phelps

so, this is the final playoffs table of the 2020 MLB season... finally, 32 years after having known the wonderful game of Baseball thanks to the Orel Hershiser magic and Kirk Gibson's amazing walk-off HR (more than that, its legendary call by the great, unforgettable Vin Scully), "my" Dodgers won another championship... it's a small light in a crazy, shady 2020 (talking of sports, but not only of that)...

here you can find all the infos (and links to them) about the ADAMS (and the whereabouts procedures)... https://www.wada-ama.org/en/what-we-do/adams in particular, here's the whereabouts module...

of course they just appear without notice...and if you're not in the place where you're supposed to be (the famous "whereabouts"), you still have 1 hour time to show up and take your test, otherwise they leave and you're considered a "no show"... p.s. this should be the normal procedure...but as you might imagine, in certain Countries it's impossible to make such kind of sudden appearances, as inspectors must ask for visa to enter the Nation and once they're in that specific Countries, they're also followed (sometimes in a very discret way, sometimes they are just boycotted in the most explicit way, like the WADA inspectors who went in Russia in the recent past) and the athletes get to know well in advance that they're going to be visited by the anti-doping inspectors...

I don't think so... they just tested a few regions with very few inhabitants, where "social distancing" is naturally easier to be kept under control and urbanization is basically not existing... when it comes to beigger cities with a lot of people living in narrow spaces, working in crowded offices (or studying in crowded schools) and using public transports filled to capacity, that percentage is going to increase dramatically... environmental conditions are one of the keys (if not the main key) for this fuckin' virus to spread alla around and find more people to infect... by the way, here in Italy the situation is getting worse and worse day after day...today we recorded 22k new cases over 175k tests (221 deceased people)... and what's absolutely crazy, it's the general audience's reaction...more and more people don't accept any form of prevention anymore and we're starting to experience street riots in the main cities after the last decisions of our government (with our politicians and scientist who are more interested in fighting against each other and trying to get their opinions to be trusted more than the opponents', instead of taking decisions for the good of the Country under both health and economical point of view )... I'm really going to lose the very small hope in a decent future for my Country I still have...I just can't see the light at the end of the tunnel anymore...

this "Enobosarm" (Ostarine) medicine is getting more and more popular among sportsmen... a few days ago the Italian swimmer Alex Di Giorgio was suspended after testing positive for that... then, Matteo Spreafico (Italy, cycling) tested positive to the same product during the "Giro d'Italia"...now, after he was obviously suspended by UCI, he's also been fired by his team, Vini Zabù-Brado... I do really think it's time for WADA to go for a massive searching campaign for this medicine...I have somehow the feeling that this was the "secret weapon" for many athletes going to Tokyo 2020, but unfortunately for them, the Olympics being postponed because of the covid pandemic made something go wrong (and the medicine suddenly becomes easy to be found in traditional doping tests)...

in the end, we basically closed down everything in the ski stations...no amateur sport activity is allowed from today until at least Nov. 24th... we're in a sort of new lockdown for what concerns all the non necessary activities (and even some of them have been heavily affected by this situation...restaurants, for instance, must close at 6 p.m. -basically they can open only for the working people's lunch)... I think our government is going crazy because of all the new covid cases, but they don't want to take the truly effective and needed countermeasures (shut down schools and office jobs, forcing them to online operations only if and when possible, and soften the pressure on public transports), so they end up with some useless rules (which will prove senseless)... I hope an effective vaccine comes out soon, because I don't know how long we can still stand this situation...it's both a psychological torture and an economical disaster for most common people...

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde tested positive for covid-19 https://www.time24.news/2020/10/aleksander-aamodt-kilde-tested-positive-for-the-coronavirus.html

Grand Slam (Budapest, HUN) Day #3 champions Men's -90kg: Mikhail Igolnikov Men's -100kg: Niyaz Ilyasov Men's +100kg: Inal Tasoev Women's -78kg: Audrey Tcheumeo Women's +78kg: Kayra Sayit so, the first major tournament after the covid-break came to a conclusion with a Russian fest in the men's heaviest weights, dominating all 3 classes scheduled for Today... meanwhile France swept the women's heaviest classes (even if the +78kg are listed with Gold going to Turkey, but we all know that Sayit was raised and trained in France before switching nationality a few years ago)... finally, thanks mainly to today's sweep, Russia clearly won the final medal table (5 Gold medals for them) ahead of France and Turkey (2 Gold medals each)... 5 more Nations also enjoyed the top of the podium, winning 1 Gold medal each... to be remembered, many of the top Nations weren't at the start of this event because of the covid-19 related troubles...some of them didn't even tried to show up (Japan above all), some others were forced to withdraw at the last minute or so because they had some positive covid tests just before the tournament...

