phelps

if I know North American people well enough, I can fairly say that most of them (at least 80/90%) would eventually accept a lot easier to lose a single decisive tie-breaking game at the end of the RS (when all the fans, the payers and the media are well aware of the importance of that game) rather than not making the post-season because of a few spare games played maybe at the beginning of April with most players not fully fit yet and/or in bad weather conditions in a mid-week matinèe... that would be considered really unfair... I think the different mentality between Europe and North America can't actually help us to understand why the main Pro Sports in the US/CAN are run the way they are... for most of the European people is just to difficult to accept the odd schedule and the fact that the game times are mainly decided by the TV stations...let's imagine all the other peculiarities... by the way, I'm quite outside the European fan type and I appreciate the US Sports exactly as they are... and I'm happy to miss a few sleeping hours to watch MLB and NHL games every year... they are always a great show and I enjoy them just because of that, meanwhile I don't like the "win or die" kind of attitude we often see on the stands (and in the TV broadcasts/shows) in most team sports here in Europe...

no, that's a great rule...this is the best way to create hype to the post-season... and it's always better to have a real game than using some unfair criteria (considered the fact that all the teams don't play the same number of games against each other during the RS)... as it is for the wild card games...they are highly unfair (a single elimination match after 162/163 RS games), but they are at the same time the most exciting moment of the playoffs (apart from possible games 5/7 in the division/league/world series)... by the way, October to me is one of the most beautiful months of the year...MLB playoffs + NHL start of the season...I just couldn't ask for more (only for what concerns my sports obsession, of course)...

Radim Vrbata and Scott Hartnell retired just before the start of the new season... https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-all-star-radim-vrbata-retires-from-hockey-after-16-seasons/c-300536462 https://www.nhl.com/news/scott-hartnell-retires-from-nhl-after-17-seasons/c-300523458 meanwhile, great show last night in Bern (SUI), where the New Jersey Devils led by the Swiss star Nico Hischier played an exhibition game against the local team, SC Bern, as part of the NHL Global Series 2018... The Devils won the game by a score of 3-2 (after OT), but that's the least important part of the night... Tomorrow it's the Edmonton Oilers' time to entertain some European fans, since they play in Cologne (GER) against the local team, Kölner Haie (puck drop @ 4 p.m. CET)...

IFSC World Cup, Stage #12 (Kranj, SLO) Women's Lead 1st, Kim Ja In (KOR) 2nd, Janja Garnbret (SLO) 3rd, Hannah Schubert (AUT) Men's Lead 1st, Stefano Ghisolfi (ITA) 2nd, Jakob Schubert (AUT) 3rd, Masahiro Higuchi (JPN)

and after the World Championships in the past weeks, now we're back to our usual World Cup business... this week it's time for the last European stage (Lead only) in Kranj (SLO), before the last 2 events of the season (Lead and Speed) scheduled in China in the last couple of weeks of October... and this is the starting list for the women and men's Finals in Kranj... Women's Lead, Climbers qualified for the Final Katharina Posch Mina Markovic Katherine Choong Natsumi Hirano Hannah Schubert Janja Garnbret Jessica Pilz Kim Ja In Men's Lead, Climbers qualified to the Final Marcello Bombardi Kokoro Fujii Yuki Hada Masahiro Higuchi Francesco Vettorata Sean McColl Stefano Ghisolfi Jakob Schubert no real surprise in the women's results so far (yeah, maybe Choong wasn't expected to be in the top 8, but still...), meanwhile the men's event is having basically only unexpected results (Schubert and Ghisolfi's domination in the semifinals excluded, of course)...

oops... I trusted my memory, so I didn't check and obviously I was wrong...nothing new...

congrats to Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes...just another triumph to be added to his palmarès...

and Noren seals it with a 12 meter putt... biggest win ever for Europe...and getting the sweetest revenge after the 17-11 suffered in the USA 2 years ago...

