From the Cheap Seats: Hardball and handball (Episode 24)

unfortunately i had not seen this Ikast handball match yet.. but after hearing the Isabel Blanco story i just had to see for myself.. i could not imagine anything funnier than Katja throwing Jurack into a water cooler or lifting a russian off her feet and dropping her on her ass.. but ... to my surprise Blanco totally got out an awe worthy can of whoop ASS! ..  ah Gorbicz had it coming - dont mess with the Norwegians ; )  i <3 handball. lol

Canadian OREO lover and Norway supporter.

Glad you are still following the handball. Ikast's Champions League matches have been great. The Blanco/Gorbicz incident was intense, but in the midst of that incident was another very interesting smackdown; Gro Hammerseng and Ikast coach Kenneth Jensen. Kenneth was about to get in a brawl with the refs and Gro took command of the situation and made him sit his a** down. It was a great demonstration of Gro's leadership and cool under pressure.

If there are any sports nuts left on this site who have not yet discovered the sport of handball, you really need to get on board. 

UConn is just too stacked! I pick them going all the way. 

My rankings: 1) UConn 2) Stanford 3) Lady Vols 4) LSU 

It's awesome to hear that you managed to catch the match between Ikast Brande EH (Denmark) and Győri Audi ETO (Hungary)! It was an amazing match.

I'm surprised Isa Blanco didn't get a red card for her behaviour. Though it was funny to see her shouting "THAT'S BULLSHIT!" to the referee.

here's the scene that Becca talks about. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8wsecunG5c

You should also watch the second half of the smackdown starting at 1:15. Gro is shouting at her coach to get him to calm down because he's starting to argue with the referee and possibly getting himself a red card. She ends up having to run over and get her coach to shut up and sit his butt down. Now that's the way a captain should act :)

The #6 player you mentioned from Győr, Orsolya Vérten, is really talented and fast. You can call her Orsi Vérten since Orsi is the short form of Orsolya and a lot easier to remember :)

Oh and since I remember Michelle/Becca talking about how much they love those lob shots in handball, you should watch this video. It's of the #13 player that Blanco takes out during the match, Anita Görbicz. She's known for her ridiculous shots :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfkbCnCrRe0

(pay attention to 3:18, 4:32, 5:14, 5:40, 6:17, 9:24)

Oh! And one more quick one of Katja from a match 3 weeks ago (last one i promise)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt37A5ACjZU

and finally... GO HUSKIES!

It is nice to see that you are dealing with this amazing sport again, thank you!

This match was a great one, with a well-deserved Ikast victory, however they were the "underdogs" (not an offence to anyone) this time.

And just a small correction: it was not a match between Denmark and Hungary but  a Hungarian and a Danish club team, consisting of players from Hungary, Denmark, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Austria.

Oh and I am obviously partial when it comes to Hungarian women and their beauty, but Vérten? Why not Pálinger (the goalie) then? :)

And Görbicz is a natural born handball genius, no doubts about that! Thanks tiff2 for the links .

Ps: be sure they are watching ;)

Umana Reyer Venezia (you got it right Becca :D)!!! with one of the most talented young promise for Italy: Giorgia Sottana (#6).

but to be honest... the fact that we have an undefeated team in the euroleague it's a surprise even for us :)

well, hope this is a good sign for italian women basketball, we're enjoing it!

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..make it count..

yay! thanks for the handball mention again! and i know tiff2 already posted a video of the scene, but here's another one with music,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vgxfwPxs-g

which makes the whole thing seem quite funny actually. and it includes the part where Gro runs over to get her coach to calm down too.

and as for Pálinger (the goalie) that cuna was talking about... here're 2 videos of her,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ7k81b0auo and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XzmcHe5HC8

ok the last one probably wouldn't make sense since it's not in english or spanish, but enjoy!

Awesome you ladies are still following. And such a good match you picked too. It was one of the best this season.

Some pics:

The fantastic Isabel Blanco, best line player in the Danish league: Clicky

Katalin Pálinger, the Győr GK and one of the top goal keepers in the world: Her website

And let's not forget Anita Görbicz, the #13 from Győr, who's also (along with Pálinger and Verten and many others) on the Hungarian national team and was in the Olympics and is at the moment one of the best offense players: Clicky here ;)

Just FYI, the 2008 European championship starts on December 2nd, there are matches every day and it's the main handball event of the year (outside of the Olympics obviously). Norway will be in a group with Portugal, Spain and Ukraine, but another interesting group to follow will be group A: France, Hungary, Denmark, Romania, all top teams. It's gonna be must-see handball. ;)

Gro and Katja won't be playing, they chose to sit this one out to focus on their club team and take a much needed break.

Glad handball hasn't gone off the radar at AE, I practically moved in at the Gro Hammerseng Fan Forum sinse learning about these women and the sport here at AE!

I wonder if anyone in NYC wants to start up a learning team? (actually two so we can play each other) I'd like to learn the sport not just watch it... as long as folks aren't too crazy or scary competitive...  

Sorry! this is a last minute thing:

you ca watch famila schio-spartak moscow live (so it's... right NOW):

http://www.youandus.it/index.php?pid=88

choose Rai Sport+ from the channels...

i've just found out this link :/

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Wow, it's awesome to see that Gro Hammerseng and Katja Nyberg are popular outside of my homecountry. Really nice! :D

If anyone need any Gro Hammerseng interviews translated, give me a poke. :)