A lot of opinions have been expressed recently on our website as to how well the new USA Handball Federation (aka USA Team Handball) is performing. As we’ve been without a Federation for a couple of years there clearly is a pent up demand for national support and expectations are high. I’ve been an advocate for more patience, but that doesn’t mean I’ll my expectations are being met. For example, I’d certainly like to see more features on their website and I thought the competition rulebook that was posted on the website wasn’t ready for “prime time.” (By the way, if you thought there were problems with the rulebook, I sure hope you took the time to send in your comments and suggestions.)

I’ve considered a missive about the current state of affairs, but instead I decided that it would be better to first lay out my expectations as to what tasks the Federation should be working on and what timelines are reasonable for completing those tasks. After all, it’s a little unfair to grade performance at the start of the semester, especially if you haven’t fully spelled out what’s expected.

So with that being said here’s what I’d like to see and when:

[b]1) A clear and organized plan for USA club competition. [/b] (Target date: December 1, 2008). Successfully completing this goal would be to have a revamped competition rulebook that has been vetted, by and large, by the USA Handball community. This won’t mean that everybody will like everything in the competition rulebook, but it should mean that all the major clubs in the USA find it acceptable. As a minimum, every club should have a clear understanding as to what they need to do in order to participate in the 2009 National Championship Tournament.

[b]2) Announcement of the 2009 National Championship Tournament (Dates and Location) [/b](Target Date: January 30, 2009). Sooner, of course, would be better, but this should allow enough time for teams to make airfare and lodging reservations.

[b]3) A well organized and successful National Championship Tournament. [/b] There are many elements that go into running a well organized and successful tournament, to include, facilities, the scheduling of games, fan attendance and convenience (lodging and gym location).

[b]4) An improved website with the following content:[/b]
[b]a) A club information page [/b](Target Date: September 19, 2008). This page would include links to websites and Point of Contact information for all clubs in the U.S. You might notice that this target date is only a week away. This, however, should only take a couple of hours and quite frankly it should have been done a month ago.
[b]b) Guidance documentation page[/b] (Target Date: September 19, 2008). Any overarching documentation (e.g. the by-laws submitted in the UTHF bid; competition rulebook) that highlights how the Federation conducts business should be posted on this page.
[b]c) Club Resources page [/b](Target Date: October 17, 2008). A “best practices” section of the website that provides information on how to best organize a new club is needed. This section would include Points of Contact for club development and information on how to request funding grants from either USA Team Handball or the USA Team Handball Foundation.
[b]d) An online store with discounts for members[/b] (Target Date: December 1, 2008). This service would be a welcome addition, especially for new clubs that need to purchase balls and goals.

[b]5) National Board of Directors Fully Identified[/b] (Target Date: November 1, 2008): Another hallmark of the new Federation organizational structure is 7 independent Board of Directors with business skills who would contribute $50,000 each to USA Team Handball. The website currently lists only 2 members, Dieter Esch and his business partner, Brad Krassner. Additionally, the new Federation should make clear how it will identify/select other members of the Board, who are not part of the $50,000 club.

[b]6) First National Board of Directors Meeting[/b] (Target Date: January 5, 2009).

[b]7) Senior Men’s National Team Program Plan [/b](Target Date: March 1, 2009). A well thought out plan on how the U.S. will organize and prepare the Men’s National Team needs to be clearly articulated. Such a plan should clearly identify strategies for player identification and development, training and competition schedules. A key element of this plan will also be a decision on whether to develop players in the U.S. or whether to foster opportunities for players to be placed on European club rosters.

[b]8) Senior Women’s National Team Program Plan[/b] (Target Date: March 1, 2009). As with the Men, a well defined plan is needed. Additionally, if the Women, participate in the PATHF Div 1 Championships later this year a near term interim plan should also be developed.

[b]9) Youth and Junior Team Program Plans [/b](Target Date: March 1, 2009). These plans will need to mesh with the Senior Team Plans. They will also require a substantial amount of thought as the U.S. has very few players in these age categories and limited resources to support their rapid development.

[b]10) Fully Staffed Regions[/b] (Target Date: January 5, 2009). A hallmark of the new Federation organizational structure is their plan to have a dedicated Regional Director and Coach for each of the 5 regions. I would expect that personnel will actually start to be hired and identified in the near future. And I would expect the regional staffs to have a very active and hands on role in helping new clubs to get on their feet and in organizing regional competition.

