Sports

[PKMKII]

Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels suspended for five games for admitting to beaning Nat's Bryce Harper on purpose.

This is a tricky subject. On one hand, it's absolutely inexcusable for a pitcher to hit a batter with a pitch on purpose, and Hamels deserves the ban and any financial fine he receives. On the other, everyone knows it happens all the time, and because you normally can't prove they did it on purpose, they don't get punished for it. So for all intents and purposes, Hamels is being punished because he admitted to it.

Although, I have to say his reason for beaning Harper is pretty stupid. Saying it's a "Welcome to the Big leagues," and that it was an "old-school, prestigious way of baseball"? What kind of troglodyte, frat boy attitude is that? I think the douchebaggery of Philly fans has started to infect Hamels.

[black bart]

Watched Man City beat Man U, 1-0.

I don't know if it was fatigue, or a concentration issue, or plain laziness, but United just played like they didn't care. They let City control the ball, and even when they did have opportunities, they executed them half-heartedly.

Sorry to be only interested because you mentioned our own silly little league but yes, it was a poor performance by Manchester United. I think United have been poor throughout this year, especially their performances in Europe which have been dire. They are lacking defenders and quality midfielders and I hope Man City go on to win the Premiership.

Also Manchester United are playing a certain Swansea City this weekend so they're in for another lesson in football.

They were lucky...that's all I'm saying.

Man Utd 2 Swansea 0

[PKMKII]

In the final minutes of stoppage time, Man City scored the go-ahead goal against QPR to clinch the championship. Let's see the reaction from the Man U fans:


Also: Joey Barton is a low-life, meatheaded thug.

The Mets lost their series against Miami, one game to two, as closer Frank Francisco manged to blow a save twice. However, we hit well, the starting pitching was superb, and we're now 14-7 against the other teams in the NL East. Which is important, as the conventional wisdom on the Mets going into the season was that we weren't horrible, but that we wouldn't be competitive because the rest of our division was just too good. So much for that.

[black bart]

Yes it was very very exciting, well done City with your low budget team it was never a foregone conclusion.

Swansea 1 Liverpool 0.

We finished 11th which apparently netted us almost £ 2 million in extra cash...we can buy 5 new players!

[PKMKII]

Every team in the NL East has a winning record right now. Toughest FSM-damn division in baseball.

[DavidH]

Hereford United have been relegated. They're out of the League again.

[black bart]

Hereford United have been relegated. They're out of the League again.

Commiserations...perhaps they'll bounce back next season.

Champions League final tomorrow...it's ~England v Germany again (teams made up of just about every nation in Europe but that's not the point it's still the Brits versus the Hun).

[Roy Hunter]

Kenny Dalglish sacked as Liverpool manager.

Here's what he had to say about it:

Waealll... arry endery dae annat, us noe gonnae glaikit wee bauchle thit ye are, Forfar four East Fife five wae a pie an a Bovril doon the awa' end. Premiership's fu' o' big jessies onyhoo, ehm awa tae sies masel a bag o chups wae salt 'n' sauce. Tattie bogle!

[Roy Hunter]

Chelsea 4, Bayern Munich 3. Chelsea are the Champions League Champions.

It was 1-1 at the end of regulation time, then two fifteen minute periods of extra time, then penalties.

I was in the pub, with my band, ready to go on stage at 9:45 (full time), and play two 40 minute sets with a support slot in between for a nervous wee singer-songwriter called Celina we've been cultivating recently.

Instead, we got onstage at 10:30-ish, played an hour and a quarter, then Celina got to do fifteen minutes while I drove like the very devil to get Francesca, our fiddle player, to the bus station in time to get the last bus home. We made it with about four minutes to spare.

