College Football Play of the Week: Wrong Way, Dude

Andre Parker of the Kent State Golden Flashes thought he had something going after recovering a muffed punt against Towson, but it turns out he was running the wrong way:

In the words of the commentators, "holy moley."

Week 1 in College Football: Hope for New Programs, and The Crushing Weight of Reality

Okay, so before each one of my weekly college football recaps I'm going to include a bunch of links like I did with my intro article:

First we've got all the scores from last week; and here they are in a more visual format.

Here are the rankings as they stand, and here are the two best weekly college football summary columns out there, both from blogging network SB Nation: The Alphabetical and The Numerical.

With that in mind, I'm going to have some brief recaps from last week, organized by category.

Games That Went As Expected:

-  The highlight game of the week was defending national champion Alabama's convincing 41-14 win against Michigan. Despite Michigan's high billing, Alabama rolled to a 31-0 lead and looked in complete control the entire game. This performance was enough for Alabama to regain the #1 national ranking they held at the end of last season; Michigan dropped to #19.

- Many Division I (FBS) teams choose to begin their season against a 'cupcake' opponent from Division II (FCS). The higher division team gets an easy win, and the lower division team gets a nice payout. Most of these games go as expected, and this week Kent State, Utah, New Mexico State, Utah State, Arizona State, Temple, East Carolina, North Carolina, Air Force, Virginia, New Mexico, Florida State, Oklahoma State, South Florida, Western Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana-Lafayette, Mississippi State, Texas Tech, and Fresno State (20 teams total) all handled their FCS opponents easily. Highlight scores include North Carolina's 62-0 win over Elon and Oklahoma State's jaw-dropping 84-0 win over Savannah State, who has to play Florida state next week. That has to be demoralizing.

- Heisman favorite QB Matt Barkley looked sharp in #1 USC's 49-10 win over Hawaii. USC is coming off of a 2-year probationary period and is looking to challenge for the national championship this season.

Close Calls or Unexpected Blowouts:
- Some FBS schools had more trouble than expected against their FCS opponents or allowed more points than they would have liked. Central Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Maryland, Wisconsin, Wake Forest, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Kansas, and Indiana (9 teams total) all were at least somewhat disappointed in the box scores, and there were a few very close games: Maryland sneaked past William & Mary 7-6, while a ranked Wisconsin team needed a stop on the last drive to close out a 26-21 win over Northern Iowa.

- Stanford, who experienced a heyday recently under quarterback Andrew Luck, found themselves struggling after his departure in an unconvincing 20-17 win over San Jose State.

- The tenure of coach Mike Leach at Washington State did not start well, as the school commonly known as Wazzu was rolled 30-6 by Brigham Young. Leach's version of the famed Air Raid offense failed to score a touchdown.

- In a game perplexingly held in Dublin, Ireland, Notre Dame handily beat their Naval Academy rivals 50-10. I doubt the game was enough to convince the actual Irish to start watching American football.

- ACC Coastal division favorites Virginia Tech needed a last-minute drive and an overtime period to beat Georgia Tech 20-17. Virginia Tech, traditionally a defensive powerhouse, struggled on offense; they will have time to work on this over their next few games, which are against a fairly easy non-conference slate. Despite the loss, Georgia Tech looked competent on defense and now has four consecutive home games in which to try and build some momentum.

Upsets:

- As happens every year, a few FBS programs received the humiliation of losing to their FCS cupcake opponent. Middle Tennessee, Idaho, Pittsburgh, and Memphis (4 teams total) all lost to Division II teams, with Idaho and Pittsburgh losing convincingly.

- The picture at the top of the page (courtesy of ESPN) is from the FBS debut of the Texas State bobcats, who in their first game, and despite being 34-point underdogs, upset Houston 30-13. Their Division I tenure could not have started any better.

Mars Update - August 29

Your daily picture from Mars, courtesy of the Curiosity rover:

You can find the full size image here, and the frequently updated NASA image gallery here.