[b]11) Regional Board or Directors Fully Identified [/b](Target Date: September 1, 2009). As with the National Boards, I would expect Directors to be identified in the coming months. As the Regional staffs have not been identified yet, however, this will take some time. Additionally, it may be challenging to come up with Regional Board Members due to the financial requirements.

[b]12) Interim Over Arching Guidance Documentation [/b](Target Date: September 19, 2008). To the casual observer, the new Federation appears to be currently operating with no formal written by-laws. By-laws were submitted during the certification process, but I suspect that these by-laws are not being followed to the letter. It should be clear to the USA Handball Community what “rules of the road” are being used to guide the new Federation. Simply posting the UTHF Bid by-laws would be a start, along with a general statement of accountability. Right now my assumption (in the absence of a Board of Directors) is that Dieter Esch is calling the shots, but that GM Steve Pastorino has been given a significant amount of latitude to do what he thinks best. This is to be expected in a start-up situation, but that construct should transition as soon as possible to a more formalized structure.

[b]13) Finalized Over Arching Guidance [/b](Target Date: February 2, 2009). Step 1 for the new board should be to approve new bylaws for the Federation. It should be clear to everyone what the roles and responsibilities are for Board Directors, Committee Members and Staff. Additionally, members at all levels should understand how they can influence and participate in the process.

[b]14) Strategic Plan [/b](Target Date: March 20, 2009). The strategic plan would be a top to bottom plan that identifies the goals for USA Team Handball and how it plans to achieves those goals. This is something that should be developed with at large membership input, but may very well also require outside the box thinking.

[b]15) Marketing Plan[/b] (Target Date: January 5, 2008). The new Federation has indicated that they will expend significant resources in this area. I don’t expect for them to provide the members at large a detailed copy of their marketing strategy, but I would like to see regular reports highlighting current ongoing efforts in this area. My metric for success in this area will be successfully getting Handball on TV in the U.S.

[b]16) Fundraising.[/b] This is without a doubt the big kahuna, in that sustained success hinges on creating sufficient income to meet expenses. With the dramatic increase in paid staff (when compared to the previous Federation), as well as plans to field youth and junior teams there’s simply no way for the numbers to add up without significant new funding streams being developed. The metric for success in this area will be an Income side of the balance sheet showing significantly more $ than that of the $300,000 – 500,000 budgets common in the waning years of the previous Federation. I won’t expect the Federation to provide detailed information, but as a non-profit, top level budget numbers should be available for public review. Additionally, it will become readily apparent that there is a cash flow problem if there are staff cutbacks and/or the USA fails to send teams to International competitions.

So, that’s it in a nutshell. Of course, the folks in Salt Lake City don’t take orders from me, so I’m not expecting them to jump all over my metrics. But hey, as soon as I send my $60 in for membership, there’s got to be some degree of accountability. And if my patience wears thin 6 months from now, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

Add NBA basketball star Carmelo Anthony to the growing list of Handball aficionados. In an interview with the Rocky Mountain News, Anthony, a member of the USA Gold medal basketball team, was asked if there was another sport that he thought he could play? Anthony responded:

"I wanna play handball, man. The U.S. needs to get a handball team. I'm pretty sure we can get some guys to go out there and play handball.”

We’ll see if he follows through for 2012. I have my doubts as to whether top of the line basketball players will ever get near a basketball court. https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.557 But, I think Anthony’s new found love for a sport he had never seen before is further proof to my argument that if Handball is shown on TV to new audiences people will watch. https://teamhandballnews.com/news372.html
Rocky Mountain News: 7 Questions for Carmelo Anthony: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/02/melo-now-focused-making-nuggets-golden-too/

Someone recently posted a link to some old “old school” Handball video of Denmark vs. Germany and Denmark vs. Sweden, circa 1954 in the Kometal forum. I couldn’t help but wonder from watching the video as to whether some of today’s women’s teams could give those sides a run for their money.

It also made be think back to the Scottie Pippen, “Time Warp” Nike commercial of the early 90’s. Through the wonders of you tube, it can be viewed if even that too was before your time. Makes me think it’s time for a Handball version of the same commercial. Might I suggest Luc Abalo running circles around the 1950’s Danish side?

Link to 1950’s Danish Handball Video: http://www.dr.dk/Undervisning/OL-leksikon/Boldspil/H%C3%A5ndbold.htm
Lind to Scottie Pippen Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qXkn3iqym4

As promised, I’ve been working on starting a new fan based movement to help get more Handball on TV in the United States and other countries. It’s a work in progress and I’d like your help in fleshing out the details for this movement. As such, I’ve created a Wiki devoted to this topic for you to contribute and provide input.

