phelps

Happy New Year, guys! Might 2021 lead us out of all this sh*t we've been experiencing in 2020 and give us some exciting, unforgettable sports events and emotions...

@hckosice I'm shocked! Zdeno Chara leaving the Bruins and signing a 1-year 795,000 US $ deal with the Washington Capitals... https://www.nhl.com/news/washington-capitals-zdeno-chara-contract/c-319917520

Russia finally did it! they stopped the 54-game winning streak of the Swedish juniors in the preliminary round of the Junior Worlds...and they did it in an instant classic match... so, now the final match between USA and Sweden suddenly becomes very, very interesting, as it could change dramatically the final ranking of the group (and the quarterfinals' pairings)... in the other group, everything went according to plan, with FIN destroying SVK and GER beating a very disappointing Swiss team thanks to their superstars Peterka (hat trick for him) and Stutzle (who scored one of the most beautiful goals of the tournament so far)...

from an Italian perspective, the biggest "Winter" positive upset in recent history is surely the men's Combined in Alpine Skiing in Albertville 1992, when Josef Polig and Gianfranco Martin came out of nowhere to win Gold & Silver... not sure we can say it was an enormous upset, since we were among the medal candidates in any case, but also the triumph in the men's Cross-Country Skiing relay in Lillehammer 1994 surely was against all odds (basically the entire world thought it was only a race for the silver medal, with gold already booked by the host Nation)... at the Summer Games, I'd say the 2 gold medals by Andrea Minguzzi (Greco-Roman Wrestling) and Giulia Quintavalle (women's Judo) in Beijing 2008 are definitely among the most unexpected wins in our Olympic history... by the way, I totally agree with the Olympic Channel when they put the "miracle on ice" at no.1...that's my absolute no.1, too... and I think also Bradbury's shocking gold and Karelin's suprising loss deserve to be in that ranking...

wow! I didn't expect Kiel to get such rabbit out from the hat... Landin put on a real show, pure magic that closed the door in front of the mighty Barca army... by the way, Barca's loss after a "perfect run" until the last match reminded me of some other epic fails just one step before the completion of the dream season (the New England Patriots in the NFL, but also the sad end of Alexander Karelin in Greco-Roman Wrestling)... sport can be really cruel sometimes...

I just don't understand this Czech team... it looks that if everything goes according to plan, they committ and play their best hockey, meanwhile if the game takes a different path, they give up playing and let the opponents blowing them out badly... they did it against the Swedes and yesterday they did it again againt the US boys... by the way, if Russia don't get at least 1 point against Sweden, they can still be 3rd in the group and avoid the mighty Canadians in the quarterfinals... on the other hand, if Russia lose to Sweden in regulation, we're going to have the mostly anticipated "final" CAN vs RUS already in the quarterfinal round... that would be a huge risk also for the hyper-favourite host Nation...

in a fully crowded arena, maybe there would be a chance for Kiel...in this situation, with the stands sadly empty (and with the Germans who played 2.5 hours later and went to the OT in a very close and entertaining but also demanding match, while Barca easily took care of the French guys), I don't think the Germans have a single chance to win the Cup...Barca are just too good for the rest of the European teams right now...

New Zealand and Uzbekistan pulled out from the OQT... therefore, we have new dates and a new schedule... right now, the tournament will be played from January 19th through January 24th the new format and schedule are also out (the schedule is subject to change in case of some requests by the TV Networks*): p.s. all times are Local (CET) Group A Netherlands France Italy Uzbekistan Slovakia Group B Greece Hungary Israel New Zealand Kazakistan Day #1 (January 19th) h.14.00, HUN vs ISR h.16.00, FRA vs ITA h.18.00, GRE vs KAZ h.20.00, NED vs SVK Day #2 (January 20th) h.14.00, NED vs ITA* (almost certainly the start time of this match will be changed because of the Italian TV broadcast) h.16.00, HUN vs KAZ h.18.00, FRA vs SVK h.20.00, GRE vs ISR Day #3 (January 21st) h.14.00, HUN vs GRE* (start time likely to be changed upon TV Networks request) h.16.00, FRA vs NED h.18.00, ISR vs KAZ h.20.00, ITA vs SVK Quarterfinals (January 22nd) h.14.00; h.16.00; h.18.00 & h.20.00 (Useless) 5th Place Semifinals (January 23rd) h.14.00 & h.16.00, Semifinals (January 23rd, the games that will determine the 2 qualified teams) h.18.00 & h.20.00 (Useless) Finals (January 24th) h.14.00, 7th Place Match h.16.00, 5th Place Match h.18.00, Bronze Medal Match h.20.00, Gold Medal Match

wow! very good game by young Slovak team... but I saw they are quite good already on the opening day when they won against the Swiss guys... and based on how the Fins played against the same Swiss team, I think SVK might even have a shot to make an upset (surely, I expect them to beat the Germans and easily go through to the quarterfinals)... and then, what a win for the young Czechs against Russia...I really didn't expect them even to save their faces against the mighty Russians after the blowout they took against the Swedes... so, it might be that in the quarterfinals we're going to see a few more interesting match-ups than I did fear after the first couple of days of action...

it's a true massacre...7-1 the final score... meanwhile last night RUS vs USA was quite an interesting match, with the Russian dominating the match in the end despite the awful performance by their supposed superstar Askarov in the net... I'm curious to see Finland when it really matters, but I fear it's already a 3-way tournament, with RUS, CAN and SWE playing a game of their own...

