- 12:52 PM
- 03/21/10
Togo have now pulled out of the tournament.
posted by afx237vi at 09:16 AM on January 09
Same as the old boss.
What, even down to the concentration camp spanking fetish?
posted by afx237vi at 06:33 PM on October 23
The most interesting point in my view is the inclusion of 13 kilometres of cobble sections towards the end of stage 3. A lot could happen on that day, as it did the last time the Tour used cobbles in 2004. That day, Iban Mayo lost a lot of time in a crash, so the main contenders will need to be on their guard. Guys like Contador and Andy Schleck have no experience of the pav whatsoever.
Glad the TTT has gone, too. It's a nice thing to watch, but has too much influence on the overall result. Strong riders shouldn't be penalised for having weak teams.
posted by afx237vi at 05:03 PM on October 14
Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke has been found dead in a hotel room in Senegal. He was 34 years old.
Vandenbroucke was a prodigious talent in the mid-to-late ninenties, but suffered from a whole host of problems, including drug addiction (both recreational and performance-enhancing) and severe depression (including at least two suicide attempts).
His death is a tragic loss, but one that didn't come as a huge surprise to his legions of fans. RIP VDB.
posted by afx237vi at 05:09 PM on October 13
It would probably be more interested if they stopped televising F1 races and just televised the court cases instead.
posted by afx237vi at 04:13 PM on October 04
Cycling is already fairly TV-friendly, isn't it? Even if the race is boring you usually have some pretty scenery to look at.
And TBH, I don't think even die-hard cycling fans would ever watch the entirety of a 7 hour race. Most races - with the exception of the World Championships - only televise the final 1 or 2 hours for good reason.
posted by afx237vi at 04:14 PM on September 27
Cadel Evans becomes the first Australian to win cycling's road race World Championship. Helluva race it was, too.
posted by afx237vi at 12:21 PM on September 27
With the ball in mid air on it's way into the goal? Try disallowing that one when the buzzer or whatever sounds.
Why not? A match is 90 minutes, not "90 minutes and a little bit extra just to see what happens".
posted by afx237vi at 11:21 AM on September 22
The whole concept of stoppage time is outdated and unnecessary. There's a simple solution: do what they do in rugby. The referee already wears a earpiece and microphone, so just hook him up to the guy in charge of the stadium clock (and / or the TV producer) - when there's an ijury or a goal, the referee says "time off" and the stadium clock stops.
That way, everyone knows what is happening and how much time in left. When the clock reaches 90 minutes, the game ends. Simple.
posted by afx237vi at 09:38 AM on September 22
A guy called Patrick Day disapproves of excessive drinking and rowdy behaviour? For real? Did the journos at ESPN and the Onion swap jobs for a day?
posted by afx237vi at 05:11 PM on September 20
Big crash involving dozens of riders in the Tour of Spain bike race yesterday.
posted by afx237vi at 06:21 PM on September 02
Aren't human characteristics always on a spectrum anyway? We set rules that you are either female or male, but the reality is not always so clear.
+1
I feel sorry for her. She just won the biggest race of her career and instead of enjoying her night with a lap of honour, she was whisked away by the IAAF, away from the journalists who are all clambering to ask her if she's a man.
The IAAF have handled this terribly. There was an official being interviewed on the BBC about it, and he was using words likes "discretely" and "sensitively" and "privately", completely oblivious to the fact he was talking about it live on TV.
Michael Johnson made a great point: If an athlete fails a dope test, their name is not released to the press until the b-sample confirms the positive and all doubt is removed. Why wasn't this done here? If there are gender tests that need to be done (apparently there are a whole battery of tests to be done, and an outcome is only decided after a debate by a panel of doctors), then so be it. But do it privately and sensitively and allow her to compete in peace until all doubt it removed.
The girl is 18 years old and according to the BBC commentators there is absolutely no question of a deliberate attempt to cheat. She identifies as female. This is going to mess with her head, however the tests turn out.
posted by afx237vi at 04:31 PM on August 19
The inquiry found that Dean Richards, the coach and former England international, had orchestrated fake injuries on at least four previous occasions.
Tom Williams has been banned for four months, the physiotherapist for two years, while Harlequins RFC were fined 300,000 euro and could still be banned from future Heinekin Cups.
posted by afx237vi at 09:35 AM on August 18
Those in favour of bullfighting argue that it's a sport, don't they? Well, the bull won.
posted by afx237vi at 04:14 PM on August 17
The announcers on NBC mentioned that they were running against the wind today.
