18 Feb 14
If espn.com weren't in the url bar, I'd think this were a story from The Onion.
And this is just a preliminary round game, with almost no medal implications.
MOSCOW -- After a heated U.S.-Russia hockey match at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday, many Russian spectators have decided the cold war is back -- and not just on the ice.
Demonstrators gathered in Moscow on Monday to protest a official's call disallowing a goal by Russia late in regulation of a game ultimately won by the U.S. in a penalty shootout.
The protesters, organized by a Kremlin party youth group, donned Russian hockey jerseys and shouted, "Make soap out of the ref!" -- a common expression among Russian soccer fans.
Wielding a banner with a photograph of the American official, Brad Meier, many of the protesters used cheese graters to grate soap into buckets.
The goal, which would have given Russia a 3-2 lead with less than five minutes left in the third period, was disallowed after officials ruled the net had come loose from the ice before the goal was scored. Russian fans, who had leapt to their feet in celebration, howled with rage as the call was announced.
The supervisor of officials for the International Ice Hockey Federation, Konstantin Komissarov, confirmed the ruling made by the on-ice officials was correct and that video review had been properly used to make the call. But that hasn't mollified Russian spectators, who in a rare unifying moment have come together from both ends of the political spectrum to air their grievances -- and their conspiracy theories.
After the call was made, commentators on state television at first seemed unable to overcome their shock, shouting "How can this be so?!" They spent much of the rest of the game muttering resignedly about Meier's nationality.
Komsomolskaya Pravda, one of the country's most popular newspapers, carried a photograph of U.S. goalie Jonathan Quick -- a red circle drawn around his hand, which appears to be pushing one goal post backward -- beneath the headline: "An American referee and the puppet international federation deprived us of a deserved victory."
One state-owned channel ran an hour-long talk show dedicated to the disallowed goal.
"Judges don't have nationality?!" Alexei Pushkov, a Kremlin-connected member of parliament, fumed on Twitter. "How interesting. And how come they didn't appoint a referee from Russia, but an American?"
Even Russia's liberals joined in the fight.
"I agree with everything said about the referee," wrote corruption blogger and opposition activist Alexei Navalny. One liberal website, Lenta.ru, wrote that the "Jewish masonry" was clearly involved in the call, making a joking reference to Soviet-era conspiracy theories about the West.
President Vladimir Putin, who was one of the unhappy fans at the Sochi rink on Saturday, told Russian state news agencies Monday that the game "should have been stopped" if the goal was out of place but asked for fans to show sportsmanship.
"Even if the judge was wrong, we mustn't stick labels on anybody," he said. "We can't forget that sport takes courage, but also luck."
http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2014/icehockey/story/_/id/10471083/russian-hockey-fans-protest-disallowed-goal-united-states
18 Feb 14
Originally posted by sh76Jewish masonry!! That's nothing!
"I agree with everything said about the referee," wrote corruption blogger and opposition activist Alexei Navalny. One liberal website, Lenta.ru, wrote that the "Jewish masonry" was clearly involved in the call, making a joking reference to Soviet-era conspiracy theories about the West.
They are really in trouble when the Jewish Carpentry gets into it.
18 Feb 14
Putin lives on nationalism and has polished the old enemy succesfully.
Another thing to take seriously when it comes to hockey, is the Russian mob. They own mutiple hockey players in the US. The players have to fix games or else some family member in Russia will die.
Read Robert Friedman's "The Russian Maffia" and you will be in shock.
19 Feb 14
The post that was quoted here has been removedI was wondering how long it would take for this to come up.
Fortunately for Russia, this was not a gold medal game and will only determine seeding. Chances are the US and Russia will meet again in hockey in this Olympics and the extra motivation will be to Russia's advantage. The hockey call seemed technically correct, but certainly sucked for Russia. Would have sucked worse if it were in the overtime because they would have thought they would have been celebrating a win when the goal was disallowed.
Concerning the 1972 game, having watched a documentary, it's kind of the same for the US. Doesn't appear to have been deliberate, but it sucked for the US and I think even worse because the clock appeared to have run down and they had won.
Mostly, it appears the US coach did a terrible job and that was a bigger contributor than the refs. The US players made a comeback in the game when they stopped listening to their coach.
The one thing the refs did that was indisputable wrong was making the inbound defender back away from the inbound passer. That should not have happened in international basketball at the time, and it made the winning inbound pass much easier. All the rest of the controversies seem like a bad series of events that just sucked for the US, but not a conspiracy.
The post that was quoted here has been removedAside from the differences that the Munich "call" was far worse than this one (which was a correct call, according to almost every analyst) and can hardly even be considered a "call" (giving the Russians two do-overs after the game had ended twice is not really a "call" ) and aside from the fact that this was just a preliminary game, not gold medal game as that one was, the salient difference is that, as far a I know, Americans didn't take the Munich debacle so damn seriously as to protest outside the Soviet embassy. It's a *game* people; a *game*.
19 Feb 14
Originally posted by sh76The <insert nationality> <insert sport> fans need to get a grip.
If espn.com weren't in the url bar, I'd think this were a story from The Onion.
And this is just a preliminary round game, with almost no medal implications.
[quote]MOSCOW -- After a heated U.S.-Russia hockey match at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday, many Russian spectators have decided the cold war is back -- and not just on the ice.
Demonstrators gath ...[text shortened]... ter/2014/icehockey/story/_/id/10471083/russian-hockey-fans-protest-disallowed-goal-united-states
seriously, since when have sports fans ever been known for their objectivity?
should i google about a zillion cases where americans were in need to get a grip?
19 Feb 14
Originally posted by ZahlanziI'm not asking them to be objective. But a state sponsored protest at an embassy over a call in a sporting event (and a preliminary one, no less) is a bit much.
The <insert nationality> <insert sport> fans need to get a grip.
seriously, since when have sports fans ever been known for their objectivity?
should i google about a zillion cases where americans were in need to get a grip?
19 Feb 14
Originally posted by ZahlanziPatriots of any kind need to get a grip.
The <insert nationality> <insert sport> fans need to get a grip.
seriously, since when have sports fans ever been known for their objectivity?
should i google about a zillion cases where americans were in need to get a grip?
19 Feb 14
Originally posted by sh76They'll get over it. Frankly I thought Putin's comments were rather muted.
If espn.com weren't in the url bar, I'd think this were a story from The Onion.
And this is just a preliminary round game, with almost no medal implications.
[quote]MOSCOW -- After a heated U.S.-Russia hockey match at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday, many Russian spectators have decided the cold war is back -- and not just on the ice.
Demonstrators gath ...[text shortened]... ter/2014/icehockey/story/_/id/10471083/russian-hockey-fans-protest-disallowed-goal-united-states