What is it about SOCCER??

[rgraham666]

And furthermore

If people are bitching about nothing ever happening in soccer (football to be polite to the Europeans), why is poker suddenly becoming a a popular spectator sport.

Not much happens in that.

 

[TheEarl]

Any sporting event that takes five days better be held in New Orleans or somewhere else with a lot to do besides watch

Oh true, half of the experience of live cricket is in the day out in the sun, singing and dancing and drinking beer. And quite often, you don't go to all five days. Each day's tickets are sold separately (with the 5th day being very cheap if Zimbabwe are playing).

I've sat watching matches on television for hours though. The tactical struggle of batsman against bowler, the scrap for runs and the desperate shifting of the field in search of a wicket. The way that one really good ball can turn a whole match. It's like watching 18/19C warfare.

The Earl

 

[Colleen Thomas]

If people are bitching about nothing ever happening in soccer (football to be polite to the Europeans), why is poker suddenly becoming a a popular spectator sport.

Not much happens in that.

If you flip to the poker game and watch for half an hour, you are likely to see a big pot or two won or lost and maybe even a slick bluff or some gamesmanship.


If you flip to a soccer game and watch half an hour you are likely to see...what?

 

[TheEarl]

If people are bitching about nothing ever happening in soccer (football to be polite to the Europeans), why is poker suddenly becoming a a popular spectator sport.

Not much happens in that.

Poker isn't a sport (IMHO). It's a card game. Can't understand the spectating of that.

The Earl

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Oh true, half of the experience of live cricket is in the day out in the sun, singing and dancing and drinking beer. And quite often, you don't go to all five days. Each day's tickets are sold separately (with the 5th day being very cheap if Zimbabwe are playing).

I've sat watching matches on television for hours though. The tactical struggle of batsman against bowler, the scrap for runs and the desperate shifting of the field in search of a wicket. The way that one really good ball can turn a whole match. It's like watching 18/19C warfare.

The Earl

i think maybe you've answered Mcfribigdge's question Earl. A sport is exciting if you acn appreciate what's going on, even if it seems boring to others. Since I moved up here I've met a lot of hockey fans. Frankly, I don't understand the game or the rules and it's about as much fun to watch as the pro bowler's tour. I actually can appreciate what golfers do, so I can kinda watch that sport without being bored to tears.

Maybe it's all in understanding what you are seeing.

 

[TheEarl]

If you flip to the poker game and watch for half an hour, you are likely to see a big pot or two won or lost and maybe even a slick bluff or some gamesmanship.


If you flip to a soccer game and watch half an hour you are likely to see...what?

In an average football game, a good four or five chances at goal.
In an average rugby game, maybe 7-10 points for each side and endless competing for territory and possession.
In an average cricket game, probably absolutely nothing. It's the moves and countermoves that bring that nothing that are so fascinating and the way that a cunning plan may work and there will be a sudden burst of success for one side.

The Earl

 

[TheEarl]

i think maybe you've answered Mcfribigdge's question Earl. A sport is exciting if you acn appreciate what's going on, even if it seems boring to others. Since I moved up here I've met a lot of hockey fans. Frankly, I don't understand the game or the rules and it's about as much fun to watch as the pro bowler's tour. I actually can appreciate what golfers do, so I can kinda watch that sport without being bored to tears.

Maybe it's all in understanding what you are seeing.

Oh, granted. Sports like rugby and cricket take years to learn everything about. Football, I think may suffer from being too facile. WYSIWYG.

The Earl

 

[TheEarl]

I'm sorry. But I can't get behind a sport where one of the positions is 'Mid Silly'.

'Silly Mid Off' and 'Silly Point.' However, if you knew that those positions are metres away from the 90mph ball coming off the batsman's bat, then you'd understand why they're prefixed with 'silly'

The Earl

 

[rgraham666]

If you flip to the poker game and watch for half an hour, you are likely to see a big pot or two won or lost and maybe even a slick bluff or some gamesmanship.


If you flip to a soccer game and watch half an hour you are likely to see...what?

True Colleen.

But have you ever noticed how many hands get played as opposed to how many are shown on the screen?

I don't think I've seen a live poker game, only those pre-recorded and heavily edited. They show all of a soccer game.

Myself, I only watch sports I've participated in, karate and sabre fencing. Unfortunately, don't see much of that on The Tube. But it reinforces the idea that people watch what they know.

 

[rgraham666]

'Silly Mid Off' and 'Silly Point.' However, if you knew that those positions are metres away from the 90mph ball coming off the batsman's bat, then you'd understand why they're prefixed with 'silly'

The Earl

Indeed.

Do they paint a target on them?

 

[Colleen Thomas]

True Colleen.

But have you ever noticed how many hands get played as opposed to how many are shown on the screen?

I don't think I've seen a live poker game, only those pre-recorded and heavily edited. They show all of a soccer game.

Myself, I only watch sports I've participated in, karate and sabre fencing. Unfortunately, don't see much of that on The Tube. But it reinforces the idea that people watch what they know.

