Your independent news and commentary outlet for the Olympic sport of Team Handball
Stefan Fatsis wrote this previous Handball story, “A game we ought to play” http://www.stefanfatsis.com/writing/weoughttoplay/ for the Wall Street Journal while he was covering the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. He’s in Beijing for this year’s games and while giving an update on the Olympics to NPR, he made a point to discuss Team Handball at the Olympics and in the United States.
NPR Interview: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93644058
[b]Scheduled Matches (Beijing Local Time)[/b]
0900-1030 Match 1: Sweden vs. Brazil
1045-1215 Match 2: Angola vs. Kazakhstan
1400-1530 Match 3: Norway vs. Romania
1545-1715 Match 4: France vs. China
1900-2030 Match 5: Russia vs. Germany **12:30p-2:00p USA Network (USA East Coast Time)**
2045-2215 Match 6: Hungary vs. South Korea
[b]Video Links: [/b] http://www.nbcolympics.com/handball/video/index.html
Suggested match(es) to watch: Based on match results, video we’ve seen and feedback from other Handball news sites we will suggest the top match of the day to watch.
[b]Group A (Standings thru 4 Rounds)[/b]
Rank Team Pts MP W T L GF GA Diff
1 Norway 8 4 4 0 0 130 83 47
2 Romania 8 4 4 0 0 127 88 39
3 France 4 4 2 0 2 103 107 -4
4 China 2 4 1 0 3 101 117 -16
5 Kazakhstan 2 4 1 0 3 85 113 -28
6 Angola 0 4 0 0 4 85 123 -38
[b]Scenarios for Group A Seeding:[/b]
– Norway: If Norway beats or draws against Romania they take 1st, if they lose they take 2nd
– Romania: If Romania beats Norway they finish 1st, otherwise they take 2nd .
– France: If France beats or draws against China, they will take 3rd. If they lose, they will likely slip to 4th. And in the event of a 3 way France, China and Kazakhstan a 4 goal loss would slip them to 5th place
– China: The simplest way for China to qualify is for Kazakhstan to lose to Angola. If that doesn’t happen they can still advance if they can beat France by 4 goals
– Kazakhstan: If they beat Angola they will likely get 4th place. A draw will put them in 4th place if China loses or draws against France. A loss to Angola puts them no better than 5th
– Angola: They need a 13 goal victory over Kazakhstan and China to lose to France in order to take 4th place
[b]Group B (Standings thru 4 Rounds)[/b]
Rank Team Pts MP W T L GF GA Diff
1 Russian Fed. 7 4 3 1 0 118 96 22
2 Korea 5 4 2 1 1 122 105 17
3 Hungary 5 4 2 1 1 107 109 -2
4 Brazil 3 4 1 1 2 102 112 -10
5 Germany 2 4 1 0 3 94 104 -10
6 Sweden 2 4 1 0 3 98 115 -17
[b]Scenarios for Group B Seeding:[/b]
– Russia: If they beat or draw against Germany they will take 1st. Even if they lose, they will probably take 1st unless South Korea can overtake them on Goal differential
– South Korea: If they beat or draw Hungary they will likely take 2nd. If they lose, they could be either 3rd or 4th.
– Hungary: If they beat Korea they will take 2nd. If they lose they could be either 3rd or 4th depending on their tiebreakers if they are level with Brazil
– Brazil: If Brazil beats Sweden they will place either 3rd or 4th depending on the outcome of the Korea – Hungary match
– Sweden: If Sweden beats Brazil they will get 4th place.
– Germany: They need a miracle. The only scenario by which they get 4th is a Sweden – Brazil draw, combined with them upsetting Russia.
– Betting lines: According to betting comparison site, bestbetting.com, these are the point spreads for Sunday’s matches: Brazil (-x), Kazakhstan (-x), Norway (-x), France (-x), Russia (-x), and South Korea (-x)
Click on “Read the rest” for match results, current standings and news concerning the matches for this day.
