Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

It would be incredibly stupid, and very surprising, if Mexico did not play hard to win. Unless I'm reading the charts wrong, if Mexico wins, they win the group, and they play the second place team from Group B in the first elimination match. That will most likely be South Korea.

If Mexico ties or loses, then they are second place in Group A, and they almost certainly play Argentina in their next game. No one would choose that opponent.

If Mexico is playing hard to win, then Uruguay will likely do so as well. Yeah, they could just shoot for a tie, but that's not so easy for a team that has stronger offense than defense.

I would expect a decent game, and I always like watching Mexico play.

None of this even takes into account Latin pride.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

Projecting out a little further, if Mexico wins Group A and then wins its first game in the Round of 16, then it will most likely face the winner of a game between England (or, possibly, US) and Ghana.

If Mexico takes second in Group A, it most likely gets eliminated by Argentina in the next game. If it survives, it most likely plays the winner of a game between Germany and US (or, possibly, England). I.e., it plays Germany (but only if it has beaten Argentina. Ahem.)

Assuming that (1) I'm reading this correctly and (2) these schedules have been translated into Spanish, I would conclude that the Mexican team fully understands how important it is to kick the shit out of Uruguay.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

All the Irish were rooting for Mexico.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

I didn't realize that 1A v 2B and 2A v 1B meant something different in Spanish. Guess I shouldn't have passed Spanish after all.

But yep, that's how I read the bracket, too.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

Hold on, let me call the LA Times.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

Of course Mexico has an incentive to push for a win. But like ivory coast's corner, are they likely to take a risk? Sure, France haven't put the ball in the net by need to make up 4 goals against RSA. So even a slim loss puts Mexico through. But it seems every time a team has abncentive to play for placement/seeding they don't show up or don't push.

But we shall see. Sidd even wrote two paragraph about it and he hates soccer. Isn't soccer great?

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

to most of us this reads like Adder posting a schedule of the porn he'll jack off to next week.

What's wrong with the NBA
 

There is no way that wasn't a charge on Kobe (after the bad three he chucked up and the rebound Gasol pulled down by shoving Rondo out of the way). He basically threw his body at three defenders who were set in the lane.

As is, Kobe gets to make two free throws to put the Lakers up by 6 with about 30 seconds to play, and the game is effectively over. Might have been an interesting finish if he wasn't Kobe or it wasn't the NBA.

Re: What's wrong with the NBA
 

You are absolutely right. That's why the call was invented. The whole "trying to draw a foul" phenomenon, which Kobe and Paul Pierce have taken to absurd levels, is a fucking embarrassment.*

My favorite part of the game was when Kobe was guarding Ray Allen near the end of the game. Allen tried to go down to the block to set Kobe up for a pick. Kobe grabbed him. He tried to come back out to receive the ball, Kobe pushed him and then grabbed him. When Allen finally got the ball and made his move to the basket, Kobe fucking hammered him--raked him across both arms right before he jumped and then let him jump. The ref blew the whistle and Kobe was furious, throwing up his arms in disbelief and then getting in the refs face to say that he never even touched him with such passion and anger that I actually believe that he believed he wasn't completely fucking lying.

I can't stand that guy. He's a piece of shit.

It might have been worth it to have the Lakers win, though, if only for the fact that Artest thanked his psychiatrist in his on-court, post-game interview.

TM

*eta: I think this word should be spelled with one 'r.'

Re: What's wrong with the NBA
 

Yup. I'm not sure the Artest/Ariza switch ever really made sense, even given Artest's great Game 7, but he has been one entertainingly crazy fucker to watch.

Re: What's wrong with the NBA
 

Since we're still talking about sports, last night at the Yankees game, a guy tried to play one of those vuvuzelas and security said, "Get the fuck outta here with that shit." Tossed.

TM

Slovenians are jumping
 

Every once in awhile you can hear the cheer over the buzz of the vulvas.

ETA: And they have plenty to jump about so far.

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

Can someone please explain to me why all these assholes writhe around in the grass in what is so obviously fake agony? Is it because it takes a while for the ref to decide whether to give a yellow or red card? It's fucking ridiculous.

TM

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

I just wanted to see this after Fugee's name again.

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

They fake it so often it's a surprise when someone is writhing around and is actually hurt enough to stay off the field as play continues.

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

The way today's game was officiated, it seems that the USA could do with a bit more demonstration, at least for an obviously thick referee.

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

Exciting game. Does anyone know why our third goal was disallowed? They seemed to say the ref didn't indicate offsides, but instead said there was a foul. The only foul I saw seemed to be on the other team. Did I miss something? Anyone?

Maybe the ref just sucked. The call he made on our guy that resulted in a yellow card (presumably a hand (or arm?) ball) was atrocious. The ball clearly hit our guy in the face. And now he has to miss the next game? Is there any chance they will review that and overturn it?

TM

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

the guy who scored/(didn't score) doesn't know, so no one here can help

have there been allegations about political bias in the world Cup with the refs, the way there has been in olympic judging/reffing?

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

The BBC broadcasters thought the ref just completely blew the call on what should have been the third goal.

