The Canadian and American press made a big fuss over the failure of the Canadian Olympic Committee’s “Own the Podium” Campaign to win the most medals at the winter Olympics in Vancouver. Canada’s ambitious campaign spent $117 Million over 5 years, but while the Canadians did better than they have before they still came up short to the Americans and Germans. Meanwhile, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) is absolutely giddy with the success they’ve had in winning the medals race at the Winter Olympics for the first time since 1932. The U.S. didn’t spend as much as the Canadians, but the $58M over 4 years was still a 55% increase over the previous Olympics.

So what’s the Handball connection? The connection relates to the potential lessons learned that these Olympic Committee’s might take in terms of resource allocation. First, let’s look at the Canadians. They spent a fortune in their quest for medals and the results were arguably not worth the investment. And at the same time they were spending this $117M on winter sports, Canadian National Handball athletes have been paying their own way to competitions in South America and Europe. So, maybe one lesson that could be learned is that if winning isn’t guaranteed maybe it makes more sense to throw a few bones towards all sports. I can’t speak for the Canadian Federation, but I bet they would have been pleased with a measly $2M spread out over 5 years. It beats practically nothing anyway.

For American Team Handball, U.S. winter Olympic success is a mixed bag. On the one hand USA Team Handball can take heart in the success of another sport where the U.S. has historically done poorly: Nordic Combined. Prior to Vancouver, the U.S. had never won a medal in this sport and until recently they never were even competitive. This time around, however, they owned the podium, winning 4 medals out of 9. News reports highlighted how increased support from the USOC has paid dividends as athletes received better coaching and financial support allowing them to continue competing into their late 20s. So the rallying cry could be “Hey, if they can do it, we can too.”

Unfortunately, though, I’m guessing that following in that sport’s success might be pretty difficult. I won’t pretend to be an expert on Nordic Combined, but I’m guessing there are not thousands and thousands of ski jumping/cross country skiing enthusiasts worldwide and most likely there are even fewer full time athletes training in this sport. With a smaller talent pool to beat all you’ve got to do is find a few talented athletes willing to put in the time and then provide them enough funding to allow them to do so. Trying to use the exact same formula for Team Handball is not practical due to the greater number of participants world-wide along with the higher degree of professionalization in the sport. There are elements of the Nordic Combined model that might be relevant, but success in Team Handball will require much broader grass roots development and greater assistance from outside entities like clubs and federations in Europe. Translation: It would require a lot more funding to replicate the Nordic Combined success.

Which is the problematic (for USA Team Handball, anyway) lesson learned that the U.S. Olympic Committee might take from this. Namely, concentrate your limited resources strategically in sporting disciplines where it will lead to the most medals for the U.S. The new CEO for the USOC, Scott Blackmun, indicated as much when he told the Associated Press: “Our job is to allocate the resources to the NGBs based on where we think they're going to have the greatest impact."

Adding to the degree of difficulty it will take to field a competitive Team Handball side is the “one medal and one medal only” handicap that all Olympic team sports have. Simply because some sports reporter for some newspaper years ago decided to do a tally of medals won and chose a format with only 1 medal being tallied for team sports, team sports will never have the potential “impact” that multi-discipline sports have.

One can almost envision the internal discussion that have either taken place or will surely take place at the USOC. “You mean it will cost x million dollars for us to just get competitive, let alone win a medal, and all we can get is one medal each for the men and women’s team. Why bother?”

The retort is that the Olympics are about a lot more than country medal counts in newspaper sidebars. This is not to say that winning isn’t important; it’s just that this over-riding emphasis on return on investment might need a little balancing out.

LA Times (22 Feb 10): So much for Own the Podium: US is a juggernaut at Vancouver Olympics: http://www.latimes.com/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-oly-medals-race,0,3318655.story
Colorado Springs Independent (25 Feb 10): Canadian invasion: How Team USA has turned hope into history at an eminently satisfying Vancouver Winter Games: http://www.csindy.com/colorado/canadian-invasion/Content?oid=1633747
Montreal Gazette (23 Feb 10) These are the Americans' Games, we're sad to report: http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/2010wintergames/These+Americans+Games+report/2602174/story.html
ABC News: USOC Leaders Stuck With Plan During Time of Crisis: http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/wireStory?id=9897847
Wikipedia: Nordic Combined at the 2010 Olympics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_combined_at_the_2010_Winter_Olympics

The European Handball Federation (EHF) has issued an official statement regarding what it calls “IHF Matters.” The vaguely worded statement unfortunately says little and gives the impression that the press is manufacturing problems that don’t really exist.