Get ready for football with some links

The college football season starts tomorrow, and I am a little bit excited. Here are some of the college football-related websites I regularly visit, and recommend for anyone trying to get into or catch up on the sport:

SB Nation, which among other things hosts a blog for nearly every FBS (Division I) college football team.

EDSBS (Every Day Should Be Saturday), a quirky blog run by SB Nation contributor Spencer Hall.

An in-depth preview and statistical breakdown of every FBS team, courtesy of SB Nation blog
Football Study Hall.

Dr. Saturday, a news and special interest-focused blog on Yahoo! Sports.

Smart Football, which goes deep into football strategy and the origins of famous offensive and defensive schemes. (The proprietor is out of town on his honeymoon and will return in September. In the meantime, check out the archives.)

And of course ESPN.com, which is my preferred source for schedules, box scores, rankings, etc.

If you actually want to watch some football online, you can do so at Watch ESPN, provided you get your Internet from one of the sponsored ISPs.

Football's back! (Technically): Impressions from the Hall of Fame Game

Yes, I did in fact watch the Hall of fame Game (which I teased two weeks ago) on Sunday. The HoF Game is technically the first game of the NFL preseason, and is played at a high school stadium next door to the pro football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio. Yes, in a stadium 1/3 the size of the smallest NFL stadium, football got off to a glorious, awkward start. Here are my impressions from the game:

- I can't reiterate enough how puny the stadium was, considering it was technically housing an NFL game. They couldn't bus people a hour away to, say, Cleveland Stadium? The Browns are technically an NFL team, right? (Apologies to any actual Browns fans. I've been told you exist.) Maybe this way for the best, as the stadium could at least try to look somewhat full this way.

- The referees were replacements, as the regular crew of NFL refs is on strike. The situation was referred to as a 'Lockout' by the broadcasters, maybe in an attempt to call back to last year's NFL lockout which caused the cancellation of the 2011 HoF game and threatened to compromise the season. Where was I going with this?

- Oh yeah, the refs were terrible. They called the coin toss wrong. They spent several minutes figuring out how to deal with an extra point kick. They were extremely lax in calling penalties, probably out of fear they would get more calls wrong. They were frequently corrected and almost openly mocked by players. Roger Goodell, CEO of the NFL, needs to just pay the refs what they want - these new guys are intolerable.

- I know it's the start of the preseason, and the brief early part of the game in which all the starters are in is not supposed to be representative of these teams' actual capabilities, but I have to say that the Saints looked good and the Cardinals really bad. Starting Cardinals QB Kevin Kolb's first pass attempt was intercepted, his second and third were incomplete, and on his fourth pass (caught for four yards) he went down with a rib injury. The Cardinals then brought in John Skelton, who is supposed to be losing the QB battle to become the starter to Kolb and...well he wasn't good either, but at least not terrible. Basically all the Cardinals have is  WR Larry Fitzgerald, a couple decent other offensive skill players, and not much else. Who else is even noteworthy on the team, besides I guess Patrick Peterson? Time will tell.

- The Saints backups successfully prevented the Cardinals backups from scoring any touchdowns, and the Saints eventually 'won' 17-10, not that the concept really applies during the preseason. More importantly, the Saints also 'won' in the sense that they looked much better overall. Drew Brees is still the class of the NFC South at Quarterback. I don't have much to say to the Cardinals at this point except 'good luck.'

There will be more preseason NFL action on Thursday. Until then, the wait for football is over, and the wait for football with stakes won't be too much longer. See you soon.

(Image taken from ESPN.com.)

More information about Curiosity

Above is another picture taken by the Curiosity rover from the surface of Mars. We should start getting even high-quality, color pictures in the next few days.

