"What in the wide wide world of sports is a-goin' on here!?"

[damont]

England beat Slovenia 1-0 this morning in the FIFA World Cup. USA then beat Algeria 1-0, scoring the lone goal in injury/stoppage time. To quote psywildfire: "That sound you just heard was hundreds of thousands of soccer fans having a SIMULTANEOUS HEART ATTACK. Guys? Thank you for winning that game. DON'T EVER WIN A GAME LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

USA actually *won* Group B, on the second tiebreaker vs. England. (First tiebreaker is goal differential, which was a wash. Second tiebreaker is total goals scored in the 3 games of group play; USA scored 4 goals to England's 2.)

And at Wimbledon, 23rd seed John Isner is playing unseeded Nicolas Mahut. After splitting the first four sets, including each man winning one tiebreaker, the fifth set is not now in its 79th game. That is NOT A MISPRINT. I said SEVENTY-NINTH game -- all tied up at 39-39. A few minutes ago, a friend of mine tweeted "If I started watching Lord of the Rings right now, would it end before this set?" I replied "Maybe not if you watched the Extended Versions."

Someone else tweeted: "Jamie Moyer was a rookie when this match started." Moyer, for those of you who don't know, is a baseball pitcher with over 20 seasons in the major leagues. Oh, Isner just held serve to go up 40-39. I think this is the all-time record for longest match, though I can't be certain.

EDIT 24 Jun 2010: Yes, this breaks the record for longest match ever... by a factor of 150 per cent. Isner finally wins the fifth set 70-68, on the ONLY service break in the entire set. The record-smashing match lasted a total of 183 games, counting each of the third- and fourth-set tie breakers as a game although they're actually longer. Given that the average best-of-5-sets match runs about 27 to 54 games, this match was the equivalent to about 4 ordinary-length matches.

Also on Thursday, defending FIFA World Cup champs Italy failed to make the round of 16. That doesn't happen often, though it happened to France in 2002 (when the defending champs failed to score a single goal).

Comments

[craig trader (from livejournal.com)]

"After splitting the first four sets, including each man winning one tiebreaker, the fifth set is not in its 79th game."

Actually, that was a mis-print. I'm pretty sure you meant 'now' instead of 'not.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

I did mean that, yes. Fixed.

And the match was suspended on account of darkness with the fifth set at *59-all* so it will go into a THIRD day tomorrow.

[liamstliam.livejournal.com]

Let's see what Stephen Strasberg does this afternoon. ;)

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

6.0 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO, 0 HR, 95 P, 75 ST, 1.78 overall ERA... Strasburg takes the loss as the Nats fall 1-0. Sounds eerily like Mike Mussina's stats while with the Orioles.

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, it's very much the longest tennis game ever:
http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/wimbledon-live-isner-vs-mahut/

I had a friend who went to "public school" (what we Americans would call "private school") right near Wimbledon and hated the tournament because it always fell right at final-exam time. (Why, yes, he is a brainiac who went on to get his Ph.D. at Cambridge.)

Re Strasburg: So far, top of 2nd, 2 K for Strasburg, but also two guys on base (both singled). We shall see.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

The Nats have to learn to give their good pitchers *RUN SUPPORT*, dammit.

[fosveny.livejournal.com]

The match has been suspended for darkness - the second time, it started yesterday. The fifth set is currently tied at 59 games.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

*sings* "This is the set that never ends..."