I was initially disappointed for not getting the NBCOlympics.com web play by play team handball commentary "gig" from the onset (August 7). I felt that it would have provided me with an opportunity to prepare myself for the elimination rounds, starting up next week.
What a difference 48 games will make.
I am high on handball! I'm overdosed! Just [b]watching[/b] all games has been taxing on me, as I HAVE to watch them LIVE. No alternative for me. Luckily, I have a job which allows me a "very" flexible schedule, to say the least. For the past eight days I have been on European time. Not quite Beijing but somewhere in between, some eight hours ahead… And it's been all eights in China so far.
Staying up late at night is nothing new for me. Operating on three to fours of sleep for the past week, is. During the day I am a walking zombie, high on handball.
With another eight days left on the Games, things keep getting better. Elimination round match-ups are set to sizzle and further entertain. Pre tournament favorites have, for the most part, confirmed. On the men stage, the current European Champion (Denmark) and last year's Weltmeister (Germany) join the Russians in a three team contest of attrition, where one team will go home early courtesy of Iceland's surprising preliminaries play. Similarly, on the ladies side, Germany could lose its playoff spot to Brasil or even "newcomer" Sweden.
What's behind some of these surprising performances by perennial outsiders and so many close games?
Officiating — with few exceptions, it has been impeccable. That alone leveled the field and allowed the less experienced teams to feel that they can compete. Hence the higher number of games decided by 2 goals or less.
Tactics — coaches have done a good job instilling a disciplined strategy, based on positional possession play, aimed at exploiting the opposition's weaknesses.
Crowd — for what is worth, Beijing has been the perfect neutral venue. Maybe too neutral at times but was such where there was no pressure on the officials.
In the end, teams with great individual talent, bench depth and confidence pulled away. After all, when the game is on the line, it all comes down to execution. Egypt failed twice. Iceland did not. Neither did the Brazilian ladies, whereas their men did.
For few teams there is one more chance. For the rest however, it's next time.
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
[b]Scheduled Matches (Beijing Local Time)[/b]
0900-1030 Match 1: Brazil vs. China
1045-1215 Match 2: Egypt vs. South Korea
1400-1530 Match 3: France vs. Spain
1545-1715 Match 4: Russia vs. Germany
1900-2030 Match 5: Croatia vs. Poland
2045-2215 Match 6: Denmark vs. Iceland
[b]Video Links:[/b] http://www.nbcolympics.com/handball/video/index.html
Suggested match(es) to watch: Based on match results, video we’ve seen and feedback from other Handball news sites we will suggest the top match of the day to watch.
[b]Notes: [/b]
– Group A: The top 4 for this Group is almost decided. Brazil still has an outside chance if they can beat China today and Spain on Monday.
– Group B: Things might get a little clearer in this extremely tight group. South Korea, Germany and Iceland are tied for 1st with 4 points each. Wins by those side, should maker their qualification for the quarterfinals all but certain. But each of their respective opponents, Egypt, Russia and Denmark can also still qualify
– Just in case you missed it: Here’s the youtube video of the last shot in the Denmark -Russia match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Corm5rgstro&eurl=http://www.sportensverden.dk/handball/item.asp?id=13128
– Another article on America’s need to discover handball: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/lopresti/2008-08-14-handball_N.htm (some interesting quotes from the Danish coach, Ulrik Wilbek and player, Joachim Boldsen on handball in America.
[b]- Betting lines:[/b] According to betting comparison site, bestbetting.com, these are the point spreads for Sunday’s matches: Brazil (-4.5), South Korea (-1.5), France (-2.5), Germany (-2.5), Croatia (-1.5), and Denmark (-1.5)
Click on “Read the rest” for match results, current standings and news concerning the matches for this day.
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.
