phelps

actually he (and the other relay guys) are absolutely furious, because it wasn't just a oops by Sabbioni, but it was the starting "device" (as they call it) that got broken thanks to the organizers that didn't make an accurate control before they put it on before the race...
if that's true, shame on the OC...we just missed out an easy gold because of that...

finally, at least some good news for this disgraced Olympic Hockey Tournament...

no, there are a lot of different issues in short course swimming...
in the 50m pool you have the start (with the underwater section limited to max 15m) and then good 35m of surface swimming...
in the 25m pool you have the start (with its 15m underwater swim), then just 10m of surface swim before you get to the turn (followed by another up to 15m underwater section) and finally inly the last 10m of surface swimming...
so, you can easily undertand how short course specialists, who generally are perfect in the art of the initial dive (the strongest point for Scozzoli) and of the turns (Progoda by far the best in yesterday's field), have a big advantage on those powerful swimmers like Peaty, who's strenght is his surface swim that just "opens the water"...
and the shorter the distance, the biggest advantage have the specialists (and generally the swimmers with most powerful natural swim on the surface are not among them...just consider Ian Thorpe, who always said he did feel like "caged" when swimming in the 25m pool and never really recorded times comparable to those he got in the bigger pool)...
p.s. however, I don't see Scozzoli nor Prigoda nor anyone else beating Adam in the 100m...there he'll surely get his revenge...

just a bunch of idiots! Gaspari & co. are just a bunch of idiots...
 
they didn't get a single decision right in the last 3+1 ends and, moreover, they also made a lot of throwing mistakes...frankly, I don't know how such a team even got to this point...
they did clearly show that they don't belong to this level of play and didn't deserve to win...
but, despite that, I still have to understand what happened in the last shot of the 8th end (or, better, why Denmark got the benefit of the call after that very long dispute)...that was definitely the turning point of the entire match...
p.s. the last shot by Dupont wasn't that "amazing"...it was just a lucky ending for a missed shot (Danish "3rd" placing before the shot and their coach's facial expression after it says it all)...

no, it will be just the end of the Olympics...stop.
We got close to that in the Eighties of last Century (if it were not for South Korea and their corrupted but IOC-saving Games in Seoul in 1988) thanks to an idiot on the US driving seat (Ronald Regan)...
and, black irony if there's one, we're back to those shady days once again when we're approaching another edition of the Games in that same Country (this time it's the Winter Games, but it doesn't matter) with an even worse idiot once again on the US driving seat (the already unforgettable mr. Trump)...

@hckosice
I'm surprised you didn't write anything about Majo Gaborik's great night on Tuesday...
in the game between his (an "my" ) Kings against Minnesota, in fact, he scored twice to reach 2 milestones at the same time, 400 NHL career goals and 800 NHL career points (in 996 NHL career games, so approaching also another big milestone, the mythological number of 1000 games played in the best league in the World)...
 
https://www.nhl.com/news/minnesota-wild-los-angeles-kings-game-recap/c-293730364
 
p.s. and I also like to underline the 500 NHL career assists by the great Anze Kopitar...and, above all, the new winning streak (after an awful November) by the Kings...
if Kopi & Brown & Majo & Quick (and the youngsters) go on like they're doing in this first part of the season, we're back as real contenders...

yeah, I heard him too...
at least there's someone who's still using his brain (even if he's guilty of all this chaos for his part)...
mr. Trump and ms. Haley, instead...
well...let's forget them and let's talk about sport, which is definitely better...

no, it will be just the end of the Olympics...stop.
We got close to that in the Eighties of last Century (if it were not for South Korea and their corrupted but IOC-saving Games in Seoul in 1988) thanks to an idiot on the US driving seat (Ronald Regan)...
and, black irony if there's one, we're back to those shady days once again when we're approaching another edition of the Games in that same Country (this time it's the Winter Games, but it doesn't matter) with an even worse idiot once again on the US driving seat (the already unforgettable mr. Trump)...

More tragic news out of Alberta. 17 year old Max Burkhart from Germany has died due to injuries he sustained during a training run for a NorAm Downhill in Lake Louise.

at the end, the women's -67 final has been cancelled for the moment...the Koreans are complaining about the technical problem being only a Chinese fault...it's a real mess...
 
waiting for some decisions about that, they decided to put the men's -68kg on stage...Denisenko and Lee are now fighting...

