You miss the point Microbob. Its interesting to watch women in athletics, or weightlifting. They have great technique etc and relative ability. Its still fun to watch since the only difference between them and the men is they will be slower/weaker. Since they are only competing against each other that hardly matters does it? And they could still kick your ass!

Now compare this to soccer where you have to watch them mis control the ball all over the place, can't shoot, can't tackle, can't head the ball, goalkeepers can't catch the ball, they generally flap all over the place dropping the ball into their own net and stuff. Don't see any clever passes, great skills etc. Its brutal to watch, like watching amateur men.

Well I'm glad you found something good in our 1-5 slaughter of a loss to Japan.

You should check out some of the women's handball teams, as well. We even have a lesbian couple on the team.

I've watched some of the women's games and I very much disagree with your characterization of it.
I've been surprised at some of the long-balls they can launch forward from the back-line, the athleticism of some of the goalies, etc.

If you don't like watching them 'flap all over the place' then don't watch. I think they are way better than you obviously believe them to be.

I don't think Canada had very good organization on some of their attacks when they were trying to come back late against Sweden down 2-1. But I liked some of their long-strikes and their really hard hustle and running the whole way through to give themselves a chance. They were dying. After 90+ minutes of running in a soccer match to suck it up for the last 5-10 minutes and really push as they did isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world.

Sweden had a chance inside the box after they got past Canada's D. The goalie went down trying to cover as much space while also reaching up and the shot just went over her hands and appeared to barely miss the far post. It all looked pretty solid to me. The attacker (who just missed the shot), the goalie's technique, everything.

It's not like they just grabbed some half-decent women's players off the street and flew them to the Olympics.

Sorry you can't appreciate the soccer for what it is...some really good stuff. They are not technically as capable of the men but I still think they can play.

All that said, I guess I hear where you're coming from overall just a soccer purist (who probably grew up never watching women play soccer): I can hardly stand to watch women's hockey for example because it just looks so much more weak than the mens' game I am used to. My issues of trying to watch the women playing hockey is probably similar to your complaints on the soccer.
For some reason I'm not so bothered by the soccer stuff though and think you are exaggerating how awful they supposedly are.

I vaguely remember that episode where they faced each other but didn't remember the results.
For some reason I thought she struck him out but I'm older and my memory sucks.

I do think the batters could catch on once they start to figure out the rise-ball a little bit.
Obviously her striking out Piazza and others (as she has done) without them ever having seen it before isn't that surprising.

It's not like the baseball players have never stepped onto a field before. The pitchers are pretty good athletes and, given a little bit of time, could become semi-competent at throwing underhand. Hell, I've seen ball-players do this stuff in their spare time when just goofing around.
They wouldn't be as spectacular as Finch just showing up obviously. But they will be able to throw it reasonably hard and I think with semi-okay control with just a little bit of practice. They'll experiment with different spins on the ball and they'll figure some of it out.

It's not like it's somebody like me showing up and trying to figure out how to pitch underhand with a big windmill wind-up like that. These guys are already used to flipping a ball and spinning it off their fingers. It's a different ball and different mechanics but their experience playing baseball actually does count for something.

Anyway, here's a link to the video of Finch vs. Bonds on TWIB from May 29, 2004. But playing the video wasn't working for me for some reason.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/video/twib/index.jsp?content=04

china is pounding america in the ass.

1 hr away, from US Nigeria soccer.

c'mon JAPAN.

Latvia made a nice comeback down by 12 or 15 or something to beat Brazil in women's hoops.

Brazil hit a 3 with 7 seconds left to lead by 1.
Latvia made a driving layup with 2.4 secs left to re-take the lead.
Brazil's desperation off-balance shot at the horn clanked out.
Really good game.

Chellsie Memmel performed uneven bars for US tonight with a broken ankle....tough girl

People have found paperwork that have show 4/6 to be underage. There is literally no doubt that they are underage. The IOC basically just says there is nothing they can do about it because they have to go with the official government issued documents. And those have been tampered to show legal ages.

It is not just speculation from looking at the girls that has brought this on.

Or there is massive confusion because Chinese newspapers in the past actually identified these gymnasts at different ages than the documents eventually provided now have.
So it appears even the Chinese can't tell their kids ages?

it is pretty funny seeing Bela go nuts over it though- and I would guess it was likely someone talked to him before his last segment tonight about not being a total ahole when commenting on the final results.

Most believe He Kexin is 12, fyi

I swear- posting pics in 4L is almost guaranteed to be an accurate measure.

yeah, so you think that what a newspaper wrote is more reliable than her actual age? do you have any evidence of documents being tampered with? if she competed in some competition designed for those under 14 that is not strong enough evidence to prove she was actually under 14 at that time. don't be a moron.

lol do you actually believe what you type? Like you don't think these girls are underage? What are you Mao's representative on 2+2?

well what you are suggesting is that state run newspapers publishing identity card information within China itself got it wrong multiple times on multiple gymnasts.

But hey it could simply be sour grapes that started prior to the Olympics about a country known to have done this in the past!

It does prove they cheated.

Maybe not necessarily now.. but certainly then.

If they are willing to cheat why not do it now?

because its the olympics at home and it would be such a scandal

dude you're letting your yellow fever get the best of you. its overwhelmingly likely that some of the girls are under 16. its pretty likely that 3 or 4 are. the evidence is that these girls signed up for events and stuff using birthdates that puts them at 12-14. these birthdates/ages were published in newspapers, etc. then after they achieved elite scores, the chinese government supplies passports saying they're 16.



Also, phelps wasn't wasted after the 200m butterfly like most people thought, his goggles filled up with water during the race and he was pissed because he thought he could get a better time. poor phelps.

who's the favorite in the US/Nigeria game?

lol, I guess Nigeria is.

well, if it was written in a Chinese newspaper its beyond reproach:

"On June 7, 2002, Reuters reported that the Beijing Evening News republished, in the international news page of its June 3 edition, translated portions of "Congress Threatens To Leave D.C. Unless New Capitol Is Built". The story discusses the U.S. Congress's threats to leave Washington for Memphis, Tennessee or Charlotte, North Carolina unless Washington, D.C. built them a new Capitol building with a retractable dome. The article is a parody of U.S. sports franchises' threats to leave their home city unless new stadiums are built for them. The Evening News is Beijing's most popular newspaper, claiming a circulation of 1.25 million.[citation needed] Evening News initially stood by the story, demanding proof of its falsity. It later retracted the article, responding that "[s]ome small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat news to trick people into noticing them with the aim of making money."

without any real evidence proving passports and documents were forged, i think it just sounds like jealous whining. the US girls team choked anyways, so its all a moot point I suppose.

That sending off was ridiculous. I hate cheating and that Nigerian was a plyacting cheating scumbag imo. Nigeria all over them now.

obv red card imo, ******ed move.

ugh wynne CENTER THE BALL AND ITS 1-0

BOOM

jesus the us team deserves better