The Euro championships are about to kick off in Austria and Switzerland this weekend. I’m in a free pool with the chance to win bragging rights with my friends (and real prizes too if you’re in Canada!). I usually set up my own cash pool, but it’s just too depressing this year in the absence of any British or Irish teams!
Let me know if you’re interested and I can email you the details of how to register and join the group. If there’s enough interest I can set up a separate bloggers group!
Errr … what sport are the “Euro championships?”
Good grief! Yanks! (only kidding).It’s the beautiful game, the most popular sport on Earth. Football – the kind where you kick the ball with your foot. The only good thing about England being out is that I won’t get as stressed as usual and can just enjoy some great games instead. At least that’s the theory.
Ah yes. Soccerrrrrrrrrrrr. I actually was in Budapest during the World Cup. We watched these German girls cry when they lost.It was fun to watch though. WAY more entertaining than cricket. That’s a sport that I’ll never get. Six hours for something called a test match?
I’ll play! Although I think I should get a handicap of some sort since I don’t follow the regular games and have no clue who the superstars are…. :-)And dammit, we don’t get the channel that shows the first two games so I won’t even be able to watch them!
CAE ! Here I am, buddy… I still have my italian passport after all (btw, I am coming your way end of July — just found out)
Arduous – I feel almost as strongly about the S word as I do about tea. Almost. 😉 Crying is a common feature of these competitions. I like to watch the Netherlands play with my Dutch friend, who tends to run out of the house towards the end of the game because she can’t bear to watch. Her grandfather died of a heart attack at a football game and she thinks she will go the same way one day.Cricket has its place, mostly on the beach or as an excuse to sit in the sun and drink beer. A test match is the name given to a competitive international match, and the standard length is 5 days. But you also get 1 day games and shorter.MadHatter and Okham, I’ll set up our own group and send you the details later today! Gotta run off to work now, I overslept.
I’m afraid I will have to pass – not sure I will even have a TV this summer! You all have fun though!
I was thinking about making a graph of our points and posting it on my blog. One that would show you and me steadily gaining points, while Okham flatlines at 2. What do you think? 🙂
You could have declined the invitation, Okham, sat back, relaxed, forgotten about all of the stuff you have to deal with in the next two months and just enjoy spring time and Euro2008 but… NOOOOO, you really, really had to enter the damn contest, didn’t you ?Anyway, ladies, I remind you that there are many other games, and that the current standing is not inconsistent with a mere statistical fluctuation. And now, if you’ll excuse me — it’s time to go back to my meditation. The boys are playing in a few hours, and I need to be mentally prepared to watch them.
Romania tied France – WTF??!! There goes my perfect record.I predicted a tie in the Italy – Netherlands game. Sorry Okham!
Oh ? Did Romania-France end with a tie ? I fell asleep, you know… And, as for Italy-Holland, well, I have made a different prediction than you 😉
I just saw the result on the BBC website – watching the weekday games is not an option! I hear I didn’t miss much today.Is your prediction the same as your hope?
Holy shit! The Netherlands is up 2-0 on Italy! CAE, looks like we’re both going to flatline at 8 after all–I picked a draw for that game too.BTW, I’m “watching” a webcast of the game here. Not as good as actually watching, but at least it updates automatically!
Oh, dear… I knew Italy could miss Cannavaro but… this much ? Donadoni had better tell one thing or two to the defense or this could be a disaster. First dutch goal should have been disallowed for offside, but they could have scored at least on two other occasions….
Yeah, unless Italy hustle in the second half there will be no more points for me today.I’m reading the updates on the BBC website.BTW, in future, let’s not give away scores on this thread until a few hours after the game. I just got an email from my Dutch friend (who reads here occasionally) asking me not to give any spoilers because she’s taping the game to watch tonight!!! Is that OK with you guys?
Oops! My apologies to your friend–I hadn’t thought of that. No more spoilers from me….
No worries. I’m sure we can all find ways to trash talk each other without giving away any spoilers!
p.s. from the BBC:”This Italy team is the oldest in the history of the European Championship – at an average age of 31 years and 52 days. And that was without injured captain Fabio Cannavaro, 34!”
Oh. My. God. I’m going to have a fucking heart attack if the ESPN website doesn’t update faster!!!!
yeah, I am going to have one too soon….
Honestly, CAE, I don’t think age has anything to do with what I am seeing …
Well, it can’t help…
All I can say is… most italians tonight are wishing that that injured 34-yr old had been on the pitch (although I doubt if things would have been so much better)
CAE, let’s wait until next week to decide whether that was a blessing or a curse :-)At last my deficit has not gotten worse…