This clip first aired during the Athens Summer Olympics in 2004.

Mary Carillo, former professional tennis player turned Olympic correspondent for CBS, was anchoring a late-night badminton match when she decided to compare “backyard” badminton to the stuff that the “bad boys of badminton” play at the Olympic Games. What ensues is a pitch-perfect Seinfeld routine delivered with such straight-faced seriousness that it makes you wonder if she wrote this ahead of time or if it’s all off the top of her head. Either way, Carillo doesn’t miss a beat and her performance is legendary. Shame I hadn’t seen this clip until now.

Via BoingBoing.

Watching the FIFA World Cup this year I’ve sometimes been struck with a bit of a nagging feeling. A feeling that something isn’t quite right. I’ve felt it watching a team like North Korea or the Ivory Coast or Nigeria. The feeling that the presence of these countries, these teams, on the world’s stage isn’t entirely a presence that ought to be celebrated. It was a feeling that I’d been wondering about, and I think I can finally put my finger on it more precisely.

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I’ll surely be hung for this but allow me to outline why I think the Oranje will take it all the way to the end of this year’s FIFA World Cup.

Heading into the tournament the Netherlands were ranked #4 in the world of international soccer. Ahead of them? Brazil, Spain and Portugal (in that order). How have these teams, ranked better than the Netherlands, performed?

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So if you haven’t gathered just yet, I’m a big fan of the World Cup.

Even if you aren’t a huge fan though, Twitter’s World Cup coverage is nonetheless very interesting to follow. They’ve set up a very ingenious website which displays soccer-related tweets from both countries while their teams play. Presently, I can watch live tweets from Greece and Korea, displayed head-to-head, as these teams play their first World Cup match. It’s neat seeing the tweets roll by from the two countries. Less interesting because neither of these teams, and therefore countries, speak much English so most of the tweets are in languages that I don’t understand.

Still, it’ll be interesting to see how things look for the USA v. England match up this afternoon. Should be very cool to see opposing tweets from either side of the Atlantic.

Another incredible use of this kind of technology.

I can’t wait!

Here are the highlights from the pre-World Cup friendly between The Netherlands and Hungary. It looks like we’re ready for the World Cup! Now keep in mind, Hungary is currently ranked 57th versus the Dutch who sit at 4th…

So the World Cup is a mere 9 days 10 hours and 44 minutes away and I am a little bit excited.

Last World Cup I was stuck cheering for England’s half-baked football team because of my cursed heritage, but this year things are different. This year I’m married to a Dutch girl. So the tables are turned, and I’m cheering for the Oranje this time around and it’s going to be a much better World Cup.

But here’s my dilemma. You see, last World Cup I desired more than anything to buy an England team jersey. One of the official FIFA jerseys that the players wear because, if you’re honest with yourself, you will see that these shirts are things of beauty. Really, they are—they’re very nicely designed and put together. Well this time around, that desire is similarly strong but directed at my new and forever team: the Netherlands national football team.

So I bought a Netherlands jersey and it cost me and arm and a leg but I swore I’d use my birthday money to pay for it—just have to wait until October to pay off that debt. But, hey, it’s the World Cup. Anything is possible. My dilemma though, the one which I referred to earlier, is one of practicality. If you’re unfamiliar with the sport of soccer football then you might not know that the Dutch national colour is bright stinkin’ orange. It’s an awesome colour and looks wicked cool on the field, but is it a practical colour to own? My beautiful wife, for example, despite being Dutch hates it and may or may not go out in public with me while I’m wearing the jersey. She is a traitor to her homeland but that’s besides the point.

The thing is, I can buy the Dutch Away jersey which is white with stripes the colours of the Dutch flag but it’s hardly the same thing. I mean, it’s still a Dutch jersey and it’s much more practically coloured for more regular daily use and wearability but it isn’t the Oranje! Is it?

Dear Blogosphere, please weigh in with your advice. Is my homeland-hating wife right and the orange is just too much, a waste of my hardly-earned future money? Or is it silly to buy a Dutch jersey that isn’t in their traditional, well-known and well-loved bright orange? Help me, dear readers, you’re my only hope.

Another entry is my ongoing Favourite Tracks series.

The Weakerthans are one of those quintessentially Canadian bands. Like The Tragically Hip, they can sing about mundane things like garage sales, cats, or, in this case, curling. They can make anything interesting thanks to frontman John K. Sampson’s phenomenal writing ability, and their solid musicality. And, to be sure, I’ve been a fan of The Weakerthans for a long time and over the years, slowly, all the skeptics seem to be disappearing. If you aren’t a fan of The Weakerthans yet, give it a few years.

It’s hard to pick a favourite track, but here’s one, of many, that I love.

Tournament of Hearts