Just one tiny, tiny thing -- the Australian slang for McDonalds is "Maccas", not "Mackas". I told you it was tiny. :-)

Chris

As a lifelong ice hockey fan, I feel it's only proper that I comment on Michelle Kwan's lack of Olympic success. And, why all these Salon readers missed King Kaufman's point.

Pete Sampras isn't the best comparison to make for Michelle Kwan, because (despite his not winning the French Open) he had a much bigger, much more successful impact on the game. A better comparison would be, say, Ivan Lendl -- see, you don't even remember him! The choker of chokers, a man that won everything countless times except Wimbledon, which you can argue matters most in the eyes of fans.

The Olympics is the Olympics because it matters most; more than any professional tour or "world championship". Well, except for hockey. ;) Michelle Kwan, bless her cute soul (and it's cute, alright), was a terrific skater that never won a gold medal. She came up short each time at the Olympics -- where it matters most. Why do people not want to believe that?

Love,

Chris

Soccer balls are, in fact, easier to kick farther than the balls used in American football (aka gridiron). They are also easier to kick farther than rugby balls, and also easier to kick than those used in Australian rules football.

Wikipedia has a good article here on the physical properties of various balls: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_%28ball%29

I would have to say that, despite my relative ambivalence to the game, Australian rules football seems to exhibit the most powerful and accurate kickers. Most professional forwards are able to kick the ball through a 6.4m (7yds) set of goals from distances of 60m (65yds) or more.

Whilst American football goals are narrower at 5.4 metres (6yds), the balls are more aerodynamic and often kicked from a much shorter distance; the NFL record for a field goal is 63yds (57m) -- a distance almost all professional forwards in the Australian football league would be able to make accurately on at least 80% of their attempts.

You can't mention Togo without mentioning former President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1967 until his death in 2005. He is almost solely responsible for the condition of the country today...

Patrick,

As someone who lived in Mali for 3 years, I share your affection for the country (which you've brought up several times previously), and the continent in general. Whilst I never got to fly Air Afrique, in a sense it does still live on.

Practically everything in Bamako-Senou airport, from the luggage scales to the check-in counters to the boarding "trucks", is still painted and logoed in the unmistakable Air Afrique livery. Indeed, Air Afrique cargo containers are still used & loaded onto AF 791 every night. Even on the drive to the airport, the Air Afrique logo still stands (proudly?) on a large building just down from the BCEAO...

I think it's great that there are now two opportunities to get to West Africa direct from the U.S., though with that said it was always a nice happening to have a stop-over in Paris en route to Bamako, Dakar or anywhere else (nice) in West Africa.

Chris

Bamako'kaw 2002-2005. I ni barra!

...as Lewis Black said, there's no crying in baseball testimony!

Patrick, for the last few years, Qantas have required laptops to be taken out of their bags and the batteries removed before being x-rayed. Yet nobody could ever tell me why...

RachelC, could we get in touch? I spent the last 3 years of my life roaming between Bamako, Dakar and Ouagadougou, we may have run into each other!

Patrick, from the slug of this article I had a feeling it was going to be a West African airport. Frankly, though, I didn't think Dakar's was all that bad. It's certainly nicer than Bamako's, though the atmosphere is decidedly different as you mention. Ouagadougou's was probably the least well-equipped, it was far too small IMNSHO.