Plenty of Nothing

Music Typewriter

Source.

Gran Teatro de Santa Anna

Opened in 1844, the Gran Teatro de Santa Anna was the Mexican home of opera in the nineteenth century. It was demolished in 1900 to make way for a road. Painting by Pitro Gualdi. Source.

42nd Empress's Cup Final

Reds. Source.

It's the 42nd Empress's Cup final:

Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies [3 - 4] Nippon TV Beleza

These are the same finalists as last year. Beleza have won the cup 14 times; Reds never. But Urawa are currently the stronger team. They won this year's Nadeshiko League, while Beleza came third. The current Japanese national women's squad includes four Beleza players and seven Reds.

In league play this season the results were:

2020/8/2        Urawa 1 - 0 Beleza

2020/10/11    Beleza 3 - 2 Urawa

Both teams are joining the new fully professional WE League, which starts next season.

Meanwhile in Scotland, Ayr United host Morton. Morton hold fifth place with 13 points, and Ayr are sixth with 12.

[Rangers are recalling loaned Josh McPake from Morton.]

[Ayr United 1 - 1 Morton. Nesbitt scored for Morton.]

Other Championship matches:

Dundee [3 - 1] Alloa

Hearts [3 - 1] Arbroath

Inverness CT [1 - 1] Dunfermline

Raith Rovers [0 - 2] Queen of the South

Scottish Cup, Round One:

Bonnyrigg Rose vs Bo'ness (postponed -- pitch)

Huntly vs Cumbernauld Colts (postponed)

First and last place teams week by week (1 of 3):

Week 1        Hearts                  Dundee

Week 2        Raith Rovers        Arbroath

Week 3        Dunfermline         Arbroath

Week 4        Raith Rovers        Arbroath

Week 5        Dunfermline         Alloa

Week 6        Hearts                  Alloa

Week 7        Hearts                  Arbroath

Week 8        Hearts                 Queen of the South

Week 9        Hearts                 Queen of the South

Which teams have had the most losing seasons in the Premiership since 1975?

31        Motherwell

25        Hibs

24        Dundee

23        Kilmarnock

22        St Mirren

21        Hearts

Plenty of Nothing Championship League Cup group stage standings:

Group A         G    W    D    L      F     A    GD    Pts

Hearts             4     4     0     0    15     3   +12    12

Dundee           4     3     0     1      7     7       0      9

Morton            4      1     1     2      2     3     -1      5

Arbroath          4     0     2     2      1     3     -2       2

QoS                4      0     1     3      3   12     -9      1

Group B         G    W    D    L      F     A    GD    Pts

Dunfermline    4     2     2     0      9     4      +5      8

Ayr United       4     1     3     0      3     1      +2      6

Raith Rovers   4     1     2     1      7     6      +1      5

Inverness        4     1     1     2      5     6       -1      4

Alloa                4     1     0     3      5    12      -7      3

Hearts will meet Ayr in the semi-finals, and Dunfermline will meet Dundee. Both matches are in February.

Joanna Ellen Wood

Wood was born on this date in 1867, in Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, North Britain. In 1894 she was praised as "one of Canada's three leading novelists". Her books are The untempered wind (1894), Judith Moore; or, Fashioning a Pipe (1898), A daughter of witches... (1900), Farden Ha' (1901), and Where Waters Beckon (1902). Lesmahagow, incidentally, was also the birthplace of Alexander Muir, who wrote "The Maple Leaf Forever." Source.

100th Emperor's Cup QF and SF

No. 16 for Fukuyama City, Hiroki Takahashi. Source.

Quarter-finals (December 23)

Match No. 47: Blaublitz Akita (J3) 3 - 1 Fukuyama City (Hiroshima I)

Match No. 48: Tokushima Vortis (J2) 3 - 0 Honda FC (JFL)

Semi-finals

Match No. 49: Kawasaki Frontale (J1) [2 - 0] Blaublitz Akita (J3)

Match No. 50: Gamba Osaka (J1) [2 - 0] Tokushima Vortis (J2)

Fukuyama City's drive to the 100th Emperor's Cup:

Hiroshima Prefecture Championship:

QF    Fukuyama City 1 - 0 Fukuyama University

SF    Fukuyama City 5 - 2 Hiroshima University of Economics

  F    Fukuyama City 3 - 0 SRC Hiroshima

Emperor's Cup:

R2    Fukuyama City 1 - 0 Baleine Shimonoseki

R3    Mitsubishi Mizushima 0 - 2 Fukuyama City

R4    Fukuyama City 2 - 1 Arterivo Wakayama

R5    Fukui United 0 - 3 Fukuyama City

QF    Blaublitz Akita 3 - 1 Fukuyama City

Ongoing consecutive-year streaks in the Emperor's Cup:

This year the Emperor's Cup was reformatted to include only a handful of top-flight clubs (two from J1, and one each from J2 and J3), which means that a lot of consecutive-year streaks have come to an end. What are the continuing ones?

40    Gamba Osaka (29) + Matsushita Electric (11)

30    Tokushima Vortis (16) + Otsuka Pharmaceutical (14)

26    Kawasaki Frontale (24) + Fujitsu SC (2)

18    Blaublitz Akita (10) + TDK (8)

12    Nara Club

12    Arterivo Wakayama

  6    Tokyo International University

  6    Matsue City FC

  5    Honda FC

  5    Niigata University of Health and Welfare

  5    FC Tokushima

  5    Kōchi United

  4    Iwaki FC

  4    Verspah Oita

  3    MIO Biwako Shiga

  2    Tochigi City FC

  2    Toin University of Yokohama

  2    Yamahashi Gakuin University

  2    Fukui United

  2    Matsuyama University

  2    MD Nagasaki

  2    NIFS Kanoya

  2    Okinawa SV

J3 versus JFL in the Emperor's Cup:

2015/8/29      Nara Club (JFL) 0 - 0 Fujieda MYFC (J3) (MYFC won on PK.)

