"Not-so-deep thoughts" by Fern
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Vol. 1, No. 2
11/June/98
     
"Blame it on the rain"
     
COSTA MESA, California - It is said, and statistics have backed this claim, 
that at least one criminal act is performed somewhere in the world every 10 
seconds.  In France this afternoon, under a stormy sky and in front of 
billions of witnesses, a crime had taken place in the most unlikely of 
places, but the Italians won't believe you.  The national team of Chile, an 
upstart for the year and one of the most surprising contenders this year on 
the world soccer stage, were robbed of a victory during the first round of 
the World Cup due to.  An obviously unintentional hand ball in the penalty 
area by a Chilean defender allowed Roberto Baggio, the goat of the USA '94 
chamiponship, the moss on the family tree, his first appearance on the 
Italian national team in three and half years, to score the equalizer on a 
penalty kick.  "Air Baggio" finally found the back of the net, allowing his 
country to tie with Chile in a game the Chileans were sure to have won had 
the referee been watching the game.  The referee may have understood his 
error after he had blown the whistle, but to reverse a call in front of the 
world would surely endanger him.  As it is, the 2-2 result puts both teams 
at the top of their group's standings.  The future games for both teams 
will determine who will end up on top.  Look for the Chileans to have a 
large goal differential should a tie breaker be the determining factor.
     
Only four games into the World Cup and it seemed the inevitable, the 
unwanted, was about to occur: a 0-0 game.  Lucky for us, Cameroon came 
through and scored a brilliant goal late into the game.  The slowly 
Austrians had other plans as they tied up the score in the 91st minute of 
the game.  That's it for this game, my boss was giving me a funny look this 
morning...  -fb-