To our minds, the football is no longer for us profitable, but we provide assurances to you that we still great power...

I don't have cable, so I missed all the ESPN-Sports Reporter-chatter over the fact that Russia failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup this past week. If you're a foreign traveler, though, you may take solace in this news, since the possibility of being savagely beaten by soccer hooligans has just substantially diminished!

I spent the weekend reading the forums; my favorite comment was from Toyot42 (nice number in your handle, too), who noted that it's going to be unrealistic to field a championship-caliber team in a country where you get one month of summer (if you're lucky)...