Editor’s note: Since Ryan is the only one around here that knows a thing about soccer, we’ve enlisted him to keep us all up to speed on the World Cup. Teams are broken into groups of four and they play each other once. Wins are worth 3 points, ties 1, losses 0. The two teams with the most points (ties are settled by goal differential) in each group move on to a single elimination tournament, which does not feature ties (at least I hope not) and leads to a 2010 World Cup Champion. –ptb

Friday, June 11, 2010

GROUP A – FIFA Rankings (#)

France (9), Uruguay (16), Mexico (17), South Africa (83)

Game 1 – 10 AM

Mexico 1 – 1 South Africa

In terms of finding out what happened, you can read a match recap.

What I took from this match was that there is such a thing as home field advantage, or at least for one game the crowd can cause a team like Mexico fits. South Africa played about 8 men tight in the back (near the net) and left Mexico little space to take shots. It is a strategy that works if you score first or maintain a tie. If the opposing team scores first, then it makes a team like South Africa take chances. Do not expect a result like this against France or Uruguay. They will push hard for an early goal. Once South Africa gives up one expect more to follow. Their defense is not talented enough to play the opposing team when down a goal. I would bet that this is the only point South Africa gets in this group.

France 0 – 0 Uruguay

This match started off with so much promise. It was back and forth with more scoring chances in the first twenty minutes than the first game. You can tell that France has the most talent in the group, though Uruguay is quite good and comparable to Mexico in terms of scoring talent and passing. Anyway, back to the game: After halftime, both teams appeared to play for a tie. They would rather get one point and take their chances that they could beat South Africa and tie Mexico. First place could come down to which team beats South Africa by more goals. It is pure conjecture, but I see Mexico with a tie in all three games. There is no way France or Uruguay will play to win when all they have to do is beat South Africa and move on.

So, yeah.  Mexico is in trouble.

This was a creepy episode. There’s just something about a mysterious little town, a graveyard and something running around in the dark that makes for a fun show. Spoilers to follow.

It was great to see another classic villain return in the new series. The Silurians aren’t top tier like Daleks and Cybermen, but they have a history going all the way back to Doctor #3 in 1970 and this was a perfect way to reintroduce them. All the pieces fit together nicely and the conflict being based on unintended harm made for a better story here than an invasion or anything directly hostile. Of course, before the episode finishes it’s clear that there may be some hostile intent yet to be revealed.

I liked seeing Amy removed from the central action to allow The Doctor and Rory to interact more directly. In fact, Rory actually had a much larger part in this episode than any other this season and I actually have a lot more interest in the character because of it.

I always enjoy when a “to be continued” takes me by surprise. The idea that The Doctor has to convince his enemies (and his allies) to see the best in humanity really drives the story into part two next week. I’ll reserve judgement on the episode until everything wraps, but this was a good part one of two.

More on Doctor Who 2010:
Amy’s Choice / Cold Blood

Something called the 2010 FIFA World Cup began yesterday… with both games ending in ties. The team representing the United States has their first… game? match? contest? (I’m sure there’s a proper term) today at 2:30PM EST against England. The World Cup is a global phenomenon that often goes unnoticed here at home. I know less about this stuff than I do about the NHL, so I’ve been doing some research online.

Here are some things you can do to get involved:

• Download the ESPN FIFA 2010 World Cup iPhone App
• Figure out what some of these three letter abbreviations mean
• Learn to chant
• Decide if you’re going to call it football or soccer
• Actually watch a game sometime in the next month

I’m sure we’ll be talking about the World Cup a lot more, but today we’ll be back at the Philadelphia Comic Con. Say hello if you find yourself there.

The MLD Team spent the afternoon at the opening day of the 2010 Philadelphia Comic Con. The day mainly featured vendors and entertainment personalities vying for fan attention, and I don’t even know if there was a single panel held on the site. Our new Twitter feed was a big part of the action so come follow along tomorrow and Sunday.

A lot of costumed characters were running around including rival groups of “Jedi” from Pennsylvania and New York. Hopefully, things will remain civil. We even had some great lunchtime entertainment at the Reading Terminal Market from a guy playing video game themes on the piano. The highlight of day one was easily taking a spin with KevinMLD in the George Barris Batmobile.

The evening entertainment was provided by the PhilyZombieCrawl.com in the form of a zombie beach party at The Trocadero. The official opening night after party featured zombie face painting and music from Bauhaus, The Misfits and other death obsessed moaners. Just two blocks away from the Convention Center, The Troc will also host Kaiju Big Battel as part of the weekend activities tomorrow night.

Look for more detailed posts with more pictures over the next few days. Also check out our show preview if you haven’t yet. In the meantime, do your best Isaac!

Things have been very focused on comic books here this week and it’s about to get worse. The annual Philadelphia Comic-Con sponsored by Wizard Entertainment comes to town today and we’ll be all over it.

Click through for our full preview! Read more of this article »