Oceanside, The Pictures

We do go do some things. A trip to Escondido to the Stone Brewing Company's place of business. The Son and Daughter in Law and I did that. Had lunch and took the tour. I do love that Arrogant Bastard Ale!!!!!!
But here a few are:

Daughter in Law's Tattoo

The other Tattoo

The Sis in Law on the Left. The Missus on the Right. Manicotti!!!

Yours Truly and The Eldest Son!

Bro in Law, Self, and the Son.

Daughter in Law, Diane, Son Pat and Yours Truly having  lunch at the Stone Brewing Company. That is an Arrogant Bastard in hand!

The Gargoyle

Diane having a bite of the Chocolate Cake!

Diane at the Brewery Garden

Our Tour Guide, Ken. Funny Guy!

Got a six of this at BevMo!

If you like hops, this is the stuff!

Going to El Cajon

South on the 805

The Missus' Alma Mater!

The hangout from the Wife's High School Days.

Little lizard in the back yard.

Domenico Modugno, the first Italian cantautore. Famous for his 1958 international hit song "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)"

Domenico Modugno (9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, songwriter, actor, and later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)". He is considered the first Italian cantautore.

 Modugno was born in Polignano a Mare, province of Bari (Puglia).
From a young age he wanted to become an actor and in 1951, after his military service, he enrolled in an acting school. While still studying he had a role in a cinematographic version of Filumena Marturano by Eduardo De Filippo as well as some other films.
In 1935 his father moved to San Pietro Vernotico, in the Province of Brindisi (where his parents are buried). Here Domenico attended primary school and learned San Piertro Vernotico's dialect, which belongs to the linguistic area of Lecce's dialect, which is similar to Sicilian. He attended secondary school in Lecce.

In 1957 his song "Lazzarella," sung by Aurelio Fierro, came second in the Festival della Canzone Napoletana, bringing him his first taste of popularity.
In 1958 Modugno took part in Antonio Aniante's comedy La Rosa di Zolfo at the Festival della Prosa in Venice. The turning point of his career came in that year, when he also participated in the Sanremo Music Festival, presenting, together with Johnny Dorelli, the song "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu." Co-authored by Modugno and Franco Migliacci, the song won the contest and became an enormous success worldwide, including the United States. It received two Grammy Awards^[1] with sales above 22 million copies, and represented Italy in the 1958 Eurovision Song Contest, where it came in third.
In 1959, Modugno won the Sanremo Music Festival for the second time in a row, with "Piove" (also known as "Ciao, ciao bambina"), and received second place in 1960 with "Libero." This was a successful period of time for Modugno who again represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1959. Later his hit song "Io" was sung by Elvis Presley in English with the title "Ask Me."

In 1962, Modugno won the Sanremo Music Festival a third time with "Addio..., addio...." Four years later, he again represented Italy at Eurovision with "Dio, come ti amo." Jack Jones recorded it in English for his 1967 album, Our Song, under the title, "Oh How Much I Love You".
Modugno was an actor in 44 movies (such as Appuntamento a Ischia), and was a film producer of two (Tutto e' musica of 1963 was his own biographical production).
The 1970s kept Modugno's voice and mind busy in more classic music genres and profiles, as a singer and as a musician, adapting poetry, acting on television and in lead singing roles of modern operas.
In 1986, Modugno entered the political arena as a member of the Italian Radical Party and was elected congressman for Turin in June 1987. In this last stage of his life, he was active in social issues, fighting against inhuman conditions of patients in the Agrigento psychiatric hospital.
Domenico Modugno died from a heart attack in Lampedusa, Italy, in August 1994 in his home by the sea. His son Massimo is following his footsteps as a successful singer.

New Member!

    Hi,

I am a new member of the Zombie Minecraft Team, You may know me as @Legal_Notch on twitter or from my normal twitter account @darkiboy.

   I am 15 years old, I was born and live in The Netherlands.

I like to play minecraft on multiplayer servers, do you want me to join your server? Just tell me on one of my twitter accounts.

