04/20/24
June 15, 2010
SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
posted by yerfatma at 08:04 AM on June 15, 2010
Guess they weren't representing the official Dutch beer of the World Cup?
posted by kokaku at 08:07 AM on June 15, 2010
Wow. I hope they sue FIFA for false imprisonment.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:16 AM on June 15, 2010
Do they keep track of injury time added to games? I wonder how the average injury time has changed over time. Also, do they keep track of kicked goals versus header goals? We need soccer stat nerds!
posted by apoch at 09:19 AM on June 15, 2010
I can tell you there were 3 minutes added in the New Zealand vs Slovakia game. And that the Kiwis equalised with about 30 seconds of that left to play. I wonder how Slovakia like them apples? I suspect not too much. Awesome result for the All Whites.
Oh, and I'm going to need more pictures of those Dutch ladies for... reference and research purposes.
posted by JJ at 09:35 AM on June 15, 2010
Is FIFA related to the NCAA?
posted by cjets at 11:02 AM on June 15, 2010
A lot of empty seats at New Zealand/Slovakia
I am somehow less than surprised. Not exactly a glamour tie.
I wonder how the average injury time has changed over time.
[insert Fergie joke here]
My impression is there's more, though I doubt there are stats to back that up, and the display of total added time is a recent innovation. There are still oddities: you'll rarely see a huge amount of added time at the end of the first half, even if the actual stoppages appear to merit it (e.g. Tim Howard's crunch with Heskey in the England-USA match).
posted by etagloh at 11:21 AM on June 15, 2010
More news on the Dutch ladies - ITV have sacked pundit Robbie Earle after it was discovered that the ladies from the lowlands were using tickets he'd given them. First ITV's HD channel cuts to an advert five minutes after the kick off of the England game and miss the goal and now this - they really are crap.
posted by JJ at 11:55 AM on June 15, 2010
Oh, and in the words of Special 1 TV: "Shut up, Sven. Shut up, Drogba and shut up, Ronnie."
Promising game that delivered... very litte.
posted by JJ at 11:56 AM on June 15, 2010
Is Ronaldo Portuguese for Vlade Divac? I am surprised that the wind from the vuvuzelas doesn't blow him over for how often falls. Is Ronaldo the soccer equivalent to the pre-2009 A-Rod (great player who collapses like a folding chair on the biggest stage)?
Edit: Just saw the Nike Write the Future commercial again, and all I can think of is how Nike could have saved some money and just used video of the Saddam Hussein statue coming down to symbolize how much diving Ronaldo did during that game against Ivory Coast.
posted by Demophon at 12:01 PM on June 15, 2010
He has shown a tendency to "go missing" in the biggest games, but that's not always his fault (some sides just mark him so closely - or try to - that he becomes effectively useless for anything other than creating space for the rest of his team). Much like Drogba though, one wonders how much better a player he might be if he adopted a "no diving" policy for a game or two. Like Drogba, he's a big guy and would surely create more chances for himself if he used his size to ride through challenges instead of going to ground the moment he feels contact.
posted by JJ at 12:04 PM on June 15, 2010
Ronaldo? Diving you say?
posted by Mr Bismarck at 12:22 PM on June 15, 2010
Like the lovechild of Greg Louganis and Bambi. On rollerskates. On ice. After ten pints of illegally marketed Dutch beer.
That's how likely to stay on his feet he looked.
posted by JJ at 12:35 PM on June 15, 2010
In his defen(s/c)e, which is nowhere I want to be, he's looked like crap with Portugal since at least Euro 2008, hasn't he? It's like they just expect to get out of his way and win. Either that or they're scared to take the ball away from him.
posted by yerfatma at 12:38 PM on June 15, 2010
I think his facial expression in this picture says how he feels about all of us accusing him of diving. The poor thing.
posted by boredom_08 at 12:46 PM on June 15, 2010
BREAKING NEWS: Ronaldo excluded from World Cup of Marco Polo. Water deemed too shallow for diving. Italians put on notice.
posted by Demophon at 12:59 PM on June 15, 2010
Now would be an appropriate time to reprise this from 2008 then.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 01:00 PM on June 15, 2010
In I-forgot-to-post-this-yesterday news, the Netherlands defended the Unofficial World Cup by beating Denmark 2-0.
