Diego Maradona: Soccer Legend, Argentina Coach, Cigar Smoker

What could possibly be better than Diego Maradona coaching Argentina? Diego Maradona smoking a cigar during a recent training session with Argentina!



It's not everyday that you can make smoking a cigar look hip, but I think Diego somehow managed to pull it off.

Argentina plays Germany tomorrow at 9:30 AM ET on ABC. Germany will no doubt be Argentina's toughest test to date, but with the power of Diego Maradona and His Cigar, Argentina might just be able to get Sergio Romero and that Argentina back line to play the game of their lives and pull off the win and advance to the semifinals to meet the winner of the Paraguay-Spain snoozefest.

Rod The Bod Hangs Up His Skates Today (And A Few Other Blog Tidbits)

• The NHL is going to be without one bad ass bod in the locker room. One of my childhood favorites, Rod "The Bod" Brind'Amour has finally decided to hang up his skates at the age of 39. Rod The Bod was a key component to the Flyers Stanley Cup Finals run in 1997 and was a huge figure for them in the decade, joining the likes of Eric Lindros, John LeClair, Eric Desjardins, Mikael Renberg, and the person playing goalie for the week.
• Aspeaking of Flyers news, the Flyers have agreed to re-sign Michael Leighton for 2-years. I will reserve full judgment until the free agent goalies dwindle out, but if the Flyers think they can go back to the Stanley Cup with Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher as the team's 2 main goalies, Paul Holmgren should be banned from ever coming within 150 feet of the Wachovia Center. Come on Homer. Ellis. Mason. Bernier. SIGN ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
• Remember all that gobbledygook about how much I don't know about soccer? Well, yeah, I was lying to you. What I just realized about my original predictions about teams I expect to get out of group stage was that 15 out of 16 were correct. 15 OUT OF 16!!! And to think the only one I got wrong was because of a very last second change I made. I originally had Argentina and South Korea (which would have made me Mr. Perfect) getting out of Group B, but changed my mind at the last minute and changed South Korea to Nigeria. Now I am aware that I did not indicate this in the above post, but I listed the team I picked to win the group was listed first. I got 6 out of 8 of those correct, with the only ones I missed being because I had the wrong order with Mexico and Uruguay and England and the USA. Comparing that to someone who admittedly watches much more soccer than I do, Mookie only got 11 out of 16 correct (6 out of 8 on the group winners as well). Why yes, I do like to kid around and show off when I am ultra successful in picking. Why do you ask?
• Sometime later today when I finish watching yesterday's Round of 16 games, I will post the announcing schedule for the quarterfinals as well as my predictions for the quarterfinal round.
• Charlie Manuel is completely clueless on how to handle his pitchers and sucky bullpen. If today does not illustrate all that is wrong in a nutshell, then I don't know what does.
• Go Argentina!!!