Nice Weekend

I really enjoyed this past weekend.  It was jam packed full of things that I really enjoyed.  So much so, in fact, that it's almost hard to know where to start.  I suppose that chronologically is best, so here goes...

The weekend before last, while camping in Texas, I managed to bust a hole in the passenger tail light of Jodi's car.  I bumped it with the cooler's plastic wheel while trying to load the cooler back in the truck of the car.  The plastic of the tail light was the weaker of the two plastics, evidently.  It wasn't a hard bump but was more than sufficient to require a new tail light.  I say all this to say that the blinker also quit working and made me nervous because the bulb looked fine.  However, I bought some replacement bulbs after work on Friday and that was the problem after all.  So, that was a relief.  A good start to the weekend.

Goodbye, 84 body.  We hardly knew each other.

Saturday morning was a nice homemade breakfast with my family followed by the sale of the body to my 1984 Ford F150 at full asking price.  Woo hoo!  As mentioned in the last blog, I had it listed for sale on Craigslist and while I had talked to lots of people who claimed they wanted to buy it, I started to wonder if I would get it sold since no one had made any effort to actually see it in person yet.  I'm glad to make the space and liquidate the unnecessary asset.

I had time to mow and weed eat which is a huge chore, but one that I kind of enjoy doing.  While doing the weed eating, I listened to Leeland's new album, Invisible.  It was available to stream for free for the weekend only.  It's a great album!  We went ahead and pre-ordered it.  It is set to be available on July 22.  Afterwards, some family showed up to come with us to a church fireworks display to which our neighbors had invited us.  It was good to get to hang out with them and get to know them better.  They're a really nice family.  The children got to play on inflatables, the fireworks were fun to see, we had some good food, and got to spend some time with family and new friends.

Lyric successfully frog hopping his way across the balls.

Sunday afternoon was a small watch party at Qdoba to see the Euro 2016 final match between underdog Portugal and host country France battling it out on the pitch.  Portugal's star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, was injured shortly after the game began and despite making a valiant effort to continue on through the pain, he reluctantly and emotionally called to be taken off.  Without their captain, Portugal held off France well into extra time when a Portuguese substitute managed to blast in a goal from almost 25 yards out.  It was an unlikely goal from an unlikely source, but it was the only one of the match and it gave Portugal their first ever major tournament trophy while breaking a 41-year run of France defeating them.  It was certainly an amazing game to see as well as a satisfactory finish to a summer of international soccer watching.  With Copa America complete and now with Euro 2016 over, I go back to being a non sports-watcher.  Not that I'm complaining!  While I enjoy the tournaments, I'm equally looking forward to all the things I will have time to do now.

After the watch party and a stop at Lowe's for some trim, we headed down to Busiek State Park to hang out and let the kids play.  It was a nice finish to a nice weekend. :)

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Family, Fun, Food, and Futbal!

Last Saturday was my 37th birthday and we celebrated it how I wanted to celebrate it and then some.  For months, I've been looking forward to Copa America Centenario which, if you didn't know, is an international one-time tournament with countries from all of the Americas to celebrate CONMEBOL (South American Football Confederation) turning 100 years old.  The kick-off game was last Friday night between USA and Columbia.

USA may have lost that match 2-0, but I still really enjoyed the game particularly since for the first time ever I got to watch from home.  We signed up with Sling TV which is a really awesome app.  We get to try if for free for 7 days and then it's only $20 per month for the basic package (a trimmed-down version of a standard cable package).  For an additional $5 per month, I got the sports add-on package which included Univision Deportes Network.  All of the Copa America games will be aired on this channel.  The only caveat is that it's in Spanish, but that doesn't really matter since I don't care to listen to commentators anyway.

Fox has the broadcasting rights to Copa America and the only way that I could find to get the channel was to get cable or satellite.  Fox does have an app called Fox Soccer2Go for $20 per month which supposedly allows you to watch sports games broadcast by Fox on your phone or tablet.  However, I read a bunch of reviews and nobody likes it.  Complaints are everywhere that the app freezes or kicks you out almost all the time.  And, I didn't want to watch it on a small screen anyway, let alone if it is going to be so buggy that I'll miss parts of the games.

