Blogicized: Workers Of The World, Unite

• Ed Rendell ups the salaries of minimum wage earners to a cool seven-fifteen an hour, which still isn’t all that much. But, hey, it’s something, and, hey, the state legislature passed a law that people might actually like. Hip, hip and so forth. [A Smoke-Filled Room]

• Hey, Bunchy’s back! And, hey, he’s working on a self-fulfilling prophecy about Michelle Malkin or some random commenters on blogs! That’s the kind of stuff we live for. [Attytood]

• Got a spare, oh, I don’t know, 10 minutes or so? Here’s an enjoyable way to spend it, I suppose. [Whiskey Bar]

Leftovers: If You Don’t Give My Football Back, I’m Gonna Get My Dad On You

• Match No. 62 of the World Cup is going on now! France leads Portugal 1-0 at half, and there’s only the final and third place game to go after this, so these are your final days of watching soccer until the next World Cup! [FIFAWorldCup.com]

• Are you a “stop ‘n’ go” that sells beer to unsuspecting communities that may not want it? Well, congratulations, you can keep selling beer! [Daily News]

• A special “acting attorney general” will look into whether or not New Jersey’s state attorney got her boyfriend out of trouble over Memorial Day weekend. So… they have money for an “acting attorney general” but not for the lottery? [Camden Courier-Post]

• Sixteen people were injured at a fireworks display in Montco. And you thought your Independence Day was bad. [NBC 10]

• Sad news to report: Ex-City Paper photographer Mpozi Mshale Tolbert died at 34 over the weekend. [The Clog]

• And, finally, on Monday the Philly PD had its job made a little easier for them when a woman drove up to the 17th police district and said she had a body in the trunk. That’s some nice detective work. [Daily News]

A Chart In Today’s ‘Metro’, Presented Without Comment

Leftovers: The, Hey, It’s Friday Edition

• Ahh! World Cup Quarterfinals Round of 16! No U.S., but still lots of fun. [Yahoo!]

• The new Philadelphia marketing slogan is “Forever Independent.” They want it to be the Intel logo of Philly. Can we get one of those catchy jingles, too? [Metro]

• Rick Mariano could get 10 years in prison when he’s sentenced in early July. Better make friends with Corey Kemp now. [Daily News]

• You know what? We’re with Bunch on this one. We’ll probably obsess over it a bit less, though. Maybe. [Attytood]

Let’s Do One Of These No Content Posts Where We Tell You To Discuss Something So It Looks Like We’re Actually Working When, In Reality, We’re Watching The U.S. World Cup Game

Discuss the U.S.A-Ghana game here!

(P.S. That was a bad call on the PK.)

Open Wide For Some Soccer!

This match will determine once and for all which nation is the greatest on Earth: Mexico or Portugal!

Soccer: Mexico vs. Portugal [YouTube via Deadspin]

Looks Of Horror, Fred And Diving Italians

There it is, folks. The highlight of the World Cup. The reaction of the man in the background — one of Japan’s assistant coaches, I assume — after a striker missed a wide open net is by far the best thing to happen so far in the entertaining tournament. And, naturally, there’s video:

After the jump, a few more World Cup notes if you’re so inclined.

More »

Even The U.S. National Team Doesn’t Understand Soccer

Just days after the U.S. Men’s National Team’s blowout loss to the Czech Republic, Northeast Philly native Bobby Convey has figured out why the team didn’t do so well:

“I think the reason why we didn’t do well is because everyone did not do their role, maybe didn’t know their role, maybe didn’t know what to do,” Convey, a native of Northeast Philadelphia, said yesterday in speaking of the 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic. “I don’t think it was confusion. It wasn’t that people didn’t know where to go. We just kind of didn’t really jell well together. It wasn’t a negative thing. It’s just that we kind of - we just did OK. At a World Cup, it’s not fine to do just OK.”

Yeah, I mean, it’s not like there was much prep for the match. I mean, these World Cups come around, what, every few weeks or so? How would the U.S. team have enough time to know what to do?

Convey: We didn’t know what to do [Daily News/Wire]

Leftovers: Ban Hooligan Marriage

• Lest you think the Joe Vento story was the only time when idiots talk on the news, the Pennsylvania Marriage Protection Act is bringing out stupid comments all over. Especially after yesterday when the Senate version of the bill was amended to not include anything about civil unions. (Which is, uh, a step forward, but still.) [Inky]

• Another advantage of the World Cup: News articles that include the word “hooligan” over and over. [SI.com]

• Theft of the day: “Community Christian Day School, Sat-Sun, 12 tricycles, gray with red wheels, from wooden shed, $2,400 value.” [Bucks County Courier Times]

• Hey, ECW’s back! Apparently. But, uh, it might be a bit much: “The project got trickier in the past wek as the Sci-Fi Channel people had a meeting with Vince McMahon. They made suggestions including Martians and Vampires as characters. They also suggested storyline ideas including one where ECW wrestlers would go into other dimensions. Some compromises were reached and the Martians won’t be invading ECW this summer, but there will be a Vampire group.” [Can't Stop The Bleeding]

Blogicized: Soccer? I Hardly Even Know Her!

• NB to bloggers, journos, etc.: Writing hackeneyed shit like this where you go “Boy, soccer sure is boring… HOOLIGANS!” was probably not funny even when it first started showing up around 1990. If you’re going to bash the World Cup, at least come up with something different. Please. [PhillyBurbs.com Blogs]

• We should have known Pat Gillick would screw up the rotation when he came to town, said we needed pitchers, then traded a starting pitcher away. I’m pretty sure I’ve brought that up before, but it bears repeating. Aspiring model Jason Weitzel weighs in on what could be done to fix the team’s bloated ERA. [Beerleaguer]

• You’re now not allowed to read Tom Ferrick’s blog if you don’t speak English. Get it? GET IT??? [Tom Ferrick's Poliblog]