kevin m. Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 "Something just plain UNMANLY about being trained to fall over and pretend you are hurt - to gain advantage in a 'game' dont ya reckon?" Agreed. I also agree about the officials having FAR too much control over the outcome. You have this wonderful game with incredible athletes competing in a winner-takes-all world event, and then the outcome is decided by some pissy little man bearing a grudge, or taking bribes. I think that keeps many America fans away. That, and the fact that our best athletes don't play the sport. I would pay money to see an athlete like NFL defensive back Jevon Kearse battle the Czech's Jan Koller for the ball, but Jevon, and every other teenage athlete, knows there's no money in the sport here. Too bad. After all the diving, crying and official incompetence this tournament, perhaps football should be a "judged" sport like figure skating at the Olympics. ( Oooh...That's a deduction! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack_lo_..._t_o Posted July 2, 2006 Author Share Posted July 2, 2006 British sense of fair play. Hmmm. As exported to...India....Ireland....South Africa...Scotland, Burma, Wales, etc. Non-diving probably attributable to Anglo Saxon stoicism. Still a noble trait, but "fair play" is out of place IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefoot Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Peter makes a good point. The game now is played by cheating pansies. The refs are on the take and FIFA is rotten to the core. <p> One aspect I found particuarly galling was if Team A was in possession, a player from Team B would go down as though struck by the plague and the nonce of a ref would blow up thereby denying Team A any advantage. Of course the player from Team b would miraculously get up, pose for a few piccies, wait for his nail varnish to dry and rejoin the game. <p> As for Rooney's sending off what a joke. Rooney allegedly stamped on Carvalho's gonads yet the dickless wonder is up and running the moment Rooney is sent off. Now the whole world knows what Mrs Carvalho been complaining about all these years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin m. Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 "There's fundamental flaw in the American approach to youth sports. " Or, conversely, perhaps there's some fundamental flaw in the European approach that treats every fall to the turf as an excuse to replay scenes from one's favorite opera? Or worse, like a trip to small-claims court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin m. Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 And while we're at it, let's eliminate the defensive 'offside trap' nonsense. Heck, why not eliminate offsides altogether? God forbid a talented offensive player should actually outrun the defense and score (gasp!) several goals in a game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack_lo_..._t_o Posted July 2, 2006 Author Share Posted July 2, 2006 Yeah that's a beef of mine too Kevin. But that rule will never change. I think-value judgements aside-some of these things represent cultural differences between North America and the rest of the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefoot Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 <i>let's eliminate the defensive 'offside trap' nonsense</i> <p> Yeh, the offside rule is a real problem. It requires a modicum of intelligence to get your head around it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barefoot Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Actually Kevin, introducing offside rules into American sports would probably go down well. It would give you chance to wolf down another 100 tasteless burgers and wash them down with a 1000 bottles of gnats-pee beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack_lo_..._t_o Posted July 2, 2006 Author Share Posted July 2, 2006 Stuart it isn't a question of not understanding it; it's a question of not liking it. I know it won't change though. Is there an official rationale for it? Hockey changed some of it's offside rules this year and the result was a quicker game, in a sport that already has cardiac-producing intensity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack_lo_..._t_o Posted July 2, 2006 Author Share Posted July 2, 2006 The International Capitalist Irony award for 2006 goes to Budweiser for paying to become the official beer of the World cup-<i> in Germany!</i> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin m. Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 No need to get personal, is there, Stuart? I'm just offering an outsider's opinion that it seems rather silly to hobble brilliant athletes with such petty, beaureaucratic seeming rules. I'm just as bewildered by my fellow countrymen's taste in beer as you are but, FWIW, there are many fine, small production beers available here, you just have to push your way past the Bud Light to find them. That's true, actually, of many facets of American life; you have to tolerate the often idiotic tastes of the mainstream and seek out the good stuff. It can be more than a little annoying, I'll grant you. (Zima, anyone?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprouty Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 <I>"1000 bottles of gnats-pee beer."</I> <P> Don't get me going... <P> <I>"Hockey...a sport that already has cardiac-producing intensity."</I> <P> Thank god somebody brought up a real sport. I'm firmly of the opinion that every sport that doesn't include "checking" as part of fair play would be greatly improved if it were allowed. Including golf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike dixon Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Zima zucks. And golf is obviously not a sport. Nothing where you try to get the lowest score is a sport. ; ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack_lo_..._t_o Posted July 2, 2006 Author Share Posted July 2, 2006 SP: I just browsed your pages here and you and I have the same favourite image on Photo.net! (Therese Lofgren's) Checking would be a fabulous addition to golf. What a waste of real estate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugene_scherba Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Let's just f** forget what the bigoted white amerikan males think about <strike>soccer</strike> football and enjoy the beautiful game. No one who enjoys football gives a damn about what U.S. thinks abut it, just as no one outside of U.S. gives a damn about american rugby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike dixon Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Are you calling Peter A. an American? I'm looking forward to his response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 "Budweiser for paying to become the official beer of the World cup- in Germany!" Budweiser originated in Germany. It was still brewed there the last time I was there. Not popular or respected much, though. And yes, a joke Jack. Very funny Mr. Pete. I like both rugby and football personally. Right winger and striker/sweeper, respectively. Lets not forget though, that if it wasn't for a football bladder going flat a few centuries ago in Rugby, England, and a few kids running around tossing it back and forth, rugby itself never would have been born. Regardless of the corruption and acting, I know of no other commercial sport that essentially allows the whole world (what, 127 countries?) to compete ever four years. Fun times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugene_scherba Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 <p><i>Are you calling Peter A. an American? I'm looking forward to his response.</i></p> <p>Peter is my friend, so he doesn't count.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy middleton Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 'budweiser originated in Germany' I think not.....you probably offend quite a few Germans with that comment, not to mention the Czech's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack_lo_..._t_o Posted July 2, 2006 Author Share Posted July 2, 2006 Can't make a link but the Budweiser history says Annheuser-Busch originated in 1857 in St. Louis Mo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 thanks for the correction Andy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin m. Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 "Let's just f** forget what the bigoted white amerikan males think about soccer football and enjoy the beautiful game....No one who enjoys football gives a damn about what U.S. thinks abut it..." I'd love to stay and debate your insults and profanity, but the F1 race is underway, and I don't want to miss the pass. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_rory Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 " and watz wrong wif the occassional biffola anyway - I am not a buyer of the femi nazi isation of the planet either. still if you like your nancy boyz game " You overcompensate so such Pete that I DO begin to wonder ;-) Do all you Rugby players still like to get in a communal bath after a game for a bit of male 'bonding' ?? Hmmmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eugene_scherba Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 That begs the question why you made this post, Kevin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted July 2, 2006 Share Posted July 2, 2006 Eugene, what's the html for doing the cross-through like that? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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