Friday, June 30, 2006
World Cup
Why I love FOOTBALL. Quarterfinal game started at 8am. I woke up at 830am. Current score 0-0. I missed nothing!
Same thing for the Switzerland / Ukraine game. Midway through the first half, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 20 minutes to go. First thing I hear from the announcers is that this is the most boring game ever (para-phrasing). The game had a total of ONE offsides. Thierry Henry gets one offsides call per minute.
On the flip side, I watched Brazil/Ghana and France/Spain pretty much all the way through. Brazil is crazy talented, I'm sure every member of their team can do the 'Elastico' in their sleep. Even Dida. Plus the World Cup is the best international event. Nothing like seeing a team down one goal with time dwindling away, desperately seeking the equalizer.
As I'm writing this, Germany just equalized with a header. As expected the crowd went nuts. Imagine if the offsides flag went up late (like in the NBA where the ref blows the whistle waaaay late after the player misses the shot). Count on numerous death threats from hooligans. Argentina is playing with a backup goalie. If this goes to PK, that goalie has some serious pressure on him. He can count on death threats if he doesn't come through.
The fact that ESPN360 is webcasting all of these games means that I can easily multitask during long stretches of "nothing." Although when Brazil plays I tend to just fullscreen it and watch the whole thing. I like the fact that the games are fairly exacting in their timing. 45 minute halves, short break for halftime, and stoppage time is usually around 2-5 minutes each. Usually it won't take more than 2 hrs and that's a good round number for a sporting event.
If all else fails I turn the game off and play some Winning Eleven.
EDIT: Italy is smoking Ukraine. Apparently Ukraine thought they could play the same soporific game, score zero goals, and luck out in penalty kicks. Ha! No I'm not bitter about Thursday's boring game. ¶ 8:49 AM
Same thing for the Switzerland / Ukraine game. Midway through the first half, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 20 minutes to go. First thing I hear from the announcers is that this is the most boring game ever (para-phrasing). The game had a total of ONE offsides. Thierry Henry gets one offsides call per minute.
On the flip side, I watched Brazil/Ghana and France/Spain pretty much all the way through. Brazil is crazy talented, I'm sure every member of their team can do the 'Elastico' in their sleep. Even Dida. Plus the World Cup is the best international event. Nothing like seeing a team down one goal with time dwindling away, desperately seeking the equalizer.
As I'm writing this, Germany just equalized with a header. As expected the crowd went nuts. Imagine if the offsides flag went up late (like in the NBA where the ref blows the whistle waaaay late after the player misses the shot). Count on numerous death threats from hooligans. Argentina is playing with a backup goalie. If this goes to PK, that goalie has some serious pressure on him. He can count on death threats if he doesn't come through.
The fact that ESPN360 is webcasting all of these games means that I can easily multitask during long stretches of "nothing." Although when Brazil plays I tend to just fullscreen it and watch the whole thing. I like the fact that the games are fairly exacting in their timing. 45 minute halves, short break for halftime, and stoppage time is usually around 2-5 minutes each. Usually it won't take more than 2 hrs and that's a good round number for a sporting event.
If all else fails I turn the game off and play some Winning Eleven.
EDIT: Italy is smoking Ukraine. Apparently Ukraine thought they could play the same soporific game, score zero goals, and luck out in penalty kicks. Ha! No I'm not bitter about Thursday's boring game. ¶ 8:49 AM