In other news, Heart of Midlothian beat Hibernian 5-1 to take the Scottish Cup (the Scottish cup has big handles - it looks like a chromium bust of Will Smith). This was immensely satisfying to me because my pal Sandy is a major Jambo (jam tarts: Hearts (of Midlothian)), and he was SOOOOOO drunk when he showed up tonight at the pub. Most entertaining. Commiserations to the Cabbage (cabbage and ribs: Hibs (Hibernian)), but it was a good day for the Edinburgh clubs.

They had a day out in Glasgow, the fans dressed up, they had a good time, they had a few drinks, and THERE WAS NO TROUBLE. I'll repeat that for the benefit of the hard-of-thinking: there was a major sporting fixture in Glasgow in which the Old Firm was not involved and to which it was not invited, and THERE WAS NO TROUBLE. Think about that SFA / SPL / Duff and Phelps: do we really need the Old Firm? We could turn Ibrox into a Park 'n' Ride car park, and Parkhead into an employment training programme, stimulate the local economy and cut crime.

Think about it, will you?

[PKMKII]

Chelsea 4, Bayern Munich 3. Chelsea are the Champions League Champions.

I only caught the last 20 minutes of regulation, plus the overtime and penalty kicks, but it seemed like Bayern played an all-around better game, even though they lost in the penalty kicks. It felt like Chelsea was just trying to kill time in the extra 30 minutes and get it to penalty kicks.

And that ridiculous miss by Bayern's Schweinsteiger off the post? I know penalty kicks are basically dumb luck, but that's about as dumb as the luck can get. No overtime system is perfect, but something's got to be better that what it practically a glorified coin flip.

In other news, Heart of Midlothian beat Hibernian 5-1 to take the Scottish Cup

*wikipedia's scottish cup*

Hmmm, tournament of scottish football teams, makes sense... tally of wins... hey, Partick Thistle won one nearly a hundred years ago, good for them... hmmm, does not include 1909 scottish cup

*clicks link for 1908-09 scottish cup*

"The Cup was not awarded in this season due to serious riots in the replay of the final between Rangers and Celtic."
Yahtzee!

[black bart]

^
Two hilarious posts Roy. I really wish we could have the benefit of your sense of humour down at the quiz on Tuesday nights, it would take some of the tension out of trying to win the roll over jackpot.

PK I agree with your assessment but you have to remember that Bayern were playing at their own stadium in front of their home crowd. Like the Barcelona game I thought Chelsea's defending was magnificent and if nothing else it shows that Germans CAN miss penalties. Well done Chelsea...I expect it will be even more expensive to go to Stanford Bridge next year (I paid £90 for two tickets last year). Also commiserations to Spurs who will now lose out on Champions League football.

[Roy Hunter]

Ah, PKMKII... Wikipedia. You've gotta love it.

Here's a good entry. Rangers went to a European Final and had a riot.

Here's another one. Rangers went to a European game and had another riot.

Here's yet another one. Slightly different, you'll notice. Celtic went to Europe, lost, and still won a Fair Play Award from UEFA. That's not to say they are blameless in the whole Old Firm business. But they are certainly the junior partners in that regard.

[PKMKII]

Interesting read on sports markets and revenues.

This chart in particular:


Obviously, it's no surprise that association football dominates the world market. But it's impressive just how much money American football makes, given that there's only one country that gives a damn about it and only one league worth mentioning. It beats baseball, and it's got the MLB plus the Japanese leagues, plus Taiwan, plus the Caribbean, plus central and south America. It wouldn't surprise me if American pro football teams have the best revenues on average for any sport at the pro level.

[black bart]

I wonder where cricket comes...I like cricket, when we're good at it. The West Indies aren't the force they used to be though which is sad.

If you ever come to the UK you will notice the idyllic vision of cricket on the village green on a summer's evening, the sound of leather on willow, the scoreboard slowly ticking over as Dingley Dell come in to bat against All-Muggleton

[PKMKII]

You're starting to see more of a following of it here, largely due to Afro-Caribbean and Indian immigrants. Not enough to support a pro league, but certainly more than there was a few decades ago.