The knockout round kicked off today at the 2010 World Cup. Two continents could see their last, best hopes for a championship eliminated today. South Korea wasn’t the only Asian side left but were far more likely to be a threat than Japan. Ghana was the last African side in the tournament heading into their clash with the USA. Continue reading
Sports
Soccer Night In South Africa: Sweet Sixteen
The group stages of the 2010 World Cup ended today with the final games in Groups G and H. Brazil already clinched a spot in the final 16 and Portugal was a near certainty but the Ivory Coast was lurking in the distance. Meanwhile, three teams could advance from Group H depending on the outcome of the day’s action. Continue reading
John Isner – Nicolas Mahut Zombie Blog Insanity (Part Two)
Eleven hour and five minutes of pure tennis insanity. That’s how long the first round match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut lasted in the longest match in tennis history. Over that span, the pair played 183 games. By comparison, Roger Federer played 159 games in total en route to the Wimbledon title last year. In the end, it was John Isner who won 92 games to emerge victorious.
Yesterday, the match was suspended at 59-59 in the fifth set but the real highlight was Xan Brooks’ amazing live blog. Today, it was up to Paolo Bandini of The Guardian to follow-up the zombie-filled insanity of yesterday’s live blog. So here’s today’s zombified live blog of Isner vs. Mahut. Continue reading
Soccer Night In South Africa: Early Exit
Some favourites suffered early setbacks in the 2010 World Cup but have and will recover. Today, one tournament favourite paid dearly for their mistakes and will be watching the rest of the tournament on TV. Heading into the day, the Netherlands clinched a spot in the round of 16 and Cameroon had already been eliminated leaving Denmark and Japan teams battling for the final spot in Group E. In Group F play, all four teams could end the day moving on or going home. Continue reading
The Lowdown’s Ridiculous 2010 NHL Mock Draft
Every year, countless talking heads do up mock drafts of what they think NHL teams will do on draft day. The problem with the standard mock draft is that it’s too clean. It’s just assumed that teams will continue to select the best player available according to the scouts until all 210 choices are made. Of course, that makes no sense because trades will be made, GMs will go out on limbs, and Toronto will find another way to ensure 43 more years of futility. So it’s time for our second annual Ridiculous Mock Draft. Continue reading
The John Isner – Nicolas Mahut Live Blog Insanity
Hopefully you haven’t stumbled across this post looking for a live blog of the insanity of this match. When we last left Court 18 at the All England Lawn & Tennis Club, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut were deadlocked at two sets apiece and at 59 games all in the fifth set. They’ve been going at it for some 10 hours in a first round match. But almost as big a story as that is, the live blog written by Xan Brooks for The Guardian newspaper took on a life of its own. What started as a simple live blog degenerated into insanity, delirium, and hilarity.
So to catch you up for today’s (expected) final part of the match and to commemorate this amazing live blog, here is Xan’s complete ramblings on Isner/Mahut. Continue reading
Soccer Night In South Africa: One Last Gasp
Two more groups were decided in today’s action at the 2010 World Cup. At the start of the day, eight teams were in contention to make the second round but only four could advance. Even more amazing was that one team advanced on a last second goal that brought one nation to its feet and another to tears. Continue reading
Soccer Night In South Africa: A Last Stand
The twelfth day of action at the 2010 World Cup marked the beginning of the end of the group stages. All 8 Group A and Group B teams would be in action with four moving on and four going home at the end of the day. Uruguay and Argentina were favoured to move on leaving two spots realistically open for six teams. Continue reading
Soccer Night In South Africa: Shutout and Shutdown
Matchday 11 at the 2010 World Cup had a few games that were destined to turn into mismatches. Only one of those turned into a mismatch on the scoreboard as North Korea courageously held Portugal to under eight goals. Meanwhile, Spain looked to rebound from their shocking defeat at the hands of the Swiss. Continue reading
Local Columnist Wants To Ruin Jordan Verdone
Followers and fans of Canadian university sports are still trying to wrap their heads around the implications of nine Waterloo Warriors football players testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. While the fans are worried about the future of the sport, some local writers are using this as an opportunity to make a name for themselves. Take Bill Montague, for example. Bill is the sports editor for the Sault Star, the hometown daily newspaper of Waterloo star Jordan Verdone. Montague has been trying and failing to get a hold of Verdone for an interview for the last week. Now the pair have spoken and Bill still isn’t happy with the answers (or the wait). So let’s take a look at Montague’s column on Verdone’s involvement in the CIS’s biggest steroid scandal in its history in FJM style. Continue reading
The Lowdown 