SirFozzie
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Posts posted by SirFozzie
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It's... er... funky on the women's side. Great Britain is guaranteed a semi-final spot if they win against Denmark. Even if they lose, they're likely in. How likely? The BBC Olympics Live Blog just posted this:
If they beat Denmark at 15:06 GMT, they're through in third place. If they lose and Japan lose, they're still through. And if they lose and Japan win, they enter into elimination matches on Tuesday which would be between GB, Japan and the winner of China v Switzerland. And breathe. I'll put the abacus away now (....) According to the World Curling Federation, Great Britain will progress to the semi-finals in 14 of the possible 16 remaining scenarios regardless of the result against Denmark after Japan beat China 8-3....
On the men's side: Great Britain beats China, they'll guarantee at least a tie for 3rd. (China, GB and possibly Norway depending on their result against Pants, I mean Denmark) would all be 6-3, requiring a 3 team playoff for two semifinal places. If they win, and Norway loses, they're in, if they both lose, Norway and Great Britain will playoff for the final semi final place)
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In Test Match news: Yesterday. New Zealand just wanted to survive the third day, they were 94-5, still 152 runs behind, and facing an innings defeat to India. Thanks to some tenacious batting from McCullum (281*), Watling (124) and Neesham (96), New Zealand has scored 477 runs for the loss of a single wicket. McCullum could be the first New Zealand cricketer to score 300. Remarkably, for a game that looked like an India win, it begins to look like New Zealand are the only team with a chance to win now.,
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yeah, I was going to ask if players on the restricted list counted towards luxury tax and the like
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Yes, the Grizzlies did another wrestling bit as part of their halftime entertainment.. when the music started, I half expected the Sandman to come out and singapore cane the Wizards fan.. but they decided to powerbomb him through a table instead.
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Ok, if I'm up at 9:45 am on a Sunday, I'm going to inflict my madness on all of you.
As most of you know, I'm a fairly new cricket aficionado. I am also came to it from a non-traditional manner.. My family is not an expatriate family from one of the major nations who play the sport.. nor does my work environment obsess about the sport (which is two of the major ways that folks get pulled into the sport here in the US)
I started as a night owl worker.. trust me, when you're working 2-10 am and NOTHING IS GOING ON, you're willing to watch ANY sport, no matter what, as long as its live. For me, it was the 2004 (I think) Ashes series from Australia. Despite the fact that the sport has a number of archaic rules (try to explain the LBW rule and it's various sub-rules.. for example "Oh, he can't be out LBW, as that ball pitched outside leg..."... and wait for the completely blank stare you get).. I found something interesting in the sport. Perhaps it was the fact it was the perfect sport to have on while you did real work or whatever. But it was something calming...
Oh wait. Did I say calming?
Obviously, this was the age BIPL (before the Indian Premier League).
Twenty20 cricket has as much to do with real cricket as Home Run Derby has to do with Baseball. The purists raise their nose and sniff in derision at the very mention of it.. but there's no doubt that it took the sport away from the era of cucumber sandwiches and "stiff upper lips" to the era of rock stars and the "modern experience". You decide if it's better or for worse.
But, we come back to India, and how seriously they take cricket.
Whenever there's a popular sport, there's celebrities that play it. For example, the Celebrity Games that happen in Baseball and Basketball as part of their all star weekends. Or, if you're like me, and getting, experienced (a better word than old), the old MTV Rock and Jock games..
Needless to say, the games in question are more a giant in-joke then serious competition.
So, obviously, India has celebrities play cricket, but the games must be even more hit and giggle then Twenty20 already is, right? Nope.
I give you, the Celebrity Cricket League!
The League features eight teams made up of movie stars from eight different regions of Indian moviemaking.
And they take it seriously. They keep stats just like they do for the real players. They'll mention "That's the first 50 for him".
That's not to say there isn't moments of hilarity.. there's plenty.. after all these are not professional cricket players, so you'll see plenty of swings and misses, or near collisions in the field.. not to mention that one of the teams is named the Bhojpuri Dabanggs.
Yes, the Dabanggs.
What's a Dabangg?
It's a cop action movie (and sequel) that's big in Indian Cinema.
So, rooting for the Bhojpuri Dabanggs is like.. I dunno.. rooting for the San Francisco Dirty Harrys.
Most of the commentary on WillowTV (america's #1 source of cricket) is in a language other than English, so other than some loan words from english (stuff like Strike Rate, Semi-finals, etcetera) it's sometimes hard to understand.
That's ok. Cricket is a universal language. Even bad cricket.
But it's a hell of a lot more serious than Rock and Jock.
Thank god.
edit: Oh cool, the CCL puts their games on YouTube:
FEAR THE DABANGGS!
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Best moment of the Olympics so far:Irish skeleton slider loses control, hits the wall, gets thrown a bit airborne and off the sled, but while CONTINUING TO SLIDE DOWN THE TRACK, wrestles the sled back underneath him and finishes the run.
(PS: ow)
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So, watching my Fox Soccer Plus, they have an ad in heavy rotation for the new season of Ali G ... which is funny because they keep doing the "Booyaka Booyaka" song, and I always turn and like "Why is Rey Mysterio on a Soccer channel?"
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We got porn star snow (8-10" ) last one, and another 5-8" tommororw.. I'm ready for spring.
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Yeah, the claws and big guns are coming out in the mind games in the EPL Title Race.
Wenger says that the other title chasing managers are playing down their chances because they do not want to be seen as failing if they don't win the title.
