Canada's first FIFA world cup point ever.
Ammazing! Unbelievable! Bring the golden chariot
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Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Yes, I know it is "football", but you might be interested to know where the word "soccer" came from. Hint: It originated as schoolboy slang for "Association Football"
Interesting, I wasn't familiar with the origin.
Personally, I much prefer the unambiguous term "soccer" over "football", especially in an online setting where you are not always aware of other people's locations and cultural backgrounds. If an unknown person online speaks of "football", they can mean all kinds of sports depending on the context, while "soccer" is clear.
North America isn't the only place where the game is known by that name, btw:
Originally posted by Harrier88
Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Yes, I know it is "football", but you might be interested to know where the word "soccer" came from. Hint: It originated as schoolboy slang for "Association Football"North America isn't the only place where the game is known by that name, btw:
Should you care to look it up, there are a lot of articles that detail how the terms split — and it was largely in the 20th century.
This article has several interesting references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_(word)
Yesterday's picks went terribly - good thing we're not putting real money on the line.
The German team will have their first game today against the small island of Curaçao, and I think everyone expects a clear win. It's pretty telling that I was asked to predict the outcome on a 0-3 handicap. I still predict a big win for the German squad. If they mess this up, they might as well go home already. When I hear "Curaçao", what comes to mind first is a drink, not a country.
In the past, I often rooted for Germany's opponents at the World Cup, just because I wanted the annoying "bandwagon fans" I mentioned the other day to shut up, but I decided not to be like that this year. Maybe the people in this country really could use a little morale boost.
Troll-Picks found below. For another prediction at unknown odds, I say that I will finally find the time to play another Five Card Draw SNG today. I also predict at least one ITM finish.
Well yes and no, the thing with unknown teams is, no-one knows how to play vs them. They might also have strong surprises that nobody expects.
True, and I also haven't followed the German team's progress at all, but I would be very surprised to see them struggling against a nation which surely has extremely limited resources to compete against the top teams. Looks like the population of Curaçao is just a little above 150K people, for example, which is less than many cities in the world.
That said, there have been many surprises at previous World Cups and similar tournaments, and we have seen some this year already, like Brazil vs Morocco ending in a 1-1 tie yesterday. And I just learned that the four-time World Champion Italy isn't even in the World Cup at all this time - seems like Bosnia and Herzegovina took their spot after a 4-1 win on penalties in the playoffs.
For Germany vs Curaçao, however, at least we have some advanced prediction methods going along with my opinion:
Normally, a Blue Margarita contains curaçao, not the other way around. Check out my recipe for reference.
My picks in that game went well, despite a surprisingly strong showing by Curaçao early on. The other picks were kind of hit and miss, I am now 658th out of... technically 2,058 in the contest, though the list seems to contain some non-players with 0 points too. Of course, only the top 30 get paid.
Unfortunately, however, my prediction about finding time for a 5CD SNG was off. It's tough to even find the energy for such things with my current schedule. Things should be much better after my big 10K run this weekend. I am aware that this blog is kind of turning into the World Cup thread, but better than no content at all, right? Besides, Primrose will return this weekend too - and I know she doesn't like soccer. 
We should get back on track in no time.
Also more Trollympics later, but probably more field than track - I really shouldn't overdo the running so shortly before the race.
Today's picks:
I loved that unknown fast bluff by Curacao. As if I went to 5K NLHE and checkraised the turn for some reason 
Now they know :/
Later on that game, Estonian commentator: "trying to kick the ball past from one side of [famous German defender] and run around him from the other side, isn't possible"
Sling Ball Throw (1 kg) (Coordination)
Bronze: 28.50m
Silver: 33.50m
Gold: 38.50m
Not an Olympic event.
World Record (2kg): 86.92m by Alwin Wagner (GER) on August 21st, 1982.
Trollympic Record: 39.10m by Harrier88 (PS) at the 2025 Trollympics, September 22nd, 2025.
Harrier's distance: 38.54m
A good spin, a mighty yell, and we at least got a decent Gold distance. That's all we need... for now.
Surely, there is room for improvement, but guess what? Gold overall in the Trollympics this year is technically already in the bag. No full marks yet, and the swimming time still has to be officially submitted, but yeah... we are technically done, see for yourself:
New "Medal Table":
3,000 Meter Run (Stamina): Gold
Standing Long Jump (Strength): Gold
25m Freestyle (Speed): Silver
Sling Ball Throw (Coordination): Gold
Current Progress
Stamina: Gold (3,000 Meter Run) - 3 points
Strength: Gold (Standing Long Jump) - 3 points
Speed: Silver (25m Freestyle) - 2 points
Coordination: Gold (Sling Ball Throw) - 3 points
11 points in total, 11 points are required for Gold.
Trollympics 2026 Result: Gold
You guys know me, though. We are not really done. Obviously, I would like to get full marks, but I also like to try they other events. Most of the stuff I did today was primarily for demonstration for the other athletes, but I also tried something new today:
Extra Credit: Coordination Drills
A couple of extra drills for the area of coordination have been introduced this year. I was not a big fan of this, honestly. I tend to believe the Trollympics should be purely track & field as well as aquatics. Out of curiosity, I checked out some of those drills today, however, and realized that they are actually kind of fun.
