Sporting News From Europe
[Guest post by JD]
Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky have been spectacular, and dominant. His Time Trial win was as dominating of a performance on a bike that I have seen this year. Young American Tejay of BMC is an up-and-coming star. This entire Tour de France has been fascinating – extended time trials, epic mountain climbs, dominant performances, disappointments, giant wrecks in the peleton, and a passing of the torch.
Adam Scott is running away from the field at Royal Lytham, what I consider to be one of the more dull British Open tracks. Tiger Woods and Graham McDowell lurk, should Scott falter, or the weather finally turn.
– JD
Here is a question for my Euro buddies – why do some people kiss on the cheeks twice, and others three times?
Comment by JD (318f81) — 7/21/2012 @ 2:35 pm
JD, because gay.
Comment by SPQR (26be8b) — 7/21/2012 @ 2:38 pm
Oh and for the men, this young lady getting warmed up for hurdles in Barcelona is … well, warming up a lot of us. SFW but don’t get caught watching too many times.
Comment by SPQR (26be8b) — 7/21/2012 @ 2:40 pm
thank you for a thread what isn’t depressing yay europe sports go get em you rascals plus I get to google peleton
Comment by happyfeet (3c92a1) — 7/21/2012 @ 3:02 pm
got it it’s when bicycles practice mysterious herding behaviours
Comment by happyfeet (3c92a1) — 7/21/2012 @ 3:04 pm
Royal Lytham always has seemed overrated for an Open Championship despite it’s changed looks. I wish they would play an Open Championship at Royal Dornoch, my personnel favorite.
Or Royal County Down #2 on my list.
If the wind comes up Scott will not roll to a easy victory.
Comment by mg (44de53) — 7/21/2012 @ 3:26 pm
Yay, England!
Comment by MayBee (fb7121) — 7/21/2012 @ 3:51 pm
This is a good week for that place that stole MayBee from us.
Comment by JD (459580) — 7/21/2012 @ 5:06 pm
MayBee, who or what stole you??? I must have missed something… maybe, SPQR, it was because I was distracted by one of Great Britain’s great Olympian swimmers…now a commentator for the 2012 games.
Comment by Dana (292dcf) — 7/21/2012 @ 5:27 pm
she was whisked away by blimeys
there was nothing we could do
I’ve never felt so helpless
unless you count when they canceled buffy
Comment by happyfeet (3c92a1) — 7/21/2012 @ 5:30 pm
…and they still are convinced that Lance took drugs.
Comment by AD-RtR/OS! (2bb434) — 7/21/2012 @ 10:46 pm
Sure, blame me.
Comment by SPQR (26be8b) — 7/21/2012 @ 10:59 pm
Is it just me, or does not everyone who sees the headline “Sporting News From Europe” about this time of year think of hunting birds. Driven grouse. Glorious August.
Guess it’s just me.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/22/2012 @ 6:02 am
SPQR: Thank you for that link; seeing a young person so full of life and happiness lifted me out of the doldrums.
Comment by Old Coot (6417f5) — 7/22/2012 @ 6:27 am
Bicycles, huh? Oh well, it’s almost time for football.
Comment by Roscoe (15d927) — 7/22/2012 @ 8:01 am
Nobody deserves to be Champion Golfer of The Year more than Ernie Els.
Comment by mg (44de53) — 7/22/2012 @ 11:16 am
Sporting news- Tough Mudder test: I scored a healthy “Mudder in Training” with a 61! I’m so relieved to not have landed on the “You Should Be Ashamed “ score. Hub landed at the top of “Mudder in Training” and bottom of “Mudder Ready”. (I think what threw me was the question about when hitting the wall, do you bounce back like a tank, truck, prius, or ….Vespa… yeah, so what’s wrong with a Vespa, anyway?)
He is considering begin a more intensive training to get fully Mudder Ready for June 2013 event. I, on the other hand, am fully considering the best way to cheer him on.
