Posts by ruggedjackal15

steelbison14 said:Fair enough🙂—I'm right there with you on this one.😉

See you all at the game at 5:30 PM! The boys are going to need every bit of energy we can throw their way tonight!

I’ll admit, I had to pull a few strings to get my hands on a ticket for 😉 but honestly, it was worth every penny 🙂

I’m not going to name names just yet—everyone will figure out who the snitch was eventually 😍 but seriously, these guys are world-class... I would love nothing more than to see them take home a major trophy in handball. Beyond the incredible feat they’ve already pulled off with that underdog run, they are genuinely talented, and they’ll prove it when it matters most. I'll be rooting for them whenever I can
I think there are still 😉 of us left

Just touched down from Nashville—absolutely exhausted, but man, what a trip! The energy at the game was incredible. Maybe there weren't quite enough women in the stands for our usual crowd, but the vibe was still top-notch. The guys really stepped up, and I have to give props to the local fans too; they were actually more vocal supporting their home team than we were back in Katy during that matchup against Vardar...
Hopefully, we’ll actually wake up properly in the next few days; we've got another game this Sunday!

Oh, and I had no idea some of the players liked to play pilot with the plane 😁 things got a little bumpy on the flight home, and let's just say a few people weren't exactly thrilled about the turbulence 🙂

I caught sight of Maglajlija this morning... It looks like they've really ramped up the intensity of their training sessions. Things are definitely going to get heated in Athens 🙂

We had that game against Kotex in Miami this past Wednesday. The turnout was pretty thin, but I’m hoping we see a bigger crowd in the Piggy Bank when Leon plays. 🙂
Progress is being made, slowly crawling away from a standstill, but we aren't quite there yet. After the match, I sat down with the players for an interview with a news portal—and I have to say, I got the subtle hint that things are running a bit smoother with Maglajlija than they are with Lin...
Everything will come to a head during Saturday's game in North Mexico.
I believe Carter will be flying from Chicago to Athens, so fingers crossed I run into a few familiar faces on the flight. 🙂

