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- 11/21/24
| Name: | Mihir |
|---|---|
| Location: | Sol sector |
| Member since: | February 01, 2002 |
| Last visit: | April 02, 2010 |
riffola has posted 11 links and 43 comments to SportsFilter and 1 link and 11 comments to the Locker Room.
USA World Cup ratings: rose 65 percent over the 2002 tournament. Of course a lot of that has to do with live coverage rather than crappy tape delays in 2002.
posted by riffola to soccer at 09:14 AM on June 17, 2006 - 74 comments
Schumachers to race despite tragic personal loss.: Michael and Ralf Schumacher's mother passed away last night. She was in a had been in a coma following an emergency operation. After securing the front row, the brothers rushed to be by her bedside. The brothers had flown to Cologne to visit their mother on Saturday after securing the two top spots on the grid for the San Marino race. Their mother was taken to hospital last week after collapsing, suffering from internal bleeding. Their performance under extreme pressure yesterday, and the fact that they will race today highlights just how dedicated both brothers are.
posted by riffola to other at 05:23 AM on April 20, 2003 - 6 comments
Ferrari, Schumi, and Rubens fined US$1 million for Austrian GP.: The World Motor Sport Council held that Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro were each guilty of failure to observe Article 170 of the Formula One Sporting Regulations. In other words the WMSC did decide to punish Ferrari and their drivers for their behaviour on the Austrian podium.
posted by riffola to other at 08:04 AM on June 26, 2002 - 6 comments
Germany vs. Korea Republic.: Can't wait for the final now.
posted by riffola to soccer at 09:18 AM on June 25, 2002 - 6 comments
World Cup is finally here! Senegal scores the first goal of the year against France. Good start to the cup in my opinion.
posted by riffola to soccer at 07:13 AM on May 31, 2002 - 6 comments
On the other hand the Italy vs. Czech Republic game was great. Even the ESPN2 guys were saying that Italy was playing very differently from how they normally play, very Brazil like. They only went back to their usual defensive mode after they had scored once.
posted by riffola at 06:45 PM on June 22, 2006
That second goal by Italy was just fantastic to watch. I feel bad for CZE & Nedved, I think he was great, no wonder Italy had him surrounded by 3 - 4 guys most of the time. Buffon was the man of the match in that game, he made some brilliant saves. As for the US game, in full speed that looked like a penalty but in slow mo' we found out it wasn't, but eh it happens. US needed to win and they couldn't even tie the game.
posted by riffola at 12:25 PM on June 22, 2006
Did anyone catch Alexi Lalas saying Kasey Keller was the #1 goalie at this Cup? Everyone in the SpoFi chat was laughing their butts off when we heard that. Later during the Italy match, the commentators tried to cover up for that when they mentioned that the Italian goalie is probably the second best goalie out there, and Keller "is in conversation... Maybe Top 5... Top 10... Top 5 - Top 10"
posted by riffola at 08:01 PM on June 12, 2006
What channel is airing the games in the US? Please don't say it is pay per view only. I think Italy will win the group, and USA will have to fight very hard to come in second. I'm rooting for Italy vs. Germany in the finals.
posted by riffola at 08:22 PM on December 09, 2005
Thanks for your comment ergos, while it's true that I am not professionally involved with any company that has any stake in F1, either as a manufacturer, supplier, technical sponsor, sponsor, or events management, so I guess I only see it from a fan's point of view. The thing I sort of worry about is the fate of BAR, those poor guys are already under a six month suspension, so when the FIA dishes out punishment they're most likely going to get hit the hardest.