[b]Scheduled Matches (Beijing Local Time)[/b]
0900-1030 Match 1: Kazakhstan vs. China
1045-1215 Match 2: Brazil vs. South Korea
1400-1530 Match 3: Germany vs. Sweden
1545-1715 Match 4: Romania vs. Angola
1900-2030 Match 5: France vs. Norway**MSNBC, Fri 1145-1315 [East Coast, USA Time]
2045-2215 Match 6: Hungary vs. Russia
[b]Video Links:[/b] http://www.nbcolympics.com/handball/video/index.html
Suggested match(es) to watch: Based on match results, video we’ve seen and feedback from other Handball news sites we will suggest the top match of the day to watch.
[b]Notes:[/b]
– Group A: France will battle Norway for seeding, while China will look to put themselves in the quarterfinals with a victory over Kazakhstan. Romania should have no trouble with Angola.
– Group B: South Korea, Russia and Hungary have all but advanced to the quarterfinals. Germany, Sweden and Brazil are in a battle for fourth place. Germany will likely advance with a win over Sweden today. Sweden is in virtual control of their own destiny and will probably qualify if they can beat Germany and Brazil on Sunday. Brazil will likely advance if Sweden beats Germany and then loses to Brazil on Sunday.
[b]- Betting lines:[/b] According to betting comparison site, bestbetting.com, these are the point spreads for Sunday’s matches: China (-4.5), South Korea (-6.5), Germany (-2.5), Romania (-10.5), Norway (-5.5), and Russia (-4.5)
Click on “Read the rest” for match results, current standings and news concerning the matches for this day.
[b]RESULTS[/b]
[b]Group A[/b]
Kazakhstan 29 – China 26 (14:10)
Romania 28 – Angola 23 (16-7)
Norway 34 – France 24 (15-12)
[b]Group B[/b]
Brazil 33 – South Korea 32 (17:12)
Sweden 27 – German y 26 (13-13)
Russia – Hungary ( – )
[b]Detailed Results:[/b] http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idart=1452
[b]Standings[/b]: http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/HB/C76/HBW400000.shtml#HBW400A02
[b]Group A[/b]
Rank Team Pts MP W T L GF GA Diff
1 Norway 8 4 4 0 0 130 83 47
2 Romania 8 4 4 0 0 127 88 39
3 France 4 4 2 0 2 103 107 -4
4 China 2 4 1 0 3 101 117 -16
5 Kazakhstan 2 4 1 0 3 85 113 -28
6 Angola 0 4 0 0 4 85 123 -38
[b]Group B[/b]
Rank Team Pts MP W T L GF GA Diff
[b]Quarterfinal Matches (based on current standings):[/b]
Norway vs. 4B
2B vs. France
1B vs. Kazakhstan
Romania vs. 3B
[b]Scheduled Matches (Beijing Local Time)[/b]
0900-1030 Match 1: Germany vs. Egypt
1045-1215 Match 2: Poland vs. Brazil
1400-1530 Match 3: South Korea vs. Iceland
1545-1715 Match 4: China vs. Spain
1900-2030 Match 5: Denmark vs. Russia
2045-2215 Match 6: France vs. Croatia**MSNBC, Thu 1345-1430 [East Coast, USA Time]
[b]Video Links:[/b] http://www.nbcolympics.com/handball/video/index.html
Suggested match(es) to watch: All the Group B Matches, but the Denmark – Russia match was truly exciting.
[b]Notes: [/b]
– Group A: This group looks to be somewhat settled. China and Brazil have not impressed and don’t look like they have much of a chance to beat any of the other four teams. This means the other 4 teams, France, Croatia, Spain and Poland are likely to make the quarterfinals, with the only question as to where they will be seeded 1-4. Today’s France – Croatia match should help decide that today.
– Group B: This may well be the most wide open group in Olympic history, with all 6 teams still having realistic expectations for making it to the quarterfinals. Egypt and Denmark are in nearly must win situations. Perhaps Egypt will get a break against Germany today, who will be smarting from the injury and loss of Pascal Hens for the rest of the tournament
– Group B’s wide open status might be giving the top 4 teams in Group A some second thoughts on winning the group, particularly if Denmark slips in as the 4th seed in Group B.
