Plenty of Nothing

Godzilla Apologizes

Godzilla holds a press conference to apologize for destroying Tokyo. Source.

Stobbie Ponds, Dundee, 1962

Source.

41st Empress's Cup Final

Kiko Seike, #11 of Urawa Reds. Source.

It's Nippon Television Beleza versus Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies in the Empress's Cup final.

Beleza have won the cup nine times previously. Urawa never have, though they have been finalists three times before today.

Both clubs play in Division 1 of the Nadeshiko League. They met each other twice in league play this season. The results were:

Beleza 2 - 3 Urawa

Urawa 1 - 3 Beleza

Beleza finished in first place, Urawa second.

This is the first Empress's Cup for the Empress Masako.

[Beleza 1 - 0 Reds]

Azusa Iwashimizu, #22 of NTV Beleza. Source.

Stromboli, Kathleen and Ardbeg

On December 31st, 1904, the steamers Stromboli and Kathleen collided in the shipping lane off Greenock. The sunken vessels became an instant hazard and before they could be removed the Ardbeg ran aground on them. Source.

Morton host Partick Thistle. Morton are eighth with 19 points, Partick ninth with 18. This is their third meeting of the season. Morton won the first match 3 - 2 at Cappielow and Partick won the second 2 - 1 at Firhill.

Morton are advertising for a new kit man.

The other Championship matches:

Dundee United (1st) 1 - 1 Dundee (4th) (last night)

Ayr United (3rd) [1 - 2] Queen of the South (6th)

Dunfermline (5th) [1 - 3] Alloa (10th)

Inverness CT (2nd) [0 - 1] Arbroath (7th)

[Morton 1 - 2 Partick. Morton goal by Jacobs.]

League One:

East Fife (2nd) [3 - 5] Raith Rovers (1st)

Airdrieonians (3rd) [1 - 1] Falkirk (4th)

Raith, East Fife and Airdrieonians each have 32 points, and Falkirk have 31.

Dumbarton (5th) [1 - 1] Stranraer (10th)

Forfar (9th) [2 - 3] Montrose (6th)

Peterhead (8th) [2 - 0] Clyde (7th)

1907-08: Morton were home to Aberdeen and won 2 - 0. Following this result Morton were in 12th place (out of 18) with 5 wins, 5 draws and 11 losses.

1963-64: Morton beat Stranraer 4 - 0 at Cappielow. Morton were first in Division Two with 20 wins, 0 draws and 0 losses, 87 goals for and 20 against. Can you believe it?!

Morton's Christmas Day matches.

SPFL Reserve League: Queen of the South vs Morton (Dec 23). [I think this is the match that was played Dec 9th.]

At midseason Brora Rangers lead the Highland League, and Kelty Hearts the Lowland. Bo'ness United are atop the East of Scotland League, and Threave Rovers the South of Scotland.

Update the chart showing Morton's plus and minus goal difference seasons, why don't you?

1890s                               --    --    --    --    +    --    +

1900s            0    --    --    --    --    --    --    --    --    --

1910s            --    0    --    +    +    +     +    +    +    +

1920s            +    +    --    --    --    --    --    --    +    --

1930s            --    --    --    +    +    +    +    --    --    +

1940s            +    +    +     +    +    +    +    +    --    +

1950s            --    --    +    +    --    +    +    --    --    --

1960s            --    +    +    +     0    --    +    +    --    0

1970s            0    --    --    --    --    --    +    +    --    +

1980s            --    --    --    +    --    --    +    --    0    --

1990s            --    +    +    --    +    +     +    --    +    --

2000s            --    --    +    +    +    +     +    --    0    --

2010s            --    --    +    --    +    --    +    +    --   [--]

An earlier version of this was posted April 8, 2017.

Morton's high points of the decade:

2013/7/20        St Mirren 2 - 4 Morton       Renfrewshire Cup final

Morton's only Renfrewshire Cup of the decade.

2013/9/24        Celtic 0 - 1 Morton            League Cup R3

Giantkillers.

2015/5/2          Morton 3 - 1 Peterhead     league

Promotion.

2015/12/12      Rangers 2 - 2 Morton        league

Morton's first point off Rangers since 1988.

2016/11/1        Morton 3 - 1 St Mirren

Morton's first league win against the Skunks since 1999.

2018/11/3        Morton 5 - 1 Partick           league

Morton's biggest win against the Jags since 1990.

Morton's low points of the decade:

2014/5/3          Hamilton 10 - 2 Morton      league

Worst result since 1933. Commenters in the Pie and Bovril forums now refer to Morton as Morten.

2014/11/29      Spartans 2 - 1 Morton        Scottish Cup R4

The Spartans play in the Lowland League.

How many matches did each opponent play against Morton this decade?

