Deadly accident Itaquerao stadium in Sao Paulo

This is the stadium that is set to host the opening match of the 2014 World Cup between Brazil and one of the teams drawn into its group. Apparently a large crane collapsed, taking with it part of the seat covering, which took the lives of three workers. It is still unclear what happened exactly.

See reports here, here, and here. Pictures below this post.

I am not sure if this was a "genuine" accident or the result of poor worker safety. Certainly the labor disputes in Brazil have been making headlines for close to two years now, and with FIFA deadlines for venue completion fast approaching (end of December) there is enormous pressure on the organization to get stuff done quickly... so it would not surprise me if worker safety was compromised.

That would be damn unfortunate and extremely upsetting. I am ridiculously excited for this World Cup, but I'll bet that so were the three guys whose wives' and children's lives just changed forever. If foul play or sloppiness were involved, and if those were ultimately caused by corporate interests, it will put a significant moral damper on the World Cup.

Of course, similar debates can be had about the vast majority of large public events, from music concerts to political rallies, so I certainly would not endorse the ridiculous cries of anti-sports fanatics who want to shut the whole thing down forever. But it does remain unsettling and I hope that it continues to be talked about.

This February, Sochi will be a taste of what a majorly contested sporting event looks like. That has not happened since Munich 1972, and even then that was different. I look forward to that debate (though not to those radicals who cry for boycotts because they have this fantasy that sports culture is an enemy of justice and progress; they sure will be unbearable come February, but I am sure that I am just as unbearable in their eyes).

"Harvard Beats Yale 29-29"

is one of the best sports documentaries I've ever seen, despite the low budget. Delightfully intertwines the social milieu, the human stories, and the game into an entertaining short feature film. Warmly recommended. No knowledge of or passion for football required. 

You can watch the movie for free at Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/watch/189206

World Cup 2014: Top 11 for the Top 10

It's normal for the world's best to play in the World Cup: that's kinda the point. This year has no more talent than usual, but it is distributed differently as many nations are in the middle of the generational transition. This should result in fewer powerhouses and a less predictable tournament.

Below is what I take to be the top 11 (players) for the top 10 (teams). Of course, who actually starts or sits in six months is ultimately decided by the coach depending on fitness, health, opponents, and what happens in practice day in and day out, so consider these to be "best case scenario" selections.

~~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~~

BRAZIL

Starting 11: Julio Cesar;  Luiz, Dante, Dani Alves;  Ramires, Oscar, Paulinho, Hernanes;  Robinho, Neymar, Hulk.

Also: Thiago Silva, Maicon, Leiva, Jo, Kaka, Pato.

SPAIN

Starting 11: Casillas;  Ramos, Arbeloa, Albiol;  Iniesta, Xavi, Alonso, Fabregas; Torres, Villa, Pedro.

Also: Pique, Alba, Navas, Mata, Llorente.

GERMANY

Starting 11: Neuer;  Hummels, Mertesacker, Boateng, Lahm;  Ozil, Khedira, Schweinsteiger;  Muller, Kroos, Gotze.

Also: Westermann, Bender, Schurrle, Reus, Podolski, Gundogan, Klose, Gomez.

ARGENTINA

Starting 11: Romero;  Zabaleta, Coloccini, Campagnaro;  Mascherano, Maxi Rodriguez, Lamela;  Aguero, Messi, Higuain, Lavezzi.

Also: Garay, Otamendi, di Maria, Alvarez, Palacio.

ENGLAND

Starting 11: Hart;  Cole, Baines, Lescott, Cahill;  Gerrard, Lampard, Milner; Rooney, Defoe, Sturridge.

Also: Young, Carrick, Welbeck, Walcott, Carroll.

ITALY

Starting 11: Buffon;  Chiellini, Barzagli, Bonucci, Maggio;  De Rossi, Pirlo, Montolivo, Marchisio;  Balotelli, Rossi.

