Ronaldinho, Messi, Deco: the keys for Brazil, Argentina and Portugal

The NYT is catching World Cup and Ronaldinho fever:

Ronaldinho may get close to the secret of Brazilian soccer — the alliance of discipline and skill with superior imagination — when he explains his role with the team. "When I train," he says, "one of the things I concentrate on is creating a mental picture of how best to deliver that ball to a teammate, preferably leaving him alone in front of the rival goalkeeper. So what I do, always before a game — always, every night and every day — is try and think up things, imagine plays, which no one else will have thought of, and to do so always bearing in mind the particular strengths of each teammate to whom I am passing the ball. When I construct those plays in my mind, I take into account whether one teammate likes to receive the ball at his feet or ahead of him, if he's good with his head and how he prefers to head the ball, if he's stronger on his right or his left foot. That's my job. That is what I do. I imagine the game."

If you're wondering what that means, it means this, this, this and this.

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Victor Varnado is a cross-eyed black albino comedian. You'll never guess what most of his material is about.

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Movie Monster is out and the first video is as well: Your Eyes Are Liars

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Slate tackles what no one in baseball feels like talking about, a couple days before the Grimsley scandal gets people talking realistically again.