...and the BBC was saying yesterday that Berlin has a "slow track". I guess that depends on who's running on it.
posted by afx237vi at 06:22 PM on August 16
Surely squash is no harder to televise than any of the shooting events?
Extremely happy to see rugby sevens get approval for 2016. It's a great game. Fast, fun, high scoring, extremely easy to understand, and works well in a big tournament arena (it's been a big hit at the Commonwealth Games). Plus it's a lot more competitive at international level than the 15-a-side game - it should give countries like Fiji a good opportunity for a medal.
posted by afx237vi at 10:04 AM on August 14
The trailer in the BBC article makes it look rubbish, but the Youtube clip looks much better. I love sporting documentaries like this - real candid, fly-on-the-wall film-making rather than the more staged talking-head stuff you usually see. I will definitely check this out.
posted by afx237vi at 03:59 PM on May 08
No problem. I was aware of the nickname A-Rod from various spofi FPPs, but rarely venture into any baseball threads, so didn't know his full name.
posted by afx237vi at 10:32 AM on April 04
OK, I think it would have helped if I'd been American. Alex Rodriguez? Virtually unknown outside of America. Sorry.
posted by afx237vi at 09:40 AM on April 04
And you won't believe the name of the girl. I don't get it.
posted by afx237vi at 08:48 AM on April 04
Here's a good article by David Busst, the former Coventry player who had his career ended by a similarly gruesome leg break.
posted by afx237vi at 07:31 AM on February 25
Unfortunately for Eduardo, you can see from trox's pic that his foot was firmly planted in the turf when Taylor made contact. Nowhere for all that weight to go, except his leg. Yuck. I tuned in to the match as he was being stretchered off and you could instantly tell how serious it was. The stadium was deadly silent and the commentators were very hushed. In fact, Sky Sports refused to replay the tackle until they found a "safe" camera angle at half-time. So you knew it was bad, bad, bad. But how many awful tackles have there been this season - diving in at full speed, studs up and shin-height. Dozens. And after each one, the pundits have all said "how long 'til someone suffers a career ending injury?" Well now they have. Arsene Wenger reckons Taylor should never play football again. Maybe that's a heated statement and a bit OTT, but it should be a long, long ban. Counted months, not matches.
posted by afx237vi at 04:12 PM on February 23
More award winning journalism from the nation's favourite newspaper.
posted by afx237vi at 03:40 PM on February 20
See also: Chris Birchall in 2006. "Six months ago, Chris Birchall was hanging out with friends in Stone, Staffordshire, trying to become a regular at League One Port Vale, and now he's eating chicken feet with Dwight Yorke and heading to the World Cup finals with Trinidad & Tobago."
posted by afx237vi at 10:12 AM on February 06
The 2001 Ryder Cup was put back a year because the American team were a big bunch of wusses had concerns about post-9/11 air travel and security. It's a shame about the Dakar Rally. I'm not a big motorsport fan, but I sometimes caught the highlights on Eurosport in the past and it looks like a spectacular race. I saw the press conference today and they said there had been a specific threat towards the race, so I guess they had no choice but to cancel.
posted by afx237vi at 04:01 PM on January 04
Michael Rasmussen being fired by his team just a few hours after winning the decisive mountain stage of the Tour de France, whilst wearing the yellow jersey. That was pretty damn big. Oh, also that time Jose Mourinho's dog became a fugitive, heroically evading arrest from London's finest police officaers.
posted by afx237vi at 09:28 AM on December 15
Dog racing obscure? Uh... okay. And also, I know all about surf lifesaving because I used to watch Home and Away (ya flamin' drongo). My favourite obscure sport has got to be kabbadi, a weird Indian version of tag that used to be televised every Sunday afternoon on Channel 4.
posted by afx237vi at 10:43 AM on December 03
Now all you England fans know what it feels like to be Welsh. Return of the home internationals tourney next summer?
posted by afx237vi at 04:49 PM on November 21
For that matter, couldn't coffee be considered a performance enhancer? Pretty sure caffeine is banned above a certain level. I remember reading that cyclists (what else?) used to use caffeine suppositories in the past and current pros are only allowed two or three espressos before they start racing. Must annoy the Italians. They also used to use vast quantities of amphetamines, and I'm sure they must have dabbled in cocaine too. One of the most famous doping horror stories of recent years was Willy Voet's exposé of pot-Belge, a truly mind-boggling cocktail of amphetamines, caffeine, cocaine, heroin, painkillers and corticosteroids (no seriously). This was only 10 years ago, and they didn't use pot-Belge for any particular performance enhancement, but just to keep them going throughout the season. The performance enhancers were put on top of that. And now I'm rambling about stuff that has nothing to do with Hingis. I guess what I'm saying, is that sometimes you can dope without it being about sport. She's still young, doesn't really like tennis any more, has oodles of cash. It's happened to dozens of sports stars before.
