Up For the Occasion

Today marked the final group stage matches in the Euro Championship for Group B, labeled the group of death. Group B earned this name because it was deemed the toughest group in the whole tournament with all four teams ranked in the top ten in the world by Fifa. Coming into today's fixtures any of the four teams had a chance to qualify for the knockout stages. Germany (3rd in the world) was pitted against Denmark (9th in the world), while Portugal (10th in the world) was facing the underachieving Netherlands (4th in the world).

The most intriguing story line was the Portugal versus Netherlands game. The lackluster Dutch side needed a two goal victory over Portugal who had not seen much production at all from superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (CR7) in the first two games. CR7 showed up for this one, scoring two goals and hitting the post twice in a game where Portugal defeated the Netherlands 2-1 to secure a spot in the knockout stages. Ronaldo has been under some heat for not performing as well for Portugal as he does for his club team, Real Madrid. He silenced the haters, at least for now with a great performance. He also nearly had an assist, too, on a great pass to Nani, but Nani's shot was denied by a brilliant save by the Dutch keeper.

I score goals and look great

CR7 played aggressively throughout the game, went on many great runs, and created commotion near the Dutch net weather by shooting or creating opportunities for teammates. The Netherlands came out on fire with a quick goal from Rafael van der Vart in the opening moments of the game, but Portugal dominated for the most part from that point on. Only van der Vart's shot that hit the post in the second half looked threatening as Robin van Persie failed to make an impact despite getting at least one golden opportunity.

This is probably the worst showing for the Netherlands at a Euro cup given that the team lost all three games it played, but credit must be given to their opponents. Germany is a great side and Denmark fought hard in it's three games. Apparently there is unrest flowing through the Dutch team, but it looks like they all developed some Arjen Robben choking habits, maybe with the exception of van der Vart who looked great when given a chance to start. It's also time for people to calm down the shit talk on CR7, he's a wonderful player and he'll always look better than you, too.

Does Anyone Expect the Chinese Inquisition?

After this past weekend's Prefontaine Classic I'm excited to announce that Liu Xiang is back! Xiang, unable to compete in the 2008 Olympics in his home country China due to injury, is back in a big way winning the 110 meter high hurdles at the Prefontaine Classic in 12.87 seconds! That time equals the world record held by Cuba's Dayron Robles, but due to the 2.4 meter per second tail wind the time is ineligible to qualify for world records. In track and field when wind assistance (tail winds) exceed 2.0 meters per second, then records of any type cannot be broken. However, despite the wind behind him, Xiang looked amazing. I love his emotion following the race, too!
 

 Xiang's current form has him in very good shape for the upcoming Olympic games held in London this year. The China man formerly held the world record in the event at 12.88 seconds before Robles broke, running 12.87. Robles also won the gold in the high hurdles in 2008 without competing against Xiang. If Xiang and Robles can stay healthy there could be one hell of a 110 meter hurdle final at the Olympics this year! Xiang and Robles met at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea where Robles was disqualified for disrupting Xiang in the final stages of the race. I think that had Xiang not been interfered with, he would have taken the gold. Regardless of whether the contact by Robles on Xiang was intentional or not, slight contact like that throws off the rhythm of a hurdler greatly and can make you run a 13.27 (as if that's bad).

 Winner of the high hurdles in the 2004 Olympics, Xiang is an experienced hurdler who, when healthy, simply dominates. Look for Xiang to disregard the fact that anyone else has the right to win this race in London and cruelly punish his opponents. For thirteen months spanning from 2009 to 2011 Xiang was unable to compete, but he's back in a big way!

In general, the high hurdles should be a great and exciting event to watch at this year's Olympics. Xiang and Robles will be joined by many other talented high hurdlers which most likely will include Americans David Oliver, Jason Richardson, and Aries Merritt (pending Olympic trials).

Feel free to post any comments related to the Olympics, high hurdles, or Xiang below (I'm not expecting any, but I have to try!) Toninho's prediction: Look for Liu Xiang to reclaim gold at the 2012 Olympics. I hope he shatters the World Record, too!

Liu for the win

Thanks Everyone

We at the Penultimate Round Pick are ecstatic with the people that are coming and viewing our blog! Just want to thank you guys who have supported us and please comment on our blogs so we can write stuff that the fans (our readers) want to see in our postings. Without your support, we would not be doing what we enjoy, which is entertaining you with insight about our strengths in specific sports.

This is not our staff just shows how excited we are to have fans like you guys!

Everyone have a great weekend and remember here at the Penultimate Round Pick, we give you performance enhancing thoughts in the world of sports.

TUF Live Finale

Hello folks, today is the day we have been waiting for. Tonight we will see who will become the first ever TUF: Live winner. The fight pits Team Faber Members Michael Chiesa vs. Al Iaquinta. At this point I am pretty sure that Chiesa will win, he has a much better wrestling game although Iaquinta is a product of Team Serra from New York. I predict that the fight will go down to a decision. Also the other fights scheduled for tonight have the TUF guys fighting which is a great thing. Going on that idea, it is great because these fighters can prove that they are UFC material and can work their way onto future fight cards.



Now getting onto the main event we have two guys who love to stand and beat their opponents to a bloody pulp. Jake Ellenberger has most recently come off a win against Diego Sanchez. He has also been on a night fight streak since his first loss in the UFC by now interim champ Carlos Condit.  Now Ellenberger is fighting Martin Kampmann, who came off a terrific come from behind victory against Thiago Alves by way of guillotine. These two fighters have two opponents in common which is Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez, which Ellenberger has defeated both. My prediction is that Kampmann will show his greatest tool in the octagon, which is his kickboxing. Therefore, Kampmann will win the fight, but it will be a close fight. Be sure to catch the fights at 9pm on FX. You will be sure to see a good ol night of fights because "We are live!"!