Sports discussion

[Flintlock]

I've heard both theories, mostly the latter, but I always ask: doesn't that apply everywhere? In cricket, as with most sports, your absolute ability doesn't matter as much as your ability relative to your opponent(s).

Every team goes through "peaks and troughs". Australia has had more peaks, longer peaks and higher peaks than just about every other Test-playing nation. I wouldn't panic just yet. Rodney Marsh has resigned, maybe there'll be some shake-up in the coaching staff (it worked wonders for England last year - we brought in an Aussie!), a few talented young players will be brought in, things will probably start to take shape again.

 

[CK]

Australian cricket is at its worst in quite a long time. Some person of importance () said that we're lucky to be in the top 10. Former Australian captain believes the reason is a brain drain, as retired stars aren't continuing to work for the team in coaching roles, rather selecting lucrative jobs in the media. More evidence that profit-driven cultures are destroying the world . My dad reckons it is because of the 20/20 games, and how batsman are not learning strategies for the longer test games.

Test cricket is dropping off finally though and day night tests are not going to bring the fans back. 20/20 is the format of the future even one day cricket can be tiring to watch. I was at a nz vs Sri Lanka game years ago and it was mind numbing. This is from someone who enjoyed playing club from cricket when I was younger. But yeah Australia been very shit and n tests lately.

 

[Flintlock]

Test cricket best cricket and I won't hear any different.

I'll be very sad if it ends. I don't think that's going to happen any time soon, though. At least the Ashes series is lucrative enough to be played in perpetuity.

 

[Flintlock]

The 2016 World Chess Championship is currently underway. It's being streamed live on Twitch, and the fifth match is starting in a few minutes. It's currently 2-2 between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin.

It's not really a sport but I thought I'd post it here in case anyone's interested. Personally I only know the very basics of chess but I'd like to learn more.

Edit: the Twitch stream seems to be an unofficial one, basically just a picture of the board with some commentary. This might be better.

 

[Mayo Master]

Just finished following a day of international rugby, it was all pretty good.
I began with stumbling on Romania vs Canada which was very unexpectedly broadcasted by TSN (Romania won 24-17). Then I heard that Italy managed a historical win vs South Africa (20-18), while Japan came very short of tying with Wales (Wales won 33-30), the All Blacks took revenge against Ireland (21-9) mostly by being more clinical. Lastly, I watched France vs Australia, which overall was a very pleasant game despite that we lost in the end (23-25). I guess that Cooper's surprise replacement by Foley before the game even began was a big bonus for the Aussies I got some mixed feelings as France managed to make some very good moves, scoring 3 nice tries (the likes of which I haven't seen from the French national team since... I can't even remember), but squandered many scoring opportunities and couldn't get that one last penalty at the last minute very mysteriously, even though the Aussies did their best at multiplying infringements. Oh well...

 

[Flintlock]

I also watched two games of rugby today. I saw England comfortably beat Fiji and New Zealand narrowly beat Ireland. The latter game was the more entertaining of the two. I was rooting for Ireland and I thought they'd pull it off early in the second half when the All Blacks were reduced to 14 men through a yellow card and Ireland had about 80% possession, but all they managed were three points. New Zealand then scored a try from what might have been a forward pass, which the referee declined to check on the video, and took the game away from them.

Nothing beats the Six Nations for me but this year's autumn internationals have been pretty fun so far. I'm looking forward to England getting some better opposition though. Today's match wasn't close and I can't feel that good about us beating South Africa last week if even Italy manage it. What on earth is up with the Springboks at the moment?

 

[Flintlock]

Every team goes through "peaks and troughs". Australia has had more peaks, longer peaks and higher peaks than just about every other Test-playing nation. I wouldn't panic just yet. Rodney Marsh has resigned, maybe there'll be some shake-up in the coaching staff (it worked wonders for England last year - we brought in an Aussie!), a few talented young players will be brought in, things will probably start to take shape again.

That was quick. The usual disclaimers apply - small sample size, dead rubber, yada yada - but it still let's me say I told you so.

Formula 1 also has a new world champion in Nico Rosberg. I tried to avoid the sport at the start of the season but it sucked me back in by the end, and I watched the last few races in their entirety (sans a couple of nap breaks, which maybe says more about me than the quality of racing). Finland can tenuously claim another half of a championship, though he races under a German flag.

 

[Flintlock]

Said world champion has just retired. He's only 31 and the news came completely out of nowhere. I'm in shock.

 

[Alex Strife]

Everyone's in shock!