posted by riffola at 05:21 PM on June 21, 2005
I have no qualms with Michelin saying they screwed up, and their tyres are unsafe at any speeds (especially looking at Zonta's accident), so they can not give a go ahead to their teams to race on their tyres. In fact it was brave & honourable of them to be open about that aspect of it and to put driver safety first. My problem is with the teams wanting the chicane, which I felt was just stupid since Michelin did not suggest using a chicane, their solution was having their teams drive slower through Turn 13, mostly using the apron, and with higher pressure in their tyres than normal, it was the teams that wanted a chicane. And in my opinion that's unfair to the Bridgestone teams, especially because their cars & tyres were tailored for the high speed Turn 13 - long straight aspect of this circuit. Regarding the tyres being unsafe at any speed, that was mentioned by Jarno Trulli, Peter Windsor, and if I am not terribly mistaken Christian Horner of Red Bull & Pedro De La Rosa. I think Nick Heidfeld's tyre was found to be near failure too. I agree that a tyre failure on Turn 13 is far far worse than a failure on the back straight as literally shown by the differences between Ralf & Zonta's incidents. Based on that I find it hard to believe that a chicane would've solved the issue. As for Bernie, as odd as it sounds, Bernie was doing his very best to get the FIA to budge, and find a solution, but they didn't, Bernie was pretty annoyed, it was reported by both ITV & Speed during the pre-race and race that Bernie tried to find a solution, so for once I think Bernie too was not the main reason for the race we ended up with. As much as I don't like Bernie or Tony George, the farce's blame lies on the Michelin teams. Here's how I see it in terms of blame. Michelin are guilty of screwing up and bringing a subpar tyre. Michelin teams are guilty of screwing the fans by not accepting they and their supplier made a mistake, since the teams are to blame for not picking a good tyre in testing to bring to Indy, and for not accepting a solution within the framework of the rules. They could've pitted every 10 laps and changed a tyre, as suggested by the FIA, they could've run slow through turn 13 as recommended by Michelin & the FIA, they could've used the pitlane to bypass turn 13 and fought to salvage some points as recommended by the FIA, or lastly they could've used the Barcelona tyres and accepted whatever penalty was to be had. The teams instead tried to get a chicane, and when they found out that the FIA was not going to budge, they suggested that the Bridgestone teams can take up the first three rows, and the first six points paying positions. Ferrari claim they were never asked for their opinion on the chicane, but if they were, they would be against it, but if the FIA agreed to install it, they would accept it. Ferrari Totally Innocent, Says Williams by Alan Baldwin, Reuters
Williams said the Italian team, who use Bridgestone tyres, were blameless for everything that happened at Indianapolis. "They were totally innocent in this affair entirely," Williams told Reuters. "They had no reason not to race."Also an interesting read: Dupasquier: "We Screwed Up" by Will Gray You need an Autosport-Atlas subscription to read the articles linked above.
posted by riffola at 07:05 AM on June 21, 2005
Fascinating comment ergos, although I do find it to be a bit biased towards the end, but one the whole I respect his opinion and comment. What happened on Sunday had little to do with Ferrari's position wrt to GPWC. Even Sir Frank Williams says Ferrari were totally innocent. I'd rather believe Frank Williams on this than ergos. As far as I can piece this together, Michelin were invited to test the new surface prior to the race, and they did go. At a later test in Europe, Davidson & Massa were the only two drivers present for testing tyres that they were going to take to Indy, the rest of the Michelin drivers were at Silverstone doing something else. After Ralf & Zonta's tyre failures, it was learnt that up to 9 other Michelin tyres were close to failing. It had nothing to do with a single tyre compound or running on low pressure, Jarno Trulli of Toyota said that Zonta & Ralf were running different tyre compounds with pressure within the specified margins, which was confirmed by Dupasquier, the Michelin boss for F1. The problem with the tyres was rather apparent by Saturday after Practice, and it was not until Sunday morning that the Michelin teams tried to bully the FIA into changing rules for their sake to make up for Michelin & the 7 teams' screw up. I, personally, doubt that the Michelin tyres could hold up for more than half distance even if the teams ducked into the pits every lap to avoid Turn 13 (Turn 1 in regular Indy 500). Because Zonta's accident happened on the twisty inside bits of the course. Also a few people including I believe the Red Bull team have said that Michelin were not even sure that the Barcelona tyres could handle the track, so the whole flying in a new batch of tyres was more for show than a genuine safer alternative. Switching to tyres that were not submitted to scrutineering prior to the start of the Grand Prix weekend (Practice session 1) would break at least 4 different rules of F1. Allowing that or a chicane to make up for one supplier's mistake would be grossly unfair to the teams who had done their homework and arrived prepared, and worse than a 6 car race. So what we had a TKO for the Michelin teams, and it happens, no one went out of their way to help Ferrari at Barcelona earlier this year when they had tyre troubles, no one went out of their way to help Sauber when their wings were falling off at Brazil a few years back.
posted by riffola at 04:27 AM on June 21, 2005
werty, Michael said his mother would've wanted them to race. While I personally would be in no condition to do it, but I do see why Ralf and Michael did it. When it's something your parents have spent their entire lives working on, the greatest tribute you could pay them on that day is to carry on with what they wanted you to do. Also for some people doing what they do best is a good form of expressing their pain. The first few laps of that grand prix had everyone impressed by how hard Ralf and Michael raced each other.
posted by riffola at 04:38 PM on April 21, 2003
Michael won the grand prix, and Ralf finished fourth.
posted by riffola at 08:33 AM on April 20, 2003
Sorry about that, it's almost a double post, except she passed away earlier this morning.
posted by riffola at 05:25 AM on April 20, 2003
well once I manage to log in, they seem to be having some problems right now.
posted by riffola at 12:50 AM on March 25, 2003
Beckham spills guts for England;
That Russian ref needs to be red carded and banned from International Football. Heck a lot of the refs in this Cup should be never ever used again.