Posted by jukkahoo
... happening. Been, that is. Mostly work, since there is that again. Something though.
The EURO´04 Championships have been entertaining and full of surprises. The Great ones have fallen one by one, mostly due to that pesky Greece. Greeks are in the final! With Portugal. Both teams are coached by a foreign coach (Rehakles and Big Phil), both have never won anything (in terms of adult football success) and both are relatively minor league teams. Portugal is a definitive favourite, with more world-class players (as the saying goes) and the pretty much fanatic support of the home crowd, but those Greek-fans are pretty loud and actually beyond fanaticism as it comes to supporting. In a good way, let's hope. This could go either way.
My "beloved" Czechs managed to clinch the defeat from the jaws of victory, as is now popular to say. They should have won the game, but alas! This time strategy and willpower outnumbered skill and... whatnot. Elán. I'm not too stressed about this, I could've lived with each and every one of the last Four (4th being Holland), though I least like the orange-shirts. My before-games prediction was eerily good. I picked 6/8 of qualifyiers (Spain and Italy being the wrong ones) and my last Four were 3/4 (with Spain in place of Greece). Final being Portugal-Czech with the latter winning.
I'm going with Portugal. It may finally become the "Brasil of Europe". It only needed real Brasilians in order to make it thus far. Go Deco, go Big Phil! Campéaos!
Oh, and I saw a doctor (9th?) again. She was a very nice (Russian?) woman called Shabasavskaja (or thereabouts). We share the year of birth and regarding that, thought that we're not really that old - if old at all. Prime of our life, barely 25.
And she told me that all the results from the tests were good, within all normal parameters and even my gout seems to be a thing of the far future, as my urine acid levels are less than they were last time. Yowza! Yahoo! Yatzy! Yello! Yonkers! Next check: October.
Yesterday was the day of the annual Helsinki SF Associations Suomenlinnan Kesäretki. The person in charge of the weather has been taken care of.
Some stup... brave souls decided to brace the elements and apparently spent several un-godly hours in the tunnels of Kustaanmiekka. Considerably more intelligent people (like myself and some Turku-fen) never ventured to the Naval Fortress of Elemental Misery and Dampness, but headed straight-away to the Helsinki University SF Clubhouse and had a decent picnic there, in warm and... in relatively pleasant conditions. At least there weren't any bananaflies around. The Stormtroopers managed to reach mainland and the Clubhouse around 7PM and much fun was had by all.
I've read very little lately, with Euro´04 and all that work, but I hope things will turn out differently soon. More when that happens.
There is also the little thing called Finncon happening soon. Next weekend actually. See you there?
Heh. Greece. I'll be... Not great football but as a fan of the plodding Germany and what with the Vitor Baia scandal (and it goes without saying that Vitor, would have read the corner better than Ricardo) I am quite happy with the result. And team Voitto was 10 059 of the almost 160 000 fantasy football teams taking part so that was not too shabby either.
Posted by: Sari | July 05, 2004 at 11:22
Bally Greeks!
Greeks!?! Who knew they could play the beautiful game? The same team that lost to our Glorious Finnish national team 5-1 at Olympiastadion about three bloody years ago is now the bestest team in Europe. Like the very best after Brasil in the whole wide world. Like. How come Greece managed to turn their course from abysmal Finland-game into something like this, while our boys are barely drawing with such jiants like Azerbaidjan.
Portugese are once again humiliated and defeated. So close, yet soooooooo-o far. Learn to effing score! Pauleta: "I've saved all my goals to the final match.". Pshaw!
Not that I'm that dissappointed. I could've lived even with Holland winning, yet alone the Mighty Greeks! Was there Zeus playing as the midfielder? Was it not the Colossus of Rhodes and the spirit of Thermopylai holding the lines against the whirlwind that was (or should've been) Portugal?
Heaven and Hellas! Not bad, calimeros. Paragallo!
Posted by: jukkahoo | July 05, 2004 at 15:10
Onnea Sari!
Tunnustan paremmuutesi tässä mainiossa kisassa: itse päädyin sijalle 23269 pistemäärällä 214. Pohjolan poikien murska-alku sekä Matchday 5 kokonaisuudessaan painoivat tulosta pahasti alaspäin. Ja Tottia saisi joku ampua polvilumpioon. Tai vaikka molempiin... Tai leikata edes sen hiukset! Mielenkiintoista on se, että pärjäsin niinkin hyvin vaikka pelaajani pääsääntöisesti hävisivät otteluitaan. Pari helmeä kuten Zizou, Lampard ja Maniche olivat suureksi avuksi. Itsekin luotin aluksi Saksaan. Eipä olisi pitänyt...
Posted by: Teemu | July 06, 2004 at 04:40
Siinä sitä näkee kuinka valtavan eron muutama hassu piste tekee. Team Voiton yhteispisteet olivat 231 siis vaivaiset 17 pistettä paremmat ja sijoitukset ovat toisella kymmentuhatluvulla. Minulla pohjolan pojat napsivat alussa mukavasti pisteitä. Matchday kolme oli katkera pettymys, mutta lopussa kirin varsin mukavasti kun luotin Kreikan toppareihin, veskaan (en kai minä nyt sitä Ricardoa sinne voinut pistää) ja Charisteasiin kärjessä.
Posted by: Sari | July 06, 2004 at 13:20
Looks like I pretty much predicted here the outcome of the tournament after Greece vs. Spain match (I'm referring to my "Sana hallussa" comment). People who underestimated the Greeks seemed to forget they did not concede a single goal in their last six victorious qualifying matches. Had any traditional footballing nation managed that feat, they would have surely been one of the pre-tournament favorites. And even after the tournament, not all give the Greeks the credit they deserve. They were the only team to score a goal in every match the played, yet they are labelled as an ultra-defensive team. In defense they tackled suberbly and played skillful football. Yet Mixu Paatelainen did not pick any Greeks for his all-star team, instead he chose Sol Campbell over Traianos Dellas. The Greeks were certainly more exciting than any German team I've seen in a decade. I can't wait to see more Greek miracles this summer. How about Greece beating U.S. basketball team (formerly known as the Dream Team) in the Olympic final?
Posted by: Manu | July 07, 2004 at 15:09
Now that's all Greek to me! Everybody knows the classical list of lies:
1) lies
2) cursed lies
3) statistics
Posted by: Teemu | July 08, 2004 at 04:22