Sports - The Clever Shark

Dream final?

tony — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 19:46:51 +0000

Oh boy, FIFA’s gone and done it again. Its own site proudly trumpets “Dramatic semis produce dream final“, and the article goes on to proclaim that a Japan-USA rematch is “the gold medal match fans the world overÂ were hoping to see”.

Well, it’s the final that FIFA was hoping to see, clearly. When you put things in those precise terms, FIFAbots, people might at some point assume that the result of the Canada-USA match was rigged. And given FIFA’s own notorious problems with corruption and people at very high levels passing brown envelopes full of money up and down the chain to ensure expected results (let’s not kid ourselves, that’s how Qatar got the next world cup) it really should make more people wonder whether FIFA has perhaps taken a position on the match that was not exactly impartial.

And when I now hear that FIFA is looking into punishing Canadian players for their post-game comments, while the real outrages that took place on the field remain unquestioned, I can’t help but see Sepp Blatter as your traditional mafia don, preordering the result of important games and exacting a capricious, autocratic revenge on anyone who dares question his dictatorship. Remember how this is the same idiot who didn’t think there was anything wrong with Thierry Henry’s infamous handball which sent big-market France to the World Cup finals and sent small-market Ireland homeward.

It’s time to call a spade a spade here. FIFA and its leadership are corrupt to the core and everybody knows it. It’s time for serious football to organize in an organization which is not so completely and utterly rotten.

edit: I’ve decided to save a copy of FIFA’s “dream final” text to this post, as I have a feeling that it will probably be heavily edited later.

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Go Oranje!

tony — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:24:17 +0000

So much for my prediction of Germany winning the cup! Yesterday’s game was a bit of a disappointment, the Germans really got owned by Spain. Now let’s see what the Netherlands can do on Sunday…

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The magic number is ‘vier’

tony — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 16:01:05 +0000

Germany sends Maradona and Argentina packing with a stunning 4-0 victory at Green Point Stadium. And a well-deserved victory it was — the Germans came out as a disciplined eleven playing as a team, while Argentina generally lacked discipline. If anything, the Germans were a little loose on offense, while the Argentines were loose on defense, and you just can’t have poor goal-zone defense in a World Cup quarter-finals match. With three four-goal games so far the Germans are emerging as definite favorites for the Cup.Â Herzlichen GlÃ¼ckwunsch!

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Nothing is ever as it seems with North Korea

tony — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:19:21 +0000

The DPRK made it to the world cup and beating expectations, but their fans are a little odd — but then they would be, as they’re not actually North Koreans, but rather Chinese volunteers paid by Pyongyang to attend the games and cheer loudly.

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Making football enjoyable again

tony — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:48:38 +0000

Like the World Cup but can’t stand the vuvuzela, that plastic horn that just fills the air with an indistinct drone for literally every second of the game? Lifehacker has you covered by showing you ways to get rid of that dread scourge while still enjoying some good football.

The post Making football enjoyable again first appeared on The Clever Shark.

I really need to take up cycling. In Sweden.

tony — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:51:01 +0000

From the “things you don’t hear about every day” dept. — a 50 year-old Swedish man has reportedly complained that while he was out biking he was pulled of his bike by a lady with tattoos on her arms who then proceeded to have her way with him. He also reports that the same unspeakable crime was committed again when he rode in the exact same spot the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. In fact he’s so upset that if these incidents don’t stop within 6 months he’ll be forced to consider maybe changing his route.

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Second Strike.

tony — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:53:46 +0000

So, how do you repair your public image after an interview in which you praise Hitler? You blame the Jews for the financial crisis, that’s how. At least that’s how it works in Bernie Ecclestone’s mind. Seriously, this guy just doesn’t get it. But there’s a chance that something positive will fall out from this — I don’t see how he’s going to be able to remain at the head of the FIA for very long if he keeps up the Prince Philip act. Even now he’s had to cancel his personal appearance at the formal opening of this weekend’s German Grand Prix and who knows how many other races he won’t be welcome at.

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Rules.

tony — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:21:10 +0000

There aren’t many absolute rules to life; to each rule there seems to be an exception, with the notable exception of this one: if you’re a controversial public figure and an associate of Max Mosley, and you’re talking with reporters, you should never, ever say anything that even sounds like “Hitler was a man who could get things done.” In fact unless you’re a historian any discussion involving Hitler probably doesn’t belong in an interview. Can we at least agree on this?

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0 and 16.

tony — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:34:26 +0000

I don’t really follow American football, but even I was waiting to see the results of the Detroit-Green Bay game on Sunday. Rather predictably the Lions dropped this one, ending up with 0 points for the season with a 0-16 record which officially makes them the worst team in the history of the NFL. No one had gone 0-16 since the season was extended to 16 games back in 1978. Way to get into the history books…

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