Posts by Grace Adams32

I’m honestly all for selling Madison Square Garden if it means we can finally go out and recruit an honest-to-God decent goalkeeper and a solid right wing...

Michael Martinez86 said:But I never actually claimed that Balić's personality was the core issue facing our national team. That’s really just one small piece of the friction we're seeing. My main point is simply that he isn't the only one caught up in this mess, and as the star player on the roster, he does bear some responsibility for how things are playing out...

Others certainly have, and I made sure to give them a response. You ended up quoting me later and just zeroing in on the most insignificant parts of what I said. Nevermind...

Buntic is officially in the game. You might want to stay indoors, because it’s absolute chaos out there... axes are flying everywhere.

Michael Martinez86 said:Ivano Balić was never some legendary hero or a king among men. Honestly, he isn't even the "greatest son" of our people. He’s just an incredibly talented handball player. Sports journalists feel the need to use flowery language and exaggerate everything just to make themselves—and their subjects—seem more important. To some extent, it’s just compensation because they aren't exactly covering matters of life and death... But that doesn't mean we have to blindly swallow every little cliché they throw at us.

Do you really enjoy nitpicking every single word? You’ve managed to pull the least important part out of my entire point. What I was actually trying to get at is how pathetic it feels to start attacking his character right now... especially during a time when everything was running so smoothly, much like how unpredictable gas prices can feel when they jump every couple of weeks.

And then, after everything that’s gone down, he drops this statement yesterday: "There really isn't any division within the team; has it ever been any other way? Since 2003, things have always been 'intense,' and that's actually how we function best. Don't go looking for problems where they don't exist. That certainly isn't why the play or the results have been so poor," Ivano said.

If he weren't so sincere, he wouldn't be trying to stabilize the whole situation and focus on getting ready for the matchup against Poland... because, as someone already pointed out above, he was playing for a spot in London. It's almost as if he's already focused on the Olympics, even though he's got everything he needs... who knows if he'll even be playing by then. He was playing for the younger guys.

Look, let's be real—Ivano definitely isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows, and he certainly has a unique personality, but nobody ever brought that up back when he was setting up those tactical plays. Remember how Vori would send those passes while staring at the 18th row of the Arena, basically flirting with Maša right under Didier Dinart's nose? Back then, he was our hero, the absolute king, the pride of the entire nation. But now that things aren't working out—and we all know exactly why they aren't—suddenly he’s just this "difficult personality" that both the EHF and IHF love to complain about. Honestly, it's unbelievable 🙄

Anyone know if any sportsbook is actually offering odds on Ivano Balić leaving after the World Cup? I’m curious what the line is... maybe something crazy like 1.03?

analogowl122, wouldn't you say the competition for being the best athlete in all of Europe is actually much tougher than it is for the women?

Huge props to Blanka and Ivica... truly impressive stuff from them both... 🙏

I’m firmly on Gips' side here. For years now, Joško has been searching for any excuse to tear others down just to boost his own ego. Honestly, Kostelić really shouldn't have let himself get provoked like that... it just makes them both look ridiculous...

I’m firmly in the camp of supporting Gips... to my mind, pulling off a win in a slalom during the World Cup is a much more significant achievement than winning at a Diamond League meet. In a slalom, you’re looking at 15 to 20 different skiers who all have the potential to take the top spot in any given race. But at a Diamond League meet? You’ve only got about 8 to 10 jumpers, maybe five of whom can clear 195, and really only three of them are true contenders for the win...
Using the total number of members in an athletics federation as a metric to prove how tough the competition is just feels completely irrelevant to me... If you look at someone like Ivica competing in places like Austria or Italy, they might have four or five solid rivals to contend with. But for Blanka, once you account for a few athletes from the former USSR, plus Friedrich, DiMartino, Green, Beitie, and maybe two or three American women, she doesn't really have anyone else to worry about. When you actually break it down, that narrows her entire field of competitors to maybe ten or fifteen people globally...
Ivica is stepping up to compete in five different events, while Blanka will be focusing on just one... To put it in perspective, competing in slalom and downhill skiing is a lot like taking on the javelin throw and the 5,000 meters in track and field...
Ivica has probably had both knees operated on as much as humanly possible by now, and his back seems to need constant repairs... As for Blanka, aside from that shin issue, I don't recall her facing any major health hurdles. Skiing is just such a Spartan sport; you're constantly out on the mountain, battling sub-zero temperatures and biting winds. In track and field, the biggest struggle is usually just dealing with a harder track surface or if it gets a bit chilly—you know, anytime the temperature drops below 68 degrees...

That’s just how I’m reading the whole situation, and that’s how I’m forming my opinion... though it certainly doesn't mean I'm right...