The Soccer Gods Must be Crazy (World Cup 2006 Memories)

We're back now, but only after missing the most important soccer event in the last four years. :-)

We were a victim of our own success. For some reason, our server went belly up just in time for the finals! We've chosen to see the humor in it though, and like Camus, we see the invisible hand of the absurd behind our travials.

The soccer gods must be crazy. What a World Cup - probably the lamest one in my memory.

Here are some of the themes we will remember from this cup:

- The Tragic Hero Zidane
- Italy's "Win by Any Means" strategy
- The Art of the Dive
- Referee Activism and the Red Card
- The Incredible Heaviness of Being Ronaldo
- The End of Jogo Bonito
- Ghana: The Hope of the Beautiful Game
- Sven and the Art of Metatarsal Maintenance
- The Continuing Fall of English Soccer
- The Benching of Lionel Messi
- The Unification of Modern Germany
- Klinsmann: Der Kaiser II
- The Joyful Soca Warriors
- The Slacker Nation: Holland
- USA: A Strategic Failure

Can you tell us what your memories were - SoccerBloggers?

We're going to continue with the site, but our focus now turns to the individual players and league play. Will Italy have a league? Will "Fat Boy" Ronaldo move to New York? Will Nigeria ever get its act together? Will India ever compete? Will Sepp Blatter stop being a sexist? That kind of thing...

In the next few days we'll dig deeper with our "post-tournament" analysis, complete with hand-wringing and "what might have been" diatribes.

So stay tuned, we're not going away. And thanks for visiting! Get involved.