One thing about the US/Germany match that was very cool was the sportsmanship. At one point Dempsey (broken nose) is headed towards goal trying to get a pass but the German defender knocks it away. No foul, but Dempsey clearly takes a shot to the nose which has to hurt a ton. He goes down.
So the Germans kick the ball out of bounds. This stops time so the US can check on Dempsey. When play resumes and the US gets a throw-in, we throw it back to Germany.
I’ve certainly seen that before in soccer, but every time it impresses me. One team realizes the other team has a hurt player and kicks it out of bounds. The other team then gives the ball back.
Basic fairness displayed at the highest level of sports. Go figure.
My office is right there (50 yards behind the vantage point of the pictures below), so I was watching to see when it would start filling up. I grabbed a spot at a picnic table around 10:30. Dumbo has free WiFi, so I sat and worked while the place filled up.
About an hour before the match started, there’s still some room.
We had people from multiple TV stations doing interviews (apologies for the lack of focus on the TV babe):
First half. A tense crowd:
As the match finished. Not a win, but a happy crowd:
I had to stand on my picnic bench for 90 minutes to see, but I’ve never watched a match in that kind of environment. USA chants, random songs being sung, a few German fans being tolerated.
Brooklyn is going crazy with this World Cup. Of course it’s a very international place. Our pastry shop next door is connected to a French restaurant and they are bringing in a huge screen a projector to watch all games. Seems like every place in our neighborhood is doing something like that.
And right by my office is this:
That is the arch under the Manhattan Bridge. I may watch US/Ghana there.
As we approach the Belmont with California Chrome as a possible Triple Crown winner for the first time in 30 years, I can’t help think back to Secretariat. I was 9. My parents grew up in Louisville, so Derby Day was an event and we always watched. I wasn’t particularly a horse racing fan and I’m still not, but Secretariat was something to watch.
His winning time in the Belmont is still the record. I heard someone say today that the next closest time in history would have lost by 10 lengths (Secretariat won by a ridiculous 31 lengths).
I still remember watching that race, simply because it was no contest. How often do you see a horse race where not only is the winner the only horse visible on the screen, but the camera man has to pan left quite a bit to see the runner up.
I was reading an article on Bloomberg.com about politics and they made and analogy about how one side was like Joe Frazier in the Frazier/Foreman fight. The point was that Frazier, after beating Ali, kept using his great left hook, despite the fact that it simply didn’t work.
Well, the article was OK despite the fact that the analogy wasn’t great. But there was a link to the actual fight on YouTube. So I watched it.
This post is not about politics, it’s about boxing. Today I never watch. Boxing seems stupid and corrupt and it’s all pay per view.
But this is 1973. I’m a young boy. It was probably on Wide World of Sports back then (no HBO pay per view). Sure boxing is barbaric, etc. etc., but as a boy I was totally into it.
And my current memory of George Foreman is of the chubby guy selling the grill. Watch the video and look at him compared to Frazier. This is 1973, pre-steroids. He’s a lean, mean, punching machine.
And the fight isn’t close. In the video,skip to 8:30 to get to the start. But if you want to see the key moment, just skip to the 12:30 point where they replay Foreman’s (red trunks, if you aren’t a fan) biggest knockdown in the first round (1 of 3) and then start the second round.
You won’t have to watch much more. Two quick knockdowns in the second (one looks like Frazier was trying too hard to hit him and fell over) and then at 13:45 (for those that like to skip to the end) Foreman starts a barrage that ends (13:54) with of the classic punches of all time.
I’ve watched it multiple times. I cannot watch it without saying “oooh” out loud.
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