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

It was loud where I was, so I thought the call was offsides. He wasn't, and of course each of Donovan, Dempsey and Altidore were practically tackled on the play.

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

I don't know why a guy from Mali would care one way or another on this one, but there have, of course, been scandals in the past.

Re: Slovenians are jumping
 

I've seen a lot of games in this World Cup and that was the worst-officiated of them, but it was poorly officiated in a very consistent way. The ref was blowing the whistle against the offense for contact in the box -- any contact in the box -- all game. No one seems to know why he disallowed the goal.

Re: What's wrong with the NBA
 

And you give me shit for (correctly) commenting that the NBA is corrupt, unwatchable, and basically an abomination that causes shitheads to kill each other over shoes.

Shot at the elbow/from the elbow
 

So a random basketball play-by-play question. I listened to parts of the Finals on the radio, and the play-by-play guy kept referring to a player "turning at the elbow" or "heading to the elbow and shooting" as if the elbow were a reference to a spot on the floor. Assuming that's so, where is that spot?

Re: Shot at the elbow/from the elbow
 

Where the 3s are:
http://www.jes-soft.com/playbook/fig...ourtzone_1.gif

ETA: Or in video (she's got some issues, but gets the elbow right): http://www.ehow.com/video_2355064_ov...-markings.html

Re: Shot at the elbow/from the elbow
 

The 3s are both on the same side of the court. In that pic its the 2/3 at the top of the lane not the 2/3 out beyond the arc.

Re: Shot at the elbow/from the elbow
 

Whoops. Looked at one diagram and posted another, apparently.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

it seems like these games are all being played in one spot. in the past they were spread across several cities. why the change? it seems like this will kill the turf soon.


edit- oh. I only watched two games. thanks RT.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

Re: What's wrong with the NBA
 

And a pussy sport. Hockey players pick up their teeth, stick 'em back in (or not) and get back on the ice, while the basketball and soccer players writhe in pain over a stubbed toe.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

Re: What's wrong with the NBA
 

Usually when basketball players are writhing in pain, they are actually in pain. They may flop to the ground more than they should, but I'm not aware of much faking of injuries in the NBA. It does seem that soccer players writhe around trying to get a late penalty call, but with basketball the foul call is immediate, so no real reason to fake injury.

I thought the game last night was really exciting and generally well-called by the refs (except for calls seeming to favor the Lakers towards the end of the game). I had the same feeling as I did after the final game of the NCAA tournament. Great game, but the wrong team won. The Celtics have no one to blame but themselves for going so cold shooting not once but twice in the game (and not adjusting to drive more instead of taking bad outside shots during those periods). It's remarkable it was so close at the end.

Re: What's wrong with the NBA
 

No you're right. Basketball sucks because the players don't care about any regular season games, the refs all suck and the players get away with murder on the court when they actually do try. Baseball sucks because it's slow, the umpires suck, the players are fat, overpaid, racist, homophobic and lazy, the Yankees buy their championships and all the records are meaningless because of steroids, uppers, cork and emory boards. Football sucks because the refs suck, the coaches cheat, the players are murderous, raping, felonious thugs who don't want to play for the millions of dollars they agreed to the last time their contract was up. Hockey sucks because the refs suck, the flow of the game is hindered by the teams who just dump the puck into the goalie's zone, they allow fighting just for the sake of fighting and no one watches it anyway. Soccer sucks because no one ever fucking scores, there are too many ties, the refs suck, all the players do is flop and fake injuries and the US sucks so no one here cares about it anyway. Does that cover it?

The reason why you should shut the fuck up about basketball is because you don't like it and don't watch it. So why do we need to hear you bitch about it? If you actually watched it and had criticisms that weren't general, amorphous complaints about something you don't give a shit about anyway, someone might want to talk to you about it. Hell, if you didn't know much about the sport and wanted to discuss what you thought were the problems, that would be somewhat interesting. But that's not the case.

TM

Re: Shot at the elbow/from the elbow
 

The two corners connected to the free throw line.

TM

Re: Shot at the elbow/from the elbow
 

Where the 2 and 3 are at the free throw line.

TM

Re: Shot at the elbow/from the elbow
 

Thank you for sharing your superior knowledge.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

Re: What's wrong with the NBA
 

[QUOTE=notcasesensitive;426659]Usually when basketball players are writhing in pain, they are actually in pain. QUOTE]

Oh. Wahh.

Only basketball player I ever liked was Rodman. I loved the way he defended Jordan.

Re: What's wrong with the NBA
 

[QUOTE=Icky Thump;426665]if you liked Rodman then you have to have loved Mahorn, and probably you should have married laimbeer.

Re: The thread where Spring has sprung, and Penske has risen from the law. Word!
 

What these World Cup photos people have posted tell me is this: It's terribly hard to photograph the decisive moment in a soccer game -- perhaps harder than any other sport except hockey. Perhaps these two sports stand a fighting chance in the age of ubiquitous video.

Related: I am amazed at people's ability to follow and enjoy a baseball game on the radio. And I am amazed that people still do this at all.