[b]- Betting lines: [/b]According to betting comparison site, bestbetting.com, these are the point spreads for Sunday’s matches: Germany (-3.5), Poland (-9), Iceland (-2), Spain (-14.5), Denmark (-2.5), and France (-1.5)
Click on “Read the rest” for match results, current standings and news concerning the matches for this day.
[b]RESULTS[/b]
[b]Group A[/b]
Poland 28 – Brazil 25 (14:15)
Spain 30 – Poland 29 (16-12)
France 23 – Croatia 19 (11-9)
[b]Group B[/b]
Germany 25 – Egypt 23 (14:14)
South Korea 22 – Iceland 21 (10-9)
Denmark 25 – Russia 24 (10-10)
[b]Detailed Results:[/b] http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idart=1453
[b]Standings: [/b] http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/HB/C76/HBM400000.shtml#HBM400A01
[b]Group A[/b]
Rank Team Pts MP W T L GF GA Diff
1 France 6 3 3 0 0 90 64 26
2 Croatia 4 3 2 0 1 83 66 17
3 Poland 4 3 2 0 1 90 74 16
4 Spain 4 3 2 0 1 95 82 13
5 Brazil 0 3 0 0 3 65 95 -30
6 China 0 3 0 0 3 60 102 -42
[b]Group B[/b]
Rank Team Pts MP W T L GF GA Diff
1 Iceland 4 3 2 0 1 87 82 5
2 Germany 4 3 2 0 1 81 79 2
3 Korea 4 3 2 0 1 76 78 -2
4 Denmark 3 3 1 1 1 78 78 0
5 Russian Fed. 2 3 1 0 2 83 85 -2
6 Egypt 1 3 0 1 2 73 76 -3
[b]Quarterfinal Matches (based on current standings):[/b]
France vs. Denmark
Germany vs. Poland
Iceland vs. Spain
Croatia vs. South Korea
[b]Scheduled Matches (Beijing Local Time)[/b]
0900-1030 Match 1: Russia vs. Brazil
1045-1215 Match 2: Romania vs. France**MSNBC, Wed 1030-1115 [East Coast, USA Time]
1400-1530 Match 3: South Korea vs. Sweden
1545-1715 Match 4: China vs. Angola
1900-2030 Match 5: Norway vs. Kazakhstan
2045-2215 Match 6: Germany vs. Hungary
[b]Video Links:[/b] http://www.nbcolympics.com/handball/video/index.html
Suggested match(es) to watch: Based on match results, video we’ve seen and feedback from other Handball news sites we will suggest the top match of the day to watch.
[b]Notes: [/b]
– Group A: This group has diverged into 2 groups of 3. Romania, France and Norway are all undefeated and will likely take places 1, 2 and 3. The Romania vs. France match today should start to settle that placement. China, Angola and Kazakhstan are all winless and will battle it out for 4th place. The China – Angola match will help settle the battle for 4th place. Kazakhstan surprised France by keeping the game close on Monday. They will try be hard pressed to do the same against Norway.
– Group B: Brazil’s dramatic comeback against Hungary has thrown this Group wide open. Korea, Russia and Hungary are all tied for 1st with 3 points a piece. Germany has 2 points and will try to rebound from the 10 goal shellacking Korea gave them in their match Sunday. Brazil and Sweden will take on the other group leaders, Russia and South Korea, respectively.
[b]Betting lines:[/b] According to betting comparison site, bestbetting.com, these are the point spreads for Sunday’s matches: Russia (-6), Romania (-3), South Korea (-5.5), China (-2), Norway (-12.5), Russia (-x.5) and Germany (-1.5)
Click on “Read the rest” for match results, current standings and news concerning the matches for this day.
