I will also have to re-think my support of Fifa's stand on video-evidence, after my embedded video clip of the Argentine -off-sides goal was blocked, because it contained content that belonged to the Association. Boo.
Enjoy the rest.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Rest Days
Off until Friday, when we will discuss Fifa, geography and rank (space and power) during the Quarter-Finals.
I will also have to re-think my support of Fifa's stand on video-evidence, after my embedded video clip of the Argentine -off-sides goal was blocked, because it contained content that belonged to the Association. Boo.
Enjoy the rest.
I will also have to re-think my support of Fifa's stand on video-evidence, after my embedded video clip of the Argentine -off-sides goal was blocked, because it contained content that belonged to the Association. Boo.
Enjoy the rest.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Bad calls are a part of life
As expected, The Netherlands and Brazil won easily in Monday’s matches. Tuesday’s games could be more interesting. Paraguay and Japan play first (10AM Eastern Time) followed by Spain and Portugal at 2:30PM.
The really hot stuff happens this weekend, when four of the strongest teams face off in the Quarter-Finals. Holland plays Brazil (gasp) and Argentina plays Germany.
Most of the Cup-Commentary since yesterday has focused on two calls (or lack thereof) by the referees, each of which influenced the goal counts –but in my opinion failed to influence the outcome of the games.
The first was a shot by England that appeared, from our God’s Eye View (i.e. ESPN) to bounce off the crossbar, land inside the goal, bounce up again against the cross bar, land outside the goal where it was caught by the German goalkeeper.
The second questionable call—rather lack of a call---was the failure to find the Argentine player off-sides, and therefore allowing this goal:
Germany beat England 4-1, and Argentina beat Mexico 3-1, so in each case the call, or lack thereof, failed to influence the outcome of the game. Let’s face it: the best team won each match.
There’s a larger debate concerning the use of video as evidence to review calls. In the war crimes courts I study, photography, video, and satellite imagery are quite often used as evidence, and just as often the ‘truths’ told are contested. Judges and expert witnesses carefully consider the interpretations prosecutors and defendants make of images presented as evidence. In a war crimes trial, it is appropriate to take the time to study the photographic images very carefully before determining what actually happened.
I agree with Fifa (shocking!) that the sport is best served by relying on the referees’ judgment on the pitch, so that the play can go on.
As in real life, sometimes we suffer a bad judgment call. It’s all part of the game.
The really hot stuff happens this weekend, when four of the strongest teams face off in the Quarter-Finals. Holland plays Brazil (gasp) and Argentina plays Germany.
Most of the Cup-Commentary since yesterday has focused on two calls (or lack thereof) by the referees, each of which influenced the goal counts –but in my opinion failed to influence the outcome of the games.
The first was a shot by England that appeared, from our God’s Eye View (i.e. ESPN) to bounce off the crossbar, land inside the goal, bounce up again against the cross bar, land outside the goal where it was caught by the German goalkeeper.
The second questionable call—rather lack of a call---was the failure to find the Argentine player off-sides, and therefore allowing this goal:
Germany beat England 4-1, and Argentina beat Mexico 3-1, so in each case the call, or lack thereof, failed to influence the outcome of the game. Let’s face it: the best team won each match.
There’s a larger debate concerning the use of video as evidence to review calls. In the war crimes courts I study, photography, video, and satellite imagery are quite often used as evidence, and just as often the ‘truths’ told are contested. Judges and expert witnesses carefully consider the interpretations prosecutors and defendants make of images presented as evidence. In a war crimes trial, it is appropriate to take the time to study the photographic images very carefully before determining what actually happened.
I agree with Fifa (shocking!) that the sport is best served by relying on the referees’ judgment on the pitch, so that the play can go on.
As in real life, sometimes we suffer a bad judgment call. It’s all part of the game.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Blowouts
This coming week provides some relief on the World Cup vs. Real Life balance.
The next few games should be blow-outs like today’s Germany/England (4-1) game, or at least clear victories like Argentina’s 3-1 win over Mexico.