Also: Balzaretti, Ranocchia, Aquilani, Florenzi, Gilardino, Giovinco, Toni?, Totti?

FRANCE

Starting 11: Lloris;  Debuchy, Evra, Sakho, Koscielny;  Ribery, Valbuena, Nasri, Sissoko;  Benzema, Giroud.

Also: Sagna, Rami, Abidal, Gourcouff, Menez.

BELGIUM

Starting 11: Mignolet;  Van Buyten, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Kompany;  Dembele, Fellaini, Hazard;  Mirallas, Lukaku, Benteke.

Also: Lombaerts, Simons, Witsel, De Bruyne, Mertens.

NETHERLANDS

Starting 11: Stekelenburg;  van der Wiel, Heitinga, Janmaat;  Strootman, de Jong, van der Vaart, de Guzman;  van Persie, Robben, Lens.

Also: not many quality alternatives...

URUGUAY

Starting 11: Muslera;  Lugano, Godin, M. Pereira;  Gargano, A. Pereira, Rodriguez, C. Rodriguez;  Forlan, Cavani, Suarez.

Also: not many quality alternatives...

~~~*~*~*~*~*~~~

Finally, here is the top 11 of those who will be watching the World Cup on TV because their national teams failed to qualify...

Cech (Czech Republic);  Vidic (Serbia), Subotic (Serbia), Alaba (Austria), Piszczek (Poland);  Hamsik (Slovakia), Ramsey (Wales), Bale (Wales), Jovetic (Montenegro);  Lewandowski (Poland), Ibrahimovic (Sweden).

This is a very competitive team!

2014 World Cup seedings, draws, and "groups of death"

(Un)fortunately, FIFA's new seeding rules closely resemble those of the NFL, where undue prominence is given to division leaders that may not even have a winning record, while teams with the third-best record in the nation may have to scrape through in the wild card round. Likewise, here many good teams are relegated to the second tier, while teams who won relatively easy qualification groups get top-tier seeds.

On the one hand, this is purely meritocratic, which makes sense, and it could spice things up at the group stage, which is fun. On the other, it can severely diminish the quality of the spectacle at the knockout stage, which is definitely not fun. It's a trade-off. As one of FIFA's main goals lately is to increase the visibility and opportunity of historically lesser teams (a "sports affirmative action" of sorts), that seems sensible after all... I often prefer unpredictability to tradition, after all.

Here are the likely seeding pots going into the final stage draw on December 6:

One thing that jumps out is the possibility of a group with three previous Cup winners, as England and Italy are in the second tier and France is in the third. A group with Brazil, Italy, and France and a group with Argentina, England, and France are "groups of death" by any standards -- so much historical rivalry! And it is only because of the rule that no more than two European teams can be drawn into the same group that we will avoid groups like Germany, Italy, and France (can you imagine that?).

More possible groups of death, for the fun of it:
Brazil, Netherlands, Ivory Coast, Japan
Germany, Netherlands, Ghana, Japan
Argentina, Portugal, Ivory Coast, USA
Spain, England, Nigeria, Mexico

Not all of these are horrible. Perhaps the worst of all is the group with Brazil, Italy, France, and Japan, which is arguably best team from the fourth tier. That group would be three-fourths of group B at the latest Confederations Cup that gave rise to highly spectacular matches.

Now for some easy groups, that is, the groups that second-tier European teams are really hoping for:

Switzerland, Italy, Algeria, Honduras -- the Italians' wet dream
Colombia, Netherlands, Ecuador, Iran -- nice 'n easy for the oranje
Belgium, England, Cameroon, Australia -- not exactly easy, but I'd love to see this for the precedents

In general, everyone wants to get Colombia, Switzerland, Ecuador, and Algeria. Not that these are easy, because remember, there are no easy teams: this has been a cutthroat qualifying season full of talent. But surely there are more affordable groups. Belgium, as is clear by now, will be a major outsider, and if they live up to expectations they could go a very long way.

There is also the following observation. Having an easy group is not necessarily great. Some teams, such as Italy and Uruguay, typically exalt themselves when they play big teams, and especially their historical rivals, and tend to struggle against the underdogs. In this sense, perhaps most great teams prefer a balanced group over an easy one. And given FIFA's new seeding, that is almost guaranteed to happen.

