Cornish Steve

Congratulations! Yes, I remember like yesterday when my older daughter was born, and now she's expecting her second - another girl.

MikeO and doc_bump are tied for first this round. Verreauxi's overall lead is cut to single digits.

France really deserve to equalize. Their passing, both close and distance, is quite impressive, and the pace of this game is blistering.

What about someone like Ted Turner? He has a giant ego, yes, but he's quite hands-off when it comes to running teams (not unlike John Henry, right?). I'm not making a particularly serious suggestion, just trying to think how an American billionaire somewhere or other might be thinking right now. As someone pointed out elsewhere, Tim Howard has singlehandedly won support for Everton, so what can be done to tap into that? Buying a couple of good young American players would help. Developing a youth feeder link would help. Money doesn't come for free, though, so to earn the bigger money means being willing to tie into someone's dream.

Long-term, I agree, but that won't help with the next World Cup. I've read before that Everton has considered starting a youth feeder project in other European countries. I'm not sure why that idea wouldn't work for the US, too. That alone would benefit both parties.

I agree with you. In the original post, I was trying to capture how an American investor might think in light of the WC. They would, of course, have to implement their strategy in a sensitive way, otherwise their plans would go down the toilet.

Of course I don't take it personally - you ******. That's the whole point of a discussion. Would American ownership be any different than an Arab oil magnate making City his plaything? The fans seem to enjoy the success. What about Newcastle, with an incredibly strong tradition. They have trouble fielding a single English player. And then there's Liverpool. Their American owners have been sensitive to their history and traditions and have grown a base of English players. It could be a success if it's done properly.

No, but I've lived in America for 28 years.

By the way, since the Red Sox owners bought Liverpool, what if a New York Yankees fan became the new owner of Everton? The Yankees hate the Red Sox, and it's an intense rivalry. That would really stir up some passions in America! These large teams own their own TV sports channels, so there's an immediate opportunity for more revenue.

Sorry - I messed up on grammar and restructured sentences. Didn't really change content!

In the knockout rounds, there can be no draws. (I add one goal to the winning team should it go to penalties.) You need to pick a winner for the France-Germany and Argentina-Belgium games.

Tim Howard is a national hero right now in the US, and so is the US soccer team in general. I can imagine a billionaire somewhere in the country already thinking about how to improve the national team to the point where it could be serious contenders for winning the next World Cup. How do you do that? The obvious place to start is ensuring that America's top young players get to experience playing in a "serious" league and not just the MLS. Look at the leaders on the current team: Tim Howard (plays in the BPL), Clint Dempsey (played in the BPL), and so on. What could a billionaire do to guarantee the careful development of American players in Europe? What might be the next step in their thinking? "Who does Tim Howard play for? Oh - it's the team managed by that charismatic young commentator on ESPN! Why don't I buy the team? We could develop a youth feeder system here in the US, alongside Everton's current youth program. We could buy Brooks and Yedlin and maybe have three or four US players ready and able to play on the first team. Geez - I could even organize weekly flights to games and stage summer tours of the US." How would Everton fans react to this type of thinking? It would be a realistic way of finding a cash-rich owner willing to build a new stadium - but the condition would be that top Americans are added to the squad. Fresh thinking can be good, as long as it doesn't undermine tradition.

The more, the merrier.

France (1)2 Germany (1)3 Brazil (0)1 Colombia (1)2 Argentina (0)0 Belgium (0)1 Netherlands (2)3 Costa Rica (0)2

Here's the template for the quarterfinals... France (x)x Germany (x)x Brazil (x)x Colombia (x)x Argentina (x)x Belgium (x)x Netherlands (x)x Costa Rica (x)x

Congratulations to Rubecula, Geth, and NyarkosLeftToe for scoring a maximum five points for the Belgium-USA game. The winner for the first knockout round is MikeO, who is closing in on verreauxi for the overall lead.

That Howard guy might be worth a punt.

I think that Rooney earning 300k a week is obscene too, but all would be well if he used that pulling power by donating most of it to charities.

Well, being from Cornwall, England is neither 1 nor 2. And no Celtic teams are at the WC. So, I go for the underdogs. In particular. Costa Rica and Algeria.

The point you were making, I thought, was that people are spending millions on a work of art that you'd rather see contributed to help those in need. I asked whether your concern would be addressed if the recipient of those funds donated them to meet those social needs, and I was surprised that you responded "no". Why would you care whether the funds were donated directly or through the medium of a work of art? Isn't the result the same? As for the value of a work of art, there are many examples throughout history when the value of an item in someone's eyes is vastly different from the value in the eyes of others. That's par for the course.

The best thing to do when confronting a bear is to stand up to it and then let it slowly back away. If you run away, it will chase you.

Why?

And verreauxi correctly predicted a tie at half-time. Still, you're joint leader for the current round.

Would you feel the same way if she donated all the money to help the homeless? It's not just "government" that helps the needy. Indeed, if we as private individuals chose to give more, there would be no need for the government to even get involved.

It's a secret code amongst those who support Obama.