The EHF starts out with the following sentence: “Since the publication in Der Spiegel of articles concerning the President of the IHF, the EHF has been asked for its position concerning the accusations expressed in the German magazine.”

There are a couple of problems with this statement. First off, it neglects to mention what any of the so called accusations are. This might not seem like a big deal to those who follow Handball closely and have read the Der Spiegel article in German, but there is still a sizable following that either can’t read German or haven’t seen a translation. So in short, the EHF press statement talks about accusations without stating what they are. Which leads to the second problem: Namely, that we’re not talking about idle accusations here. If you read the translations of the Der Spiegel articles you’ll find that for the most part they are rather specific and arguably factual in their presentation.

The first article focused on the 600,000 Euro personal services contract that IHF President Moustafa signed with TV distributor, Sportfive. As you recall, Sportfive, by coincidence, also won the TV rights for the IHF Championships. Der Spiegel and others have noted the inherent conflict of interest, but even Mr. Moustafa has not denied the existence of the contract.

The second article focused on the conversion of Mr. Moustafa to a paid employee and the increase in payments to IHF Council members. Most notably, a 1,567 % increase in remuneration for Mr. Moustafa and an average increase of 400% to other council members. The validity of this information may not be known to you and me, but the EHF leadership knows, because they also happen to be members of the IHF Council, the very body that approved the hiring and the honorarium increases.

This leads to the silliness of the second paragraph which seeks to give the impression that there is a massive firewall between the IHF and its preeminent continental federation. For the record, the EHF President, Tor Lian, sits on the IHF council with the title, VP Europe. The EHF VP, Jean Brihault, sits on the IHF Council with the title, Representative Europe.

The statement goes on to indicate that the EHF has received a statement from the IHF President explaining his professional situation and business contracts, as well as a letter from the IOC Ethics Committee President stating his position on the Sportfive personal services contract. However, the EHF fails to take note that the IOC President, Jacque Rogge, has spoken out and indicated that he “would not tolerate such behavior.” The EHF then notes that the IHF has agreed to its request for an audit of the financial situation and dealings of the IHF and its leadership.

Finally, the statement closes by saying that the EHF members of the IHF Council (Lian and Brihault) “sincerely hope that the press will then be in position to report the performances of the players and the teams and that the growing support of the media for this fast developing sport will be confirmed and increased.”

[b]To which I say it’s my sincere hope that Messrs Lian and Brihault quit hiding and speak out.[/b] Let me state it more clearly. Gentlemen, you don’t need an audit to better understand the situation. You’re also smart enough to know that an audit won’t uncover much of anything as Mr. Moustafa has shown that he knows how to cover his tracks. Nope. You already have more than enough information to form an opinion and take a stand. So, I submit to you the following questions:

1) Do you think Mr. Moustafa’s contract with Sportfive was appropriate or do you think it was an inherent conflict of interest? If not appropriate, are you going to do anything about it?

2) Do you think Mr. Moustafa’s hiring as an IHF employee and his remuneration increase from 30,000 Swiss Franc to 500,000 Swiss Francs is appropriate? If not, are you going to do anything about it?

3) How much of a raise did each of you get and do you think maybe that money would be better spent on world-wide handball development?

[b]Answer those questions honestly, then take some appropriate actions and guess what: The press will have nothing else to focus on but this great sport’s players, teams and performances.[/b]

EHF (25 Feb 10): EHF statement on IHF matters: http://www.eurohandball.com/article/012925/EHF+statement+on+IHF+matters
THN (25 Feb 10): IHF Payments to President and Council Members – outrageous or not?: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.968
THN (10 Feb 10): IOC President Rogge comments on Moustafa's contract with Sportfive: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.948
THN (28 Jan 10): Conflict of Interest – or worse !?: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.933
THN (23 Jan 10): IHF President Moustafa had lucrative private contract with IHF’s TV partner: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.930

Uber Handball fan, Stefan Fatsis gave yet another shout out to Team Handball on the latest episode of Slate’s Hang up and Listen podcast. That’s back to back episodes. Here’s the exchange at the 14:00 minute mark:

Mike Pesca: Curling is interesting because fans of obscure sports always say, ‘Well, if they just gave people exposure to us we’d convert people into fans’ and I have to say…

Stefan Fatsis: Team Handball (interjecting)

Mike Pesca: I think that might be true for me with like biathlon or Nordic combined, but man, not with curling. I watch a lot of curling and I’m like this is a boring sport. I want less curling.

