The difference between Americans and Europeans ....

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Haha. To be honest, I thought John Galt was the worst character in the book.

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Anyone who rambles on for 50 pages can't be great.

There was one good character, or, at least one I liked- the viking pirate.

And to football- I like both kinds, and play both kinds.

I've noticed lately some articles dissing soccer in the US. THe most surprising one was one comparing watching soccer to watching cheese. The aggravating thing was the author had not watched any world cup games and based his analysis on the fact that the US had scored only one goal in three games.

And it was an article on National Review. :no:

Crazed Rabbit

My take on the sports on the table:

1) American Football - Violent sport. Becuase of the rules you get quite a bit of specilization in the different roles. It can be incredibly entertaining to watch but because of the excessive amounts of commercial timeouts and uneccessary stoppages a game can become incredibly boring if neither team is playing spirited ball on offense of defense. With the possible exception of Rugby this is the only sport where some of the players play with broken bones. In my top two for overall best athletes. They're big. They're fast. They're strong. Cardio is a potential weakness, but overall the players at the skill positions are incredibly athletic.

2) Rugby - I haven't played or watched it enough to really comment. I will say that from what I have seen it can be downright brutal. Like the difference between the early days of the tough man competitions and boxing. With some exceptions football injuries are more beneath the skin. You rarely lose teeth. Blood doesn't flow from your face too often. My brother who has played Rugby tells me that he wishes American Football was more like Ruby and didn't have as many rules.

3) Basketball - Beautiful sport to play and watch. Trumps Amerfootball in terms of team creativity. Similar to Soccer in that regard. While Amerfootball would be more a regimented marching band, basketball would be a jazz band. Basketball has suffered because of too many fouls being called and stoppages for commercials. Selfish individual play made the game hard to watch for a spell. These things really kill the flow of the game and basketball, like jazz, is all about the flow. Incredible athletes. Size does matter for the lesser skilled and unmotivated middle. If you're tall and have "upside" you can be a bench warmer. But in the upper echelons of the league size becomes less of a factor than overall skill and drive. Basketball players would get my vote for most well rounded athletes.

4) Soccer - I got so disenchanted with the constant stoppages and incredible amount of boring matches in Amerfootball during the 2000 season that I started watching soccer instead of football on Sundays. While I've since gone back to football, soccer has earned a spot in the rotation. Gifted athletes, opportunity for creative team play, and passion that is unrivaled. LOVE the lack of commercials and needless timeouts. Can't say enough about that. They have kept the sport true to itself in that regard. TV and commercials don't dictate what happens on the pitch. Bravo. Some things I'm struggling with. Can't use your hands. That does suck, but its still an engaging sport. Worst case of diving. Basketball has its share of floppers, but soccer takes the crown hands down. The card system is difficult to get used to. I wouldn't mind seeing a basketball type system adopted. You get six fouls and you're gone. Card or not. Would love to stop players from having to sit out the next game when they get two yellows. Especially in the knockout rounds. After watching Brazils practices during WC '94 I came to appreciate their fitness levels.

5) My first love. Similar to soccer in that you have to pay attention in order to truly appreciate it. You can have a beautifully played, engaging 2-0 game. On the opposite end a 10-9 slugfest can be just as entertaining. One of the neat things about baseball is that you have a series of 1 on 1 pitcher-batter showdowns throughout the game. More nuanced than soccer, rugby...I'm going to say than any of the other listed games. Baseball is a marriage. Football is a one night stand. Of all the sports baseball has the least well rounded athletes. Skilled, but not necessarily athletic.

6) Hockey - Haven't watched or played enough but from what I have watched and played it is an incredibly fun sport. You use all your tools, have physicality and have opportunities for team creativity. Feet, hands, speed, cardio, it all comes into play although you can't throw things you do get to carry a stick at all times. Yet we never really hooked up. I blame the warm weather. What could have been.

