owlhouse's profile

owlhouse
1114
Name: bill pennington (no, not that one)
Location: Australia, but reasonably peripatetic
Member since: June 26, 2004
Last visit: March 02, 2024

owlhouse has posted 169 links and 3,289 comments to SportsFilter and 11 links and 756 comments to the Locker Room.

Sports Bio

I'm Australian, but a Pom by birth. So, watching Australia beat up England at sport is a bit like watching a family fight.

My main reason for being here is to eavesdrop on quality discussions on sport, society and culture. I like to think I've also added a bit to the mix.

I am learning about North American sports, mainly from this site. I think I like baseball, but I have this uncanny feeling that if I start to get involved, I'll end up being a Cubs fan. Ditto for the Lions in American football. It must be a self esteem problem. I am clearly not drawn to success, as my lifelong devotion to Derby County indicates.

Recent Links

Alternative Sports Awards 2023: Happy New Year SpoFites! A look back at the weird and wonderful moments across sports in 2023.

posted by owlhouse to general at 05:16 PM on December 31, 2023 - 4 comments

Team Guides to the FIFA Women's World Cup: The Guardian are publishing these guides in the lead up to the opening matches on 20 July. One new national team is added each day. (And yes, I have tickets). :-)

posted by owlhouse to soccer at 01:08 AM on July 11, 2023 - 4 comments

Cricket's Oldest Rivalry: Resumes tonight as the first of five Ashes Test Matches between England and Australia starts at Edgbaston (in Birmingham). And as a tribute to the game itself, this latest Bluey episode just dropped in Australia.

posted by owlhouse to other at 11:43 PM on June 15, 2023 - 2 comments

Good Morning Football with Fin Taylor: Billed as the most awkward TV appearance ever, comedian Fin Taylor on the NFL in Britain, and other stuff.

posted by owlhouse to football at 09:15 PM on March 22, 2023 - 3 comments

US World Cup Covfefe: "Fox’s coverage of the World Cup is so bad it’s become unmissable."

posted by owlhouse to soccer at 07:12 PM on December 05, 2022 - 5 comments

Recent Comments

Jurgen Klopp Leaving Liverpool

Don't worry, Liverpool fans - Stevie G is dusting off his resume...

:-)

posted by owlhouse at 08:31 PM on January 31, 2024

Der Kaiser ist tot

And we lost O Profesor Mario Zagallo just a few days ago.

I wonder if Didier Deschamps has booked himself in for a thorough medical?

posted by owlhouse at 11:11 PM on January 08, 2024

Why the 50-over Cricket World Cup is more vital than ever in modern era

I don't think that I'll ever see another Australian innings like Maxwell's, ever.

Although Jason Gillespie's 200 against Bangladesh in Chittagong and Dean Jones' 210 against India in the tied test in Madras (Chennai) come close, albeit for different reasons.

Why do these great innings only happen on the subcontinent?

posted by owlhouse at 10:36 PM on November 22, 2023

SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle

How to silence a massive home crowd.

posted by owlhouse at 10:18 PM on November 19, 2023

Worst Thing That Ever Happened is Good for Women's Soccer, Says Nancy Armour

If you look up "solipsism" in an online dictionary, it links to this article.

posted by owlhouse at 09:39 PM on August 20, 2023

SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle

I think they toss a coin at World Cups to see who gets to be the "home" team.

In terms of popularity, last night in the pub in Sydney about half the adults in attendance were wearing the alternate kit. Both home and away (see what I did there?) kits have had massive sales here, around 15 times the number of men's shirts sold for Qatar 22.

Meanwhile I'm sure that I'm not alone here in saying Anyone But England tonight.

Let's see if they try and kick Bonmati and Redondo off the park in the first 20 minutes. That seems to be their MO this tournament. While also claiming the other teams are the ones responsible for this type of shithousery. They haven't made too many friends down under.

posted by owlhouse at 09:01 PM on August 19, 2023

SportsFilter: The Wednesday Huddle

It was indeed a wonderful ride.

posted by owlhouse at 09:05 PM on August 16, 2023

Harry Kane Agrees to Bayern Munich Move

Trust in Saint Ange.

posted by owlhouse at 02:01 AM on August 14, 2023

SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle

Let's hope we win and get rid of Chuck the Third as well.

I was at the match on Saturday in Brisbane, high up behind the goal where the penalties were taken. I'm still recovering.

Here's someone else who gets it.

posted by owlhouse at 01:59 AM on August 14, 2023

USWNT Makes Earliest World Cup Exit in Team History

The US team looked incoherent on the field and without a Plan A or Plan B. Blame for which should be laid at the feet of Andonovski, who has plenty of talent at his disposal, despite missing some players injured. But then other countries have also suffered in that regard.

My immediate observation was that the front three played too far apart. Smith and either of Rodman or Williams played very wide and relied primarily on their speed. However good defenders can adapt and cover each other when the full backs get beaten. Horan (who was the best US player by far) had no support when going forward and, along with Morgan, could be cut off by the central defenders working with their screening midfielders.

As a result, everyone ended up isolated in attack. This approach, and not changing formation when it wasn't working made it far too easy for opposing defences.

posted by owlhouse at 02:42 AM on August 09, 2023

SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle

Fair questions.

The east coast of Australia is only a two hour flight from Auckland, so not really a big travel burden for Netherlands and Sweden. Dunedin would be harder to get to. If anyone could be bothered going there and judging by the crowds, not many did. Meanwhile the Australian stadiums are all sold out.

Stadium allocations were worked out months ago, so Australia playing a QF in Brisbane only happened because we topped the group and won the R16. If we'd come second the path would have been different. I went to the Denmark game on Monday and have tickets for Saturday in Brisbane, so happy that I gambled and won when I bought them months ago!

posted by owlhouse at 02:31 AM on August 09, 2023

SportsFilter: The Sunday Huddle

Nobody wants to talk about this? I'll go and have a cup of tea then.

posted by owlhouse at 11:35 PM on August 06, 2023

SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle

Portugal's left hand upright has just been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

posted by owlhouse at 07:23 PM on August 01, 2023

SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle

I was at the game. France were good, and a bit unlucky. Jamaica didn't have much beyond "launch it to Bunny", but then again, that was fairly effective.

After watching Brasil last night (Did you see the third goal? Wow.), I'm really looking forward to taking my daughter to France v Brasil on Saturday in Brisbane.

posted by owlhouse at 06:03 PM on July 24, 2023

Team Guides to the FIFA Women's World Cup

What about the team travel? I haven't looked carefully at the schedule. This is a far flung tournament with host sites spread over considerable distances. I hope no team has to play one match in Perth and the next in Wellington or Dunedin

For the group matches, and the Round of 16, no international travel is required. A, C, E and G are in NZ and B, D, F and H are in Oz. That changes once the QFs begin.

Having said that, the main cities of NZ are closer to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane than Perth, where five matches are scheduled in the group stages.

posted by owlhouse at 11:37 PM on July 12, 2023