Were you gentlemen in Brux and the Netherlands affected by that fucking lightning storm or whatever the fuck it was?

I think that Germany were lucky to go through but in fairness any time they showed some skill the Turks had no reply in defense. Still a pity...

Heeby Jeeby wrote:Were you gentlemen in Brux and the Netherlands affected by that fucking lightning storm or whatever the fuck it was?

The TV coverage went down from source, so I imagine the whole World was effected.
We did a scoot round the Euorpean channels to guage the size of the problem. Interesting differences of approach. Most countries' studio analysis was 'home' (or at least not Basel) based, so they could fill with "Ya Ya" or highlights. Differing levels of presenter panic related directly to quantity of hair gel applied.

The BBC (with a sleeper cell in Basel) were picture and studio less. They went to 5 Live Radio commentary interrupted once a minute by wonderfully pithy public service announcements. My continental chums loved this.

aldofarian wrote:The BBC (with a sleeper cell in Basel) were picture and studio less. They went to 5 Live Radio commentary interrupted once a minute by wonderfully pithy public service announcements. My continental chums loved this.

I saw the crap/not crap poll after I posted my message.

We switched from RTE to BBC and had a chuckle at the announcements ourselves. Still the Five Live commentary is better than listening to the studio awkwardness.

Unless the Germans up their game I reckon the winners of tonights match have to be favourites for the tournament.

Heeby Jeeby wrote:Were you gentlemen in Brux and the Netherlands affected by that fucking lightning storm or whatever the fuck it was?

here in germany, they had to go to a radio commentator something like four times. it was funny in my local. the pace of the radio commentary made everybody more nervous than they already were as germany was trailing.

hooray for the adopted fatherland, i guess. would have loved to see turkey make it to the finals, but they failed to really capitalise. things on the street here were cool, much like sparky reported. turkish kids walking the route they walked after their wins, quieter but proud nonetheless. these events are really good for people here, i swear.

less good is going to work still kinda drunk, especially if you're a teacher.

Things are damn tight at the top of the FFL:

Up 1 Îles Poteshkinois John Simson 30 212
Up 2 Richter's Bojacks Joshua Welch 35 212
Down 3 Wharfedale Generals Daniel Chapman 26 209

Cripes!

simmo wrote:Things are damn tight at the top of the FFL:

Up 1 Îles Poteshkinois John Simson 30 212
Up 2 Richter's Bojacks Joshua Welch 35 212
Down 3 Wharfedale Generals Daniel Chapman 26 209

Cripes!

Don't worry: anything less than a Russian mini-miracle today, and I'm back down to mid-table mediocrity.

I've gotta say that the accounts I've read (both here and in the news) about the post-match party atmosphere in Berlin between the Turkish and German fans makes me wish I were a fly on the wall over there. It's a relief to see such a healthy attitude about what could have been, in theory, a very charged match. Both sides played very hard, but very fair; you never got the sense that it was going to turn into a bloodbath at some point. (Compare this to what happens whenever some teams with mutual histories as intertwined as these two meet, like France-Algeria, or even Mexico-US...)

I was not the biggest fan of Turkey over the past several years, but they really earned the respect of neutrals and partisans alike after this tournament, myself included. They played better stuff than the news sheets would've led one to believe, and deserved to go as far as they did... probably further, in fact.

Is it my imagination, or has Fabergas not started any games yet?

Because Spain's game improved 150% today as soon as he entered it.

Que Guay

It's a relief to see such a healthy attitude about what could have been, in theory, a very charged match.

I went for cigs today and the girl (obv. Turkish) remarked "you look like Ballack!" as I approached the counter. Pretty much spat it out.

"I'm sorry then."

"Oh, it's okay," she said, as she quickly composed herself.

Huh.

I don't look much like Ballack.