Some millions of people seem to be holding breath.

Just five more days to know.

 

Hey guys, at this stage I should think both Bertus and Agustín owe us all a double round of drinks.

 

Hey guys, at this stage I should think both Bertus and Agustín owe us all a double round of drinks.

OK. Available at the cafeteria, here at the corner. Just mention my name.

 

I can hardly wait (yawn.)




Seriously, I don't care for it. Part of the reason is that I never played soccer. But there's more.

My next door neighbor is an Englishman and a rabid fan. He was here one day and wanted to see if a certain game (match?) was available on my satellite service. It was, and we watched it. I asked a few questions about strategy, designed plays, player assignments, and similar topics.

Admittedly, this was just one guy, but he couldn't (or wouldn't) explain anything about the topics that interested me. My conclusion is that there is no strategy, but just a bunch of guys who chase, kick, and head-butt the ball until it goes into one net or the other. I suppose they are very well conditioned and very athletic and very talented at chasing, kicking, and head-butting, so I am not criticizing the players. It's the game that's lame.

 

Germany annihilated Brazil 7 to 1. At least we were not embarrassed. Thank you Tim Howard, US Secretary of Defense (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/6/obama-addresses-petition-name-us-soccer-player-tim/).

John

 

I can hardly wait (yawn.)
Seriously, I don't care for it. Part of the reason is that I never played soccer. But there's more.

My next door neighbor is an Englishman and a rabid fan. He was here one day and wanted to see if a certain game (match?) was available on my satellite service. It was, and we watched it. I asked a few questions about strategy, designed plays, player assignments, and similar topics.

Admittedly, this was just one guy, but he couldn't (or wouldn't) explain anything about the topics that interested me. My conclusion is that there is no strategy, but just a bunch of guys who chase, kick, and head-butt the ball until it goes into one net or the other. I suppose they are very well conditioned and very athletic and very talented at chasing, kicking, and head-butting, so I am not criticizing the players. It's the game that's lame.

Not a fan of sports myself (at all) I realized that the variety of existig games gives way to equivalent opinions as yours, related to any sport around the world.

Lame? Any sport can be for acertain group of people.

Watching soccer? only our team during the world cups. That covers my quota more than enough. Besides that, electronics is my game.

 

Germany annihilated Brazil 7 to 1. At least we were not embarrassed. Thank you Tim Howard, US Secretary of Defense (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/6/obama-addresses-petition-name-us-soccer-player-tim/).

John

From the little I've seen, your team was playing better than in the last cup. And, yes, that goalkeeper did a good job.

Locally, it is normal to want to see Brazil defeated but when they had 3 in the net already, I started to feel pity of them. How hard it was!

 

Your feelings about soccer echo my feelings about baseball, professional football (NFL) and basketball. I do like college football, but not the NFL that much.

Anyway, the Germany-US game did a lot for the popularity of the sport in the US. It didn't turn out quite like the 1980 ice hockey match against Russia at Lake Placid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_Ice), but it had some of the same effect. The US team and particularly its goalie surely payed above itself. It was a wonderful moment.

Unfortunately, the US failed to cause much excitement at the German goal.

John

 

Your feelings about soccer echo my feelings about baseball, professional football (NFL) and basketball. I do like college football, but not the NFL that much.

I am not much of a sports fan regardless of the sport. I follow college football, watch a lot of SEC games on TV, and go to a few that are of special interest (Vandy, Vols, MSU Bulldogs.) I have a free subscription to NFL Sunday ticket on DirecTV, and plan to watch the Broncos. I usually get interested in the playoffs and the superbowl; how interested depends on who is playing.

And I realize that I am in the minority for my lack of appreciation for soccer. There must be more to it than I understand. After all, it's the world's most popular sport. I just "don't get it."

 

the great quantity of millionares "playing " sports on tv gives me plenty of time to read and other things.

 

the great quantity of millionares "playing " sports on tv gives me plenty of time to read and other things.

If you search, with enough time, you could learn how many of those millionaires are there, around the globe. Just think of those sports, unknown to you or simply those you are not familiar with adding those countries that you do not suspect.

