What should LFC do next?
We must spend big, says Benitez.
Behh! Wrong answer. You should be spending wisely on young talent, who you can later flog off to the highest bidder.
Your starter question for 10
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Category Archives: akatsuki talkingsport
Reds? What reds? Do we care anymore?
So, I don’t really care that much anymore1, but enough to look for some coverage that doesn’t involve having to refresh the BBC or Guardian pages every few minutes. Now, we can’t get Five Live over the internet (outside the UK) when they have live commentary because of the whole licence fee issue. For previous events, like the Six Nations, we’ve managed to get round it by listening to the relevant local station (like Radio Scotland, Wales or NI). This time, a quick try of Radio Merseyside was unsuccessful. That loophole has been closed. 
But without meaning to spoil the field for the future, I’ve found radio coverage! I’m not telling you where… Keeping shtum.
1 I am still interested. I may not care either way regarding the results, but I still want to follow good fitba.
2 just as well we follow Scotland then, eh?
meh…
LFC in Athens? If I cared anymore, I would be excited. But since their ill-advised purchase on the back of a loan, which they will have to service forevermore or collapse, my interest has waned. Once upon a time, I would have downed tools just to watch the game. Then again, the game would have been at a reasonable hour and not in the middle of my work day. And back in the day, LFC’s stablemates wouldn’t have been a NHL team.
Right now, without a TV and bereft of Five Live, we get all the footie highlights we need from youtube. And I must confess that I really don’t miss it all that much. It’s gotten stale for me. It’s not so exciting when you already know the score1. And the last World Cup really killed it for us. What joy in watching a game where cheats and actors flourish? And apart from the tawdry purchase of LFC, Benitez has turned a team full of potential2 into a collection of talentless oafs who play uninspired football. In fact, they may as well play American football because I just don’t care anymore.
I find myself these days spending more time discussing the woes of Gretna Green and their struggle to comply with the SPL mafia than discussing the glorification of Liverpool. P goes through phases of being dejected by Dundee United’s lack of spark, but he remains loyal. Is that the mark of a true fan? A local fan? Did I choose my team badly, not having lived in Liverpool? Does it count that they were the first team to inspire my interest in football? What does it all mean when you stop caring about your team, even if they are about to play in their second Champions League final in 2 years? Am I a bad fan? My blades no longer turn for my team.
What do you call an anti-glory seeker? ‘Cos that’s what I want to be.
1 Which is almost always the case here, always waking up after the weekend games are over.
2 I am, of course, somewhat biased.
Crouch scores a hat-trick against Arsenal? Now, that’s an April Fools’ joke..
Go on, you Patricks
It’s been a mixed day for the Irish, hasn’t it? 4 points off a 6-Nations victory (merde!). Denied yet again, as far as I can tell… But they’re celebrating in Jamaica now. What an upset that was. Good on Ireland, but what on earth happened to the batting order of Pakistan? I feel for them. Their reception at home will not be good. But these things happen in ODI. What an interesting World Cup this could end up being.
what world cup?
As far as most sporting games are concerned, I tend to lend my support to my adopted home of Scotland, even though they suck at football, cricket, rugby… You name it, they suck at it. On the world stage, when Scotland don’t qualify for whatever World Cup is on that year, I generally cheer on all the other British and Irish teams. So, that will be England and Ireland for the footie, and Wales for the cricket. Ha. Not being a true Scot, I don’t have an automatic, born-with hate of the Sassenachs. And they’re usually entertaining enough to warrant my interest anyway.
So, it’s with no compunction whatsoever that when the Ashes are played, unlike the Scottish tabloids, I give my misplaced yet wholehearted support to the underdogs: the English. And like every other cricket fan who is not pro-Aussie, I suffer. Mind you, the suffering is less great when you can’t even watch the damn tests. A number on a website is a lot easier to quickly erase from your memory.
It gets complicated when both teams end up in the same championship. But they tend to be separated into different groups. And Scotland sucking at everything means the teams usually don’t meet (apart from the odd game or so… but it’s been a couple of decades. at least). So this time round, I was trying to work out how or when the Auld Enemies would pit bowlers and batsmen against each other.
Then this happens. If you’re 203 short in an ODI, even if you are playing possibly the best side of the tournament, maybe it’s time to start saying things like “It’s the taking part that matters” or “At least our fielders can catch the ruddy ball”. But I’m proud of Scotland. They took on a giant and didn’t flinch. (OK, they might have. I dunno. I don’t get to watch any cricket in this god-forsaken country! Not even the ruddy highlights!!) From the blow-by-blow account, courtesy of the Beeb, it looks like underdogs made a valiant attempt to limit the run rate, but were out-classed. And in typical Scotland fashion (at least in rugby.nobody mention the 6-nations please. it hurts), gave too much at the beginning and suffered at the very end.
It may make more sense for someone from the Asia-Pacific region to cheer on the best of the local talent, especially when one can choose from giants like the All Blacks or even the Aussies. But once you’ve lived and supported in Scotland, it seems so traitorous to go glory-seeking in Australasia. Here’s to many more decades of cheering wildly whenever Scotland score a collective century.
The 1.5 year wait is over… In 14 hours.
akatsuki crawls from under the very big rock she’s hiding under in anticipation of… The Ashes!
