Czuch Czuckers: here is a couple of short stories about it:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/pga/2006-07-23-british-open-notes_x.htm?csp=34

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?sectionid=55&articleid=1647519

Very nice to see it not get too much media attention - no point in rewarding people like this with what they want.

Gabriel Almeida: It’s just sad to see some people who are so prejudice who because of certain people who make certain policies, they automatically apply their hatred with those people with everyone else in their country.

Just because Bin Laden is Arab does not make all Arab’s bad people. Just because Hitler was a bad person does not make all Germans or all Europeans bad people. It’s just sad to see so many narrow minded people still in the world today.

But back to soccer, both Ghana & the US were underdogs – Ghana is a good team which beat both the US & Czech Rep, and very much deserve to move on to the next round. If you want to compare Ghana & the US some more, then if you think about it, it should not have even been a close game. Ghana along with almost every other nation in the world has been playing & watching soccer for many years. The US team is very young, does not have much world competition experience, only recently been growing in popularity – and in my opinion, for the US to make it into the tournament is a big accomplishment. 8-12 years from now, the US should only then start to become more of a “power house” like other nations who have a much longer history with the game.

Congrats to Ghana – I always like to see an underdog win and will be one of the teams I will root for in the next round.

It's only a matter of time until the US starts to get some true soccer stars. In many areas in the US, 10 years ago - to play soccer as a child was not an option. Very few places, schools and such offered soccer - usually either baceball/t-ball, basketball, or (american) football - with some areas of the colder states possible offering hockey.

But today, many areas & schools have soccer teams for children to join - to play and gain their skills throughout their youth - and in the next 5 years or so, you will start to see some true US soccer stars start to form.... and possible have the US to become a true threat as a soccer powerhouse. (but this is still at least 5 years away, if not 10 years...)

skipinnz: Hum.... I wonder what the odds are against Ghana making it to the next round is....

awesome: pick the underdog - always fun to see someone who *should* win, lose.

Czuch Chuckers: I think it is beter to say something like "I would like to see Ghana win" rather then saying "I would like to see Czech Republic lose"....

... even though basicly every time you root for one team, in a way your are rooting for the other to lose.

Baked Alaskan: Sorry, not going for too much on this eBay auction... well so far at least

eBay link here

Andersp: I see some live coverage - of course it is like at 6am US time (aprox). Not on my "local" station, but on USA, MSNBC, and CNBC if you have those stations.

And of course most of the "Good" things that people will want to watch will be held over for "prime time" viewing for beter ratings I'm sure.

I'm taking winter 2006 Olympic bets. Cost nothing to enter since if you win, you will get the same - nothing. (except bragging rights)

What to bet on:

A. Pick the top 3 countries with the most total medals: (If tie for total medals, then most gold out of the tied will be placed ahead of the other)
1.
2.
3.

B. Pick which country will have the most gold medals:
1.

C. Pick one country which will only get 1 medal:
1.

Anyone else have any other "easy" thing that people can place their picks on. To help out, here is the medal count for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics:

[gold medal - silver - bronze - total]

Germany 12 16 8 36
United States 10 13 11 34
Norway 13 5 7 25
Canada 7 3 7 17
Austria 3 4 10 17
Russia 5 4 4 13
Italy 4 4 5 13
Switzerland 3 2 6 11
France 4 5 2 11
Netherlands 3 5 0 8
China 2 2 4 8
Sweden 0 2 5 7
Finland 4 2 1 7
Croatia 3 1 0 4
South Korea 2 2 0 4
Bulgaria 0 1 2 3
Czech Republic 1 2 0 3
Estonia 1 1 1 3
Poland 0 1 1 2
Australia 2 0 0 2
Japan 0 1 1 2
Great Britain 1 0 1 2
Slovenia 0 0 1 1
Belarus 0 0 1 1

As you can see, 2 countries got just 1 medal in 2004. USA at "home" got almost 3 times more medals then ever before, so will be interesting if the USA can keep that up in an Olympic they historicly do not do good at.

Just to let you know, no one was upset or mad that you let your opinions be known. It was just the way it was done, that is spammed on many boards including many which were off topic.

In the 2000 Olympics, Finland had:

FinlandFinland (FIN) 2 1 1 4

Any predictions of Olympic Medal counts?