Comment by Dana (292dcf) — 7/22/2012 @ 1:15 pm
Nothing’s “wrong” with a Vespa, unless you are talking about hitting walls.
Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 7/22/2012 @ 1:19 pm
17-My wife trains a couple of mudders.
Animals.
I cheer as well.
Comment by mg (44de53) — 7/22/2012 @ 5:49 pm
The not-so-sporting news from Europa:
IMF and ECB are off the Greek soup line. Greece owes its next big payment in September.
Heads down.
Comment by gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 7/22/2012 @ 6:59 pm
ToughMudder is fun, challenging. But it is nothing compared to
A Half or Full. Not even the same league
Comment by JD (b22d65) — 7/22/2012 @ 7:06 pm
Well, it’s a traditionally European sport and she will be in Britain at the Olympics.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/meet-mariel-zagunis-two-time-olympic-gold-medalist-185156821–oly.html
Back in the day my boys were at events in the same room as her. Lots of screaming in saber; even if not watching them, you heard them.
Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 7/22/2012 @ 7:24 pm
In other sporting news not from Europe, Penn State took down Paterno’s statue as quietly and unceremoniously as possible.
Perhaps Paterno bears more responsibility than I think, but it is easy to make a dead person the scapegoat to “move on” which is essentially more cover-up than getting things clarified.
I’m afraid the NCAA and others are going to feel that they have to make some grand gestures in punishing Penn State to prove some kind of point to somebody, and all it will do is hurt the school meaning hurt the students at the school and hurt businesses in the area. Putting people in jail is the correct punishment for criminal activity, civil litigation is appropriate where damages rightly need to be accounted for. Let the NCAA worry about enforcing NCAA rules.
Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 7/22/2012 @ 8:04 pm
That’s neat, MD, the fencing. Its been more than three decades since I last did any myself.
As for Paterno’s statue, I think that Penn State’s attempt to push blame off onto the dead is utterly pathetic.
Comment by SPQR (26be8b) — 7/22/2012 @ 8:07 pm
Comment by SPQR — 7/22/2012 @ 8:07 pm
Yes, women’s saber is a relatively new event, hence the rest of the world does not have a centuries old tradition to draw from. Apparently for time/space limitations (?) there is something about only two of the 3 weapons in team events each Olympics, and this year women’s saber is left out. The US team won bronze in 08, which was a downer as the US won gold, silver, and bronze individual. The team event was the day after the individual, and it appeared Zagunis may have had a mental let-down, as she was the weak-link in the team competition.
Here is the 08 gold medal bout, but sabre is probably the hardest of the 3 weapons to watch and understand if not accustomed to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv3uQ0yBx6A
Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 7/22/2012 @ 8:16 pm
MD in Philly, they drop events from team sports? Good lord, the Olympics are soooo completely screwed up. I won’t watch any of it.
Comment by SPQR (26be8b) — 7/22/2012 @ 8:19 pm
I only competed in foil … badly. I wanted to get into epee.
Now I wish I had the time for kendo.
Comment by SPQR (26be8b) — 7/22/2012 @ 8:20 pm
SPQR- I think feets said it had to do with more people being interested in watching women’s beach volleyball than women’s fencing, but soon beach volleyball will be banned because of the skin-cancer risk.
Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 7/22/2012 @ 8:30 pm
JD @ 21,
Okay, now you’ve thrown down the gauntlet. I’m going to have to seriously consider training for the Tough Mudder.
Comment by Dana (292dcf) — 7/22/2012 @ 8:49 pm
2-ahhh. Homophobia. Classic.
Comment by tye (39377e) — 7/23/2012 @ 1:19 am
24-penn state knows where the blame lies. I am also quite sure that a statue proclaiming one to be a humanitarian when they were given the opportunity to report child rape and didn’t do so for personal professional reasons seems a little grandiose. Would you like to explain your position that abetting child rape makes one a humanitarian spqr? I’m sure that we would love to hear it. Then vomit and cross you off of our list of potential babysitters.