“The food there is terrible.” Here, we compare with ENGLISH food… Mash potatoes, roast potatoes, gravy, broccolis, carrots, roast meat, fishes and chips etc… :inquisitive:
Now, if YOU find this better than the French Food, well, you are lost from the human race…:laugh4:

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Mash potatoes, roast potatoes, gravy, broccolis, carrots, roast meat, fishes and chips

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What decade are you living in?
We have adopted the cuisine of the world and made it our own. If you go anywhere in this country besides your local and are prepared to spend a bit of money you will find food as good as anywhere in the world. This is perhaps why London was voted the best city to eat out in - in the World.

London has the BEST indian food I ever devoured. Prefer Paris in general though, and it's so refreshing to not see a kentucky fried chicken, burger king and macDonalds in every street, and what it does to people.

My favorite Parisian cuisine is riot-car-barbeque. As in, beef barbequed on a car that has been set on fire during a street riot. It's fantastic and is fortunetly served almost every week these days.

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Originally Posted by Al Khalifah

My favorite Parisian cuisine is riot-car-barbeque. As in, beef barbequed on a car that has been set on fire during a street riot. It's fantastic and is fortunetly served almost every week these days.

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This is brilliant on so many levels :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Al Khalifah

Why go to France? The food there is terrible.

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!!!LMAO!!!

...and the food in England isn't? Common, man!

Quid

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Originally Posted by Al Khalifah

This is one point that really pisses me off about the use of the term 'European.' What measurement system do you think is standard in the United Kingdom?

We buy beer in pints, we measure distances in miles and we have our own independant currency. Europe is not an isotropic whole. It is far more diverse than even the USA. The UK is as different to France as Texas is to California.

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Actually, if you check, you'll find that the UK Parliament passed into law the requirement to use metric measurements as standard. You are all metric now, and several shopkeepers have been taken to court for refusing to put kilos on their grocery signs.

There are still some exceptions, and imperial measurments are still allowed (since half your school-leavers are innumerate and can't do the decimal math :wink: ) but the Evil Empire of the European Onion has deemed you a Metric colony like the rest of us.

:bounce:

Law whatever.
Next time you pass by these shores, ask someone how much something weighs or how far it is to somewhere. Trust me, our government is so disconnected from the people of this country that for the most part what they do is just ignored and we all try to just get on with our little lives.

“This is perhaps why London was voted the best city to eat out in - in the World.”: By whom? :laugh4:

Baseball... I think we have that in the UK. My sister played it at school, but we call it rounders.

I'm a rugby player myself... I like a game I'm required to think whilst playing (and have the chance to beast on the other team).

So, yes... I'm from Europe - where the history comes from.

Better wine, whiskey, food - well, you know the drill. It's the whole European finesse thing up against American excess.

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Originally Posted by Brenus

“The food there is terrible.” Here, we compare with ENGLISH food… Mash potatoes, roast potatoes, gravy, broccolis, carrots, roast meat, fishes and chips etc… :inquisitive:
Now, if YOU find this better than the French Food, well, you are lost from the human race…:laugh4:

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Steamed broccoli is the food of heaven, no joke.

https://img51.imageshack.us/img51/33...c7ke4be5sx.gif

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Originally Posted by whyidie

5) My first love. ... You can have a beautifully played, engaging 2-0 game. On the opposite end a 10-9 slugfest can be just as entertaining. ... Baseball is a marriage. Football is a one night stand.

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(Sniff) ...agree entirely.. Sorry, verklempt...

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Originally Posted by whyidie

6) Hockey - Haven't watched or played enough but from what I have watched and played it is an incredibly fun sport...

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In spite of living in a part of the country in which hockey is more religion than sport, I've never learned to like it. I always think of this play when I think of hockey: On a breakaway, the guy with the puck is streaking down the ice only to be hauled down by a defenseman. Both players slide together into the goalie and all three of them knock the net off its pegs. Players and net slam together into the boards. No.

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Originally Posted by Joker85

https://img51.imageshack.us/img51/33...c7ke4be5sx.gif

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Oooookey then, while we're at it.

Clicky

Just thought you would like to know how Italy won against the Aussies...

