|
Post by Reactionary Rage on Feb 10, 2019 13:32:43 GMT
Have you been watching the world subbuteo championships by mistake, John?
|
|
|
Post by oh oooh on Feb 10, 2019 13:33:24 GMT
You know full well what I'm talking about.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2019 13:40:51 GMT
I understand that. But it's all so SMALL. and FAR AWAY So that's a 'no' for Chinese ping pong?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2019 13:43:15 GMT
Sorry
|
|
|
Post by Reactionary Rage on Feb 10, 2019 13:44:12 GMT
Well it's different watching footy on the telly and in the stadium. There are advantages to the latter because even though you are FAR AWAY you can see the whole game, player's positions, their runs etc so you get a fuller picture. Plus you experience the atmosphere which is huge. I went to see Boca Jnrs play and to experience something like that first hand is really something. These fans are supporting their team, their city, their area. It's history, tradition, working class culture. In a global world that has steadily chipped away at various old world identities football still offers people a reassertion of something local, something that is still rooted in their own town. That's important and, yes, it's also people doing what their parents did and what their grandparents did. People need that meaning and tradition in their lives so, yes, whilst it is all VERY FAR AWAY AND THE PLAYERS ARE ALL VERY, VERY SMALL they still want want to attend the congregation.
|
|
|
Post by oh oooh on Feb 10, 2019 14:06:21 GMT
Aye ok
|
|
|
Post by Half Machine Lipschitz on Feb 10, 2019 16:50:26 GMT
I didn't get into sports until my mid-30's, and didn't get into watching soccer until about 10 years ago or so. I wasn't athletic as a kid, despite my parents signing me up for all sorts of team sports - soccer included. It seemed that any time I had to go play soccer it was raining, so that certainly put a, ahem, damper on any enthusiasm I may have had for it. 15 years ago a friend of mine suggested we learn to play ice hockey and I took him up on his challenge. We could both barely skate, but we started going out to the outdoor rinks regularly and slowly built up our skill level at which point he decided to organize a team - and so the Flying Burritos were born (we secured a bit of sponsorship from a local Mexican restaurant where my friend worked - hence the name). My friend has since moved to a different city but I still play with the Burritos most Saturday nights in the winter (I also play pickup games throughout the year to stay "sharp"). At the same time that I started to play hockey, I started to watch pro hockey and follow the Toronto Maple Leafs, but I can't think of any way that I could convince someone who wasn't a fan of the game to develop an interest other than to take them to a live game, but that's too expensive so unless you're buying then you can fuck off. I'll tell you what though - this: Goals themselves are an absolute thing of beauty- no other sport comes close to the range of ways in which one can be scored. All other team sports are ultimately a bit more predictable in that manner. is complete rubbish (other than the bit about goals being things of beauty) and written by someone who has obviously never watched ice hockey played by pros, which is understandable, given the inexplicable British fear of anything winter-related.
|
|
|
Post by tory on Feb 10, 2019 17:26:14 GMT
I watched the Czech Republic beat the USA 4-1 at the Nagano Olympics actually.
And I still believe in what I say. Ice Hockey is a phenomenally difficult sport and the speed at which it flies is unbelievable to watch, but it is the range and the way in which goals are constructed that outstrips any sport. Watch Barca and Man City at their best and there is a geometric wonder in how angles are found and exploited. Ice Hockey is similar in that regard, but in my opinion I don't think it matches football
|
|
|
Post by Reasonable good Nick on Feb 11, 2019 11:35:09 GMT
Sport doesn't hold an awful lot of interest for me. It never has.
I can watch all sorts of sports now and then and appreciate what's going on, the skill, the tactics, performances or whatever, and I don't mind watching a football match in the pub from time to time, although I'll usually take a book in case it turns out to be dull.
But if I was told I could never watch another sporting event of any kind, ever, it wouldn't really bother me. I have plenty of other interests. Snooker is probably the only one I'd even sort of miss. And I don't watch that very often.
Although, is chess a sport? I don't think of it as one. But I play chess every day of my life. Now that I would miss, very much.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2019 23:12:32 GMT
The attraction of football for me is that it combines the alchemy of team sports with the chance for individuals to express themselves in a charismatic way. Furthermore, football has the explosive potential similar to that of boxing. I don't think there is anything that causes such a reaction as someone belting the ball into the back of the net from 30 yards out. Goals themselves are an absolute thing of beauty- no other sport comes close to the range of ways in which one can be scored. All other team sports are ultimately a bit more predictable in that manner. Then there are the sheer range of players and how they express themselves. The age of the charismatic maverick has passed, but the technique level of players in general has increased a great deal. Almost all these can be applied to any team sport. I know you enjoy soccer most, but please.
|
|
|
Post by Reactionary Rage on Feb 12, 2019 9:53:57 GMT
The attraction of football for me is that it combines the alchemy of team sports with the chance for individuals to express themselves in a charismatic way. Furthermore, football has the explosive potential similar to that of boxing. I don't think there is anything that causes such a reaction as someone belting the ball into the back of the net from 30 yards out. Goals themselves are an absolute thing of beauty- no other sport comes close to the range of ways in which one can be scored. All other team sports are ultimately a bit more predictable in that manner. Then there are the sheer range of players and how they express themselves. The age of the charismatic maverick has passed, but the technique level of players in general has increased a great deal. Almost all these can be applied to any team sport. I know you enjoy soccer most, but please. With football any player on the park can demonstrate some kind of obscene flair or individual, game changing brilliance that you would not normally associate with that position. A centre half can score a monstrous 30 yard screamer or ping a 40 yard pass that leads to a goal or a right back can do some trick that you'd expect from a creative midfielder or dribble past three players or whatever. It's flair, originality, improvisation. The game begets these qualities and rewards them. Footballs capacity for this is partly what makes it so great. I think that's what Toby is driving at. You don't get it to the same extent in every team sport. Cricket, American football, baseball, a lot of team sports are more locked down and limiting in terms of what the players do. The special team fella who kicks a ball? That's all he does. The offensive tackle is not gonna run past 6 players and score a touchdown. The right back in football might. Here's Josimar, a Brazilian full back doing this.... That's football and that's why it can be so unpredictable and thrilling. Such moments can come from anywhere on the pitch and from any position.
|
|
|
Post by tory on Feb 12, 2019 10:03:47 GMT
Basketball has those qualities, but the game itself is built on the fact that the opposition will score at some point. I have never seen a game where the opposition gets nothing. It is instead an accumulation of scoring helped by individual flourishes.
In Football, the best team might score nothing and the opposition, who might be useless, score from an own goal. It is all part of the two fingers in the face of rationality that sport can produce.
|
|
|
Post by Reactionary Rage on Feb 12, 2019 10:11:15 GMT
That's what I've always disliked about basketball. One team scores, the other team scores and so on. I guess the novelty is more in when they miss. Plus it's one of those sports where every cunt is 6ft+ and able to jump 20ft. Football is egalitarian in a way that is appealing.
|
|
|
Post by oh oooh on Feb 12, 2019 10:23:54 GMT
So is snooker. You get more working class fellas finding a way out of poverty there.
|
|
|
Post by Reactionary Rage on Feb 12, 2019 10:35:43 GMT
Everybody likes snooker, huh? The green baize, the meditative sound of the balls being hit, the hypnotic quality.
I have fond memories of watching the world championships growing up. Stephen Hendry! Jimmy White! Working class gladiators slugging it out! Marvellous.
I used to love the darts as well.
|
|