I know it’s not very Scottish and all, but I can’t help backing England when it comes to the Ashes. They’ve been the underdogs for a long time, but I guess you could say the same for the Aussies. Come to think of it, in a competition between two countries, they both get to be the underdogs every so often. Ach well. Who cares? (Besides, when all Scottish cricket will aspire to is the occasional inclusion into the World Cup and Div2 county cricket, one’s kind of lacking of a local team to support. Though you can’t say I didn’t fully back the Saltires while in Embra; I at least peeped over the wall on my way home if the games lasted long enough. And even paid for entry to quite a number of weekend matches. And watched all too many drunken brawls in the process. Scottish football is a little more civilised. They at least wait till you’re *outside* the grounds to throw glass bottles at you.)
14 hours to go. I cannae wait! I even got broadband in my apartment so I could get at TMS on the internet. Shame there’s absolutely no way to watch highlights apart from the 30 seconds that Sky Sports occasionally lets us have during the weekend round-up on Focks Sport Sucker Channel. (Although I must say AZN, the Asian-American channel, had a decent 30 min program at the weekend during the India-England series this summer. Here’s hoping they’re interested in the very non-Asian Ashes as well. But who knows. Monty is quite the looker.)
And akatsuki crawls back to being the over-worked, under-paid, under-appreciated scientist lab dogsbody that she has grown accustomed to being. Food blogging? What food blog? I don’t even eat anymore. Let alone bake, cook or blog…
The Italian team are dirty fecking cheats
That was a dive. No doubt about it. Grosso is a fecking cheat. That was not a fair end to the game.
I hate teams that progress by cheating. It turns me off, watching the beautiful game ruined by these CHEATS! They did not deserve the penalty. They did not deserve to win. They do not deserve to be in the quarter-finals. I’d even like to propose a ban on Italy for the nest World Cup. This kind of desperate attempt in a game they clearly could not win is ugly and puts the game in bad repute. FIFA needs to come down harder on such teams. Especially if the referee fails to make the correct decision on the pitch.
What’s the point of having a referee and two linsemen if their eyes aren’t open? This incident proves that football *needs* a fourth official, like the replay officials in rugby and cricket. Who knows what the referee was thinking… Perhaps he was trying to make up for his bad decision in sending off the alleged “last man”.
This World Cup is turning out to be the worst in terms of refereeing decisions. The referees have been put under immense pressure to come down hard on foul play. But some have been excessively harsh, yet some turn a blind eye. Lack of consistency makes it unfair on teams. And many of the referees look out of their depth, either lacking competency or just feeling the heat (literally and figuratively). The end result, whatever reason for the bad refereeing: ruined football.
What makes me even more mad is that the ESPN commentators here are saying the penalty was deserved, and in fact, was even “good play”. I don’t think American soccer players, coaches and analysts *get* the point of football. They think that hard, professional fouls are a necessity if the other team looks threatening. They think diving is good tactics. (Or maybe it’s just that the clueless ESPN commentators are total fuckwits. Don’t wish to tar all Americans with the same *dirty* brush.)
Fitba, US-stylee
Had a glorious morning off watching the opening ceremony and first game of the 2006 World Cup. (Paid the price by having to work till late tonight; but it was worth it!)
Strangely enough, none of the “sports” channels had coverage of the opening ceremony. Instead, it was up to KXLA, the local Korean news and entertainment channel, to broadcast the feed. It’s rather surprising that, apart from a few ads on Focks Soccer Channel, there hasn’t been much mainstream enthusiasm for a World Cup that features the national team.
Heck, when Scotland occasionally qualifies, all work stops for the duration of the first round (and recommences when bloody England are yet again the only home country to qualify for round two). Yet the only excited folk in my lab and its vicinity are the foreigners. No one else seems aware that a major sports competition, with an audience close to that of the Olympics, kicked off this morning.
The game itself was pretty exciting; 6 goals being abnormally heart-racing for an opener, let alone one that included Germany, the Audi of football. Perhaps their poor qualifier efforts was enough of a kick up their backsides to up their game. Even so, that’s got to be the most appalling German defence in a long time.
And while I didn’t catch the Poland game, it’ll be a fun World Cup if such “upsets” occur with more frequency. Perhaps my personal favourite underdogs: Trinidad and Tobago, will manage to win a match too. Just not against Ingerland.
I cannae believe it: Scotland scored the *first* try against France!
And as I post this, it’s 10-0…
It’s been near impossible to catch any of the 6 Nations here.
Update: It’s noo 13-3. Chicken-counter P is a wee bit upset that France managed to claw back 3 points before half-time. Him and the other pre-hatch numerators are going to jinx us!
Update: We’re sitting in stunned silence. Can’t quite believe our ears. The last ten minutes were too tense!
This is the best start to a Six Nations campaign in at least a decade. Could it finally be the payoff of having three pro Scottish teams? The maturation of what was a young side a couple of years ago? Change in management style? Certainly, the game sounded less negative than it’s looked for the last three 6 Nations. And relieving Chris Paterson of too many responsibilities sounds like it’s improved his kicking accuracy. Then again, it’s like when Gregor Townsend was playing: when Paterson has a good game, Scotland has a good chance of winning. And having a few fast feet pushing the game forward changes the way the rest of the team plays. This doesn’t change the way Scotland seems to tire towards the end; this time, they could at least play 20 good minutes in the 2nd half, where before they’d be too knackered to defend. France gained a lot of ground and scuppered their chances with two missed conversions, which places some doubt on their chances this year.
Count your chickens all you like; this victory is enough for me.
