Weblogism

La campagne bat son plein, ici, en la verte Irlande, et c’est une nouvelle fois une bien belle foire d’empoigne, avec à l’appui moultes affiches du meilleur goût.

La dernière fois, c’est Libertas qui nous avait gratifié des plus beaux échantillons, mais il semble que Ganley ait un peu perdu de sa verve (et quelques milliers d’euros après la campagne européenne désastreuse qui a vu un unique MEP élu), mais rien à voir avec la campagne que Cóir est en train de mener tambour battant. Ça a commencé très « sobre » :

Et maintenant, c’est plutôt ça :

Vous pouvez vous régaler avec la liste complète sur le site de Cóir.

Bien entendu, une telle prolixité dans la connerie ne pouvait qu’apporter son lot de pastiches : vous pouvez en trouver quelques-uns là.

Pour éviter les déconvenues de la dernière fois, pourtant, le Gouvernement et autres associations pro-européennes ont mis les petits plats dans les grands pour informer le public, pour répondre aux critiques originales, à savoir que les gens ne comprenaient pas ce qu’ils votaient. Ils ont également obtenu la « promesse » de conserver le commissaire irlandais, et celle, moins évidente, de ne pas voler les enfants ou de les marquer avec une puce électronique.

Les choses ont pris une nouvelle tournure depuis que Michael O’Leary a pris le parti du oui, et hier, un grand débat a opposé Michael O’Leary, Marian Harkin et Micheal Martin, et Declan Ganley, Joe Higgins et Patricia McKenna. Le débat a été accueilli diversement. Ça a été le grand show de Mick qui s’est régalé face à Ganley.

Pour l’heure, le oui est crédité de 48 %, le non 19 % et 33 % des votants sont encore indécis : ce sont eux qui ont fait basculer la balance la dernière fois. Le vote est la semaine prochaine, le 2 octobre.

The least I can say is that the final of the EuroBasket 2009 will have been a bit of an anti-climax (as I said somewhere else before the match, “now it’s turtles all the way down, and Spain on top”): at no point Serbia threatened to even come close to tickling Gasol’s stubble. With a very comfortable +15–+20, Spain could sit down and relax, and watch Serbia try interesting attempts beyond the 3-point line. In fairness, it was mainly because Spain’s defence inside was just impenetrable (I guess when you have 2 pairs of arms sticking out of 2.14m lads towering above you, you kind of think twice before attempting a lay-up). So, anyway, the story goes, the game ended 85–63 (yes, 22 points in a final of the EuroBasket). The only interesting thing coming out of this game (for me) is that Rubio answered the question I was asking a few days ago. He was good last night, quite present in defence, scored a couple of 3-pointers – so he justified the hype around him.

Spain have been holding a firm grip on this final. A very very firm grip.

France was playing Croatia for the 5th-6th place, but both teams were leaving the stars on the bench (Tony Parker was being rested, Boris Diaw twisted his ankle), and it has been a great opportunity for Antoine Diot and Nando de Colo to shine! 18 points (4/7 at 3 pts) for the former, 15 for the latter, they showed that they had not been selected in this French team for nothing. France win 69–62 and therefore finish 5th of this tournament.

Come on lads, let me help you build the toy, that’s not fair!!

Russia managed to beat Turkey for the 7th (66–89), meaning Turkey finish 8th, a bit of a disappointing result, given the EuroBasket Turkey accomplished.

All in all, the most exciting game of the day was between Greece and Slovenia, with yet another crazy finish for Slovenia, despite being led for the most of the game. Quarter 4 showed once again that Lakovic was the man of the money-time, dragging his team back to -1 with 9 seconds to go in an incredible last minute. Unfortunately, with the last possession, they didn’t manage to put themselves in a great shooting position, and Nachbar had to resort to a lousy mid-court shoot which he missed… Slovenia lost 57–56, but can leave with many regrets: they were one foul away to get at least silver, and they’re leaving with nothing.

So EuroBasket 2009 finished with a clear winner, Spain, who doubtless will cause some troubles to Team USA next year in Turkey. The “qualified teams” for Turkey 2010 are: Croatia, Spain, France, Greece, Slovenia and Serbia, the biggest surprise being Lithuania missing, but chances are they will be awarded a wild card by FIBA.

And that’s it for me!

Spain are through, and it almost looked like it was no effort. Ok, Greece did well, but Pau Gasol was just too far to reach, Fernandez made the right points, and Spain was at some point leading by more that 20 points. So Spain are in final, with a severe score: 82–64

The Serbia–Slovenia was another classic match, a fantastic match that Slovenia looked bond to win, with a lead of up to 10 points, and then at the end of qtr 3, they seemed to crack a bit. And in qtr 4 , they let Serbia get back, Lorbek got his 5th foul, and (still don’t get that one), let Serbia shoot a 3-pointer in the last seconds rather than fouling to bring them to the FT line… Teodosic on fire in this Q4 scored the 3-pointer, bringing Slovenia to extra-time. And then, it’s all downhill for the men in green: Teodosic carries on his show, Lakovic tries to keep his team level, but it won’t be enough. Slovenia lose 96 –92.

The final is therefore Spain vs. Serbia. The 3rd place match will oppose Greece to Slovenia.

As Spain is currently thrashing Greece and kind of ruining the whole show, I thought you might enjoy l’/Équipe/‘s pictures of the pom-pom girls of the EuroBasket. Enjoy!

