Friday, December 20, 2024

Gheorghasbord: Sporting News

Spanning the globe to bring you some of the most obscure sporting content you could ever want, Gheorghie-style, while we eagerly await Day 8. 

Obviously, we're aware that the girl from Ipanema went to Greenland. Now the good people of that island (the world's largest, dontchaknow) are hoping to head back this direction. The island's football association, KAK (I don't know, either), applied for membership in CONCACAF, hoping to find a place to compete. The Danish territory would prefer to play in UEFA, but that federation's rules limit access to sovereign nations, leaving Greenland on the outside looking in. 


Greenland would not be our region's smallest nation, surpassing both Monserrat and Anguilla, among others. I'm all for it, if only to see the US men and women compete in this spectacular setting:


Way back in the 19-oughts, a fellow named Fred Merkle made a notorious baserunning era to cost his New York Giants a win over the Chicago Cubs. The loss ultimately cost the Giants the National League pennant and the rookie's mistake was forever known as Merkle's Boner. The meaning of words may change from time to time.

Last week, in the ultimate match of the chess world championships, China's Ding Liren made a beginner's mistake against Indian prodigy Giresh Dommaraju, which cost him the defense of his world title. Said Ding, "I was totally in shock when I realized I made a blunder." It took Dommaraju a moment to realize his good fortune, though the announcers caught it right away:
Didn't think we'd see Ding's Boner, but here we are.

In less agony of defeatish and far more whimsical news, we were thrilled to see the new design for the trophy awarded to the winner of the Pop Tart Bowl. Miami and Iowa State square off on December 28 in Orlando for a trophy that features a fully operational toaster optimized for Pop Tarts.


You'd better believe the Teej has ordered one of these for his abode.

And finally, let it be told that Dolphins linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. is a both a mensch and a tremendous giver of gifts. The 8th-year pro out of Northwestern gave each of his teammates a replica of their high school football jerseys for Christmas. That alone is a really thoughtful and cool gesture. As a bonus Easter egg for me, the jersey Da'shawn Hand receives early in the video below (green and gold with a W at the top of the shirt is none other than the kit of the Woodbridge Senior High School Mighty Vikings from Woodbridge, VA, your boy's alma mater. Best high school east of the Mississippi, according to our principal.

14 comments:

Marls said...

Ding’s dong?

rob said...

some legal news from my domain. eldest child, nee kaitlin, familiarly katy, has formally changed their name to k. simply k. lowercase k. in the eyes of the lord and the commonwealth of virginia. adjust your rolodexes accordingly.

rootsminer said...

Glad to get a glimpse of Ding's boner. Big if true. Congrats to k. on taking charge of their own name.

In unexpected personal news, I scheduled a filler post to go up tomorrow morning. I don't want to get in the way of any Gheorghemas content, so if you content gods need to bump my meager post, I'll take no offense.

Whitney said...

Fascinating, Rob. Since k’s earliest days, they’ve always had a lot of Russell gumption. Good for them.

rob said...

i find k endlessly fascinating. they have social and personal courage i can only dream of possessing. just a fearless little weirdo.

Whitney said...

Headed to Sarasota for the weekend to get in a little early Xmas with my mom in the Florida sun. Except it’s a high of 61° tomorrow. What the…

T.J. said...

I need that Pop Tarts trophy immediately

rob said...

yeah, you do

rob said...

pour some out for party city, shockingly run into the ground by its private equity overlords

Marls said...

So, like Pele or Madonna but just k. No last name?

rob said...

no, they’re keeping the same middle and last names

Whitney said...

Party City customers should head to Dollar Tree. 10% of the price and lots of good stuff. Probably hurt the Party City margins, I’d estimate.

Whitney said...

Nice bowl game domination by the Gators.

zman said...

J Mays approves.