Comment by tye (39377e) — 7/23/2012 @ 1:26 am
The Biathalon and all other skiing events are the only events to watch. The story telling t.v. whiz kids have made me quit watching the olympics. Give me 1968 ,,Jeanne Claude Killy and the Hahnenkamm.
Comment by mg (44de53) — 7/23/2012 @ 3:27 am
Concur. I’m sure I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to jumping to conclusions (MD in philly, chime in if I’m going too light on myself) as I’ve spouted off at length about how I can’t believe wifey knew nothing. They were married and lived in the same house.
By the same token, I can’t believe the coach knew everything. As far as I know, Paterno and Sandusky had a working relationship. I’ve had tons of working relationships in my life. None of which would have led to a discussion of child rape.
Maybe coaching college football is different. Maybe they’re all soaping each other up after practice and discussing all the illegalities they’ve indulged in every Friday. Dunno.
It just strikes me odd to hear how it took McQueary 3 years to even mention the subject to Paterno, because saintly old Paterno was so revered. And now every defense attorney has fingered Paterno as the evil mastermind behind the whole child sex ring.
How very convenient.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 5:55 am
Who’s up for a discussion about driven grouse in Scotland and fine side by side shotguns?
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 5:57 am
The news being altogether too depressing lately.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 5:58 am
Tye’s smears are getting more and more over the top.
Comment by JD (b22d65) — 7/23/2012 @ 6:05 am
What an odd coincidence. I just picked up a copy of Alfred Hutton’s COLD STEEL: The Art of Fencing with the Sabre the other day.
And even more oddly, it was my Japanese friends who drove my interest into western swords. You mentioned kendo; are you familiar with iaido? The art of drawing and cutting in one motion.
Jeez. A mekugi breaks and you’re left holding nothing but the tsuka. The rest of the blade becomes a whirling helicopter of death. Even if you started out with an aluminum practice blade.
I’m not 100% sure, but I suspect that those ancient Japanese swordsmiths hand crafted the small wooden pins that held the handles to their blades out of the same rain-forest wood my local Chinese take-out whittles its chopsticks out of.
I’ve read armory reports (and I know if I haven’t already flagged myself as supremely weird this will do it) about how in the Japanese Navy or Military 99 times out of a 100 if a sword was sent back for repair in WWII it was because the handle failed.
I’ve never seen an antique western sword fail in that manner. If it’s a peened pommel, it can’t. It’s physically impossible. If it’s threaded (not uncommon) it will at least warn you before letting go.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 6:21 am
Who’s up for a discussion about driven grouse in Scotland and fine side by side shotguns?
How about a Holland & Holland Nitro Express
Comment by JD (b22d65) — 7/23/2012 @ 6:28 am
@38.
I can knowledgeably discuss the .416 Rigby in a magnum mauser action. Also the relative merits of Norma as opposed to Hornady brass, as well as a few bullet and powder choices. I’ll have to pull out my reloading log. As you might guess, when you’re talking .416 Rigby a little will last you a lifetime.
As for the H&H Nitro Express? Maybe some day.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 6:34 am
Here’s what I heard in today’s NCAA press conference on Penn State:
All of this will hurt but the transfer provision will gut the current team, and the academic standards requirement will make it much harder to restock the team during the penalty years.
Comment by DRJ (a83b8b) — 7/23/2012 @ 6:34 am
I imagine there may be a separate thread on the Penn State ruling. I’ll just repeat what I’ve said, that while what happened (whatever the details really are) is terrible, I think the NCAA involvement is more of the tail trying to wag the dog rather than a thoughtful response. I have heard it said, for confirmation or challenge by our contributing community, that the “NCAA” ruling was essentially a ruling by the NCAA president himself, that it was thought that the usual NCAA review process would be “too slow” so the pres had to take it into his own hands…maybe that’s the going trend.