2018 Ryder Cup Europe 17 & 1/2 - 10 & 1/2 United States Today's Singles recap Justin Thomas b. Rory McIlroy 1UP Paul Casey & Brooks Koepka HALVED Webb Simpson b. Justin Rose 3&2 Jon Rahm b. Tiger Woods 2&1 Tony Finau b. Tommy Fleetwood 6&4 Ian Poulter b. Dustin Johnson 2UP Thorbjorn Olesen b. Jordan Spieth 5&4 Sergio Garcia b. Rickie Fowler 2&1 Francesco Molinari b. Phil Mickelson 4&2 Patrick Reed b. Tyrrel Hatton 3&2 Henrik Stenson b. Bubba Watson 5&4 Alex Noren b. Bryson DeChambeau 1UP

and Patrick Reed wins his match against Tyrrel Hatton and at least takes the USA beyond the 10-point limit (so to make this loss a little bit less shameful)... now only Noren and DeChambeau have to complete their effort...hopefully, quickly...

they should call it a day as it stands... I don't know why they always want to finish also the irrelevant matches...

and Garcia becomes the winningest Ryder Cup man ever, surpassing Sir Nick Faldo (25 and 1/2 points vs 25)... meanwhile Fleetwood's leading the party...he's just unstoppable...

it's Frankieeeeeee... super-Chiccooooooooooo!!!!! 5-0 in 3 days...he's made history, nobody like him...

and Poulter made it 13 and 1/2... with Molinari and Stenson that can't lose anymore, it's a European triumph...it's official...

guess what? Jess Fox has won another World title... nobody saw that coming... and Mallory Franklin makes it 2 Silver medals in 2 days... meanwhile, among the boys it's Hannes Aigner to upset the other paddlers, with Prskavec being the only one within 1 second and Clarke throwing away the Gold with 4 penaly seconds (and finishing 3.68 behind Aigner)... no comment on De Gennaro modest run...no mistakes for him, but very, very slow...

maybe Garcia...or even Poulter, if Stenson goes quick to win also the 14th hole... in any case, it's just a matter of minutes...

wonderful match by him... I didn't really expect Spieth to lose...and with such margin...

wrong thread, sorry...

sure! yesterday they lost only 71-40 against the same US team...

p.s. by the way, decent result for Italy...Giovanni De Gennaro easily made it through to tomorrow's final...let's see if he can finally get a world medal (after winning the world cup final a few weeks ago)... a pity for 2 seconds penalty to Zeno Ivaldi...without that, he could paddle a decent time, good enough to make the final (even if also other guys in front of him did some mistakes, too)...

yeah, that's also true... p.s. no, the course is actually very good, tough and demanding, as I wrote...even if I don't like those blue plastic elements to build the route...I'd like them to be more "mimetic" with the rest of the environment...just to give the idea of being "natural", at least to a not so focused first look...

yeah, they've been great in these 2 days...they really match well together... but honestly, they've been helped a lot by a disastrous Patrick Reed on both their fourball matches and by a tired and frustrated Tiger in today's foursome match... however, Europe lead 10-6 after day #2, with only the 12 singles remaining (tomorrow)... today's results Fourballs Sergio Garcia & Rory McIlroy b. Tony Finau & Brooks Koepka 2&1 Paul Casey & Tyrrel Hatton b. Dustin Johnson & Rickie Fowler 3&2 Francesco Molinari & Tommy Fleetwood b. Tiger Woods & Patrick Reed 4&3 Justin Thomas & Jordan Spieth b. Ian Poulter & Jon Rahm 2&1 Foursomes Henrik Stenson & Justin Rose b. Dustin Johnson & Brooks Koepka 2&1 Bubba Watson & Webb Simpson b. Sergio Garcia & Alex Noren 3&2 Francesco Molinari & Tommy Fleetwood b. Tiger Woods & Bryson De Chambeau 5&4 Justin Thomas & Jordan Spieth b. Ian Poulter & Rory McIlroy 4&3

lol yes... that's exactly what I meant...the whole setup and the good enthusiast crowd, the excitement all around made those races much more enjoyable than this week's, where there are no stands, almost no spectators, no excitement all around... basically, it looks like we're watching some anonymous training session... and that's what I called "depressing"... for what concerns the actual sport event, I don't have anything against it...the races are quite interesting (even if they're not the best I've ever seen), the course is tough and demanding as a world champs course should be... but I would have liked to see a much more involving surrounding...just that...

but also