LIVE VIDEO: New York City Throws Ticker Tape Parade For World Cup Champions

New York City To Host Ticker-Tape Parade For Champion Women's World Cup Team

Via Gothamist:

The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team will be honored with a ticker-tape parade on Friday to celebrate their recent World Cup championship. On the heels of a growing petition and entreaties from the Manhattan Borough President and others, Mayor de Blasio's office announced today that the parade will kick off at 11 a.m. on July 10th. The parade will start near the World Trade Center and continue down Broadway and the famous "Canyon Of Heroes" between the Battery and City Hall. According to the Mayor's office, "all are invited to celebrate along the parade route highlighted on the map below, and there are limited places available for those who would like the chance to attend the ceremony at City Hall upon the conclusion of the parade."

This will be the first-ever ticker-tape parade for a women's team. The last solo female so honored was 55 years ago after figure skater Carol Heiss took the gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics. New York City's first ticker-tape parade, a spontaneous event, took place in 1886 for the dedication of the Statue Of Liberty. Stock ticker machines became obsolete in the 60s and while the "ticker-tape parade" name survives, shredded office paper and commercial confetti is now thrown from office windows and rooftops. Friday's will be the 206th such parade in New York City history. Wikipedia maintains a list all previous parades.

USA Wins Women's World Cup, Champion Abby Wambach Rushes To Kiss Her Wife

Via SB Nation: "For the first time in her career, Abby Wambach is a World Cup winner. And after the final whistle blew in the United States' 5-2 win over Japan, she sprinted over to the stands to find her wife, Sarah Huffman, who was sitting in the front row with the rest of the American supporters."

FIFA Official: Yes We Took Bribes

Germany Celebrates World Cup

Russian Priest: The World Cup Is A Homosexual Abomination Because Shoes

Via the Moscow Times:

While thousands of Russian fans were left devastated by their team's early exit from the World Cup tournament, one Orthodox priest has openly rejoiced at their failure, denouncing the contest as a "homosexual abomination." Priest Alexander Shumsky seems to have taken particular exception to the brightly colored footwear on display in Brazil, writing in his column on Christian website Russian People's Line that players who wear green, yellow, pink or blue shoes helped promote the "gay rainbow." "Wearing pink or blue shoes, [the players] might as well wear women's panties or a bra," Shumsky wrote, adding that he was also offended by the "unthinkable" hairstyles of some of the players in Brazil.

(Tipped by JMG reader Kevin)

And That's The End Of That

LIVE STREAM: Belgium Vs USA

ESPN is live-streaming the match, but you must login with your cable account info.

Tweet Of The Day - Waffle House

USA vs Belgium starts at 4pm EDT.

Ann Coulter: Immigrant Soccer Fans Are Leading America Into Moral Decay

"Any growing interest in soccer can only be a sign of the nation's moral decay. Individual achievement is not a big factor in soccer. In a real sport, players fumble passes, throw bricks and drop fly balls — all in front of a crowd. When baseball players strike out, they're standing alone at the plate. But there's also individual glory in home runs, touchdowns and slam-dunks. In soccer, the blame is dispersed and almost no one scores anyway. There are no heroes, no losers, no accountability, and no child's fragile self-esteem is bruised. There's a reason perpetually alarmed women are called 'soccer moms', not 'football moms.' If more 'Americans' are watching soccer today, it's only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedy's 1965 immigration law. I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time." - Ann Coulter, in today's syndicated column. (Tipped by JMG reader Will)

World Cup Open Thread

Judging by Twitter, many of the nation's offices have suspended work to watch the USA vs Germany match. If you're among those folks, here's an open thread to weigh in, at least on the hotness of the players.

UPDATE: The USA has lost.

FIFA Bans World Cup Biter

Advertisers Snark On World Cup Biter

Here's what happened today:

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez could once again be in trouble after appearing to bite an Italian opponent Tuesday in a key World Cup qualifying game. The incident, shown on television replays, showed Suarez apparently bite the shoulder of Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini as the pair clashed in the Italian penalty area. It happened about a minute before Uruguay scored in the 81st. Suarez was sanctioned with a heavy ban for biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic in the English premier League in 2013. FIFA can sanction players for biting with bans of up to two years.