I have skype, if you like to add me just DM me on twitter...

Storyline of the Adventure Map

   My name is Steve Morrison. I was a military. In my years in the army, I helped to find several crucial enemies and headquarters, In many places such as Iraq, Taliban, and many others.
   Now I'm not in the army anymore. After 5 years I finally came back home and got a job as office assistant in a local business.
   It was just a normal day like any other. After work, I went to that bar, the "Mermaid Cove".  I saw that girl by the balcony, she seemed special. Had a special brightness in her eyes, and her lips were the most intense that I ever seen.
   I thought that, as I got nothing to lose, I could try my luck. I went to the balcony, just next to her, and I asked "Hi, can I buy you a drink?"

   She totally accepted, and was so friendly that it seems she was waiting there for me. I had some drinks with her. When I went to the bathroom, she wasn't there anymore. It was late, so I just went home. On my way back, I started feeling dizzy and I just fell in the middle of the street.
   Today, I woke up In this strange place. And the only thing here besides me is this annoying robotic voice, telling me what to do.
   I hope I'll surivive this, and find out all the story behind what happened, and that mysterious girl.

Date for minecraft PAX version release

 Jeb tweeted the release date for the "PAX version" of minecraft.

  "The plan right now is to release the "PAX version" of Minecraft ASAP, but there is some crucial work remaining. Sep 8th is a good guess"


 So, the release date for minecraft is (almost certainly) September 8th. 
(Maybe they just want to have some fun with students)

Why No Steam, Notch?

Original post here

 At PAX, I got asked why we’re not on Steam with Minecraft, and I had to answer the question straight out for the first time. So I’ll repeat what I said on here, because openess is awesome.

Steam is the best digital distribution platform I’ve ever seen. I’ve spent incredible amounts of money on it, and I own a crazy amount of games on it. It runs great, offers great services like that shift+tab stuff, and it remembers my credit card details so there’s no barrier for me when I want to buy a game. The only downside I can think of is that offline mode is a bit flimsy, and that the game list is sometimes full off DLC releases for stuff I don’t even own, and those are some tiny complaints!

                                 

But..

Being on Steam limits a lot of what we’re allowed to do with the game, and how we’re allowed to talk to our users. We (probably?) wouldn’t be able to, say, sell capes or have a map market place on minecraft.net that works with steam customers in a way that keeps Valve happy. It would effectively split the Minecraft community into two parts, where only some of the players can access all of the weird content we want to add to the game.

We are talking to Valve about this, but I definitely understand their reasons for wanting to control their platform. There’s a certain inherent incompatibility between what we want to do and what they want to do.

So there’s no big argument, we just don’t want to limit what we can do with Minecraft. Also, Steam is awesome. Much more awesome than certain other digital distribution platforms that we would NOT want to release Minecraft on.

Zombie Adventure Map

Here are some fresh Zombie Adventure Map screenshots:
      

Succes 2011: Ernie Els, "The Big Easy". Former World No. 1 professional golfer elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame

 Theodore Ernest "Ernie" Els is a South African professional golfer, who has been one of the top professional players in the world since the mid-1990s. A former World No. 1, he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature (he stands 1.91 metres) along with his fluid, seemingly effortless golf swing. Among his numerous victories are three major championships: the U.S. Open in 1994 at the Oakmont Country Club and 1997 at the Congressional Country Club, and The Open Championship in 2002 at Muirfield.
Other highlights in Els' career include topping the 2003 and 2004 European Tour Order of Merit (money list), and winning the World Match Play Championship a record seven times. He is the leading career money winner on the European Tour, and was the first member of the tour to earn over 25 million Euros from European Tour events. He has held the number one spot in the Official World Golf Rankings and holds the record for weeks ranked in the top ten with over 780. Els was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2010, on his first time on the ballot, and was inducted in May 2011.