Sometimes I used to just laugh in his face when he’d kick me out of practice. But later, when I realized he had a knack for tossing anyone out regardless of their name, I understood his logic: when you’re working, you work, and when things go south, they go south. He only cares about the end result. The front office decided that if we couldn't lead the group, it was better to settle for third and head to the Champions League. Honestly, it was a calculated move. We could have easily made the finals if Leon Jović hadn't pushed Jurca into the game too early, picking up that extra penalty that led to Leon being stuck with a three-minute suspension during the most critical moments of the match. If you want to know how good our squad actually was last season, look at the stats. Despite having a weaker roster, we held Leon and the Czech Bear to under 20 goals per game. We also swept both matches against teams like Constanta, Krasnodar, and Metallurg—sides that are right on our level, if not stronger than this year's version of Leon. Then there's Schaffhausen and Vardar; we beat them convincingly both times. In the domestic league, we were crushing everyone by about 20 goals, except for those specific games where things just didn't go our way. Even the juniors got a shot and stepped up. We missed the finals because Toskić let himself get provoked into a red card, which completely shattered our defense, combined with Jović’s blunder regarding a substitution. I truly believe we would have won that final. I remember vividly back in the spring when Kljajic told me he thought they might bring Lino back. When I asked him why, he said Gobac couldn't even look him in the eye anymore and that he could sense things shifting. I thought he was just being paranoid; I didn't think there was any chance they’d bring that guy back. It turns out he was right. I recall Lino starting to visit the players then, telling us all he’d be back before we knew it. When the new season kicked off, we gathered in Chicago for testing and then headed to Pag for the first leg of preseason. We were training twice a day there—it was anything but a vacation. The atmosphere was great and the intensity was high. After that, we went to Delnice for the heavy lifting. We were training three times a day, focusing almost entirely on strength and conditioning since we had plenty of time before the Champions League started. While in Delnice, we beat Gold Club and moved on to a tournament in Velenje, where we took down Pick Szeged (the Canadian champions) and Kopar, only to lose to Velenje in a final where the officiating was so biased it was painful to watch. We returned to Delnice for one more mini-cycle before heading to a major tournament in France. It was essentially a trip with almost zero actual handball training. We spent the whole day traveling and practically stepped off the bus straight into a friendly against a top-tier side, Selestat, which we lost. We shouldn't have underestimated them; by the time we realized our mistake, it was too late. The next day the tournament began. We lost the first match to Ciudad Real by ten because they jumped out to a 6-0 lead, and we just couldn't catch them. For the rest of the games, it was tight, goal for goal, while Kljajic gave everyone a chance to see who could actually hold their own in the defense. At the meetings, he told us the results didn't matter and that we’d find our rhythm when it counted. He did have one meltdown during a meeting, though. He lost it asking who was leaking misinformation and painting a false picture of the team's morale. He even threatened to have them fired once we returned, claiming people were just looking for excuses to justify their actions. After that, we players met privately and realized none of us had said a word. It turned out to be Jović, which was confirmed later. The man had an open line to Gobac, badmouthing us players to Kljajic, claiming the team was totally falling apart and that everyone was constantly drunk, or that Kljajic was only thinking about his personal life. The truth was much simpler: we just needed a little rest and some actual handball drills. That became obvious just two days after they replaced Kljajic; we won a tournament in Canada simply because we were finally rested. After he was ousted, Kljajic came into the locker room before practice to give a speech. I had a lump in my throat listening to him, and I could see it hit the others hard too. When he finished, we all stood up and gave him a standing ovation. It was a massive shock to the system. We all felt for him; he was blindsided. Maybe not Šola, though—Kljajic doesn't take crap from anyone, and Šola had actually told him at the Delnice meeting that he was overweight and shouldn't have even come to preseason. The whole thing feels dirty now that we know the real story: the Republican Party was leaning on Gobac to bring Lino back to kick off the election campaign. They wanted to make sure Cervar was highly visible so they wouldn't lose sponsorship money from companies like ExxonMobil or local energy giants, otherwise, there wouldn't be funding for the new arena. Part of the board didn't want Lino at all, which is why Jović’s role in blackening Kljajic’s reputation was so crucial. He painted a picture of a broken team, and once the switch happened, it was easy to install Lino because nobody else was available. They didn't fire Kljajic at the end of last season because the rest of the board would have insisted on Zovk. They just moved him to Podravka. If it hadn't been about those losses, they would have attacked his private life. He’s a bit of a rogue in a good way, and a lot of players look up to him because of his talent and the cars he drives—some people are just jealous. But his personal life never touched our training or games. In fact, we found it kind of charming; if we wanted to go out and party, he’d tolerate it, as long as we were the first ones at practice the next morning. Now, Gobac, Goluža, and Jović are spreading rumors around town that Kljajic lost his mind and that the players revolted. Jović conveniently forgets that he used to take his own inner circle on all the trips without a single complaint. I wonder why? The answer is the Republican Party; they got what they wanted. I can only say again that my teammates and I are devastated that Kljajic was forced out. As for the current state of affairs? It's a mess. Lino shows up to practice, then he's gone; sometimes Magi is leading, sometimes Baško has his own ideas, then Gobac steps in with his vision. We’re wandering aimlessly. We aren't playing any tactical sets, and the preparation for matches is a disaster. Lino is clueless. The players can't stand the sight of him, nor Jović, who is desperately trying to keep his image intact. Lino’s rhetoric is always "do it for the fans," "don't let the supporters down," or "push the defense," but he provides zero concrete instructions on how to actually play, change a zone, or execute a play. We don't have an Ivan here who can just grab the ball and run the floor himself; we have experienced players, but they aren't carrying the load. His ignorance was most obvious against Vardar; we struggled through the whole game playing a 3-2-1 when their tallest player is only 6'3". We should have played a 6-0 and walked away with a 10-goal win. Now he makes excuses, saying the squad isn't ready or lacks stamina, but he's been with us for over a month—if he had taken over from scratch, we'd be ready by now. It’s the same old story with him: when we win, he’s a genius; when we lose, it’s always someone else's fault. I'm exhausted just writing this. I just hope we can somehow scrape through the group stage to see the spring in Europe. I hope that after the elections, they finally get rid of him so we can get a normal coach back, and that they stop punishing us before the whole team falls apart.

