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    <title>SB Nation User Blog:  Useful_Idiot</title>
    <link>http://www.sbnation.comhttp://www.sbnation.com/users/Useful_Idiot</link>
    <description>Posts made by Useful_Idiot on SB Nation</description>
    <item>
      <title>OT: World Cup 2010</title>
      <link>http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2009/12/4/1186232/ot-world-cup-2010</link>
      <author>Useful_Idiot</author>
      <pubDate>Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:53:10 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">


&lt;p&gt;The World Cup draw was held today in South Africa to determine the 8 groups of 4 teams, and here are the results:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Group A:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;South Africa&lt;br /&gt;Mexico&lt;br /&gt;Uruguay&lt;br /&gt;France&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Group B:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Argentina&lt;br /&gt;Nigeria&lt;br /&gt;South Korea&lt;br /&gt;Greece&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Group C:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;England&lt;br /&gt;USA&lt;br /&gt;Algeria&lt;br /&gt;Slovenia&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Group D:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Germany&lt;br /&gt;Australia&lt;br /&gt;Serbia&lt;br /&gt;Ghana&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Group E:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Netherlands&lt;br /&gt;Denmark&lt;br /&gt;Japan&lt;br /&gt;Cameroon&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Group F:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Italy&lt;br /&gt;Paraguay&lt;br /&gt;New Zealand&lt;br /&gt;Slovakia&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Group G:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Brazil&lt;br /&gt;North Korea&lt;br /&gt;Cote d&amp;rsquo;Ivoire&lt;br /&gt;Portugal&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Group H:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Spain&lt;br /&gt;Switzerland&lt;br /&gt;Honduras&lt;br /&gt;Chile&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px;&quot;&gt;So the &quot;Group of Death&quot; appears to be Group G, with Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal all having excellent teams. The U.S got off pretty lucky, in my opinion. England will be the favorites to easily win this group, but the top two teams in each group move on to the elimination stages and the U.S will be expected to finish ahead of both Algeria and Slovenia. If they finish second in Group C, the U.S will play the winner of Group D- likely Germany.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style=&quot;font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 7px; padding-left: 0px;&quot;&gt;What are your thoughts on the 2010 World Cup? Apparently U.S fans have purchased the most tickets of any country so far, though that will surely change as the tournaments gets closer. I'm personally very excited to see England v. USA, which could feature a Donovan- Beckham face off and will likely be the only time I root against the great Wayne Rooney. Just for kicks, I'm going to predict England to shut up the critics and finally win the whole thing, with the United States upsetting Germany in the round of 16 but going down to the Brits in the next round. Look for Cameroon to get further than expected with upsets over Italy and perhaps even the Netherlands, and definitely tune in for a possible &quot;elite 8&quot; match up of Spain and Brazil.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;

  


 	&lt;fieldset class=&quot;poll-box&quot;&gt;
  &lt;legend&gt;Poll&lt;/legend&gt; 
  &lt;h5 class=&quot;poll-title&quot;&gt;Which country will win the 2010 World Cup?&lt;/h5&gt;
  
    
&lt;div id=&quot;poll_container_56835_23648692&quot; class=&quot;poll_container&quot;&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;0%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Argentina&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;0&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;19%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Brazil&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;13&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;3%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;England&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;2&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;1%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;France&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;1&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;4%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Germany&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;3&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;7%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Italy&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;5&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;4%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Netherlands&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;3&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;1%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Portugal&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;1&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;27%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Spain&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;18&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;22%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;USA (you homer)&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;15&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;7%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Other&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;5&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
  &lt;p class=&quot;poll-total-votes&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;66&lt;/strong&gt; votes
      
    | &lt;span class=&quot;poll-has-closed&quot;&gt;Poll has closed&lt;/span&gt;
  
  &lt;/p&gt;  
&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;script&gt;

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    new SBN.Poll('poll_container_56835_23648692').animateResults({renderImmediately:true});
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&lt;/fieldset&gt;

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      <title>OT: Your Online Gaming Personas</title>
      <link>http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2009/9/5/1017894/ot-your-online-gaming-personas</link>
      <author>Useful_Idiot</author>
      <pubDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:41:07 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">