Mourinho takes that argument to the logical end... calls Wenger a "specialist in failure"
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Nothing like a fine book (ie, a book of players being fined for breaking Offensive Line rules) where you repeatedly call someone a pussy.(oh, and Icognito knew this was damning.. when he first got suspended he texted another player and begged them to destroy the evidence. They didn't.)Then again, considering the lack of success from the Dolphins O-line last year, I'm not surprised they got..(puts on sunglasses, CSI style)caught holding.
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Well those damned Norwegians don't play real sports, they just ski. We need to find a way to beat those evil bastards somehow.
Not to mention the damn Netherlands and their evil speed skating army (I saw a story about a famous Netherlands skating tournament that's still the most popular in all the land, despite the fact that the conditions have to be so perfect for it to happen, it hasn't happened since 1997!!)
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USA do something that's only been done twice before in US Winter Olympic History..
They sweep the podium in Skiing Slopestyle! (other times it's been done: 1956 men's figure skating and 2002 men's halfpipe snowboarding)
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Oh, Team Luge is on today. That should be awesome (as you cross the finishline, you have to sit up and hit a touch pad to open the gate to allow the next luger to go.. miss the touch pad and your team is DONE. No pressure eh?
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Great Britain win on the final shot this time
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File under: "Da Fuq?"A 17 year old Cameroonian playing for Lazio has been forced to issue a statement denying that he lied about his age. (he had supposedly made a statement to an african website that he was really 41)www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26162408
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Gotta love the trogolodytes over at the ESPN comments.
On an article about the USA (spoiler)
winning gold and bronze in the women's snowboard halfpipe
"All of our golds have been won in stoner events and our political statement is standing up for homosexulatiy. Wow. What a nation."
I told them that he was a dinosaur, and just like the dinosaur, he was soon to be extinct.
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Great Britain goes for the miracle shot for the win (instead of going for the extra end).. and it fails. Canada wins 9-6.
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Great Britain currently sitting 3 in the 10th end, down 8-6 to Canada. Three Stones left each. A bit of nerves for Canada.
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US Women 0-4.
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Which is good, because it looks like the US Women are about to lose. (down 5-3 in the ninth end, even if USA scores 2, China will have the hammer for the final end)
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and as for the Bagpipe thing, one of the players (the Skip) I believe is apparently the Best Scotswomen ever.. she's a curler, a golfer, and plays her teammates out on the ice with the bagpipes.
http://mattenglish.kinja.com/a-haters-guide-to-olympic-curling-sochi-2014-1518596416
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You may want to watch tonight: Women's Downhill Spoiler
The first ever time that there's a TIE FOR THE GOLD MEDAL, as Switzerland's Dominique Gisin and Slovenia's Tina Maze have the exact same time (down to the hundredth of a second).. so they both win gold!
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Shaun White finishes fourth. Haters having a big ole bowl of Schaden-Fruity Pebbles
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(warning, if you do not wish to read a Foz rant, please move on to next post. Thank you for your compliance)
You got to love medical bureaucracy.
And by love, I mean absolutely loathe.
As some of you might know..I suffer from Sleep Apnea.. where my breathing stops during sleep due to closed nasal passages. This causes the body to shift and attempt to shock itself into wakening to get oxygen into the system. This means I don't get good sleep, as the body is constantly fighting to get into the deeper stages of sleep
In my case, when I did an in home sleep study, it was determined I stopped breathing 12-72 times an hour, and had 85% oxygen in the system.
So, I got a CPAP machine, and I'm going to live happily (and sleepily) ever after right?
Nope. And the medical bureaucracies are to blame.
First, the CPAP machine and mask they gave me did not work. Since I sleep on my stomach, they gave me a nose mask (forces air into the nose to keep the nasal passages open). However, because I'm used to breathing through my mouth, this means I end up "swallowing" a bunch of air, which goes down the wrong pipe, and causes a condition called aerophagia, as the air distends the stomach. Painful, and counterproductive to the goal of getting good sleep.
So, when I called the doctor, he stated that he would prefer an in-house sleep study, not only to find a mask that will better fit my issues to eliminate the aerophagia, but to find the right pressure for me (right now, I'm using a wide value of pressures (5-15).
So, that was a week ago that he put in the order for the sleep study. I hadn't heard anything from them since, until today.
Today, I get a call from the company he put the sleep study into (they have a partnership with the hospital where I met my doctor).. they let me know they are waiting for a pre-authorization from my health care company. This is frustrating enough, so I call my healthcare company, and after being on hold 15 minutes, explain the situation to them and ask if there's anything I can do to expedite the situation.
No, I can't, they say, because the company who does authorization for sleep care studies for my health care provider needs to work with the company who does the sleep studies to get all the i's dotted and t's crossed.
So a company that works for the company needs to authorize a company that works for the hospital to get anything done.
Meanwhile, I can't use the CPAP machine, and I'm worried that the insurance company will use it as an excuse to take it back (I'm not considered compliant unless I use it 21 days a month at least four hours a day).
So in short, I'm stuck in multiple layers of medical bureaucracy and can't find my own way out.
Says something about the healthcare system we have, don't it?
The Aussie Rules 2014 Thread
in SPORTS
Posted
Yeah, I start all the threads for the weirdo sports..
It's a gift.
The preseason cup (NAB Challenge) are on Fox Soccer Plus, and the season starts next month (probably with games on Fox Sports 2 and FS+ (I sadly do not get FS2 yet). But DEAN will be happy.