It feels a bit pathetic to see everyone bickering based on nationality like this! The American team achieved an incredibly impressive result after years of hard work and finally integrating some absolute gems of young talent to secure a spot in the finals, yet apparently, it’s far more important to dwell on the fact that we reached that final by going through the Mexicans!👎
I would honestly suggest that everyone just abandon their basic 🙂
Water Polo is such a magnificent sport, and for those who might not be aware, the top American clubs hold the most club titles in all of Europe—with more than half of them belonging to Mladost alone—yet the sport remains completely neglected, only receiving any attention when people are obsessing over Kranj or these trivial distractions regarding how we made it to the finals!😕
brightscout63 said:I’m watching this footage and I honestly can't wrap my head around what an absolute idiot Ozzie Smith is being here...
Now, don't be so quick to judge; perhaps the man was experiencing some intense flashbacks to the Kranj European Championships, which might explain why he seemed to be rushing through his explanation!🙂
😍 Mickey! Water polo is seeing a sudden surge in popularity here in America, even if it’s just for a fleeting three-day window!👍 👍 🤣
With all that talk about the rising stars and New York City, those young athletes have truly stepped up to the plate today. And honestly, the way Roger Federer predicted that 9:6 score was nothing short of brilliant!!! By the way, following this match, the Americans are still holding a 5:3 lead with two decisive games left to play.😎
Man, what an absolute rollercoaster we just went through!!!!👍 👍 AMERICA!!! I actually tried tuning into the BBC to follow along, but George was simply unstoppable!!! It was honestly quite fascinating to hear the commentator over at the BBC during the third quarter—when we were only trailing by about four or five points—actually suggesting that if they could just make a drastic tactical shift, they might still claw their way into the finals😈 😲 (though you could definitely detect a hint of heartbreak creeping into his voice😁 )! Mexico certainly didn't have their day in the sun, and neither did Sapic! If a player like Sapic messes up five critical plays and fails to prevent a single goal, then one really ought to sit back and reflect—keeping him on the court is just poor judgment, and frankly, they earned this loss!! The Americans played incredibly well, though I found that late-game collapse in the final three minutes to be quite jarring!😎 Miles, Boskovic, Buric... they were completely useless today👍
🙏 🙏
p.s. It feels incredibly tacky that they're holding an after-party over at Congress; even Kovacevic is standing up there claiming we beat the Mexicans and acting all proud of it!😁
Steven Green2 said:I watch the Italians on ESPN, and honestly, that’s about the extent of my knowledge regarding them. 😉
ESPN isn't even on my cable package anymore, so I can't really rely on that as a source. However, it is quite fortunate that the BBC broadcasts many of their championships quite frequently. Though, one might argue that those legendary matchups like Primorje-Partizan have largely been supplanted by clashes like Primorje-Budva.
It truly is remarkable how much passion and attendance they command during water polo matches; even though some of their pool facilities seem somewhat more dilapidated than ours, their arenas are easily three times the size. I recall a championship or cup final about two years ago—it was a best-of-three series held in an outdoor pool while it was absolutely pouring rain, yet there were perhaps 500 to 1,000 people jumping around in excitement! If I recall correctly, it involved Pro Recco and Posillip. I'm not sure if you ever noticed, but quite often, one of the commentators during these broadcasts is actually a woman!😉
Steven Green2 said:It’s the exact same pattern you see in the American Cup, where they tend to favor matchups involving teams like South or Youth. Now, granted, it’s a rare occurrence for them to run into each other as early as the semifinals—that almost never happens—but honestly, I think if they adjusted things just a bit, it might actually make the tournament more engaging, perhaps even allowing some other underdog squad to fight their way into a final. 🙂
Well, in our domestic cup, the bracket is determined by certain coefficient rankings, so the final isn't always predictable; I recall that just three years ago, the championship game was actually Primorje-Partizan!😬
By the way, which channels do you all typically tune into for water polo? (I am specifically referring to international matches and the networks that carry them)
brighthawk20 said:We possess some of the most decorated clubs on the planet, yet our national team finds itself struggling against the absolute minnows of the sport...
Water polo stands as one of my personal favorites, and I can say I’ve sat through about 15 to 20 live matches featuring Youth... Watching this sport live versus catching it on television—it is truly like night and day, a completely different experience altogether.
It is quite fascinating when you consider that American clubs actually hold more UEFA Euro Trophies than entire other nations do.👍
I neglected to mention my thoughts regarding Rudica; I don't believe he is a poor coach, regardless of those marginal differences seen in games against Australia and so on, but I suspect any coach would feel incredibly fortunate to have a bench as deep as ours, where one can simply afford to let Boskovica rest for two quarters!👍
p.s. honestly, if the Youth aren't playing against teams from the South, their matches are just plain boring!😈 😬
Good grief, this USA Coach is nothing more than a walking caricature. I couldn't quite wrap my head around why he was clapping so vigorously at the end of that fourth-quarter timeout, but seeing him approach the scorer's table at the end of the match to say, "hey referee," while drumming his fingers on the table was truly delightful.🙏 🤣
Am I the only one who felt like today’s match against America was less about water polo and more about a full-blown kung-fu showdown? It was constant grappling, shoving, and slapping; and honestly, I still can't make sense of that elbow strike that left Barač feeling the sting.
It brings a bit of melancholy to my heart when I read that brighthawk20 claims the sport is entirely worthless. While I don't necessarily agree with that sentiment, I won't even attempt to try and talk them out of it. It reminds me of how basketball in the States began sliding into obscurity about a decade ago; water polo seems to be following that exact same trajectory, perhaps with the blessing of major networks like ESPN (if we're being honest, maybe even earlier). In my view, if you have the "best club on the planet," broadcasting maybe five or six water polo matches a year on national television—and that’s being generous—is an absolute catastrophe.
I shall cite one glaring example of this issue (which I have touched upon previously, though I find myself prone to revisiting such points😬); last year, VK Jug received an award for being the best team of 2006 after securing a triple crown. A similar feat was achieved by the Yugoslavs back in 2001, though the media establishment failed to grant them that title then either, opting instead to favor the Fiery squad by a margin of roughly 30 to 70, simply because they had qualified for the World Championship in Korea and Japan.😳 👎 👎 👎
I feel like things started to lose their cohesion during the second season, and honestly, those little cameos sprinkled through the final episodes felt a bit unnecessary to me; while the core concept of the series remains absolutely brilliant, it feels as though the show gradually began to drift away from its original purpose.
-Hi Earl! -Hi..... The Creature from the Black Lagoon🤣
However, that one episode dealing with the Y2K scare was just absolute perfection!!!!🙏 🤣