34        (31 + 3)      Queen of the South

33        (32 + 1)      Falkirk

29        (28 + 1)      Dunfermline

27        (26 + 1)      Raith Rovers

26        (20 + 6)      Dumbarton

23        (21 + 2)      Partick Thistle

22        (21 + 1)      Ayr United

22        (20 + 2)      Livingston

17        (14 + 1 + 2)    Dundee United

16        (15 + 1)      Dundee

16        (14 + 2)      Alloa Athletic

15        (14 + 1)      Ross County

15        (12 + 3)      Inverness CT

14        (12 + 2)      Hamilton

14        (10 + 4)      new Airdrieonians

13        (12 + 1)      St Mirren

12        (12 + 0)      Cowdenbeath

  9        (8 + 1)        Hibs

  8        (8 + 0)        Brechin

  8        (8 + 0)        Stirling Albion

  6        (4 + 2)        Peterhead

  6        (4 + 2)        Stranraer

  6        (0 + 6)        Albion Rovers

  5        (4 + 1)        Forfar

  5        (4 + 1)        Rangers

  5        (4 + 1)        Stenhousemuir

  4        (0 + 4)        Celtic

  4        (0 + 4)        Berwick

  4        (0 + 4)        Annan Athletic

  4        (0 + 4)        Motherwell

  3        (0 + 3)        St Johnstone

  2        (2 + 0)        Arbroath

  2        (0 + 2)        Aberdeen

  2        (0 + 2)        East Fife

  2        (0 + 2)        Queen's Park

  2        (0 + 2)        Spartans

  2        (0 + 2)        Turriff United

  2        (0 + 2)        Brora Rangers

  1        (0 + 1)        Clyde

  1        (0 + 1)        Beith

  1        (0 + 1)        East Stirlingshire

  1        (0 + 1)        Edinburgh City

  1        (0 + 1)        Elgin City

  1        (0 + 1)        Kilmarnock

  1        (0 + 1)        Montrose

(All league + cup + playoff games from 1 Jan 2010 to 31 Dec 2019.)

HFX Wanderers' assistant coach Derek King has been appointed to the Trinidad and Tobago national team. Wanderers have signed goalkeeper Yann-Alexandre Fillion, who will be loaned to Ekenäs IF of the Finnish tier-II Ykkönen.

The political crisis in Bolivia caused the soccer league there to lose a month of fixtures from mid-October to mid-November. The teams have been playing two matches per week to get the 2019 Clausura done before the 2020 Apertura begins. Today is the last day of the revised schedule.

It has just sunk in on me that clavicle sponsor is a thing. See, there's room for an ad just above the club crest and kit-maker's logo on the front of the jersey. The J League is onto it.

2019 Spengler Cup

Ambrì-Piotta versus Davos in Swiss league play. Source.

It's Spengler Cup time again. This is the 97th Spengler Cup if you count the years when it wasn't played; otherwise it's the 93rd. (It wasn't played in 1939, 1940, 1949 or 1956.)

HC Davos have won the cup 15 times, most recently in 2011. Although they have always been the host club for this cup, they have not always played in it. Currently fourth in the Swiss NLA.

Team Canada have also won 15 times, most recently in 2017. Craig MacTavish is head coach. The roster is here. Thirteen play in the Swiss league, plus one each from the KHL, the SHL, the Liiga, the EBEL, the Slovak Extraliga, the AHL, the ECHL, US college and Canadian college hockey.

HC Ambrì-Piotta. Ambrì-Piotta play in the top Swiss league, and are rivals to HC Lugano, the other big team in Italian-speaking Ticino. Ambrì-Piotta have been Swiss champions once, in 1962. Currently they are in ninth place in the NLA. Canadian NHL veteran Matt D'Agostini plays for them.

HC Oceláři Třinec appeared in last year's tournament and lost to Davos in the quarterfinals. They are fifth in the Czech Extraliga. Canadian Patrick Kudla plays for them.

Salavat Yulaev Ufa were runners-up in 2007 and 2014. Right now they're third in the Chernyshev Division of the KHL.

TPS Turku took part in the 2001 and 2002 Spengler Cups. They are fifteenth in the Finnish Liiga. TPS is possibly the only hockey club on Earth to have a medicine ball in its logo.

Ambrì-Piotta and Třinec both appeared in the 2019-20 Champions Hockey League. Neither one made it past the group stage.

[Team Canada beat Třinec 4 - 0 in the final.]

Tilburg Trappers versus Moskitos Essen

Trappers versus Moskitos. Source.

Tilburg Trappers are the best hockey team in the Netherlands -- so good in fact that they quit the Dutch league in 2015 and joined the German Oberliga in search of stiffer competition, and have won that league three of the last four years.