If you want to know more about Curiosity, I've linked a few more videos:

A video about the complex landing process Curiosity went through early this morning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV6w_ju9kMo&feature=related

A stop-motion video of the descent, taken from a fisheye lens camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGMDXy-Y1I

Touchdown! NASA lands a car-sized rover on Mars

This is a picture taken by a car-sized robot - the Curiosity Rover - NASA successfully landed this morning. You are looking at the surface of Mars. You want to talk about gymnastics? NASA stuck the landing from 154,000,000 miles away.

Watch a recording of the control room feed here - skip to 7:20 for the touchdown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=763cuUnlbEI&feature=my_liked_videos&list=LLsPfB7sjkp673OvPTJHZyZw

Follow Curiosity on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MarsCuriosity

I'll be posting more pictures and information as NASA makes it available.

Recapping the Olympics: Day 4

Highlights and winners from Day 4 (July 31st) of the London 2012 Olympic Games:

- The US women's gymnastic team (pictured above), consisting of Gabrielle Douglas, Jordyn Weiber, Alexandra Raisman, Kyla Ross, and McKayla Maroney, won gold in the women's team all-around event, the first time the US has won that event since 1996 (the year of the 'magnificent seven'). The margin of victory - over 4 points - was also surprising. This victory likely came as a consolation for Weiber, who surprisingly did not qualify for the individual all-around event.

- After picking up a silver medal in men's 200m butterfly, Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian of all time by winning gold in the men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay, along with his teammates. The Olympic medal was the 19th of his career. At this point, with Lochte having blown leads in an earlier relay and an individual event, leading to silver in the former and no medal in the latter, and Phelps hitting his historic mark, talk of Lochte supplanting Phelps on the ads and magazine covers had largely died down.

The United States' women's soccer team, already having locked up their group and qualification to the elimination rounds, cruised to a 1-0 win against North Korea in their final group stage game.

- Today was the fourth consecutive day in which the host Great Britain Olympic team won zero gold medals, leading to some consternation among their fans.

Recapping the Olympics: Day 3

Notable events and winners from Day 3 (July 30th) of the London 2012 Olympic Games:

- Kim Un-Guk of North Korea won gold in men's weightlifting, setting a world record when he successfully lifted a total of 327kg (719.4 lb)! At the medal ceremony, he saluted the crowd (see above picture).

- The United States picked up two gold medals in swimming events, with Missy Franklin winning in women's 100m backstroke and Matt Grevers winning that same event in the men's. The US also won two silvers in swimming, and bronze medals in diving and judo.

- This day also marked the first time in my life I watched Olympic handball or dressage, and...all I can say is it might be the last. Those events hold no particular interest to me.

Recapping the Olympics: Day 2

Notable events and winners from Day 2 (July 29th) of the London 2012 Olympic Games:

- Kim Rhode of the US, pictured above, won a gold medal in skeet shooting, scoring a 99/100 in the final round. I have to wonder if she was disappointed with that score being not-quite-perfect.

- Dana Vollmer won the United States' first gold medal of the 2012 Olympic Games in swimming, setting a world record in the women's 100m butterfly final. The US also picked up two additional silver medals in other swimming events.

- Kelci Bryant and Abigail Johnston of the US won a silver medal in women's synchronized diving, the first medal for the US in that event since the 2000 games. The gold was won by He Zi and Wu Minxia of China. China won 7 of 8 gold medals in diving events in the Beijing games and successfully began their quest to win 8 of 8 in London.

(Image taken from the Los Angeles Times website.)

Recapping the Olympics: Day 1

Beginning a series of articles in which I recap the highlights of each day of the Olympics so far, and each remaining day as it comes, here's my recap of London 2012 day 1, plus the opening ceremony and the events which technically preceded the opening ceremony.

Caveat: I probably will not be able to keep these recaps from being United States-centric, as that's the foremost perspective I have when watching the games. I'll try my best to consider champions from other countries who stood out in my mind.