Sorry, off topic...perhaps this would have found better company in the video- or even the WC thread.

Quid

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Originally Posted by Quid

Oooookey then, while we're at it.

Clicky

Just thought you would like to know how Italy won against the Aussies...

Sorry, off topic...perhaps this would have found better company in the video- or even the WC thread.

Quid

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How long do you think it'll take before the cameras is starting to have an effect on the judging during a game?

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Originally Posted by Joker85

https://img51.imageshack.us/img51/33...c7ke4be5sx.gif

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That´s really great and a similar scene happened in the Portugal vs England game where a Portuguesse made similar tricks and then shot against the knee of an English player.:dizzy2: :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Quid

Oooookey then, while we're at it.

Clicky

Just thought you would like to know how Italy won against the Aussies...

Sorry, off topic...perhaps this would have found better company in the video- or even the WC thread.

Quid

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:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4:

A major soccer match isn't just a sports event - it's also a performance art exhibition. Now that's sophisticated.

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Originally Posted by Ironside

How long do you think it'll take before the cameras is starting to have an effect on the judging during a game?

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Even camera footage is often debated, I don't see it happening anytime soon.

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Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube

In American football, the Camera is used for judging. Doesn't seem to stop the referees from making horrible calls though.

Case in point would be the last Superbowl. Ugh. :wall:

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The NFL is a sick joke perpetrated on fans to enrich a bunch of unfaithful scumbag owners sitting in their box seats and holding entire cities' fans at ransom to pay for their stadiums with tax money and bond elections. If the fans won't pony up whatever the owners want, then the teams up and leave. Screw them.

I quit watching the NFL long ago, back when my team packed up and pranced off to Tennessee. I don't live in Tennessee. I'm not interested in rooting for the Tennessee Panty-Waists or whatever they called themselves. I'm not interested in whatever team crawled out of the woodwork to replace them, either. It's been exactly that long since I last watched an NFL game or payed any attention to the NFL. I couldn't even tell you who was in the last Superbowl, much less who won.

:furious3:

Not that I feel strongly about it, at all. :grin:

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Originally Posted by Ironside

How long do you think it'll take before the cameras is starting to have an effect on the judging during a game?

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My apologies once again...wholly off topic.

I hope it'll never happen. Football has always lived off the ref's 'wrong' decisions. What does have to happen is more cards for diving, i.e. if the ref sees a player dive, it should automatically be a card. Throughout this WC we have seen many instances where the ref simply told the player to get up and get on with the game. No card.

Furthermore, talking to the ref and asking for another player to be carded should also be stopped. Only the captain of a team should have the privilage to talk to the ref directly. The ref has to be 'God' on the pitch and his word respected - even if disputed.

The ref should also have other options to punish treams. One example would be a 10 metre penalty (not a spot kick, if you know what I mean. Much like in Rugby if not back ten yards or gobbing off).

I am not totally against uses of cameras. Teams that are notorious for 'unfair' play should receive penalties - even if done after the game. Disallowed goals, offsides etc. should not be able to be contested. Only fairplay.

Quid

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Originally Posted by Quid

The ref should also have other options to punish treams. One example would be a 10 metre penalty (not a spot kick, if you know what I mean. Much like in Rugby if not back ten yards or gobbing off).

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I wholeheartedly agree with this idea. In rugby, you rarely get much dissent aginst the referee, because one word and your team is marched ten yards deeper into trouble. I believe American Football has the same rule.

Of course, these are games where territory is much more important than soccer, but nonetheless, I think it would stop the current nonsense where the referee is in fear of his life every time someone sneezes.

(In rugger, the accepted response for someone being stamped in the 'nads is a prop forward adminstering 'justice'. The ref is a sideshow - but an unmolested one. :evil:)

What might help in Football is to adopt something similar to the 'Sin Bin' in Rugby, where a player gets sent off when they're comitted a 'professional (deliberate) foul', but only for 10 minutes. It usually punishes a side (I think the avaerage number of points scored against the offending team is 7 during the 10 minute period), but doesn't ruin the match by one side being handicapped for too long.