On Monday, you can go back to work and follow the matches out of the corner of your eye online. The Netherlands should dispose of Slovakia (10AM--ESPN gives the Dutch 89.6% chance of winning), and Brazil should defeat Chile (2:30PM).
Tuesday’s matches look good. Paraguay and Japan play first (10AM Eastern Time) followed by Spain and Portugal at 2:30Pm. Wednesday and Thursday are rest days. The Quarter Finals are Friday July 2nd and Saturday July 3rd, followed by two more rest days, allowing for time to ease back into regular schedules.
The rest days will allow for some time to work on certain questions that have been pestering me as I explore the geography of the 2010 World Cup.
1) Gender Apartheid. Where are the women? All I’ve seen are female fans. Occasionally young girls appear as part of the kid’s parade for the teams’ entrances and anthems. Granted, my observations are critically influenced by the fact that ESPN is my main access to the games. But all (but one) of the announcers have been male. So are the commentators, the referees, and the coaching staff. As far as I can tell, the bodies underneath the bulky Fifa Vests of the stretcher crews have been male. What’s up with that? Given that the 2010 is arguably the most extensive global event ever, where are the women? Can the World Cup be 99.9% male and still be considered ‘global’?
2) Public Patriots and Private Players. What is the relationship between the national teams and the private clubs? Do the players get paid to play (and train) for the national teams, and if so how much, and how much in relation to the salaries of the private clubs? My hunch is that both the public and private sector are heavily inter-dependent, meaning the national teams rely on the functioning of the private sector and vice-versa. Rather than existing in separate, contrasting domains, the public and the private are mutually-constituted.
3) FIFA and RSA. I’ve heard reports that the South African government invested more than 3 Billion dollars to host the tournament, but that Fifa stands to reap the billions in profit. WTF?
The next few games should be blow-outs like today’s Germany/England (4-1) game, or at least clear victories like Argentina’s 3-1 win over Mexico.
On Monday, you can go back to work and follow the matches out of the corner of your eye online. The Netherlands should dispose of Slovakia (10AM--ESPN gives the Dutch 89.6% chance of winning), and Brazil should defeat Chile (2:30PM).
Tuesday’s matches look good. Paraguay and Japan play first (10AM Eastern Time) followed by Spain and Portugal at 2:30Pm. Wednesday and Thursday are rest days. The Quarter Finals are Friday July 2nd and Saturday July 3rd, followed by two more rest days, allowing for time to ease back into regular schedules.
The rest days will allow for some time to work on certain questions that have been pestering me as I explore the geography of the 2010 World Cup.
1) Gender Apartheid. Where are the women? All I’ve seen are female fans. Occasionally young girls appear as part of the kid’s parade for the teams’ entrances and anthems. Granted, my observations are critically influenced by the fact that ESPN is my main access to the games. But all (but one) of the announcers have been male. So are the commentators, the referees, and the coaching staff. As far as I can tell, the bodies underneath the bulky Fifa Vests of the stretcher crews have been male. What’s up with that? Given that the 2010 is arguably the most extensive global event ever, where are the women? Can the World Cup be 99.9% male and still be considered ‘global’?
2) Public Patriots and Private Players. What is the relationship between the national teams and the private clubs? Do the players get paid to play (and train) for the national teams, and if so how much, and how much in relation to the salaries of the private clubs? My hunch is that both the public and private sector are heavily inter-dependent, meaning the national teams rely on the functioning of the private sector and vice-versa. Rather than existing in separate, contrasting domains, the public and the private are mutually-constituted.
3) FIFA and RSA. I’ve heard reports that the South African government invested more than 3 Billion dollars to host the tournament, but that Fifa stands to reap the billions in profit. WTF?
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Brackets and knock-outs
This next phase of the tournament, the Round of 16, is the first knock-out round. We are done with ties. In the event of a draw, two 15 minutes additional periods are played. If the teams remain tied, the match is decided by a shoot-out of penalty kicks.