In 1989 Els won the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championiship and turned professional the same year. Els won his first professional tournament in 1991 on the Southern Africa Tour (today the Sunshine Tour). He won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in the 1991/92 and 1994/95 seasons. In 1993 Els won his first tournament outside of South Africa at the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan. In 1994 Els won his first major championship at the U.S. Open. Els was tied with Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts after 72 holes and they went to a 18 hole playoff the next day. The play-off consisted of 18 holes of golf but Els and Roberts were still tied by the end with Els eventually prevailing on the second hole of sudden death.
Els brought his game all around the world in his young career winning the Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour, and the Toyota World Match Play Championship defeating once again Colin Montgomerie four-and-two. The following year, Els defended his World Match Play Championship, defeating Steve Elkington three-and-one, won the Byron Nelson Classic in the United States then headed back home to South Africa and won twice more. In 1996 Els won his third straight World Match Play Championship over Vijay Singh three-and-one. No player in history had ever managed three successive titles in the one-on-one tournament. Els finished the year with a win at his home tournament at the South African Open.

1997 was a career year for Els first winning his second U.S. Open (once again over Colin Montgomerie) this time at Congressional Country Club, making him the first foreign player since Alex Smith (1906, 1910) to win the U.S. Open twice. He defended his Buick Classic title and added the Johnnie Walker Classic to his list of victories. Els nearly won the World Match Play Championship for a fourth consecutive year, but lost to Vijay Singh in the final. 1998 and 1999 continued to be successful years for Els with 4 wins on both the PGA and European tours. 2000 started in historic fashion for Els being given a special honour by the Board of Directors of the European Tour awarding him with honorary life membership of the European Tour because of his two U.S. Opens and three World Match Play titles. 2000 was the year of runner ups for Els; with three runner up finishes in the Majors (Masters, U.S. Open and The Open Championship) and seven second place finishes in tournaments worldwide. Els had a disappointing 2001 season, failing to win a US PGA tour event for the first time since 1994 although he ended the year with nine second place finishes.

2002 was arguably Els's best year which started with a win at the Heineken Classic at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Then went to America and outplayed World Number one Tiger Woods to lift the Genuity Championship title. The premier moment of the season was surely his The Open Championship triumph in very tough conditions at Muirfield. Els overcame a four man playoff to take home the famed Claret Jug for the first time, also quieting his critics about his mental toughness. The South African also took home his fourth World Match Play title, along with his third Nedbank Challenge in the last four years dominating a world class field winning by 8 shots.

2003 gave Els his first European Tour Order of Merit. Although playing fewer events than his competitors Els won four times and had three runner ups. He also performed well in the United States with back to back victories at the Mercedes Championship and Sony Open and achieved top 20 spots in all four majors including a fifth place finish at the U.S Open and sixth place finishes at both the Masters and PGA Championship. To top off the season Els won the World Match Play title for a record tying fifth time. In 2003 he was voted 37th on the SABC3's Great South Africans.

2004 was another successful year as Els won 6 times on both tours including big wins at Memorial, WGC-American Express Championship and his sixth World Match Play Championship, a new record. His success did not stop there. Els showed amazing consistency in the Majors but lost to Phil Mickelson in the Masters when Mickelson birdied the 18th for the title, finished ninth in the U.S. Open after playing in the final group with friend and fellow countryman Retief Goosen and surprisingly losing in a playoff in the Open to the unknown Todd Hamilton. Els had a 14-foot (4.3 m) put for birdie on the final hole of regulation for the championship, but Els missed the putt and lost in the playoff. Els ended the major season with a fourth place finish in the PGA Championship, where a three putt on the 72nd hole would cost him a place in the playoff. In total Els had 16 top 10 finishes, a second European Order of Merit title in succession and a second place finish on the United States money list. 2004 was the start of the "Big Five Era" which is used in describing the era in golf where Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, and Phil Mickelson dominated the game of golf. The five switched up and down the top five positions in the World Golf Ranking; most notably Vijay Singh's derailment of Tiger Woods as the best golfer in the world. The five stayed, for the most part, in the top five spots from 2004 until the start of 2007. Nine majors were won between them, many fighting against each other head to head.

