ICANN São Paulo meeting site

Last night, we had the now semi-regular football tournament. Like many things at ICANN meetings, some themes emerge; and a little repetition. (Whois, anyone?) Huge thanks to Erick Iriarte for putting it all together.

As is traditional, the ICANN staff and Board team lost all our matches. We actually do this on purpose, to show humility and openness. It's a ritual humiliation we're happy to go through. And anyway, we had the best t-shirts.

But we weren't completely creamed. We'd lost our professional-level goalie, Olof, because his wife threatened divorce if he came home injured again. But we had Denise harrying the opposing strikers, and tackling dirty the way only girls can in a mixed game.

Some themes emerged;

- the registrar team was just as alpha-male, pushy and transgressive of the offside rule as usual.

- Mike Palage defected and changed teams in the middle of the tournament. Though he did come back for the last match, claiming loyalty to ICANN unto death.

- The home team maintained the advantage throughout.

On the other hand, some novel facts;

- No one on the GAC team broke anything. Playing on mud probably helped - as opposed to the concrete surface in Luxembourg.

- We still got everyone to sign releases. They're pretty funny, and I think Bret Fausett is going to post one on his blog, later on.

Anyway, a lot of people would like to keep the football tournament going. It's a great way for people to get out of the suits and enjoy a relaxed evening together. And it's also nice when people you don't see or hear too much about during the meeting come into prominence in another setting.

But we should keep the 'evolution and reform' of football going; Ross Rader suggests we populate teams with task force members instead of having GAC, ALAC, Staff/Board, etc. This would certainly change the incentive structures of GNSO constituencies in a way the LSE might wish for.

Others go still further. Dan Halloran suggests a chess tournament. After all, not everyone wants to run around a muddy field getting elbowed by registrars. (at least when they're off-duty)

So, ideas for Lisbon? (with no claims on the local host) What's a good way to break out of our day time roles and enjoy an activity together?

p.s. I'm hoping to post a couple of pictures later on.