Group winners will play against runners-up from another group, for example Winner Group C versus Runner-up Group D (USA v. Ghana). The winners will advance to play teams on their side of the ‘bracket.’ The defeated team is out of the World Cup.
There are two sides in the bracket; eight teams each. The biggest issue is how to get past Brazil on one side of the bracket, and Germany and Argentina on the other.
On the ‘Left’ side (at least as my pdf prints) is:
Uruguay
South Korea (now eliminated)
USA
Ghana
The Netherlands
Slovakia
Brazil
Chile
Eight teams on the 'Right' side:
Argentina
Mexico
Germany
England
Paraguay
Japan
Spain
Portugal
or print out your own copy:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/bracket?cc=5901&ver=us
Remember:
Sunday, June 27th
10AM, Germany v. England
2:30PM, Argentina v. Mexico
The schedule for your working week:
Monday, June 28th:
10AM Netherlands v. Slovakia
2:30 PM Brazil v. Chile
Tuesday, June 29th:
10AM Paraguay v. Japan
2:30 PM Spain v. Portugal
Group winners will play against runners-up from another group, for example Winner Group C versus Runner-up Group D (USA v. Ghana). The winners will advance to play teams on their side of the ‘bracket.’ The defeated team is out of the World Cup.
There are two sides in the bracket; eight teams each. The biggest issue is how to get past Brazil on one side of the bracket, and Germany and Argentina on the other.
On the ‘Left’ side (at least as my pdf prints) is:
Uruguay
South Korea (now eliminated)
USA
Ghana
The Netherlands
Slovakia
Brazil
Chile
Eight teams on the 'Right' side:
Argentina
Mexico
Germany
England
Paraguay
Japan
Spain
Portugal
or print out your own copy:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/bracket?cc=5901&ver=us
Remember:
Sunday, June 27th
10AM, Germany v. England
2:30PM, Argentina v. Mexico
The schedule for your working week:
Monday, June 28th:
10AM Netherlands v. Slovakia
2:30 PM Brazil v. Chile
Tuesday, June 29th:
10AM Paraguay v. Japan
2:30 PM Spain v. Portugal
The Fog of Futbol
Friday’s final day of group play was anti-climatic after such an exciting week. Brazil and Portugal settled with their draw, 0-0 (yawn), which puts them both through to the Round of 16. They seemed to have come to a gentleman’s agreement to hold back. Although the Ivory Coast beat North Korea (which was out of reach of advancement anyway), the 3-0 victory failed to move the team forward. Chile and Spain seemed to have settled their differences by the 55th minute and just played to finish (like the Brazil/Portugal game). Chile did well with ten players after an ambiguous red-card, and the Portuguese racked up numerous yellow cards as well which could hurt next week.
The Schadenfreude inspired by the upset of 2006 World Cup Champions (Italy) and the 2nd place team (France), provided a boast, but now the tournament is in a bit of a funk. Maybe it is just that last day of marginal play. Maybe it is just the result of watching too much TV in general and ESPN in particular.
The Fog of Futbal has been a huge distraction from other things, like work, family problems and the really bad news around the world. It is like TV and Sport combine into a Marx/Chomsky cocktail of opium and the manufacture of passivity/consent. Televised sports are what we have so we can feel sorry for millionaire idols when they lose. Maybe that’s why newspapers and magazines advertise Angela and Brad’s divorce with such glee---we feel good, feeling sorry for the elite.
We can occupy ourselves with how much the rich, famous and athletic are suffering as a way to avoid all this bad news, for example;
1) From June 26th New York Times:
WASHINGTON — Stymied by political opposition and focused on competing priorities, the Obama administration has sidelined efforts to close the Guantánamo prison, making it unlikely that President Obama will fulfill his promise to close it before his term ends in 2013.
2) Juan Cole on www.juancole.com shares:
3) And of course the Permanent War(s).
The Schadenfreude inspired by the upset of 2006 World Cup Champions (Italy) and the 2nd place team (France), provided a boast, but now the tournament is in a bit of a funk. Maybe it is just that last day of marginal play. Maybe it is just the result of watching too much TV in general and ESPN in particular.
