It's World Cup Roster guessing time

Just so I can immortalize the picks here (in case I'm right or mostly right)...

Goallies: Keller, Howard, Hahnemann (in that order)

Comments: This isn't surprising to anyone. If Friedel hadn't "retired" from international soccer he'd be there... If there's an injury to Howard or Keller, I think Bruce Arena might make a quick phone call to see if that "retirement" can be reversed...

Central Defenders: Pope, Berhalter, Onyewu, Gibbs

Comments: Gibbs is a bit of a long shot. However, his ability to play left or right back in a pinch makes him likely in my book... He's also ideal to play left back in a 3 man defense.

Rightback: Cherundulo, Hejduk

I think Hejduk is a slam dunk and is needed in case of a) Cherndulo injury or b) no right midfielder is found (we'll get to that in a minute)...

Leftback: Lewis, (Convey, Hejduk, Gibbs, O'Brien)

This is a thin position for the team but we at least have 3 guys who can play passably back there.

Dmidfield: Mastroeni, Zavagnin, O'Brien

I do not like Pablo Mastroeni. His play in the Germany game was reportedly good but, having forgotten to TiVo the game, I can't say for certain. I believe he is very much a Vinnie Jones type of d-midfielder whereas Zavagnin is a Roy Keane type of player. I think it's only a matter of time until Mastroeni does something horrifyingly stupid that gets him cursed by Sam's Army. O'Brien will fill this role if he's healthy instead of Zavagnin.

Left Midfield: Beasley, Convey

Bobby Convey's recent performances, flexibility and amazing progress elevate him head and shoulders above his competition

Right midfield: Dempsey, Klein

We are severely lacking in right midfielders. I believe Chris Klein is the necessary choice if Cherndulo is to start. However, I think that Hejduk and Dempsey could form a pretty good tandem with Dempsey playing slightly more centrally and Hejduk providing the width.

Attacking midfield: Donovan, Reyna

This is the easiest of the slam dunk positions. If Reyna is healthy he may play here or in the right midfield slot (again, with Hejduk rather than Cherundulo). If Reyna plays here, expect Donovan to start up top instead of Eddie Johnson

Forwards: Johnson, McBride, Wolff, Twellman

Ching has an outside chance of making it but he's really only a competent fill in for Twellman. If there's a Wolff/Johnson injury I would expect Donovan to just be permanently slotted in as a forward for this WC and Arena to fill his slot in midfield

So that's my 23... O'Brien and Reyna are the only big injury question marks. Our thinnest position is probably forward and left back with right midfield being a big fat "?"

Feel free to comment if you think I'm off base.

Adding a book to my list of books to read

It's not quite as good as Ender's Game (but frankly what is?) but this one will be met with open arms by anyone who liked that book...

Edenborn by Nick Sagan (son of Carl Sagan) is a very well written book with an innovative plot. Sagan manages to introduce some very powerful themes without being at all preachy or heavy handed in his approach. This is actually the sequel to another book ("Idlewild") which I have not read but probably will. I'll let you know how that one turns out as well.

New Market website

There's a new website that creates markets and sells shares (a concept that is becoming extraordinarily popular). The site, Inkling, is very nicely laid out and fairly simple. The only problems that I see is that there market maker mechanism does not rely on an explicit bid/ask price (though one is implied). Instead it shifts the price by a small amount (which varies between markets) depending on the amount purchase or sold. This works fine now but seems like it will create a bit of a problem when the site is more active and prices are fluctuating as you hit the button... I'd love to know how they plan on handling that issue. It also limits trading large blocks but I think this might actually be a good thing as it keeps large money investors from creating aberrations in the markets.

Seems like a good website... the two markets I'm involved in are:

Price of Oil at the end of March (hovering right around 60-62 per barrel), and
Seats that democrats will hold after the midterm elections (hovering around 210-212 per share)