Prediction Hits and Misses
– Hit: My prediction that Germany would be a disappointment came to fruition. They lacked firepower and barely made it out of the preliminary round. Coach Brand didn’t explicitly complain about the Bundesliga, but give him time: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5176503,00.html
– Hit/miss: I predicted a combination of angst and complacency would prevent France from winning the title. I was correct about the angst and complacency, but was dead wrong on the timing. France slept walk through its first three matches, (29-29 draw vs. Hungary , a narrow 21-20 victory over the Czech Republic, and a 24-24 draw vs. Spain), but then turned up the heat in the Main Round and the semifinals. Had they been able to win their first matches on reputation without a wakeup call they would have been ripe for an upset. Credit this to good fortune, parity, the ability turn the switch on when needed, or to a clever psychological strategy from the coaching staff. Or maybe all of the above.
– Miss: Russia was certainly not a surprise team. They continue to disappoint as they prove again to be a “reverse Iceland”. (i.e., Iceland proved that the team can add up to more than its individual parts. The Russians have been proving that the individual parts can add up to less than the whole). Perhaps it’s time for a new coach to reenergize their program.

Balic Theater: Christer Ahl didn’t name names when he referred to star players taking advantage of their status to secure two minute penalties, but as it’s Oscar season, I will nominate Ivano Balic for best actor. Actually, they could spice up the ESPYs by adding this category to the award show. They could show clips of soccer players taking a dive, handball players writhing in agony on the court and basketball players stumbling to the ground after a clean block before they announce the winner.

Parity: The Euro 2010 brought new meaning to the word parity as almost every game was competitive till the end of the match. Heck, eventual winners France drew with Hungary and they were eliminated in the preliminary round. Contrast that to a World Championship where only a few non-European teams are competitive and it’s easy to understand why there have been calls to modify the WC format.

How long will the dynasty last?: Winning 3 straight titles cannot be attributed to luck. Make no mistake, we are in the midst of a French Handball dynasty. The only question remains is how long will it last? With several key players in their 20’s and no player older than 34, France show no signs of slowing down. With the additional fact that no team is on the cusp of improving to their level, I’m thinking that a double-triple is a very real possibility. This would mean 3 more titles (WC 2011, EC 2012, Olympics 2012) to go with their current 3. After London, though, the French will likely see a few key retirements in the backcourt. Couple those retirements with the rest of the players aging and no readily identifiable replacements and the dynasty will be over. In the mean time though, the question before each tournament will continue to be, “Can anybody stop France?”

Time for a short respite reporting on the train wreck that is Hassan Moustafa and a little bit of good news concerning Handball.

Long time readers to this website are aware of my periodic whining about the limited options provided for online Handball viewers. They are also probably bored with my predictions “that sooner than one might think” Handball fans in non-traditional markets will be able to watch high quality video streams of major competitions on their computer. Well readers, I’m very pleased to declare that “The Future is Now!” The last 10 days of the Euro 2010 Championship have just been absolutely awesome for this Handball fan.

[b]I will go so far to even state, that this online viewing experience has been better than watching the games live on TV during previous tournaments while I lived in France. [/b]

Reread the last sentence again and let that soak in for a moment. Some of you are probably thinking, how can that be? Let me count the ways:

1) With 1.5 Mbps the quality of picture is virtually the same as regular (non HD TV). (If I could watch in 1080p on an HD set, that would be a different story)
2) I have the ability to watch every single match. The broadcasts in most countries for the early rounds are focused on the home country. You get a few extra matches, but you don’t get every match.
3) With the “On Demand” option I can watch at my leisure. Yes, in my own little private Handball world, it’s still Thursday afternoon and I don’t know even know who’s made the semifinals. Heck, it won’t surprise me if I don’t get around to finishing the tournament until next Tuesday night.

