Friday Fandom Kicks: New Kickoff Time, Pitch Invasion Madness, and Champions League Formatting Changes
Happy Friday, everyone. This beautiful morning will apparently make way for the gates of Hell to give us all an opportunity to shed some sweat weight... Silver linings, right? To the kicks!
Kickoff Time Delayed for Match Between D.C. United and Toronto FC: Apparently MLS got the memo regarding the aforementioned gates of Hell and decided a couple degrees cooler may alleviate some concerns for player (and fan) safety. The kickoff is now scheduled for 6:30 PM ET. I'm particularly annoyed as I find weekend afternoon matches to be most preferable, and D.C. United only hosts a couple of them this year. I suppose you could hardly blame scheduling for thinking mid-May might actually have pleasant weather.
Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira appears to kick out at fan during Everton pitch invasion: Everton secured their position in the English Premier League, and fans swarmed the field to celebrate. While it makes quite a spectacle, it's often felt like a security risk to me, especially for the opposing team. I'm sure this could have gone all sorts of worse, as the article here alludes to a Nottingham Forest fan who assaulted Sheffield United's captain when Nottingham's fans swarmed the pitch. All in all, I think I'd rather pitch invasions die out in favor of beer showers (though with the price of beer these days... maybe high fives?).
Champions League in seismic overhaul with tennis-style knockout change: The UEFA Champions League appears set to shift to a seeded bracket system for knockouts. They may call it tennis-style to save some pride; we all know America is the champion of bracketology.
I'll give you all a break from motorsports today to highlight a twitter account that's been enlightening to follow over the years. @RealTimeWWII tweets World War II events as if they happen live. The scope of this project requires years to see it through, and this is I believe the second time around for the account. We're currently in 1944, and with a certain monumental operation set to take place in a couple weeks (D-Day), the tweets are sure to be fascinating, as well as a stark reminder of the sacrifices and tragedies from the era. One such tweet from a few days ago below:
Allied air forces are carrying out heavy bombing raids on northern French coast, softening German "Atlantic Wall" defences from planned amphibious invasion. Bombers are particularly heavy over Calais, which Germans presume is intended initial landing point for "D-Day". pic.twitter.com/L2RcHGYH0R
— Second World War tweets from 1944 (@RealTimeWWII) May 13, 2022
That's all from me today. Stay cool!