Day 11 was the second day of the semi-finals, and it wasn’t a night for the faint-hearted.

Greece started strongly, but did not manage to get rid of Turkey. In the second half, Turkoglu and Ilyasova did the dirty work, and Turkey managed to get back, and a last lay-up by Arslan at the end of an extremely tense qtr 4 forced the 2 teams to extra-time. The extra-time was just as stressful, Greece managed to get 5 points ahead, only to let Turkey come back, and Arslan shoot a 3-pointer at the last second. Unfortunately, Arlsan missed this one, and Greece could finally celebrate their victory, 76–74. What an amazing match. Greece are qualified for the semi-finals, and also got their ticket for Turkey 2010.

Turkey was playing France a few minutes ago for a position match, and despite thrashing France in the first half (they were leading 32–43 at half-time), they completely collapsed in the second half, with 29–16 in qtr 3 and 19–9 in the 4th. The game’s score was 80–68. France will therefore play for 5th or 6th place. And they get to go to Turkey next year, and to Lithuania in 2011 for the next EuroBasket!

Slovenia–Croatia was the second match, and a few minutes into the game, it was clear that Croatia was there, and willing to qualify. Leading Slovenia for most of the first half (with up to 9 points), Croatia started the second half just as well, but quickly let Slovenia come back and take the lead at the end of qtr 3, thanks to Lorbek in particular. The Croatians fought really hard in qtr 4, and threatened to come back just like Turkey had done in the previous game, but a precious by Nachbar 5 seconds to the end just sealed the fate of the game (67–62). The game ends 67–65, and Slovenia goes through.

The semi-finals are therefore:

Spain–Greece (a classic)
Serbia–Slovenia (which should be quite good too!)

In the U18 All Star Game (the first one organised by FIBA as far as I know), the Blue team beat the White team 77–75.

Le slow clap, c’est ce vieux cliché hollywoodien : un des héros lose, généralement vers la fin du film, mais il a losé avec deux coucougnettes d’un fort beau gabarit. Devant l’ampleur de la lose, il y a un terrible silence : la foule est outrée. Et alors y’a un gars qui est quand même subjugué par les coucougnettes utilisées, plutôt que par la lose engendrée, et il commence à applaudir.

Et dans une fort belle leçon d’amour plavovien, un autre le suit (généralement bouche bée, encore surpris d’oser applaudir). Et puis un autre, et encore un autre, jusqu‘à ce que la foule en délire célèbre à l’unisson les coucougnettes, le bonheur d‘être ensemble et la joie de garder la tête haute dans la lose. Et là, le mec qui a losé, il est un peu moins triste, et il contemple avec fierté ses coucougnettes parce que, n’est-ce pas, c‘était bien là le fin mot de l’histoire, êtes-vous bête, vous y avez cru. God Bless America.

Alors voilà, quelqu’un a recensé les 5 meilleurs slow claps pour vous, et c’est d’la bombe bébé.

Celui de Rasta Rocket reste tout de même une bien belle référence, God Bless Jamaica ! Par contre, un truc qui me chiffonne, c’est qu’il me semble bien avoir vu le #1, et je n’arrive pas à comprendre dans quel continuum espace-temps une telle chose ait pu se produire…

France got eliminated, and there was no debate about it. They have been absolutely outplayed by a very strong Spanish team, especially Pau Gasol back with a revenge. 28 points and 9 rebounds, he killed single-handedly Turiaf and Traoré. The French came back to a promising -11 in qtr 4, but then their momentum was killed in the bud by a turnover by Diaw. The Spanish defence was too strong, Navarro put in the right 3-pointers, and Tony Parker didn’t score the healing points that would have brought France on the right trck. Not really a surprise, but still a bit disappointed… It looks like the predictions of the experts might be right: all the teams of Group F will go through.

In the other quarter final of the day, Serbia got rid of Russia quite easily (surprisingly, but hey not so much given Russia’s output in the previous games, but hey, you could also say that of Spain): 68–79.

So there you go. I’m really disappointed, even though I could feel France was really up not to the other good team standards (I wouldn’t have given France a chance against Slovenia for example), but having Spain playing tonight, Great Britain is forgotten, and we might very well have a winner here.

Last question: is Rubio the most overrated player of this tournament?
And a remark: I can’t help but like Nando de Colo. He looks a bit inexperienced at times, a bit clumsy, but he comes up with these fantastic passes or shoots: so, I can’t decide if he deserves it, but I really wish him all the best!!

Fierce competition between the tram and the bus, these days, in Dublin…

The 2 latest posts on the Guardian Environment blog are worth reading. The first one, What we urgently need is a new mindset on climate change, is actually the editorial published simultaneously by two prestigious medical journals, The Lancet and The British Medical Journal, calling for a new mindset on climate change ahead of the Copenhagen conference, as it poses the serious threat of “a global health catastrophe.” Not only it describes the dramatic consequences for health if nothing is done, it also highlights that this new mindset could be a positive turning point for human well-being:

Crucially for winning hearts and minds in richer countries, what’s good for the climate is good for health. The measures needed to combat climate change coincide with those needed to ensure a healthier population and reduce the burden on health services. A low-carbon economy will mean less pollution. A low-carbon diet (especially eating less meat) and more exercise will mean less cancer, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Opportunity, surely, not cost.

The second post warns that if nothing is done to tackle global warming, your beer will taste like pish too.