But don’t take my word for it. You can watch the Semifinals and Final this weekend. I think the cost is 6.99 Euros, (I won’t dare check the EHF site, lest I find out who’s playing by accident), and that’s money well spent in my opinion. On top of that there will be English language commentary of the matches from Eurosport’s Carlton Kirby.

Full Disclosure: Yes, THN received minor compensation from EHF/Infront Sports for the banner advertisement. If there’s any concern that this is clouding our judgment I suggest you read our recent critique on the EHF’s handling of the Gunnar Prokop appeal. THN giveth, but it also taketh away.

In my own little world, I still haven’t quite gotten through the first day’s slate of 8 matches, and I couldn’t be much happier about the quality of the product so far. A few glitches to start, but the 1.5 Mbps quality stream is easily the best picture that fans have ever had to watch a major Handball tournament. If you’ve ever watched the Champions League video at ehftv.com www.ehftv.com and have gotten a bit of a headache from the blurry quality of the lower speed video you should definitely check out the streaming package. And at 18.99 Euros for every single match it’s also cheaper than previous offerings. I don’t know how you spend your discretionary funds, but this is quite a deal compared to my monthly satellite TV package.

Full disclosure: Just in case you were wondering THN has received some modest compensation from the EHF for the Live Streaming advertisement. But as some have pointed out in our forum, I love to critique everything, so rest assured that wouldn’t have stopped me from ripping them if the product was substandard.

User tip #1: If you don’t want to know the score or the current standing of the tournament I recommend that you have a sheet of paper handy to cover the right hand third of your monitor. And you should have a piece of tape so that it can hold itself up while you type in your username and password. I’ve tried to get the EHF folks to remove this from the main page, but was told that most users are watching live.

User tip #2: This is a big one. For the first couple of matches I was somewhat disappointed with the quality of the picture. But, it turns out that I simply wasn’t getting the 1.5 Mbps stream option to load properly. I would click on the little HQ square in the lower right hand corner, but it wouldn’t load properly and I’d get a black screen. A way to get around this, though, is to click on the HQ square [b]immediately[/b] after you select the match you want to watch. I’ve done this for the last few matches and the 1.5 Mbps stream now loads with no problem. A massive thanks to reader, Mark Yazer, for this tip.

THN (23 Dec 09): An Early Xmas Present: EHF to give me the bits for Euro 2010!: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.910

The men’s 2010 European Championship throws off today in Austria. Here are some thoughts on the upcoming Championships.

[b]What’s at stake:[/b] Besides simply the desire to win the tournament, 3 nations will secure bids to the 2011 World Championships. As France (defending champion) and Sweden (host) have already qualified they won’t factor into the ranking of the top 3 teams. Assuming tournament favorite France makes the semifinals the other 3 teams that would join them would also qualify for the World Championships. If Sweden also does well 5th place could be a deciding match.
What the Bookmakers think: France is a very strong favorite to win the title with Denmark, Spain and Croatia seen as their strongest challengers.

Odds to win: (From www.bet365)
France 13/10
Denmark 5/1
Spain 6/1
Croatia 6/1
Poland 13/1
Germany 14/1
Serbia 24/1
Sweden 24/1
Norway 24/1
Iceland 24/1
Slovenia 39/1
Russia 59/1
Hungary 149/1
Czech Republic 299/1
Austria 499/1
Ukraine 499/1

[b]French coach channels Pat Riley:[/b] France is the reigning Olympic and World Champion, so there is now much talk of going for the “Triple” by adding reigning European Champion to their resume. French Coach, Claude Onesta, is using this goal as a way to motivate his players and to avoid complacency. For us old schoolers out there this sound a lot like LA Lakers coach Pat Riley, who in the late 1980’s coined the moniker “Three-peat” as part of their quest to win 3 titles in a row.
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-peat

