I don’t know what this was. At first I thought this was a Game you play on the thread.
Then my thoughts were- maybe it’s a game where you’re comparing the strength of the Euro to whatever Currency you used to have in your Nation.
Now I think it has to do with Soccer/Football. But I have no clue. I suppose I’ll read this thread to see which guess is correct.
-A Southerner from VA (Not a Yankee!)
I’m not sure how much is sarcasm. You’re familiar with the World Cup? Euro is the same thing, but with only Europeans countries that participate. Well, to be more specific only UEFA countries, but that’s just gibberish to you I suppose.
Mostly snark. I gathered from the OP that it was a Europe-Only soccer tournament of some sort. But since it isn’t baseball (The One True Sport), it failed to click any buttons in me. 
It’s kind of like the World Cup without all the crap teams :d&r:
European championship of association football (soccer) at the national level = Euro 20**
There’s also a European championship of association football (soccer) at the club level - we call that the Champions’ League (it’s called that since only the top 1-4 (?) teams from each national league are invited)
*UEFA = Union des associations européennes de football, or Union of European Football Associations. There are a few UEFA members who really ought to be part of the Asian federation but aren’t - Israel, Turkey and some of the former Soviet republics.
Well, at least this go around, I’m sure England will be back though.
Yes. Hup Holland!
Yes, I know and care. I was in the Dominican Republic in 2004 on holiday and went to the bar to see if I could watch Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open. I was one of about three in the bar until about 200 rabid fans charged in (this was a mostly Euro resort). I absolutely loved the enthusiasm of the fans and ended up watching the football more than the golf.
Since then my daughter has turned into quite the soccer star so I am a big fan of the game.
Ah yes baseball…aka rounders 
Well, well… seems like there is quite a bit of interest for it. Even though my english buddy decided to go on a trip to eastern Europe and wehemethly denies that anyone is playing anything this summer 
After all - it is the greatest sport on earth 
What Deadbadger said. Without wishing to derail this thread too much, Bergkamp’s goals were incredible, but his assists were legendary.
Put it this way, any time a “Greatest Arsenal Line-up” is debated in a pub, there will always be some argument about whether Thierry Henry should be up front - after all, what about Ian Wright? What about Ted Drake?
No-one will ever argue about who should play alongside them.
Bergkamp’s touch was incredible, and his ability to put the ball in the back of the net was brilliant - don’t forget that he’s the only man ever to come 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the “Goal of the Month” award in the same month (all 3 goals he scored against Leicester in the same game), but he was always more of a playmaker than a striker.
A few years back, by pure chance, i was lucky enough to spend a lazy hour or so chatting shit with the man himself. He was modest, quiet and funny - aware (and proud) of his talent, but obviously both slightly amused and slightly embarrased by it at the same time.
I don’t remember much of what we talked about - it was general Sunday-afternoon man-chat, with a healthy dose of random footballing chatter thrown in. I got the impression that he didn’t really want to talk about himself or his goals so i didn’t push the subject.
At one point however, i made some random comment about how, at school, i never enjoyed playing up front. I was happiest as an attacking midfielder, i explained to him because - stupid as it must sound to a forward like him - i didn’t enjoy scoring, but i loved passing.
With that he just lit up completely.
“You understand it!” He said. “It is the creation that is the magic! Yes?! That is the beautiful thing!”
Cue twenty minutes of talking about nothing apart from passing and crossing. He talked about techniques, spotting runs, watching how defenders position themselves and gave me some tips on how to learn how a particular defender plays - how you should test them and figure out their “instinctive” reactions to sudden passes (do they try to slide and intercept? stick a leg up? Or out?) and how to use that against them. He demonstrated several of his favourite assists through the medium of peanuts, beef hula-hoops and an empty crisp packet, telling me what had happened at each point, what had gone through his mind (and always praising the finish/vision of whoever had received the ball). Finally, he talked me through that '98 World Cup Wondergoal - except it wasn’t him that was the subject - it was Frank DeBoer’s pass.
“I put it in the net” he said dismissively, “Frank did the work.”
In that brief period i learnt more about football - and the way the man himself worked and thought - than i ever did before or have done since.
So yeah - a goal machine he was most certainly not. But for every wonder-goal Bergkamp scored, he created five.
Hijack over. We may now resume our normal Euro chatter. 
I am Not An Arsenal Fan. Definitely not. Dennis Bergkamp remains one of the strikers I most admire, and certainly one of my two favourite players ever to have pulled on the Gunner’s shirt.
As for following Euro '08, I will probably follow from a distance. I’ll back Holland, not just because of Bergkamp, or my memories of the '74 world cup finals; my fiancee is Dutch. (She doesn’t follow football but so what?)
That’s awesome. I love it when big stars turn out to be like this. I also love it that there’s pretty much nothing too complex that it can’t be explained with whatever snacks/cutlery is closest to hand.
I should be arriving in Sweden just in time for the Sweden-Greece match. Can’t wait!
England not qualifying will not make the slightest difference to me. I shall watch as much as I can - I’ll be in Italy part of the time - and I’ll probably support Holland.
Not having my team in the finals isn’t so unusual for me - not being English - but if any of the home nations were involved I would support them.
Most people bothering to reply will likely be of the “yes I do” variety, but I’ll speak up for the silent majority of “Yanks”: no, I didn’t know, and I opened this thread thinking the subject in the OP referred to the ever-widening gap in the exchange rate between the Euro and the US Dollar.
Do I care? Well, I can tell it’s a football/soccer championship, and I know that’s big Over There, so yeah, I do, in a general sports-fan way: the way I sort of care about the Iditarod, in that I’m glad it happens and admire the idea of it. I even follow the World Cup results and watch the final match. But I wasn’t really aware of a “Euro” championship, or even how frequent it is (does it happen every year, or only every four years like the World Cup?).
Every four years, same years as the Olympics. It has only really been a big deal since the enlargement of the final tournament from four to eight and now sixteen countries, which started in the 80s.
That´s actually more of an answer that I was expecting. It figures that people know something about it, but quite understandable that you don´t quite care.
Just like I really can´t be bothered with f.ex. baseball or cricket (neither of which I just can´t understand)
And now on to the discussion about the € vs the $
What a prosaic reason for cheering a team.
As a fellow Red, I considered this but then at the last minute had a change of heart and put £10 on Portugal instead. I think it’s a masochistic thing, as I now have to cheer on Ronaldo instead of shouting at the TV in the hope he’ll get kicked into the stand…
I’ll keep a good eye on Spain too, but it’s pretty likely they’ll go out in the Quarter Finals again if not before…
Have to say too, it’s actually quite nice England aren’t there - means I can actually enjoy the games without any pressure!
And garius, I’m really not easily impressed but I am SO jealous about that conversation with Bergkamp.