[b]RESULTS[/b]
[b]Group A[/b]
Romania 34 – France 26 (17:13)
China 32 – Angola 24 (14-12)
Norway 35 – Kazakhstan 19 (14:10)
[b]Group B[/b]
Russia 28 – Brazil 19 (12:10)
South Korea 31 – Sweden 23 (18-13)
Hungary 25 – Germany 24 (12-14)
[b]Detailed Results: [/b]http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idart=1452
[b]Standings:[/b] http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/HB/C76/HBW400000.shtml#HBW400A02
[b]Group A[/b]
Rank Team Pts MP W T L GF GA Diff
1 Norway 6 3 3 0 0 96 59 37
2 Romania 6 3 3 0 0 99 65 34
3 France 4 3 2 0 1 79 73 6
4 China 2 3 1 0 2 75 88 -13
5 Kazakhstan 0 3 0 0 3 56 87 -31
6 Angola 0 3 0 0 3 62 95 -33
[b]Group B[/b]
Rank Team Pts MP W T L GF GA Diff
1 Korea 5 3 2 1 0 90 72 18
2 Russian Fed. 5 3 2 1 0 85 72 13
3 Hungary 5 3 2 1 0 83 76 7
4 Germany 2 3 1 0 2 68 77 -9
5 Brazil 1 3 0 1 2 69 80 -11
6 Sweden 0 3 0 0 3 71 89 -18
[b]Quarterfinal Matches (based on current standings):[/b]
Norway vs. Germany
Russia vs. France
South Korea vs. China
Romania vs. Hungary
You may have noticed plenty of empty seats at the Handball venue, and other sports, for that matter. Even the spectacular opening ceremonies had empty seats. The BBC has filed a report on this growing concern that there are too many half filled arenas when the events are supposedly all sold out. They spoke with Norwegian captain, Gro Hammerseng, after her team’s victory against Angola on Sunday night. Hammerseng expressed her frustration:
“Well, in the first game I was hoping for more, but I was prepared today that it wouldn’t be a full arena. But, I’m sorry that some of the Norwegian people, who are here. They can’t come into the arena. And they are in Beijing, but the can’t come in. And I don’t know why they can’t come in, because it’s not full. My mother, she can’t get in.”
According to an MSNBC story on scalping, this is a common occurence in Beijing as the supply of tickets can’t meet the demand. Speculation is that some tickets purchased by corporate sponsors are not finding their way to the scalping market. Beijing authorities are working to correct the empty seat phenomenon, though, and are considering solving it with free entry for students.
BBC Global News Summary Podcast (12 Aug,0300): http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/globalnews/globalnews_20080812-0248.mp3 (The Olympics story starts at 08:30)
MSNBC Story on Scalping: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26134234/
Gro Hammerseng Bio: http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=763/bio/index.html
Addendum: The New York Times has the following story on fake fans: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/sports/olympics/13fans.html?hp
A Washington Post reporter helps Swedes buy scalped handball tickets: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/08/scalping_tix_with_swedish_wome.html
Team handball *may* have just taken off in the US.
ESPN just declared it the [link=http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3523021]most underrated[/link] of all Olympics sports!!! I dig that. You should too.
I am just a few days away from diving in to my NBCOlympics.com web commentator role. Hence, I am feverishly preparing for this assignment by watching every LIVE team handball feed I can keep my eyes open for. The 13 hour time difference is very annoying at times. Especially during the early morning hours as I am not into time shifting. Time travel? Well… maybe.
So what is there to point out following 4 days of team handball extravaganza?
I for one, am keeping an eye on the underdogs.
[color=#ff0000](if you are a time shifter, click "read more" at your own risk. I will not list scores but I may spill the beans on something you may not want to know about….)[/color]
On the Women side, Angola and Brazil showed a lot more than Sweden, Kazakhstan and China combined. Same cannot be said about the Brazilian men! They have been outclassed so far and have often looked clueless. Granted, their two opening matches were as tough as they come, as they faced the two future finalists (yep, that's right!) in France and Croatia.