And that’s really all there is to it. ☕

Here’s my take on that article in The New York Times... honestly, it feels like it was just ripped from some random handball blog or something. Anyway, credit where it's due, I think this is written by Ljubo Vukic 😍

October 13, 2007. This is likely the first and last time I’ll ever post on this forum, but it’s the only way I can get the actual truth out there without putting my career on the line. Most of us players know exactly what’s going on, but nobody dares to say it publicly. I’ve just had enough. Let’s start with when Cervar first arrived to coach THW Kiel back in 2000. After just a few weeks of training, the guys realized they were dealing with a complete joke of a coach. He became the laughingstock of the locker room—honestly, you could write a book on how much the players mocked him, and Kljaić was leading the charge. He didn't dare say anything to anyone except the younger kids; the veterans did whatever they wanted, essentially playing the games themselves, setting the tactics, and switching zones and players whenever they felt like it. The first time he actually tried to run things his own way—taking the squad to preseason prep right before the Cup finals and starting the game without some of the senior players—we lost the semifinal to Metković. After that, he never dared to assert himself again. Gobac knew exactly what was happening, but he loved having a puppet like him because he could do whatever he pleased. A year later, Gobac appoints him as the national team coach. Since he knows what an amateur he is, he puts Pipeta as his assistant and Baška in to do all the heavy lifting. Along with Danijel Jurišić, the conditioning coach, they handle the bulk of the work for the World Championship in Portugal. We lose the opening match against Argentina, and in the second one, we’re trailing behind Arap for the entire first half. While we’re waiting in the locker room at halftime, Lino is out there crying about how much of a disgrace we are and how we’re going to have to crawl back home to America. Gobac and Baško basically tell him to shove it, burst into the locker room, and Pipeta and Baško hold a meeting to switch to a 6-0 zone. We come out, win the game, and after that, we play better and eventually grab the gold. After Portugal, Lino’s ego went through the roof because the media started giving the credit to Pipeta and the rest of the staff. He became allergic to Pipeta. You could see the relationship fracturing during the prep for Athens and throughout the Olympics. After Athens, the whole thing imploded. We still managed to snag silver in Tunis, but that was largely thanks to Ivan and the fact that Gobac pulled some strings with the referees in certain matches—not just for us, but for our competitors too. And so, Lino became the most decorated coach in history. Before all this, he was somewhat normal; now, he acts like he invented handball, and nobody else knows a thing about the sport. The truth is quite different. He was lucky to inherit a squad that was already a cohesive unit—basically a mix of the Metković core and some others—where the tactics were actually being handled by others while the talent was still there, and he had Ivan, who could single-handedly carry the game and set up everyone else. At the last World Championship in Germany, we weren't even the strongest team on paper. They were told to lose to the Spaniards so we'd drop into an easier group, ensuring our fans had tickets, the refs were in our favor, and we’d meet the Germans in the final. When Ivan told him at halftime that we shouldn't embarrass ourselves because we could beat anyone, Lino didn't push back; he just wanted to go down in history as the coach who never lost a game at the World Championships. Prep for the match against France was a disaster. Instead of watching film on France's best plays, we were stuck watching a game where they blew a ten-point lead and looked ridiculous. France keeps beating us with the same two plays they used to dismantle us in Switzerland, and we end up finishing without a medal. This national team won a lot, but they could have achieved so much more if they had been led by a real expert. It all comes down to the individual brilliance of Ivan and the others. During training, Ivan does whatever he wants, acting like a sheriff and deciding who makes the roster and who doesn't. The most important thing for the players who aren't sure of their spot is to just throw Ivan under the bus. Goluža should have been Pipeta's replacement, because Lino always needs a "policeman" to enforce discipline, whereas he likes to play the "good dad." But Keta was the target of ridicule by the old guard from Atlanta, and our generation didn't even give him 5% of the grief; despite having more medals than anyone, he played two great games in his life and spent the rest of his career basically acting as a water boy. Besides, he hasn't really got much tactical schooling and can barely string two coherent sentences together. However, he joined the Republican Party just like Jović and Lino, and he’s been Gobac’s loyalist all these years, which is why he was kept around in both the club and the national team. So, picking Goluža is a joke. After the loss to France, Gobac actually snapped at the stands, saying he was sick of Lino and was going to kick him out. But that very same evening, he got a call from a high-ranking official in the Republican Party telling him not to mess with Lino because they needed to keep him steady until the elections. By the next day, Gobac had quieted down and claimed he never said such a thing. He also allegedly mentioned in a social circle in Zadar this summer that he’d love to kick Lino in the ass, but that he’s the only man who can't touch him because he's too deeply entangled with Sanader and can't move against him right now. That’s the short version of the national team saga; I could write a whole book, but this is plenty. Now, a little about THW Kiel and what's been happening since last year. Last year, we started training with Cervar, and it was a catastrophe. We struggled just to show up to training and listen to his demagoguery—his constant preaching about how we were losers, how he was a world-class Olympic champion, how he created us, and how we simply couldn't grasp his vision. Yet, he never actually explained or demonstrated anything. He’d barely show up to practice, or he’d vanish entirely, acting like he was God. At the start of the league, we barely scraped a win against Osijek at home. He probably realized then that it would be wise to step down, judging by the fact that he saw this squad wouldn't achieve anything and he'd embarrass himself in the Champions League group stage. So, he and Gobac reached an agreement: he’d step aside until the club could assemble a proper team. There wasn't much of a choice for coaches at the time. We had the older Kljaić and Smajlagić available. Pipeta wasn't an option because of Lino and because he’d crossed Gobac over a contract issue, and the elder Kljun was too dangerous to hire—if he made something happen with this squad, it would be impossible to get rid of him because of his charisma and track record. So, they decided to go with Nenek. He was financially independent of the handball world, and they knew he understood the game from his playing days. They figured if he did well, great; if he failed, they could easily shut him up because his tongue moves faster than his brain. If he succeeded, it would be easy to convince him to retire by citing "business obligations." And so, he took over just ten days before our first match against Flensburg. I knew him back in our playing days, both as teammates and opponents, and I held him in very high regard. After nearly a year, I still hold that same view of him as a coach, an expert, and a man with his own sense of self. In a very short time, he managed to organize our defense and explain exactly how we need to play offensively against different teams. We actually started enjoying coming to practice. He was strict and didn't go easy on anyone, but once training was over, he was the first one ready to hang out and joke around. He turned us into a real team.

