heywoodu

That was as boring as expected with this kind of course. I read that they will now use footage of today's stage to replace the waterboarding in Guantanamo Bay.

Will the Germans in the peloton be allowed to go up the Gran Sasso today?

To be fair, Duncan showed that even a relatively unknown artist can have a fantastic performance, so I'm fine with not sending big stars for the sake of it. It is good to see recent years though, Anouk really did sort of turn the tides with her participation.

I had never in my life heard of the Dutch duo of this year, whose names I actually will have to Google if I want to incorporate them into this answer I feel like the girl is....Mia? Nia? No idea about the guy. In 2018 we had Waylon and in 2015 Trijntje Oosterhuis. Can't say they're superstars, but at least they were pretty well known (especially Waylon) Anouk in 2013 was the only time I remember we really had a big name with a well-known career participating. Edit: of course there was 2014 with The Common Linnets, who were not at all a known duo, but individually Waylon and especially Ilse DeLange were definitely well known.

So, one slight surprise in Georgia being out, and the rest went perfectly according to the odds

Georgia and Slovenia to round it out. Oh Armenia, of course Estonia and Albania are both through, so Georgia or Slovenia will be out.

That whole intermezzo is when I started catching up on some of today's sports...

Never understood why some acts like to focus on the music instruments so much, considering they're not actually being played

The odds are 1.01 to qualify, some bookies even don't offer odds for them...so yeah, they will absolutely go through

That looked creepy as shit indeed

Georgia seems to have some voice issues

What's with the mixed-language songs tonight with English and - I presume - native language? I feel like normally we see a lot fewer of those

Oh it's definitely cool to see he was mostly just having fun instead of being way too nervous to enjoy it

The Greek song was only partially in English, right? It was a fun party song, but I don't think it will qualify. At least he hit a few of the tones/notes

Curious about Albania, them against Estonia is the main fight for the 10th and final qualifying spot according to the bookies (with Greece and Denmark behind them). Personally so far I'd definitely go for Estonia, that sounded good.

Odds of 20+, not to win the semi, but to qualify....

is quite...something. I don't really know what, but I'm sure it's something. Or, as the Dutch commentator said: "Yeah.....well, I heard the Chippendales are still looking for someone, maybe that would be good for him?"

Wow, because of the commentator's introduction of Armenia I only now realized super hit Snap was their entry last year, I had no idea that was an ESC song at all (and I absolutely watched the show!)

https://www.fis-ski.com/en/cross-country/cross-country-news-multimedia/news/2022-23/fis-cross-country-committee-spring-meetings Last season's distances confirmed as keepers, and the process to have them at the World Championships and Olympics as well has started. So hello to also the title races for the men's interval being the semi-joke 20k, but at least also hello to the women's 50k. It has good and bad sides: the bad obviously being the shortening of the men's interval and skiathlon, but the good side being the lengthening of the women's mass starts (which not a lot of sports would do). Also: The FIS Point System - that was approved in 2022 - will be efficient as of 1st of July 2023. Any idea what they mean? I can't find anything about a specifically different system being approved last year, but also the Brazilian federation has mentioned this as something that will affect their way of qualifying for 2026.

Sure, but for the semis Plus there is still a bit of difference between the entries that come across as if they are mostly meant as a joke. For example Moldova had some actual musical stuff and such, but was clearly there for fun anyway, whereas Croatia seemed to just be yelling and jumping around on the podium as a bunch of very drunk guys in a bar having fun One can hardly even describe it as a 'song'. Fine and kind of fun to have that in between the songs, but it's a bit a shame it takes away a spot in the final (no, not in favour of the Netherlands, that was just as awful and they actually wanted to be good, so that's actually worse ) Another example is Greece from a while back, with Alcohol Is Free. That was obviously joking around and having fun, but at least it was an actual song

Can't say I had really heard of Van Lieshout before (I forgot to follow the Grand Slams and such, so that's on me ), but damn....she nearly took a couple of arms home with her The Colombian in the first round and....the Mexican (?) I think nearly lost it

Nasty fall for Evenepoel.....thanks to a dog Seriously people, unbelievable. Looked for a bit like he might not get back on his bike, but after a while he carefully did..

It is well and truly pouring down with rain and the Italian roads are showing what they are so very well-known for: being extremely slippery at the slightest hint of water (although to be fair this is a superb amount of rain and any descent would be dangerous with this) First fall took a few kilometers.

Serbia, Croatia and Switzerland had some pretty nice odds, so congratulations on the easy money gained

Croatia's joke pays off.