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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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This noble desire of NFL coaches to make to make young men "become the best darn versions of themselves", appears to be reducing the level of Line Backing serial killers, and Wide Receivers arsonists, even if players continue to get caught speeding, crashing, commiting domestic violence etc.
Latest example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzJH6DrCJoA
Keep up the good work.....
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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How to Lose Fifty Million Dollars
1. Be raised and educated in reduced circumstances.*
2. In your early twenties, use one of the millions to acquire a Lamborghini
3. and a celebrity sporting girlfriend.*
4. Wait.
* I'm using code here. I don't want to be banned from the AEL.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Cocklecarrot's World Cup
I need to draw my colleagues' attention to 'raking' -- when Player A brings the sole of his boot in a rapid motion onto and then down the calf of Player B. It is an automatic red card offence since serious injury is likely to result. The operative word here is 'brings'.
* Is it a deliberate act? Then it is a red card.
* Is it not a deliberate act, but a reckless one? Then it is a red card.
* Is it incidental to a lawful coming together of two players? Then it is not a red card.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Don't forget the Champions' League starts next week, Petrocub vs Egnatia Rrogozhinë.
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| Google wrote: | | And then the kick-off time stayed as it was. England's seismic meeting against the co-hosts in Mexico City was suddenly shrouded in uncertainty. The match at the Azteca will now start, as originally planned, at 18:00 local time on Sunday - 01:00 BST on Monday. |
As opposed to prime time (in Britain) Sunday evening. There are two competing theories as to what happened:
1. The official one: that Mexican meteorologists had forecast, three days ahead of time, that a storm would hit Mexico at 1800 hours and that therefore the kick-off should be moved forward by six hours (for, I would think, the first time in World Cup history). But later thought better of it.
2. My own (and presumably others): that British and FIFA pressure was put on the Mexicans to allow this plum draw to go out at a less ungodly hour, to which the Mexicans first acceded and then bowed to other countervailing pressures.
From a purely footballing perspective, there is the question of
1. Whether noon or 6 pm is better for English footballers at the Azteca
2. Whether playing in the noonday sun or an evening cloudburst is better for English footballers at the Azteca.
From a wider perspective, there is the question of
1. Will this give rise to conspiratorial waves over the e-waves
2. Will we ever learn the full truth?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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It does occur to me however that altering kick-off times might be a useful addition to standard World Cup practices. It would not greatly affect spectators since nobody is, as it were, travelling to the match in circumstances set in stone. It would affect TV schedules, though beneficially.
The World Cup, after all, is unique in having all the world time zones in play unpredictably in the knockout rounds. Though there is no reason why the group matches should not be varied to advantage. (Maybe they were.) It would lead to fierce controversies about which matches should be played when. Which is all to the good!
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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| "You can tell both teams are totally exhausted in these conditions." American commentator, just before half-time. |
Gulp. Where was this?
Kansas City.
Gulp. When was it?
8.30 in the evening.
Gulp. Who were these teams?
Colombia and Ghana.
Gulp.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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The conditions in Mexico City are ideal for football, that is why the Mexico Cup in 1970 was one of the best ever (not as good as 66 of course....) and we made the quarter-final. The 1968 Olympics was one of the best ever, in terms of world records. Tommy Smith 200-meter world record of 19.83 seconds, Bob Beaman world record long jump and so on.
Tuchal has correctly picked young fast quick paced defenders rather than long distance plodders like Maguire.
Its really an ideal opportunity for the players to play their best football. Main danger is that the ball will fly quicker and we over hit our set pieces.
We will be fine......
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Thanks, Wiley, that's a load off my mind. We have been overhitting our crosses at sea-level, but that must be the new ball designed for each tournament. It always takes our lads time to acclimatise to that. It's why we take our own food with us (though not WAGS this time).
Also the surfaces have been a bit ropey. They don't seem to understand that Premiership-style football requires watered pitches. There shouldn't be drinks breaks, there should be watering breaks.