by the way, the legendary President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov himself, said that the definitive solution against covid-19 is nothing less than...licorice! https://www.barrons.com/news/turkmenistan-president-claims-licorice-can-cure-covid-01608972008?tesla=y well, still way better than sticking a cotton swab up the ass, like someone said some time ago... just asking myself why people still waste their time with this sh*t...

sure...here in Italy everything about covid-19 is always at center stage...news, fake news, analysisi, polemics...even those no-everything idiots always have some space in the media... so, it's obvious that we had almost a live coverage of all the journey from Belgium to our main storage site on many tv networks...

for all those people in Europe who can't see the games on their respective National TV, you can watch the entire NHL Network USA coverage* on satellite @ 22° Est (it's encrypted, but only with the old BISS system...and sat pTV fans know what that means... )... *basically, all the tournament's matches and more bonus coverage, analysis, interviews and so on...

tbh, I often think about the chance to see once in my life the Christmas Summer Olympics (possibly in New Zealand, rather than the usual Australia or in Africa / South America)... that's surely one of my "impossible dreams"...

Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate...and also to those who don't...Merry Christams to everybody in the World! enjoy and stay safe and healthy...

TSN website has the full replay of the game...and it's available worldwide...well, at least it works here in Italy (even if only @ 540p for non registered, non-Canadian users)... as in the past few years, I guess that also all the games of the world champs will be available on demand (live is only for registered Canadian users) on their website... this is the page where you can find all the files (right at the bottom...people might need to launch the streaming 2 or 3 times before it starts without errors and/or false geo-blocking claims)... https://www.tsn.ca/live#/ p.s. TSN is going to show all the warm-up and World Champs games in 4K definition and we're still fighting to have a modest HD TV broadcast of only a few games (except for the lucky Scandinavians) and a SD streaming... then, there are people complaining because of sat tv/internet piracy...

I'm going with Czech Republic...Davidova sooner (I hope) or later will do it...

Vinatzer! hope he doesn't get K-Fisched (like yesterday) as usual in the 2nd run... also very happy to see Manny Moelgg doing well after recovering from a very, very bad form of covid-19...

obviously no official award should be given this year, as most events have been cancelled or contested in unusual (when not unfair) conditions... by the way, my very personal awards (limited to the few sports that at least had some serious competitions) for Italy are a no brainer... Man of the Year: Filippo Ganna (Track & Road Cycling) Woman of the Year: Dorothea Wierer (Biathlon) Male Rising Star of the Year: Jannik Sinner (Tennis) Female Rising Star of the Year: Benedetta Pilato (Swimming)

naaaa...I always look at your memories (most of them are also my memories)... I would rather start to post also my list when we reach the last 100 days (I'm so lazy ), but maybe I could anticipate that (especially for the Winter Games memories)...who knows?

one of the most iconic Offshore sailing events in the world, the Syney - Hobart regatta has been cancelled just 6 days before the start because of a covid-19 outbreak in New South Wales (AUS)... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-19/sydney-to-hobart-yacht-race-cancelled-due-to-nsw-coronavirus/13001142

also LCL and a few bruises to her nose and face... https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2020/12/18/nicole-schmidhofer-alpine-skiing-world-cup-crashes-val-disere/

there were also more rumors and dark sides in Ruta's story... some media also wrote that she was caught positive and then put on all the retirement show (and the subsequent no show to the following tests) to escape a sure 4-year ban... in any case, I'm always sad to see those young stars being totally not capable to manage their early success and their backword steps when they happen... I only hope she can find a bit peace inside herself and enjoy the rest of her life without going mad for what has happened to her in the last few years... ------- by the way, earlier today Benedetta Pilato destroyed her previous PB and National record over the 50m Breaststroke (50m pool)... she swam 29.61, only a couple of tenths of a second outside the WR and 13/100 outside the ER... other relevant clockings from today at the Italian Winter Champs are: Niccolò Martinenghi's 26.56 over the men's 50m Breaststroke and the one-man show by Greg Paltrinieri over the 800m Free, even if he didn't push himself to the limit and swam "only" 7.46.49... also to be mentioned, Alessandro Miressi won the men's 100m Free in 48.22, but in this case I consider this time quite disappointing, as I think he could and should improve a lot his PB and swim close to the 47 dead mark and not survive around his 47.9 national record...

this time your money is safe... but I'm sure you have to change your favourite horse quite soon...Westvold Hansen was close today, maybe next time, should she get a few more seconds advantage from the jumping hill, she's gonna end up beating the American... -------- the mighty Italians...well, Sieff is only 17 and maybe she has some (small) chances to improve on the skis and become a contender, but Dejori looks too slow to be good one day and Gianmoena is simply slow like a turtle on her skis (not to mention that she's one of the oldest in the field, being already 25)... I fear this is not a sport where we can get too many podium places in the future, just like it happens among the boys...

yeah, I think it's at least an optimistic point of view... Bassino is too much a GS specialist, relatively new to the speed disciplines and almost non existing in slalom (moreover, she doesn't have the physical strenght to manage a full season competing in all the disciplines and she's too much of a lightweight to become a true contender in normal downhills -last year's Bansko doesn't count...that wasn't a true DH, but a GS named DH- and slaloms)...