The Smart Money
The pennant race in the deranged dictator division is heating up. Iran, perpetual second place finisher in a division dominated for decades by league titan North Korea, has instituted some key lineup changes in hopes of displacing the defending champs. Kim Jong Il has led his team to victory for year after year with cunning diplomatic strategy composed of equal parts bald-faced lying, last minute appeals to charity and simple bugfuck craziness. This is a tough combination to beat, especially considering that the NK team has two to eight nukes batting clean-up.
Iran has not taken a pennant since 1979, when in a storied inter-league game, they beat the Superpower league's USA with a ballsy hostage taking play. Things might have ended badly for the Iranian underdogs, but a welcome assist from a sandstorm and below par coaching on the American side proved sufficient for the big win. Since the glory days of the first few years after expansion team Iran joined the DDD, it has been frustrated hopes and horrific casualties. An eight year slugfest with division rivals Iraq allowed North Korea to coast into division leadership year after year.
This season, things are looking up for the Iranians. With Iraq knocked clear out of the division by some superb play by both the Americans and the British, Iran has only one team to beat. With North Korea on the ropes thanks to a concerted diplomatic effort from regional rivals and the Americans, and the American military team locked in an extended playoff with nutbag religious fundamentalist splodeydopes league champs Al Qaida, now is the time for the big play.
This sets the stage for today's match up. Iranian coach Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told a group of students at an anti-Israel event today that Israel must be "wiped off the map" and that attacks by Palestinians will destroy it. Enough crazy talk like that, and the Iranians might have a shot at the pennant. Anti-Zionism has been a reliable strategy for the Islamic members of the DDD for half a century. But the game isn’t over yet. Iran, eager to match North Korea's hitting power in the middle of the lineup, is going for nukes.
This is a dangerous move in any match-up with the canny and ruthless Israelis. Astute watchers of the game will remember the last time a DDD contender tried that play against Israel's fearsome defense. It's a bold move for Iran, but the smart money is on Israeli strike planes over Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant by year's end, ending Iran's bid to reach the top of the division – and clearing the way for yet another championship for North Korea.
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B,
B,
If you're going to cover the play-by-play of this match, pack your lead-lined undies.
I liked this line from the last link:
"The plans have been discussed with American officials who are said to have indicated provisionally that they would not stand in Israel’s way if all international efforts to halt Iranian nuclear projects failed."
Not stand in Israel's way? Shit son we'll even borrow you the deep earth penetrators and the techies to install them.
One has to wonder though about a country that for the past, oh, 25 years or so, has called for the thorough destruction of Israel and the extermination of Jews; AND YET is surprised that those very same Jews would capture or destroy that country's most dangerous weaponry.
It staggers the imagination. Yet, is real. It's almost insulting, really, that anyone on the planet buys Iran's indignation routine.