Liberal use of a 'sin bin' would probably stop a lot of the back-chat football refs get at the moment, and possibly stop some of the other professional fouls one sees in football: like diving.

Incidentally, I think this quotation says it all about American Football: "A standard football game consists of four 15-minute (typically 12 minutes in high school football) periods (called quarters), with an intermission (called halftime) after the second quarter. The clock stops after certain plays; therefore, a game can last considerably longer (often more than three hours in real time)." Any game that is supposed to last an hour, but ends up lasting three must be utterly dire. Thats a whole two hours of absolutely nothing happening, how dull...

Rugby on the other-hand, now there's a sport, much better than both poof-ball and American poof-ball combined...

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Originally Posted by thrashaholic

What might help in Football is to adopt something similar to the 'Sin Bin' in Rugby, where a player gets sent off when they're comitted a 'professional (deliberate) foul', but only for 10 minutes. It usually punishes a side (I think the avaerage number of points scored against the offending team is 7 during the 10 minute period), but doesn't ruin the match by one side being handicapped for too long.

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I've heard this mooted, but I don't think it would have the effect it does in rugby. Losing a man in rugger tends to unbalance the team enough so that points are more likely to be scored against them.

In soccer, one already sees too much of the 'ten-men-behind-the-ball-play-for-a-draw-or-penalties' mentality, so I think there would be a massive defensive lock-up for the ten minutes of sin bin time. It's not quite so easy to score in soccer in that scenario, so I fear even more boring draws.

Incidentally, since we are already way off on a tangent, what do people think should replace penalty shoot-outs (if anything)? I like the idea of unlimited periods of extra time, with a man having to be taken off every five minutes, and the match decided by the golden goal (first score wins). For example, after the first period of extra time you'd only have seven men on per team, increasing the likelihood of scoring greatly.

It would mean lots of tactical nouse needed by the manager (sorry Sven :laugh4: ), lock-out defending would become unviable by the second period of extra time, lots of nail-biting excitement and no villains, only heroes.

:inquisitive:

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Originally Posted by Banquo's Ghost

I've heard this mooted, but I don't think it would have the effect it does in rugby. Losing a man in rugger tends to unbalance the team enough so that points are more likely to be scored against them.

In soccer, one already sees too much of the 'ten-men-behind-the-ball-play-for-a-draw-or-penalties' mentality, so I think there would be a massive defensive lock-up for the ten minutes of sin bin time. It's not quite so easy to score in soccer in that scenario, so I fear even more boring draws.

Incidentally, since we are already way off on a tangent, what do people think should replace penalty shoot-outs (if anything)? I like the idea of unlimited periods of extra time, with a man having to be taken off every five minutes, and the match decided by the golden goal (first score wins). For example, after the first period of extra time you'd only have seven men on per team, increasing the likelihood of scoring greatly.

It would mean lots of tactical nouse needed by the manager (sorry Sven :laugh4: ), lock-out defending would become unviable by the second period of extra time, lots of nail-biting excitement and no villains, only heroes.

:inquisitive:

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I think they should just play on until one team wins. Simple as that. They do it in tennis, they can do it in football. Okay, not quite the same thing, but hey, why not?

Quid

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Originally Posted by Quid

I think they should just play on until one team wins. Simple as that. They do it in tennis, they can do it in football. Okay, not quite the same thing, but hey, why not?

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Why not? Yer honour, I respectfully submit Exhibit A:

Switzerland v Ukraine. :snore:

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Originally Posted by Banquo's Ghost

Why not? Yer honour, I respectfully submit Exhibit A:

Switzerland v Ukraine. :snore:

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Ok, ok, you don't really have to watch it now, do you. Hell, even I was watching something else in between. That game would still have had a result...sooner or later...:help:

Quid

I too think that going to a time unlimited golden goal scenario after extra time would be preferable to penalties. The teams wouls start getting extremely tired, and begin to make mistakes, which would increase the likelihood of someone scoring.

It's got to be better than the penalty-decide the match at random-shootout.