Recomandari

Vă recomand două interviuri interesante cu antrenorii momentului: Louis van Gaal si Diego Simeone.

Primul e un interviu tactic luat de unul dintre asistenții lui Villas Boas lui Louis van Gaal în 2009, pe vremea când era antrenor la Alkmaar. Conversația e transcrisă neglijent dar interviul rămâne edificator în privința filozofiei de joc a olandezului.

(P.D.S) – What is the importance of the system in the organization of the team?

(L. van Gaal) – When the opponent has the ball it’s very important, when we have the ball, it’s only general advisements… so… that you make the pitch open and big… because then you created space for yourself but also the creativity of your players… you have to freed him and not always what you think that they have to do…

Cel de-al doilea e un interviu al lui Diego Simeone pentru o revista din Spania, a cărui traducere o puteți găsi în cinci părți aici.

El Cholo Simeone para Jot Down Magazine from Jot Down Magazine on Vimeo.

photo credit: ING Nederland via photopin cc

Getty Images, cea mai mare colecţie de fotografii, a dat ieri liber la folosirea celor 35 de milioane de imagini pe care le deţine, în anumite condiţii. Imaginile erau folosite oricum, drepturile de autor ocolite, aşa că Getty încearcă să limiteze daunele.

Săpând în arhiva lor, am dat peste câteva imagini interesante din istoria României. Din păcate, cele mai multe dintre ele nu pot fi folosite încă, aşa că am făcut o selecţie din cele care erau disponibile. Enjoy!

Scene de viata

Personalități

Fotbal

Sursa foto: fusions-of-horizons.

Povestea World Series-ului din 2003, când un bluff colosal (deşi neinspirat după umila mea părere) a făcut pokerul să explodeze în mainstream:

There’s a saying that the only thing more interesting than a poker player is the person sitting next to them. It was a unique breed of person who decided to become a professional poker player. Everyone had an interesting story how they got to that seat. And we were confident that was going to resonate.

Un articol despre ultimele proiecte ale lui Albert Adria, care încearcă să umple golul lăsat de mult mai celebrul său frate în gastronomia moleculară:

That sleight-of-hand is at the core of the nearly four dozen courses served at 41 Degrees. During the night’s journey, you will eat tree branches made out of marshmallows, caviar made from hazelnuts, walnuts made from white chocolate, pearls fashioned from black sesame, beans made out of a puree of beans, noodles out of sea cucumbers, octopus made from purple corn, and, most famously, wobbly olive spheres made from pureed olives and olive oil. By the time the bill comes, you’re surprised to find out that it’s not printed on white asparagus.

ESPN-ul are un reportaj despre faţa urâtă a fotbalului italian, cea despre care rar se scrie din mijlocul peluzei:

“Somebody will call me a monkey in front of the referee,” he says. “I turn to the referee and say, ‘Did you hear what he said?’ The referee says I should keep quiet. That is what the referee tells me. Are you kidding me?”

Păstrând ce-i mai bun la sfârşit, iată mărturia suprarealistă a bucătarului personal al lui Kim Jong Il, unul dintre puţinii who lived to tell the tale:

Kim had also established an institute dedicated to his longevity. Its staff of 200 approved every element of Kim’s diet. Each grain of Kim’s rice was hand-inspected for chips and cracks—only perfectly shaped rice, grown in North Korea, was approved. According to Fujimoto, the rice had to be cooked over wood harvested from Mount Paektu, the sacred mountain where, North Korean propaganda claimed, Kim was born under a double rainbow and a newly born star. All were impressed when Fujimoto served the freshest meal of all: still-living fish he’d fillet alive by cutting around the organs—a skill he’d learned while working at Japan’s Tsukiji fish market.

Fotbalul englez e un eco-sistem care o dată ce te-a înşfăcat începe să te absoarbă până în punctul în care nici nu-i mai vezi ciudăţeniile. Pentru cei din afară, rămâne totuşi un sport destul de curios. Iată concluziile unei americance pentru NYT:

RULE NO. 4: The fans’ happiness is not straightforward.

At a match in January, Arsenal was trouncing visiting West Ham, another London team, which meant that most of the people at Emirates Stadium, their home ground, should have been in a good mood. (The West Ham fans were crammed into such a tiny section that their mood barely counted).

But there was an underlying restlessness, and every time Arsenal did anything wrong, like lose possession of the ball, a portion of the home-club fans began abusing the manager, Arsène Wenger, for not having won any trophies in several years.

One man sitting near me was uttering a torrent of profane anti-Wenger imprecations in a low monotone, in the manner of a psychotic cattle auctioneer narrating a pornographic movie. What was his problem, I asked, given that the team was ahead by four goals?

“He’s effing useless,” the man said (among other things).

Sursa foto: Darkroom Daze.

He will have to learn, I know,
that all men are not just,
all men are not true.
But teach him also that
for every scoundrel there is a hero;
that for every selfish Politician,
there is a dedicated leader…
Teach him for every enemy there is a
friend,

Steer him away from envy,
if you can,
teach him the secret of
quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that
the bullies are the easiest to lick… Teach him, if you can,
the wonder of books…
But also give him quiet time
to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky,
bees in the sun,
and the flowers on a green hillside.

In the school teach him
it is far honourable to fail
than to cheat…
Teach him to have faith
in his own ideas,
even if everyone tells him
they are wrong…
Teach him to be gentle
with gentle people,
and tough with the tough.

Try to give my son
the strength not to follow the crowd
when everyone is getting on the band wagon…
Teach him to listen to all men…
but teach him also to filter
all he hears on a screen of truth,
and take only the good
that comes through.

Teach him if you can,
how to laugh when he is sad…
Teach him there is no shame in tears,
Teach him to scoff at cynics
and to beware of too much sweetness…
Teach him to sell his brawn
and brain to the highest bidders
but never to put a price-tag
on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears
to a howling mob
and to stand and fight
if he thinks he’s right.
Treat him gently,
but do not cuddle him,
because only the test
of fire makes fine steel.

Let him have the courage
to be impatient…
let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always
to have sublime faith in himself,
because then he will have
sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order,
but see what you can do…
He is such a fine fellow,
my son!