- On July 25th, fully 2 days before the opening ceremonies, the first Olympic event kicked off - soccer. As the US Men's soccer team shamefully did not qualify for the Olympic tournament, the US Women's soccer team has the duty of representing US soccer at the Games. After sweeping through the qualifying tournament with an amazing record of 38 goals scored and none allowed, the US team was likely taken aback when they found themselves down 2-0 fifteen minutes into their opening match against France. However, a 19-th minute goal by Abby Wambach of the US stemmed the tide, and the US team eventually stormed back to win their opening group stage game, 4-2. This put the US team atop their group, tied with the North Korean team who surprisingly won their opening match against Columbia. (This marked the first victory by North Korean over anyone in any televised event I can remember.)

- On the night of the 27th came the opening ceremony, which wisely did not attempt to outdo the Beijing 2008 opening ceremony in scale and simply told its own stories, the best of which was helmed by a winning combination of Rowan Atkinson (pictured above) and classically self-deprecating British wit. Overall I liked the opening ceremony, with the exception of the 'modern love story' skit which was confusing and underwhelming.

- The actual first day of the Olympics saw US swimmer Ryan Lochte start off his quest to replace Michael Phelps as the premiere male US swimmer on a high note, winning gold in the Men's 400m individual medley while Phelps finished fourth. The US also picked up two bronzes and a silver in assorted other swimming events.

- In archery, the US men's team upset favorites South Korea in the semifinals before losing to Italy on the last shot of the final round, 219-218.

- In soccer, the US women's team had an easy victory, 3-0 over Columbia, in the second group stage game, taking sole possession of first place in their group.

If you want to see a somewhat live set of information about how the US is doing in the Olympics, consult this Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics

(Image taken from telegraph.co.uk.)

Countdown to Real Football: 14 Days - The Preseason

In just 14 days, there will be 'real' i.e. American Football to watch on TV, starting with the "Hall of Fame Game" which serves as the first game of the first week of the NFL Preseason.

The competing teams in the Hall of Fame Game traditionally wear throwback-style uniforms and the game takes on a kind of 'opening ceremony' feel, with the commentators talking more about the coming season than the game itself. As with all preseason games, the Hall of Fame Game is strictly an exhibition match - once the regular season begins all preseason records will be wiped clean and every team will start from 0-0.

This year's Hall of Fame Game, featuring the Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints, will kick off at 8PM EST on Sunday, August 5th.

(And speaking of opening ceremonies, the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony is on the 27th, isn't it?)

A Couple of Finals

First, a final from a week ago, which needed little enough commentary at the time:

Add caption

Spain's comprehensive thrashing of Italy left them 3-time consecutive international champions (Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, Euro 2012), a feat which no team has ever before accomplished, and a likely favorite going into the 2014 World Cup along with the hosts Brazil.

Today's Wimbledon final was a bit more interesting.

In the men's final, Roger Federer beat the UK's own Andy Murray in 4 sets to claim his 7th Wimbledon title, tied for most all-time. As the first British man to make the Wimbledon final since 1938, and with the London Olympics coming up in a few weeks, Murray was likely under intense pressure to win. He started strong, but the endurance which makes Federer so dangerous even at 30 (quite old for a tournament-level tennis player) proved too much to overcome. It was fascinating to watch Murray slowly lose his edge as the match progressed, with emotions playing out on his face, while Federer stayed at the same competitive level. Federer played and acted like a robot the whole time (up until the moment he won - see the above image.)

If Federer keeps playing at this level, he is within one or two years of becoming the greatest tennis player of all time by almost any metric.

I Also Watch Movies

I have a profile on the website criticker.com, which is a site where people can create databases of the films they've seen and what rating they gave those films. My profile is new and in no way reflects all the movies I've seen in my life - just the ones I've seen recently enough to feel confident about my rating.

Check out my profile here, and maybe consider making one yourself. Once you've rated 10 films you've seen, the website will attempt to recommend other films you might like.

Enough About Soccer Already: The Euro 2012 Final

Well, this happened:

Except for a tense final few minutes, Italy basically cruised past tournament favorite Germany to reach the final. Huh. Well, we're in for a rematch of one of the tournament's earliest games, Italy vs. Spain. The group stage version of this matchup ended 1-1, and in fact that 1 goal by Italy is the only one scored in the tournament so far against Spain, so maybe this is an ideal matchup.