Unlike most of his contemporaries, Els is known for his willingness to participate in tournaments all around the world (he regularly plays in European Tour-sanctioned events in Asia, Australasia, and his native country of South Africa). He says that his globe-trotting schedule is in recognition of the global nature of golf, but it has caused some friction with the U.S. PGA Tour, an organization that would prefer Els to play more tournaments in the United States. In late 2004, Tim Finchem, the director of the PGA Tour, wrote quite a firm letter to Els asking him to do so, but Els publicized and rejected this request. The PGA Tour's attitude caused considerable offense in the golfing world outside of North America.
In July 2005, Els injured his left knee while sailing with his family in the Mediterranean. Despite missing several months of the 2005 season due to the injury, Els won the second event on his return, the Dunhill Championship.

At the start of the 2007 season Ernie Els laid out a three-year battle plan to challenge Tiger Woods as world number one. "I see 2007 as the start of a three-year plan where I totally re-dedicate myself to the game," Els told his official website.

When he missed the cut by two strokes at the 2007 Masters Tournament, Els ended tour-leading consecutive cut streaks on both the PGA Tour and the European Tour. On the PGA Tour, his streak began at the 2004 The Players Championship (46 events) and on the European Tour it began at the 2000 Johnnie Walker Classic (82 events).
Els has often been compared to Greg Norman in the sense that both men’s careers could be looked back on and think what could have been. Although the two of them are multiple major championship winners they have both shared disappointment in majors. Their disappointments have ranged from nerves, bad luck and simply being outplayed. 1996 was the year where Norman collapsed in the Masters and Els in the PGA Championship. Els has finished runner-up in six majors and most notably for his runner-up finishes to Tiger Woods. Els has finished runner-up to Woods more than any other golfer and has often been described as having the right game to finally be the golfer to beat Woods in a major.
On 2 March 2008, Els won the Honda Classic contested at PGA National's Championship Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Els shot a final round 67 in tough windy conditions, which was enough to give him the win by one stroke over Luke Donald. The win marked the end of a three and a half year long stretch without a win on the PGA Tour for Els. The win was his 16th PGA Tour victory of his career.
Els is represented by International Sports Management. When not playing, he has a golf course design business, a charitable foundation which supports golf among underprivileged youngsters in South Africa, and a highly-regarded wine-making business. Els has written a popular golf instructional column in Golf Digest magazine for several years.

On 8 April 2008, Els officially announced that he was switching swing coaches from David Leadbetter (whom Els had worked with since 1990) to Butch Harmon who has revamped the golf swings of many established pros (which started with Greg Norman). During Els 2008 Masters press conference Els said the change is in an effort to tighten his swing, shorten his swing, and get a fresh perspective.
On 8 November 2009, Els almost ended his year-long slump by shooting a course-tying record 9-under 63 in the final round of the WGC-HSBC Champions to finish at 16-under par 272, a stroke back of Phil Mickelson who finished with a 17-under 271 total including a final round of 3-under 69.
Els finally did break his winless streak by capturing the WGC-CA Championship at Doral in 2010, winning by four strokes over fellow countryman Charl Schwartzel. It was Els' second WGC tournament title. The victory also saw Els overtake Colin Montgomerie to become the career money leader on the European Tour. Els then won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill two weeks later. It was his 18th PGA Tour victory, and his second in as many starts.
Ernie continued his 2010 success with a T3 at the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. He got a 2nd place in 2000 which was also at Pebble Beach.
Els most recently tasted success at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in October 2010. After opening the 36 hole event with a round of 68 he fended off the challenge of David Toms with a final day 69 to win the four man tournament by one stroke, capturing $600,000 in the process. In December 2010, Els won the South African Open beating Retief Goosen by one shot.

Pax Finished

 Notch is going back to the mojang offices to finish up 1.8.

    "Pax is over, and I am very tired. Time to fly home and finish up 1.8. Much love!"

                                                                                                                                             

  So it seems we are getting the Adventure Update in a few days. Great!

