Monzanator

You meant a Slovakian conspiracy? Speaking of Slovakians, I see Poliakova hasn't retired after all and her social media is public again? Guess without Kuzmina the relays won't be much of a fun anymore?

[hide] Preliminary RoundNovember 30th - December 6th, 2019 24 Nations, 4 Groups, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Nations from each Group will qualify for the Main Round Group A Date & Time (GMT +9) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 November 30th 2019, h. 15:00 Serbia 10 Angola November 30th 2019, h. 18:00 Netherlands 8 Slovenia November 30th 2019, h. 20:30 Norway 22 Cuba December 2nd 2019, h. 12:30 Cuba 18 Serbia December 2nd 2019, h. 15:00 Angola 7 Netherlands December 2nd 2019, h. 20:30 Slovenia 10 Norway December 3rd 2019, h. 15:00 Netherlands 17 Cuba December 3rd 2019, h. 18:00 Slovenia 5 Angola December 3rd 2019, h. 20:30 Norway 7 Serbia December 5th 2019, h. 15:00 Cuba 12 Slovenia December 5th 2019, h. 18:00 Serbia 3 Netherlands December 5th 2019, h. 20:30 Norway 16 Angola December 6th 2019, h. 15:00 Serbia 5 Slovenia December 6th 2019, h. 18:00 Angola 11 Cuba December 6th 2019, h. 20:30 Netherlands 1 Norway Group B Date & Time (GMT +9) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 November 30th 2019, h. 15:00 Germany 2 Brazil November 30th 2019, h. 18:00 France 11 South Korea November 30th 2019, h. 20:30 Denmark 22 Australia December 1st 2019, h. 15:00 Brazil 6 France December 1st 2019, h. 18:00 Australia 15 Germany December 1st 2019, h. 20:30 South Korea 13 Denmark December 3rd 2019, h. 15:00 South Korea 9 Brazil December 3rd 2019, h. 19:00 France 20 Australia December 3rd 2019, h. 20:30 Denmark 6 Germany December 4th 2019, h. 15:00 Australia 16 South Korea December 4th 2019, h. 19:00 Germany 4 France December 4th 2019, h. 20:30 Denmark 7 Brazil December 6th 2019, h. 15:00 Brazil 19 Australia December 6th 2019, h. 19:00 Germany 0 South Korea December 6th 2019, h. 20:30 France 1 Denmark Group C Date & Time (GMT +9) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 November 30th 2019, h. 15:00 Montenegro 18 Senegal November 30th 2019, h. 18:00 Romania 2 Spain November 30th 2019, h. 18:00 Hungary 14 Kazakhstan December 1st 2019, h. 15:00 Kazakhstan 17 Montenegro December 1st 2019, h. 18:00 Spain 1 Hungary December 1st 2019, h. 18:00 Senegal 21 Romania December 3rd 2019, h. 15:00 Hungary 1 Montenegro December 3rd 2019, h. 15:00 Spain 19 Senegal December 3rd 2019, h. 19:00 Romania 20 Kazakhstan December 4th 2019, h. 15:00 Montenegro 4 Romania December 4th 2019, h. 15:00 Kazakhstan 16 Spain December 4th 2019, h. 19:00 Hungary 14 Senegal December 6th 2019, h. 15:00 Senegal 3 Kazakhstan December 6th 2019, h. 15:00 Montenegro 0 Spain December 6th 2019, h. 19:00 Romania 3 Hungary Group D Date & Time (GMT +9) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 November 30th 2019, h. 15:00 Japan 10 Argentina November 30th 2019, h. 18:00 Russia 18 China November 30th 2019, h. 20:30 Sweden 25 D.R. Congo December 2nd 2019, h. 15:00 Argentina 16 Russia December 2nd 2019, h. 18:00 D.R. Congo 14 Japan December 2nd 2019, h. 20:30 China 17 Sweden December 3rd 2019, h. 14:30 Russia 21 D.R. Congo December 3rd 2019, h. 17:00 China 2 Argentina December 3rd 2019, h. 19:30 Sweden 9 Japan December 5th 2019, h. 15:00 D.R. Congo 8 China December 5th 2019, h. 18:00 Japan 9 Russia December 5th 2019, h. 20:30 Sweden 16 Argentina December 6th 2019, h. 15:00 Japan 7 China December 6th 2019, h. 18:00 Argentina 4 D.R. Congo December 6th 2019, h. 20:30 Russia 1 Sweden [/hide]