Change Your Grip (Coordination)
Bronze: 36 repetitions
Silver: 44 repetitions
Gold: 53 repetitions
Here's how it works: You hold a ball in your hands between your legs (we used a soccer ball, you can use any other one of a similar size), let it go, and catch it again while changing your grip (if the left hand was in front before, it needs to be in the back now, and vice versa). Sounds complicated? This video shows how it's done:
You have 30 seconds to get as many reps in as possible, dropping the ball ends the drill. Want to give it a try at home?
The time limit is very tight, so most of my attempts ended by dropping the ball as I was trying to keep up the pace. I did get a clean attempt of around 40 repetitions, however, which at least qualifies, even if it's only Bronze. It's a surprisingly exhausting drill.
Let's use those 40 as my "official" score for now.
Harrier's score: 40
Agility T-Run (Coordination)
Bronze: 14.1 seconds
Silver: 12.6 seconds
Gold: 11.1 seconds
You start by touching a cone, and... ah, just watch the video:
The distance between the cones is 9 meters in all directions, btw. (9m back to front, 9m left edge to right edge)
Not too easy to do this with indoor shoes on lawn, and I don't think we can let my last attempt at 12 seconds flat pass, because I briefly crossed my legs during the sidesteps part, but I did get a clean time of 12.06 seconds before that - I think we can take it for now.
Harrier's time: 12.06 seconds
So, there you go: One more Gold in the events, Gold locked up overall in 2026, and one more Bronze and Silver in some fun coordination drills for extra credit. Let's have some bagels now and maybe watch some soccer.
Some surprises at the World Cup already. Who would have thought Spain would mess up against Cape Verde?
The picks will continue, but with so many matches left to play, I guess there is no need to post them here every day. Hope you guys didn't mind the "spam" too much. I can still do weekly updates or something along these lines.
Out of the main projects of running, poker and chess, only running is going strong at the moment, but we will get back to all of it.
Hope you guys didn't mind the "spam" too much. I can
I love those. Really funny how you started your own sports competition. Yeah i shud pull back on promoting unknown islands that are against professional soccer
Originally posted by taavi1337
I love those. Really funny how you started your own sports competition. Yeah i shud pull back on promoting unknown islands that are against professional soccer
Oh... well, if there are readers who still enjoy these, then of course, the "Troll-Picks" may go on.In general, we're always grateful for feedback (unless maybe if it's just complaints about too little poker content - because we know, and we aim to fix it).
For a look at the bigger picture, we are a fair bit behind, currently in 665th place, as seen in the spoiler below. This means that, just like when you are short-stacked in a poker tournament, I am willing to take a few more risks, even if I deem them less than likely to happen. Besides, also outside of the contest, even an event that only has a 10% chance is a good bet as long as the potential payout is better than 10 to 1.
Spoiler
For this reason, and because we have seen a few big favorites underperforming so far, I am willing to give the underdogs a few more shots - or at least predict a tie in their games. My lack of knowledge regarding current soccer is, of course, a bit of an obstacle... am I supposed to know Kylian Mbappé? And is the Norwegian team even that good? (yes, I'm aware Iraq is a huge underdog, but 1.20 odds for Norway?)
Also, I have noticed that in the "how many..." bets, the "x or lower/higher" picks seem to perform pretty well so far, as many games apparently don't go as the bookies expect. I am going to give them more of a chance too.
With that strategy discussion out of the way, here are my new Troll-Picks for today - some of them really are a bit of a troll:
Originally posted by Harrier88
am I supposed to know Kylian Mbappé?
Monsieur Mbappé introduced himself to me with two goals yesterday, foiling not only my bet on him not scoring, but also my optimistic tie prediction. The game remained tied until the 66th minute, though, I believe, so I don't think it was a terrible bet, especially in my situation as described above.
Maybe my picks were a little too outlandish, however, because only the Argentina one scored. Now we have even more of a gap to catch up on.
More picks for today. I do think that England will underperform at the World Cup, as they usually do. But who knows... maybe it's their year this time.
As mainstream as it gets. "EuroSoccer is pretty strong. I hope someone notices it..."
Some shockingly bad attacks by Portugal yesterday, I saw some of the last 30 minutes. No wonder they don't look so happy in the screenshot above. Made me want to ignore my pick and root for Congo, who I felt deserved it more. (game ended 1-1, in case you guys don't follow this stuff)
The England game didn't go my way either, I saw some of it too. Credit where it's due, England played really well, and they could have won by a much higher margin too, except that the Croatian goalie was a beast! 
As a former goalie myself, I tend to get more excited about good saves than about goals anyway, at least if I have no stake in the outcome. In general, that match was quite entertaining, with good soccer from both sides.
It doesn't look like I will have much of a chance in the contest anymore, but we might see an upset after all. That also would require me to "bet" on those upsets, though. It's what I did today. After seeing Qatar and Bosnia & Herzegovina perform better than expected in their last games, I decided to give them a chance based on their posted odds.