Egypt however, looked poised to send the Russians home early in their second game but silly mistakes, a horrible last second defensive breakdown coupled with a bad official's call (not necessarily in that order!) prevented the African team from pulling out yet another surprise, bigger than the missed victory against the Danes, in their opening match.
[b]Scheduled Matches (Beijing Local Time)[/b]
0900-1030 Match 1: Brazil vs. Croatia
1045-1215 Match 2: Egypt vs. Russia
1400-1530 Match 3: China vs. France
1545-1715 Match 4: Spain vs. Poland **MSNBC, Tuesday 1430-1530 [East Coast, USA Time]
1900-2030 Match 5: South Korea vs. Denmark
2045-2215 Match 6: Iceland vs. Germany
[b]Time zone addition/subtraction from Beijing[/b]
Sydney (Add 2 hours)
Berlin (Subtract 6 hours)
New York (Subtract 12 Hours) (First match starts at 2100 hrs, the day prior)
Los Angeles (Subtract 15 Hours) (First match starts at 1800 hrs, the day prior)
[b]Video Links[/b]: http://www.nbcolympics.com/handball/video/index.html
Suggested match(es) to watch: Egypt vs. Russia, South Korea vs. Denmark and Spain vs. Poland are all worth checking out
[b]Notes: [/b]
– Injuries. Ivano Balic’s right calf injury could put him out of commission for the next 3 matches. Danish Circle Runner Michael Knudsen is out for the Olympics due to appendicitis. His appendix is scheduled to be removed today. As he is one of the world’s top circle runner’s this is a major blow to the Danish team.
– The Kometal Handball Forum had a very spirited discussion concerning the Egypt – Denmark draw. Egypt was given a two minute penalty in the closing minutes of the match for purposely delaying the game with a shot on goal after the whistle. The debate centers on whether the player could have stopped the shot in time. I lean toward the penalty being excessive, but everyone’s entitled to their opinion.
– IHF: Celebrities visit Olympic Handball: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=269&idart=1490 Former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger and IOC President Jacques Rogge visited the Handball Venue.
[b]- Betting lines:[/b] According to betting comparison site, bestbetting.com, these are the point spreads for Sunday’s matches: Croatia (-8), Russia (-1.5), France (-14.5), Spain (-1.5), Denmark (-4.5), Russia (-6.5) and Germany(-3)
Click on “Read the rest” for match results, current standings and news concerning the matches for this day.
[b]RESULTS[/b]
[b]Group A[/b]
Croatia 33 – Brazil 14 (18:9)
France 33 – China 19 (19-7)
Spain 30 – Poland 29 (16:17)
[b]Group B[/b]
Russia 28 – Egypt 27 (14:14)
South Korea 31 – Denmark 30 (13-14)
Iceland 33 – Germany 29 (17-14)
[b]Detailed Results: [/b]http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idart=1453
[b]Standings:[/b] http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/HB/C76/HBM400000.shtml#HBM400A01
[b]Group A[/b]
Rank Team Pts MP W T L GF GA Diff
1 France 4 2 2 0 0 67 45 22
2 Croatia 4 2 2 0 0 64 43 21
3 Poland 2 2 1 0 1 62 49 13
4 Spain 2 2 1 0 1 59 60 -1
5 Brazil 0 2 0 0 2 40 67 -27
6 China 0 2 0 0 2 38 66 -28
[b]Group B[/b]
Rank Team Pts MP W T L GF GA Diff
1 Iceland 4 2 2 0 0 66 60 6
2 Germany 2 2 1 0 1 56 56 0
3 Russian Fed. 2 2 1 0 1 59 60 -1
4 Korea 2 2 1 0 1 54 57 -3
5 Denmark 1 2 0 1 1 53 54 -1
6 Egypt 1 2 0 1 1 50 51 -1
[b]Quarterfinal Matches (based on current standings):[/b]
France vs. South Korea