The Fog of Futbal has been a huge distraction from other things, like work, family problems and the really bad news around the world. It is like TV and Sport combine into a Marx/Chomsky cocktail of opium and the manufacture of passivity/consent. Televised sports are what we have so we can feel sorry for millionaire idols when they lose. Maybe that’s why newspapers and magazines advertise Angela and Brad’s divorce with such glee---we feel good, feeling sorry for the elite.
We can occupy ourselves with how much the rich, famous and athletic are suffering as a way to avoid all this bad news, for example;
1) From June 26th New York Times:
WASHINGTON — Stymied by political opposition and focused on competing priorities, the Obama administration has sidelined efforts to close the Guantánamo prison, making it unlikely that President Obama will fulfill his promise to close it before his term ends in 2013.
2) Juan Cole on www.juancole.com shares:
3) And of course the Permanent War(s).
Friday, June 25, 2010
'African' World Cup
As usual The Daily Show does it best.
Here's the spoof on the 'African' Cup theme:
The other global sporting event that invades our household (and has justified the cable tv) is the Dakar Rally, an off road vehicle race.
"The Dakar" originally began in Paris, France and ended in Dakar, Senegal. Here is an image of the traditional route, as run in 2007:
Due to security concerns the 2008 Dakar was cancelled. In 2009, the event moved to Argentina/Chile, but persisted in calling itself "The Dakar."
Despite shifting to another continent, the sponsors stuck with the 'Dakar' name, the same tasteless logo of a head-statue wrapped in some generic ethnic cloth, and the annoying indigenous-esque font.
Images stolen from www.dakar.com, the official site of the rally.
Here's the spoof on the 'African' Cup theme:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| World Cup 2010: Into Africa - Goal Diggers | ||||
| ||||
The other global sporting event that invades our household (and has justified the cable tv) is the Dakar Rally, an off road vehicle race.
"The Dakar" originally began in Paris, France and ended in Dakar, Senegal. Here is an image of the traditional route, as run in 2007:
Due to security concerns the 2008 Dakar was cancelled. In 2009, the event moved to Argentina/Chile, but persisted in calling itself "The Dakar."
Despite shifting to another continent, the sponsors stuck with the 'Dakar' name, the same tasteless logo of a head-statue wrapped in some generic ethnic cloth, and the annoying indigenous-esque font.
Images stolen from www.dakar.com, the official site of the rally.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Italians follow the French home, the Dutch look golden
The only way things could look better for the Dutch is if Portugal manages to beat Brazil on Friday. If Portugal nudges Brazil into the G2 position, it could give The Netherlands the most advantageous route toward the final game.
In the event that Portugal leads group G, the tournament’s heavy-hitters (Brazil, Germany, Spain and Argentina) could end up playing/eliminating each other on the way to the final. The team that emerges from a Spanish/Brazilian/German/Argentina battle would probably be pretty wiped out by the time it came up against The Netherlands on July 11th. Hup Holland!
Here’s the schedule and permutations for the last day of Group play on Friday, June 25th:
10AM
Brazil v. Portugal
North Korea v. Ivory Coast
2:30PM
Spain v. Chile
Switzerland v. Honduras
I’d recommend the first game listed given the scenarios:
GROUP G
Brazil has advanced. Wins group with: (A) Win or tie versus Portugal
Portugal advances with: (A) Win or tie versus Brazil (B) Loss IF Ivory Coast does not win AND make up goal difference
Ivory Coast advances with: (A) Win versus North Korea AND Portugal loss AND make up goal difference
North Korea has been eliminated.