2016/8/27      Blaublitz Akita (J3) 2 - 0 Vanraure Hachinohe (JFL)

2016/8/27      FC Ryukyu (J3) 1 - 0 Honda Lock (JFL)

2017/4/23      FC Ryukyu (J3) 5 - 5 FC Imabari (JFL) (Imabari won on PK.)

2017/4/23      Grulla Morioka (J3) 2 - 0 Sony Sendai (JFL)

2018/5/26      FC Ryukyu (J3) 1 - 1 FC Imabari (JFL) (Imabari won on PK.)

2018/5/27      Gainare Tottori (J3) 1 - 1 Verspah Oita (JFL) (Gainare won on PK.)

2019/5/26      Roasso Kumamoto (J3) 2 - 0 Verspah Oita (JFL)

2019/5/26      Matsue City (JFL) 2 - 2 Kamatamare Sanuki (J3) (Sanuki won on PK.)

J3 leads the JFL seven wins to two.

Boxing Day Soccer

Inverness CT or Chiasso? Source.

Morton host Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Morton enter this game in third place with 13 points. Can you believe that? ICT are sixth with 11 points. Last season Inverness won twice, Morton once, in league play, and ICT knocked Morton out of the Challenge Cup. Depending on how the other matches go Morton can finish the day anywhere from second place to seventh.

ICT's Wallace Duffy was signed with Morton in the early part of this year but he never made an appearance. Nobody on Morton has played for ICT.

[But the pitch is waterlogged and the game is postponed.]

Other Championship matches:

Alloa [2 - 5] Raith Rovers*

Dunfermline [1 - 0] Arbroath

Hearts [5 - 3] Ayr United

Queen of the South [1 - 3] Dundee*

(*Plenty of Nothing Championship League Cup group stage match.)

Which years have Morton played on Boxing Day? And was it because it was Boxing Day or just because it was a Saturday?

Because it was Boxing Day: 1921 (Monday), 1966 (Monday), 1976 (Sunday), 1983 (Monday), 1994 (Monday), 1996 (Thursday), 2005 (Monday), 2007 (Wednesday), 2011 (Monday), 2012 (Wednesday).

Because it was Saturday: 1896, 1903, 1908, 1914, 1931, 1936, 1942, 1953, 1959, 1964, 1970, 1987, 1992, 1998.

2020-21 Scottish Cup, Round One

Here the survivors of the qualifying rounds mix it up with League Two. Let's follow the Lowland League teams:

Berwick Rangers (LL) [0 - 3] Stirling Albion (L2)

Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic (LL) vs Bo'ness United (LL) [postponed -- weather]

Edinburgh City (L2) [3 - 1] Caledonian Braves (LL)

Elgin City (L2) [4 - 0] Civil Service Strollers (LL)

Huntly (HL) vs Cumbernauld Colts (LL) [postponed -- weather]

Tranent Juniors (ES) [4 - 1] East Stirlingshire (LL)

Gala Fairydean Rovers (LL) [1 - 2] Annan Athletic (L2)

Kelty Hearts (LL) [2 - 1] Jeanfield Swifts (ES)

Stranraer (L2) [5 - 0] The Spartans (LL)

Other matches:

Dundee United 2 - 0 Kilmarnock (December 23)

Kilmarnock [1 - 2] Livingston

At the halfway mark of the Premiership season there are four winning teams (Rangers, Celtic, Hibs and Aberdeen) and eight losing teams.

Lowland League: University of Stirling [7 - 1] Edinburgh University

Kelty Hearts vs Bonnyrigg Rose (postponed, see above)

WoSFL: Kirkintilloch Rob Roy vs Largs Thistle (tomorrow) [postponed]

Swiss Challenge League: Xamax 2 - 0 Winterthur (December 22)

The Swiss Challenge League is off till January 22.

Bolivia: Royal Pari 1 - 0 The Strongest (December 21)

The Strongest 3 - 0 Nacional Potosi (December 24)

42nd Empress's Cup, semi-finals (December 24):

Match No. 45: Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies 1 - 1 Albirex Niigata Ladies (Urawa win on PK.)

Match No. 46: Nippon TV Beleza 4 - 1 Mynavi Vegalta Sendai Ladies

Historical matches:

On December 22th, 1914 the SFA voted to cancel the 1914-15 Scottish Cup and all internationals. (The Scottish Cup did not normally begin until January in those days.)

Boxing Day, 1914. Morton hosted Ayr United and won 3 - 0.

Boxing Day, 1992. Morton visited Dumbarton and lost 3 - 1. Mathie scored.

SFL Division Three results, December 27, 1924:

Beith 3 - 0 Clackmannan

Brechin City 0 - 0 Galston

Dumbarton Harp 6 - 3 Queen of the South

Dykehead 1 - 1 Nithsdale Wanderers

Leith Athletic 4 - 0 Royal Albert

Lochgelly United 4 - 1 Montrose

Solway Star 2 - 1 Peebles Rovers

Vale of Leven 2 - 2 Helensburgh

Source: Glasgow Herald, December 29, 1924, p. 10.

Sophie Woodrow

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Latvian Mittens

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Pilcher's Flowers

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My Master Has No Tail

A tanuki learns rakugo. Do you get Alphonse Mucha off this cover? Source.