Women's -49kg, Semifinals
Panipak Wongpattanakit (THA) b. Rukiye Yildirim (TUR) 18-15
Thi Kim Tuyen Truong (VIE) vs So-Hui Kim (KOR) running right now
 
p.s. Yildirim beat Nour Abdelslam (EGY) 10-3 in QTRs
 
Live Streaming here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BXMZla76qk
 
p.s. good luck to all who want to follow this event...
 
p.p.s. day 2 draw sheet
http://www.worldtaekwondo.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Abidjan-2017-World-Taekwondo-Grand-Prix-Final_Day-2-Draw-sheets.pdf
 

no major mistake...it was a question of blades...it was quite "hot" (relatively speaking, of course) and there was a light snowfall going on, so, as usual in this condition, our sleds were not so good...
that's why I wrote that Igls can't be a site good for WC competition so early in the season...it's quite unfair to the whole pack of lugers...
 
however, you can watch by yourself all the runs (D-Fisch starts his second run at 1h02min in the video)...
https://video.fil-luge.org/index.html

women's relay (full team, 5 skaters)
KOR
CHN
CAN
RUS
NED
ITA
JPN
HUN
 
men's relay (full team, 5 skaters)
CAN
KOR
USA
CHN
NED
JPN
RUS
HUN
 
for the individual spots, I leave the honor to make all the maths to someone else...

la "fortuna" delle nostre compagini degli sport invernali continua...anche Elena Curtoni fuori per tutta la stagione causa rottura del crociato della gamba destra avvenuta ieri in allenamento sulle nevi del Colorado...
se va avanti così, non avremo neanche un numero sufficiente di atleti da mandare alle Olimpiadi...

well, Francesca would be even better if those idiots of the ISU and IOC adopted the Dutch Marathon Cup format...the races would be a billion times more exciting (and fair to the better athletes)...
when they skate in the traditional 400m ovals, they normally make 80 laps (32km)...and of course there are no silly (and senseless) intermediate sprints...
p.s. the boys usually skate over 125 laps (50km)

well, Francesca would be even better if those idiots of the ISU and IOC adopted the Dutch Marathon Cup format...the races would be a billion times more exciting (and fair to the better athletes)...
when they skate in the traditional 400m ovals, they normally make 80 laps (32km)...and of course there are no silly (and senseless) intermediate sprints...
p.s. the boys usually skate over 125 laps (50km)

I'm very, very happy for Nathalie...
unfortunately she got close, but not quite to the top..however, it's definitely a great result for her...
on the other hand, it was a shameful day for the girls who still represent the Italian Flag...especially for Navarria (who won the first stage 3 weeks ago) and Fiamingo (as usual, not in good shape in the early stages of the season), who were beaten already in the round of 64...

Champions Hockey League - Quarterfinals Schedule
 
The schedule for the Champions Hockey League Quarterfinals has been confirmed today. Five teams are playing at this stage for the first time: Bílí Tygři Liberec, Brynäs IF, JYP Jyväskylä, Kometa Brno, Oceláři Třinec.
 
Here is the schedule (all times are CET):
 
First Leg, 5 December

17:00 Oceláři Třinec - Brynäs IF
18:00 JYP Jyväskylä - Kometa Brno
19:15 Bílí Tygři Liberec - ZSC Lions Zurich
20:00 SC Bern - Växjö Lakers
 
Second Leg, 17 December

17:30 Kometa Brno - JYP Jyväskylä
18:30 Brynäs IF - Oceláři Třinec
18:30 Växjö Lakers - SC Bern
20:00 ZSC Lions Zurich - Bílí Tygři Liberec

Sweden and Canada would have the major benefit from such a choice...I believe it's an already written sentence, they will be in the Gold Medal Match at 99.99%...
 
Finland and Czech Rep. wil still be good, but probably the difference between them and the top 2 would increase by some margin...
 
then it will also open the door for some surprising teams, I'm thinking mainly to Switzerland and Germany, who could benefit from the strenght and depth of their main domestic leagues...
 
in general, it's a nightmare for all the Hockey fans, since the level of play would be very, very low (much lower than it's right now without those NHL idiots)...
 
however, I think this is just some kind of an effort to try and make pressure on the IOC not to ban Russia as a whole Nation...
I guess in the end Russia will be in Pyeongchang (if the Games are held there in February 2018...this is the major issue right now, in my opinion) with their full team and flag (and without those 25/30 banned athletes, or whatever will result from the next IOC/WADA auditions), ready to take advantage of the best chance to win the Hockey Olympic Gold they have had in the last 26 years (since the so-called CIS won in Albertville 1992)...
because they can say what they want, but from mr.Putin to the last hockey fan in Russia, they're really mad about the drought in Olympic success in Hockey (which is still their National pastime and most beloved sport)...