posted by afx237vi at 05:23 PM on November 01
WTA Tour chief executive Larry Scott said the tour had not received any official information about a positive test and "as a result we are not in a position to comment on the matter." So let me get this straight. One of the most well known female tennis players in the world tests positive for a banned substance at the biggest tournament of the year, and almost six months later the world governing body of female tennis hasn't received any information at all?
posted by afx237vi at 04:48 PM on November 01
D'oh, for a moment I forgot that the Earth has, y'know, a totally different hemisphere! So that's not bad footballing weather at all.
posted by afx237vi at 04:41 PM on November 01
Nice thing about this location is the kickoff times will be much friendlier for America; Germany wasn't terrible but Japan/Korea was pretty much Tivo-only (PST in the house). I wouldn't be so sure. The last time the tournament was held in the Americas (USA '94), most of the matches were played around lunchtime and early afternoon to ensure peak time viewing in Europe. Better than the middle of the night, but still not good for office workers! Not good for the footballers either, playing in the heat of the day. It seems strange, having the final in bright daylight, but that's what happened in '94, and might happen again in Brazil.
posted by afx237vi at 09:21 AM on November 01
Your argument here is: He made up lots of time, ergo, he cheated. By that logic Pereiro cheated too. Which was my point to begin with. Strategy is far more reasonable explanation for Floyd's comeback then some testosterone patch or injection. Side note: Floyd wasn't hurt on Stage 16. Well, no more than having a degenerated hip, but that was nothing new. Hmm, I disagree. Pereiro simply wasn't seen as a threat. He was over half an hour down, he's a solid yet unspectacular climber and he can't time trial. The bunch allowed him to get away because he wasn't a danger to them (although they turned out to be wrong). Pereiro wasn't chased, but Landis was. Sure, the organisation was a little lacking at first, but CSC (O'Grady in particular) really put the hammer down in the valley before the final climb. And they made no impact at all. Also, the bunch ambled all the way to the finish line on the Pereiro day, but Evans, Kloeden and co raced up the climb after Landis. After such an effort for over 80 kilometres, I find it implausible that Landis could hold that gap right until the end.
posted by afx237vi at 04:56 PM on September 21
They should just kill off cycle racing as a sport NFL too? Baseball? Track and field? Just scrap the Olympics? Even golf has had its drug controversies of late, kill that off too?
posted by afx237vi at 05:14 PM on September 20
"I am innocent and we proved I am innocent." No, Floyd, you didn't. Now please go away and shut up. See you in two years for your failed Tyler-style comeback.
posted by afx237vi at 03:28 PM on September 20
Yes, I did not know who Stephen Ireland was before this event. But I do know the behaviors that I have witnessed in pathological liars, he is one. What? He didn't lie for the sake of lying. He lied because he was put in a highly stressful situation and wanted to respect the feelings and privacy of his girlfriend. Let's not forget it was his unborn child too. Sure, it was wrong to lie, and yes the situation could have been handled a million times better, but to call him a pathological liar is stupid. Have you never told a white lie to spare someone's feeling?
posted by afx237vi at 03:40 PM on September 16
And now Canada expose Wales for the bumbling idiots they actually are (before running out of gas in the last 20 minutes). Good showing from the Americas (North and South) so far. People have been saying this for 20 years, but if rugby ever gathered some momentum in the US and Canada, they would be really, really good. Just needs a bigger player base, better fitness and more competition against the better nations.
posted by afx237vi at 08:57 AM on September 09
Back to Pavarotti for a second. I've seen links to various Youtube videos of "Nessun Dorma" over the past couple of days, and you know the comments in Youtube, right? Any popular video on that site usually descends into a complete shitfest of personal abuse and utter idiocy. But all of the Pavarotti ones are unequivocally gushing in their praise of the big fella. It's pretty rare these days that a celebrity is universally loved by just about everyone. Literally no-one has a bad word to say about him. And he was once on the books of AC Milan as a goalkeeper. What a guy.
