The weekend sucked. Nothing of intrinsic sports value went down. Yeah, you had Spain beating Germany, and that’s significant from a socio-cultural perspective, but the game itself was pretty vanilla — the German defense looked like they were sleepwalking through most of the match, and the Spanish (or as Tommy Smith would call them, “Spaniards”) couldn’t finish off the myriad of opportunities given them. Still, good for Spain. Hopefully this makes up for ‘36.

Elsewhere, we had…um…tennis, I guess. We’ve got some big tennis fans on staff here, and I’ve tried like hell to get into the sport, but it’s just not happening for me. Maybe I’m doing it wrong.

Anyway, some links for you today:

— This is a year old, but in case you missed it last summer, here are the instructions for blocking the obnoxious ESPN video that switches on every time you visit ESPN.com. (Hello World/En-Dash)

— Soccer in Europe…more popular than porn. Yes, we Americans can laugh about this. But I give the Euros credit…in some cases they’ve been able to combine the two. (Euro2008Girls…NSFW)

— This isn’t sports, I know, but it transcends all boundaries. Microsoft announced that they’re no longer going to be selling Windows XP starting tomorrow. Looks like it may be time for a Mac. (Some TV Station)

— The Spanish celebration was remarkably subdued. (The Big Lead)

— James Mirtle is not impressed with this year’s NHL free agent class. (James Mirtle)

— Meanwhile, these guys aren’t impressed with NHL front office movement. Period. (Out of Left Field)

— Penn State fans are nervous about the lack of offensive skill players. Oh, and Jay Paterno plays bocce. Interesting. (Run Up The Score)

— A post-draft preseason college basketball top 25. (March Madness All Season)