12/21/24
July 15, 2010
SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Those are awesome, but I'm still pissed he bought those at my grandmother's estate auction. We were going to have them framed. Thankfully he didn't notice the matching jacket.
posted by yerfatma at 09:25 AM on July 15, 2010
Mark Renshaw thrown out of Tour de France for trying to headbutt Julian Deane during the sprint finish of today's stage.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 01:38 PM on July 15, 2010
Video of Renshaw's loaf, and Cav's reaction.
Declassifying him was a no-brainer; DSQ is a tougher call, though I understand the race's thinking. Renshaw's paid to take one for the team, so the only real punishment is to deprive Cav of his leadout man. There's half an argument that sneaky elbows and leans and dangerous blocking are tacitly part of any bunch sprint, and the head stuff wasn't even the most dangerous thing he did in that sprint, but you can't expect to get away with something that visible to the cameras.
posted by etagloh at 02:12 PM on July 15, 2010
Emile Heskey has withdrawn from international competition.
posted by yerfatma at 03:00 PM on July 15, 2010
I've just watched the highlights show on ITV4 and would agree with Boardman's (re)assessment: the "headbutts" were in reaction to getting forced towards the barriers and not wanting to take his hands off the handlebars (not least because that's against the rules too) to nudge Julian Deane back onto his own line, but the "carve up" of Ferire was clearly deliberate (Renshaw had a look over his shoulder before he did it) and far more dangerous.
All that said, throwing him out of the Tour altogether seems pretty harsh in a way, but in another way, considering the damage he might have caused if he'd pushed Ferire all the way into the barrier, I suppose the organisers were left with little choice.
posted by JJ at 03:06 PM on July 15, 2010
Emile Heskey has withdrawn from international competition.
I want some credit as a Northern Irishman for the joke I'm not making right now.
posted by JJ at 03:06 PM on July 15, 2010
Now with that pedestrian LeBron business concluded, the real deals are underway.
James has reportedly been able to "pry" Ilgauskas the human squid away from Cleveland to join him in Miami. James' powers as a dealmaker know no bounds, evidently. Maybe Ilgauskas will trade in his Rust Belt translucence for a classic Dan Majerle deep tan look.
Speaking of Phoenix, the Raptors dealt Turkoglu there for a super sub and a reserve. Losing Bosh and dealing Hedo for spare parts could be the opening salvos by the Raptors in their bid to leave the NBA and become the second Toronto-area franchise in the NHL.
Oh, and journeyman Miller to Miami as well. The man who broke Butler's heart in the NCAA some years back. Haslem and Riley somehow got that deal done without calling upon James' mystical prowess.
posted by beaverboard at 03:18 PM on July 15, 2010
I'm disappointed I didn't find this before, but all of the teams at this year's World Cup were required to paint a team slogan on their team coach.
Some choice slogans are :
Greece Greece is everywhere!
Brazil The whole of Brazil is in here!
North Korea 1966 again! Victory for North Korea!
Keep a straight face for this one :
France All together for a new dream in blue.
And the Robert Green award for really putting in the effort :
Switzerland - Com'on Switzerland.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 03:49 PM on July 15, 2010
MrB: Thank you, thank you!
Mexico It is time for a new champion!: Yes, very prescient of you to see Spain win its first trophy!
Denmark All you need is a Danish team and a dream: Here let me fix that for you: Denmark All you need is a Danish and a dreamcup of coffee in the morning.
posted by billsaysthis at 03:56 PM on July 15, 2010
throwing him out of the Tour altogether seems pretty harsh in a way
Had it been Cav himself, I'd imagine that the race referees would have just declassified him for the stage and hit him with the standard fine. The unwritten rule is that sprinters are nutcases and they're given leeway as long as they're only putting themselves at risk. (Here's a nice video rundown on sprint rules, showing a couple of headbutts.)
For leadout guys, there's an expectation that they'll sit up when the sprinters have launched: watching the replay again shows just how cynically Renshaw shut the gate on Farrar.
Plus, I suspect that Cav and HTC aren't exactly beloved in the peloton right now: the Tour de Suisse crash that put Tom Boonen out of action is being held against them. That may translate into extra scrutiny from the refs.
posted by etagloh at 04:27 PM on July 15, 2010
That may translate into extra scrutiny from the refs.
I don't think any extra scrutiny was needed to see what happened. It looks like Renshaw thought he was in a NASCAR race. The big difference is that even in NASCAR the members of a team are still racing against each other. In this case, Renshaw was obviously just clearing the way and holding up traffic for Cavendish. Too bad they can't throw out the whole team.
posted by graymatters at 06:01 PM on July 15, 2010
Robbie McEwen's take sounds about right. Either foul by itself may have gotten him disqualified from the stage result. It was the combination of the two that got him the boot. Agreed also that Cav and HTC are probably under extra scrutiny because of the Tour de Suisse crash. They'll have a hard time shaking the dirty label now. I've enjoyed the HTC/Garmin rivalry though. Go argyle!
posted by cl at 07:04 PM on July 15, 2010
Purple paisley pants.