Sweden and Canada would have the major benefit from such a choice...I believe it's an already written sentence, they will be in the Gold Medal Match at 99.99%...
 
Finland and Czech Rep. wil still be good, but probably the difference between them and the top 2 would increase by some margin...
 
then it will also open the door for some surprising teams, I'm thinking mainly to Switzerland and Germany, who could benefit from the strenght and depth of their main domestic leagues...
 
in general, it's a nightmare for all the Hockey fans, since the level of play would be very, very low (much lower than it's right now without those NHL idiots)...
 
however, I think this is just some kind of an effort to try and make pressure on the IOC not to ban Russia as a whole Nation...
I guess in the end Russia will be in Pyeongchang (if the Games are held there in February 2018...this is the major issue right now, in my opinion) with their full team and flag (and without those 25/30 banned athletes, or whatever will result from the next IOC/WADA auditions), ready to take advantage of the best chance to win the Hockey Olympic Gold they have had in the last 26 years (since the so-called CIS won in Albertville 1992)...
because they can say what they want, but from mr.Putin to the last hockey fan in Russia, they're really mad about the drought in Olympic success in Hockey (which is still their National pastime and most beloved sport)...

yeah, I know NOS Teletext has always all results...
I was used to take advantage of that when I was able to see (don't ask me how ) the main Dutch TV channels on the satellite (I'm talking of the 2004-2007 period, the golden age of sat tv emulators, when almost all european networks were up for grabs for tv "pirates")...

I hope it's just a naive boutade of a joker inside the IOC...
 
I don't really understand them anymore...they're just killing the world of Sport and the Olympic Games...

I don't know why, but I'm not, instead...
 
however, I'd rather expect Tokyo Bay water to be positive to radioactive substances, too...I hope they're not hiding the truth about it, since after the Fukuyama tragedy they've not been that transparent neither to the scientific community nor the local people...
 
in this kind of situation, it's sad to be said, politicians are the same all over the world...

and last, but not least, some predictions...
 
here you can find those of the main NHL analysts on the official website of the League:
https://www.nhl.com/news/2017-18-stanley-cup-expert-picks-predictions/c-291463038?tid=280204614
 
and this is my personal prediction:
 
Atlantic Division
1: Tampa Bay Lightning
2: Toronto Maple Leafs
3: Montreal Canadiens
 
Metropolitan Division
1: Pittsburgh Penguins
2: Washington Capitals
3: New York Islanders
 
Eastern Conference Wild Cards
1: New York Rangers
2: Carolina Hurricanes
 
Central Division
1: Dallas Stars
2: Chicago Blackhawks
3: Nashville Predators
 
Pacific Division
1: Edmonton Oilers
2: Anaheim Ducks
3: San Jose Sharks
 
Western Conference Wild Cards
No. 1: Los Angeles Kings
No. 2: Minnesota Wild
 
Conference champions
East: Tampa Bay Lightning
West: Edmonton Oilers
 
Stanley Cup champion: Edmonton Oilers

Hart Trophy (RS MVP) winner: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Norris Trophy (RS Best Defenseman) winner: Victor Hedman (TB)
Vezina Trophy (RS Best Goaltender) winner: Matt Murray (PIT)
Calder Trophy (RS Best Rookie) winner: Nico Hischier (NJ)
Art Ross Trophy (RS Top Scorer) winner: Connor McDavid (EDM)
Maurice Richard Trophy (RS Best Goal Scorer) winner: Patrick Laine (WPG)
Conn Smythe Trophy (Playoffs MVP) winner: Connor McDavid (EDM)
 

unfortunately today we have some very sad news...
 
Famous US broadcaster Dave Strader, named "The Voice" dies at only 62 because of Cancer...
 
https://www.nhl.com/news/dave-strader-dies-at-age-62-of-cancer/c-291498528
 
https://www.nhl.com/news/dave-strader-death-social-media-reaction/c-291499618
 
we'll miss you...R.I.P. Dave