I wholeheartedly concur with Mr. Pesca and I can only fantasize about the possibility of Team Handball getting the kind of extra exposure that Curling is currently getting in the U.S. simply by virtue of being played on ice. In the meantime I guess we’ll have to settle for a half-second shout out on the best weekly sports podcast.

22 Feb 2010 Podcast: http://media.slate.com/media/slate/Podcasts/Daily/daily1.xml (Topics: USA-Canada Ice Hockey match, NBC Olympics Coverage, Tiger Woods and NBA salary cap shenanigans)

Slate Hang Up and Listen Webpage: http://www.slate.com/id/2243238/

And a reminder: If I’ve convinced you to check out their podcast, please drop me a line at john.ryan@teamhandballnews. com and I'll add you to my conversion story for the contest to be a guest contributor

While living overseas my life changed overnight with the discovery of the world of podcasts. I’d always been a fan of talk radio, but France’s version of it left something to be desired. Even if I could actually fully understand it, I really didn’t care about Paris St-Germain and Olympic Marseille. With podcasts, however, I learned I could listen to a multitude of offerings: BBC news reports and documentaries, 60 Minutes, Meet the Press, ESPN radio and Slate Magazine. Plus, they were available anytime and anywhere. Now that I’m back in the States I’m still an avid podcast listener. Sure, there are more radio stations, but I don’t like being a slave to their schedules and annoying advertisements.

One of my favorite podcasts currently is Slate’s, ‘Hang up and Listen’. This weekly sports conversation show typically has 3 segments and lasts about 40 minutes. It’s not your typical show as they delve into topics a little off the beaten path and then spend a little more time on them. And where else do you get Team Handball references from time to time including just this past week in regards to the USOC’s funding of minor sport federations. Of course, this is entirely attributable to the number 1 Handball fan in mainstream journalism, Stefan Fatsis. Fatsis, who used to write for the Wall St Journal and can now be heard regularly on NPR, never misses an opportunity to promote the sport and has written a couple of feature articles, most recently in the NY Times.

NY Times 9 May 09: Team Handball Has It All, Except an American Interest: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/sports/othersports/10cheer.html?_r=1&ref=sports

While the show already gets quite a few downloads they would like to bump up their subscription numbers. Subscribing to the podcast via ITunes or downloading the show is entirely free; they just want more subscribers to impress advertisers. Where the promotion of Handball comes in is that they are having a contest to see who can come up with the best story about converting someone into a regular listener. The winner gets to be a guest analyst on the show. This posting is my plea for converts and hopefully we’ll have a windfall of Handball fans that convinces the regular hosts to bring me into their midst for a show.

Slate ‘Hang Up and Listen’ podcast page: http://www.slate.com/id/2243238/
To simply download an episode: ttp://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/media.slate.com/media/slate/Podcasts/Sports/SG10021501_HUAL.mp3
‘Hang Up and Listen’ Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/hangupandlisten

And finally, if you’ve become a convert drop me a short note at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com so I include you in my submission.

USA Team Handball (USATH) has formally released its Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990 for 2008. This form, which is an annual requiremetn for all U.S. non-profit organization, details income and expenses from July 1st 2008 to June 30th 2009, and is the first window to the fiscal status of USATH. The following is an analysis of some key data points contained on the form.

Income (Donations): USATH President Dieter Esch has backed up his promise to support the organization with a donation of $305,000. This contribution accounted for over half of USATH’s income and the organization simply would not have functioned without it. Business partner and fellow board member Brad Krassner contributed $50,000 while a 3rd board member, John West contributed $10,000. Lacking, however, is a clear indication as to whether any of the other board members have contributed any or part of the $50,000 that is stated in Section 7.26 of the by-laws as a requirement for Board Members. The end date for the form 990 is June 30th of this year, so perhaps those contributions were made after that date.

Income (Dues): USATH collected $41,117 in membership dues. This is similar to the total amount collected by the previous administration according to its last available Form 990 in 2004. As there was a significant increase in the price for annual dues, one can infer that there are now actually fewer members. It’s not surprising, however, that the new Federation would start with a low ground floor. It should be interesting to see how this metric tracks in the years to come, though, as it is a fairly reliable metric of the sports growth.

