Handball World Cup

I’m going to make the safe bet that you haven’t been keeping tabs on the world cup of handball. I on the other hand have been watching around two hours of this sport a day. Tunisia is dominating at the games. Only eight countries play in this off the wall sport and they get eliminated after playing in brackets like the football world cup. Right now is the semi-final bracket with Sweden, Croatia, Denmark and Tunisia who is so far undefeated.

For all of you so called sports fans who have not been enlightened about the mystical sport of handball let me help you. Its not all 5000 dollar contracts and Swedish cheerleaders, it’s a serious sport that begins with training at childhood. The players use all of their doge ball skills and need to be well versed in the arts of running, jumping and throwing. The ball is the size of a mini-soccer ball and is gripped by the players who can take three steps without dribbling and pass in powerful throws reminiscent of your most scaring childhood monkey in the middle games. There is something resembling a three-point line around the goal and the opposing teams members cannot take a step inside of this line and must take leaps in the air to make attempts on goal.
My personal favorite part of the sport is the penalty shots, it is here that the game shines in all of its elementary school glory. The goalie tries to make himself as big as possible while the player taking the shot tries to fake him out multiple times (and I mean multiple like six or seven, its pretty hilarious), then once he finally makes the shot the goalie jumps in the air and throws out a random leg in a half split and tries to knock out the ball, surprisingly they are often successfully.

So if anyone happens to be around Sweden metropolitan area tomorrow I highly recommend attending the finals of the world cup of Handball it will be Croatia v. Tunisia and I’m sure the players would enjoying seeing someone other than their mothers in the stands.*


Speaking of mothers (poor transition I know) but here is a picture of my host Mom and her two sisters making the traditional treats for the end of Ramadan.
P.S- I promise my weekend holiday update will come soon, I just had to share my handball stories today instead.

*I make fun of the game but too bad I was yelling at the T.V in broken Arabic today during the Tunisia, Denmark game(Lay, Lay! Montaz!). It was pretty intense, the game ended in pretty much the most amazing event of the sporting world- the handball shoot out.