Thoughts from the weekend:

* I managed to put thoughts of rooting for France away when they flopped their way to the penalty kick goal that gave them their brief 1-0 lead (though I did savor the irony that Italy had their specialty used against them). I can't say I exactly rooted for Italy, though. Let's just say their win left me less conflicted.

* For those of you who did root for Italy, you may want to invest in Fox Soccer Channel now, as many of those players will wind up in the English Premiere League next season, given how match-fixing scandal will cause many of their current teams to get demoted all the way down to Serie C. To put this in US terms, it'd be like the Yankees spending 2007 playing in the Eastern League, but with most of their stars going to play in Japan.

* Do not taunt Surly Mean Zizou.

* I was somewhat surprised at the size of the crowd that assembled on City Hall Plaza in Boston to take in the final game. Not so much that there'd be people - showing the game on the plaza was a smart move to keep the North End from total gridlock - but that anyone would willing stand in the concrete-and-brick desert that is City Hall Plaza for 2+ hours in the middle of July. Better them than me.

* ABC has four years to find a better "A" team of broadcasters than Dave O'Brien and Marcello Balboa. It can't be that hard, can it? Seamus Malin isn't dead, is he?

* So it was an up and down weekend for France, sports-wise. Mauresmo wins Wimbeldon, and Frenchman Sylvain Calzati won stage 8 of the Tour de France. Unfortunately, Calzati was favoring Italy (as you might imagine from his last name). I'd say the odds that he gets pelted with rotten eggs and overripe wheels of brie during tomorrow's stage are about even.

* Unrelated to the World Cup, bug spray is often a good idea when you go picking your own berries. It couldn't have hurt this weekend. I still have bites that itch two days after the fact.

* On the same berry-picking trip I ran into two of my high school classmates, which was interesting given that they live in New Orleans and (I think) Florida. Also interesting is that both are married and have children. The things you learn after not seeing people for a while.

* I've now seen two houses in the same development in Beverly where the garage was converted into a beauty shop. Both were in ranch houses built in the early '50s that have the furnace in the kitchen and some of the more garishly-colored bathrooms I've ever seen. I will say the house we saw yesterday was probably the best of the bunch - it didn't smell like cat pee and had an in-ground pool in the back yard. Or, rather, the pool was the back yard.

Cuts down on the mowing, I suppose.

* With the renewed looking, you'd think we might actually be closer to buying a house. We're not. We did see a couple of places that were interesting (the ranch included, which is funny as neither of us are fans of the style), but prices still seem a little high given that most of the places will need work (in some cases considerable work). At this rate we'll be in a place in 2008.

* Not much else to tell from the weekend. Caught a bit of the New Hampshire PBS station's re-broadcast of The Civil War, which is always good TV. Otherwise, quiet across the board.