Still enough time for the Salazar case to blow up in his face so let's wait whether he actually makes it onto the start line

Yeah, I'm well aware handball is completely non-existent in USA. It's probably the most European-centered team sport anyway.

As for Szczęsny there's a common reference in the hockey players Peter & Paul Stastny. If any English commentator realized that, they'd pronounce his name that way instead of botching it most of the time. Szczęsny & Stastny basically mean the same thing. Speaking of tough names (I know, it's not biathlon but it's the offseason yet).

In other words nobody gives a damn about water polo. USA doesn't care about volleyball, you don't even have a league outside of the NCAA system. If anyone wants to make money from this he/she must either go on the beach or travel to Europe/Asia to play indoors.

Yeah, this could fly. Polish digraphs take no prisoners otherwise

I double up the shitty level, Szczurek means "Little Rat" in Polish Obviously his name is basically unpronounceable for any non-Slavic throat

Team Poland for Ostersund (obvious spelling error in Michael Greis' name ).

@heywoodu Is the little Slettemark eligible for World Cup status? I mean her mother pretty much extended her career beyond limits to keep the nation quota alive? When does it expire?

Science while mathematically superior takes the human element out of it. People will always know better whether it's the (un)common sense or just the option of taking short cuts or plain old stupidity. Two plus two doesn't always equal four when there's human element involved. Richard Gatling invented the machine gun in order to limit the casualties of the warfare. How did that work out? Tesla was a pacifist but his sunbeam gun was the most lethal concept this side of the nuclear bomb. And I'm not even gonna talk about the Manhattan Project members who later became opposed to their own work. When people want to do something for the "good of the society" they often don't account for the side-effects that eventually take over. You can very quickly develop a monster you cannot control sooner or later. Back to the "safe cannabis" stuff, I smoke cigarettes since I'm 15 so I'm sure for all the bad habits of this world (while I won't promote cannabis as "safe" by any means) I first tried weed when I was 17yo but that was still the "forbidden fruit" craze as well. Good luck with your speech

There is no "marijuana is safer" option. Besides you're not charged with DUI with a nicotine in your system but you are charged when it comes to cannabis. So, nicotine is actually the safer option when it comes to road safety unless of course you don't care about that. Better is the enemy of the good. Besides a serial cannabis user might eventually move onto a stronger and more dangerous drug. You give the cannabis finger and in due course they will take your hand supporting tons of new "safe" drugs. The widespread ban on cannabis is a history lesson from the opium wars & the morphine addiction from WWI & WWII. It's like the vaccination crisis now, some of the most deadly diseases have been erased so people forgot how it's like to die from polio or measles and claim vaccinations are no longer neccessary. Same with drug addicts who were dismissed as street junkies, prostitutes or whatever. We live in a time when you can parade as high-class drug addict and be proud of it. Cannabis is almost too common to be considered elite anymore. It's the morphine craze 2.0 only 100 years later IMO. In USA people want guns because it's their Constitutional Right. You can't deprive society of their century-long habits. There are no millions of gun freaks in Poland because access to guns is strongly limited over here. You can buy an air gun or air pistol and that is it. You need a gun permit for everything else and it's notoriously difficult to obtain it. Smoking & drinking alcohol is the humanity's long-standing habits ever since Columbus shipped tobacco to the Old World. You're not going to change that with some federal laws or anything like that.

