I for one would feel privileged to watch some Barcelona soccer games, either live or in a nice warm bar. I only see them once every week or two via espn3.com.

The one rugby player in it that I’m gaga over is Henri-Pierre Vermis, perhaps 29 when the pictures were taken, he is truly a man – with an intimidating physique and eyes that appear a crystal blue even in the all black-and-white photos. He’s mesmerizing.  Most of the other models are young rugby players maybe aged 20-25 who I’m sure will please many of you. I would like to know for which teams they play, but at least one can search in the index who the hottie on page XX is and research him yourself.

This one features a ton of architectural and gritty outdoor locations. The art connoisseur will love this book as will those who enjoy sex with men. There is a homo-erotic flavor throughout, which doesn’t bother me a bit. Why interrupt the images with an errant boob?

I do wish that European men would believe in circumcision – it would have enhanced their lovely manhoods – but I’ll just appreciate what I’m given. Unfortunately, I can hardly see American athletes posing and exposing all given our still giggly society, so I’ll take the Frenchies without complaint.

Merry Christmas to me! I’m so good at giving myself gifts I lick my lips over.

Exciting to watch were the Dutch and Germans, who brought fiery play to the field, though I miss the skilled long-distance goals from the Germans of 2006.

Disappointing as expected were the Italians and the French, and the upsets over Brazil and the destruction of Argentina were a pity.

So some of the greats were weaker than normal. Blame the new ball for all those high-flying balls. Blame the vuvus for just drying the players and spectators on couches nuts.

But my beloved Spanish team won and congratulations!!

I was researching a screenplay I’m writing. Thought I’d share this tidbit of info.

Another track for watching races instead of being on the track is the Hockenheimring. I know. Germans really need to remove some consonants from names. Just separate the “ring” from the word to help a touch.

Now on to the highlights.

• Bottom-of-the-barrel U.S. rockets into second place in group play beating Egypt 3-0 to move on to the semi-finals.
• Italy gets bumped off in an embarrassing 0-1 loss against South Africa, a great part of the reason the U.S. advances.
• Egypt loses in a hotly contested (at least by Egypt) group play match against Brazil 4-3.
• Brazil squeaks by on a questionably-called free kick to beat South Africa 1-0 in the semi-final while no free kicks are called in South Africa’s favor for similar and worse fouls during the crucial part of the game.
• The U.S. beats a too-casual Spain an impossible 2-0 using a power-in-numbers defensive strategy that proves to be a brick wall, and taking advantage of Spain’s conservative midfield and defensive positions to score on two of many breakaways won.
• Brazil beats the U.S. 3-2 after being down 0-2 at the end of the first half. But it really should have been 4-2 with a “ref didn’t see it” goal by Kaka caught in-goal by Howard.
• Spain wins most stylish uniform – part-royal, part-Star Trek. They also win most gang-bangable.
• South Africa wins most attractive crowd with their white-white teeth and their beautiful facial features.
• South Africa wins “most want to take an uzi to” for blowing those horrible horns throughout the games.

Hard to believe, especially since the hairstyles of some of the most noteworthy players of the last one still persist, but World Cup 2010 is coming. There are a ton of qualifiers going on just this weekend, so no need to wait. I prefer to watch mine with dedicated beer-guzzling fans in my local pub.