[BC]

Cameroon, way to dsappoint.

Now, let's hope Paraguay can keep this up...

[Mikey]

22 teams have played games thru today's card.

3 of them have scored more than 1 goal.

1 of them has scored more than 2.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

Jun 14, 2010 19:55:45 GMT -5 Mikey said:

1 of them has scored more than 2.

That's like Murderer's Row or some shit.

[Deleted]

I blame the (justified) fear of mutant bees.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

If a bee comes near the players, do they flop just like they do in a game?

[Deleted]

Only the Italians.

[BC]

Portugese too

[Deleted]

Jun 15, 2010 19:30:14 GMT -5 BC said:

Portugese too

Ronaldo is a fucking pussy. Great player. Fucking pussy.

Also in that game between Portuguese and French-speaking teams, the (very cool) super-slo-mo camera replay confirmed that English is the official planetary language when a Portugal player mouthed a spirited "FUCK OFF" to the Ivorian player.



Awesome last second goal from New Zealand. Threw that group for a loop.



Brazil better not look that flat in their games against Portugal and Ivory Coast, or I think they'll be sent packing early.



And where are the fucking GOALS? That IS the point of the game, right?

[Deleted]

Vuvuzelas blamed for flus, hearing loss, stray pets

Just as the World Cup was getting underway last week, the Associated Press ran a story about vuvuzela horns that probably didn't register with most people outside of South Africa.

It does now.

These tuneless plastic horns are found to emit a sound--make that noise--equivalent to 127 decibels, according to a study issued by the hearing aid manufacturer Phonak. (If you want to hear a sound sample, click here. For the sake of comparison, Phonak noted that the sound from a drum was 122 decibels, while that of a referee's whistle came in at 121.8 decibels.

According to Phonak, "extended exposure" at 85 decibels puts a listener at risk of suffering permanent noise-induced hearing loss. Separately, a couple of researchers from the University of Pretoria, Professor James Hall and Dirk Koekemoer, found that vuvuzelas negatively affect hearing when people get exposed to the sound over a period of time.

As a football fan trying to concentrate on the games, I must confess that I find the vuvuzela to be the worst accompaniment to a sporting event since the invention of the "wave." But is the criticism going overboard? A doctor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine recently warned that the horn could also play a big part in spreading colds and flu (we're currently in the middle of South Africa's flu season).

Even the SPCA is jumping in, warning that it expects to be tending to more frightened pets who bolt their homes after hearing the vuvuzela.

So far, World Cup organizers have rejected a stadium ban on the horns. But published reports suggest that policy might change if the din--no pun intended--if the criticism keeps up.

[Deleted]

And the Swiss go ahead 1-0 on Spain early in the 2nd half on only their second shot of the match!

[Mikey]

The Swiss beat Spain in a sport that doesn't involve snow?? What the hell??

[Deleted]

They all had knives tucked into their shorts...

[Habs]

OK you soccer buffs. How do you like the world cup so far? Is the lack of goals a bad thing. Is having the 50 top players in the world only score 1 goal (as of yesterday) worry you guys? All I read is "flat performance" "lack of emotion" "boring game". Is this typical of the World Cup? i.e. a slow start?

[Deleted]

I don't know if this is typical or not, but I can say I've been pretty bored. And a lot of the games have been lopsided with the winning team only squeaking out a win (or giving up a last-second draw... I'm looking at you, Slovakia) in what should have been a landslide.

[BC]

Most international games tend to be low scoring. Teams don't play regularly and the feeling out process lasts the entire first and maybe second game. Club games in country tend to be more exciting. Also, a lot of the smaller teams (Switzerland, I'm looking at you) basically play bunker against better teams and no matter how good a team is, it's hard to score when the other team has ten guys on defense all the time. Strategy like that is making it hard for even an avid fan like me to enjoy it. I'm not watchign every game. I know who to watch and who not to watch. Avoid Switzerland and Greece, they play bunker all the time. I expect Slovenia to do the same against the US.

[Habs]

Would you prefer they come up with rules that prevent over-defensive play or are you happy that it's part of the game?

[Deleted]

I'd like to see a tournament of "experimental rules" just to see what we'd get. Maybe do away with offsides and let people cherry-pick at will. Or expanding the net a bit. Or maybe a 3-man powerplay for 5 minutes whenever a yellow card is doled out against the opposing team.

[Deleted]

Reading ESPN's GameCast of the game this morning. After the South Korean goal, one commenter posted: "Roast the dogs, South Korea's back in it!"

HAH!

[Deleted]

And Germany become the latest upset victim with a 1-0 loss to Serbia! From what I was readin gin following the GameCast on ESPN, the ref was atrocious. Klose from Germany got a red card halfway through the first half and Serbia scored shortly after.

OK I'm going into "sports silence" mode until this afternoon when I get to watch the USA/Slovenia game on the DVR. I'm hoping for something like a 5-1 rout, but I'll be happy with even a 1-0 score. Anything less than a win may prove disastrous.

[Mikey]

The good guys got screwed, folks.

Not a Montreal level screwjob, but at least WrestleMania XII level in which Bret should've been allowed to keep the Sharpshooter on Michaels after the time limit expired if the rule to go to OT was made up on the fly.

[Jack Quinn]

HA HA Suck Failure USA

[creepy]

Good gravy, that ref sucked. I thought Altidore was going to hurt him at the end of the game.

[creepy]

OMGWTF0-0

Wow.

[Deadly]

So lame.

[salmonjunkie]

Fucking robbed. Stupid ref.