If you’ve got ?1.5m lying around, then why not consider buying your own Croatian island?

More on Football and the European economy - Slate’s Daniel Gross explains why Europe’s favorite sport is more American than baseball. In a nutshell, it’s because “American sports are virtually all socialistic while the European soccer leagues more closely resemble the entrepreneurial capitalism we Americans fetishize.” (via papascott.de)

Imagine what’ll happen if they get to the final…big parties in Athens as Greece head to the Euro 2004 semi-finals

The 2004 European Football Championship has kicked off with a shock in the opening game as the hosts Portugal were beaten 2-1 by Greece. Elsewhere, Spain began the tournament with a 1-0 win against Russia.

After Porto’s victory in the European Cup last night, their coach Jose Mourinho has announced he is leaving the club to work in England. He hasn’t said which club he’s joining yet, though.

Continuing our wall-to-wall coverage of this event, here is a reasonable approach to coping with it. Commentary one year when Spain gave Germany an inordinate number of points: “I see Mallorca has just cast its votes.”

Dept. of Mad Dogs and …
HUDDERSFIELD, England (Reuters) — Seven men who enjoyed duck and caviar at more than 22,000 feet in the Himalayas pitched a claim Tuesday for the record highest altitude formal dinner.

The Guardian looks behind the scenes at the work of the EU’s translators and interpreters

Two sad recent deaths: Legendary actor/writer/raconteur Peter Ustinov and British Letter From America broadcaster and writer Alistair Cooke

Reuters points out that owning a single share of Eurodisney, the long time ill-fated European branch of Disney, may have been one of the best investments in recent European economic history. Shareholders attending last Thursday’s annual meeting were rewarded with two tickets, a Lion-King toy, and a restaurant voucher. Just the tickets, currently priced at [...]