Germany vs. Poland
Iceland vs. Spain
Croatia vs. Russia
[b]Scheduled Matches (Beijing Local Time)[/b]
0900-1030 Match 1: Kazakhstan vs. France
1045-1215 Match 2: Brazil vs. Hungary
1400-1530 Match 3: Angola vs. Norway
1545-1715 Match 4: Germany vs. South Korea **MSNBC, Monday 0700-0830 [East Coast, USA Time]
1900-2030 Match 5: Romania vs. China
2045-2215 Match 6: Sweden vs. Russia
[b]Time zone addition/subtraction from Beijing[/b]
Sydney (Add 2 hours)
Berlin (Subtract 6 hours)
New York (Subtract 12 Hours) (First match starts at 2100 hrs, the day prior)
Los Angeles (Subtract 15 Hours) (First match starts at 1800 hrs, the day prior)
[b]Video Links[/b]: http://www.nbcolympics.com/handball/video/index.html
Suggested match(es) to watch: Hungary – Brazil
[b]Notes: [/b]
– Minor glitches still with the web streaming. My video quality wasn’t as good today, but that could be due to a number of technical reasons. In terms of what will be streamed and when the trend is that the game will be streamed live if it’s not going to be on MSNBC the next day. That hasn’t always been the case, though, and NBC’s webpage doesn’t clearly state whether a game will be streamed live or not until shortly before it starts. In terms of “on demand’ options, NBC has now made all 6 games from day 1 available for viewing in their entirety. Again the MSNBC games were the last ones added.
– A small note on the commentary box provided in the web stream. Currently, it’s running about 30 seconds ahead of the video stream, so unless you want to feel like an all-knowing prescient genius about who’s going to score next, you’re better off not clicking on it.
– A few news articles of interest:
Another article on MSNBC’s Andrew Catalon: http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2008/08/08/andrew-catalon
A feature on former US National Team player Tim Lawrence in Iraq: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/sports/display.htm?StoryID=78638
A Seattle Time reporter discovers handball: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/olympics/2008103276_olyjudd10.html
[b]- Betting lines:[/b] According to betting comparison site, bestbetting.com, these are the point spreads for Sunday’s matches: France (-11.5), Hungary (-4.5), Norway (-9.5), Romania (-6.5), Russia (-6.5) and Germany-South Korea is basically a “pick em”
Click on “Read the rest” for match results, current standings and news concerning the matches for this day.
[b]RESULTS[/b]
[b]Group A[/b]
France 21 – Kazakhstan 18 (10:8)
Norway 31 – Angola 17 (14-6)
Romania 34 – China 20 (17:11)
[b]Group B[/b]
Brazil 28 – Hungary 28 (12:17)
South Korea 30 – Germany 20 (12-9)
Russia 28 – Sweden 24 (14-12)
[b]Detailed Results:[/b] http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idart=1452
[b]Standings:[/b] http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/HB/C76/HBW400000.shtml#HBW400A02
[b]Group A[/b]
1 Romania 4 2 2 0 0 65 39 26
2 Norway 4 2 2 0 0 61 40 21
3 France 4 2 2 0 0 53 39 14
4 Kazakhstan 0 2 0 0 2 37 52 -15
5 China 0 2 0 0 2 43 64 -21
6 Angola 0 2 0 0 2 38 63 -25
[b]Group B[/b]
1 Korea 3 2 1 1 0 59 49 10
2 Hungary 3 2 1 1 0 58 52 6
3 Russian Fed. 3 2 1 1 0 57 53 4
4 Germany 2 2 1 0 1 44 52 -8
5 Brazil 1 2 0 1 1 50 52 -2
6 Sweden 0 2 0 0 2 48 58 -10
[b]Quarterfinal Matches (based on current standings):[/b]
Romania vs. Germany
Hungary vs. France
South Korea vs. Kazakhstan
Norway vs. Russia