Handball Fans Association Wiki: http://teamhandball.wikispaces.com/Handball+Fans+Association

In general, I envision an association roughly modeled on the Australian Football Association of North America (AFANA) www.afana.com. Here are the proposed goals of the organization:

1) Help coordinate and facilitate the broadcasting of more Handball matches on TV
2) Provide information on Handball viewing options (TV and Internet)
3) Advocate for Handball fans world-wide

More information on the proposed organization and goals is in the Wiki so head there to contribute your thoughts and ideas.

Additionally, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not an expert in the ins and outs of televised sport production and broadcasting. If you, on the other hand, have personal knowledge, experience and/or professional contacts in the sports production and/or broadcasting arena please send me an email john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com indicating how you would like to help contribute to promoting this agenda.

Sports commentator, Frank Deford, recently pontificated on the four guiding principles of sports organizations. According to him, they are:

1: It's much easier to run a team sport than an individual sport.
2: It's much easier to run a domestic sport than an international sport.
3: Any sports organization that has the word "federation" in its title is probably a mess.
4: Any sports organization in which volunteers have a lot of power over the professionals is really, really going to be screwed up. A subset to this is, “Beware of any sports organization in which too many people in authority wear blue blazers.”

I would bet Mr Deford has had very limited exposure to Team Handball, but these guiding principles certainly fit the bill for USA Team Handball for many years. One also, can’t help but think of the International Handball Federation. To read or listen to his essay go the link below.

Frank Deford: Take The Olympics. Give Me My NFL, Please: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93995199

Readers to this website well know that I’ve often compared USA Rugby’s ongoing struggles to develop Rugby in the United States, to Team Handball’s efforts to do the same. Now a new publication, “Putting Rugby First“, www.puttingrugbyfirst.com is worth reading for anyone concerned with the state of Handball’s development at the International level. Putting Rugby First is an independent report that was commissioned by an undisclosed group of "concerned rugby supporters who wish to ensure that the great game of rugby reaches its full, global potential."

Here are some of the findings of the report and some commentary as they apply to handball:

– Rugby’s International Rugby Board (IRB) (Rugby’s IHF equivalent) needs to be more representative. Currently, the Foundation Union’s (the top rugby nations) have increased voting power and can effectively veto other nations.
Comment: The IHF does have a one nation, one vote policy. Although, maybe there’s something to be said for the Rugby model. Should Germany and the Cook Islands really have the same voting power at the IHF?

– Rugby should have staged the 2011 World Cup in Japan (vice New Zealand) to enhance an emerging market.
Comment: Well the IHF has placed the World Championships in Egypt, Tunisia, Japan, and now China (women 2009), so there has been some effort put forth in the past. The problem with staging a World Championship in say, the USA or Australia, is that the sport is currently, too little known.

– Rugby botched their opportunity to get on the Olympic Program.
Comment: Handball is on the Olympic Program and hopefully there to stay. This report should make it very clear, though, how fortunate Handball is to be already on the program instead of trying to fight its way on. I know you Euros out there are saying, of course, it’s on the program, but outside of Europe, Handball has very little pull. And it’s probably safe to say that the only reason the sport has now gained a little traction in a few places outside of Europe (South Korea, Brazil, Egypt, Tunisia) is that it is an Olympic sport.

– The IRB has contributed substantial funding to emerging rugby nations, including several million dollars to the United States
Comment: The IHF, on the other hand, has distributed a few balls here and there. Of course, the Rugby World Cup is played in outdoor stadiums and has turned huge profits. The IHF World Championships, on the other hand are played in indoors arena. Still the 2007 World Championships in Germany were hugely successful and had to have turned a significant profit—Where has that money gone? If the IHF and other Handball entities invested in the United States and helped Handball become more than the near “nothing” it is there, the whole Handball community would benefit in the long run.

– Rugby is only on TV in core rugby markets
Comment: This is also a shortcoming for Handball is most pronounced in the United States where despite more and more channel options, Handball still has not managed to find its way on TV. Consistent exposure of Handball on US TV would have a tremendous impact on the sport's development. The Olympics were a start, but this momentum needs to be carried forward.

– Rugby is losing ground to other sports in emerging markets
Comment: This problem is even more pronounced for Handball. One has to only look at the fact that basketball is more popular than handball in Iceland now. 30 years ago in China Basketball and Handball were little known sports. Now 300,000,000 play basketball in China and their National Handball teams are made up largely from cast offs from basketball and other sports.

