Hang around, I say, hang around, li'l fire starters, and listen to Uncle Silas just a wee tad about romance.
(Ed: any man who takes a woman on a date to a football game on the telephone is not someone who should be dispensing advice on romance to anyone!)
How about if it turned out to be a perfectly splendid date?
(Ed: impossible. Pfft)
Well ...
There was really no way to go wrong and it wasn't me but Cat who extended the invitation so we could watch the soccer match between Germany and Italy to get into the quarter finals for the European Cup 2016. Italy has been undefeated by Germany since 1970 and she was a bit pessimistic about the chances. When she mentioned it, my thinking was, well, dream big.
Cadging a free channel to watch live coverage via Internet took some artful dodging (i.e. TunnelBear to pretend I am in Germany) but that was working just fine plus Cat and I could talk for the color commentary because there was no possible chance I could translate the German fast enough or capably enough to understand the commentators.
We were watching the game and it ran through most of the first half with no score but we were marveling at the teamwork and the incredible fitness of the players. The way all of them interact throughout their play is fascinating and maybe people blow it off as boring in the same way as with NASCAR ... oh, they just drive around in circles or these players just run up and down the field but don't even score.
You know the strategies in-play for NASCAR and it's a gas to see a soccer team which is really good in strategy and tactics. For this game there were two of them since Germany and Italy are so closely-matched. Throughout the first half, the teams were working each other, probing for any kind of weakness in the coverage. The exchanges went back and forth as it rotated from one end of the field to the other but I thought Germany was showing some advantage in working the ball.
Cat was not so convinced but she was liking their play and maybe even thinking it could be possible this game. Right about that time came a three-way move with Player 1 working the ball to the proximity of the goal, Player 2 setting up the shot, and Player 3 coming out of nowhere to fire and score.
There was a quick moment of, whoa, did it really go into the goal.
Then jubilation. Germany scores first.
From that point I thought I saw Italy collapse a bit but they didn't lose heart and they eventually answered but it was a score from a penalty kick and I don't count those as high as a score from play. They still work the same for the score but maybe I would give half a point for a penalty kick.
The game ran right through to the end with a tie score and that meant overtime.
And that was precisely the time when I ran out of time on TunnelBear and it dropped me. Time beyond a certain point must be paid but everything prior is free. So it went right up to the sudden death overtime ... and cut me off (larfs).
That didn't end the date since I was still talking with Cat via Skype and the main objective of the game wasn't the strategy and tactics of soccer but rather I wanted to hear her if Germany won. Although I couldn't see it, I could hear the sudden intake of breath when a play got tense and the excitement was really no less than when I had video.
The sudden death match ran through the one-on-one shots against the goalkeeper and that's kind of a grim way to end a team game but the rules require it must play through to a score and nothing else had worked so try this.
The one-on-one brought immense tension but, happy day, Neuer took the day for Germany and broke the spell after forty-six years. Germany wins!
There was much rejoicing. As to that view of stodgy Germans like Colonel Klink, lose that as they're dancing in the streets all over Germany right now. I saw one guy with make-up lips on his cheek in the colors of the German flag. No idea what that means but it looked cool.
Thank you, Cat, for a perfectly splendid date.
(Ed: any man who takes a woman on a date to a football game on the telephone is not someone who should be dispensing advice on romance to anyone!)
How about if it turned out to be a perfectly splendid date?
(Ed: impossible. Pfft)
Well ...
There was really no way to go wrong and it wasn't me but Cat who extended the invitation so we could watch the soccer match between Germany and Italy to get into the quarter finals for the European Cup 2016. Italy has been undefeated by Germany since 1970 and she was a bit pessimistic about the chances. When she mentioned it, my thinking was, well, dream big.
Cadging a free channel to watch live coverage via Internet took some artful dodging (i.e. TunnelBear to pretend I am in Germany) but that was working just fine plus Cat and I could talk for the color commentary because there was no possible chance I could translate the German fast enough or capably enough to understand the commentators.
We were watching the game and it ran through most of the first half with no score but we were marveling at the teamwork and the incredible fitness of the players. The way all of them interact throughout their play is fascinating and maybe people blow it off as boring in the same way as with NASCAR ... oh, they just drive around in circles or these players just run up and down the field but don't even score.
You know the strategies in-play for NASCAR and it's a gas to see a soccer team which is really good in strategy and tactics. For this game there were two of them since Germany and Italy are so closely-matched. Throughout the first half, the teams were working each other, probing for any kind of weakness in the coverage. The exchanges went back and forth as it rotated from one end of the field to the other but I thought Germany was showing some advantage in working the ball.
Cat was not so convinced but she was liking their play and maybe even thinking it could be possible this game. Right about that time came a three-way move with Player 1 working the ball to the proximity of the goal, Player 2 setting up the shot, and Player 3 coming out of nowhere to fire and score.
There was a quick moment of, whoa, did it really go into the goal.
Then jubilation. Germany scores first.
From that point I thought I saw Italy collapse a bit but they didn't lose heart and they eventually answered but it was a score from a penalty kick and I don't count those as high as a score from play. They still work the same for the score but maybe I would give half a point for a penalty kick.
The game ran right through to the end with a tie score and that meant overtime.
And that was precisely the time when I ran out of time on TunnelBear and it dropped me. Time beyond a certain point must be paid but everything prior is free. So it went right up to the sudden death overtime ... and cut me off (larfs).
That didn't end the date since I was still talking with Cat via Skype and the main objective of the game wasn't the strategy and tactics of soccer but rather I wanted to hear her if Germany won. Although I couldn't see it, I could hear the sudden intake of breath when a play got tense and the excitement was really no less than when I had video.
The sudden death match ran through the one-on-one shots against the goalkeeper and that's kind of a grim way to end a team game but the rules require it must play through to a score and nothing else had worked so try this.
The one-on-one brought immense tension but, happy day, Neuer took the day for Germany and broke the spell after forty-six years. Germany wins!
There was much rejoicing. As to that view of stodgy Germans like Colonel Klink, lose that as they're dancing in the streets all over Germany right now. I saw one guy with make-up lips on his cheek in the colors of the German flag. No idea what that means but it looked cool.
Thank you, Cat, for a perfectly splendid date.
2 comments:
Sudden death scoring in my opinion is the horses arse.
Keep playing until someone scores.
Penalty kicks are generally a result of a blatant violation in order to a score.
The game still came to the fairy tale ending but, like you say, I would much rather see it won in live play than through any procedural aspects. That three-man move for the first score was so brilliantly brilliant and it was all so smokin' fast. I was even so dodgy as to say to Cat there's so much calculus in these guys as No. 2 is passing the ball to where Player 3 will be assuming current speed. I don't know the calculus but I do know there would be some hairy maths in computing that moves the three made. It was a thing of beauty.
Post a Comment