The McDonald's tweet translates as "Hey Luis Suarez, if you're still hungry, come take a bite out of a Big Mac."

Tweet Of The Day - God

GLAAD Issues World Cup PSA

Also available in English.

Another World Cup Jesus Flap

This time it's an Italian company.

The Brazilian Catholic Church has threatened to sue after Italian broadcaster Rai digitally draped Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue in a soccer jersey to promote its coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. A church lawyer for the Archdiocese of Rio compared the “blasphemous” move to making a commercial in which “mulatto girls engaged in lewd behavior with the gladiators of the Coliseum.” "The Archdiocese is deeply offended," Rodrigo Grazioli told O Globo, confirming that the church is considering slapping Rai with a $5.4 million lawsuit. If they win, the church promises to give the money to a charitable organization.

The commercial is at the link.

World Cup Jesus Sparks Outrage

As the World Cup prepares to start in Rio De Janeiro, an Australian betting site is floating a massive hot air balloon in the shape of the iconic Christ The Redeemer statue in the skies of Melbourne. Local Christian groups are outraged:

"This is extraordinary, if they knew anything about Jesus they'd know he'd be overturning tables in the gaming halls, because they're highly addictive and destroy lives," the Chair of Australian Churches Gambling Taskforce told ABC. "Is betting to absolutely dominate not just casino and gamble areas and TV rooms, but now literally the sky?" he asked. Rev Costello has since called on the Football Federation Australia (FFA) to call out the controversial campaign. "One of the great statues in Rio is Jesus, and Brazil is a Catholic nation that takes its faith seriously and its football fanatically," he said.

Australia's top news site reacts:

Christ! That was unexpected. If you woke up in Melbourne this morning and noticed a 12-story inflatable Christ the Redeemer balloon floating over your house, you weren’t hallucinating. You were, however, witnessing one of the most audacious public relations stunts we’ve seen in ages. Predictably, this stunt has incurred great indignation from religious groups and assorted members of the professionally outraged. The link between gambling and religion is being labelled offensive and disrespectful by politicians and church spokespeople. Never mind that gambling is rammed down society’s throat every day on the footy field and just about everywhere else. Associate Jesus with it, courtesy of a giant novelty balloon flying by the window, and it’s apparently much worse.

At 150 feet high, the balloon is bigger than the statue.

Walmart World Cup Fail

Via the Telegraph:

Supermarket Asda has defended a "wearable England flag" it has launched for the World Cup after claims it resembles a Ku Klux Klan outfit. The £3 St George's Cross, with the word "England" on the red cross, features a hood which Asda said was to allow fans to wear it and stay dry despite the unpredictable British weather. But some fans took to Twitter to point out what they believe were similarities with the hoods worn by the racist US organisation, also known by its initials "KKK". A company spokesman said it had also produced a wearable Brazilian flag ahead of the competition, with starts in the South American country on June 12. She added: "We know there's chatter on Twitter about our wearable World Cup flags, but it's simply a flag with a hood – nothing more, nothing less. "We opted for a hood on our wearable England and Brazilian flags as you never know what the British weather will bring. "We want customers to get behind the team without getting wet." The spokesman said there were no plans to withdraw the flag.

Asda is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walmart and is the UK's third-largest retail chain. (Tipped by JMG reader Lynda)

Now On Sale In Brazil

Via Gay Star News:

Just two months before Brazil hosts the FIFA World Cup, clothing stores are selling T-shirts calling soccer players ‘faggots’. Sergio K, a Brazilian brand, have revealed several designs for football fans to wear during the June and July sporting season. The simple T-shirt designs call Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo ‘gay’ and retired Argentine footballer Diego Maradona a ‘maricón’ (a faggot). The designer defends the T-shirts, which are being sold for around €62 ($85), as ‘irreverent’ and not offensive. He is also claiming they are selling out in stores across the country.

A petition has been launched against the company.