Monzanator

Petra Kvitova beat Sorana Cirstea 7-5 6-4 in the second Miami SF. Cirstea led 5-2 in the first set but couldn't close it out.

Well, there are some factors that contributed to their demise a) in the 1960s they had a HC from Soviet Union who left after 1971 b) another club from Katowice - Naprzód Janów - became the top team in the city and produced better results between 1970s-1990s. c) the football section of GKS Katowice grew stronger and come the late 70s replaced Polonia Bytom as one of the "Top 3" of Upper Silesian clubs in the football league (the other two being Ruch Chorzów and Górnik Zabrze). Polonia was still a power house in the 60s but then fell off in the next decade. Mind you back in the 1970s there were four clubs from Katowice in the Polish ekstraklasa plus the nearby Zagłębie Sosnowiec. However the 1970 was the rise of Podhale Nowy Targ (champions in 1966 and 1969 before winning NINE straight titles 1971-1979). Funnily enough Polonia Bytom who lost relevance in football became a powerhouse in hockey winning six titles in late 80s/early 90s. Then communism state sponsorship ended after 1989 and all the clubs linked to mines & steel mills fell on hard times which paved the way for Podhale Nowy Targ & Unia Oświęcim dominance in the 90s/2000s. GKS Katowice stumbled around in the 90s and early 00s (also under the name Hockey Club Katowice for a while), was relegated in 2005 and then only promoted in 2012. They have found relevance in the last 6-7 years again. Okay, so much for Polish hockey league history

The JTB dominance is so big that individual races are just about the only real hope he doesn't win 99% of the time. Might be the only thing that prevents IBU from killing off the best event of the sport. Even FIS gave up on trying to pretend cross country isn't a Norwegian championships and nobody gives a damn about watching that clown show (other than maybe women's sprint where Sweden holds it's own).

In USA it's the usual problem with NCAA which technically is amateur and they don't have to recognize professional sports' regulations?

Baseball version of filth:

Ekstra Liga 2022/2023 FINAL (Best of Seven) GKS Katowice (#4 seed) - GKS Tychy (#3 seed) 4-0 (3-1; 3-1; 5-2; 5-2) Bronze Medal (Best of Three) Tauron Unia Oświęcim (#2 seed) - Comarch Cracovia Kraków (#1 seed) 2-0 (3-2; 3-2) GKS Katowice wins the National Championship for 8th time in history. Previously in 1958, 1960, 1962 (3x as Górnik Katowice), 1965, 1968, 1970 and 2022. Final Standings: 1. GKS Katowice 2. GKS Tychy 3. Tauron Unia Oświęcim 4. Comarch Cracovia Kraków 5. JKH GKS Jastrzębie 6. STS Sanok 7. KH Energa Toruń 8. Zagłębie Sosnowiec 9. Podhale Nowy Targ Scoring Leaders Play-Offs: 1. Grzegorz Pasiut (GKS Katowice) 18 GM - 13 G - 6 A - 19 PTS 2. Alan Łyszczarczyk (Cracovia) 13 GM - 7 G - 11 A - 18 PTS 3. Pavlo Padakin (Unia) 14 GM - 6 G - 11 A - 17 PTS 4. Hampus Olsson (GKS Katowice) - 18 GM - 8 G - 7 A - 15 PTS 5. Patryk Wronka (Cracovia) - 13 GM - 7 G - 8 A - 15 PTS 6. Roman Rac (Cracovia) - 13 GM - 8 G - 6 A - 14 PTS 7. Matias Lehtonen (GKS Katowice) - 18 GM - 7 G - 7 A - 14 PTS 8. Damian Kapica (Cracovia) - 10 GM - 6 G - 8 A - 14 PTS 9. Brandon Magee (GKS Katowice) - 18 GM - 3 G - 11 A - 14 PTS Most Penalty Minutes: Ales Jezek (Cracovia) - 13 GM - 41 PIM Goaltenders: Kevin Lindskoug (Unia) - 2.07 GA - 93.23 % saves (14 games, 3 SO) / John Murray (GKS Katowice) - 2.24 GA - 92.98 % saves (18 games, 1 SO) Rok Stojanovic (Cracovia) - 2.30 GA - 93.19 & saves (9 games, 1 SO) Tomas Fucik (GKS Tychy) - 2.54 GA - 91.26 % saves (14 games) Bence Balizs (GKS Jastrzębie) - 2.66 GA - 91.98 % saves (7 game, 1 SO)

