I wouldn't say that my hearing is shot, but it's not what it once was—too much Clash, in too many enclosed spaces, at too young an age—so I can't turn up the TV as loud as I would like. Or rather, I could, but I don't want to disturb my neighbors, if they happen to be around. The walls of this rather cheap and rather shabby (but, I must say, scrupulously clean) Bloomsbury hotel are quite thin, and like almost all Americans, I have a visceral anxiety about being, even potentially, cast in the role of Ugly American. So I keep the volume rather low, which means that I've only caught the name of one of these guys—it's Charlie—and can't understand much of what any of them are saying. (Is Charlie a Scot?) More»

Immigration and eugenics in the early 1920s. This has nothing to do with American soccer during this period, until you consider who was watching it.

Normal blog service resumes soon…

See the full-sized version, which I'm not calling "HD" out of respect for other people's televisions, on our page at Vimeo.

Thought you might like a glimpse of what we've been plotting over the last few weeks. But remember: when you take a sneak peek into the vortex, the vortex takes a sneak peek into you.

Happy New Year!

Inter have just drawn Chelsea in the first Champions League knockout round, and Manchester United have drawn A.C. Milan. In case years of overexposure to the media haven't ruined your brain in such a way that the mere mention of these pairings caused this fact to come spinning out of the computer screen in giant letters of fire, this means that José Mourinho will be making his return to Stamford Bridge and David Beckham will be going back to Old Trafford.

So…nice quiet little story, eh? Casual mention near the bottom of the sports page. They'll probably just walk in through the front gate; I can't see anyone wanting to make a fuss. I only wonder what substantive issue people will find to talk about for the next two months. Personally, I plan to spend some time thinking about the tactical subtleties of the Olympiacos – Girondins Bordeaux match.

A few weeks ago I subtly hinted at a new project that was going to revolutionize the site, bring the planets into harmony, and redeem all the time we've wasted on cheap North Korea jokes. It's still a few weeks away, but I'm toiling away in the background getting all the parts in readiness. Sadly, this means the foreground is going to continue to be a bit sparse for a while, but don't worry. The mountains are getting closer, even if they don't seem to move. In the meantime, we're keeping in touch on Twitter, and will be here reliably when anything happens that demands to be addressed.

A few notes:

— Actual famous English soccer magazine When Saturday Comes has given us an award and called us "sharp, feisty and funny." This is exciting, even if, after the usual pattern of my experience, I'm now waiting anxiously for a magazine called When Sunday Reasserts Reality to call us "vain, babbling, and tedious."

— More Than Mind Games is a blog about sports history, sociology, and psychology. It's amazing. In the last few weeks there have been posts about referee corruption in Edwardian football, football results and war escapism in the late 1930s, agents in the early 20th century, and the 1908 Olympics. You should be reading this. More»

As Zach notes:

Interestingly, however, the NoKos are far from the most insular team at this World Cup, with at least four players based in other countries. (Including a player for Japanese club Kawasaki Frontale, which sounds like an extremely entertaining, possibly fatal sex maneuver.)

Four players! That's four more than England!

USA-England. Ghana-Germany. Argentina-Nigeria. Argentina-Greece. Brazil-Ivory Coast. Brazil-Portugal. Mexico-France. Landon Donovan v. David Beckham. Michael Essien v. Michael Ballack. Kaká v. Ronaldo v. Drogba. Poor North Korea getting so thoroughly destroyed in Group G that even its own state media will have a hard time finding a positive spin. More»

So the World Cup draw is tomorrow. Here's my prediction for these United States.

Group D
Spain; U.S.; Ivory Coast; unincorporated nation populated entirely by soccer-playing velociraptors whose diet includes polyester, synthetic materials used in Nike boot uppers, and human flesh.

Thoughts?

Because I read all the papers, I often come across news that the rest of you miss. Here are a few gems that your insane loyalty to the Buxton Advertiser might have caused you to overlook.

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Arsenal target Andre-Pierre Gignac sure does like his garlic mashed potatoes.

It's okay, Manchester United intern Will Forthwell is pretty sure he can keep improvising to avoid having to pronounce the word "Dzeko."

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp finds that leaning against a wall shifts the weight pleasingly off his knees as he watches this tape of Watford goalkeeper Scott Loach.

More»