I hope you're excited about soccer, because we've got another (functionally final) episode of Norse Code dedicated to the World Cup. Even if you're not into soccer, we talk about enough things that bettors may want to listen.
Episode Notes:
- There's a long history involving "agreed-upon" matches that lead to bad sportsmanship. I was wrong about the details, but the 1982 Germany-Austria game is detailed here. It wasn't Colombia, it was Algeria and it wasn't a 1-1 result that Germany and Austria played for, but 1-0. The goal the Germans scored can be seen in the beginning of this video.
- The lawyering and general defense for Luis Suarez is bordering on the absurd. His legal team claims he's been targeted and they'll go to some ridiculous lengths to defend him. Including arguing that the bite marks were photoshopped. This is a vine of all three times he bit someone:
- If you're really curious about the story where he literally became one of the world's greatest soccer players in order to follow his teenage love to Spain, it's detailed in this incredible piece by Wright Thompson.
- Did you want Miguel Herrera GIFs? Of course you did.
And of course the Miguel Herrera GIF to end all Miguel Herrera GIFs:
From my understanding, all but one of these GIFs (the second one) come from two games.
- Ghanaian players do not trust promises of money because historically they've been stiffed. And now two have been suspended for a physical altercation.
- Eric Wynalda's comments were the day of the Ghana match, which provides a little more context. Regardless, they look stupid even before applying the harsh light of hindsight. It's an incredibly self-aggrandizing interview, and he should be ashamed.
We've also partnered with FanDuel, your world leader in one-day fantasy sports leagues. If you think you've got what it takes to outwit the average fantasy fan but you don't have the time or inclination to play an entire season of fantasy baseball just to prove what you already know, this is your chance to make some real money week-to-week during the season. Draft a new team every day and put your money where your mouth is with Fanduel.com.
If you want to match your initial deposit, be sure to click in the top-right corner and enter in the code "Norseman" so that up to $200 of that deposit will be doubled!
As always, find us on iTunes and Stitcher by searching for us in those applications, or subscribe to our RSS feed.
Once again, contact me at arifmhasan (at) gmail dot com or the podcast at NorseCodePodcast (at) gmail dot com. Follow us on twitter at @NorseCodeDN or just me at @ArifHasanNFL.