posted by afx237vi at 04:24 PM on September 07
I just don't know whether to cheer for France or Argentina yet. Definitely Argentina! I wouldn't mind seeing France win the whole tourney, but I'd love to see Argentina do well. The progress they've made in the last decade or so is incredible, and their recent record against France is pretty good. Unfortunately, I have no confidence in Wales doing well whatsoever. Gareth Jenkins is a total idiot. We'll make the QFs but that's it.
posted by afx237vi at 08:22 AM on September 07
There's always Jerusalem in connection with English cricket.
posted by afx237vi at 08:14 AM on September 07
The Beeb also have guides for certain players to watch, including the midfield playmakers, who add a touch of poise and finesse to what is often a brutal sport, and the forward powerhouses, who use their brute strength to batter holes into the opposition defence. Going into the tournament, the New Zealand All-Blacks are overwhelming favourites to lift the Webb Ellis Cup for the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1987. However, since that win 20 years ago, the ABs have almost perfected the art of peaking between tournaments, and many people are wondering if they will be able to handle the pressure this time around. If they falter, then France and South Africa are next in line on the bookmakers' odds sheet. And hey, if the rugby's not really your thing, then at least drop in to take a look at the pre-match build-up, which can often be just as entertaining as the match, including some great anthems... - Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Wales) - L'Inno Di Mameli (Italy) - Flower of Scotland - La Marseillaise (France) - Ireland's Call ...and some great haka by the South Pacific nations, including: - The siva tau (Samoa) - The cibi (Fiji) - The kailao (Tonga) - And the most famous of all - Ka mate (New Zealand) Naturally, when two of the South Sea teams meet each other, all manner of awesomeness ensues!
posted by afx237vi at 05:10 PM on September 06
Very immature, but yes, I did have a little guffaw about the possibility of a gay Brazilian goalie called Roger.
posted by afx237vi at 04:09 PM on August 15
As one exits, so enters another. Introducing the new American team, and great white hope for professional cycling: Team Slipstream. They've been around for a couple of years already riding the US circuit and at a low level in Europe, but will be stepping up to the big time next year, having signed David Millar, Magnus Backstedt, Julian Dean and Christian Vande Velde. There are also 26 unemployed cyclists as of today, so it wouldn't surprise me if they took some of the Disco boys too. More importantly, they are the biggest advocates of clean cycling... ever. We've heard that before, I know, but this time they mean it.
posted by afx237vi at 04:07 PM on August 10
Rasmussen is out of the Tour. Pro cycling is in meltdown. News at 11.
posted by afx237vi at 04:44 PM on July 25
I think the Moreni result is particularly bad, even worse than the Vino one, because the French teams are the ones who everyone thought were clean. Sure Cofidis have had some past form with David Millar and Philippe Gaumont in 2004, but those cases prompted a (supposed) clean up in the team with Eric Boyer brought in to replace the old guard. Didn't work, did it? This Tour could be rivaling the infamous '98 Tour by Sunday...
posted by afx237vi at 02:21 PM on July 25
Latest news is that Cristian Moreni has tested positive for synthetic testosterone and Cofidis have been "asked" to leave the Tour. This is the same Cofidis team that staged a sit-in protest at the start of this morning's stage and announced that they were forming a "movement for credible cycling" with the other French and German teams.
posted by afx237vi at 01:43 PM on July 25
This is totally not surprising. Vino has been one of the dodgiest characters around for years - just look at the teams he rode for. What is surprising is the method. I mean, how stupid can he get? Tyler Hamilton got busted for the same shit in 2004, and despite offering up approximately 438 different excuses, still didn't clear his name. The test works, so why do it? German news agencies are apparently saying that the blood was from Vino's dad, so maybe he thought if the blood was from the same family he wouldn't be caught. I mean... wtf? What with the whole Rasmussen thing - whoops, I forgot to go to four dope tests - this whole Tour is a write-off already. I wouldn't be displeased if they canned it tomorrow. And got knows what this will do to cycling in the long term. Sponsors are dropping like flies already. T-Mobile are probably gone, Astana are already making noises about quitting, and there are still no replacements from Discovery, Cofidis or Credit Agricole. We should each chip in 50 bucks each and enter a Spofi Clean Team for next year's Tour de France.
posted by afx237vi at 04:27 PM on July 24
Or, to put it another way: Is the Asian Cup really that important?
