OT: World Cup

[dash]

LukeWileman: RT @RobHarris: Head groundsman responsible for Manaus pitch admits to @AP: "Frankly, Manaus is in bad shape" ahead of England-Italy

Where's Carl Speckler when we really need him?

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

LukeWileman: RT @RobHarris: Head groundsman responsible for Manaus pitch admits to @AP: "Frankly, Manaus is in bad shape" ahead of England-Italy

Where's Carl Speckler when we really need him?

He got locked up for killing all the golfers.

Damned Scottish accents.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Lol at france, russia and south korea

[ame="[MEDIA=twitter]476929146766245888[/MEDIA]"][/ame]

 

[SLY]

Jesus christ...

Neymar and Brazil under siege at World Cup - Sportsnet.ca

 

[dash]

BREAKING: Police in Sao Paulo use stun guns, rubber bullets & tear gas on protestors & media

 

[SLY]

They take soccer way too serious down there.

But it doesn't help that Brazil is pretty fucking corrupt.

 

[mattola]

They take soccer way too serious down there.

But it doesn't help that Brazil is pretty fucking corrupt.

those protests have nothing to do with the actual soccer celebrations, its the corruption as you say and the fact that so many are dying and starving while this is going on.

 

[CalamityX11]

man I shouldn't be at work lol

 

[SLY]

those protests have nothing to do with the actual soccer celebrations, its the corruption as you say and the fact that so many are dying and starving while this is going on.

Yea, I can't see what Dash posted. Brazil has always been a cesspool when it comes to politics. Beautiful fucking country though.

 

[dash]

Beautiful fucking country though.

I'm hoping CBC and Sportsnet provide plenty of crowd shots during the games. It should be glorious.

 

[mattola]

Yea, I can't see what Dash posted. Brazil has always been a cesspool when it comes to politics. Beautiful fucking country though.

I'm hoping CBC and Sportsnet provide plenty of crowd shots during the games. It should be glorious.

cant disagree with that

dash you watch that video?

 

[SLY]

I really wanted to try and go to Brazil for the World Cup, but I'm glad that thought faded. It's just too fucked up down there. I think I'm definitely going to try and do South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics. My girlfriend wants to visit her homeplace in the future and that'd be a great time.

 

[dash]

cant disagree with that

dash you watch that video?

Damn it, I forgot to watch it - I'll go watch it now while waiting for a job to finish executing

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Where's Carl Speckler when we really need him?

hes there ... been working on the sand traps

England v Italy: Manaus groundsman admits 'Frankly, Manaus is in bad shape' - World Cup 2014 - Football - The Independent

 

[dash]

Okay Matty, that video was fantastic.

 

[mattola]

what time and channel is the first game, I wanna get my hypocrite on

 

[sherbert1421]

first game is at 4pm eastern time. i think it's on ESPN and cbc

 

[jstewismybastardson]

from Cathal Kelly, Globe & Mail

Every morning during the World Cup, FIFA does a press briefing. Almost no one attends. It’s generally a rundown of useless facts – including player birthdays – and subtle agit-prop.

On Thursday, ahead of the tournament’s opener, they launched a campaign called ‘The Handshake for Peace.’ It will enshrine an already common post-game motif – the exchange of handshakes between opponents.


While we listened to a bunch of suits congratulating each other on their vision, reports were rolling in that riot police outside the Arena Corinthians were violently confronting a small group of anti-World Cup protestors. There were several injuries, including one to a CNN producer.

Since no one else seemed bothered, I asked if anyone was taken by the dissonance of the two events. I directed the question at a representative of the Nobel Peace Center, Linda Netland. Instead, FIFA’s head of communications, Walter de Gregorio, jumped in.

“Probably, it’s the perfect moment. Of course, we didn’t coordinate with the protestors to choose exactly which way we should go. As long as there is protest without violence, of course you have to accept that. If this would mean that … as long as there are protests, as long as there is fighting, that you can’t announce this, that’s absurd and ridiculous.”

That wasn’t the question.

I asked again. Wasn’t this serving as a PR smokescreen to cover up street violence that had been anticipated for months?

Netland: “I can’t see it that way. It’s very sad to hear, what happened … I think we just have to continue to work together, inspire each other and put focus to get it all better.”

‘To get it all better’. By forcing football players to shake hands. When people are having their heads kicked in by the cops a short walk away. That seems a little unambitious for the Nobel Foundation.

De Gregorio wasn’t finished. He’d been eyeballing me for a while, clearly irritated. Moments later, he interrupted to offer some final “personal” thoughts.

“What I would like is, just for one second, what might be behind (meaning the police actions), whether it’s true or not, just support this. This is more than just about FIFA. This is more than just about football,” De Gregorio said. “Please don’t try always to seek the negative angle behind the story that maybe is good. I know it’s quite hard for your editors to accept that FIFA’s doing sometimes something good, but maybe you can convince them.”

Poor ol’ FIFA. Always getting picked on by the meanies in the press. Count me out of that effort.

The amount of sophistry at work here – ‘We’re being nice to you. Why can’t you be nice back?’ – reveals the slippery soul that animates this organization.

Whenever it suits FIFA – in their laudable anti-racism campaign or this new effort – they are political. As soon as politics bites them in the ass – as it is here in Brazil, because of their rapacious nature – they just want to talk about the game.

You can’t have it both ways. Yet they continue to try, and sulkily.

After that little tempest had been settled, we moved on to the really pressing business of the day. The next question: “Will Jennifer Lopez be arriving by helicopter?”

 

[dash]

Platini was quoted earlier today saying that he is done with Sepp Blatter. How Blatter has lasted this long in his role is mind-boggling.

 

[esls79]

Regarding Blatter - if he fought so vehemently to make sure Qatar didn't get the 2022 World Cup, then how the hell did they get it? Is FIFA that corrupt the boss of the organization couldn't even get his way?