Facebook Page

We know some of you don't like facebook, but anyways, we've got a fresh Facebook Page!

 The link is here

 We've also got a like plugin on the sidebar, make sure to click it. =)

Oceanside

Did the pool, spa, beer and watched and listened to my brother in law's band, The Geez do some jamming. Son and Daughter in Law arrived yesterday. Went to BevMo!
Got a six pack of He' Brew Genesis Ale. Not bad. It even has a Hasidic cartoon character on the label!
BevMo! is your one stop adult beverage super market out here in So Cal, BTW.
Beach later today.
Pictures will be up when we get home as this is Hector's desk top machine this post is being written on.

Very Useful Tips

Pax Update

Notch was livestreaming some people playing minecraft at PAX:

Some things I have noticed:

- Holding right mouse button with a bow in your hand will slowly retract the bow

- Enderman die in water

- NPC villages don't have NPC's (yet)

- In creative mode, double tapping space will let you fly

- There will be a in-game inventory editor in creative mode

- Double tapping "w" will let you sprint

- Clouds are higher in the sky, but the hight limit has not increased

- You cant instantly eat food but as notch calls it, you can "Nom Nom Nom" it

- You can pick up experience points from mobs you kill

Ez playing the Adventure Update

Proof here

PigTales Revealed

The true story behind the whole Pig Tales phenomenon has been revealed.
 
     It's purpose is the selling of a Minecraft Themed Socks Pack. It costs 30€ and fits "everyone". (size 36 to 46).
   
The video is here.

Short vacation

Going to Oceanside for a long weekend.
Visit with the Sister in Law, Brother in Law, Niece and our Eldest Son and The Daughter in Law.
Pool. Beach. Spa. Beer. Rock and Roll.
Going to be thin with the blogging thing. Go figure!

PAX 2011 is starting today! (26 Aug - 28 Aug )


    If you're lucky enough to be able to go there, don't forget to check out mojang's "HQ" on the 6th floor.

 The shedule for mojang is here.

  Notch already did some live bugfixing, and a demo of 1.8 will be there for you to try.

 P.S: If you see a USB Stick there, send it to my office. No, there's not the Adventure Update in it. Really.

State & Local Michigan Bar Owners Bounce Lawmakers to Protest Smoking Ban

It opens with these two paragraphs------------

Some days, politicians could use a drink. But lawmakers in Michigan may soon find it harder to get one. 

Hundreds of bar owners in the Great Lakes State plan to deprive lawmakers of their hospitality by banning them from their establishments in protest of the state's smoking ban. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/25/michigan-bar-owners-to-blacklist-lawmakers-in-protest-smoking-ban/#ixzz1W6zbBXvt

Exile in Portales: Fault Identification

Exile in Portales: Fault Identification:
Gotta like this one from Buck!

So Good!
'via Blog this'

Plan to keep your health plan? Don't count on it | Byron York | Politics | Washington Examiner

Plan to keep your health plan? Don't count on it | Byron York | Politics | Washington Examiner:

In case anyone was wondering, obama lied along with sibelius, pelosi, reid and the rest of that scum.

Kind of knew that ahead of time, given his past associations. Standard Operating Procedure.

'via Blog this'

Enderman New Official Picture!

Click to enlarge

Critical State

   This blog is in a critical state. It is "stopped" for weeks now. We are loosing crucial readers, and visitors, and it seems that our efforts are going nowhere. 
   
This made me realize that in this kind of business, you don't need just dedication, experience and will. You need a lot of luck. 
   
Take yogscast as an example, they just did a minecraft tutorial video, and Boom! Even myself, started playing minecraft because of them. I'm not saying they're lucky. Yes, they're better than most of us. But they don't have half of the dedication, and will I have right now. That is why I'm here writing this as of now, and they are probably having some fun talking to their fans or playing on adventure maps. 
    
And also, I'm sorry for the blog "hibernation", but I'm doing as much as I can to revive it. Check out the pages we got, they have some good information too.