I watch a lot of sports, which I think is more commentary onthe sorry state of television programing than my actual fan credentials.

 

[rgraham666]

I watch a lot of sports, which I think is more commentary onthe sorry state of television programing than my actual fan credentials.

I just settled for not watching The Tube at all.

Sigh. it hasn't been the same since Babylon 5 went off the air.

 

[TheEarl]

Indeed.

Do they paint a target on them?

No need. The silly sods actually attempt to get in the way of the ball.

The Earl

 

[neonlyte]

'Silly Mid Off' and 'Silly Point.' However, if you knew that those positions are metres away from the 90mph ball coming off the batsman's bat, then you'd understand why they're prefixed with 'silly'

The Earl

Not to mention Fine Leg, Gulley and Extra Fine Leg.

Then there are all those blokes in the Slips.

 

[rgraham666]

Not to mention Fine Leg, Gulley and Extra Fine Leg.

Then there are all those blokes in the Slips.

Having a Pythonesque moment here.

Fine Leg played by a woman with said fine legs. Ditto Extra Fine Leg.

The Gulley is played in a trench.

And the Silly positions are filled by members of The Monster Raving Loony Party.

Don't worry. I'll be OK.

 

[Guest]

I don't get what there isn't to get about football, but I guess if you don't get it, you just don't get it. I do, and I do. Oh yeah, and that, too.

 

[rgraham666]

Now remembering the football match played between 19th Century German philosophers and their Ancient Greek counterparts.

Christ, that was funny.

 

[Guest]

The British and German troops played a game of football in no-man's land, on Christmas Day in 1916 (or was it 1915, or even 1917? I don't recall; my memory isn't that good. )

They took a day off from trench warfare, and played footy. No wonder it has a place in our hearts.

 

[neonlyte]

The British and German troops played a game of football in no-man's land, on Christmas Day in 1916 (or was it 1915, or even 1917? I don't recall; my memory isn't that good. )

They took a day off from trench warfare, and played footy. No wonder it has a place in our hearts.

Yeh but... I still say Hans was offside when scored that second goal. That's what comes of having a Frenchie for a ref.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

I'm sorry. But I can't get behind a sport where one of the positions is 'Mid Silly'.

I'm only a Yankee girl, but even I know it's Silly Mid On. What about Backward Point?

 

[Liar]

Maybe it's all in understanding what you are seeing.

We have a winner.

Xcept, I think I understand the ins and outs of American football, and I still fall asleep in front the telly. Rugby too for that matter. More breaks than actual play.

That's probably why I like hockey. It's fast, physical and action packed as well as uniterrupted for long periods. And still it's also a showcase of technical brilliance.

 

[gauchecritic]

Football is a beautiful, flowing game played by teams. To really 'get' football you have to watch the game in its entirety. Not how good a save the keeper makes, not how dazzling the striker is, not how hard the defenders can tackle but how every one of the eleven players per side concentrate on one thing: where the ball is.

It really is how you play the game. Fans can walk away from losing a game, full of pride for how well the team played despite not winning.

The humour of fans comes through quite often with chants/songs declaring "We are shit, we are shit, we are shit."

They live for two periods of 45 minutes (and a third extra period of 8-10 more minutes at Old Trafford) having their hearts torn and emotions wrung dry.

30 to 45 thousand people all as one suddenly shouting "HANBALL" or singing to the referee "You don't know what you're doing."

There really is no other sport that compares with the fans of football. Elation and/or frustration often lead those inclined towards physical acts and amongst those 18 to 30 year old supporters there will inevitably be a hooligan element.

To sum up the emotional attachment that football fans feel to their team is the chant/song of the LUFC crowd. "We are Leeds."

 

[PAUL C]

backward of point

Point. 90 degrees from the popping crease, which is where the batsman normally rests his bat while waiting for the ball to be bowled. between there and the Gully, which is an extention of the close catchers known as slips, is backward point.

Don't ask me why the position known as third man is so called. but you don't play one at your own risk. many games have been lost without one.

 

[TheEarl]

Point. 90 degrees from the popping crease, which is where the batsman normally rests his bat while waiting for the ball to be bowled. between there and the Gully, which is an extention of the close catchers known as slips, is backward point.

Don't ask me why the position known as third man is so called. but you don't play one at your own risk. many games have been lost without one.

I believe (although do not quote me on this), that third man is so called because he was the third most vital fielder after the bowler and wicketkeeper. However, I could very easily be talking out of my arse.

The Earl

 

[neonlyte]

I believe (although do not quote me on this), that third man is so called because he was the third most vital fielder after the bowler and wicketkeeper. However, I could very easily be talking out of my arse.

The Earl

I remember Brian Johnson saying 'if the batsman misses the ball, and the wicket keeper misses the ball, it goes down to the Third Man' - which is pretty much in accord with the vital fielder theory.

Edit to add: Please don't ask me for the date and time of this radio transmission or which rainy day in which test match it was made.