The Handball powers that be (the IHF, EHF, G-20, and the major professional leagues) could certainly gain some insight from the “Putting Rugby First” publication. But more importantly, they should be asking themselves if maybe Handball should do the same thing. Here’s hoping those organizations consider commissioning some independent think tank to conduct a “Putting Handball First” study.

Here are just a few things such a report could address:
– Loss of market share in European countries and how to increase it
– Total lack of presence in major markets (USA, India, China, UK, Japan, Australia, Canada)
– Funding for marketing efforts (e.g. getting the sport on TV in more countries)
– Resolving competing interests between the clubs, EHF, IHF and National Leagues
– IHF organization: Is it too unwieldy? Does it represent the best interests of all nations? Are its actions transparent?
– Best practices to develop more competitive national teams outside of Europe

Of course, commissioning a report would only be the first step. The Handball World would then have to act upon the findings. But recognizing that there are shortcomings that need to be addressed would be a good start.

Whether you’ve been a Team Handball fan your entire life, or just discovered the sport flipping through channels yesterday, you’re soon going to have to come to grips with the stark reality that the Olympics are over and along with that fact, so is your opportunity to watch the sport on TV in the U.S– at least in the immediate future. But, fortunately there are some remedies that can help alleviate the pain of withdrawal.

[b]1) Follow the sport on the web: [/b] The Olympics is just but one tournament, albeit an important one. The club season will be starting very soon in Europe and the Women’s European Championship will be in December and the Men’s World Championship will be in January. (Can the French beat the Croatians in Zagreb?) There are video web streaming options available. Notably, the European Handball Federation (EHF) has streamed Champions League matches for free and the German Bundesliga has a pay per view package available at HBL.TV www.hbl.tv. The quality of the video stream for HBL.TV is great, much better than the NBC stream, but it also isn‘t free. Both the European Championships and World Championships will also likely be streamed, but it’s TBD as to what the quality and price will be.

[b]2) Join a movement to bring Team Handball on TV in the U.S.[/b] Earlier this year, I wrote an April Fool’s Day article that believe it or not, fooled a lot of people.

IHF, EHF and Major National Leagues Form TV Partnership: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.480

Shortly, thereafter, I wrote a mea culpa https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.481 where I discussed forming a fan based movement to get Team Handball on TV. I’ve been remiss in following through on this plan, but I promise to get it started soon. I’ll also emphasize this isn’t just a pipedream. I’ve spoken with the folks at the Australian Football Association of North America (AFANA) www.afana.com
about the impact their organization has had in getting Australian Football on TV in the USA. Their movement started out as a group of fans writing a few letters, but morphed into an entity that was instrumental in a multi-million dollar TV contract being signed with Setanta Sports to broadcast Footy in the U.S. If a non-Olympic sport, predominant in only one country, requiring a humongous field and 36 players can gain traction in the U.S. it’s only a matter of time before Handball can do the same.

[b]3) Get involved with a local club or start one of your own.[/b] Contact USA Team Handball www.usateamhandball.org for information on clubs in your local area. If there isn’t a club nearby, look into starting your own. In the past two weeks, I’ve gotten about 10 emails from folks in Las Vegas wanting to play Team Handball. And each of those individuals contacted me after checking out this Google Map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=103598029638506187982.000440c7641749acb6497 (Look out LA, the Vegas Rattlers will be gunning for you in a few months.) Also, note that anyone can edit this map and put a marker down for a club. Who knows, there could be another handball fan who lives half a mile from you.

[b]4) Make plans to see professional Team Handball in the United States.[/b] Yes, that’s right in the United States. Miami is scheduled to host the French League Cup Final Four, April 10-12, 2009. https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.529 It’s TBD as to which French Clubs will qualify for the trip to Miami, but it’s hard to imagine that Chambery and Montpellier won’t make it. That means French Olympic Champions, David Narcisse, Joel Abati, Cedric Burdet, Michael Guigou will be playing at the Miami Arena next April.

So, hopefully these four remedies will help you recover from Olympic Team Handball withdrawal. Bogdan, Bjoern and I will do our best to keep you informed of what’s happening in the Team Handball world. Stay tuned for more stories about the U.S. development efforts and Handball on TV.

Even the mainstream U.S. press has picked up the story of Iceland’s surprising run to the Gold Medal game. It’s simply irresistible that a tiny nation of only 300,000 people, with only 3 individual medals in its Olympic history, could secure its first ever Gold Medal. It’s a David vs. Goliath story that is hard not to like, even if you know next to nothing about Team Handball.