Membership dues revenue from previous IRS Form 990s
2004 $37k
2003 $42k
2002 $59K
2001 $26K
2000 $42K
(Note: I would speculate that the lower revenue in 2001 and the higher revenue in 2002 are due to some anomaly related to when the dues were collected. On average, the yearly revenue tracks closely to $40,000)

Expenses (Salaries): The USATH spent $285,279 on employee salaries and this is easily the largest expenditure of the Federation. The IRS also requires that all employees receiving compensation over $100,000 be listed by name and the General Manager of USATH, Steve Pastorino tops that mark with an overall compensation listed as $108,000. (Mr Pastorino has informed me that the yearly compensation is actually $100,000 and the extra $8,000 is due to 13 months of income). Extrapolating salaries for the other administrative personnel is difficult as several staff members were employed for only part of the year.

There are very few items of information more personal than how much money one earns in a year and in many businesses such information is held very close to the vest. U.S. non-profits, however, have stringent transparency requirements and with ready access to the internet this information is now available for all to see.

There’s a number of different ways to assess the appropriateness of the General Manager’s salary and everyone’s viewpoint is going to be influenced to some extent by their own professional experiences. Perhaps one of the more relevant comparisons is the compensation that Mike Cavanaugh received ($65,000/year) as the Executive Director back in 2004. Using a 4% inflation rate this would equate to a $73,000 salary for 2008; $100,000 equates to about a 37% pay increase. Using just those 2 data points one could come to the conclusion that either Mike Cavanaugh was undercompensated, Steve Pastorino is being overcompensated, or perhaps a mixture of both. (As a side note Mike Cavanaugh is listed as earning $24,917 in CY2008 as the new CEO of USA Table Tennis. This is, however, only for an indeterminate portion of that year. You’ll have to wait until next year to see what he makes now on an annual basis)

Out of curiosity I checked a few other sports federations to see what the top earner made. All federations are not created equal, but these numbers, inflation adjusted to 2008, do provide some insight.

USA Team Handball
Total income: $541,701
Top Salary: $100,000

Ultimate (Frisbee)
Total income: $1,236,000
Top Salary: $76,752

USA Water Polo
Total income: $4,703,000
Top Salary: $238,160

USA Field Hockey
Total income: $5,900,000
Top Salary: $263,120

USA Rugby
Total Income: $7,128,000
Top Salary: $271,000

USA Lacrosse
Total Income: $10,369,000
Top Salary: $173,000

If you compare handball to these sports, you’ll note that Mr Pastorino’s salary is substantially less with the exception of Ultimate. There are several ways to look at this.
– Salary as a ratio to total income: It can be argued that someone managing more money has greater responsibility and therefore should earn more. Using this argument Mr Pastorino’s salary is actually tops at 17% of total revenue.
– Salary requirement as an Olympic sport: The case can be made that Handball needs a base salary that is in line with the inherent prestige of other Olympic sports. In other words, if you’re going to take the sport seriously you need to have a salary comparable to other sports. Using this measure, Handball falls short of the mark.
– Salary requirement as it relates to the difficulty of the task. Anybody familiar with the challenges a minor sport like Handball faces knows full well the level of difficulty involved. A good case can be made that you don’t need just any manager, you need a super star with a proven track record of successful turnarounds. Handball probably falls short of the mark here as well and you could also bet that some top managers wouldn’t take the position at any salary, because they know that it will be tough to be successful. I’d love to put the head of USA basketball in charge of USA Handball and see how well that individual does in a more challenging situation.

In the end, there’s no automatic calculator that can decide what the appropriate compensation should be. It’s maybe a little more than I would have thought, but it’s in the ballpark. The bottom line is that the salary decision was Dieter Esch’s and since he contributed $305,000 to the organization one can only assume it was a decision that he was comfortable with.

Other Expenses: The Federal Statement at the end of the package identifies $168,975 in other expenses. This section is a hodgepodge of different expenses, but 3 items are worth noting:
Travel: $65,754
National Team Expenses: $7,071
USA Club Competition Expenses: $36,058

It’s hard to imagine Travel and National Team Expenses remaining so low in the future. For the time frame indicated there was only limited activity in those areas and these are sure to increase substantially in future statements. USA club competition expenses are probably in line with the costs of conducting a National Championship tournament. It will be interesting to track this in the years to come. Also as more training camps and other development activities are conducted I hope that future documentation highlights the spending in these areas more clearly.

The overall numbers: $540,000 to run a national federation is going to result in a shoestring operation. It’s hardly enough revenue to do a few things well, let alone enough to do everything that needs to be done. This number has got to get larger and USA Team Handball is working diligently to make that happen through engagement with international entities and the USOC. We can and should expect this bottom line number to increase from year to year so that it approaches the funding of some of the other sports organization listed above.