Though I've written a piece (will go live in just under 2 hours) about how it actually makes sense he'd retire, given his personality and a number of factors people tend to forget when talking about sportspeople. The nature of the sport is ruthless. Moreso than other sports, since F1 tends to be seen as extremely individualistic (even if that's not necessarily true).

That said, can Nico really be considered a Finn? His father was born in Sweden and had a Swedish family, while Nico himself was born in Germany and has lived most of his life in Monaco. Even as a kid... so I'm not buying that!

 

[Flintlock]

Alex, Alex, Alex. I know a lot of people who would be quite offended at that question.

Keke's mother was Finnish and spoke Finnish, while Keke's father was Finnish and spoke Swedish. There's a significant Swedish-speaking Finnish population, and take it from me they hate it when you question if they're really Finnish.

So both Keke's parents were Finnish - there's really nothing Swedish about him. He was born there, yes, but that's kind of irrelevant; Swedish law does not include jus soli. I was also born outside Finland, and I'm Finnish! Unlike me, Keke even grew up in Finland and, of course, raced under the Finnish flag. As for Nico, well, he holds a Finnish passport, which is good enough for me.

Coda: nationalism is stupid.

 

[Alex Strife]

Alex, Alex, Alex. I know a lot of people who would be quite offended at that question.

Keke's mother was Finnish and spoke Finnish, while Keke's father was Finnish and spoke Swedish. There's a significant Swedish-speaking Finnish population, and take it from me they hate it when you question if they're really Finnish.

So both Keke's parents were Finnish - there's really nothing Swedish about him. He was born there, yes, but that's kind of irrelevant; Swedish law does not include jus soli. I was also born outside Finland, and I'm Finnish! Unlike me, Keke even grew up in Finland and, of course, raced under the Finnish flag. As for Nico, well, he holds a Finnish passport, which is good enough for me.

Coda: nationalism is stupid.

Offended! Now that offends me.

Thanks for enlightening me about Keke's origins. I couldn't think a better person to detail this to me. Save for the man himself, of course! He was born in Solna, Sweden. And with his father having a Swedish name, naturally I was under the assumption at least that part of his family was from there. I suppose it might have been... centuries ago!

It's just that I know for a fact Nico can't speak Finnish (but he can speak Spanish because his family spent roughly half a year in Ibiza, Spain, for his younger years ) so I thought about questioning that.

Don't get me wrong, I did go through the whole phase of "He ought to be Finnish!" but the more I explored, the less I felt that was right. That said, I never thought Nico made too much sense as a German... or a Monegasque. I've still got to figure that one out .

So you're a Finn! Hm!

EDIT: Nationalism! I'll remind you that I'm in Spain. I've known nationalism on both sides of the "battle"... not pretty.

 

[Flintlock]

Happy to explain. I'm surprised you didn't know that I'm a Finn though.

 

[Alex Strife]

Don't make it sound like I'm a complete ignorant!

I knew you were in Finland, that you'd ('ve) been living there for a few years. I assumed when you said you're a Finn, you meant some sort of legal change. If I'm wrong, I do apologise for missing the nuance there!

 

[Flintlock]

No need to apologise. I was born to a Finnish mother so I've been a Finn all my life, though since my mother died when I was young, I didn't actually learn about it until I was 17 and got asked to do my army service, which was a bit of a shock.

I also have British nationality but I don't really advertise it any more. I wish nationality didn't mean anything but since it does, I tell people I'm Finnish if they ask.

 

[Alex Strife]

Goodness!! I had no idea about that!! I was definitely the ignorant one here. I know you'll say there's no need to apologise but... I do apologise.

Suurenmoista!

 

[Flintlock]

This is great: Cookie Monster answers sport questions on Mastermind.

 

[Ghost X]

An interesting cricket match.

 

[Flintlock]

Brilliant. I'll have to look out for her in the future, see if she makes a career for herself in cricket.

Someone called Extras also did pretty well: second-highest scorer for Mpulanga and third-highest for Easterns. A bit strange to let one player bat for both teams, mind you.

 

[Ghost X]

David Warner becomes 5th player to score 100 before lunch in a test match. The first to do so in 40 years. The first to do so in an opening session of a test match. The first to do so in an Australian setting (why that last one is significant, I don't know ).

 

[Ghost X]

Love this photo of Serena Williams (on the right, for those living under a rock), who just got a record amount of wins in the open era. Looks like some sort of bad ass samurai. Also oldest woman to win such a title. I don't think she's going away any time soon either.

 

[Flintlock]

Six Nations time.

