Sunday Strip: Merlin and the Golden Boot
Football comes to the N. America (just don't call it that)...
The high school science Fair - what could go wrong?
I tried my hardest to find World Cup Series memes.
Honestly, the ones I found were completely unintelligible or truly… not funny. But Crypto always seems to be involved… I did come to the conclusion that Crypto must be advertising big time -maybe it explains why there aren’t any funny memes about the series?
This is the best I could do…
BTW- for those of you, like me, living under a sock when it comes to Football…errr… Soccer. Here is some critical information so that you don’t look totally stuupid at the water cooler during coffee break:
The FIFA World Cup is being played in North America right now (June–July 2026), and the United States is one of the three host nations alongside Canada and Mexico. It is the first World Cup ever hosted by three countries and the first expanded tournament with 48 teams.
The tournament runs from June 11 through July 19, 2026. Most matches are being played in the United States, with games hosted in cities including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle.
The U.S. men’s team has already won its first two group-stage matches and advanced to the knockout round.
OK - I did find one meme that was almost funny. It turns out that Turkiye got knocked out first. Without making a single goal.
And Turkish fans are not amused. But someone is…
The World Cup has turned America into a discovery channel for the rest of the world.
And they are not handling it well.
In the best possible way.
Here is what they are discovering:
Free public restrooms. Europeans pay every time.
Free water at every restaurant. Just appears.
Free refills. Coffee. Sodas. Iced tea. Unlimited.
Free chips and salsa before you even order.
Free warm bread with dinner.
Ice in drinks like civilized people.
Air conditioning everywhere. Not a moral debate. A fact.
Parking lots attached to the actual place you are going.
Drive throughs where the food comes to the car while you sit in it.
Ranch dressing by the gallon.
Tex-Mex that cannot be explained only experienced.
Dental care that actually works.
Buccee’s. There are no words for Buccee’s.
Then they found the grocery stores.
Five of them within one mile.
Each one the size of an aircraft hangar.
Burgers. Steaks. Brisket. Ribs. Pulled pork. Lamb. Veal. Every cut of every animal ever domesticated by human civilization available in one refrigerated aisle at ten in the morning on a Tuesday.
The Germans stood in the meat section for forty five minutes.
In silence.
Processing.
They finally understand why we do not have trains.
We have roads wide enough for the cars we actually drive.
Parking lots the size of small European countries.
Airports in every city worth visiting.
Why would we need trains?
The Germans are taking ranch home by the bottle.
The Dutch found queso and briefly lost the ability to speak.
The Japanese are photographing HEB like it is the Louvre.
The Czechs are weeping in West, Texas.
Welcome to America!
The greatest country on earth.
Then came Merlin - and I had to figure this out, cause I just didn’t “get” the memes…
It turns out that a domesticated and very loved duck named Merlin somehow accomplished what entire marketing departments, FIFA sponsors, and government tourism boards, who spent millions and yet never achieved, Merlin became the face and the joy of the 2026 World Cup in the Americas.
Videos of a little duck named Merlin waddling through Mexico City’s celebrations in a tiny Mexican national team jersey and duck-sized socks went viral almost overnight. Fans embraced him as Mexico’s unofficial World Cup mascot, proving once again that the fastest way to win the internet is to make it all about a cute little animal.
It works for me, could care less about soccer, but a sweet, little duck? That’s a different story!
JGM
Isn’t it incredible that people from all around the world can figure out how blessed we Americans are after being here for just a few days, but liberals can’t figure it out after being here for generations. Imagine if the world took a few minutes to read our bill of rights. Maybe it’s time we conservatives begin our own replacement theory!
I fell for it!! Waterlemons. And I that read wrong too.