Postcard Wars

Postcard Wars has uploaded photos of all postcards received since this site was created in May.

As promised, Postcard Wars will be hosting an end-of-the-year competition for Best Worst Postcard of the Year. You’re the judge! We’ll take votes from anywhere in the world to select ONE WINNER, one fantastic postcard that meets the criteria of a truly phenomenal effort. These criteria include:

• Difficulty of obtaining the postcard
• Oddness/uniqueness of the postcard
• Any interesting stories in gathering/sending the postcard (for example: did you draw blood in pursuit of the postcard?)
• And more!

Thanks again for all of your great contributions. I know I’ve been slacking a bit in comparison to the torrid pace I set a few years ago while living in Europe, but you’ve inspired me to pick up the pen and seek out some winners again. Ole!

A momentous occasion here at Postcard Wars!

With your help, headquarters received four postcards in a single day — a record since this Web site began. And they were quite cool ones, too.

First, we have to say “Welcome Back!” to Ali, our very tanned and well-fed Turkish friend, who spent nearly a month back home in Istanbul before returning to Washington. Ali brought home a pair of postcards featuring the Bosphorus Bridge, the Blue Mosque, the Haghia Sophia museum, the Maiden’s Tower and the Ortakoy Mosque in Istanbul. These would be our first two contributions from the colossal Eurasian country of Turkey, and Postcard Wars is very happy about the additions.

Then we’ve got a pair of postcards from very different places indeed. Thanks to Carolyn, professional partier, for a truly terrible postcard from the New York New York hotel in Sin City, Nevada. Especially love the photo of a lingerie-wearing, aroused woman feeding her boxer-short-wearing boyfriend a martini in bed. You may qualify for the late rounds of this year’s Postcard Wars with that one. Cheers!

And, finally, I am so psyched to receive another one from Japan! A joint British-American mountain-climbing expedition found its way to the top of the formidable Mount Fuji, and a few days later decompressed by gazing a peaceful Buddha statue in…Kamakura? Is that where the Buddha sits? In any case, nice going American. Nice going Englishwoman.

My four new postcards, here is your new home.

Istanbul 1

Istanbul 2

Viva Las Vegas!

Japanese Buddha from the American and Brit

Things heat up at Postcard Wars World Headquarters!

After the stellar postcard that shall be known simply as “New Jersey Sunrise,” two fierce competitors have emerged in The Race for the Scheiss. First, we have another card from Romania, but this one, it must be said, puts the others to shame. “The Beautiful Romania” is printed on the front and — extra credit for the story — the card has been en route MORE THAN THREE YEARS.

In summer 2003 our special correspondent, Ryan the Shitgoose, traveled from Prague, where both he and I were living at the time, to Romania for a short vacation. While there, he was attacked by a bear (true) and, apparently, also acquired today’s awful postcard. When the Shitgoose returned to Prague, however, he forgot to give me the postcard and promptly returned to his native Seattle for a few months. Then I moved back to my native Pennsylvania for a spell. While both he and I were in America, the Shitgoose never found the time to ask for my Pennsylvania address. Instead, he decided to hang onto the card until we saw one another in person, someday, somewhere.

He then joined the Peace Corps and moved to Albania for two years.

I went to visit him in Albania while doing a Balkan tour in the summer of 2004 and had a lovely time setting communist bunkers on fire on Albania’s tarnished beaches and observing the daily power outages and not eating the meat. And yet, in the midst of this experience, “The Beautiful Romania” still did not find its way into my hands. The Shitgoose simply must have forgotten to hand it to me.

Fast forward two years to when Ryan the Shitgoose has completed a Peace Corps tour of duty in Librazhd, Albania. He made his triumphant return to the United States a few weeks ago to visit family and friends in Seattle and Philadelphia. I caught up with him in Philly; “The Beautiful Romania” finally caught up with me. A terrific story about a truly crappy postcard. Thanks Goose.

