dcro

Olympics at Sports Reference got closed today. I can't help but feel responsible because I asked for one correction yesterday and perhaps reminded them about their intent to close the site... https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics.html

Apparently the postponement will cost the IOC (alone) 800 million USD.

Ah, the good old days.

Yes, just like Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Countries of similar predisposition. And then there are places like Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan, whose numbers are even better than those of Slovakia. But that's because they were smart enough to ignore WHO and immediately impose travel ban to China, rightfully assuming the situation was worse than reported...

Anyway, there's no doubt that Slovakia did a great job in containing the spread, statistically speaking. I just find it silly how the article tries to compare Slovakia with the United States. It's apples and oranges. At best you can compare Slovakia to certain states, but even that's iffy since the states are still a part of the same country.

But then again, having a much smaller area and population means it's much easier to control the source of the spread (including the all-important patient(s) zero). Plus, all these big countries do have regions that are extremely densely populated (like the whole BosWash area). Countries that fought the virus best in Europe are places like Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. They all have small population + small area + small international travel (especially during February/March). Similar places in Western Europe (Ireland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Belgium) have a much larger circulation of international travellers, so they didn't do so well...

Not just Winter sports though.

MLB.tv has added various documentaries and features as well. But right now I am watching Giants vs Orioles from June 2, 2019. I remember being sick that day. Nothing worse than nursing a cold on a warm summerish day.

How on earth can they even attempt to compare a place like the United States (330 million) to a country like Slovakia (5 million)? If anything, living in small places with limited international travel has proven highly advantageous in battling the coronavirus crisis. And even there, living in small towns/villages is even more beneficial than living in cities. Also, is there no 1.5 m rule in Slovakia?

Haven't really watched much of the stuff this dude reviews (especially not series from Nickelodeon), but still I love this channel.

First case in Lesotho, amazingly enough.

Sam Griffiths decided to retire his star Paulank Brockagh. Looks like she will be just another one of those horses for whom Tokyo 2021 proved to be a bridge to far, as the initial aim was to retire right after the Games... Career highlights include a victory at Badminton Horse Trials (2014), and team bronze + individual 4th at Rio Olympics. I can still remember their fantastic Rio showing. https://eventingnation.com/i-couldnt-bear-the-thought-of-something-happening-to-her-badminton-winner-paulank-brockagh-retires/

Big day in Croatia tomorrow. Lockdown measures will be lifted again, leaving pretty much everything open. Public gatherings of 40 people will be allowed (as opposed to the current max of 5 people). Apparently, there is a plan to reopen theatres, cinemas and concerts as soon as May 18, and borders too! I find it quite bizarre that they are lifting the measures with every new week, knowing that the incubation period of coronavirus is two weeks....

Luckily they managed to keep about 1,5 cm of distance.

Giants vs Marlins from May 28, 2019.

Well, users can provide all their group stage decisions in bulk. Either way, they will be asked to send something, and sending their preferences regarding 10-15 head-to-head matches seems easier than sending complete rankings. But I do see how displaying the jury panels could ruin secrecy. So perhaps there is another way that users can be informed about the matches they should resolve (for example via PM)? Knock out stages, which I'm guessing will be open for everyone to vote?, can be done using the prediction contest formula, meaning users are asked to gradually fill out templates for Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals. In any case, I'm not sure how much fun factor there would be in a competition format where users are seemingly asked to judge head-to-head matches... Only to have everything resolved before they even know who is facing who.

This one can be resolved with "First come, first serve" principle. Whoever selects the desired country first (via PM to the organizer), gets it. Basically we just continue using the standard practice seen at the Festival of Music. I agree the end of the contest would be the best option. Actually, I think the juries should be listed upfront, together with the schedule of matches. Only their votes for the specific matches could be kept secret until the end. Something like this: Rwanda 6 3 Burundi Judge 1, Judge 2, Judge 3, Judge 4, Judge 5, Judge 6, Judge 7, Judge 8, Judge 9 Having to wait for a complete ranking from each user could be quite time-consuming, so it would probably prolong the competition quite a bit. I'd rather have the jury panels listed for each match, and then users being asked to judge their specific matches in a certain time frame. However, if we do end up using a ranking for each user, I'd still prefer to have those rankings scratched after the group stage and everything after that resolved according to users' preferences during the knock-out stages themselves. It would allow users to change their minds during late stages, which would be something new for TISC.

That's alright, I don't believe @heywoodu ever joined the Peter Velits hype train.

Sorry, that song just never connected with me.

The Netherlands

Yeah... There is a popular opinion around here that it would have placed even higher had she not performed so early on. I'm inclined to agree seeing how poorly the other nations on the top of the start list performed.

But 10 is not 12. Otherwise Spain 12 would not have been so special. Besides, it's not like they have exchanged 12 points for 20 years.

Very deservedly so.

Time for Greece to go from 0 to 12 in 60 seconds.

Thinking about leaving it on my closing message for the next time.