Closing thoughts: These numbers don’t tell the full story, but do set some initial benchmarks. I have had some limited dialogue with Steve Pastorino on these topics as well as opportunity to review a rough draft of planning documents that look towards the future. Hopefully, this information will be posted soon to the USA Team Handball website and will provide better insight as to the fiscal health and planning envisioned.

Full disclosure: I sent Dieter Esch an unsolicited letter expressing interest in the USA Team Handball General Manager position shortly after USA Team Handball was certified by the USOC in 2008. I was never interviewed and it’s probably unlikely that I would have accepted employment due to a number of personal and professional considerations. I’m also not surprised that Mr Esch hired someone he knew with a sports management background and very importantly no ties to the fractious politics that have afflicted the sport in the U.S. I think that my commentaries on USA Team Handball are fair and backed with reasoned arguments, but readers will have to judge for themselves as to whether my previous interest in employment clouds my critiques.

USA Team Handball Form 990 (1998): http://usateamhandball.org/assets/documents/attached_file/filename/20855/2008_USA_Team_Handball_Form_990.pdf
Guidestar: www.guidestar.org (Free service which provides access to IRS Form 990s for all U.S. Non-Profits)

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

From the news accounts and photos (see links below) it appears that a good time was had by all at the recently concluded Big Apple tournament. Participating in the tournament were 5 club teams from Germany and the hosts, New York City Team Handball. As I reported earlier there were some space and time limitations that precluded this tournament from having more American participation. The tournament was won by a club from Stuttgart and in addition to the tournament an all star game was held with many former and current Bundesliga stars participating.

The entire event was largely conceived by Karl Gladeck of German company, TR Team Travel, as a way of introducing Handball to the USA and allowing German fans to mingle with top Bundesliga stars in a unique setting. Besides Handball many of the visitors took part in the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration and attended an NBA basketball game between the New Jersey Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Note the photo op with Pascal Hens and Shaquille O’Neal.

Although, not an official Bundesliga event it was good to see that the General Manager of the league, Frank Bohmann made the trip. Here’s hoping it opened his eyes to the possibility of more aggressively pursuing the vast, untapped market in the U.S. Sure, the tournament and venue were small, but it’s still notable that a sizable contingent of Germans flew to the U.S. for this minor event in the midst of a recession. Certainly it’s worth exploring whether something could be done on a larger scale.

The German Federation, a separate entity from the German Bundesliga, is working with the U.S. and Polish Federation to play a Germany – Poland National Team exhibition in Chicago on 17 July. It will be interesting to see how that this match is promoted and whether it can avoid the low attendance figures that the French Miami tournament had last year.

The key is to balance the European travelers with an American audience that unfortunately doesn’t exist yet. Mr Bohmann met with USA Team Handball President, Dieter Esch and General Manager, Steve Pastorino so surely steps to grow such an audience were discussed. One such step that I’ve promoted ad nauseam is the need for TV broadcasts in the states. Barring a major deal with ESPN or NBC Universal let’s hope that Bundesliga webstreaming is brought back on line even if it is just for the few fans that are already here in the States.

USA Team Handball: Team Stuttgart Wins Big Apple Tournament (3 Jan 10): http://usateamhandball.org/news/2010/01/03/team-stuttgart-wins-big-apple-tournament/30278
USA Team Handball: German media pick up Big Apple Tournament (4 Jan 10): http://usateamhandball.org/news/2010/01/04/german-media-pick-up-big-apple-tournament/30293?ngb_id=42
New York City Team Handball Club: http://www.newyorkcityteamhandball.com/bigapple.php
Handball-World: Handball goes New York (31 Dec 09): http://www.handball-world.com/news-index.php?LID=1&GID=&auswahl=23569
Handball-World: Bundesliga Stars celebrate New Year's Eve together in New York (2 Jan 10): http://www.handball-world.com/o.red.c/news.php?GID=1&auswahl=23585
Handball-World: Big Apple Tournament started – THC New York in the semi (3 Jan 10: http://www.handball-world.com/news-index.php?LID=1&GID=1&auswahl=23588
A-Shaq jersey for Hens: http://www.handballwoche.de/artikel/bundesliga/news/ein-shaq-trikot-fuer-hens/
Bild.de: Pascal Hens meets Shaq (4 Jan 10): http://www.bild.de/BILD/sport/mehr-sport/2010/01/04/hsv-handball/pascal-hens-trifft-nba-star-shaq-o-neal.html (with photo of the two stars)
Stuttgarter Zeitung: Development after the New Year's Eve Party (2 Jan 10): http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/stz/page/2335512_0_2147_-entwicklungshilfe-nach-der-silvesterparty.html
THN: If you build it, will they come? (18 Apr 09): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.734
THN: German Bundesliga blocks internet Handball broadcasts to rest of world (22 Sep 09): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.827
Handball-World: Tournament in New York: All-Star team beats U.S. Selection (4 Jan 10): http://www.handball-world.com/news-index.php?LID=1&GID=1&auswahl=23597
Handball-World: Tournament in New York a great success – not only for the winning team from Stuttgart (5 Jan 10): http://www.handball-world.com/news-index.php?LID=1&GID=1&auswahl=23598

