Man Bites Dog: Blogger admits that he doesn't post about a subject because he doesn't know enough about it to make a worthwhile contribution. Jeez, it's never stopped me from posting on bankruptcy law....

Booted: Arena out as U.S. coach. No word on his replacement. I guess tying the World Champs only gets you so far.

The Midas Touch: What if you gave a dinner for campaign contributors, and no one showed up? It takes a special guest of honor to scare away the fat cats.... [link via Daily Kos]

Howard Owens is back, blogging up a storm in Kern County.

Solid Earth & Gold: I haven't mentioned her recently, but the World's Most Soulful Yooperchick, Annette Summersett, finally has her new C.D. out. Buy it now.

Memo to the Opposite Sex: This isn't sexy. Straight men don't find this to be an attractive look, and we don't respect women who pursue this course; in fact, we pity them. You cannot have a fulfilling, long-term relationship with those men who are attracted, since it's just as likely they are going to be prowling junior high schools looking for their next catch. For the love of Kobe, please don't do this to yourself. [link via Kausfiles]

17 Million: That's the number of people who saw the World Cup Final in the U.S. on ABC and Univision Sunday afternoon. That's a higher number than averaged seeing the 2006 NBA Finals, three times higher than the viewership for the 7th Game of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and as high as the average for the 2005 World Series and NCAA Hoops Final, except those games were aired in prime time, and involved American teams. Its ratings were much higher than the final round of the Masters. It was seen by more Americans than saw this season's final episodes of 24 and Alias, combined...take that, Frank Deford.

Zizou apologizes, sort of, for his boneheaded loss of composure Sunday. He gets some props from, of all people, Paul Zimmerman (aka "Dr. Z"), SI's longtime football writer, here. Two other takes, based on the unsupported assumption that Zidane was the target of a racist jibe (something he hasn't claimed, yet), are here and here. It should also be pointed out for the record that Zidane's ancestry is not Arabic, it's Berber.

Italy 1, France 1 [P.K.-Ital. 5, Fra. 3]: The best World Cup final in twenty years, marred by an act of unforgivable idiocy by the game's best player in the final minutes of overtime.

Where to? For me, it's Over/Under in Santa Monica, which I seem to recall having a decided pro-Azzurri tilt....