Also, one more casual 2 mile run later today, then the running training schedule is finished, and the race can come. Putting that one behind me will be a big step. And Primrose will return this weekend too. 
Maybe there will be a return to "normalcy" soon? Until then, we have some often not so normal World Cup picks:
Originally posted by Harrier88
In general, that match was quite entertaining, with good soccer from both sides.
I actually watched it, starting just before Croatia's first goal.
It was surprisingly entertaining
Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I actually watched it, starting just before Croatia's first goal.
It was surprisingly entertaining
Yes, I think the German commentator also mentioned that it was probably the best game of the World Cup so far. I would agree, but I have only watched a couple of games, and never the full 90 minutes.
Some picks went well - most notably the Czechia vs South Africa one, which indeed ended in a 1-1 draw, though South Africa got kind of lucky with that penalty kick. So far, their level of play is not very impressive, I think.
I only saw the beginning of Canada vs Qatar, but from what I saw, Qatar was completely outclassed.
All right, folks, let's forget about the World Cup for a moment - my big 10K run is tomorrow.
You will not hear a lot from me that day, because I am going to leave relatively early, deal with some formalities at the location, and then visit my brother in a nearby city before finally making my way to the start in the evening. I will then stay the night at a hotel and won't return until Sunday, so there won't be any updates about my results until then, since I won't be online.
Primrose should return tomorrow already, however, so maybe she will have something nice to report from her vacation.
This will be the track of my 10K run:
I don't think I mentioned it yet, but I paid extra for a little medal with my name and the time I ran at the event engraved, so let's hope it's a time I won't be ashamed of. I should be relatively well prepared, though.
About my goals, it is considered a "Trollympic" event since it is eligible for the German Sports Badge, so we can use their time thresholds for reference:
Bronze: 74:10 minutes
Silver: 65:30 minutes
Gold: 56:50 minutes
I definitely want to go for a Gold time, especially after I managed to run about 10 km (likely a little more, even) in 56:41 minutes last month. Anything better than that is acceptable, but I would like to try shooting for sub 55 minutes. If we approach 50 minutes, that would be pretty much the dream time, but I don't think that's very realistic.
So anything below 56:50 (ideally below 56:41 too) is fine, anything below 55:00 is good, and going considerably below that would be amazing.
Well, I guess I will see you guys on Sunday, hopefully with a nice time to report.
For the Cat...
According to a nice German saying, when something was done in vain, it was "für die Katz'" (for the cat). I have a story about this concerning yesterday's much anticipated 10K run. Long post, but please bear with me, if you want to know what happened.
As I was saying, I had a meetup with the extended family at my brother's place in a nearby city (about a 15-20 minutes drive away from the race location), so I picked up my race bib around noon as we were traveling there. When I was picking it up, I asked again for clarification if I understood correctly that the run will start at 18:45. The nice girl who was handing out the bibs told me that it actually starts at 19:00, the extra 15 minutes were just meant as an additional time buffer. I thanked her for the info, but still made sure to arrive well before 18:45 to make sure there's really plenty of time for everything.
I think I arrived at the start around 18:35 or so. I located a specially set up public bathroom and went to take a final leak - unfortunately, there was a massive queue, but that's okay, I still had plenty of time. And then, as I was getting closer to the end of the queue, the announcer did a dramatic countdown. I asked the guy next to me for what race it was, and he informs me that it was for 10K... MY race! I looked at my watch, and saw that it was 18:45 - clearly that girl handing out the bibs was telling me some nonsense earlier that day!
It's okay, I thought, since those bibs have a built-in chip to keep the time, so it shouldn't matter if I start later. So I took my leak after finally making it through that queue, then barged my way through the runners who were already getting ready for the next race, asking one of them which way I should continue, since the 10K runners were already well on their way. So I was running alone, spectators were cheering me on as the only runner, and I asked them again if that was the right way. "Just keep going straight", they said. I did so, and later asked someone who appeared to be some sort of "steward": "This way for 10K?", he just nodded.
A group of 10K runners, identifiable by their green bibs, soon started racing towards me, though. Several times, runners and spectators alike were telling me in both German and English that I was going the wrong way, but I figured that they just didn't know that I started later (I wasn't supposed to anyway) and that there will be a big turn further down the street. I soon arrived at a supply station, expecting that turn there... but no, runners were consistently coming from the other side. The girl handing out the drinks confirmed that that's the intended direction, but couldn't help me where the real track was supposed to be.
I asked several people standing nearby, including security personnel and medics. No one could help me, except pointing out that I went the wrong way. "Is there anyone here who knows the track?" I asked. "Can anyone at least refer me to someone who knows?" Again, no luck. Prepared to just rip up my bib then and there, I asked the girl if it was all "for the cat" then, and I believe I used that exact phrase. She advised me to just keep running, joining the other 10K runners going their way. I figured it was pointless, since I clearly ran a different track until then, which would surely result in an invalid time, but there wasn't much else to do, was there?
It seemed like a nightmare caused by pre-race nerves in the night before the event, but it was very real. I decided to just make the most of it, though that's not easy to do with the idea that I will most likely have no valid time constantly in the back of my head. For better or for worse, I finished the race. Stay tuned for the results, or lack thereof.