As the self proclaimed world’s #1 proponent of internet web streaming of Handball matches I was very pleased and a little surprised by the EHF’s recent announcement of their upcoming Euro 2010 web package. The key sentence:

“All games of the EHF EURO in Austria will be available on the internet at a 500 kbit/s rate as well as at a [u][b]1.5 Mbit/s[/b][/u] rate so that subscribers can optimise the service to their own technical possibilities.”

For those of you who don’t know, 1.5 Megabit/second is a dramatic step up in service compared to previous offerings for the World and European Championships where speeds of 450 and 750 Kb/s have been the norm. 1.5 Mb/s isn’t quite the same picture quality you typically see on TV, but it’s very close and there’s a lot less pixilation when compared to 750 Kb/s.

Unfortunately, the service will not be available everywhere. Sorry handball fans in Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Belarus you’ll be restricted to the TV matches in your respective countries. Not too often is it better to be a Handball fan in say, India or the U.S, but as long as TV executives are still living in 1999 instead of 2009 we’ll have to suffer through these archaic rights restrictions.

Finally, perhaps I shouldn’t celebrate too much just yet as it remains to be seen as to whether the actual package will match the advertisement. The Euro 2008 service was to put it kindly, less than satisfactory. The Euro 2010 throws off on 19 January.

EHF (16 Dec 09): Follow the EHF EURO 2010 live on your computer!: http://www.eurohandball.com/article/12777
THN: World Championship Handball Web Streaming: Slow, but Steady Progress (16 Jan 09): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.673
Handball Video Streaming ($43 vs. Free): Hmmm…. I’ll take Free, Thank You (14 Feb 08): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.455
THN: Women’s World Championship Video Streaming: More Bits Please (6 Dec 07): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.423

A few items of note from the recent Women’s World Championships in China

Pool play provides a second chance: Runners-up France started this year’s tournament in dismal fashion losing to Brazil 22-20 and Denmark 24-16, before rolling off 7 straight victories over Congo, Sweden, Germany, Angola, Russia, Austria and Spain enroute to the final. A large pool of 6 teams gave France 5 games to get their act together and gel as a team. If the format had been with smaller pools of 4 or 5 teams France might very well have played in the President’s Cup.

Expat Fans: This article tells the story of a small group of French Expats that cheered on their team in China: http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/community/news/2009-12/492415.html

Where were the fans?: The IHF put a brave face on the small numbers in attendance at their final press conference, but early round matches were very poorly attended with official crowds of 100 and in many instances less. One player blog commented that the players outnumbered the crowds in some cases. Other reports indicate that crowds for later matches were larger but inflated by what appeared to be “forced attendance” from groups that were wearing matching uniforms. Speculation aside, China was reportedly the only nation to bid for the event and the IHF should be commended for trying to promote the sport outside of Europe. The simple reality is that Women’s Handball, even more so than the Men’s game, has a very limited appeal outside of Scandinavia and the Balkans.
Chinaview.cn: IHF officials satisfied with handball World Championship in China (20 Dec 09): http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/20/content_12674741.htm

Minnows get whacked: The performance of nations like Australia, Chile and Thailand was less than spectacular and some European blogs and news reports have called for the return of the B World Championships. The B World Championships as the name implies was a secondary championship with lower ranked teams from around the world that the IHF used to hold. Entry into the A World Championships was then limited to the winners of the B World Championships in a promotion-relegation system. I’ll have more to say on this topic after I complete a “ranking of the continents” article, but here’s a story about Thailand’s experience in the meantime:
Haandbold.com: Thailand: Modest goals were achieved (21 Dec 09): http://www.haandbold.com/nyheder.php?id=19315