Liverpool FC Forum

by **112-1077774096** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 2:30 pm

travel as much as you can joe, it really broadens your mind

by **66-1120597113** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 3:59 pm

peewee wrote:joe as an american are you not embarrassed by the desire to call sporting events 'world series' when its obviously not the world taking part, only american teams, and when someone wins the world series do they really think they are world champions?

this is not a dig at you mate, just a question

Good point!!

:laugh:

by **Dundalk** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:00 pm

World Series

by **coddy** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:52 am

JoeTerp wrote:but was just wondering if anyone here follows the NFL, either casually or as a "die-hard" supporter

yeah watch most games on NASN, Pats all the way!!! Actually thinking of moving to massachusetts jus to be close to their Stadium!!!!

by **anti-hero** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 7:09 am

coddy wrote:
JoeTerp wrote:but was just wondering if anyone here follows the NFL, either casually or as a "die-hard" supporter

yeah watch most games on NASN, Pats all the way!!! Actually thinking of moving to massachusetts jus to be close to their Stadium!!!!

Who??

Seahawks all the way baby..

They've got Matt Hasselbeck and Shawn Alexander.

If only they could get a quality wide receiver.. they'd be a real force to reckon with.

by **Judge** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 12:23 pm

i like the New England Patriots

by **CardinalRed** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 4:43 pm

Joe, for my sins I always keep an eye out for the New York Jets.... Unfortuantely I know what it must be like to be a Sunderland fan.....!
:cool:

by **Bad Bob** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 6:04 pm

JoeTerp wrote:I actually hate the raiders, and put the wrong smily in there, it was supposed to be a laugh at the word "die-hard" for which some members have taken the p.iss out me on this message board for using in my first post which I intended as a joke. I am actually a true die-hard Redskin fan since birth, being born in the district and my whole family being redskins fan.

Peewee, i felt the same about football my whole life, that it wasn;t a man's sport compared to american football, and had no idea what the hell offsides was, and it looked like utter chaos with the ball going up and down the field in a near constant state of transition, until my friend, who is an arsenal supportor made me watch the champions league final and described a lot of what was going on, and then cried his eyes out when they lost. I realized I was missing out on a great game and decided to study up and understand it as quickly as possible, something that I think is happening more and more in America, and why pre-season American tours will become a staple of top european clubs training, because there is just sooo much money to be made in gaining fans across the globe.
American football is a great game, but at the top level is waaay to comercialized and designed for Televison veiwing, which is great for the instant replays of ever play, but you get a commercial break after every change of possesion. Its also very expensive, requiring lots of equipment, and lots of players, so it is very hard to just start american football in a place where it isnt very popular, where as you could just drop a football into a third world country and let the kids dribble the around playing keep away in tight spaces for a couple of years and you got the next Henry. Thats why football has become and will remain the World's Sport, while American football, will continue to stay mainly in America.

Hey Joe (where you going with that gun in your hand?--couldn't resist!

)...

I've been reading this discussion with some interest, living in Canada myself.

I agree with your point about American football--highly commercialized and made for tv. I expect that our British friends will say much the same thing about "real football" given the influence of Sky Sports on matches these days, not to mention owners more concerned with "branding" the team for merchandising purposes rather than building a competitive and financially-sound footballing squad.

The interesting thing for me living in Canada, though, is how so much of the media hype gets filtered out. Here, my local sports provider has a measly half-hour "around the Premiership" show on Saturday mornings at 7AM. This is followed by maybe 5 minutes of in-studio build up from the sportscaster and one pundit (former West Ham keeper and Canadian international Craig Forrest, if anyone's curious). Then it's off to Anfield or wherever the first match is being broadcast from, patched into a British feed of some variety (so that we're thankfully spared the truly awful North American commentators). When the match is over, there's another 5 minute build up and then its off to Old Trafford for the second match etc.

What we don't get at all are any of the post-match press conferences, midweek press conferences, extensive studio punditry etc that so many footy fans surely take for granted as part of their sporting landscape. It can make you feel a little out of the loop at times--I nearly fell over the first time I heard David Beckham speak as I'd been watching him play for ages with no idea he had such a squeaky, high-pitched little sissy voice

--but it can also make the game seem purer somehow. After all, it's just about the match and not about the hype.

That's one of the main reasons why I've basically stopped watching all North American sports in favour of European football--I can no longer put up with all of the pre-game build-up and post-game "analysis". Not to mention the excruciating advert breaks (once you've watched a flowing European football game, the stop-start nature of N. American sports really grates) and the mindless over-commenting during the game: multiple in-booth commentators, reams of stats, stupid graphics all over the screen, endless instant replays...I have no patience for any of it.

Real football--with most of the hype filtered out by Canadian broadcasters more focused on filling a Saturday AM timeslot than commiting resources to "soccer" coverage--is as pure as sport gets for me...even if, on occasion, I'd love to hear Rafa's thoughts on a performance or try and suss out what Carra's on about with that inimitable Scouse accent of his!

by **anti-hero** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:11 am

Judge wrote:i like the New England Patriots

Just cause they won?

Name one player Judge.

by **JoeTerp** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 7:48 pm

Bad Bob,you almost scared me into thinking that I would'nt like American football anymore. Although the commercials are annoying, and the build-up can get excessive, I do enjoy it. there are only 16 regular season games, and everyone could be the difference of making the playoffs or not, and the difference in games can come down to a single game, so that could be a cause for the over-analysis (but most likely because they know they can get enough people to watch it to make money). I love watching shows like NFL match-up that actually break down film and explain everything that is going on like a real head coach does. What I CANT stand is when they try to make soap operas out of lockeroom scuffles like with T.O. last year, that got really annoying. Although the idea of watching, a "flowing European football game" does sound much more pleasant than "the mindless over-commenting during the game: multiple in-booth commentators, reams of stats, stupid graphics all over the screen, endless instant replays" it is fun to make fun of how stupid the commentators are, where I have noticed that a lot of british commentators are too scared to make an opinion and aren't very vocal, which is good if you just want to watch football, but in America they try to make the commentators a part of the viewing experience. I think everyone on this board would argue "why they hell would you want to have a loud mouthed idiot ruining your football watching experince?" and i guess I don't have much of an arguement, its just the way we do things. I enjoy the stats, american football isn't as stat heavy as baseball, but it certainly is more important that fooball, and I find the replays neccessary because so many things are going on at full speed, and you can really only pay attention to who has the ball when you watch it live, but in the replay you can see why the run went for a big gain (because of so and so's great block). I would say both have thier advantages, with football seeming more pure, with the adviertisements up and down the pitch being much more passive than a bunch of comercial breaks, although i think they are equally guility of over-hyping and over-dramatizing soap opera issues such as with Jose's constant nonsensical, psycho babbaling bull****

Also glad to see nobody is a Cowboys fan, nearly the equivalent of supporting the scum.

by **anti-hero** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 7:54 pm

JoeTerp wrote:Also glad to see nobody is a Cowboys fan, nearly the equivalent of supporting the scum.

You must hate T.O alot do you?

by **JoeTerp** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 8:44 pm

I effing HATE T.O. :angry:

Him and drew rosenhause are the epitome of all that is wrong with sports today. :angry:

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