Darian at Pan Am games

[Richb-3]

Actually not the semi-final. Merely the next to the last game for team USA/ice-hockey.

In Pool play, US had beaten the Czechs after having tied Sweden. I guess Sweden had a tie-breaker as they played 2nd place in the other pool Finland on the same day as US V USSR. Then Sunday USA played Finland.

The medal pool thus had USA-2-0-1, gold; USSR-2-1-0, silver; Sweden-1-1-1, Bronze; Finland 0-3-0, fourth. I think Canada played the Czechs for fifth.

The US-USSR game was on a 3+hour TV tape delay. The outcome secret was well kept.

Hope this is not too arcane for Denny.

[whiz wit]

Jeez. Wottle was wearing a golf cap and not a baseball cap. The U.S. beat Russia in their next to last game and not in the semi's. You trivia experts don't really want to force us ordinary folk to have to look things up before posting do you?

[Oracle]

Agree. A sensational waste of time. 'Next to the last game' and 'semi-final' is a distinction without a difference to most sane people.

[gimpeltf]

It doesn't have to be in a bracket to be a semi-final.
the semifinals (= one of the two games that are played to decide who will take part in the final game or event of a competition):

[Richb-3]

Oxford defines SEMIFINAL as 'a game or round immediately preceding the final, the winner of which goes on to the final. "their semifinal defeat" '.

Merriam Webster defines Semifinal as " being next to the last in an elimination tournament".

The Sunday games were going to be USSR V Sweden and USA v Finland no matter who had one Friday.

Penultimate would be a better term, as it encompasses both semifinal and the next to last session of a round robin event. Commonly in two pool event wherein the first of the round robin events occurred in pool sessions, the penultimate event (game, match, bout, whatever) is between the winner of one pool vs the runner-up of the other pool, so, typically, when both pool winners win their penultimate, the ultimate event is the championship event.

interestingly, if each of the four competitors all being 1-1 in the round robin, and the penultimate, and all were otherwise undefeated, untied in the pools, no one controls their own fate. If you win, you need, in the other event of the ultimate session, the competitor you beat to defeat the competitor who defeated you.

[lu_alum]

It doesn't have to be in a bracket to be a semi-final.
the semifinals (= one of the two games that are played to decide who will take part in the final game or event of a competition):

Nice try, Gimp. Bit of a reach, as the pool results to that point support your argument. It would not have been possible for the organizers to market the US-USSR game as a semi-final prior to the Olympics.

[gimpeltf]

It doesn't have to be in a bracket to be a semi-final.
the semifinals (= one of the two games that are played to decide who will take part in the final game or event of a competition):

Nice try, Gimp. Bit of a reach, as the pool results to that point support your argument. It would not have been possible for the organizers to market the US-USSR game as a semi-final prior to the Olympics.

That's a dictionary definition I quoted. Not sure which one. It wasn't called that but I figured most people would understand when it happened.

[Oracle]

gimp: "but I figured most people would understand when it happened."

>>>>>>Like I said, most sane people.

[drd5748]

I'm with Oracle. I just wish I'd read this thread before attempting my afternoon nap.

Wudda' helped quite a bit.

[Richb-3]

Accepting the wrong term, when a better one is so easy, is a lot like accepting ALTERNATE FACTS.

It reminds me of when Nixon called Charles Manson "guilty". Nixon could have corrected the record by saying something like ~I should have used the term "Allegedly guilty"~ Instead Nixon tried to blame it on the Press.

Of course the main purpose of this discussion is to PO DRD