If it wasn't for Alilovic, we would've been looking at a tenth loss... I just don't get one thing, why on earth did the key player for Team USA even start the game? Even if it was only 14 minutes, that still wears you out no matter how little it seems, especially when you still have training sessions and preseason prep ahead of you... Linus could've just told him to go get some sleep and we'll see you Tuesday. This is just pointless. It didn't really save him much and you can tell he's exhausted. Better to save his energy and let Lackovic play instead, since he doesn't seem nearly as wiped out considering he's playing strictly as a forward.
I’m not really one for benching guys either, I’m more about just letting them recover... and honestly, I’d hate to see Balic out there on the court tomorrow. And Metlicic? He belongs on the sidelines right now. This pace is absolutely brutal, and we seriously need both of them rested up if we want any shot at the quarterfinals. Sure, other teams are dropping games too, and everyone else is feeling the fatigue, but that doesn't really change anything for us... because there's no room left for mistakes.
boldhound8 said:Screw them, just remember Šola...🙏
Šola is seriously a master at defending the undefendable, like, whenever he gets squared up, he just vanishes like a ghost and you think it’s over, but then he somehow pulls it off... and even when someone catches him out from the wing, he’s right there, though watching him try to hold down a set defense from nine meters out can be pretty painful to witness... It was just like how Losert played yesterday. Reminds me of that game against the Norwegians back in Tunis, I think, the one we ended up losing... He didn't save a single thing, absolutely nothing. He was swearing, spitting, cursing everything under the sun, but man, it didn't help at all...😬 🙏
Roger Allen3 said:When you look at our keepers—the ones everyone’s tearing apart lately—they're sitting at a 33% save rate, which is pretty much middle-of-the-road or even a bit below average for this tournament... meanwhile, the French guys are absolutely killing it with 41%, which honestly isn't surprising, and then you've got the Polish keepers who seem to be going totally wild because they're pulling off saves at a massive 46% rate
But man, the vibe is just terrible regardless of what the numbers say, even if the stats try to tell us the defense is doing everything perfectly... I mean, when I think back to legends like Sergey Lavrov or Šterbik, those guys could drop 20 saves in a single game without breaking a sweat, and that wasn't even that rare...
Nathan Kern9 said:But what if this was some kind of setup by the Spaniards? I mean, are Spaniards really that desperate to rig a match in a sport that isn't even globally massive—no offense intended, but let's be real, there are maybe ten countries actually playing handball at a world-class level, and you can tell just by looking at how the favorites have odds lower than 1.05 in basically every single one of the first twelve games of the World Championship—that they'd risk rigging a player who plays right there in their own backyard? I mean, come on people, that would be such a massive scandal, not just for their handball program but for the integrity of sports everywhere... and honestly, if anyone were actually going to fix something, they’d be smarter about it, like causing chaos during the tournament itself, or waiting until we actually win a medal, God willing...
Look, from what I can tell, nobody is blaming the Spaniards here. If something shady is happening, it wouldn't be the Government doing it, it would be the Handball Federation. And they're the ones with everything to lose.
Roger Allen3 said:I really liked Vukic today, I don't think I'm the only one feeling that way, and honestly, Kaleb isn't going back to the national team anytime soon...🙂
And Zrnic is solid too, probably the best possible move to replace Dzombi.
Vukic played out of his mind today though he was pretty rough yesterday... but you gotta admit most of those goals came from fast breaks rather than set plays. Anyway, it's good news. It's not Cavar, but he's definitely not worse than Kaleb...
It’s honestly great seeing Vukovic pushing his way into the national team lineup... once Lackovic deals with an injury to his knee or ankle or whatever, we might actually have a decent backup ready to step up... But I really don't get why we're running a right-footer in that right winger spot.. a little Spoljaric here, a little Bailey there.... I mean, it looks pretty solid on paper... you can slot Bailey in anywhere and he'll make it work, but man, why on earth was he starting over Vukas?