So, I'm really liking Sling TV.  Unlike, Fox Socer2Go, I can watch a game live or I can stream it later.  Plus, Jodi likes it too since it also has HGTV.  And, when we're done with it, we can cancel it.  This is how easy it's supposed to be, but never is, with cable or satellite.

Sorry for the infomercial, but clearly I have enjoyed this new concept of having affordable, no-nonsense "cable".

My birthday celebration was awesome from even the night before.  Friday night, we had brats and dogs on the grill and ate outside enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having.  Jodi worked her butt off making 20 lbs of fajitas that we had on Saturday and were amazingly good.  I will forever judge all other fajitas by this new standard.  Then, she surprised me with a mulberry cobbler that her and the children picked from our mulberry trees.  If you've never had it, you're missing out. We watched four more games between Saturday and Sunday and still had some time to piddle around with a few things that I wanted to do.

Overall, it was a very relaxing and delicious weekend enjoying some great international soccer from the comforts of my own home.  Even Cute (our cat) got in on the action.  Here she is getting extremely upset about a bad call the referee made.

Cute and I share a birthday.  I forgot to mention that she turned 2 on Saturday.

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Free Euro 2016 Score Sheet Poster

Free Printable UEFA Euro 2016 Score Sheet Poster

I created a free Copa America 2016 Score Sheet Poster and then I was asked to create a similar Euro 2016 poster, as well.  I couldn't resist a perfectly legitimate request.

Here are links to the full-sized, high resolution PDF and PNG versions of the score sheet pictured here to the right.  They're pretty big files because I designed them to be printed at 24 inches by 36 inches.  Staples will print this as an "engineering print" (black & white) at that size for only $3.  Printing in color is best so that you can see all the flags correctly, but it's more expensive.  So, to each their own.

If you haven't used this sheet or one like it before to keep score of all the games then you are missing out.  By keeping track of all the outcomes, it adds a level of excitement to the entire tournament.

I've also added some links in the drop-down menu above just in case.

As always, this is free of charge.  I hope you enjoy it!

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Copa America Centenario - Free Poster

Copa America 2016 Bracket Interactive Schedule Score Sheet Free Poster Download

If you're like me at all, then you love international soccer events and you love to keep score of all major international tournaments.  So, I'm sharing what I create to help myself keep track of all the action.

The kickoff game for Copa America is June 3rd.  I can't hardly wait.  Here are links to the full-sized, high resolution PDF and PNG versions of the score sheet pictured here to the right.  They're pretty big files because I designed them to be printed at 24 inches by 36 inches.  Staples will print this as an "engineering print" (black & white) at that size for only $3.  Printing in color is best so that you can see all the flags correctly, but it's more expensive.  So, to each their own.

I also made a poster for the Euro 2016 tournament.  You should grab it, too. If you haven't used this sheet or one like it before to keep score of all the games then you are missing out.  By keeping track of all the outcomes, it adds a level of excitement to the entire tournament.

I've also added some links in the drop-down menu above just in case.

As always, this is free of charge.  I hope you enjoy it!

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Kingsmen

We just wrapped up our first indoor soccer session this week with a solid 11-3 win over the Headhunters.  It was a great game where we showed some impressive defensive skills and perhaps an even better offensive display of composed ball possession.  It was a game to be proud of, for sure.

What was more impressive than the game we played was the results of the season.  We went undefeated.  I've never been on a team that had an undefeated season before.  We came out the first game with a tie that was quite the battle to witness.  It was back and forth the whole game and ended 9-9.  That's a hefty goal count for a soccer game, even for indoor.

Every game after that was a win.  But, with the exception of one game that was a forfeit due to the opposing team only having two players show, none of the wins were handed to us or came easily.  Several of the games could have easily gone the other way.

I love soccer.  And, I forgot how much I missed playing competitively.  The next session starts up in a couple weeks and I'm looking forward to it.  The top three teams from this session's results will stay in this grouping and welcome three new teams to it, while the other three teams will drop down to the next level.

I fully intend to get a proper group photo at the start of the next session.  I'll have to add it to this blog once I get it.

