Friday, June 20, 2008

Friday Video Premiere

Every Friday, we're highlighting a specific video (or two, or three) for your end of week enjoyment.

Happy Friday JJ folk!! What a week. Here's what made this week great: (1) It was positively beautiful in DC, never topping 90. Each day it rained around four, cooling the air before night. (2) Even though the Celtics won, the conclusion of the NBA season was ridiculous. I can't believe the Lakers got mauled like that. But truthfully, I'm glad it's over. The NBA playoffs are so grueling--for players and fans alike--it's like three months long! (3) Tiger Woods is god. Nuff said. (4) Lastly, we saw some amazing Euro Cup games--more on that in a sec.

The main video today, though, is what I've been whistling all week. It's the song that plays in the stadiums after goals in the Euro Cup. If you listen, after every goal you can hear half the stadium singing along.



HAHAHAHA. Just kidding. I have no idea what the eff that song is. This was the one I was talking about:



I'm glad to say that the games this week lived up to expectations. The Turkey v Czech Republic game on Sunday, for example. It was the best game of the Euro Cup thus far:



This video is hilarious because it's the Turkish broadcast. At the first Czech goal (1:57 on the video above) the announcers go completely silent, except for one who goes, "Uhnn." Compare that to their reaction after their third goal (6:20). Looking back, I still can't believe P. Cech--one of the best goalies in the world--dropped that cross to allow Turkey to tie (5:50). Sports are weird, man. Weird.

You'll often hear people say that 2-0 leads are the most uncomfortable in soccer (or indeed, hockey). It's because at 2-0 the leading team often rests on their laurels, but if the other team grabs one back they're only a goal down--and they have momentum. The leading team often finds it hard to switch off their complacency, and that's why there are a lot of 2-0 games that turn into 3-2 games.

But the Germany Portugal game yesterday had a different turn:



Very interesting game. You know, if Portugal had taken their chances, they would have been right with Germany. We really weren't far from 3-3. But as Tiger Woods taught us, you just have to score when you have the opportunity. You have to. Portugal didn't, and now they're done. And they will be remembered as drastically overrated.

Okay, I think that's enough to get us all through into the weekend. Tomorrow is the first day of summer, let's go!