many people maight think the same... yesterday in Cervinia was the season opener of the ski areas...and this is what happened... https://video.repubblica.it/edizione/torino/cervinia-gli-sciatori-ammassati-nella-funivia-nel-primo-giorno-di-apertura-degli-impianti/369751/370334?ref=RHTP-BH-I271771718-P3-S6-L&refresh_ce most likely, those areas will be closed with the next covid-19 protocol, to be signed soon by our PM...

Grand Slam (Budapest, HUN) Day #2 champions Men's -73kg: Rustam Orujov Men's -81kg: Vedat Albayrak Women's -63kg: Tina Trstenjak Women's -70kg: Barbara Matic

it's an endless agony...once again, today in Italy we have 19k+ new positive tests (over 177k tests overall), 79 people going to ICU and 151 deceased people... new and more effective countermeasures are expected to be taken, but as usual the political parties are fighting against each other on which measure has to be enforced first, instead of thinking about people's health...

yeah, you're right... however, I'm pretty sure she's going to be in the 48kg class in Tokyo next year (if the Games are held, which at the moment is a big if, considered the develpoment of the covid situation all around the world)... she's not ready to win in the -52kg yet, but it's clear that she's gonna need to move up at least a class, maybe after Paris 2024 even make another step towards the -57kg... Krasniqi was aready a -52kg competitor...she decided to go down in this 4-year span because she felt that she wouldn't stand a chance against Kelmendi and because Kosovo already have Gjakova in the -57kg class (going up a weight class was also an option, but in that case she would be quite small within the class other than the internal competition just named)... in any case, after Tokyo there will be quite a good number of weight class changes, as usual...

today was the big breakout day in Italy... we went from the usual 10/11k new cases/day of the past couple of weeks to an unbelievable 19k new cases... a full lockdown is still out of order according to our PM, but I don't think he's to be trusted that much... with such numbers, we're going to be very soon in a strict lockdown, even worse than last March/April, unless they want to see thousends of deceased people a day...

and finally the Judo World Tour is back... the first big tournament after the covid-19 break is the Grand Slam in Budapest, HUN and this is the list of Day #1 Champions Men's -60kg: Yago Abuladze Men's -66kg: Abdula Abdulzhalilov Women's -48kg: Distria Krasniqi Women's -52kg: Amandine Buchard Women's -57kg: Jessica Klimkait not surprisingly Russia had a lot of success, as they really never stopped their home activity during this off period of the international action... the second highlight of this day #1 is Daria Bilodid fighting in the -52kg class instead of her usual -48kg...unfortunately for her, she couldn't go beyond the bronze medal after losing against Andreea Chitu in the pool final...

well, most likely it all depends on when those contracts were signed... I guess a couple of years ago there were a lot more money available for many teams (for instance, it's not a coincidence that Zaytsev last year -summer 2019, I mean- went back to Russia when he was asked by Modena to cut good 2/3 of his salary down...and obviously he didn't accept that)... more recent deals have surely suffered the general economical crisis of the Italian sports, especially team sports other than football...

we all know that nowadays "La Gazzetta dello Sport" is more a "gossip gazette" rather than the great sports newspaper it used to be in its glory days... so, to try and keep their more recent title, they did publish a not-official ranking of the highest paid Volleyball players in both our top tier men and women's League... the numbers reported are not official, since the contracts are not publicly disclosed (formally and legally, we are not talking of professional leagues with strict obligations in terms of public accounts)... however, as expected, Wilfredo Leon (900k €/year) among the men and Paola Egonu (400k €/year) among the women are a class apart...on the court and off the court, in their respective bank accounts... here is the top 10 in both the men and women's division (the article is in Italian, but names and numbers are basically the same for everybody, with very few exceptions )... https://www.oasport.it/2020/10/volley-quanti-soldi-guadagnano-i-giocatori-di-pallavolo-la-classifica-degli-stipendi-wilfredo-leon-e-paola-egonu-in-testa/

