Category: Sports

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Ole. Ole-Ole-Ole. Ole. Ole….

Braving hurricane style flash storms, I headed up to Hell’s Kitchen for the Euro 2008 final at Lansdowne Road. Starting up at 2:30 we all had a full Irish breakfast (I usually pass on the congealed pigs blood aka black pudding but the rest is great hangover food) and after a few pints we switched to a beertower of stella when the first kick was tapped.

This year it was an exciting tournament. I watched many of the group stages with the French the surprise losers and Croatia and Turkey the surprise winners through the quarterfinals. The Spanish swept through their group and after a shoot out with Italy in the quarterfinals, they didn’t have any trouble taking out Russia again. Germany on the other hand were tournament favorites, even through they lost to Croatia and just taking out Portugal in the quarterfinals. Even though Turkey had several players hurt or on suspension, Germany struggled to close them out until the end.

The final was set. Germany, the tourny favorites vs. Spain, the team of superstars, but could they come together as a team. Not being part of Europe, I selected Portugal and Spain early on. The English aren’t fans of the Germans, to say the
With several Spaniards draped in their country’s flag and pogoing through the bar, there was a great energy for the match and as Torres scored the first goal, the bar erupted with cheers and stiff fists in the air. The match was tense as the Germans picked up their play, as they usually do in the second half and it was a great final match as +3 minutes after official time, the horn was blown and Spain won their 2nd ever Euro 2008.

So much for Enrique Iglesias’ “Can You Hear Me” as a motivating song for the Euro 2008:

More Euro 2008 photos

UPDATE: Deadspin’s put together some good highlights including a reference to the “unofficial anthem” for this year’s tournament which was hummed for almost every match when the players took the field.

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Celtics wipe the floor with the the Lakers for 17th Championship

A good series but the Lakes didn’t put together a good fight (they didn’t have a Shaq). I’m not a true NY fan according to a few guys I met at St. Andrew’s last night watching game 6 of the finals. Apparently true NY fans don’t root for any Boston teams no mater what. I supposed that’s the same as a Northern California fan such as myself not rooting for any SoCal teams (LA Lakers, LA Dodgers, Anaheim Angles, LA Kings, LA Clippers and even the San Diego Padres)…. and I like to see the Lakes lose. Well they did it in record fashion, having now the most losses of any team reaching the NBA championship series.

This year truly the better, all around team, won the Championship. Having one supper star does not win championships and certainly having no defense, true example for LA’s meltdown in game 6, does not win championships. The Celtics looked like the 96 Bulls with their all around play, defense and just strength in both the paint and on the 3 line. You knew there was power there when in game 4 they produced the largest come from behind win (down 24) in game 4 to put the clovers up with a commanding series lead of 3-1.

I’m also a KG fan and am happy to see he made the change this year to Boston and helped take the team to his first championship (defensive player of the year 08). As he said “Anything is possible.” Congrats to Ray Allen, Paul Pierce (series MVP), and their star bench.