Just to name a few: badminton, cricket, cycling, basketball, sumo. The list goes on.

 

actually I am familiar with those sports, I just dont care to watch or get involved in them, I have better things to do, like flossing my cat.

 

@atferrari ,something about having that morning coffee at the port cafe ,done that.

Watched guys separate gas from water in 50 gal drums ,if you know what you are doing

you get a free ride. One of the guys died of brain cancer. Play ball ,back to the game.

 

@ Bertus ,googled your flag ,learned something. What' the score going to be ,

you are good at projections.

 

Thread is updated

 

Agustín is buying us all another round.

And if Argentina wins the World Cup we're all crashing his place for the big celebration!

And he's serving us more than mate.

 

I can hardly wait (yawn.)

Seriously, I don't care for it. Part of the reason is that I never played soccer. But there's more.

My next door neighbor is an Englishman and a rabid fan. He was here one day and wanted to see if a certain game (match?) was available on my satellite service. It was, and we watched it. I asked a few questions about strategy, designed plays, player assignments, and similar topics.

Admittedly, this was just one guy, but he couldn't (or wouldn't) explain anything about the topics that interested me. My conclusion is that there is no strategy, but just a bunch of guys who chase, kick, and head-butt the ball until it goes into one net or the other. I suppose they are very well conditioned and very athletic and very talented at chasing, kicking, and head-butting, so I am not criticizing the players. It's the game that's lame.

Watching the mass hysteria that ensues in the audience when the ball is kicked into one net or the other during a soccer game, I am reminded that the rabid sports fan is a special breed indeed, to invest to much emotion and energy bellowing and jumping up and down over an activity which ALWAYS ends with one of the following outcomes :

1. Team A defeats Team B
2. Team B defeats Team A
3. Team A and Team B end the game in a draw.

What I find both fascinating and baffling is the tribal warfare associated with football among the UK "sports fans" in particular, where even before the match commences, swarms of drunken men take to the streets seeking out fans of the "enemy" teams in order to engage them in free-for-all fisticuffs that have on several occasions over the years turned deadly. In watching such spectacles on TV, one cannot help but wonder why evolution didn't see fit to deal primates a better hand.

 

Agustín is buying us all another round.

And if Argentina wins the World Cup we're all crashing his place for the big celebration!

And he's serving us more than mate.

Agreed!

 

What I find both fascinating and baffling is the tribal warfare associated with football among the UK "sports fans" in particular, where even before the match commences, swarms of drunken men take to the streets seeking out fans of the "enemy" teams in order to engage them in free-for-all fisticuffs that have on several occasions over the years turned deadly. In watching such spectacles on TV, one cannot help but wonder why evolution didn't see fit to deal primates a better hand.

The whole thing more than baffling is actually discouraging to me.

Even the wording in the press like "battle", "heroes", "enemies", "motherland" all mixed in two or three paragraphs seem to fuel up the whole thing.

Locally, the "official" fans groups of every club are no more than gangs involved in all kind of obscure / illegal businesses.

Since it all boils down to a mix of power, $$$ and politics, no surprise that all references to anything they do goes in the sports (!!) section of newspapers instead of the police/crime news. Even the killing of fans (usually after a game ends) is published like that.

I watched my first football game, as an 8yo kid. When approaching the terraces for a place, I was shocked by a woman close to me, standing up and cursing with her full mouth to the referee.

No surprise that the next (and last) match for me was 30 years later. No thanks.

 

The less evolved humans tend to exhibit tribal behaviour.

Forming into teams, gangs, comittees, forces, religions, etc.

Any way they can group their primitive selves together in a "Us vs them, and WE'RE right!" kind of B.S.

Hopefully as man evolves further there wil be less of this primitive behaviour and individuals will realise they can be individuals and not subject to some whim of tribal social consensus.

Then maybe primitive team sports will die off, and the sporting achievements of elite individuals will be better recognised?

I wonder if the loser humans will still form hooligan gangs in "support" of an individual sportsman?