The chances of Ron DeSantis running for US President probably increased now

No real surprise, security acted like they are taught to and luckily for them the target wasn't moving. Usually they are mocked for being unable to tackle a moving object all the time

Elena Rybakina beat Jessica Pegula 7-6(3) 6-4 in the first Miami SF. On course to win the Sunshine Double since she'll be a huge favorite vs either Cirstea or Kvitova in the final.

AELTC gave in and lifted the Wimbledon ban on Russians & Belarussians. They had no choice after nobody supported them in the tennis world (especially none of the other Grand Slams). The fact Russian-born Elena Rybakina won Wimbledon last year only made the whole decision look even more stupid. Kate Middleton still had to shake hands with a Russian DNA and the winner's trophy currently sits in Moscow in Rybakina's parents' house. https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/64933565

And just like that Rangers score 9(!) runs in the fourth

Jacob deGrom started hot in the first inning... but gave up four runs in the next two. Rangers life...

Opening Day! LOLMets are back in business and fast...

Rain has postponed the last QF (Kvitova vs Alexandrova) to Thursday and the second SF to Friday. On paper Rybakina vs Pegula SF feels like the premature final and Cirstea also gets an extra day rest before her SF opponent is even known.

Polish Minister of Sport has said Russian athletes will be allowed to participate in EG (and the fencing World Cup) if they sign a special declaration they are against the war in Ukraine AND the war crimes committed by Putin according to the International Criminal Court. Well, you can stick a fork in anyone signing that document especially that Russia (just like USA, China or India) doesn't recognize ICC to begin with https://przegladsportowy.onet.pl/igrzyska-olimpijskie/kamil-bortniczuk-wpuscilby-rosjan-do-polski-tylko-pod-jednym-warunkiem/hqzhmcy

They have a team called KooKoo in Finland? I hope that's only a sponsor name

Yeah, that's an honest politician for a change. NRA are the Republicans voters so obviously that party won't do anything but I wonder what is the Democrats excuse? They are also afraid to upset the NRA?

USA will not boycott, NBC paid too much money to broadcast OG to have it without US athletes. As for Poland, we could have a Civic Platform government in 2024 so whatever the current Minister of Sport says would be immediately rendered useless and it's not worth speculating on until the elections take place.

I don't think we will boycott OG, the backlash from the 1984 boycott that effectively hijacked the 1988 OG as well is still to big. There is nothing to gain from these boycotts and you don't even need hindsight for it anymore. The lessons from 1980 and 1984 have been learned, hell, almost nobody even remembers the African boycott of 1976 tbh, a complete dust in the wind fact right now.

Ticket prices for ski jumping are between 50-90 PLN so basically less than 20 Euro for the most expensive ones

Bor Pavlovcic, Tilen Bartol and Cene Prevc will all make their farewell jumps in Planica this weekend. Only Bartol was called up with the domestic quota, the other two as trial jumpers.

She hasn't done it yet.

WTA Miami 1000 QF: Martina Trevisan (25) vs Elena Rybakina (10) Jessica Pegula (3) vs Anastasia Potapova (27) Ekaterina Alexandrova (18) vs Petra Kvitova (15) Sorana Cirstea vs Aryna Sabalenka (2)

Oliveira will miss the Argentine GP as well. A terrible opening weekend all around, FOUR MotoGP riders injured so the bike count will be down to 18 next weekend.

Not like anyone cares but Extra League Finals are in the process too. GKS Katowice leads GKS Tychy 2-0 after two away wins.