    We thank you, from our hearts, for taking the time to read this, comment, and maybe tweet it, or publish it someway. 
   You make us keep doing this. And feel important. Yeah. :-)

PAX 2011 Schedule

 The PAX 2011 schedule for mojang has been published here.


  Friday

1:00-1:50pm Cobalt Challenges – challenge the developers of Cobalt to a duel!
2:00-2:20pm Xperia Play demo – see the Xperia Play in action
3:00-3:30pm Adventure Update Q&A with Notch – learn all about the awesome new update
3:30-4:00pm Adventure Update demo

Saturday:

11:00-11:30am Scrolls Q&A with Jakob
12:00-12:20pm Xperia Play demo – see the Xperia Play in action
1:00-1:30pm Have your photo taken with Notch on our awesome graphic backdrops!
2:00-2:30pm Cobalt developer’s Q&A
2:30-3:00pm Cobalt game demo
3:00-3:50pm Cobalt Challenges – challenge the developers of Cobalt to a duel!
4:00-5:00pm Minecraft Costume Contest – show off your best Minecraft costumes and win some great prizes!

Sunday:

11:00-11:50am Cobalt Challenges – challenge the developers of Cobalt to a duel!
1:00-1:20pm Xperia Play demo – see the Xperia Play in action
2:00-3:00pm MinecraftChick’s show video recap – come be a part of MCC’s recap of the entire show!
5:30pm Griefer Party – come by and take away pieces of Mojang’s first booth as souvenirs (we will be tearing away our booth graphics and giving them away!)

Unable to head out to PAX? Stay tuned to the blog and twitter to find out about exciting giveaways for the Minecraft Community!

Succes 2011: Franz Beckenbauer, Der Kaiser. The greatest German footballer of all time and one of the greatest and most decorated footballers in the history of the game

Franz Anton Beckenbauer (born 11 September 1945 in Munich) is a German football coach, manager, and former player, nicknamed Der Kaiser ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, his leadership, his first name "Franz" (reminiscent of the Austrian emperors), and his dominance on the football pitch. He is generally regarded as the greatest German footballer of all time and one of the greatest and most decorated footballers in the history of the game. Beckenbauer was a versatile player who started out as a midfielder but made his name as a defender. He is often credited as having invented the role of the modern sweeper or libero.
Twice selected the European Footballer of the Year, he appeared 103 times for West Germany and played in three World Cups. He lifted the World Cup trophy as captain in 1974, and repeated the feat as a manager in 1990. With the club Bayern Munich, he won three consecutive European Cups from 1974 to 1976, and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1967. Beckenbauer is the only player to captain three European Cup winning sides. He went on to become coach and president of the institution. He is also a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
In 1999, he was voted second place, behind Johan Cruyff, in the European player of the Century election held by the IFFHS and he was voted third, behind Pelé and Cruyff, in the IFFHS' "World Player of the Century" election. Today, Beckenbauer remains an influential figure in both German and international football. He led Germany's successful bid to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup and chaired the organizing committee. He also works as a pundit for German television network Sat.1 during their coverage of the UEFA Champions League and writes a football column for mass tabloid Bild.

Beckenbauer made his debut with Bayern in the Regionalliga Süd ("Regional League South") on the left wing against Stuttgarter Kickers on 6 June 1964. In his first season in the regional league, 1964–65, the team won promotion to the recently formed Bundesliga, the national league.

Bayern soon became a force in the new German league, winning the German Cup in 1966–67 and achieving European success in the Cup Winners' Cup in 1967. Beckenbauer became team captain for the 1968–69 season and led his club to their first league title. He began experimenting with the sweeper (libero) role around this time, refining the role into a new form and becoming perhaps the greatest exponent of the attacking sweeper game.