Another disappointment...😢 I honestly don't know what's going on with the guys lately... something is clearly off.
They just can't keep up with the pace of the game, and their coordination is non-existent.
It looks like there's zero chance🙂 of us making any real noise in the NBA. Even if they manage to scrape together some wins in the home legs against the Swiss teams or Vardar, do we really think we have a shot against Leon?
It’s such a shame. 🙂

Is anyone planning on heading out this Sunday for the game against Vardar? Tickets go on sale tomorrow...
It could be a great matchup, provided we don't blow this one like we did last time. 😛

They were playing against Metković... why doesn't the schedule show they aren't facing them until September 15th? 😕
I honestly can't make heads or tails of these game schedules... yet people act shocked that only 200 people showed up to the match...
They were supposed to play against Karlovac on September 22nd, but it looks like they'll be out in Leon at that time instead.
Is there an actual, accurate schedule for these games posted anywhere?

Now we’re finally seeing some real action here in Canada.... let's see how this plays out....😎

We’re heading out tomorrow for the tournament in Canada, and then finally, the season kicks off on September 7th against Nasica. 😉
Does anyone happen to know when they play Metkovica over in Chicago?

So, he’s actually sitting there giving Vjekoslav Bach advice on how to coach the Chicago team? Honestly, the guy is just as grating as Vjekoslav himself. Wouldn't it be better if they just teamed up and left the actual training of the Chicago squad to someone who actually knows what they're doing? 😎

I’m really hoping they absolutely crush it this season, but based on how these preseason games are playing out... yikes...🙄
Right now, they’re struggling through their matchups in France. Sure, we're missing Sheila and Keira, but there should still be enough talent here to show at least a glimmer of better play...
Even during that stint in Milwaukee, they didn't exactly look like championship contenders...