After “The Beautiful Romania,” things began looking pretty grim for “New Jersey Sunrise” — and the challenge was expanded with the arrival, today from Holland, of “Windmill/Cheesegirl.” That’s right. A lovely header reading simply “Holland,” featuring Windmill in the background and Cheesegirl in the foreground (the back of the postcard identifies both Windmill and Cheesegirl, for the user’s convenience). Cheesegirl is a Dutch delight in an odd, “traditional” red, white and blue get-up, carrying a basket featuring what appears to be reading/promotional material. But no cheese! Where, for God’s sake, is the cheese? A masterpiece of a tacky — or, dare I say, “cheesy” — postcard.

Nice work once again from the undisputed champion of postcards. You’ve made a clear statement here today, Oliver.

Today’s arrivals — you’re on the board.

The Beautiful Romania — en route for THREE YEARS.

Windmill/Cheesegirl: Notice the apron.

The World Cup ended one week ago with an Italian win, a revamped German outlook on life and a hell of a lot of controversy involving an insult, a headbutt and a tournament-changing red card. But let’s not dwell on the debates and debacles; let’s remember the great little things that make this tournament the best of all sporting events. Postcard Wars presents one final installment of photos taken on the scene in Germany, where the whole world focused its attention for one glorious month.

Bratwurst man in Berlin! Bearer of such good things.

Goal for England vs. Trinidad and Tobago!

German loving the Brazilian women at Fan Fest Gelsenkirchen.

I see soccer everywhere.

You are the Swedest thing!

Optimistic Americans crowding the platform before their opener vs. the Czechs.

Note the bottom of the train schedule: up-to-the-minute scores, of course!

These Stuttgart city workers are taking a big break to look at a mini TV.

Goodbye, Germany! You’ve been amazing.

This one, lads, is a winner: New Jersey Sunrise. Sunrise indeed, my friend! You’re in the running for the title with that one. Also, I’ve taken down your information.

Please note, everyone, that Postcard Wars is working on scanning each and every postcard received here at World Headquarters in Washington, DC, to be entered in an end-of-the-year competition for the Best Worst Postcard of the Year. And, as I said, New Jersey Sunrise has set a high standard for the rest of you. Be warned.

What more can one say?

From an anonymous correspondent on the Left Coast, some sharp observations about this World Cup:

Good: fans’ passion, fans’ behavior, some great matchups in the quarters, the changed German mentality, the Ghanaans, the Italian defense

Fair: the Italians winning. Best team in the tournament (11 different guys scored) but I for one still can’t get into their style

Bad: no singular memorable game like Arg-Eng in 98, the low goal total, the ridiculous diving and whining (C Ronaldo may be the biggest wuss alive), the tendency of teams to ALWAYS think defense first, the uninspired Ronaldinho and Brasil, everything Rooney did, the fact that France almost won with no real goals after the quarters.

Most likeable: Ghana’s Stephen Appiah, the T&T goalie, the Aussies and Koreans

Most hateable after C Ronaldo: P Crouch and the Spanish coach Aragones

And, finally, Postcard Wars leaves you with one amazing fact of this tournament:

The Swiss were eliminated WITHOUT SURRENDERING A SINGLE GOAL. Wow.

Folks, Zidane’s headbutt is not going anywhere fast. It has become the story of the World Cup, almost bigger than Italy winning. What did Materazzi say to provoke Zidane? Was it racial? Was it about his mother? Seems like everyone is weighing in on this. Today, finally, Zidane broke his silence about the episode; for that matter, so did Materazzi (same article).