During Beckenbauer's tenure at Bayern Munich, the club won three league championships in a row from 1972 to 1974 and also a hat-trick of European Cup wins (1974–76) which earned the club the honour of keeping the trophy permanently.
Interestingly, since 1968 Beckenbauer, has been called Der Kaiser by fans and the media. The following anecdote is told (even by Beckenbauer himself) to explain the origin: On the occasion of a friendly game of Bayern Munich in Vienna, Austria, Beckenbauer posed for a photo session right beside a bust of the former Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I. The media called him Fußball-Kaiser (football-emperor) afterwards, soon after he was just called Der Kaiser. However, according to a report in the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, this explanation is untrue, though very popular. According to the report, Beckenbauer fouled his opposite number, Reinhard Libuda from Schalke 04, in the cup final on 14 June 1969. Disregarding the fans' hooting, Beckenbauer took the ball into the opposite part of the field, where he balanced the ball in front of the upset fans for half a minute. Libuda was commonly called König von Westfalen (king of Westphalia), so the press looked for an even more exalted moniker and invented Der Kaiser.
Beckenbauer's popularity was such that he was included as a character in Monty Python's sketch "The Philosophers' Football Match" as being a surprise addition to the German team. However, instead of actually playing football, all the "players" walk in circles thinking, much to the confusion of Beckenbauer.
In 1977, Beckenbauer accepted a lucrative contract to play in the North American Soccer League with the New York Cosmos. He played with the Cosmos for four seasons up to 1980, and the team won the Soccer Bowl on three occasions ('77, '78, '80).
Beckenbauer retired after a two-year spell with Hamburger SV in Germany (1980–82) with the win of the Bundesliga title that year and one final season with the New York Cosmos in 1983. In his career in domestic leagues, he made 587 appearances and scored 81 goals.

Beckenbauer won 103 caps and scored 14 goals for West Germany. He was a member of the World Cup squads that finished runners-up in 1966, third place in 1970, and champions in 1974. Beckenbauer's first game for the national team came on 26 September 1965.

1966 World Cup: Beckenbauer appeared in his first World Cup in 1966, playing every match. In his first World Cup match, against Switzerland, he scored twice in a 5–0 win. West Germany won their group, and then beat Uruguay 4–0 in quarter-finals, with Beckenbauer scoring the second goal in the 70th minute. In the semi-finals, the Germans faced the USSR. Helmut Haller opened the scoring, with Beckenbauer contributing the second of the match, his fourth goal of the tournament. The Soviets scored a late goal but were unable to draw level, and West Germany advanced to the final against hosts England. The English won the final and the Jules Rimet Trophy in extra time. The Germans had fallen at the final hurdle, but Beckenbauer had a notable tournament, finishing tied for third on the list of top scorers—from a non-attacking position. The team returned to a heroes' welcome in their homeland.

1970 World Cup: West Germany won their first three matches before facing England in second round on a rematch of the 1966 final. The English were ahead 2–0 in the second half, but a spectacular goal by Beckenbauer in the 69th minute helped the Germans recover and equalise before the end of normal time and win the match in extra time. West Germany advanced to the semi-finals to face Italy, in what would be known as the Game of the Century. He fractured his clavicle after being fouled, but he was not deterred from continuing in the match, as his side had already used their two permitted substitutions. He stayed on the field carrying his dislocated arm in a sling. The result of this match was 4–3 (after extra time) in favour of the Italians. Germany defeated Uruguay 1–0 for third place.

1974 World Cup: The 1974 World Cup was hosted by West Germany and Beckenbauer led his side to victory, including a hardfought 2–1 win over the hotly favoured Netherlands side featuring Johan Cruyff. Beckenbauer and fellow defenders man-marked Cruyff so well that the Dutch were never quite able to put their "Total Football" into full use.
Beckenbauer became the first captain to lift the new FIFA World Cup Trophy after Brazil had retained the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1970. This also gave West Germany the distinction of being the first national team to hold both the Euro and World Cup titles simultaneously (two other countries have done it since: France in 2000, and Spain in 2010).

European Championships: Beckenbauer became captain of the national side in 1971. In 1972, West Germany won the European Championship, beating the Soviet Union 3–0 in the final. In 1976, West Germany again reached the final, where they lost on penalties to Czechoslovakia.