Once again, a weehoursofthemorning sports watching marathon. First there was the Austria- germany match and then there was the US Open final round playoff.
deutschland x3. *shakes head* at points i was embarrassed to say that i support that team. firstly, that was incredibly boring footie . and secondly, there were so many missed chances i was getting annoyed. They could've EASILY taken the lead in the first half..but there was nothing decisive about their play and there was absolutely no finishing. and that scuffle at the sideline between Jogi and Hickersberger was shameful and absurd all at once. The cordial handshake between the 2 as they were sent to the stands, Jogi shaking hands with ANGELA MERKEL for God's sake- trying to explain things, and sitting one seat away from the suspended Basti like a wounded puppy. and to think, i was genuinely nervous about the mannschaft not making it through. pfft.
but ballack's goal. PHWAOR. that was exceptional. less than 30 yards, and the top corner. it was DRILLED IN yo :) COME ON MICHA show them what you're made of!
and next they're up against portugal. OH GREAT. who the fk do i support then.
edit: seeing the fans hold up the scarves that said Österreich reminded me of on the first few german lessons i had at the MOELC where we had to learn all the german equivalents of country names and their capitals. Wien, Österreich= Vienna, Austria. Amsterdam, Niederlande. Paris, Frankreich. Lissabon, Portugal. London, Großbritannien. Stockholm, Schweden. Oslo, Norwegen. Madrid, Spanien. Ankara, Türkei. damn cool right. only the first year you learn all these cool things. and then the grammar comes in hard and fast, and you want to vomit blood.
After the match i was dead beat but watched the first coupla holes of an 18-hole playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate at the US Open . Let me put that into perspective. The regulation game should have only lasted 72 holes (which is 18 holes per day), but just the both of them had to play EIGHTEEN more holes just to settle the score cos they were even- and cos it didn't get settled, they went to sudden death on the Par 4 7th Hole. In total, both tiger and rocco played 90 holes over 5 days-that's incredible! Did i mention, Tiger was essentially playing on 1 leg having just undergone an operation on his left knee. You could literally see him grimace in agony after teeing off every hole. But even with all that, he's won his 14th Major-and he gave credit to the crowd: "The atmosphere kept me going, it could have been very easy to quit, but I couldn't quit in front of these people, it wasn't going to happen."
Quite frankly, i thought the crowd was excessively noisy- waaaay too much commotion. I half expected a woman to take her top off or something. Rowdy americans, tsk. How do you focus on your game when there're people who keep shouting "PSYEAHH TIGER COME ON" when you're reading your putting line and don't stfu even after the marshalls have put up the 'Silence' placards. I much prefer the reserved European/Asian audiences who give credit (whooping, cheering, applause) after a good shot has been made or a putt has been sunk.
This is a tournament that traditionally ends on Father's Day..so it was an excellent gift for my dad who just sat and watched golf all day on Sunday haha, without any of us hogging the telly. Except that it carried on to Monday (american time) too. He probably watched it this morning though. i dunno, i was unconcious in a state of knackered-ness. Lucky Vivek missed the the last bit of the playoff too and was watching the re-run on telly when i woke up at 2 today -__- (my sleep patterns are absolutely appalling)
Tiger is such a gracious champion..just like Federer. The way they conduct themselves on and off the golf course/ tennis court is admirable. What i admire the most though is their mental resilience- something i don't think i can possess without a shrink (lol) or my dad.
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