I may be wrong, and people can correct me, but I thought the reason the overall athletic program at Penn State ( and other like schools)can offer so many things (including fencing, where it has been a perennial powerhouse for many years) is because of the proceeds from football, and to penalize the football team is to penalize the athletic program.
Maybe I’m too cynical, but I think the NCAA pres acted more for the sake of making a good appearance for the NCAA than anything else, and that some of the Penn State official reaction is more of the same. The Paterno family apparently has said they will obtain a review of the situation of their own to stand aside Freeh’s.
Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 7/23/2012 @ 6:36 am
driven grouse in Scotland
isn’t there enough grousing around here in the States???
Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 7/23/2012 @ 6:40 am
At least in Scotland we’ll have the single malt to go with it.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 6:44 am
The win forfeiture goes back to 1998, I assume because of the charge that was made against Sandusky then that the DA chose not to prosecute. I would assume that as an employer, if Penn State fired Sandusky because of the allegations when criminal charges withheld, there would be the possibility of litigation against Penn State- “innocent until proven guilty, and wasn’t even brought to trial”. Of course, it works the other way in that a finding of wrongful death is easier to get than a criminal conviction as well.
In other words, no matter what you do if someone has the money they can get a lawyer and sue you.
Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 7/23/2012 @ 6:50 am
At least in Scotland we’ll have the single malt to go with it.
Comment by Steve57 — 7/23/2012 @ 6:44 am
What, not a fan of made in America? Must be a yankee wanting whiskey from overseas.
{Tongue firmly in cheek
time to get to work)
Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 7/23/2012 @ 6:53 am
All the barn-door closing a week after the horse escaped leaves me with a nauseous feeling. It does every time.
It woulda been nice if the NCAA was interested in protecting its reputation while it could have nipped this affair in the bud. Instead of the next decade. Which is perhaps unfair of me, as maybe it’s unrealistic to suspect the NCAA could have known about it let alone do something even then.
But I’m forced to ask, if that’s the case, why the hysterics now? Wouldn’t a simple statement of the truth, that there wasn’t a damned thing they could have done then, so they’re not going to do anything now, because as lousy as the situation is they’re just not manned, trained, and equip to function as a police agency suffice?
I don’t understand. Perhaps because I’m not a fan. Al Davis cured me of fandom when he took the Raiders to LA. I don’t know what you can compare that to. Maybe having the department store Santa dump you on your kiester and walk out on strike while you’re telling him your Christmas list. If that doesn’t alter your relationship with Santa, I don’t know what will.
Al Davis altered my relationship with big time sports.
I guess because I never bought into the “Saint Joe Paterno” mythology I’m equally inclined not to want to drop trow and do number two on his grave. He didn’t walk on water when he was alive. And I’m having a hard time understanding how a football coach could have frustrated an investigation into child rape if his associates felt strongly enough about the matter to pursue it.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:01 am
Oh yes. But it’s not Scotch.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:03 am
33- in 1998 sandusky was investigated for child abuse. In 2001 paterno is given an eyewitness account of what appeared to be a child rape by that same person. What’s your excuse for the last 11 years? He votes republican so it’s okay that he covered up for child rape?
Comment by tye (3c4364) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:04 am
Bugger off, hate-filled nasty troll. Is there any topic that doesnt make you feel compelled to show your arse?
Comment by JD (d1dc14) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:08 am
If I can kickstart this thing, a .450 Nitro Express is all the gun you’ll ever need on any known planet.
But then, I feel the same way about the .416 Rigby. But if I were a double gun kind of guy, I’d be inclined toward the 450/400 flavor. Jeffery. Whatever. It’s all good.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:11 am
@ DRJ,
Our local news is reporting that the wins have been taken away.
I would suggest that while you or I never believed he walked on water, the institution – and Paterno himself – nurtured that very image because it brought in the talent that they needed to be a top football school. Paterno clearly allowed himself to become a living saint to people and clearly supported the institution above all else.