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World Cup 2014 - Free Poster

The week after the draw, I created a poster using the open-source photo editing software GIMP.  I put it together for my own personal use but thought that some soccer fans such as myself might also like to have it.  So here it is in JPG format and PNG format.  Only 29 days left before the action begins!

This was designed to be printed at 24" x 36".  It can be printed smaller, but some of the text can become difficult to read at smaller sizes, particularly the dates of the games.

I printed mine at Staples for $3 plus tax at 24" x 36".  If you would like to do the same, you can upload the PNG format to the Staples website and have it printed as a black and white engineering print like I did.

I'll also have the links available long term in my downloads drop-down lists at the top of my blog.

Enjoy!

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World Cup Excitement - Free Download

ATTENTION! If you downloaded the World Cup spreadsheet before June 21, 2014 then you have a copy that has errors.  A fixed version is now available for download here with scores filled out up to June 21 or for a blank version download this one.

I apologize for the calculation error.  Technically, it's not my fault.  I originally built this spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel 2003.  Since the first round is a point system that breaks ties in points by goal difference and ties in goal difference by total goals scored, the formulas to determine the ranking for each group are surprisingly difficult to write.  I wrote formulas with multiple nested formulas within them.  Microsoft reduced the number of formulas for which you can nest within other formulas in Microsoft Excel 2010.  So, the formulas were logically correct but disallowed by the newer version of Excel that I am using.  As a result, the ranking of teams within Group play were not calculated and no teams were pulled over into Round 2.  Thanks, Microsoft, for that "improvement" (eye roll).

UPDATE:  For a free downloadable and printable poster of the brackets, go to my newest post and click on the link for the download.

FIFA World Cup 2014 is coming up and this guy is getting excited.  The weekend before last was the draw and so the official schedule has been filled and is ready to go.

So, without hesitation, I built my Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to keep up with all the games.  It's in the same user-friendly interface as it's been when I originally designed it for World Cup 2006.  I updated it a little bit, but I was afraid to get into the formulas too much because I keep getting a warning about too many arguments being nested within single cells.  Apparently, I was able to do more within a single cell in Microsoft Excel 2003 than in the 2010 version I have now.

Anyway, it works like a charm with no more interaction from the user than entering the final scores of each game.  In Round 1, it does all the math for you on the fly in regards to team points, total goals scored, total goals scored against, and total goal difference.  Basically, every scenario that might possibly be used to determine final ranking in Round 1 to see who makes it into Round 2 and who doesn't.

In Round 2, in the event of a tied game going into penalty shots for a tie breaker, a box pops up to allow the user to enter the penalty shots results.

It's a fun way to follow along with all the games.  Otherwise, with 64 games being played in roughly a month, it's easy to just miss a good portion of the action.

I considered marketing this sheet of mine, selling it online for download for something like a dollar.  But, after some investigation, I found out that FIFA holds exclusive rights for a lot more than I thought.  I would have been infringing on the intellectual property rights of FIFA had I done something like that.  Perhaps, on Microsoft, as well.

So, here it is for free.  Also, it will be available in the 'Downloads' drop-down menu at the top of this blog.  FIFA can't sue me for distributing it this way.   Well, they can, I guess, but they won't win since I am adhering to their legal requirements.

• I'm receiving no monetary benefits in the distribution of this file, nor any other form of compensation.
• I'm not using this distribution as a means to advertise any product or company.
• The file contains no copy-written or otherwise protected images belonging to FIFA or any of its affiliates.
• The file does not contain excessive words or phrases registered as intellectual property of FIFA or any of its affiliates.
• The purpose of distribution of this file is to excite a fan base and increase the number of individuals watching the World Cup in 2014, which is FIFA's own product.

P.S.  FIFA, if you are reading this, don't get mad.  You don't want to sue me.  You want to hire me.

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I Love Weekends

We had a pretty productive weekend.  It was nice to be around the house and do some fun things.  I started it out by drafting up a long "to do" list on Friday.  I knew that there was not much of a chance that I would get even half of it done, but I thought that having it all on there would help to give me choices as to what project was best for any particular moment.

Lyric had a soccer game at 9:00 for which the weather was hardly ideal.  It was cold and everything was wet from the overnight rain.  The kids played great, though, and walked away with a 11-0 win.