But, while Iceland is a clear underdog they also have a strong Handball tradition. They have almost always been good enough to scare the larger nations and often good enough to win a game or two against them. What’s notable about this tournament is that they’ve been able to string together two big victories in a row at the perfect time. Not to mention that the way the ball bounced for seeding their bracket had them avoiding France, Croatia and Denmark before the Final. And now they are in the proverbial one game, anything can happen scenario.

On paper, they shouldn’t stand much of a chance against France. Talent wise, I think that only 5 players (Steffanson, Sigurdsson, Petersson, Geirsson, and Gunnarson) on the Iceland side would even make France’s roster. And of these 5 players, I think only Steffanson and Sigurdsson would play much. The rest of Iceland’s roster consists of players who play in club leagues either 1 notch (Denmark) or two notches (Norway, Iceland) below the German/Spanish leagues. They are decent players, but they also are a step down talent wise.

But while they might come up short in a player per player comparison, their great team chemistry means that the total sum of their performance is far greater than the individual parts. They’ve also proven that they can beat the mighty French side, having done so in a convincing 32-24 trouncing of Les Bleus in preliminary round competition at the 2007 World Championships. More recently, however, Iceland suffered a 30-21 loss to France at the 2008 European Championship just 7 months ago in Norway.

Up and down performance, is a clear trend with Iceland. In June, they surprised many by beating a resurgent Swedish side to capture one of the last spots for the Olympic Games. Then two weeks later, they failed to qualify for the 2009 World Championships, losing to relative newcomer Macedonia in a two game playoff. Even their performance in Beijing has been unsteady, with losses to South Korean and a draw vs. Egypt blemishing their record in the preliminary rounds.

Is it time for the up and down Iceland roller coaster to come down again? My head says France wins going away. My heart says Iceland, Iceland, Iceland.

[b]Media Articles on Iceland Handball[/b]
New York Times: In Handball, Iceland Will Try for Its First Olympic Title: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/sports/olympics/23iceland.html?ref=sports
USA Today: Tiny Iceland on verge of handball glory, sans Bjork: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/team/2008-08-20-iceland-handball_N.htm
USA Today: Iceland eyes gold medal in handball: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/team/2008-08-23-iceland-handball_N.htm
Washington Post Sports Blog: Icelandic Handball: Magic Elves, Cured Shark and Existentialism: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/08/icelandic_handball_magic_elves.html
Washington Post Sports Blog: Scenes from Iceland's Handball Triumph: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/08/scenes_from_icelands_handball.html#more
Washington Post Sports Blog: Icelandic Handball's Finest Moment: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/08/icelandic_handball_magic_elves.html
Christian Science Monitor: Iceland’s handball Vikings seek to plunder gold: http://features.csmonitor.com/olympics08/2008/08/20/icelands-handball-vikings-seek-to-plunder-gold/
The Sporting News: Iceland Is So Hot Right Now: http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/11111/iceland_is_so_hot_right_now
Reuters: Elf power, Viking rites fire up Iceland: http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Olympics/idUSSYD18815020080823?sp=true
LA Times Olympics Blog: Medals Per Capita Table Warms Up for Iceland: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/2008/08/medals-per-ca-4.html
Dallas Morning News Olympics Blog: An Update on my New Favorite Sport: http://olympicsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/08/an-update-on-my-new-favorite-s.html
New Jersey Star Ledger: Men's Handball Team is Miracle in Iceland: http://www.nj.com/olympics/index.ssf/2008/08/mens_handball_team_is_miracle.html
Associated Press: Historic Performance Captivates Nation: http://www.nbcolympics.com/handball/news/newsid=255769.html

Some close and controversial matches have made it clear to me that the IHF should seriously consider a major overhaul of the official rulebook to address play in the final minute of matches. Here are some of the problems that often arise and how the IHF could fix them.

[b]1) Determining whether the ball crossed the line before or after time expires is extremely dificult.[/b] Television replays of Norway’s last second goal against South Korea clearly show that it did not cross the line before the clock struck 30:00, but in defense of the on court officials it took a frame by frame analysis after the match to make that determination. It was unbelievably close and no one can honestly say that they were 100% sure one way or the other in real time.

[b]SOLUTION: [/b] Change the rule concerning last second shots, so that the criteria is that the player must release the ball prior to time expiring. If the player releases the ball in time then the shot counts if it goes in the goal. Some might argue that this simply changes the decision point and that the referee could still mess up that call. This is true, but the referee has a much greater chance of being in proper position to make the ball release judgment than he does it making an extrapolated 3-d assessment of whether the ball has crossed the imaginary goal line at 30:00.