In the meantime, the Internet has been swept up in fun and games surrounding the incident. For example, be sure to play the Zizou game and see if you can earn a red card as fast as he did! Or, at this Web site, you can insert any insult you like into Materazzi’s mouth. Meanwhile, you’ve got these crazy tourists trying the Zizou on each other. And is that Fidel Castro having a run-in with our French captain? Then we’ve got the investigative journalist, who has tracked down some grisly footage showing that Materazzi certainly isn’t new to this kind of thing. Finally for today, here is a great blog entry suggesting that good ol’ Materazzi squirmed his way to a World Cup, with blood, sweat and tears — lots of tears. Man does that photo annoy.

Photo: Reuters.

Your World Cup final was decided by penalties for the second time in history. And, as in 1994, this final featured the Azzurri — but apparently Fabio Grosso is no Roberto Baggio, and didn’t come close to firing his crucial shot over the net. For Grosso, it was the third game-winning performance at this tournament — first came the penalty kick he drew vs. Australia (Francesco Totti put it home in injury time), then came the amazing match-winner vs. the Germans in the 119th minute and now the cold-as-ice PK past a more or less useless Fabian Barthez to give the Azzurri their 4th World Cup title.

It was a fascinating game in a lot of ways. Two goals in the first 20 minutes, including a Zinedine Zidane penalty in the seventh minute that called forth memories of Geoffrey Hurst’s goal in the 1966 final at Wembley Stadium (England 4, Germany 2). Then a beautiful equalizer by Marco Materazzi off a corner kick by Andrea Pirlo, and Postcard Wars thought we would have a final that would counter the many goal-depleted games of this low-scoring World Cup. But that was it for scoring, though Zidane had a great chance in the first extra session saved by Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon, who allowed only two goals during the entire tournament — one an own goal, the other Zidane’s hard-to-stop penalty.

Clearly, however, what everyone will remember about this World Cup final occurred in the second extra period, when Zidane totally lost his cool and head-butted Matterazzi in the chest, dropping the Italian to the ground and earning the French captain/legend a red card, just before penalty kicks were due to begin. David Trezeguet wound up missing his kick in an eerie replay of Zidane’s earlier conversion — this time, however, the ball bounced off the crossbar onto the other side of the line — and no Italians missed. That’s a wrap, and we have a world champion for the next four years. But this game certainly didn’t end at the final whistle, and debate is raging over whether Italy was the best team in the tournament, whether the Azzurri deserved to win even this game and — more than anything else — what Materazzi said to provoke Zidane into such an uncontrolled reaction.

“Traitor,” you say?

Per Mertesacker and Sebastian Kehl following loss to Italy.

David Odonkor: The Super Sub

I know how you feel.

And you too.

“Thank you for the great soccer you’ve shown us. You are sooooooooooooo awesome. We are so unbelievably happy to share this with you. You are the greatest. You are the most beautiful. You are the smartest.”

Photos: DPA, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit

Ladies and gents, it will be Italy v. France in the final of the 2006 World Cup. Allez les Blues v. Forza Italia, after the former knocked off Portugal 1-0 this afternoon and the latter knocked off Postcard Wars’ beloved German Mannschaft 2-0 yesterday, which I must admit felt like a knife to the heart.

Italy-Germany was a phenomenal game, back and forth and up and down and seemingly headed for penalty kicks until Fabio Grosso put an amazing shot past a very in-form Jens Lehmann. Germany pushed up desperately for an equalizer in the final minute or two, and Italy found enough space to double the score. Italy was clearly the better team in overtime, though I am not yet ready to claim that the Azzurri were the better team in regulation.

Germany’s World Cup dream ended in tears in Dortmund, but what a run it has been. I’m looking forward to seeing Klose, Lehmann, Ballack and Co. v. Portugal in the third-place game on Saturday. The Germans were exciting to watch and came up against a very good Italian side that got better and better as the tournament wore on — though we could point out that Totti’s penalty v. the Socceroos was a total dive and a total gift. Not that I have an opinion on that.

Postcard Wars was on hiatus when the unthinkable happened and Brazil was eliminated. The French were on point and dominated the Brazilians, who seemed to be looking right past Les Bleus. 1998 all over again.