Italy subdued Germany with two first-half goals from their striker Mario Balotelli. Interesting fact: three of the players tied for the most goals of the tournament (3) are named Mario.

These teams have each played 5 games to get here, and have allowed a total of 4 goals, including 0 combined in the playoffs. We may be in for a repeat of the 2006 World Cup final, which also featured Italy and which ended in a penalty shootout (which Italy won). If that scenario unfolded, I doubt and Italian fans would complain.

Spain vs. Italy kicks off at 2:45pm EST.

Soccer Update - 28 June 2012: Catching up on a few games

Okay, since I last wrote about the Euros, there have been a few games - namely the last 2 quarterfinals:

As well as the first semifinal:

You may notice that the last 2 games have both 'ended' 0-0 after full time (that's the standard allotment of 90 minutes + 2 overtime periods of 15 minutes each, total of 120 minutes) and were settled by a penalty shootout. The shootouts were even won 4-2 in both cases! Yes, it's been a bit painful but nevertheless fascinating to watch the symmetry unfold.

Today's game is the second semifinal match:

The winner of this game will face Spain in the final. I have to say that Germany is likely the favorite here, as they've mostly dominated in their games against a strong slate, while Italy has had 2 fewer days to rest and is coming off that slog of a game against England. We'll see, however.

Germany v. Italy kicks off at 2:45PM EST.

Semifinal 1: Portugal v. Spain - Live Now

Euro 2012's first semifinal match, Portugal vs. defending champions Spain, is live right now on ESPN and espn3.com.

Updates and analysis to follow the game.

Soccer Update - 23 June 2012 - Euro 2012 Quarterfinal 3

Economic jokes aside, Germany was the much better team yesterday, and the result reflects that. Greece scoring the first penalty goal of the tournament late in the game did nothing to affect the outcome, and served as more of a consolation prize. The scary thing, the announcers said, was that Germany actually played a fairly subpar game by their standards - they can do even better.

Today's game:

France will need to greatly improve on their performance in their last game, a 2-0 loss to Sweden, if they want to have a chance against defending world and European champions Spain. Spain doesn't have the strongest attackers, and can go a long time without scoring any goals, but they are afforded that luxury by their elite defense, which has allowed just 1 goal in their 3 games in the tournament so far.

Spain v. France kicks off at 2:45pm EST.

Soccer Update 22 June 2012 - Euro 2012 Quarterfinal 2

In the first quarterfinal game of Euro 2012 yesterday between Portugal and the Czech Republic, the Czechs seemed to decide that as long as they did not allow Portugal to score, there was no need to score themselves. This strategy largely worked until Portugal finally broke through late in the game with a header goal from star player Cristiano Ronaldo, which sealed the Czechs' fate. Portugal advances to the semifinals, where they will play the winner of the Spain-France game.

Today's quarterfinal match, courtesy of ESPN:

I love this match because it's so easy to draw political and economic metaphors while simultaneously previewing the game: Greece will attempt to stonewall Germany to get what they want (a win), and will refuse to capitulate in the form of goals. The ultimate Greek hope will be to stall long enough to force a compromise and an alternate solution (overtime/a penalty shootout) which will satisfy Greek fans and citizens.

Soccer Update - 20 June 2012 - Enter the Elimination Stage

First, the last group stage recap, courtesy of Group D and Wikipedia:

France did not need to win or even draw to progress, and they played like it against already-eliminated Sweden, going down 2-0 in a performance that does not bode well for them in their upcoming quarterfinal match with Spain. Meanwhile, England knocked off co-hosts Ukraine to secure their first advancement out of the group stage in a Euro tournament since 1996 (when they were the host country). Neither Poland nor Ukraine made it out of the group stage, matching the performance of 2008 co-hosts Switzerland and Austria, who both failed to qualify in that tournament.

