Monzanator

15 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

I mean, those glass vials don't smash themselves.

At least he didn't say anything about a tortoise soup

37 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

I would say Mandy/Abandy/Brandy/Andy Schleck

Huh? I used to think Schleck was a one-day/Monuments speciallist rather than stage tour rider tbh? Bit like Kwiatkowski these days who will never be in the mix for any of these stage races.

1 minute ago, heywoodu said:

Oh yes, he's definitely not a great TT rider. He is, at least potentially, by far the best climber though. Honestly I prefer great climbers who have to defend and manage their losses in the TT than the other way around (Dumoulin, Thomas for example)  

Who was the last regular stage tour winner that was losing so much time in TT though? I've been watching some of this stuff since the days of Delgado & Indurain and they were pretty expert at ITT which is largely forgotten these days.

3 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Bernal would win if he was allowed to win  The one time he was showing himself to clearly be stronger than Thomas, they let Poels ride for Thomas to bring him back to Bernal  

Doesn't Bernal need to improve his TT first? I feel like he's always losing time there?

2 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Exactly, I'll be cheering for the first person who beats both of them, don't care about nationality. Boy I hope it's gonna be Atkinson  

Atkinson seems to be doing better in 50/100 rather than 200 though? Or is it the other way around? And she failed badly in 100 already

3 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Yeah King is such a dramaqueen. I mean, taking a stance against dopers, all fine, but her whole act is getting a little over the top. As in, way over the top.

 

Not a fan of Efimova, but I do find her so much less terrible than someone like Sun.

This is cold war approach again. I realize Efimova got away with some serious shit in the end but I dislike King as well. She's making way too much drama out of it. Sadly nobody seems to be capable of beating any of them right now. King strikes me as a very unlikeable person as well, she thinks she's the face of modern swimming or what?

Wojciech Wojdak only 13th in the 800m Free heats. There goes one of the safest picks for a final spot and maybe even a medal. This shapes to be another depressing champs for our swimmers. Jan Switkowski was nowhere aka 21st in the 200m butterfly heats too.

5 minutes ago, phelps said:

 

but that's a perfectly legal move...you just have to ask permission to the ref and once he/she agrees, you can change your weapon as many times as many reserve weapons you have in your bag (because the ref keeps the weapons changed by the fencers and give them back only at the end of the match just to avoid people trying too many of those tricks)...

 

just look at how many times Ivanova changed her foil against Volpi when she was struggling...

 

it's a perfectly normal way to gain a few seconds...sometimes it's a tactical move, sometimes just because you need a deep breathe when you're really tired...

 

you won't find any fencer complaining for that...never...there are a lot of different things that could irritate a fencer (asking always for the video replay even when you don't have anymore, for instance), but not asking to change the weapon...

I'm not saying this was illegal. It was somewhat against the spirit of the sport though. When two Olympic champions face off for what is effectively the last hit I expect better than a foil change. Ivanova vs Volpi was a different case, Volpi was the clear favorite so obviously Ivanova couldn't quite match her and the situation got into her head. If Deriglazova got into EDF's head that's a really bad look considering EDF's overall status.

2 minutes ago, phelps said:

 

no, she was playing her tactics...she was waiting for the Russian attack and then go with a parè and reposte (and at the same time trying to waste some seconds on the clock, obviously...she was ahead with a few seconds to go...who wouldn't do that in the same situation?)..

the bout was stopped with 6 secs to go because there was a hit outside the target by Deriglazova...

and here Di Francisca asked the ref to change her foil...

there's nothing wrong nor illegal with that...

then came the call by the assistent ref...the main refactually didn't see anything wrong and never thought to give a red card in such situation, but he was forced to do it once the assistent jumped in...

that's how it went...

 

then, we can discuss all night about the call...to me, it was done absolutely in bad faith, there's no chance he saw something that never happened in good faith...

 

other people might have a different opinion...

 

for sure, it was a completely wrong call...the pictures are there to be watched...there's no way anybody can say Di Francisca used her left hand to stop Deriglazova's hit (even if because that hit the target, but outside the useful area, with the white lamp turning on)...

For me the foil change decision with 6 secs. left was done in bad faith too so there is that. I blame EDF for trying to play the mind games while she's not some scrub who found herself in being afraid of winning situation. And she didn't have some rookie on the other side whatsoever. Just a very weak decision all around when it was Deriglazova in must attack mode. If EDF didn't trust her own skill to survive the final six seconds then she didn't deserve to win it.

I'm no rules expert to say whether the second YC was for blocking the target area so I'm not gonna comment on that even if that was the reason behind the penalty. I'm disappointed in EDF's behaviour in general.

Just now, phelps said:

 

he was wrong...I explained a couple of posts above why she got the red card...

 

Italian tv commentators immediately saw the assistent ref waving his hands to ask for attention by the refs...and once they ask for his help, thay can't do anything but register his decision...

 

he's the only one to blame...