[b]My Prediction: [/b]The three-peat didn’t work for the Lakers then and my hunch is that it somehow it also won’t work for the French now. On paper there’s no real reason for France not to win this tournament. They’ve still got the best players and they are reasonably healthy as they enter the tournament. Still something tells me that French angst and complacency will combine to result in a slip up in either the finale or semifinal. The team most likely to execute the slip up is Croatia which is surely more hungry and has a revenge motive from their loss to France at the WC last year in Zagreb. I think Vori and Duvnjak’s playing in the Bundesliga this season will make them more battle hardened. Another dangerous team will be Spain with naturalized citizen Arpad Sterbik now in the goal. A hot game from him could also prove France’s undoing. For an order of finish I’ll predict:
1) Croatia, 2) France, 3) Spain

[b]Potential Surprise Team:[/b] I think Russia is a better team than they’ve performed of late. They’ve got good players, Igropulo, in particular, and they are due to to have a better performance.
[b]Most likely to disappoint: [/b] With a backcourt minus Hens and Preiss, Germany might not even make it out of the first round. A safer prediction for sure is that we will see more Heiner Brand complaints that the influx of foreign players in the Bundesliga is hurting their national team.

[b]Time Shifting:[/b] With on demand streaming of the European Championships available, I will probably see very few if any games live. Most likely, I’ll start watching at around 8:00 PM here in Vegas. So, as I will be in my own little world for the next couple of weeks, don’t be looking for any up to the minute updates at THN. On top of that, my fear of finding out the score before I see matches will probably also impact other handball news related coverage. If you’re sending me an email make sure it includes no spoiler information.
THN (23 Jul 08): Extreme Time Shifting in the Desert or How I Hope to Watch Olympic Handball: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.539

[b]European Championships Official Song: [/b] All I can say about this is that there’s no denying the simple fundamental truth that nothing quite says “Handball” like an Austrian guy with a trace of a British accent wearing a white skullcap singing a cover of a Neil Diamond song written as a homage to Caroline Kennedy. “Good times never seem so good… so good… good” Let the game begin!
Euro 2010 Website: Official Song Released.
DJ Otzi Official Site: http://www.djoetzi-music.de/ (Click the video link for the song. You gotta see it to appreciate it.)
“Sweet Caroline” Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Caroline

The 3rd part of the Washington Post series on the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) was published yesterday. The third piece looks at the possibility of the USOC receiving some of its funding from the U.S. government. Many of our readers around the world might be surprised to learn that the USOC receives no funding from the U.S. government and in turn, the U.S. Team Handball Federation (USA TH) receives no funding as well. The USOC instead receives the bulk of its funding from TV and sponsorship revenues that the IOC shares with the U.S. The percentage that the U.S. receives is a point of controversy and may have contributed to Chicago failing to get the Olympics.

Switching to government funding could have implications for minor sports like Team Handball. Historically, minor sports in the U.S. have received the bulk of their funding from the USOC. In the last decade, the USOC decided to run itself more like a “business” and this resulted in the decision for a pay for performance plan that meant that more money would go to the sports that can get medals. As Team Handball only supplied the possibility of 2 medals (men and women) and had virtually no hope of realistically competing for a medal funding for the sport dropped substantially. A switch to government funding could lead to more equitable sharing amongst the sports as the USOC would have more oversight. You could even run into the possibility of Congressional meddling should USA Team Handball ever establish a resident training program in some state. I.E., some congressman could be incentivized to make sure that funding is maintained at the university in his district.

Regardless, the fickleness of USOC funding is likely to remain. This is why the USA TH has been seeking alternate revenue sources such as its own sponsors and support from the international community. Hopefully, the USA will be able to wean itself out of this dependency, but the reality is that this won’t happen overnight

USOC IN LIMBO
– PART I: RIFT WITH THE IOC: Deteriorating USOC-IOC relations threaten both organizations: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/21/AR2009122101900.html?sid=ST2009122602221
– PART II: LOOKING FOR A LEADER: USOC seeks answers: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/12/26/ST2009122602221.html?sid=ST2009122602221
– PART III: In search of revenue, time to tap Uncle Sam?: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/13/AR2010011304258.html?sid=ST2010011304440