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The Last World Cup Post For Four Years, part 2

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Topic(s): me
2010-07-05 23:56:45 US/Pacific

 As predicted, the United States defeated Algeria. We did make it a little more dramatic than necessary. Landon Donovan's stoppage time goal won the game at 1-0. As a reward for winning Group C, we were matched up against Ghana in the round of 16.

If you'll recall, we played and lost to Ghana in World Cup 2006. That game ended 2-1. Unfortunately, so did World Cup 2010.

I'll take two items away from World Cup 2010.

1. The United States is right there. So close. We nearly beat Ghana. In fact, the game's tenor felt as if we would beat them. It was close, but in the end we lost. Then Ghana advanced to play Uruguay, and despite what the official score sheet says (Uruguay victory via penalty kicks), Ghana defeated Uruguay to advance to the semi-finals. Maybe in World Cup 2014 we have a slightly better player in a position or two, and we're able to beat the likes of Ghana, and advance to the semi-finals.

2. FIFA (the official world soccer organization) really needs to assist their referees. The referees are doing their best, but the game has become too fast. The referees simply can't make perfect calls for every close play, and in the modern game there are loads of close plays, which means there are an increasing number of wrong calls.

The United States had two goals taken away on wrong calls. And when your aggregate World Cup goal tally is five goals, as is the case for not just the United States but almost all 32 teams, two goals are imperatively important!

The most egregious decision went against England. England scored a goal to even the score at 2-2 versus the Germans. But wait. The goal was not called a goal. Despite crossing the goal line by approximately two feet. How is that possible? Because the game is too fast. While the linesman is busy checking for offside players, the ball crossed the goal line, but then bounced back across the goal line in the other direction.

What should happen is FIFA should introduce technology in to the game. Put a location sensor inside the ball. Have computers track the ball. Computers would know with 100% accuracy if the ball had crossed the goal line. Also, computers would not cause a delay in the game at all. Not even a single second, which I believe is an important points for a game like soccer which has literally non-stop motion.

I'll go a bit engineerish here and point out that if a computer knows the instantaneous location of the ball, it also knows the velocity, acceleration, and direction of the ball.

Acceleration -- meaning the computer can track when the ball is kicked or otherwise passed, which is an important part of the offside rule. (Offensive players must be behind two defensive players at the time of the ball's passing from the passer to the receiving offensive player.)

Direction -- meaning the computer can track if a pass is forward or backwards, which is an important part of the offside rule. (Offensive players are considered not offside if the pass to that offensive player is a backward pass.)

Based on acceleration and direction, we're halfway to defining offside completely within the realm of a computer's brain. All we're lacking is the offensive player's location relative to two leading defensive players, and the referee's discretion that the offensive player was or was not involved in the play.

Location -- if we're to have a computer track player's location for the offside rule, we'll have to redefine the player's location slightly. At present, an offensive player's location is in violation if any part of his/her body is forward of the last bit of the defender's body. So in theory, a long strand of hair could have an offensive player offside. No way a computer can track that. My idea is to redefine this part of the rule as the offensive player's shoes must be behind the defensive player's shoes. And we can put a location sensor in the shoes of each player.

Referee's discretion -- is simple. If the offensive player is in offside violation at the time of the pass, and the pass is forward, and he/she leads too many defenders, then the computer can buzz the referee's earpiece. The referee can then decide if the violating offensive player is involved in the play.

Will all this happen? No way. But if I were in charge of FIFA, it sure would. Soccer purists everywhere would hate me. But at least goals would really be goals, and the fans could trust that the calls were correct. In my opinion, we'd see scoring increase as well.