Comment by Dana (292dcf) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:13 am
He was trying to protect Obama’s base, tye. All the perverts are on Obama’s side. How do you swing? Rubber dolls I’d guess, the question would be whether they’re boy or girl. I guess boys in your case.
Comment by nk (875f57) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:14 am
How sick and twisted can one person possibly be? I believe “terrorist tye” is going to attempt to illustrate the answer.
And when he’s done, we still won’t know. As there will be depths yet unplumbed.
Noting the guy is dead, in case you haven’t noticed, isn’t excusing him. It’s just observing the pertinent fact he’s not available for questioning. He’s also not available to hire lawyers or defend his name.
I don’t care how they vote. If anyone still living had anything to do with this I hope the victims make them pay.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:17 am
Who’s up for a discussion about driven grouse in Scotland and fine side by side shotguns?
Comment by Steve57 — 7/23/2012 @ 5:57 am
It’s more fun when their feet and wings are tied and you smash them with a baseball bat. You want aerial target shooting — shoot skeet.
Comment by nk (875f57) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:20 am
I did iado
Waste of time and a pain on the knees
No relation to swordfighting
‘Cept for inbred Japanese.
Kendo’s no better
But you better be seventeen
An expensive aerobic
With swords not keen.
Western fencing the same
No practical use
Just chop them and stab them
When you’ve nothing to lose.
Just spend half an hour on the helical.
Comment by nk (875f57) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:28 am
We have a thread on the NCAA penalties here.
Comment by Patterico (feda6b) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:29 am
“Would you like to explain your position that abetting child rape makes one a humanitarian spqr? I’m sure that we would love to hear it. Then vomit and cross you off of our list of potential babysitters.”
- tye
Why the f*ck is tye still here, saying things like that? There is no reason for him to be here, unless it’s to drive traffic. This is obscene.
Comment by Leviticus (102f62) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:29 am
Put it this way: when tye sleeps with his dolly, that ain’t his thumb that he’s sucking on
Comment by Icy (b03626) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:31 am
. This is obscene
Yes, tye is obscene.
Comment by JD (d1dc14) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:32 am
“I may be wrong, and people can correct me, but I thought the reason the overall athletic program at Penn State ( and other like schools)can offer so many things (including fencing, where it has been a perennial powerhouse for many years) is because of the proceeds from football, and to penalize the football team is to penalize the athletic program.”
- MD in Philly
I get what you’re saying, but with due respect I think that would be letting the tail wag the dog.
Comment by Leviticus (102f62) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:32 am
I bolded the part of your previous comment I found profound. That’s a very human failing for a living saint to commit, don’t you think.
As a matter of fact, it would take something of a living saint not to fall into that trap, don’t you think?
I don’t know what us mere mortals are supposed to do in that situation. But then, I speak as one who when the Nittany Lions are playing, will be in the garage. Or maybe a duck blind. So I doubt I’ll ever be able to speak from experience about striking awe and hushed reverence into people through my sheer presence.
But as a flawed human being, I can say that Paterno strikes me as somewhat similar. The fact that he allowed himself to be used in the way you observe strikes me as a very human failing. And, from what I’ve seen reported, his involvement in this sordid affair strikes me the same way. I realize that the living and their defense attorneys would like saintly old dead joe to carry the whole weight, but from what I’ve seen in the reportage all anyone may have done in Joe’s presence was tap dance around the subject.
He could be as guilty as original sin. But all I’ve seen in the emails these guys under indictment have released is that the general subject of Sandusky was at some point discussed by the principals with Paterno. What about Sandusky, I don’t know.
But like I said, he could be guilty of all sorts of heinous acts. I don’t see how that absolves anyone else.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:34 am
“I may be wrong, and people can correct me, but I thought the reason the overall athletic program at Penn State ( and other like schools)can offer so many things (including fencing, where it has been a perennial powerhouse for many years) is because of the proceeds from football, and to penalize the football team is to penalize the athletic program.”
