in a lot of water going over the edge for this late in the year.
I ended June with the fewest miles ever recorded in that month since I started keeping track. See above reference to plentiful recent rainfall and also note that I was in France for the first two days of the month. This marks the second month in a row with a new all time low recorded. Note that I was in France for a good portion of May.Before the World Cup began my selection for probable winner was Argentina. I have seen 56 games and my selection for probable winner is Argentina. Argentina has the best player in the world and plenty to go with him. The more I see of Lionel Messi the more astonished I am by how clearly he IS the best player in the world (right now).
I have seen 56 games, I feel qualified to comment on some of the teams that have gone home.
Italy. Italy 2010 made the same mistake as France 2002. France won the Copa in 1998 and returned four years later with mostly the same team. In 2002 France was too old and exited without scoring a goal in the first round. Italy wasn't quite as pathetic this time as France in 2002 but they too made the mistake of returning four years later with mostly the same team that won in 2006. Too old, not good enough.
France. OK on defense, weak in the midfield, extremely poor at the front. France's best striker was only the SECOND best striker on his club team. France also suffered from being too old. Consider that 17 players on the Algeria team formerly played for France in the under 22s and younger ranks. Those young players should have been pushing the French veterans to make France better. To improve there must be a constant infusion of young talent, most of France's young talent is playing for Algeria.
England. Crippled by the pre-tournament loss of stalwart central defender Rio Ferdinand. Instead of solid at the back England spent the tournament trying to figure out who should play alongside Terry. England was also, fairly obviously, severely weak in goal (what a wanker!). A further problem was the fact that two of England's best four players play the same position. Gerrard played out of position the whole tournament and despite his early goal against the USA he never really got it going.
But the topper of them all to me, the reason why they turned out to be not very good is right there next to Rooney. Emile Heskey? Surely you jest. Emile Heskey? If your first eleven includes Emile Heskey your team's reasonable ambition should be mid-table in the Premier League, surely not the World Cup.
USA. Looked considerably less talented than its inflated world ranking. Competent in midfield, punchless up front and disorganized at the back. Furthermore I believe the buzz we heard about Tim Howard as the best goalkeeper in the world will probably die down in a bit in the wake of his having surrendered not one, but TWO goals at the near post against well known juggernaut Ghana (playing without its best player by the way).
56 games in 18 days and now the fun begins.
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