The tournament now enters the Elimination stage, beginning with the quarterfinals. Espn.com displays the upcoming four games better than I can:

As you can see, no soccer today. Quarterfinal action resumes tomorrow at 2:45pm EST, with the Czech Republic taking on Portugal.

Soccer Update - 19 June 2012

Your daily dose of results & standings from the Euro 2012 tournament:

I realized I should probably explain what the columns in this chart mean. From left to right:
 Team - [Games] Played - Wins - Draws - Losses - Goals For - Goals Against - Goal Difference - Points

Ireland finishes with 0 points and the worst goal differential of the tournament by far. After starting the tournament strong, Croatia barely misses the cut. Spain's lone goal came in their game's 88th minute and secures their position as group winner. So far, Spain's campaign to defend their European championship is going well, though they haven't looked invincible by any means.

Today sees the very last games of the Group stage in Group D, with England, France, and co-hosts Ukraine fighting for the 2 remaining quarterfinal slots. (Sweden, the fourth Group D member, has already been eliminated.) The Group D winner will be playing Italy and Group D's runner-up gets to play Spain.

England v. Ukraine and France v. Sweden kick off at 2:45pm EST.
If you actually want to watch these games, they'll be airing on ESPN/ESPN2, as well as espn3.com (or 'Watch ESPN' as the site confusingly brands itself - this is a sports streaming service available to people who get their Internet through certain Service Providers; Comcast and AT&T are among these).

Soccer Update - 18 June 2012

The Group B Standings and results from yesterday's games:

Despite entering the tournament at #4 in the world, Holland exits the tournament without a win or a single point. Given that Holland was the runner-up in the 2010 World Cup, could this be a phenomenon akin to the 'Super Bowl Loser's Curse' (in which the loser of the Super Bowl seems to underperform in the next season) ?

Denmark gets the 'good try' award - they likely would have advanced if not for the difficulty of this group.

Portugal finally got some production from their star player, Cristiano Ronaldo (who scored both of their goals against Holland), and not-coincidentally secured their place in the quarterfinals at the same time. As the Group B runner-up, Portugal will play the Czech Republic, the Group A winners, in the quarterfinals.

Germany is the only team in the tournament to sweep the Group Stage, going 3-0. This sets them up to play Greece in the quarterfinals, a match-up I find hilarious for sport and political reasons.


Today we have the last games in Group C. The standings in that group so far:

Already-eliminated Ireland is likely the worst team in the tournament. This is good for Italy, who in order to advance need to beat Ireland and hope the Spain-Croatia game does not end in a draw (which would advance both of those teams at Italy's expense).

Spain v. Croatia and Italy v. Ireland kick off at 2:45pm EST.

Soccer Update - 17 June 2012

The Group A results and standings from yesterday's games, courtesy of Wikipedia:

The Czech and Greek results combined eliminated Russia, a surprise given Russia's strong start to the tournament (4 - 1 over the Czechs in their first game). Co-hosts Poland were also eliminated, and with Ukraine needing a win against England on Tuesday to advance, this looks like the second consecutive Euro competition in which the hosts are eliminated in the group stage. The combined efforts of the 2008 hosts, Switzerland and Austria, managed only a single win and a draw; Poland and Ukraine have so far managed a single win and two draws, so technically an improvement.

Soccer tournaments frequently feature a group with the highest aggregate level of high-powered teams, and this group is often referred to as the 'Group of Death.' Euro 2012's group of death is Group B, and today features the final games in this group. The Group B standings so far:

Notably, Germany is the only team to start 2-0 in the tournament. Any result today against Denmark except a bad loss puts them through to the Quarterfinals. Denmark and Portugal need to win or tie today to advance (though if they both draw, Portugal will advance over Denmark due to the head-to-head win). The Netherlands (#4 in the world) find themselves in the shocking position of being 0-2 and needing a very specific scenario to unfold: They need Germany to beat Denmark, and then the Dutch must beat Portugal by a score of 2 - 0 or better. (Arcane rules and scenarios like this are one of the reasons I find soccer tournaments fascinating.)