posted by afx237vi at 08:07 AM on July 21
Adam, I guess you don't watch cycling very often. The Tour de France takes a different route every day and the overall route changes every year. It goes through hundreds of different towns and villages, so it's literally impossible to avoid incidents like that. The only thing that organisers can do is close the roads to general traffic, which they do for four or five hours before the race passes. But you can't stop the millions of people who line the route, and you can't stop idiot people from letting their dog off a lead. It's not just dogs that get hit, though. There are loads of incidents of people getting hit when they get too close. It's happened lots already this year with Mark Cavendish hitting a spectator and Patrick Sinkewitz having a particularly nasty incident when he hit an OAP after the race finished. Sinkewitz broke his nose and shoulder and the old guy almost died. And believe me, Burghardt didn't hit that dog on purpose. Cycling is an incredibly dangerous sport, and no-one crashes if they can help it. Even a crash at a slow speed can land you with some broken bones. Dogs are one of the most dangerous things about bike racing because they'll often run after the peloton. Samuel Dumoulin broke his arm after hitting a dog a few years ago in the Tour, and the saddest collision happened in 1984 when Portuguese rider Joaquim Agostinho died after hitting a dog. There was no compulsory helmet rule in those days, so Agostinho hit his head and died later that day of brain injuries. So if you ever go and watch a bike race, please keep your dog under control!
posted by afx237vi at 07:35 AM on July 20
That's a pretty famous one, JJ (well amongst cycling nerds anyway). It was the Critérium International, a three-day French race held in the early season.
posted by afx237vi at 08:07 AM on July 19
Actually,its sort of bizarre and amusing. If you think that's amusing, check out this clip from the Tour of Switzerland last month. I love how the front rider actually accelerates and tries to get into the slipstream :p
posted by afx237vi at 12:49 PM on July 18
By whose definition? The 15 million people who will stand at the side of the road to watch it, and the 450 million people who watch it on TV. Does this mean there will still be European drug cheats? No, because they all had to sign a piece of paper saying they weren't taking drugs. And none of them even had their fingers crossed when they signed it. (Yes, that really is the UCI's grand plan to tackle doping. "Sign this please and promise not to be a naughty boy".)
posted by afx237vi at 05:42 PM on July 06
#1 should be Lance Armstrong. He did win the Tour de France six times whilst wearing it.
posted by afx237vi at 05:38 PM on July 06
Can I please plug the Spofi fantasy Tour de France? You only have until tomorrow to sign up! As for the Brits - one born in Belgium (Wiggins), one born in Malta (Millar), one born in Finland (Wegelius) and one born in the technically-not-part-of-the-UK Isle of Man (Cavendish). The other one's a Welshman (Thomas). We claim Backstedt too. Personally, I don't think we'll win much. Cancellara will deny Wiggins in the prologue, Cavendish will be overawed by the experience and Millar has lost his zip since giving up the dope. Cav is our best chance, but winning sprints in the Tour of Catalonia is a lot different to winning sprints in the Tour de France. For the overall, I'd plump for Valverde, providing he doesn't crash, and providing that mysterious bag of blood marked "Valv. Piti" doesn't come back to haunt him. Vino is the man he has to beat, but again, he has some serious doubts over his clean-ness. First with the Ferrarri links, then after what Jorg Jaksche said about the un-named Liberty Seguros rider demanding better "medical support". The rest are much of a muchness. Leipheimer, Menchov, Rogers, Evans... they're all the same basically. Top ten fodder without the winning instinct. Anyone ever seen any of those guys take control of a race? No, me neither.
posted by afx237vi at 05:30 PM on July 06
Can you imagine Peyton Manning stuck in transition with Tb; with the playoffs starting. Better yet, the Patriots entire squad quarantined with some new flu virus. Don't be flippin' ridiculous. It's 2007... most people are capable of travelling abroad without picking up fatal diseases.
posted by afx237vi at 06:21 PM on June 30
If Europeans want to play gridiron on their own they are free to do so, and some of them do. They don't need the NFL. That's very true. You can compare it to basketball in Europe, which seems to be growing in popularity every year. The Euroleague and the ULEB Cup are both thriving with good competition, live TV coverage and full arenas. As far as I know, the NBA has never been involved in its development.
posted by afx237vi at 08:45 AM on June 30
The Gareth Edwards try (#4) gets me every single time. Brilliance, absolute sporting brilliance.
posted by afx237vi at 03:14 PM on June 27
The guy has a point. The past couple of weeks I've been watching the run-in of the La Liga season, and in terms of skill and entertainment, it shits all over the Premier League.
posted by afx237vi at 08:09 AM on June 19
SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle
Italian cycling legend Franco Ballerini has died at the age of 45 after a car crash in a rally he was taking part in. Ballerini won Paris-Roubaix in 1993 and 1998 and was the current Italian national coach.