Shortly after the game, the sun came out and dried up all the rain.  And, the itsy-bitsy spider went up the spout again.  Well, I don't know about any spiders, but it did turn out to be a pretty nice day.  We were all very excited to welcome the delivery of our wood to build our deck.  Lowe's came and managed to get it all in our backyard right up close to where we will begin building.  It was nice enough that Jodi and I both were itching to just jump right in and start on the deck project, but unfortunately, we can't start that for a few weeks.  So, Jodi helped me mask off 3 lockers and I got a terrible-looking first coat of primer on despite some problems with my sprayer.

On Sunday, I became extremely frustrated with my sprayer and almost threw it to the ground in anger.  But, I managed to compose myself long enough to finally ask God for help.  And, of course, He did.  I got to looking at my sprayer and wondered what the clear rubber tube coming out the top was for.  It just looped back into the frame.  I turned over the sprayer to examine the underside of the frame to find that the opening was clogged with old paint.  I pulled the hose off the frame connect and proceeded to finish primering the lockers with the most consistent sprayer I have ever used.  I figure the hose is a pressure relief for the canister.  With it clogged, the sprayer would only work for a minute until the pressure inside the canister would be so low that it would refuse to let out any more paint.  The hose just lets air in to replace the product coming out to equalize the pressure.  Wish I would have done that sooner.  Oh well.  Lesson learned.

After two days of working around the house, I felt like we could all use some fun.  So, with our newly acquired fire pit (thanks Craigslist) and plenty of brush that needed disposed of, we had s'mores for dinner.  Yes.  For dinner.  I know, not exactly "Parent of the Year" material, but I think that we all really enjoyed it.

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Brazil Wins Again

Brazil has won their fourth FIFA Confederations Cup.  This one makes three in a row for them.  Couple that with their five World Cup championships, and no one can doubt that they are not the leading country when it comes to competitive international soccer.  So, why don't I like them?

I say I don't like Brazil because they're not the underdog.  They're the overdog, if there were such a thing.  I say it's nothing personal.  It's just they always seem to be winning.

But, the truth is that my disdain for Brazil goes deeper than that.  Let us travel back in time to the year 1994.  [Insert funky time traveling sound effect]  I am 15 years old.  This is the first World Cup to which I would be paying attention.  And, this is the first World Cup ever to be hosted in the United States.  For most of my life I had received scorn for being a soccer player.  It was not a favored sport in this country and in my particular home town of Ozark, Missouri it was disrespected at some times and all but ignored most of the time.  But with the World Cup games being played in every major city throughout the U.S., soccer was finally getting its due attention.

Their were three major soccer giants in the tournament.  All three countries had each won three past World Cups.  They were Brazil, Germany, and Italy.  Two other countries sported two World Cup wins.  They were Argentina and Uruguay.

My favorite team is Germany.  I had seen one of their games and fell in love with their mathematically controlled playing style.  I love Italy because I always felt that the little bit of Italian blood coursing through my veins bonded me to the country somehow.  Of course, I hope the U.S. will do well, but we all know with the lack of public support for the sport, we are way behind every other country in developing a program.  I respect Brazil for their obvious talent, but have no ties to them otherwise.

Through the month of June, the 64 games get played with the final between Brazil and Italy.  Of course, I'm rooting for Italy.  The referee's stopwatch runs out with the two teams tied.  They go into the first overtime period.  Tied.  The second overtime.  Tied.  Then come the dreaded penalty kicks.  What a way to end a tournament.  The greatest tournament on earth.  Yet, that's how it ends with Brazil defeating my team and walking away with their fourth World Cup.  The only country to win four.

Fast forward to 2002.  Similar story, but this time Brazil beats Germany, my favorite team, in the final.  Now they've won five World Cups.  Fast forward to 2013, a couple weeks ago.  I somehow didn't know about the Confederations Cup, but when I found out, it didn't take me long to discover that the last Confederations Cup in 2009 the U.S managed to make it all the way to the final.  But they lost to ... you guessed it...  Brazil.

So, when you hear me say that I don't have anything against Brazil, please call me out on my blatant lie.  I may have to work on my unforgiveness.