I know...I was just joking about the fact that I know those places very well, being the "lands of my life"...

wait! that's not godknowswhere at all... they're starting from the legendary (small) town of Abbiategrasso (which literally means "have fat" ), slightly less than 20km down the road from where I live (I'm literally on the south western border of the city of Milan)... and the first part of the stage (until Vigevano) is the same road I'm used to cover all weeks to go to the small village where my parents were born (and where now my mom's grave is)... so, once again...it's not godknowswhere...I know very well where they are now... by the way, according to the latest news, they're supposed to start exactly while I'm writing this post (clearly they are going to ride until the original finish line for about 120 kms)...

imho, having had a Polish Pope (and a very conservative one on all the doctrine themes like John Paul II) paved the way for today's disaster also in your Country (in Italy we've always had this problems, as Vatican is a "natural part" of our Country )...

in many Italian regions (soon to be the entire Nation), too... right now, here in Lombardy we have a 11 p.m. through 5 a.m. curfew (with very few exceptions/excuses)... we also put in place once again the (partial) online studies for high schools and universities and some office jobs (trying to cut the pressure on the public transports, which are one of the main vectors of this new covid wave)... also the big malls have been shut down during the weekend (except for the food shops and pharmacies inside them)... this is the situation until at least November 13th, but we expect the national government to take even stricter measures by the end of the week, if the new cases (especially those leading people to ICUs) continue to rise at the current pace in the next 3/4 days...

here in Italy (and especially in Milan) the situation is officially out of control... 15k+ cases in the Country, 4k+ cases only in Lombardy, almost 2k in Milan province and around 800 within the city boundaries... ICU and covid hospitals' places are starting to get filled to capacity... partial lockdowns have been put in place today in many regions... I don't really know how we can resist the whole winter under such pressure on the healthcare system and on our minds... if only I could afford to travel to New Zealand, I'd go there immediately...

covid-19 is running hard in Italy...once again, 145k new tests resulted in almost 11k new cases today (89 deceased people, 73 people hospitalized in ICU and almost 800 people hospitalized in regular covid units with mild symptoms)... and also many of our sports celebrities are experiencing tough times...after Federica Pellegrini and Valentino Rossi, today Arianna Errigo (fencing) and half of our swimming national team (they were training together in Livigno, so you know...one got it and then the rest followed...most prominent names: Gabriele Detti, Simona Quadarella, Federico Burdisso) also tested positive for covid-19...

shame! by the way, this news dates back to October 8th, but I only noticed that today... Italian swimmer Alex Di Giorgio tested positive for Ostarine (a medicine that has the same benefit of steroids, but without the collateral effects they're well known for)... most likely he's going to get a 4-year ban (2 if he's very lucky)... https://www.repubblica.it/sport/vari/2020/10/08/news/nuoto_doping_positivo_l_azzurro_di_giorgio_sospeso-269880961/ sorry, but I only found an article in Italian... p.s. today 10 more Italian swimmers tested positive, too...but this time is "only" covid-19, so they were "banned" just for 14 days (hopefully, if they don't need more days to recover)...

things are always much simpler than those involved wants people to think... p.s. I just wondered when your reply was coming (that it was coming wasn't even in the odds) after I named Germany and their not so morally clean interests/behaviours (p.p.s. not saying that Italy, that's on the same positions as GER and the whole western world on this things, is better than anyone...just underlying that sometimes -almost always- those who claim to be the good expample, the virtuous party are actually the most dirty party)...

because Europe is politically dominated by Germany...and Germany, despite some random whining, politically is completely submissive to Erdogan and Turkey...they will never go against him for real... therefore, there's no chance Armenia (historical enemy of Turkey) is going to receive any official support from EU and their main Countries... and you're right...there are a lot of similarieties with Kosovo, the only enormous difference being that in Kosovo's case GER and EU had their interest in supporting them rather than Serbia (who are politically too close to Russia to get support from EU)... in Italy, we have a proverb speaking of "2 weights and 2 different measuring systems" to underline the lack of consistency in any sort of judgment/behaviour...this is a typical case well explained by that proverb...