[b]2) Intentional fouling to stall out the game.[/b] Egypt was chastised on newsgroup forums for not taking out the Russians with an intentional foul at half court prior in the closing seconds of their match. This common tactic has gotten downright ugly in some recent club matches. The EHF has suspended players for unsportsmanlike conduct, but to no avail, this tactic continues. Why, because the incentive of guaranteeing a win is too strong in relation to punishment after the fact.

[b]SOLUTION: [/b]Reward flagrant, intentional fouls in the last minute of a match with a 7 meter penalty throw. Some might say, that this penalty is too stiff, but I say if you want to solve this problem once and for all, this will do it.

[b]3) Official stoppage of the clock in the last minute of a game is inconsistent and at the discretion of the referees. [/b] For instance, a stoppage of play is warranted if a player is fouled and deposits sweat on the court (mop up time), but not if he’s fouled and stays on his feet. Is the stalling team moving out to 9 meters on a free throw fast enough? That’s up to the referee.

[b]SOLUTION:[/b] For the last minute of a match, automatically stop the clock for all stoppages of play. This “basketball” timekeeping solution is so obvious and so simple, why it hasn’t been done already is beyond me. This would eliminate all the bogus stalling and would take the officials judgment on stopping the clock out of the game. Sure, this will change the game in that clever teams won’t be able to manipulate the clock and officials, but what is the problem with that?

[b]4) Penalty shootouts are an unsatisfactory way of deciding a winner. [/b] Well, some might argue with that statement, but other than a few goalies that might enjoy the spotlight there’s generally no one happy in ending a hard fought match with a crap shoot.

[b]SOLUTION: [/b]Play 5 minute overtime periods until one side wins. Yes, yet again another “basketball” solution. But, can you give me any logical reason why a soccer solution is preferred? Soccer has shootouts because it is “scoring challenged” and matches could go on all day. Handball has more scoring and sooner or later (much more likely sooner) one side is going to come out ahead. Additionally, the two halves in extra periods, are excessive and unnecessary; one 5 minute period is sufficient. If it’s still tied, then play another 5 minutes.

Hey, I’ve got a full time job and I can’t always wake up at 3:00 in the morning to watch handball. Besides, I’m a time shifter https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.539 – I don’t have to do that. I can go to work, come home, eat dinner, spend some time with my daughters, put them to bed and then crack open a beer and watch the France-Croatia semifinal match in peace and quiet.

You’ve got to be careful, though, if you don’t want to know the outcome before its over. It’s best to have your wife go to the NBC website, just in case the link to the video player says something like France beats Croatia 32-31 in overtime. But once you click on the link, enlarge the video player and close the other windows, you’re safe for an hour and a half of handball viewing. Or so I thought.

Yes, some genius at NBC online decided it wasn’t enough to put a header on the actual video player that says: “Men’s Semifinal: France vs. Croatia” No, that wasn’t enough, they had to also add: “France knocks out Croatia to move to the gold medal match.” Exactly, what purpose does that additional information serve? Aaargh. Kind of like watching the Empire Strikes back with a banner at the top stating, “Luke Skywalker discovers Darth Vader is his father”

But, fortunately, all hope is not lost. I still don’t know the outcome of Spain – Iceland and I’ve learned my lesson. Yes, my wife will now check the video player banner and yes, you guessed it, she will put electrical tape on the computer monitor to hide any offending text.

This blog post gives away the result of one of the quarterfinals so click on "read the rest" for the story.

The South Korean Men were not expected to advance to the quarterfinals. Instead they surprised many observers by winning their Group with victories over European sides Denmark and Iceland. Alas, their dreams of medaling were dashed by a veteran Spanish squad in the quarterfinals. But, what is perhaps even more remarkable is that they wouldn’t even have been in Beijing at all, if it weren’t for the unprecedented decision by an arbitration court earlier this year. In a nutshell, a fixed match at the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament had given Kuwait the Asian slot at the Olympics. It was only through the proliferation of a Korean News report of the tournament posted on the internet that a groundswell movement was started to replay the Asian tournament.