Quite a few teams have injuries to key players this year so the tournament is likely to be a test of depth as much as anything. England are missing both Vunipolas – I think we'll miss Billy at 8 in particular – plus our former captain, Chris Robshaw. A number of other players in the squad are just coming back from some time out and probably don't have full match fitness yet. France are without Wesley Fofana; Ireland's Johnny Sexton is going to miss at least the first match; Scotland's WP Nel, possibly the best hooker in the six unions, has been ruled out; and Wales will have to make do without Luke Charteris and Taulupe Faletau. I'm not really sure about Italy but if I were being cruel I'd say they never had much depth to begin with.

The first round of matches looks like this: Scotland vs. Ireland and England vs. France on Saturday, followed by Italy vs. Wales on Sunday. Should be an interesting round, not least because it's the first to be played with the new bonus points system. Points will now be awarded as follows:

Win a match: 4 points
Draw a match: 2 points
Lose a match by seven points or fewer: 1 point
Lose a match by more than seven points: 0 points

Score four tries in a match regardless of its outcome: 1 additional point

Win all five matches: 3 additional points

I'm generally not a fan of bonus points and I think it's a shame that the Six Nations have adopted them. Still, I'll reserve full judgement until after the tournament.

Anyone want to predict the final standings? I'll go:

1. Ireland
2. England
3. Wales
4. France
5. Scotland
6. Italy

England and Ireland are clearly the strongest teams at the moment, but Ireland have home-field advantage in the match between them, which I think gives them the edge. It's similarly difficult to choose between Wales and France, and while France host Wales this year, I think Wales will pick up more bonus points against the likes of England and Ireland (I wouldn't rule them out of winning those matches either). I think it's going to be another frustrating year for Scotland fans – their team is clearly improving year-on-year but I still don't think they're quite at the level of the teams above them. I'd give them an outside chance of finishing ahead of France. Predicting a last-place finish for Italy shouldn't be too controversial.

 

[Mayo Master]

^ Between the terrible mistake of our fly-half at the last minute, and the constant feeling that England and us are not playing under the same set of rules, I'm piisssssssssssssssssssssed

 

[Flintlock]

Edit: I wrote this before Mayo's post.

Well, what do I know, eh? Scotland beat Ireland and England only just managed to squeeze out a win over France (which they may not have done if Jean-Marc Doussain had not, inexplicably, missed touch from a penalty in the last minute). The losing teams in both matches had more possession and territory than their opponents, so it was a bit of a strange day in terms of results.

I realised I got the points system a bit wrong; it's not quite as bad as I thought. I've edited my post above but I won't be editing my predictions, no matter how wrong they turn out to be.

 

[Mayo Master]

^ That's why I refrained from making predictions

I'm still disappointed because we really had the means to win that game, and there were a few silly mistakes that cost us quite a bit (in addition to the last-minute blunder from Doussain, I recall a huge opportunity in the 1st half where #13 recovers the ball on the right wing from an offensive kick, and forgets #14 on the inside who would have gone through without opposition. It's quite frustrating that in the past 3 games, we feel like we're on the same level as the top nations (a feeling I didn't have since... phew, maybe 2011?), but we end up losing anyway.

I didn't have the chance to see Scotland vs Ireland (only read articles and saw highlights), but I'm really happy for the Scots. They've been in constant progress, they're playing a dynamic, attractive style of rugby, and I'm glad they got rewarded. It's going to be a tough game against them next week.

Overall, I felt like this years' tournament had very good density in terms of quality - I don't feel like the Northern nations are much behind the Southern nations (especially given the recent performances from the Springboks). England and Ireland being the solid top nations, Scotland and France in big progress. To me, Wales remains an unknown quantity - I have the feeling they went down since Gatland left. Italy doesn't seem much of a threat but they always seem to have the ability to cause a surprising upset (especially against us!). We'll see.

 

[Mayo Master]

Just watched Wales vs England, and once again England won (16-21) without seeming superior to their opponent - I think it's rather their ability to capitalize on the opponent's mistakes that made the difference, the final try from Daly being the best example of it (btw, did somebody summoned Doussain inside Davies' body on that one?). It was a good game overall though.
Didn't watch Italy vs Ireland with Ireland completely obliterating the opposition (10-63), to the point of re-opening questions about the presence of Italy in the tournament. I'm personally in favor of 6 nations, but allowing teams to move up and down with tier-2 European nations - at present Georgia is probably a stronger side than Italy, and would certainly give some trouble to the 5 other nations. I don't see it happening, though, because I don't think any of the original 5 nations would agree to be at the risk of being relegated to a tier-2 tournament.
Tomorrow France plays vs Scotland, we definitely have a lot of pressure to get a win, and with Scotland's rising form it's going to be pretty tough.