A Day At The Recordstore (X)

The last time I posted an article in this section … heck, that was almost 2 years ago. Lots has changed since then. One thing that’s very important is that I moved into a new flat and now I finally have space for new records again! Which is why I went on a shopping spree the other day and this is what I found:

There’s magic in the final seconds of a game…

…or in the final outs, for that matter. Boy oh boy, what a night. The Tampa Bay Rays took the final American league playoff berth in a fascinating way. Now I have witnessed quite a few last minute comebacks in football, but this was simply ridiculous.

Another Summer Koushien in the books

Another Koushien tournameent ended last weekend and all I got to watch was one first round game on a Sunday morning. Ever since my company abandoned the nightshift there is simply no way I am able to get a look at the games from Japan. I might get a chance to watch a NPB game every now and then when I am on the late shift, buut apart from that it is just impossible. Luckily there are some people who always kept me posted on what was going on. So as I congratulate Nichidai-san for their victory here are a few links for your pleasure.

Koushien kicks off: Narashino vs Shizuoka

So I finally got to watch a game of this year`s Koushien summer tournament and it was a pleasure to discuss the action on the field with the people at the japanesebaseball.com chatroom. because of my work I won`t be able to watch any game at all, I believed, but last night everything fell into place and I was able to enjoy a feirly interesting game, albeit just until the later innings.

Visiting Munich’s other team (TSV 1860 Munich – Karlsruher SC 2:1)

While I was visiting my sister in Munich ver the weekend I took the chance to take the trip to the Allianz Arena, the home ground of Bayern Munich and TSV 1860. Since the First Division of the german Bundesliga is still in its summer break we were watching 1860 take on Karlsruher SC. Not your highlight match, but professional football nonetheless.

Statistics and Football: (IV) Passes attempted/Passes completed

One of the most frequent statistics in football which is being cited quite regularly in recent times is the number of passes attempted and passes completed. I believe it is meant to show the importance a player has for his own team and how well he sets up his teammates. Players like Xavi or Andres Inieasta always have incredibly high numbers in this department.

Women’s World Cup 2011: Yet another world cup experience

On Sunday the final of this years edition of the FIFA women’s world cup will come to an end at Frankfurt and what an exciting tournament it had been. There have been surprises, upsets, great plays and a lot of wonderful football. Although you always have to take into account that you should not compare this version of the beautiful game with what we are used to seeing in the big european leagues all year long. The rules are the same, yet it is a different sport. If you manage to let go of certain images and expectations, you will have the time of your life.

Summer Koshien just around the corner

As Summer gets hotter and August inches closer and closer everybody knows it won’t be long until the high school boys of Japan will play on the sacred dirt of Koshien again. I hope I will be able to catch at least a few games which might be difficult because of my work. But at least there are some articles which are a nice read, especially this series in the New York Times (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). And, by the way, as if you needed to know, but be sure to bookmark the great blog “Koukou Yakyuu” which will provide you with a live blog for almost every game. Edwin’s doing a great job there (and he’s on Twitter, by the way), just as Westbay-san is with japanesebaseball.com, which will hopefully have its chatroom up and running for the tournament again. I’m really looking forward to this tournament, especially because it will be a very emotional event because of what happened on March 11th. Hopefully the kids can bring some joy to the people in the devastated areas. 皆、頑張って下さい！！

Statistics and Football: (III) Ball possession

While to me it’s pretty easy to despise something like “shots on goal” it’s a lot harder to get to the bottom of “ball possession”. This actually can tell you something about the flow of the match and the dominace a team might have over its opponent. Still, with this one as well, there are some things I don’t understand at all.

Statistics and Football: (II) Shots on Goal

Okay, let’s get this started. In the early 1990s the German TV station Sat.1  started showing the weekend games in a show called “ran”. In that show they introduced the so-called “ran database“, a device not specified, but heavily quoted, when they were trying to press football into a strict measure to explain the game to their viewers. This ended up with strange explanations like “Team A hasn’t lost a home game to Team B in the past 15 years” which was easy, because Team A played in Division 1 and Team B in Division 2 over that timespan, so both teams simply haven’t played each other in the past 15 years. While the content of this statement was true, it didn’t explain anything. I find this extremely annoying.