2000 Olympic Medal Count (of countrys with at least 10 total:

(country) (Gold) (Silver) (Bronze) (TOTAL)
United StatesUnited States (USA) 40 24 33 97
RussiaRussia (RUS) 32 28 28 88
ChinaChina (CHN) 28 16 15 59
AustraliaAustralia (AUS) 16 25 17 58
GermanyGermany (GER) 13 17 26 56
FranceFrance (FRA) 13 14 11 38
ItalyItaly (ITA) 13 8 13 34
CubaCuba (CUB) 11 11 7 29
Great BritainGreat Britain (GBR) 11 10 7 28
South KoreaSouth Korea (KOR) 8 10 10 28
RomaniaRomania (ROM) 11 6 9 26
NetherlandsNetherlands (NED) 12 9 4 25
UkraineUkraine (UKR) 3 10 10 23
JapanJapan (JPN) 5 8 5 18
HungaryHungary (HUN) 8 6 3 17
BelarusBelarus (BLR) 3 3 11 17
PolandPoland (POL) 6 5 3 14
CanadaCanada (CAN) 3 3 8 14
BulgariaBulgaria (BUL) 5 6 2 13
GreeceGreece (GRE) 4 6 3 13
SwedenSweden (SWE) 4 5 3 12
BrazilBrazil (BRA) 0 6 6 12
SpainSpain (ESP) 3 3 5 11
NorwayNorway (NOR) 4 3 3 10

News story

Tomorrow (Thursday, Feb 26th), at 8pm ET - live on MSNBC (and possible other news stations), you can watch history in the making!

The "cursed" baseball from the Cubs playoff game last season which some said started the whole downward spiral for the Cubs, which was bought from auction for $113,824 will be destroyed.

The Ball:
The ball figured in one of sports’ biggest collapses. With the Cubs leading the Florida Marlins 3-0 on Oct. 14 and just five outs from their first World Series appearance since 1945, Bartman reached for the ball hit toward his front-row seat at Wrigley Field, knocking it out of reach of left fielder Moises Alou. The Cubs then gave up a staggering eight-run rally to the Marlins, and squandered another lead in Game 7 the next night.

The Ball's last day:
The ball will get VIP treatment in its last hours, from a farewell trip to Wrigley and a last night on public display in a hotel suite to a final “dinner” of prime steak and lobster and even a massage.

It's going to be interesting!

The fantasy league that I posted about below has 3 people signed up, 3 to go. If no other BK players join in the next couple of days, I will open the rest up to the "public" which will then fill pretty fast.

New point system for 2004.

Link to news story

Summary: Sept. 11, 2004 will be a very importand race for many of the drivers. After that, the top ten in points (and anyone within 400 points of leader) will be put into the "Chase for the Championship" - for the last 10 races of the season.

The will redue the points for the top drivers so only 5 points will separate each driver. So the #1 guy will have 5,050 point, #2 will have 5,045, and so on.

This will be great for the fans & racers who normally end up in the 5-10 places. It will open up the championship for any one of those racers to win.

But to be in #11 or so would be bad - since as I understand it, there is no way to move into the top 10 during the final 10 races.

I believe when you sign up, you have 3 options.

1) Join an "open" league with anyone
2) Join a private league (which you would need the password)
3) Create your own private leauge.

Since you can only have 1 account, I can't go back and look at what it exactly says. I hope this helps!

On the NASCAR.com website, they have Fantasy games. I have created a league just for some of us BrainKing NASCAR fans. There is only 6 slots per league (so 5 left after me)

PLEASE NOTE: Since there is only 5 slots left, if you are NOT a NASCAR fan, please do not join - and leave room for other NASCAR fans.

How the game works - "Nextel Untimate Fantasy League" - At the start, each of the 6 teams "bid" for only 4 drivers. After about 24 hours, the highest bids win those drivers. During the season, you will be scored with 3 drivers (with the 4th being an extra I guess).

Interested.

Go to:
http://unfl.fantasy.nascar.com/nleagues.nufl


My Name: BIG-BAD-WOLF
League Password: MARTI95863

AGAIN - Please only NASCAR fans. To have others in this league who may not know what they are doing may make it less fun for the rest of us. (They also have "open" leagues you can join if you are interested in just trying it out.)

Let me know if you have any questions!

BBW (BIG BAD WOLF)

NEWS FLASH: Pete Rose Admits Betting on Baseball

Full Story: HERE

NASCAR & Racing Fans - Just as a side note, there is a fellowship here called BK Motor Speedway that is dedicated to racing - which you can check it out here!

NASCAR Favorite - I'm really big into NASCAR, and I think I'm rare - I really don't have a favorite driver! (I usually root for whoever is the underdog)

I don't know - you said "mention any sport", so I did! :-)

Actually 10 pin is what is played most here in the US :-)

Any sport.... Um.... Bowling!