Drugs is a more touchy subject since there are millions of chemical combinations that can be sold as drugs. Alcohol & nicotine is pretty straight-forward, you can't just sell methanol out there in pubs. What I'm curious about is the anti-smoking hysteria and all that jazz, so you promote the so-called healthy nicotine-free lifestyle but want to legalise marijuana? So marijuana is the new nicotine? If you're against smoking in general how can you support marijuana usage in first place? I'd like to know how many of these marijuana supporters have actually smoked a single cigarette in their life? The prohibition law is pure nonsense. It didn't work in the USA in the 30s and no way it's gonna work anywhere in 2019

Sydney allows people to drink alcohol after midnight again. It's shocking that a modern day prohibition doesn't work These bozos needed millions of dollars lost to understand that. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50581814

Right. Does any channel actually broadcast water polo matches in USA outside of the Olympics?

[hide] Nation Captains Dorothea Wierer J.T. Boe Nation Women Marketa Davidova Denise Herrmann Lena Haecki Ingrid L. Tandrevold Nation Men Antonin Guigonnat Sebastian Samuelsson Simon Schempp Dominik Windisch [/hide]

I disagree. NBC has more power over the Olympic schedule than any European TV station and it's only to Europe's luck USA doesn't feature as much in some of the winter Olympic events like biathlon, ski jumping or cross country which are among the most popular in Europe instead.

The international authorities are letting the War in Donbas slide just like they let the Georgian Invasion slide back in 2008. They won't annoy the Russian Empire too much or else more leaks will come out just like in the Salazar case. The Western world sure has some skeletons ready to fall out and they know the Russian hackers will respond in due manner.

In how many of these events USA had a pre-event medal favorite? Hell, even the speed skating turned out to be a complete bust as USA didn't win a single medal for the first time since 1984. How dare you compare ski jumping to athletics on the US market? Alpine skiing? Uh-oh! The names Vonn and Shiffrin kinda make it a more US-oriented event.

Bullshit. Nobody in the Russian political system will apply this logic. They will play the martyr card and claim the Western world is out there to destroy them & their sport. Just look at the War in Donbas. Hell, how about the plane shot down by the Russian missile. Russia has never taken responsibility for arming the pro-Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine and you expect them to feel sorry for the innocent athletes. You need to learn a thing or two about the Russian Empire mindset. They will never show a sign of weakness like that. Never!

Athletics, swimming and probably gymnastics will be held in USA evening prime time so you don't have to look far to see how NBC is holding the entire IOC hostage. Nobody gives a flying fuck about Europe and the rest of the world. The only thing that matters is US viewers. Talk about equal rights here

Collective responsibility will lead into widespread boyotts of sporting events therefore politics will win again. I thought we learned something from 1980/1984 but maybe you thing these OG boycotts was the best thing that ever happened? Not to mention clean athletes will sue this decision in interntional courts citing discrimination (which in general is very popular lately). Hell, UK athletes want to sue the federation over sponsorship deals as we speak (not allowing non-Olympic sponsors to be marketed around the Olympics). At the end of the day nobody will pay attention to actual doping but political battles in court will take over the news. And this kind of a shitstorm will only help the doping cheats because the focus will be shifted elsewhere. Besides what number will prove a systematic doping? 20 athetes get caught and that's enough? Or like 50? Or maybe we need one mega star like Marion Jones in the BALCO scandal? The Russian witch hunt was aso fuelled by meldonium which is only banned in USA but wasn't banned in Russia. How about WADA gets their act together first? I know you're pushing for the renewal of the Cold War but do we really have to sacrifice the global sport for this? Hell, you're advocating for a thing Donald Trump would be proud of despite the fact you despise the guy. I'm sure Trump would love Russia & China perma-banned from every single sporting event for the next 30 years. Yeah, that would solve the doping problem Like the Lance Armstrong scandal has wiped away the doping in cycling

The Cold War is over besides that won't stop anyone from doping tbh. Kenya is crawling up the line and there's like zero chance anyone takes them out. Bulgaria got banned for widespread doping in weightlifting and nobody thought about banning the entire nation from the Olympic Games.

Right, USA is the global policeman after all. And I'm pretty sure Shani Davis won't be posting any tweets about Hong Kong

So, an US individual shouldn't be held to American standards but an US company should be? What kind of a twisted logic is this?