[b]Arbitration Report resulting in Korea going to the Olympics: [/b]https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.535
[b]Korean News Report:[/b] http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-908556008345758262

Oh, and how about another remarkable fact about the Korean Handball. Their squad features the all-time leading scorer in the German Bundesliga: https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.507

The National Review Online is a conservative news outlet, so it is a kind of a strange place to see a commentary piece devoted exclusively to Team Handball. The title of the article: “An All-American Sport” with the smaller byline “The USA could dominate Men’s Handball” gave me the instant impression that another genius was going to tell me how to fix our sport. Instead, it was much worse.

To the author’s credit he does warn his reader with the following sentence in all caps:

“UGLY AMERICAN ALERT. I AM ABOUT TO OFFEND THE REST OF THE WORLD AND ANY AMERICANS WHO PLAY HANDBALL.”

He wasn’t kidding. In contrast to the plethora of recent articles wondering why this great sport isn’t more popular in the U.S., this article’s author derides Team Handball as the dumbest event he’s seen to date and as a sport with no rules played by factory workers. This inane piece is not even worth my time to describe further, but I asked myself, “Who is this clown, anyway?”

Turns out that the author ,Mark Corallo, is a public relations specialist who has been the public spokesman for Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, John Ashcroft and others. A veritable who’s who list of …. Well, this isn’t a political website, so I’ll let you judge for yourself as to whether his client list adds or detracts from his credibility to analyze and critique Team Handball.

National Review Online: An All-American Sport: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/225333/all-american-sport/mark-corallo

Wikipedia entry for Mark Corallo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Corallo
Corallo Media Strategies Bio: http://www.corallomedia.com/pages/aboutmark.html

Note to DC players: Be sure to drop Mark an email to invite him to your next practice. info@corallomedia.com

Time Magazine’s Sean Gregory is in Beijing covering the Olympics and wrote a nice article about his discovery of the great sport of Team Handball: “Hey America, what about Handball?”

Unfortunately, as is often the case in these sorts of articles, the second half of it self destructed into a very naïve and implausible solution for turning around the recent performance of the US Men’s National Team. Gregory, who played college basketball at Princeton, is undoubtedly smart enough to know that at least some of what he proposes is just plain unrealistic, but I’ll deconstruct the article at face value for those that might not see the dry humor. In short, his proposed solution has no chance of either being implemented or succeeding.

“How about this: before the qualifying tournaments for the 2012 Olympics, corral a mix of solid ex-college basketball players, and recently retired NBAers. Ideally, you’d get current NBA players, but qualifiers would happen during the NBA season so they wouldn’t be able to break free.”

1) Mr Gregory is a little confused on the the qualification process for the Olympics. The USA has two paths for qualification: The World Championships and the PANAM Games and there are qualifying matches just to get to those tournaments. The World Championships route is much more difficult, so the PANAM Games would be the focus for this proposed strategy. The good news, though, is that the PANAM Games are in the summer: All those ex-NBA players eager to play Handball would be available!

2) I could be wrong here, but I think it would be tough sell to get a retired NBA player to attend a month long training camp to learn a new sport. I’m sure these retirees would also appreciate the more physical nature of Handball.

3) In general, “solid” ex-college basketball players still harbor aspirations of becoming an NBA player. If they can’t make it in the NBA directly, there are numerous opportunities to earn decent salaries in Europe. And there are enough feel good stories about players playing in Turkey, Russia, Venezuela, the CBA for several years and then breaking into the NBA that ending that dream to learn a brand new sport is a very tough sell. But there is a segment of decent college basketball players who have transitioned to playing Team Handball. As opportunities to play basketball overseas have increased, however, the number and the quality of athletes willing to make that transition has declined.

“Put the college players and pro retirees in a camp for a month. Bang, the U.S. should be in the Olympics. Handball players and the USOC will tell you the game is way too technical, and it takes years to learn all the tricks. I’m not convinced that’s the case. Who dribbles better than American ballers? The goal on defense it to shuffle your feet and keep your man in front of you. Basketball players practice this in grade school. On offense, it’s “work to find the open man.”
Sound familiar? Even the world’s best admit handball is fairly straightforward. “It’s not a difficult sport to practice,” says Victor Tomas of Spain. “It’s not a difficult sport to learn.“”

4) Team Handball is an easy game to learn, but a difficult one to master. Dribbling, is actually challenging for former basketball players to learn due to the fact that “palming” the ball is called very closely. The timing and the techniques for shooting and passing takes years to master. Mr Gregory does hit on one point accurately, though. Defensive tactics in Team Handball and basketball are very similar. New players have often very quickly become good defensive players.

“Once the U.S. is the Olympics, take that group of NBA players who’ve always wanted to be Olympians, put them in a summer camp before the Games, and bang, you have a medal contender. For an Olympic medal, you need the absolute best pros possible.”

