Random Sports Babbling Post 2

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Yea, we battered the Aussies. Toby Flood is really coming into his own.

Well, having now watched the game in full, I'm pretty proud of that England performance. That's the best I've seen us play since 2003. I'm really excited about the prospect of Ben Youngs. And what a try by Ashton!

 

I'm frightened by the prospect of England peaking in World Cup year again, after being dreadful in the intervening years!

 

I don't know about that yet. I still think we're a way off the South Africans, All Blacks and even the Aussies, who I think we caught on an off day!

I don't know where we get all our players from... as I don't know anyone who plays the game, or very many people who are interested in it!

By the way... doesn't it seem like Mark Cueto has been around for years?

 

It seems like Mike Tindall has been around forever as well. I always thought of that 2003 team as all being about 40 years old, but clearly Tindall wasn't.

 

Russia and Qatar!?! What a load of crap! Corrupt ****s!

 

I just discovered today that the correct pronounciation of Qatar is "Cutter". I always put the accent on the second syllable, like "ku-TAR".

 

It's not that surprising Barmy. FIFA are trying to spread things around more and neither have hosted the world cup before. Russia is a major football nation and the Middle East as a region hasn't had it. I'm not sure how it'll work in the heat (they're promising some cooling system) but I don't think it's supposed to be that much worse than Mexico or the southern US when it was hosted there. I'd obviously have preferred England so that I could pop over to it but Russia is probably a better choice for the game.

 

Brown envelopes mate. That's what's happened.

 

I heard that in the summer months, the high temperatures in Qatar can exceed 130F (55C). They say they will mitigate this by placing outdoor air conditioning units on the playing field.

Aside from the fact that I don't know how effective outdoor AC is in that kind of heat, wouldn't an easier mitigation strategy have been holding the WC in an area where it isn't so freakin hot?

That said, this seems to be the way a lot of international events are going - i.e., they are giving them to nations that have never had them before. The 2016 Summer games are in Rio, and there's never even been an Olympics held on that continent until now. The 2012 London Games are becoming the exception to the rule.

How popular is soccer in Russia anyway? I know it's big in the Middle East, but I always associated Russia with more of the winer sports.

 

It's big. They have a good side. That's not the point though. They've got to build hotels, airports, train stations and 14 stadiums, as well as loads of other stuff if they are going to be anything like ready. Not to mention there's about 1000 miles between each proposed stadium. We've already got everything in place. England's case was by far the best, but the corrupt idiots at FIFA are more interested in lining their pockets. How something as important as the hosts of the World Cup can be decided behind closed doors by 22 total non-entities who nobody knows anything about is beyond me.

 

Well, they do have 7.5 years before the event takes place. This is about the same time frame a nation gets when preparing for the Olympics (in fact, I think Russia has the next winter games as well). Surely, that's enough time to get a lot of this stuff in place?

Oh, there's no doubt that England is better prepared for the WC - but I don't think that was the main criteria in the selection process. I think a lot of the nations on the finalist list (the US was one of the finalist for the 2022 WC) were better prepared. In fact, if that was the main thing they were looking for, the WC would be somewhere in Europe pretty much every freakin time. I think the whole point was to give it nations that have never had the WC before.

That said, as far as locations are concerned, I think I'd rather play in Russia than Qatar - 55C sure sounds helluva hot.

That seems an unnecessary addition (the part about lining their pockets - they may well be idiots).

 

Oh yeah, it's plenty of time. The thing is, part of the bidding and decision making process is all about delegates from FIFA visiting the bidding countries and inspecting the facilities they have to decide. How can you make a decision on transport networks, facilities and stadia that don't even exist yet? They should build it all, get everything in place, and THEN bid. Everything might suck! In fact, I wouldn't put it past Russia to get everything done on the cheap, to maximise profits.

Trust me, there was so loads of coercing, bribing and promises going off this decision. The slimy git Abramovich is behind most of it, I don't wonder. And Australia had by far the best case for 2022, yet it went to a place like Qatar. They will be incredibly disappointed, too.

The whole voting process needs reforming. It's all totally dodgy and surrounded in secrecy.

 

I see what you mean - the only thing I can say in defense of that, is unless you know you're getting the WC, you may not want to go to the expense of building all of that stuff. In other words, you may want the guarantee before you go around spending money like a drunk sailor for something you don't absolutely need.

Hosting a WC requires a lot of up front cost for any host nation, with the payoff coming when you actually host the cup with people coming from all over the world willing to spend money. So once you know you're getting the event, you're more willing to build everything, because of the guaranteed return on investment.

Or take the Qatar example - the main reason they probably didn't install the AC units already is because of the cost. If they didn't get the WC, they probably wouldn't, as evidently their team has acclimated to playing in conditions that are typically only found on the surface of the sun.

EDIT: Here's a writer that agrees with you Barmy - his thoughts, in summary, is that while the selection of Russia is surprising, it is at least defensible. The selection of Qatar, in the writer's opinion is not. He also brings up the possibility of bribery. Story.

 

We're being 'punished' for our press uncovering their corruption. I don't know if you've heard anything about that Aldeth.

Another issue is that Russia has massive problems with racism. Hopefully they can get that under control in the next 8 years too!

I'm even more bemused by the Qatar 2022 choice. The whole thing stinks.

FIFA really is a horrid organisation. Did you know that they don't answer to anyone, at all? If governments from a country get involved in a situation, FIFA just bans their national side from tournaments. No organisation should be totally unanswerable.

This man typifies FIFA (well, him and that plonker Sepp Blatter).

Look at this.



We call people like that 'cúnts' over here.

 

Never mind, Barmy. You're going to have The Ashes wrapped up again soon, so the world isn't all against you.

And you get to come to New Zealand for the real World Cup next year anyway.

 

I know how corrupt FIFA is but that doesn't mean Russia didn't make sense. I think the media angle is being overplayed as a convenient excuse. These events are being spread around more and a 2018 world cup would have followed on pretty recently from a European Championship and an Olympics (recent given how often these events come around, not in a human's lifespan).

Russia's facilities and crime rates and the distances involved aren't really any worse than those for South Africa or Brazil or the US. Awarding the World Cup on a technical basis would just see it swap between England and Germany every time. The English bid included infrastructure and stadia that don't exist yet too.

Qatar makes much less sense. I can't see an equivalent sized European or American country being remotely in the running if they tried to bid.

 

Wow - England are all over Australia!

 

1st two tests were atrocious :-/
At least England are batting equally as bad in Perth.

Everyone over here was ropeable about Qatar 2022 - to add insult to the injury Qatars hosting means Australia can't hold the cup until 2034 or something ridiculous (since we somehow fall in the same region).

 

Go Mitchell Johnson!

Now THERE are 3 words I never thought I'd ever say together...........

 

Sad Carl Crawford didn't stick with the Rays, but it was never an option really. He deserves the giant contract because he absolutely changes the game wherever he is. At bat, he is feared. On the bases, he makes the pitcher focus on him (which gives the current hitter a better chance at unfocused, missed pitches) as well as stealing bases. In the field, he runs down balls most players only dream of catching.

That being said, since I am also a Red Sox fan, I am stoked for the top 6 of Ellsbury, Crawford, Pedroia, Youkilis, Gonzalez, and Ortiz.