This is Holland's 16th-straight win as Unofficial World Champions - a record only bettered by Scotland's 20 between 1880 and 1888.
Japan are up next against Holland and have already lost to the Dutch during their current reign. The Japanese are 0-4 in UFWC title shots.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 01:22 PM on June 15, 2010
FIFA is French for NFL (no fun league).
posted by graymatters at 01:46 PM on June 15, 2010
Avery Johnson to coach NJ Nets. I wonder if we will see a regression in Devin Harris' play.
posted by graymatters at 02:55 PM on June 15, 2010
posted by kokaku at 03:02 PM on June 15, 2010
North Korea look rather good.
posted by boredom_08 at 03:05 PM on June 15, 2010
BREAKING NEWS: Ronaldo excluded from World Cup of Marco Polo. Water deemed too shallow for diving. Italians put on notice.
Stick to posting on US sports only, please.
posted by JButton at 03:26 PM on June 15, 2010
Dave Henson's Vuvuzella.. ella... ella...
posted by Mr Bismarck at 03:32 PM on June 15, 2010
The reasons behind Green's fumble discovered. It wasn't the ball.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 03:40 PM on June 15, 2010
Stick to posting on US sports only, please.
Are you trying to infer that Ronaldo never dives?
Dave Henson's Vuvuzella.. ella... ella...
Hilarious. I loved it.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 04:36 PM on June 15, 2010
For those who just can't get enough of the fabled horn. The link to the related item is an interesting read too. I did not realize that the damned things were that loud.
posted by Howard_T at 04:39 PM on June 15, 2010
One more comment for the Huddle while I'm still on a roll. Ice hockey season (at least in North America) is officially over, as Hershey Bears won the Calder Cup, the AHL's equivalent of the Stanley Cup, by defeating the Texas Stars 4-0 (4-2 in games) last night. The playoff MVP was Chris Bourque, who thereby accomplished something his dad, Ray, never did. Of course, Ray Bourque never played a minute in the AHL, but that's beside the point.
posted by Howard_T at 04:55 PM on June 15, 2010
World Cup highlights with Legos.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 04:59 PM on June 15, 2010
Court reinstates Bertuzzi lawsuit against Crawford
posted by tommybiden at 05:22 PM on June 15, 2010
Are you trying to infer that Ronaldo never dives?
No, he's trying to imply it. Or he's just being a snooty muppet about it. Those vuvuzelas are driving him mad, I tells you, MAD!
posted by JJ at 06:18 PM on June 15, 2010
You think you've got a problem with vuvuzelas?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:25 PM on June 15, 2010
... and the thread becomes a loop.
posted by apoch at 10:20 PM on June 15, 2010
North Korea look rather good.
Agreed. I was particularly impressed when, after Brazil's second goal and it looked like the piling on was about to begin, not only did North Korea avoid the total collapse, but they even came back to score.
posted by bender at 10:38 PM on June 15, 2010
posted by Mr Bismarck at 11:14 PM on June 15, 2010
I'm headed to the Twins/Rockies game tomorrow...if a Dutch beer company wants to stage an assult marketing campaign, I'll be in section 108.
posted by dviking at 11:16 PM on June 15, 2010
I have a soft spot for the North Korean team for historical reasons, and that was a very fun match to watch. They played the Brazilian team, not its reputation -- cultural isolation apparently has its uses -- and they were fast, committed, brave and deserved their goal at the end.
Neither Portugal nor Côte D'Ivoire will now be thinking about that upcoming match as a goal-accumulation exercise.
posted by etagloh at 02:01 PM on June 16, 2010
Why Brazil's breakthrough was always going to come from Maicon
posted by billsaysthis at 06:21 PM on June 16, 2010
A lot of empty seats at New Zealand/Slovakia (the upside is the buzz seems quieter - but maybe ESPN is getting better at their audio filtering)