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FIFA Confederations Cup 2013 - Free Download

After church, last Sunday, we went out for lunch to the new downtown Qdoba.  It was great food as usual and being summer with all the college kids away from the area, it's considerably less busy than the other ones in town.

They had ESPN going on a couple televisions and I spotted what appeared to be the opening of a World Cup soccer game between Italy and Mexico.  But, the World Cup isn't for another year.  I should know.  I've been looking forward to it since the last one ended in 2010.  So, what was this?!

It turns out that it's the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013.  What is that?!  How is it that I've never heard of this before?  Granted, I don't have cable, the only television I watch is Netflix, and the only radio I listen to is Christian radio.  But, surely someone would have told me about this, right?

Well, no one did.  Evidently, it's sort of used as a rehearsal for the host nation of the upcoming World Cup to take place the following year.  Thus, this year it is in Brazil preceding FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil.

Those of you who know me well know that, of course, I will be following along.  And, yes, I'll be following along with my Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet that I customized just for this newly discovered tournament.  If you would like to follow along with the spreadsheet, as well, I have conveniently included it in the Downloads section of the drop-down list found at the top of this blog.  Or, since you're here anyway, feel free to just click this link.

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Soccer Thursdays

I've started playing soccer once a week with some guys I work with.  It's been a lot of fun and certainly good for me.  A lot of people my age are starting to give the "I'm too old" excuse when I ask them if they want to play.  But, I can't help but think of all the 50-year-old men that I have played with or against over the years.  And a lot of them are still really good.  They're not the fastest on the field, but speed isn't everything.  Smart team ball control makes the game.

It's a pick-up game that's open to whomever, but it's $5 to play.  All the money goes to charity.  This way, not only are we having fun and bettering ourselves physically but we're also improving our community by financing local good works.

By the ever so slight chance that someone comes across this blog and wants to play and lives in or near Springfield, MO, we play every Thursday at 5:30 pm at the turf field at Glendale High School.  That's on Ingram Mill Road a few hundred yards north of Battlefield Road.

In the event that we change the location, time, take a break, or just stop getting together to play, I will amend this blog accordingly.  Otherwise, see you there!

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Weight a Minute!

I weighed 8 lbs and 13 ounces when I was born.  That was the least I have ever weighed this side of the womb.  34 years later, I am weighing in at the most I have ever weighed: 204.6 lbs.  I weighed 204 lbs. once before back in 2007, as well.  Since then, I've usually teetered around 195 though have dipped to as low as 185 at times.

It's clear that a sedentary occupation contributes to my weight.  When I have been in a more physically-laborious job role, I have easily kept the weight around 190.  But, I mostly sit in a chair all day anymore.

When my weight gets brought up in conversation, many people are surprised at how much I weigh.  I carry it pretty evenly, so I don't appear to weigh as much as I do.  I'm not real tall, and many taller people find it hard to believe that I weigh more than they do.  But, the scale doesn't lie.  It's brutally honest.

The reason I bring all this up, is because I'm starting a challenge at work.  When there is a competition involved I am many times more likely to hit my goals, so I joined up.  For the next 12 weeks, I'll be getting weighed and measured every week.  There is money involved to be shared by all those hitting their goals and more money to people who are found to maintain even after the competition is over.  I'll be posting all of my measurements on this blog, as well.  The more accountability, the better.

My goal is to lose 20 lbs over the course of the next 12 weeks.  I also have another personal goal, as well.  I met my wife, Jodi, on December 6th, 2003.  I weighed 175 then.  This December will mark our 10th yeariversary.  Yes, that's right.  I said "yeariversary".  Our anniversary is celebrated from when we were married.  Our yeariversary is celebrated from when we met.  One way or another, for our tenth yeariversary, I will weigh 175 lbs again.  That's 29 lbs in 6 months.

So, how will I do this?  Self-control.  It starts with cutting out all the junk that I eat.  I'll also be incorporating several exercises into my life.  I will start riding my bike to work a minimum of twice a week.  I have just joined a weekly soccer pick-up game for charity that will help immensely.  I'm also going to flip the quantity of food that I have at meal times again.  I once had a lot of good results simply from eating a large breakfast.  It positively changed the way I ate the rest of the day and I didn't experience hunger ever.  I'm also keeping a food log on MyFitnessPal.com.  I was using that for a couple months and lost 9 pounds just from keeping my food consumption visual.

