When Spanish eyes are smiling

As you have probably heard by now, Spain are the new World Cup champions.

The game featured a record number of yellow cards (kind of like penalties), some spectacular saves by both goalkeepers, and a goal in the final minutes of extra time to give Spain the 1-0 victory.

Spanish keeper Iker Casillas makes a leaping save.

Heartbreak for the Netherlands.

So a new champion is crowned, and another World Cup draws to a close. And of course, most importantly of all, Paul the Octopus' record of correct predictions is unblemished. You can check out the world's most famous mollusk's Facebook page here, if you are so inclined.

FYI - There will be a very special edition of the Monday Man posted shortly. You don't want to miss it!

The Red Fury vs. The Orange Tide

Today's the big day - in about an hour the final game in the World Cup will get underway in Johannesburg.

On one side, Spain, or la Furia Roja (the Red Fury).


Spain won the last European championship, which took place in 2008, but has never won a World Cup. The closest they came was a fourth-place finish in 1950.





Spanish captain Iker Casillas

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On the other side is The Netherlands.

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The underdogs in today's match, they are also known as Oranje (Orange) after the Dutch Royal Family, the House of Orange-Nassau. They reached the final game in the World Cup in 1974 and 1978, but fell short both times. They are sometimes called "the best team to never win," and upset the heavily favoured Brazilians to get to this point.

Dutch captain Giovanni van Bronckhorts (Gio for short). He is retiring from soccer after this game.

In the 80 year history of the World Cup, only 7 teams have won the ultimate prize: Uruguay, Italy, (West) Germany, Brazil, England, France and Argentina. So whoever wins today joins a very exclusive list.

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This game could be the most watched event in history - so don't miss it!

The new Carrie Fisher

As a bit of a puck bunny myself, I'm always curious about the lady loves of hockey players, particularly when the lady in question is a celeb in her own right. One of my favourite celebrity/athlete mash-ups is Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher, who are set to marry today in a lavish wedding in Georgia.

The two met backstage after one of her concerts in Ottawa, where Fisher plays for the Senators. Apparently Fisher's mother had seen her singing on American Idol long before, and had told him that was the type of girl he should marry. In December of last year Mike took his mum's advice and popped the question.

Check out the engagement ring!

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The wedding will take place at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton Lodge on Lake Oconee. They've booked the entire hotel for the weekend - a move that will cost over half a million dollars. A giant tent has also been erected near the lake and area waterways will be shut down to ensure the couple's privacy.

This privacy comes at a premium - the entire wedding is expected to cost over 1 million dollars.

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We all know Carrie Underwood from her American Idol days, but what about Mike Fisher? The 30 year old hails from Peterborough, Ontario, and has played his whole career in Ottawa. He's a good player, and was rumored to be under consideration for the Canadian Olympic team, though he didn't make the final cut. He's also a devout Christian (like Underwood), who runs hockey camps for kids in the off-season and donates the profits to charity.

Apparently People magazine will have the rights to the wedding pictures, so stay tuned in the weeks to come for a glimpse of the happy couple's big day.

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The Heat is on

The big news today in the (North American) world of sports is that LeBron James, the biggest name in basketball, will be playing for the Miami Heat next year.

Miami fans celebrate the news.

For those of you unfamiliar with "King James," he is a 6'8", 250 pound monster and basketball superstar. He has played for the Cleveland Cavaliers his whole career, but became a free agent (meaning he is free to sign with whichever team he chooses). He decided to go to Miami beacuse, in his words, "I feel this is going to give me the best opportunity to win." (The Cavs made it to the finals with LeBron, but were never able to go all the way.)

Fans in Cleveland are saddened and angry, perhaps none more than Cavaliers' owner Dan Gilbert (pictured right). "He quit," he said. "Our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier. This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his 'decision'.... Some people think they should go to heaven but NOT have to die to get there. The self-declared former 'King' will be taking the 'curse' with him down south." Hmmm, bitter-much?


He did offer James a whopping $30 million more than Miami did. But I say good for LeBron for knowing that there's more to life than money (not that he's hurting from missing out on the cash - his endorsements alone are worth tens of millions of dollars).

Gilbert has also personally guaranteed the people of Cleveland that their team will win a championship before the Heat do. If these 2 teams meet in the playoffs, watch out!

Paul's final pick

As you probably know by now, Paul the octopus was right. Spain defeated Germany 1-0, and moves on to face the Netherlands in Sunday's World Cup final.

Paul has apparently received some death threats from angry German fans, so some Spanish government officials have offered him amnesty in their country. Given that Paul has also predicted a Spanish victory in the next match, they have good reason to want to keep him safe.

So will Paul be right again? His record is perfect to date, but thus far he has only applied his gifts to games featuring Germany. Do his psychic powers extend beyond German concerns?

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Only time will tell.

The oracle at Oberhausen

As expected, the Netherlands beat Uruguay yesterday.

Today's game features Germany and Spain. Though Germany is the favourite, there's one mollusk who has the Deutschelanders worried: Paul, the psychic octopus.

Paul, who lives in Oberhausen, Germany, has correctly predicted the outcome of all of Germany's games in this World Cup. He even foresaw Serbia's victory over the Germans in the first round (probably the only creature to predict that, octopod or human).

And now he's picked Spain to win today's match. The drama has now shifted from the soccer pitch to the tank: will Paul be right again? Or will he be exposed as a fraud? And what will the Germans do to him when the dust settles?

Stay tuned as we follow this high-stakes game.

(For the record [and in case you were imagining a Professor Trelawny-type trance], Paul makes his predictions by being presented with two snacks, each one in a box decorated with one of the competing country's flags. Whichever snack he goes for is the "winner.")

And then there were four...

We're down to just 4 teams in the World Cup. Today, Uruguay faces the Netherlands, and tomorrow Spain and Germany play. The winners of these games will go on to play in the championship game on Sunday.

Uruguay is the underdog in today's game. They only made it by Ghana because one of their players used his hands to block a sure goal in the dying seconds of extra time. Ghana then lost a heartbreaker on penalty kicks. The Uruguayan got a red card on the play, meaning he has to sit out the game today.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, is known as the best team to never win the World Cup.

In other news, a power outage yesterday prevented me from posting our Monday Man for July 5. So here he is today, Spain's Aitor Ocio. Watch for him in tomorrow's game!