schmiggens
Outrageous
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Registered: Apr 2003
Local time: 09:45 PM
Location: In The Zone
Posts: 18704
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ATHENS, Greece (AP) - In the late 1800s, water polo was touted as ``the roughest game in the world." But U.S. coach Ratko Rudic says what's being played at the Olympic Aquatic Center looks more like a hockey game.
Rudic, who claims his players were punched in a 9-6 win over Kazakhstan on Tuesday and roughed up during their last-second 7-6 win over Croatia, said the sport is more violent than he's seen "in a very long time."
"I cannot remember such a violent game," said Rudic, who won an Olympic gold medal playing for Yugoslavia, and then won three more as a coach before he was hired as U.S. head coach in 2001.
The 13-man U.S. squad - 2-0 in Athens - has a growing injury list as it heads into a run against world and Olympic champion Hungary, No. 3-ranked Serbia-Montenegro and Sydney 2000 silver medalist Russia.
Although injuries are expected in water polo, which was developed in Britain in the 1860s as a kind of "rugby in water" to keep swimmers fit and lure crowds to race meets, Rudic thinks limits need to be set.
"It's not football - it's water polo," Rudic said after the win over Kazakhstan, pleading for some intervention from referees. "We thought it was a good result, but I've got three injured players."
The Americans' match with Croatia, he said, was a similar free-for-all.
"If some teams can't get the result, this is the way they play," Rudic said. "Who will protect us? We need to know that we can play the normal water polo."
Other teams have complained of excessive violence going unnoticed, but nobody has been as vocal as Rudic.
But U.S. driver Wolf Wigo suggested the fuss may be a bit overblown.
"I think (Rudic) just wanted to get us a couple of calls," said Wigo, who scored four goals. "We don't want to get hurt. A couple of times they were coming after us ... (striking) out of the water and we didn't get calls. But that happens in water polo."
Wrestling, grabbing and underwater kicking are normal, but punching should be stamped out, he said.
"It's pretty rough in most of the matches," he said. "What you want to avoid is anything above the water. One time, one of our guys got kicked out, and the other player hit him above the water. You never know what they're going to call."
Jeff Powers and Kazakhstan's Artemiy Sevostyanov were expelled for fighting with four seconds in regulation. Wigo said Powers might have retaliated for an incident two minutes earlier.
Three teams advance from each of the six-nation groups. The top qualifiers advance to the semifinals, and the next two in each group go into playoffs for the other semifinal positions.
In other matches, Greece upset 1996 Olympic champion Spain 8-4 as thousands of Greek fans chanted "Hellas, Hellas, Hellas," the country's Greek name.
Francesco Postiglione scored three goals for No. 2-ranked Italy in an 8-4 win over Australia, and Germany thrashed Egypt 13-3.
The world champion U.S. women are back in action Wednesday against Canada, while Olympic champion Australia faces Kazakhstan.
Some of Australia's womens team has complained about the other teams being too physical as well. Although some of them are saying that it's all part of the game, you give the other team wedgies and all that.
Let's go with this freak show. It's outrageous.
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08-18-2004 08:07 AM