Pulled eFingers:

Ngan — 2010-07-24 01:08:15 US/Pacific —
I hope that FIFA will do something with the next World Cup to assist the referees. It's unbearable to watch when the referee makes a wrong call that ultimately decides the outcome of the game. Makes me want to turn off the TV and not watch another game ever again.
Mom — 2010-08-15 12:20:28 US/Pacific —
Ingredients
Brine:
7 quarts water
1 quart apple cider
3/4 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large onion, diced
1 large or 2 small carrots, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
1 head garlic, cut in 1/2 equatorially
1/2 bunch fresh rosemary
1/2 bunch fresh sage
6 bay leaves
1 (12 to 14 pound) turkey or turkey breasts only can be used, use 2 for each 4 people for dinner.
This is great turkey, so do count each child's serving the same as you would for an adult; you will want leftovers for the next day. If you want leftovers for soup and you are using breasts only, purchase an extra turkey wing or two and add it in the bottom of the cooking pan along with the celery, onion, etc. If you don't want a strong (or any) apple flavor on the turkey, use the apples for moisture retention; the turkey flavor is strong enough to negate the taste of the fruit but not of the cider, simply replace the cider with additional chicken stock. The apple cider and apples can also be left out of the gravy and replaced with a like amount of chicken stock. To me, gravy taste should taste like meat, not like fruit, the apple cider can be added to the gravy when leftovers are re-heated, but be careful it changes the flavor.
Herb crust:
1 bunch fresh rosemary, leaves finely chopped
1 bunch fresh sage, leaves finely chopped
3 sticks butter, room temperature
Kosher salt
Gravy:
1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 large or 2 small carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 ribs celery, cut into 1/2-inch dice
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2 Granny Smith apples, cut into 1/2-inch dice
5 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 bunch thyme
Kosher salt
1 quart chicken stock, divided
2 cups apple cider, divided
1/2 to 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Directions
Special equipment: butcher's twine
To brine the turkey: Combine all of the ingredients for the brine in a large container. Add the turkey and let it brine in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
To prepare the turkey for cooking: Remove the turkey from the brine the night before roasting and pat it thoroughly dry with paper towels. Combine the rosemary, sage, and butter for the herb crust in a small bowl. Season, to taste, with kosher salt. Work the butter under the skin of the turkey and massage it into the breasts and the legs. Massage the butter on the outside of the skin as well. Tie the legs together over the breast so they will protect it during cooking and help keep it moist and juicy.
Gravy preparation: Put the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, apples, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and thyme in a roasting pan and season with salt. Arrange the turkey on top of the veggies and refrigerate overnight UNCOVERED! Yes, that's right, uncovered. This will help the skin dry out and become really brown and crispy. Make sure that there is no raw food near the turkey in the refrigerator. After refrigerating overnight, the turkey is ready to go in the oven.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Put 2 cups chicken stock and 1 cup apple cider in the bottom of the roasting pan. Roast the turkey in the preheated oven until the skin gets really nice and brown, about 40 minutes. Lower the oven heat to 350 degrees F for the remainder of the cooking time. Baste the turkey every 30 minutes or so and add more stock to the roasting pan, if needed. Cook about 17 minutes per pound. Once it gets to the proper color, tent the turkey with aluminum foil to prevent it from getting too dark.
Remove the turkey from the oven when an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the turkey registers 160 degrees F. Make sure that the thermometer is not touching a bone when doing the reading. When the turkey has reached the proper temperature, remove it from the roasting pan to a cutting board and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. Cover loosely with aluminum foil.
Strain all the veggies over a bowl to separate them from the stock/mixture. Discard the veggies. Skim off the fat and add it to the roasting pan. This is the fat for the roux. Put the roasting pan over 2 burners and over a low heat and whisk in the flour. Cook until the mixture looks like wet sand, about 4 to 5 minutes. Slowly whisk in the remaining 1 cup apple cider, remaining chicken stock and the stock/cider mixture. Cook until the mixture has thickened and reached a gravy consistency. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Pour into a serving pitcher or bowl.
Carve the turkey, transfer to a serving platter and serve with the gravy.
Cook's Note: Don't fight over the drumsticks.
Give thanks for such a great turkey!!!
Mom — 2010-08-15 12:21:48 US/Pacific —
the title of that recipe was Best Turkey Ever from Ann Burrell



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