The defense looks a little soft right now, kind of limp and uncoordinated, but honestly, I think they'll finally snap into gear when the pressure actually hits... Vukić hasn't really been finding his rhythm lately and even Jerković hasn't exactly blown anyone away with his performance either.
Honestly, this whole thread feels more like something you'd see on Discovery Channel or something...
I mean, coming from someone who claims to actually know what they're talking about, I was expecting way more than just a bunch of recycled conspiracy theory clichés...
The only thing I'll give you is this: yeah, big pharma wants profit. But honestly, there's nothing wrong with that. That’s how every single industry works in America...
That drive for profit is exactly what pushes the industry to churn out new drugs and fund massive research at places like Harvard or Johns Hopkins, because if they didn't, their competition would just eat them alive and Unistiti them. If some major pharmaceutical giant finally cracked the code on a cure for cancer or AIDS, their profits would skyrocket, making their shareholders incredibly happy—and since management answers to those shareholders, they'd easily cover the losses from any other meds used during cancer treatment. Meanwhile, all the other firms in the sector would just be left struggling to keep up...
Look, your arguments are totally reaching and just aren't convincing me at all. Maintaining the status quo? If that were actually true, we wouldn't have seen any medical progress over the last few decades. But we do. We see new drugs hitting the market constantly...
There is just no way you could pull off a conspiracy on this scale. You really think all these massive pharma companies would sit down in a room and agree not to release some "holy grail" drug? Aside from the fact that it's illegal, unethical, and frankly doesn't make any financial sense, the sheer number of companies worldwide makes it impossible. Everyone is just trying to get ahead... You brought up that dental cavity vaccine thing that dentists supposedly burned. But what does the pharma industry have to do with that? The dentists organized the bonfire themselves! Whoever actually discovered that breakthrough could have made a killing, much to the horror of their own competitors...
Take the pharma industry, for example—they have zero incentive to work on malaria vaccines or stuff like that because those diseases don't hit the wealthy parts of the world, so they'd just be losing money. You drop a billion dollars into research and then nobody can afford to buy the cure? That's a one-way ticket to bankruptcy. In cases like that, I think governments, the UN, and various foundations should step in (like how the Bill Gates foundation has donated for similar causes). But cancer, and those kinds of diseases that plague developed nations too... that's a whole different ballgame...
And hey, this isn't even unique to pharma. It's the exact same story in the auto industry, the food industry, tech... you name it...
rapidviper54 said:Man, you guys have some seriously high expectations...
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is just two hours of pure, unadulterated fun. You aren't exactly going to be sitting there pondering its deep philosophical meanings once the credits roll, but man, those two hours are a total blast...
I don't know, they aren't even that fun... at least not to me...
I can't really say I was blown away by the movie. I haven't even seen one of them before, and honestly, I live for pirate flicks... Just like how those skeletons in the first film didn't really sit right with me, you know, like the undead types and all that, these weirdos on the "Dutch" ship just didn't click either. I'm just a sucker for that classic pirate vibe. You know, islands, treasure, a chest full of gold... nothing too supernatural or crazy... Even the dialogue wasn't exactly top-tier. If Depp had just landed one witty line instead of having to carry the whole thing on his acting alone, the whole thing would have looked way better... It feels like this flick was made for kids, because the humor is totally on that level. It’s basically like watching Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner or some cartoon villain... and the action scenes feel more like a choreographed dance or a circus act, like that sword fight on the windmill halfway across the island...😬 It's such a shame, because they really could have done so much better with this material...
In my book, the absolute best pirate flick out there has gotta be Treasure Island, especially with Charlton Heston and that little Batman vibe... it’s based on that killer Stevenson novel that basically set the gold standard for every single pirate story ever told. I mean, you've got the hooks, the eye patches, parrots chilling on shoulders, the buried treasure, that whole gritty pirate lingo......