Germany v. Denmark and Netherlands v. Portugal kick off at 2:45pm EST.

Sometimes I Watch Soccer: Euro 2012 Group Stage, Final Games

First, a quick post-mortem on Aussie Rules Football: turns out there really isn't a way to watch the games without resorting to dodgy online streams which show the game live at...3 AM EST. Not willing to drastically change my sleep cycle, I sadly gave up.

But now, confession time: I have been known to watch soccer from time to time. As the American football offseason waxes on,  I get more and more desperate for a surrogate sport to watch, as I don't really care for baseball, basketball, hockey, etc. so, during the summers of recent years, I have succumbed to watching, and enjoying, international-level tournament soccer. This year, it's the Euro 2012 tournament:

The Euros are pretty much like the World Cup, except that non-European teams are shunned like peasants. What's that, Uruguay? You're #2 in the world and want to give it a go? Sorry, this is the Euros. The narrative in this tournament seems to be whether defending European and World champions Spain (ranked #1 in the world) will retain their title, or whether it will be usurped by contenders like Germany (#3) or...a much less likely candidate.

Right now we're two games into Group Stage play - four groups of four teams each, top two teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals - with the third and final set of games kicking off today. So far two teams have been eliminated (Ireland and Sweden, both 0-2), with no teams quite managing to secure a guarantee of qualification, so all 14 remaining eligible teams have work left to do over the next four days.

As for why I suddenly find soccer not-boring at this time of the year, I can only offer two answers: firstly, I find it fun and easy to get into the 'narrative' of certain sports, enhancing my enjoyment, and secondly, desperation.

Group Stage play continues today at 2:45pm EST, with Russia v. Greece and Poland v. Czech Republic in Group A.

For the world rankings I referenced, consult: the FIFA world ranking table.

The ESPN page on Euro 2012.

Euro 2012 on Wikipedia.

Fair Weather Fan: Learning to Watch Aussie Rules Football

Football season is over. As an avid follower of American Football at both the college and professional level, I get a weekly sugar rush of entertainment between the second week of August (beginning of the NFL preseason) and the second week of February (the Super Bowl). Not being particularly interested in baseball, basketball, golf, tennis, etc., I begin to experience a deep psychic void around this time every year, when the horrors of the offseason begin to sink in. As the spring/early summer period deepens, I have taken in the past few years to watching other sporting events, becoming a temporary fan. Recently, the substitute sport has been soccer: I watched the World Cup in 2010, the Women's World Cup in 2011, both times feeling a hint of the old Fan Intensity and both times quickly losing interest at the tournaments' conclusion.

Looking ahead this year, we've got Euro 2012 coming up...but not until 8 June. There's the 2012 Olympics in London...starting on 27 July. What sports am I supposed to watch until then? This year, I have decided to preempt my own desperation and pick up a whole new sport to watch.

In January I remembered that in September of 2011, I became aware of the Australian Football League and watched the last game of the season, the Grand Final. Though I understood the game rules only by analogy, I was quite enthralled. Well, I thought to myself last month, with the 2012 AFL season kicking off in March, and with the preseason tournament, the NAB cup, having already started, why not give this weird alternate universe football/rugby thing a go?

Difficulties would ensue. I had to learn how the game was played in order to meaningfully spectate. Also, I had to deal with the fact that games being broadcast live from Australia come on between 3:00am and 5:00am, times when I am never awake. More on these problems, and the intricacies of not-football, in a future update.

Begin

This blog is me using the world as a training dummy with which to practice my writing and interpretation skills. Hopefully you can get some enjoyment from it too, but if not, no worries. I'll be talking about whatever entertains me at the moment, which might be movies, sports, music, politics, etc. I'm going to keep the tone light and nonjudgmental.

With that said, let's go exploring!