Hey watch it!
(by which I mean, that is a fair and accurate assessment but I feel I need at least give the impression of being offended)
Ah ha, ok. So jumping on the Man U bandwagon wouldn’t necessarily be a great thing, but Chelsea is buying wins which I don’t think I can like too much. Support Arsenal? Liverpool? (the only other British teams I know) I think there is probably too much history that I am unaware of for me to make a sane choice no matter what I pick.
This is fun.
I am looking forward to the Champions League final and I have only been a soccer fan for a hour.
I’m going to disagree, just for fun. I think you need to start by watching the less skilled players, or even by playing yourself, to truly enjoy a sport. Go to a high school or local club game first then you will be amazed by the skill of the professionals. I think you’ll get a better understanding of the rules too. Also, read about off sides. Gotta know that one.
The professionals get to bend the rules so far it is hard to tell why they are doing things sometimes and that makes it hard to pick up the rules just by watching. For example, there isn’t actually a rule that says a player has to writhe on the ground in agony for 5 minutes if anyone slightly touches them. That’s just showmanship.
Unless you want to have your live saddled with constant disappointment, don’t. Wenger keeps on ruining my weekends.
hah! I’m a Leeds United fan. Let’s flop our disappointments out on the table and see how they measure up!
So this is where we get the meme that added time always runs out after ManU scores?
Also: the soccer clock constantly counts up to 45 and 90 minutes. Time is added by the ref at the end of the halves to account for time lost during the match during injuries, subs, out of bounds, etc. The official clock is on the wrist of the ref, so close games mean you’re trapped on the edge of your seat praying that the whistles does/doesn’t come.
Since when is it threadshitting to express ones opinion, especially since 99% of Americans agree with me (soccer is boring and uncool in our country just in case you didn’t know)?
In America, soccer fans are knows as either foreigners/immigrants (soccer fanbase in LA or NY) or effeminate Starbucks-late-drinking-european-wannabe liberals from places like Seattle or Portland. Patriotic, beer drinking, red meat eating white Americans do not like soccer, in fact more hate it then accept it I would say. Our respected sports journalists routinely make fun of soccer as a sissy sport for lesser athletes that is not worth our time or respect. Most soccer players in high school get made fun of all the time for playing soccer, and the chicks always go with the quarterback, not the soccer player. At best soccer is accepted as easy exercise for little children as a preparation for real sports, but anybody who plays or watches soccer past the age of 10 is generally sneered at and peer pressured to move onto better sports.
So to identify as a soccer fan in most of America is equivalent to saying you like cricket or ballet, it will instantly get you labelled as a effeminate limp-wristed european or perphaps a espresso-drinking hipster who thinks foreign things are trendy and “cosmpolitan”. Not the type of demographic that gets much acceptance in most American sports fan circles.
Something else to consider NAF1138.
One way of getting a flavour for the soccer psyche may be to catch the movie “The Damned United”. A dramatised account of the meeting of two english sporting icons. The manager Brian Clough, and the arch-professional Leeds United team of the early 1970’s.
Starring the ever wonderful Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall it is very well done and enjoyable no matter whether you like the sport or not.
There is some debate over the historical accuracy but it makes for a compelling drama nonetheless.
I raise you Newcastle coming back from a 4-1. Find a more shameful moment in the history of your club. Go ahead, I double dare you.
Ah, I see. getting picked last has left something of a chip on your shoulder hasn’t it?
Losing to Wrexham in the 1992 FA cup.
oh wait! that’s Arsenal again!
Considering your earlier posts about your excitement on watching big hard men ramming into each other, I guess it’s just the effeminate side that’s scaring you. You seem to be rather turned on by wild virile homoeroticism.
ahem She.
I cheer for whoever is playing Man U, the Yankees, the Colts, or Sweden in any sport. It saves time and allows me to feel morally superior (Well, except for Sweden, but that’s a condition of being allowed to settle in Norway. Really. They make you sign a paper and everything.)
I completely understand. I am currently fighting off becoming a Yankee’s fan by virtue of my new home town (though it is damn hard not to like the Yankee’s when you live in Yankee country.)
So, I guess I am a Liverpool fan by default? That seems…less than fulfilling though I can’t really tell you why. I’ll work out the fan thing later I suppose.
Question about the sport’s season. I assume that it is primarily a Spring/Summer game. When do the seasons start and end?
d’oh! sorry!
Since the OP asked:
…and…
…not…
Your posts are off-topic and unwelcome.
The EPL season starts in August and ends in May, with the time before the next season being filled half the time by World Cups and European Championships. With pre-season friendlies and inter-toto cup matches and so on it’s often been possible to watch at least one match a week for years at a time.
Really? Wow. That’s impressive. So what are the things I can look forward to after the Champion’s League and EPL seasons end and before they start up again in August?
Well, there’s no World Cup or Euros this summer (next Euros 2012) so mainly it’s pre-season friendlies. More recently I’ve seen a tendency for teams to organise friendly tournaments. I’m pretty sure I recall my team (Celtic) getting beaten by Philadelphia in PA last summer. That was a tournament of that type.
How about MLS? The season has started and goes until October 23. It’s most certainly not top level soccer, but hey you may find a “home” team to root for.
I get to choose between Toronto and Vancouver. Huzzah!