The Ghost-Grey Cat: annoying crowd noises

Showing posts with label annoying crowd noises. Show all posts

17 November 2010

Scooter Blogging: (2) Wednesday Football


Watch. Glare. Watch.

My father and two sisters went to Texas for a family event, and (partly to care for Scooter) I decided to stay and house sit. I finished tilling the backyard garden today, and a few more small outdoor tasks remain ahead of the first winter snows. Last week, we were in shirt sleeves, but the cooling has finally begun for good.

As you can see from these pictures taken today, Scooter is just fine. She's engaged in that favorite afternoon activity, sleeping on her blanket. Here, little naps alternate with bits of today's South Africa-United States men's soccer match. The thunderous din of 51,000 vuvuzelas didn't bother her nearly as much as her dad's presence with a camera.

Likewise, Ian Darke's voice on ESPN didn't perturb The Cat of May Colors™. On the other hand, Darke has annoyed me in the past; but apparently, he's secured the post of voice of the American men's national team on U.S. TV. He didn't say anything obviously colonialist on today's ESPN broadcast, so I might actually get used to him.

The game itself ended in a 1-0 win for the U.S., but both sides were trying out new players. It felt less like an international friendly than the second half of an NFL exhibition game.

Fantasy update: Real life, abetted by schedule confusion on my part, hurt my teams this week. With the family trip coming in two days, I spent a good chunk of last Thursday helping my father get ready. By the time we were done and I had taken a nap, the Ravens-Falcons game had kicked off.

Oops. I'd forgotten about that early game.

The Fluttering Horde was to have dropped Atlanta kicker Matt Bryant, as Horde regular Rob Bironas was back from his bye week. On top of that, with no one to pass to, Peyton Manning was headed to the Horde bench in favor of Bryant's teammate, Matt Ryan.

Meanwhile, no one in the public league cared to trade for Michael Vick, so maybe he'd start for the Middlemen this week. Why not? Vick was up against Washington, while Middlemen regular Joe Flacco faced the Falcons.

Neither substitution went through. Thursday night was too late.

The Horde did just fine. My permanent receiver corps racked up 60 points, including Mike Thomas's hail-Mary touchdown, and despite missing Ryan's best performance of the year, the Horde defeated the Southside Hitmen, 121-106. At 6-4 in a two-division league, the Horde is likely headed to the playoffs.

The Middlemen? Not so much. Vick was the 'I win' card, breaking fantasy-football records, but he was still on my bench. In a bizarre match that also saw both sides reduced to eight men, the Middlemen fell 110-100 to the Dallas Drunks. Their 6-4 record is still good for a playoff spot, but it's the last one. Aaarrrrrgh.

11 July 2010

Can we deport Ian Darke already?

Presented for your approval: Luis Suárez, Uruguayan striker and, as of this World Cup, The Most Despised Man in Africa. Commentators have rightly noted that, unseemly as it was, the hand ball against Ghana was perfectly legal. No right-thinking field player in Suárez's impossible position (not even in Africa) would have hesitated to at least attempt what he did. As it was, the red card he earned, also rightly, will go down as one of the greatest personal sacrifices in soccer history.

At the same time, though, I saw was nothing wrong with African fans constantly showering him with boos, as they did in Satuday's third-place match against Germany. It wasn't as though in the first round, prior to That Hand Ball, a despicable Suárez dive hadn't tricked the referee into ejecting South Africa keeper Itumelng Khune. Hell, that flop would have embarrassed Vlade Divac.

Which brings me to Ian Darke, who covered, among others, the USA World Cup matches for American TV. I found him tolerable to watch until he went off on the South African fans for booing Súarez. "Disgreaceful"? "A lack of understanding of the game"? He meant to insult Africans with teabagger-worthy phrases like those, but all Darke really did was describe himself. Perhaps he should get out of England more. In the rest of the world, singling specific players out for jeering is a time-honored tradition. It's reserved for players who've committed egregious offenses against the home team. (That means you, Chris Pronger, bane of all right-thinking NHL fans.) Whatever else he did, Luis Suárez surely fit that profile. The other fact Darke missed with his proto-colonialist missives was the fact that no human can simultaneously (a) boo Suárez and (b) blow on a damned vuvuzela. That, of course, was a favor for everyone but Darke.

ESPN dramatically improved its World Cup coverage, finally giving the event the respect it deserves. Heck, apart from Darke, it even made it safe to watch English-language soccer telecasts in North America. But while they're washing off all the Gulf Coast oil from the punking they took from LeBron (the Impostor) James this week, perhaps ESPN executives can take a little time to hand Ian Darke a red card.

Obligatory comment on the games: There wasn't a lot to say about the semifinals. The Netherlands' win over Uruguay was no surprise, nor Spain's victory over a German squad that definitely missed Thomas Müller. The real surprise was that, though shut down on Wednesday night, it was der Mannschaft, not the Brazilians, who played the prettiest football of the tournament. (Sure, England and Argentina helped, but still... .)

Regarding tomorrow's final: as the U.S. team constantly allowed fatal early goals, the Netherlands have allowed silly goals late. Spain will see to it that that will undo the Dutch, probably in the 84th minute or so.