&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; So I've just moved into my new apartment in San Francisco, which means I finally have a wireless internet connection for online gaming! It's really nice to finally be able to play online and connect with my friends from the east coast and I was thinking it'd be cool to play online with the gamers amongst the McCoven (I know we have plenty of 'em... I've seen the thread hijacks).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; I was also thinking that this could open up opportunities to start some online leagues or whatever, because in the past I've seen people mention the possibility of creating McCC leagues for various games, but as far as I know it hasn't come to fruition. So if you're interested, leave your PS3 and/or 360 tags (or Wii, although from what I've heard, they're online network leaves a bit to be desired...) and we can add each other to our friends list.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; My PS3 ID is AbleCain1 (after my favorite Giant, of course)... I don't own a 360, since I'm a college student and don't have the time or money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp; MLB The Show would be fun but from what I've seen, it's way too laggy online. My game of choice at the moment is FIFA 09, so if any of you are FIFA players, I'd definitely be up for a match or two. Also, feel free to discuss any good or bad games you've played recently. I haven't had much time in the past few weeks but I'm open for suggestions as I wait for FIFA 10 and Uncharted 2...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;


  


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    <item>
      <title>Verducci on &quot;retaliation&quot;</title>
      <link>http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2009/8/18/993575/verducci-on-retaliation</link>
      <author>Useful_Idiot</author>
      <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:59:24 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/tom_verducci/08/18/stop.beanballs/index.html?eref=sihpT1&quot;&gt;Verducci on&amp;nbsp;&quot;retaliation&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;I understand that this is how it has always been, but there is something pathetic about feeling the need to retaliate against an accidental bean ball. Especially when you wait until there are two outs in the seventh inning to do it. Real tough, Santana.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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      <title>Wow, check out Timmy pitching way back in little league... He has the same delivery!...</title>
      <link>http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2009/5/4/864891/wow-check-out-timmy-pitching-way</link>
      <author>Useful_Idiot</author>
      <pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 23:09:00 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;object height=&quot;340&quot; width=&quot;560&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/jjSmZbUdIus&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&quot; /&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot; /&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowscriptaccess&quot; value=&quot;always&quot; /&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/jjSmZbUdIus&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; allowscriptaccess=&quot;always&quot; height=&quot;340&quot; width=&quot;560&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;

&lt;div class=&quot;source source-img&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wow, check out Timmy pitching way back in little league... He has the same delivery! Awesome&amp;nbsp;stuff.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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      <title>Forbes: Giants-Dodgers Most Intense Rivalry in Baseball</title>
      <link>http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2009/5/2/862841/forbes-giants-dodgers-most-intense</link>
      <author>Useful_Idiot</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2009 20:53:23 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/28/baseball-best-rivalries-lifestyle-sports-baseball.html&quot;&gt;Forbes: Giants-Dodgers Most Intense Rivalry in&amp;nbsp;Baseball&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;I think the overexposure of the Yanks/Sox rivalry (mostly by ESPN) is really starting to diminish its intensity, at least for people outside New York and Boston. It's hard to rank sports rivalries, but I like Forbes' criteria in using the competitiveness of the two teams over the years. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
      </description>
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      <title>Pathetic Washington Nationals advertisement</title>
      <link>http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2009/4/10/830029/pathetic-washington-nationals</link>
      <author>Useful_Idiot</author>
      <pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:36:27 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;embed bgcolor=&quot;#666666&quot; src=&quot;http://static.ning.com/socialnetworkmain/widgets/video/flvplayer/flvplayer.swf?v=4.0.8%3A19637&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; flashvars=&quot;config=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mymasn.com%2Fvideo%2Fvideo%2FshowPlayerConfig%3Fid%3D2025894%253AVideo%253A9286%26ck%3D1362010832&amp;video_smoothing=on&amp;autoplay=off&quot; allowscriptaccess=&quot;always&quot; height=&quot;260&quot; wmode=&quot;opaque&quot; width=&quot;456&quot;&gt; &lt;/embed&gt; Find more videos like this on myMASN

&lt;div class=&quot;source source-img&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Pathetic Washington Nationals&amp;nbsp;advertisement&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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      <title>Stephen Strasburg: The second coming of Christ?</title>
      <link>http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2009/3/27/812494/stephen-strasburg-the-seco</link>
      <author>Useful_Idiot</author>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:41:20 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/lee_jenkins/03/25/stephen.strasburg/index.html&quot;&gt;Stephen Strasburg: The second coming of&amp;nbsp;Christ?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;Everyone in baseball seems to have fallen in love with San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg. From his 102 mph fastball, right down to his &quot;piercing powder-blue eyes&quot;, scouts are drooling over this guy. Timmy had a lot of hype coming out of Washington, but this level of praise is just unheard of... &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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