it is my best friend's last day in town, and I just... don't even know what to do. We can't drink because he has Mono.

ah, see, you should have date raped him last month then.  Carpe diem! 

Not sure if serious...

I yam serious.  Apple is a great alternative to some of the sucky stuff out there, but then, Apple has it's sucky side too.  If there were more companies making stuff that didn't suck, you could sort of pick and choose the best of them.  If one pissed you off, you could switch to another.  But if Apple pisses you off... then what?  You just keep buying Apple stuff, or, you really have to go out on your own, or do without.

It's unfortunate that Apple has a monopoly on stuff that doesn't suck because then when Apple does suck, you really have no recourse. 

it's interesting how the bitching in this thread is read by so many people here as shitting on soccer, when in fact, it is not.  Oh wait, I'm using the wrong verb there... "reading" implies a minimal level of linguistic competence...

maybe if you get him drunk at a middle school reunion you could get video of him and you having anal sex and then black mail him... his family probably has lots of money and being republicans who knows he might be one of those confused queers who doesn't know they're queer.  probably a queer with really kinky sex desires all that subliminal repression of self identity tends to do a number on them.

Hey AugustWest chill out bro I appreciate littlefallsmets comments.  Your attitude is kind of stifling.  What's wrong with some intelligent sociopolitical analysis in the middle of a thread about soccer.  You're really buttressing what littlefallsmets is saying because your intolerance of littlefallsmets' comments combined with your lack of interest in sociopolitical subject matter is the sort of attitude that is the precursor if not the heart of nationalism gone off the deep end.  Sure your argument is valid that maybe some of the people in this thread just don't care about anything other than having some fun talking about soccer, but, why the hostility, why the attempt to enforce what you/them like/want in this thread?  Isn't it better to have a little diversity of ideas, to have one idea fork off into another idea unexpectedly?  You're coming across like me when I'm channeling my inner twit. 

Aggressive patriotism in international sporting events is hardly a singly American phenomenon, is it?

Well.. There was the holocaustism displayed by soccer fans in the Balkins before they actually started holocausing.  Soccer was used by authorities in say Serbia as a tool to stir up nationalism and jingoism.  Sorry I don't have any references or whatever you'll have to google it.

I didn't read the above linked article, but personally, I say FUCK patriotism.  People are people, irrespective of what country they come from.  A country is such a complex and bureaucratic thing.  Allegiance to a country and holding it in high esteem is such a gross over simplification that it can only end (as it constantly does) in tragedy, suffering, and death.  You love the flag?  Yeah I admit, I respect the flag and it evokes emotions for me.  I burn it from time to time too.  People died for my right to burn the fuck*ng thing, so if I don't exercise that right from time to time, then they died in vain.  Eh.  So anyway, congratulations if you feel something for the flag, or the country.  It's called branding motherfucker.  You might love Chevy cars too, or Apple computer, or Microsoft, or your favorite brand of dildo, or the American Flag, or Jesus - it's all a matter of PR and marketing and Word Craft.

Of course usually God is mixed in with patriotism, and that's just bleh...

-edit

just to be clear, I don't mind certain people having an opinion, but if you're gonna lock my topics just because you're in a bad mood or feeling flip, then you're just annoying.

exactly.  That's why some people will never believe X Y or Z no matter how strong the evidence.  Because their perception of reality is not rooted in science or reason, but instead is rooted in subjective perception, which in turn leads to chauvinism and America.