Of course, only time will tell whether or not I'm successful.  Everyone has heard people make all kinds of promises and it gets kind of tired hearing the same old jargon.  So, sorry if this sounds like just another one of those.  But, I fully expect to be able to show some pretty good results when I am done.

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The Game Of Their Lives

I just got done reading an awesome book. It's called "The Game Of Their Lives" and it's written by Geoffery Douglas. I highly recommend it.

The soccer match that the title refers to is arguably the biggest upset in World Cup history, the 1950 match that ended with the United States improbably defeating England. The only country in the world to refuse to take soccer seriously; the only country, to my knowledge to even call it something other than it's more appropriate name: Football. This team of regular guys (two mailmen, a sheet stacker, a hearse driver, two clerks, and a dishwasher to name a few) who mostly played for fun (only one was a professional) managed to beat the country that invented the World Cup, and one of the few highly favored teams in the world.

This book really hits home for me, because the book covers so many things that I take special interest in. I love history, particularly when it's local. I love soccer. I love the World Cup. And, I love a good story. Douglas blended all these obvious loves of his own along with a lot of research and interviews and heart to write this book.

The book covers a single soccer match, but that's hardly what the book is about. Granted, the book would have never been written had the game not been played. However, only someone who has never read the book could say that it is about a soccer match. Rather, the book is about extraordinary greatness being thrust upon a group of ordinary men and going virtually unnoticed. The book explores where these men came from, their culture, and their history.

Never before have I read a book and desired so strongly to see not just the place where the book takes place, but possibly experience just a small taste of the culture of the tight-knit community that produced these players. The author gave delightfully descriptive details of the neighborhood called "the Hill" and it's origin. It was not difficult to see with the mind's eye what it must have been like through the turn of the century there on the Hill in St. Louis. Even though today we have modern conveniences that must make that time seem like the stone age, comparatively speaking, I can't help but harbor an inner desire to abandon life as I know it and take up a life like they had. But, alas, it can't be done. That time is long gone. Some remnant of the culture, no doubt, still exists to some extent, but the complete experience cannot be obtained. It is irretrievably gone.

We can, on the other hand, read about it and enjoy what we read. I did just that with this book and maybe you will, too.

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Spanish Fat Lady's a-Singin'

With 64 games in 31 days, I've been busy. Too busy, in fact, to write a blog, just in case you've been wondering what happened to me. However, yesterday concluded the 2010 FIFA World Cup with Spain winning the golden trophy. I enjoyed this year's games, but I think overall it will be remembered as the World Cup with all the surprise game results. There were many upsets and it was truly a tournament for the underdogs.

While I usually root for the underdog in a game, I couldn't this time. My World Cup teams were chosen long ago. They are the US, Italy, and Germany teams. This year, I added Ghana to the mix since we have an emotional attachment to the country.

The USA did fairly well, in my opinion. But, their wins seemed to be a little sloppy. I long for the day to watch the US team play against the big boys in such a manner that no one can sneer and say that they were just lucky. But, I didn't feel that their World Cup performance really lived up to that standard.

Italy just blew it. What a disappointment! They came in last place in their group! What more is there to say?

The Germans did fantastic! They were typical Germany football: mathematical, fast, precise, with a strong defense. I loved watching them play, but due to having a stupid job, I missed their loss in the semi-finals. I heard that Spain dominated the game which I find hard to believe, but I'll find out for certain when I watch the game later. Still, Germany put on a great performance. It was exciting to watch their games for there was rarely a dull moment. They even won third place with a whirlwind of thrills.

Ghana did very well. They made me proud until they beat the US. I could have done without that, but whatever. My heart really goes out to them the way they were taken out of the tournament. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out on YouTube. No doubt, it's on there. In short, a Uruguay defender standing on the goal line purposefully used his hands to block the ball from entering the goal. He was ejected with a red card for it which puts him out the next game as well. I have to give the guy a lot of credit, though. He made a lightning quick decision to sacrifice his own playing time and reputation by deliberately breaking a rule for the greater good of team and country. That decision gave them a chance to win the game where they most certainly would have lost. And, they did well to make that chance turn into a victory. Hopefully, Ghana will be able to forgive Uruguay for pretty much stealing their chances from them.