The German Oberliga was founded in 1948 and was for a time the top league in the country. It now functions as the third tier behind the DEL and DEL2. There are two divisions, each of twelve teams. The South section is made up entirely of teams from Bavaria. The North section includes teams from North Germany, including the former East Germany, and Tilburg.

Tilburg, in North Brabant, is the sixth-largest Dutch city. Tilburg Trappers were founded in 1938. They have been Dutch champion 15 times.

Tilburg's Ryan Collier has joint Canadian/Dutch citizenship.

Moskitos Essen were founded in 1999, but represent a lineage of Essen hockey clubs going back to 1935. They wear a very Nineties colour combo of purple, red and teal.Canadians: Keven Beech, Peter Leblanc, Aaron McLeod.

Essen is a major industrial city in the Ruhr Valley.

We join the 2019-20 Oberliga Nord season already in progress. After 21 games Tilburg hold first place. Essen are tenth.

Learn about the history of Tilburg Trappers here. Then watch a video about the guys who sharpen the skates and fill the water bottles.

[Trappers win 7 - 4.]

Snow Maiden Vodka Flask

A shtof gzhel (ceramic flask) in the form of Snegorochka. Source.

Christmas Panto, 1942

Christmas panto performed by Wrens at the naval establishment in Greenock, December 1942. Source. See also.

Varezhka (1967)

A fable about the power of neglectful parenting. Watch. Source. If you need more stop action animation after that, look for a commercial after 6:30 minutes in this compilation from last winter.

99th Emperor's Cup Semifinals

"And in other scores: Cowdenbeath one, Albion Rovers nil ...."

This weekend it's the semi-finals of the Emperor's Cup.

Vissel Kobe 3 - 1 Shimizu S-Pulse

These two have met four times before in the Emperor's Cup, and each side has won twice.

Kashima Antlers 3 - 2 V-Varen Nagasaki

V-Varen have never been to the semi-finals before.

It's also the semi-finals of the Empress's Cup.

Match No. 45: Nippon TV Beleza (N1) [2 - 1] Chifure AS Elfen Saitama (N2)

Match No. 46: Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (N1) [3 - 2] INAC Kobe Leonessa (N1)

It's also the final of the 68th All Japan University Football Tournament. 24 university teams have been playing off since December 11th for the title of men's university champions. The bracket is here. The final is today:

Match No. 23: Meiji University [3 - 1] Toin Yokohama University

V-Varen Nagasaki in the Emperor's Cup:

76回    R1        Ueda Gentian 1 - 2 Kunimi SC

            R2        Tokyo Gas 8 - 0 Kunimi SC

V-Varen Nagasaki was formed in 2005 through a merger of Ariake SC and Kunimi SC.

86回    R1        V-Varen Nagasaki 1 - 2 Banditonce Kobe

87回    R1        Viancone Fukushima 0 - 1 V-Varen Nagasaki

            R2        V-Varen Nagasaki 5 - 0 Hachinohe University

            R3        Shonan Bellmare 3 - 0 V-Varen Nagasaki

89回    R1        Fukuyama University 0 - 1 V-Varen Nagasaki

            R2        V-Varen Nagasaki 0 - 4 Yokohama F. Marinos

90回    R1        V-Varen Nagasaki 4 - 0 International Pacific University

            R2        Yokohama F. Marinos 3 - 1 V-Varen Nagasaki

91回    R1        Okinawa Kaiho Bank SC 0 - 1 V-Varen Nagasaki

            R2        Tokyo Verdy 7 - 1 V-Varen Nagasaki

92回    R1        Ozu High School 0 - 2 V-Varen Nagasaki

            R2        JEF United Ichihara Chiba 1 - 0 V-Varen Nagasaki

93回    R2        Tokyo Verdy 3 - 2 V-Varen Nagasaki

94回    R2        V-Varen Nagasaki 3 - 1 FC Gifu

            R3        Albirex Niigata 1 - 2 V-Varen Nagasaki

            R4        V-Varen Nagasaki 1 - 2 JEF United Chiba

95回    R1        V-Varen Nagasaki 7 - 0 Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Nagasaki

            R2        Oita Trinita 3 - 0 V-Varen Nagasaki

96回    R1        V-Varen Nagasaki 2 - 1 Kochi United

            R2        V-Varen Nagasaki 1 - 2 Yokohama FC

97回    R2        Montedio Yamagata 1 - 0 V-Varen Nagasaki

98回    R2        V-Varen Nagasaki 2 - 1 Matsue City

            R3        Shonan Bellmare 1 - 1 V-Varen Nagasaki (Bellmare won on PK.)

99回    R2        V-Varen Nagasaki 2 - 1 Kochi United

            R3        Veertien Mie 2 - 2 V-Varen Nagasaki (V-Varen won on PK.)

            R4        V-Varen Nagasaki 2 - 1 Vegalta Sendai

            QF        V-Varen Nagasaki vs Ventforet Kofu