GROUP H
Chile advances with: (A) Win or tie versus Spain (also wins group) (B) Loss and Switzerland tie or loss (C) Loss and Switzerland win and maintain tiebreakers over Switzerland
Spain advances with: (A) Win versus Chile (B) Tie and Switzerland tie or loss (C) Loss and Honduras win and maintain tiebreakers over Switzerland and Honduras
Switzerland advances with: (A) Win and Spain tie or loss (B) Win and Spain win and make up tiebreakers on Chile (C) Tie and Spain loss (D) Loss and Spain loss and hold tiebreakers over Spain and Honduras
Honduras advances with: (A) Win and Chile win and make up tiebreakers on Spain and Switzerland
++++++++++++++
The schedule for the weekend is all set;
Saturday, June 26th:
10AM Uruguay v. South Korea
2:30PM USA v. Ghana
Sunday, June 27th:
10AM Germany v. England
2:30PM Argentina v. Mexico
We’ll have Monday June 28th and Tuesday June 29th all figured out by tomorrow afternoon.
Although the excitement mounts between now and the July 11th final, there will be far fewer games to play (so fans can keep up with the tournament AND perhaps get something else done).
There are TWO REST DAYS (for you, me and the players) on June 30th and July 1st.
There are TWO GAMES on both July 2nd and July 3rd (the quarter-finals).
There are TWO MORE REST DAYS July 4th and 5th.
There is ONE GAME on both July 6 and 7th—the semi-finals.
There are TWO MORE REST DAYS July 8th and 9th (I usually experience withdrawal at this point in the tournament, compounded by the fact that all the work I have neglected since June 11th will pester.)
There is one game on Saturday, July 10th—for third place.
The Final is July 11th!
Then it is back to work, or for me, on to Istanbul.
In the event that Portugal leads group G, the tournament’s heavy-hitters (Brazil, Germany, Spain and Argentina) could end up playing/eliminating each other on the way to the final. The team that emerges from a Spanish/Brazilian/German/Argentina battle would probably be pretty wiped out by the time it came up against The Netherlands on July 11th. Hup Holland!
Here’s the schedule and permutations for the last day of Group play on Friday, June 25th:
10AM
Brazil v. Portugal
North Korea v. Ivory Coast
2:30PM
Spain v. Chile
Switzerland v. Honduras
I’d recommend the first game listed given the scenarios:
GROUP G
Brazil has advanced. Wins group with: (A) Win or tie versus Portugal
Portugal advances with: (A) Win or tie versus Brazil (B) Loss IF Ivory Coast does not win AND make up goal difference
Ivory Coast advances with: (A) Win versus North Korea AND Portugal loss AND make up goal difference
North Korea has been eliminated.
GROUP H
Chile advances with: (A) Win or tie versus Spain (also wins group) (B) Loss and Switzerland tie or loss (C) Loss and Switzerland win and maintain tiebreakers over Switzerland
Spain advances with: (A) Win versus Chile (B) Tie and Switzerland tie or loss (C) Loss and Honduras win and maintain tiebreakers over Switzerland and Honduras
Switzerland advances with: (A) Win and Spain tie or loss (B) Win and Spain win and make up tiebreakers on Chile (C) Tie and Spain loss (D) Loss and Spain loss and hold tiebreakers over Spain and Honduras
Honduras advances with: (A) Win and Chile win and make up tiebreakers on Spain and Switzerland
++++++++++++++
The schedule for the weekend is all set;
Saturday, June 26th:
10AM Uruguay v. South Korea
2:30PM USA v. Ghana
Sunday, June 27th:
10AM Germany v. England
2:30PM Argentina v. Mexico
We’ll have Monday June 28th and Tuesday June 29th all figured out by tomorrow afternoon.
Although the excitement mounts between now and the July 11th final, there will be far fewer games to play (so fans can keep up with the tournament AND perhaps get something else done).
There are TWO REST DAYS (for you, me and the players) on June 30th and July 1st.
There are TWO GAMES on both July 2nd and July 3rd (the quarter-finals).
There are TWO MORE REST DAYS July 4th and 5th.
There is ONE GAME on both July 6 and 7th—the semi-finals.
There are TWO MORE REST DAYS July 8th and 9th (I usually experience withdrawal at this point in the tournament, compounded by the fact that all the work I have neglected since June 11th will pester.)
There is one game on Saturday, July 10th—for third place.
The Final is July 11th!
Then it is back to work, or for me, on to Istanbul.
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