World Cup 2014 qualified teams

Assuming no upsets in the last round of (inter-federation tiebreakers), here are the 32 qualified teams for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and some fun stats to go with that:

EUROPE: Germany, Spain, Italy, England, Netherlands, France, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, Russia, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia.
SOUTH AMERICA: Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador.
NORTH/CENTRAL AMERICA: Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, USA.
AFRICA: Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana, Algeria.
ASIA: Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia.

Bosnia-Herzegovina qualify for their first-ever World Cup. Hooray! ALL previous Cup winners have qualified: Uruguay, Italy, Brazil, England, Germany, France, Argentina, and Spain. Surprisingly, this is only the second time in the last six editions that this has happened.

The most notable absences given previous World Cup records are Sweden (one final and two third places) and the Czech Republic (two finals). Burkina Faso barely missed qualification, which would have been their first. They would also have been the country with the lowest GDP to ever qualify for a World Cup.

South America has by far the best qualification record: 6 qualified nations out of 10, followed by Europe (13-53), Africa (5-52), Asia (4-43), and North-Central America (3-35). Oceania qualifies 0 nations out of 11, for the 18th time in 20 World Cups.

The draw for the group stage, host city assignments, and knockout-stage pairings will be held Saturday, December 6 in Costa do Sauipe, Bahia, at 12/noon EST. The World Cup is June 12-July 13.

(Sources: FIFA, UEFA, Goal, Wikipedia).

Against synchronized swimming

In this article, Chris Spicer defends synchronized swimming as a difficult discipline that requires great talent and athleticism and is unfairly lambasted for bad reasons. The only such reason he (she?) considers is that maybe people hate it because it "looks easy."

I don't hate it because "it looks easy." I hate it because it is sexist and looks dumb.

I totally agree that the routines are crazy hard and deserve respect for the athletic prowess they require. That's the whole point. The talent and athleticism are all but drowned by the supposedly artistic presentation, and THAT is what turns people off and makes them ridicule the sport.

The forced smiles, the nose clamps, the unnecessarily revealing high-cut swimsuits, the circus head gear, the whorish makeup...

All these artificial superstructures turn amazing gymnasts into meat on display, which of course wouldn't happen if they were male.

Wimbledon quarterfinals!

Amazing round of 16 today! Few real surprises, but they were shocking. First of all, here's the men's and women's tables in the quarterfinals:

Lisicki-Kanepi
Radwanska-Li
Stephens-Bartoli
Kvitova-Flipkens

Surprised to see Lisicki here instead of Serena? I sure am! I thought it would be little more than a walkover, and for a while there it was, but then Sabine dug deep and pulled through (more on that later). I had also expected the Li-Vinci match in the R16 to be far more contested than it was, so hopefully the Radwanska-Li match here will be a lot better: on paper, that and Stephens-Bartoli are the ones to really look forward to. I am a big fan of Marion, but if Sloane goes through it will be quite amazing: three consecutive quarterfinals in her first three Major tournaments, all this year. Not bad at all.

Djokovic-Berdych
Ferrer-Del Potro
Kubot-Janowicz
Verdasco-Murray

This is where Federer-Nadal "should" have been. In its place, instead, is the first-ever all-Pole match in any official tournament. The top half is also crowded, with the repeat of the 2010 semi where Berdych destroyed Djokovic and what I believe to be one of the most entertaining meetings in modern tennis: Ferrer-Del Potro. While I still predict a Murray-Djokovic final, this is going to get quite interesting!