5) If it’s a tough sell for middling college hoops players, it, of course, would be a tough sell to the very best professional athletes. In fact, many of the best NBA players, don’t even want to play basketball at the Olympics

6) And even if you got those very best players and they agreed to commit with 100% dedication to a month long training camp with the World’s best coaching they would not compete for a medal. The World’s best Team Handball squads are a notch or two below the NBA in terms of athletic ability, but they would not be overwhelmed athletically. Their years and years of experience would be enough to compensate the athletic shortcomings. Hmm… Come to think of it, aren’t the European basketball teams also athletically inferior? And our NBA all-star team sometimes loses to those teams in basketball—Now we’re going to beat them in a game we’ve only played for a month— Why, that’s ridiculous.

“That’s ridiculous, you say. What sports executive would let a multi-million dollar investment play some silly sport in the off-season? Well, if basketball general managers let their guys play Olympic basketball in the summer and hockey bosses permit their stars to play in the Olympic tournament during the season, why wouldn’t they let them hurl the handball? They’re much less likely to get hurt in a sport that every kid in gym class can play. Plus, it’ll keep them from crashing motorcycles during the off-season.”

7) Less likely to get hurt: Tell that to Pascal Hens and Ivano Balic, two top players recently injured at the Olympics. Serious injury is a definite risk. In fact, some Mark Cuban like noises are starting to be made by the top Handball clubs in Europe about all the National Team competitions.

“And what happens to those poor guys who qualified for the Olympics? If they know they’re not going to play in the Olympics, why play hard in qualifying? Well, we never said the U.S. should publicize this plan. Cruel? Sure. But this is an arms race. Plus, have you seen those Chinese sports schools? Next to them, this strategy is saintly.”

8 ) Well, here’s an interesting side note for you. Shortly before the 1996 Olympics USA Team Handball was approached by NBA star Sean Kemp’s agent about the possibility of his player, playing Handball for Team USA in Atlanta. Sean Kemp would fulfill his Olympic dream and USA Team Handball would get some much needed publicity. The only downside was that some player who had trained for several years for his Olympic moment would have to be bounced. To USA Team Handball’s credit Mr Kemp was told that he was welcome to try out, but that he would have to earn a roster spot. To the best of my knowledge, Mr Kemp never found his way to a National Team Tryout.

“But that’s just the quick fix for 2012 — anything is better than what the U.S. has now. Around, say, 2011, find a group of committed athletes who have no options in other pro sports, house them in the USOC’s Colorado Springs training center for weeks at a time, and start shooting for 2016. Give them stipends. Offer them the Olympic dream. The USOC does this in minor sports like wrestling and rowing. Why not do it for handball?”

9) Uhh. Been there, done that. This was the model that was used in the 1980’s through 1996, and it did bring the USA some marginal respectability. As the sport has become more professionalized in Europe, this model, however, has struggled to produce decent results. It might still qualify a team for the Olympics, but it won’t create a team that can compete for a medal.

“If funding is a problem, steal money from the budget of insane sports we’ll never be good at. Modern pentathlon? Ski jumping? Biathlon? What’s the point? It’s so much simpler for Americans to throw a little ball around than shoot stuff after skiing. Cede that to the Nords.”

10) Well actually, those sports have had better results than Team Handball. I’m all for the USOC contributing to Team Handball at the expense of other sports, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. In fact, the USOC has been pretty clear in stating that they will be more inclined to fund sports that have a good chance of medaling as well as multi-discipline sports where more medals are awarded.

“What’s more, the handball world wants the U.S. to succeed. In fact, France plans to hold a tournament for its club teams in Miami next year, in order to promote handball in the States. “America is a great country,” says French player Jerome Fernandez. “Look at baseball, basketball, American football. The U.S. knows how to build a sport.” Christophe Kempe, another Frenchmen, gets a bit whimsical. “It was always my father’s dream to have handball become big in the U.S.,” he says. “Maybe I’ll become a trainer in the U.S. one day.” Remember, these are French guys saying this.
The rest of the world knows an Olympic sport is ripe for an American invasion. “I tell people all the time that if the U.S. starts playing team handball,'” says David Davis of Spain, “‘it’s over for the rest of the world.'” It may be too late for Beijing. But it’s time for the U.S. to give itself a hand.”

11) No problems here for me. Although I will say that while the rest of the World might want the U.S. to succeed, they haven’t done much until recently. I’ll save that diatribe for another posting.