I'm not worried about Mexico and then Brazil. Or Argentina in the semis. 'Dey goes as dagoes,' is the battle cry here. The main thing is we keep away from France and Spain until the final and hope someone clogs their stars for us like they did in '66.
Talking of which, I'm not sure you're right about 1966. I've heard a lot of complaints from a lot of quarters over the years. Remember, an AE-ist has no country!
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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The Plot Thickens
| FIFA considered rescheduling England’s World Cup round-of-16 game against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca primarily because of concerns raised around the safety of supporters, with weather an additional, but not key, driver of the talks, The Athletic can reveal. |
| FIFA sources initially pointed to concerns over possible weather disruption, including flooding. The Athletic’s weather expert Aaron Mentkowski reported earlier on Friday that the forecast appears to predict a typical summer day in Mexico City on Sunday. |
| The Athletic has since been told by sources with knowledge of the decision-making process, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, that it was in fact safety and security concerns for fans of both teams attending the game that were the primary drivers for the potential change. |
| That the discussions were held at all, despite the scale of the logistical challenge of rescheduling a game at such short notice, and the criticism that would have followed from many stakeholders, is indicative of just how seriously the risk of playing at the originally planned time was taken. |
| The game will go ahead as planned with the anticipated pushback from those directly involved on the performance side, including Mexico head coach Javier Aguirre — and inconvenienced fans — contributing to FIFA walking back a decision that had been all but made internally. |
| The BBC, which will broadcast the game in the UK at 1am local time, was forced to deny its own involvement in the talks after reports to the contrary in Mexico. “The BBC were not involved in these discussions,” it said in a statement. | |
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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Ladbroke Grove was alive to the sound of carhorns yesterday evening. I knew it must mean Canada vs Morocco had finished. But who had won? I got out my trusty back-of-an-envelope:
* Number of local Canadians: negligible
* Number of local Moroccans: legion
* Propensity to triumphal carhorning (Canadians): negligible
* Propensity to triumphal carhorning (Moroccans): automatic
Possibly Morocco, I decided, and was proved correct by BBC I-player this morning. Though losing to Morocco, never mind by three goals and out, bodes ill for soccer taking root in the world's second largest country.
France vs Paraguay passed off quietly in Ladbroke Grove but not in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Just as I predicted (not hoped, if you don't mind) the Paraguayans were queuing up to take out Mbappé. Not from the game, from the tournament. Maybe forever. It was like Portugal vs Pelé, Goodison Park, 1966, all over again. Except this time, the good guys won.
The referee, a Mr Ilgiz Tantashev of Uzbekistan, adopted a Third World attitude in the face of such brutality and started dishing out yellow cards -- three to the French, none to Paraguay. But they've got Morocco next up so why should they worry?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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We may have Moroccans but New York has got everyone
| The Guardian wrote: | | Almost 200,000 Ecuadorians and Ecuadorian Americans live in New York City, and last week quite a lot of them were in a Brooklyn restaurant called El Encebollado de Victor to watch their football team take on Germany. |
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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A decision has to be made. Do I stay awake until 1 am for Mexico vs England and fall asleep halfway through the first half when it's nil-nil and nothing's happening? Or do I go beddybyes as normal, record the whole thing for a full-on morning treat and hope I'm not woken up by blaring (English) horns at some ungodly hour.
The trouble with the latter strategy is that if I'm not woken up it means we lost and there's no point in watching it at all.
I could sleep in the bath with the door closed and the taps running, like they do in spy films to avoid the KGB listening in, but there are health risks and financial implications. Also, whatever time I creep out there's sure to be some twat belatedly honking his patriotism. There might even be Mariachi bands by that time, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility.
The good news is I've still got eleven hours to work out a practical solution. Roadworks signs, 'road closed', there's a possibility. I'd have to wear gloves, there'd be a minor rumpus and they would know roughly where to look. But where can I buy gloves on a Sunday?
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