Yes, but so what? Institutional loyalty impacts everyone at the institution – whether negatively or positively. One doesn’t get to pick and choose. If other sports – whose participants were completely unaware of what was taking place in football – end up taking the hit, too, that comes from being part of the institution as a whole.
Better everyone takes a hit and an implosion takes place and it has to rebuild rather than the priest just gets moved to another parish and does the same thing in another place, all the while the same institutional sickness is allowed to live and keep on going, no? Perhaps by having the Sporting Dept essentially dismantled in this way, there is a better chance of the system itself being changed rather than just a band-aid being put on it.
Comment by Dana (292dcf) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:38 am
I do shoot skeet. And I’ve got the Captain’s Cup trophy to prove it.
Although honesty compels me to admit that winning the Captain’s Cup trophy in skeet shooting at a Naval Air Base in Japan is like winning a trophy for being the best ice hockey player in Tahiti.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:39 am
MD in Philly,
Football programs, like Penn State’s, exploit young athletes. Not one in a hundred will even make semi-pro. The other 99 will have not earned an education but they will have earned life-shortening, crippling injuries. NCAA programs make professional boxing look good.
Comment by nk (875f57) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:42 am
@ Steve,
I think Paterno fostered the perceived saintliness. It worked. He brought in the best talent, he created the force that was the university’s football organization. Without him and his name and record, the organization would not have been what it became over the years.
I don’t doubt his own ego, ambition and drive for success and power weren’t as much a part of the culled image as was his love of the game.
Comment by Dana (292dcf) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:42 am
“Better everyone takes a hit and an implosion takes place and it has to rebuild rather than the priest just gets moved to another parish and does the same thing in another place, all the while the same institutional sickness is allowed to live and keep on going, no? Perhaps by having the Sporting Dept essentially dismantled in this way, there is a better chance of the system itself being changed rather than just a band-aid being put on it.”
- Dana
Yup. If you want to reform the entire institution, you have to impact everyone in the institution. If you want people at the school to start a real reflective conversation about a subject as painful as this one, then you have to give them an ash heap to sit on while they do it.
Comment by Leviticus (102f62) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:46 am
You could be right. I’m definitely open to the idea. But then, I was open to the idea while the guy was still alive.
What do I know about ego, ambition, and drive? My ego told me to quit shooting competitively back in 1994. When someone like me who misses as often as I do won the one and only trophy I’m ever going to win. My ego has been on the lam ever since. It doesn’t even send post cards.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 7:54 am
57- explain how it is obscene to be upset at a “humanitarian” that killed an investigation into a child rapist which allowed said rapist to continue? Nobody should be defending paterno’s inaction. That man does not deserve a statue.
Comment by tye (816dba) — 7/23/2012 @ 9:37 am
tye, you show again that you know just how the windows taste on the short bus.
Comment by SPQR (26be8b) — 7/23/2012 @ 9:39 am
I am making a post about punishing the institution, but I’m putting it on the other thread, FWIW.
Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 7/23/2012 @ 9:56 am
I’m sorry to report, tye, that I spotted your brains. But I couldn’t react swiftly enough to prevent the crows from scarfing them down.
In any case, I’m still waiting for someone to tell me what exactly Paterno had to act on. Which isn’t at all the same thing as defending his inaction. When I last tuned in, the story was that in 2001 assistant to the assistant doofus’ third cousin twice removed McQueary told his dad what he saw in 1998, but didn’t get around to mentioning it to Paterno until 2001. And he couldn’t quite man up and tell Paterno exactly what he saw. Just that Sandusky was doing something “inappropriate” with a kid.
Now, if someone tells me that a middle aged guy is doing something inappropriate in a locker room shower with a kid, I’m going to ask some questions. But if no one is providing answers, I don’t see what action I can take. Three years later.
Comment by Steve57 (65d29f) — 7/23/2012 @ 10:17 am
Why don’t you read the Freeh report before you defend his inaction. There is more to the story than what you’ve glossed over here.
Comment by tye (816dba) — 7/23/2012 @ 1:33 pm