Federer91

Ok, time for the main event.

Poland is very cute and warms my heart

Hmmm, i see now why Ukraine have started drifting.

Are we sure the postcards show the countries 2 best results, because it's always an old and a new song being featured?

Ireland is just too batshit crazy for the general public imo. Sure qualifier, but will be stunned if they get anything better than 8-10 in the final. The staging performance was amazing though.

Croatia and Slovenia in this 1/2 is their chance, but yeah, that was rather underwhelming.

The crowd seems rather quiet for your typical Eurovision. Lithuania trying to get them going.

The postcard ideas are super with two previous songs and also with the artist name at the end. Silia killed it

How nice of them to invite the correct winners (in an alternate universe) for 2018 & 2022 to open this year's show.

Oh, absolutely the bolded part. The politics, blatant favoritism, rigging, Bjorkman, Sweden and the general tampering more and more with the live singing has devalued the contest. Though for your first part, in the last 10 years, the silver and bronze medals are actually the real winners. Only Duncan Laurence and Maneskin (50-50 on Loreen last year) were deserving imo.

Ireland should consider it a huge success, if they get top 10. Top 5 is wishful thinking for me.

Croatia building a very good lead in the odds today. For 10 days they were at 18-24% and a huge jump today before the first 1/2. Swiss and Ukraine on the other hand dropping a lot.

Watched the rehearsal clips, so time for updated observations. Still standing, that if either Italia or Croatia doesn't win, it will be preposterous (something quite usual for Eurovision in a sad tradition). Ukraine exploded with the best staging and from a top 10 song rose to a top 3 position. Unfortunately they already gifted them 2 undeserved wins with mediocre songs, so this time, when they actually have a song, that is worthy to be a winner, someone else should win... Countries with the biggest improvements with the staging: - Georgia and Armenia - two songs, which i won't add for repeat listening, but they will be great for an arena performance. Much better, than expected, so hopefully they will do good. - Greece - I commemorate our neighbors for going with a traditional Greek sound, but i just dislike the song, a lot.. Which is a shame, cause Marina seems an awesome person and the staging accompanies the song perfectly. I just wished they went with a different song, ughhh... - Ireland - the crazy song. The visuals will carry it from a non-qualifier to the final, but meh for me. Songs, which i already like and nothing changed -> Austria, Cyprus, Lithuania. Safe staging for all 3 of them. Some other countries: France - initially i was like "not another French ballad", but the guy is just such a good singer. Probably the best singer of the whole contest. Don't see many fan votes for him, but the juries will carry him to the top half i reckon. Germany - not great at all, but won't deserve their usual last place this time. The staging doesn't stand out, so i'm afraid another 0 pointer is coming. Sadly for them, they have taken UK's spot as the "not taken seriously participant every year", so they will need something unique to get out of the hole. Speaking of the UK, well, i think it's better not to say anything about the UK at all.... Israel - not as good as Noa Kirel, but a decent song for Eurovision level. However, given their worldwide position currently, i wonder how much backlash it will receive. Not by the juries of course, but from the fans. And the semifinals are only fan votes, so interesting to see, if it could be a shocking non-qualifier. Probably not. And of course, i still vividly hate Netherlands and Switzerland.

Wow, after 32 years we have again a medal in women's artistic gymnastics. Bravo Valentina

Happy Giro d'Italia kick off day? Pogacar to be in pink from day 1 to day 21

That was a really impressive showing for Olympiacos. Even after Villa equalised , they didn't fall back and continued to attack and it paid off.

Absolute disaster if true.. Our 2 best GR wrestlers both missing the Olympics is just yet another nail for our current state. Shows just how important it is to get the quota at the World Championships, so you can have a buffer for such unexpected problems..

Our best player Aleksandar Nikolov will miss this year's VNL, as he is going to get surgery for a back problem. And with a number of retirements last year, after failing to qualify to Paris, it's going to be an almost brand new team.

Thank God Totallympics is back. For a moment with that "domain suspended" page i thought @Sindo 's HQ was being raided by the authorities.

Happy for Yoana, even though she had to go through the final chance tournament. It would have been a complete waste, if she didn't manage to qualify. All and all a good day, after also the rowing quota earlier. We got what was expected today after the disappointments in a number of other sports, most recently shooting..

Austria are really generous gifting skiers like that. Baumann to Germany, Hirscher to Holland, i wouldn't mind getting a Puchner

Probably not the most competitive EURO amidst the 2 Olympic qualifiers, but our women had a fantastic day today in the 1/4. 5 wins out of 5 matches and all get a minimum bronze. Our 6th woman Stanimira Petrova though had a high temperature and had to withdraw, otherwise we could have a perfect 6.

Selin After a near perfect first day, what was that..

North Korea wins quotas, but the real question is will they actually send those people to Paris

I am still fond how people who don't like sports are working overtime today to spam the forum.