I noticed some guy jumped in the frame and forced the ref to lose his mind. I thought that was someone from the Italian camp. Anyway, it was obvious EDF tried to do some time wasting and the ref didn't fall for the foil change trick. Not with 6 seconds left in the WC final with Italy one hit ahead. Therefore I said she was too cheeky for her own good, should have forced Deriglazova's attack and counter herself if neccessary instead of stalling the action. The mind games blew up in her face when the ref decided he wants none of that.

6 hours ago, Dunadan said:

200 IM results please? Results page not working anymore for me.

Omoto collapsed out of the medals on the freestyle, Pickrem was then in 2nd but got overtaken on the final leg as well. She tied up badly and I thought she will lose the medal but she somehow held Margalis off. Shiwen went like from 4th to 2nd on the last leg. Hosszu found daylight on the butterfly leg and it was over by then.

1 minute ago, phelps said:

 

she didn't do anything like that...actually, she didn't do anything wrong...she was just robbed by a biased side piste assistent...

Polish commentator said she was handed the second YC for removing the mask and arguining with the ref? Not to mention the ref was actually a guy from Poland

Julia Walczyk ended with -11 score in team foil. We won 5 of 9 bouts but with such a weak link it was impossible to make up the losses.

Not gonna even mention the epic sabre team collapse. Yeah, it's sabre but from 40-32 to 41-45 is hideous

In the team foil final Di Francisca was simply too cheeky for her own good. Simple penalty for pure stupidity. Should have expected more from such an experienced competitor.

Inna Deriglazova is more or less the fencing P4P #1? (just gonna ask bc I don't follow this sport on daily basis).

26 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Yeah....when someone's blood samples are destroyed like that, it's over, and that has nothing to do with the country. 

The doping goes beyond borders. I'm convinced Carl Lewis was a doper too but the evidence got destroyed

1 hour ago, NearPup said:

The prevailing view in the West is that Sun is a cheater. Personally I have confidence that he will receive a life ban when WADA is through with him this Fall and that Horton will retroactively become world champion.

 

He smashed his own blood sample, there is no excuse for that.

Cold War at it's best. USA & Australia will never accept the fact a communist country can beat them at anything. Can't wait for Efimova show next

1 minute ago, ofan said:

 

Yes I know that, I just wish it weren't the case. The league has become far too diluted and dominated by superteams. With the exception of this upcoming season, for the past 10 or so years, there have always been at most only 3-4 teams that could win the championship. 

 

Since this is a thread about hockey after all, Seattle was the first American city to win the Stanley Cup - so yes, they are an important historical member of one of the big leagues. It is great to finally see the sport return. 

Well, the hockey was still payed outdoors back then? So Seattle had the natural weather to field a hockey team

2 minutes ago, ofan said:

 

Yeah, there should only be about 20 teams in the NBA at the most, and Seattle should be one of the cities. It's a shame what happened, but I'm hopeful we'll see a team there in the future - most likely as a result of relocation, because I can't see the league expanding any time soon. 

There's too much money around to limit the league to 20 teams. The revenue is huge and everyone wants to take the piece of that cake. Seattle based on it's location was never a founding or historical member of any of the big leagues. Seahawks, Mariners & Sonics were all expansion teams from the 60s/70s where we had the first big influx of new markets trying to muscle past the historically big players like NY, LA, Philly, Chicago etc.

1 minute ago, ofan said:

 

That's because they found an ownership group willing to do it. Howard Schultz is a jackass

I always liked the Sonics jerseys when I was a kid. NBA in Oklahoma City is a joke tbh. They have enough teams in the desert and basically nobody cares about the Mavericks & Suns while Spurs are merely relevant because of the 5 titles & Gregg Popovich. I expect OKC will be really at the bottom of the league for the next decade now that Westbrook is gone.

4 minutes ago, OlympicIRL said:

 

I must say that Ulster ≠ Northern Ireland though. I know a lot of people think that but it's not the case. I am from Ulster for example but I am from the Republic of Ireland.

 

I suppose the Catholic minority in Ulster is even smaller than it was in the 70/80s though? Free travel is so much easier these days and I wouldn't be surprised if people simply moved away to England or some place else. Idk how many Ulster counties have a significant Catholic presence anymore but probably not many. Since you're from Donegal I suppose you've been to Derry several times. Do they still switch the name on display between weekdays?

6 minutes ago, phelps said:

 

more than renovated...it's being completely rebuilt...only the old iconic roof will survive after all the works are completed...

I still don't understand why would they want to renovate this arena so much but they refused to build a new one for the Sonics?

What the hell happened to Mas? He lost 20 minutes today or what?

Yeah, I suspect Eire & Ulster will never patch all things together and sport is such an obvious reason to manifest the differences. Lowry might have been spared the odd treatment bc golf is not really a "folk's sport" more like for the elites. I can only suspect the Eire minority in Ulster still has it pretty rough on everyday basis.

It's been known for a while Seattle will join the NHL from the 21/22 season. Now both conferences will have 16 teams each. The new team will play at the old SuperSonics NBA arena (obviously renovated).