I was disappointed that Africa didn't do better. Only Ghana made it out of group play. For the first World Cup being hosted on the continent, I was hoping that Africa could see some major victories. Alas, they'll have to be happy with how far Ghana made it.

I really enjoyed the World Cup, though, as a whole. I liked seeing my family get into it with me. I'll miss it. Today, I go back to being a non-sports fan. There's always the next World Cup to look forward to. Only 47 months to go!

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Excel-lent Fun

This past week, I was playing around with the World Cup Spreadsheet that I posted for download on the last blog, and I wound up running across a huge error. As I was popping in numbers in the score section to test it out, I realized that it was taking the wrong teams from the first round and placing them incorrectly into the second round. I tried to follow the string of functions to see if I could correct the issue, but whoever wrote the thing appears to have only learned a few choice functions in Excel and doesn't like to stray from what he knows. I would finally figure out what one function did only to find that it pointed to the results of three other functions that pointed to results of two more. It went on like that about 5 functions deep and I gave up.

I'm no Excel guru. Trust me. I think I know the program really well, but some forums have shown me that I know very little. Guy's are on there talking about pivot tables and background coding and I just have to ignore it from lack of understanding. However, I decided to take a crack at redoing the World Cup sheet because I couldn't help but think that whoever wrote this one was over-complicating the whole thing. I do admit, though, that some of the situations I got into when coding the functions seemed to paint me into a corner, if you will. I was a little stumped a couple times, but it all finally came to me.

This spreadsheet is much better. It's more attractive, in my opinion. It's simpler. And, most importantly, it works right. So, in case you were one of the seven people who downloaded the old one from last week, I suggest that you download this one again, here. I also changed the old link so that people wouldn't get one that doesn't work right. Enjoy!

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World Cup 2010

I'm not a very big spectator sport person. I love sports but my love for them is in playing them not watching others play them for me. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm not saying that. I just don't really care about them.

This puts me into a somewhat unique place among male social circles. See, it's no big secret that men don't talk to each other near as much as women talk to each other. I even heard once that an average woman will speak 4 to 5 times as many words per day than the average man will. I can believe that. Men, don't talk a lot. But, when they do, one of the old trusted subjects is sports. Men will even talk to complete strangers about sports. Salesmen commonly use it to break the ice when meeting new clients. It's almost a universal male tool to get a conversation started, to save one that is losing steam, or to fill an awkward silence.

Unlike a lot of guys, I quietly bow out of the conversation when it turns to sports. Guys will start naming names, throwing stats around, describing plays, etc. I even see the types of guys that probably never played a sport in their life chatting away about batting averages, quarterback blitzes, and personal fouls. Not me. I commonly get caught off guard when I'm not aware of what professional sport is playing currently. The following dialogue is real and has occurred more times than I can count:

Average Joe - "You gonna watch the big game this weekend?"
Me - "No, I'm not really into football."
Average Joe - "I was talking about the fifth game of the World Series."
Me - "Oh."

The two exceptions to my lack of interest in sports is when I either A) know someone personally in the game that I am watching, or B) it's a World Cup year. And 2010, is the year. Beginning June 11th and ending July 11th will be 64 of the most watched games in the world. Each one will have more people watching it than any one of the 44 Super Bowls. It's the largest sporting event on planet Earth. Its fans must wait four years from one to the next, but in June the wait is over. Among the millions watching, I, Lord willing, will be.

A tradition that I began eight years (two World Cups) ago was to keep a record of the outcome of every game played. Eight years ago, I downloaded and printed a bracket and tediously wrote down every game result and tabulated the points and goals for and against. Four years ago, I found a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that all I had to do was plug the scores of the games in. The calculations were done for me. This year I was forced to modify an old 2006 spreadsheet to use for 2010 because I couldn't find any good ones. I found one that worked well enough, but was not very user friendly, even for an Excel geek like myself. Another, looked great, but failed to function properly.

Here is a link to the spreadsheet in case you would like to follow along with me. Let me know if you find any formula mistakes and I'll take a crack at repairing it. Thanks,
Levi

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