Euro 2012 thread

If you are not European and the thread title wasn't hint enough, this is your cue to leave.

I love the way this was ignored from the very first reply.

Also, I am in agreement with Sean.  About soccer being boring, not Thork's mother.

Yes, American's can't concentrate on sport for 45 mins at a time. I know.

Not a sport as boring as soccer.

Yeah, the US plays awesome sports like American football and baseball that no one else likes. The whole world plays 'soccer'. America is right and all the other countries are wrong.

I dislike soccer because to me, the game has always seemed to be largely made up of filler.  One person kicks the ball and it soars towards the other end of the field.  Then a player from the other team kicks the ball, and it goes flying back the other way, rendering the past thirty seconds a complete waste of time.  I have just described at least half the action (in some cases, more) of every single professional soccer game ever played.

Thork thinks I represent America. He makes me feel important.


Also, I am not sure how baseball or football are relevant, and I mentioned neither of them. You're the one who seems to have some strange interest in American sports.

I dislike soccer because to me, the game has always seemed to be largely made up of filler.  One person kicks the ball and it soars towards the other end of the field.  Then a player from the other team kicks the ball, and it goes flying back the other way, rendering the past thirty seconds a complete waste of time.  I have just described at least half the action (in some cases, more) of every single professional soccer game ever played.

Thats what you get for watching a Big Sam vs Mcleish match.

One person kicks the ball and it soars towards the other end of the field.  Then a player from the other team kicks the ball, and it goes flying back the other way, rendering the past thirty seconds a complete waste of time.  I have just described at least half the action (in some cases, more) of every single professional soccer game ever played.

You have just described many other sports that was ever invented. They moved an object(usually a ball) from one end to the other and repeats. Sports are a waste of time.

So, did Jedward win?

Quote from: Saddam Hussein on June 13, 2012, 10:56:33 AM

One person kicks the ball and it soars towards the other end of the field.  Then a player from the other team kicks the ball, and it goes flying back the other way, rendering the past thirty seconds a complete waste of time.  I have just described at least half the action (in some cases, more) of every single professional soccer game ever played.

You have just described many other sports that was ever invented. They moved an object(usually a ball) from one end to the other and repeats. Sports are a waste of time.

It isn't simply the fact that they move the ball back and forth that's the problem - it's that they aren't playing while the ball hurtles through the air.  It's just a ball going through the air, and the players scrambling to get at it when it falls down.  And that's just boring.  Elements that make similar "back and forth" sports (such as, say, basketball or hockey) entertaining like maintaining possession, intercepting, vying for control, etc. are all heavily diluted in soccer.

Quote from: CheesusCrust on June 13, 2012, 12:38:49 PM

Quote from: Saddam Hussein on June 13, 2012, 10:56:33 AM

One person kicks the ball and it soars towards the other end of the field.  Then a player from the other team kicks the ball, and it goes flying back the other way, rendering the past thirty seconds a complete waste of time.  I have just described at least half the action (in some cases, more) of every single professional soccer game ever played.

You have just described many other sports that was ever invented. They moved an object(usually a ball) from one end to the other and repeats. Sports are a waste of time.

It isn't simply the fact that they move the ball back and forth that's the problem - it's that they aren't playing while the ball hurtles through the air.  It's just a ball going through the air, and the players scrambling to get at it when it falls down.  And that's just boring.  Elements that make similar "back and forth" sports (such as, say, basketball or hockey) entertaining like maintaining possession, intercepting, vying for control, etc. are all heavily diluted in soccer.

Interesting you mention basketball because I think that is one of the planet's most boring games. Ignoring the fact that being tall is such an advantage as to make skill irrelevant (there are no 5 feet 2 inch players regardless of how skilful) but the main problem is you always expect them to score. Like 50 times a game. Score after score after score. The only way a team loses is if they fail to score regularly. And then its just *shrug* "they didn't score". You can't get carried away in euphoric celebration every 30 secs. Also the music makes basketball appeal to the lowest common denominator. Plink, Plink, Plink, Plink, *faster*,Plink, Plink, Plink, Plink, *faster*,Plink, Plink, Plink, Plink, Oh he lost possession start again or duh-duh-duh ^duh, tedah!. Awful game.

Poor Dutch. Now they must at the very least defeat Portugal with a higher goal difference, all the while praying that Germany will defeat Denmark. Though, winning against Portugal with two goals ahead is hardly an easy task, and football, like any other sport, is full of surprises (Denmark might end up defeating Germany as well). I honestly couldn't believe the Netherlands would be in such a bad position so quickly, seeing that they have such talented players and performed very well in the qualification stages not long ago.

It's ironic the Americans in this thread call this sport boring when their national version of football revolves around not playing in any form for a grand majority of a match.

It's ironic the Americans in this thread call this sport boring when their national version of football revolves around not playing in any form for a grand majority of a match.

What are you talking about?

Quote from: Blanko on June 13, 2012, 07:42:02 PM

It's ironic the Americans in this thread call this sport boring when their national version of football revolves around not playing in any form for a grand majority of a match.

What are you talking about?

I'm talking about American football. Do you know what that is?

I mean, what are you talking about with this "not playing in any form" thing?

I mean, what are you talking about with this "not playing in any form" thing?

I don't know what part of that is confusing, unless you count standing around, close-ups of players and the coach yelling as "playing".

Well, that's not really a criticism of the sport, that's a criticism of the NFL.

Well, that's not really a criticism of the sport, that's a criticism of the NFL.

I wouldn't know the difference. However, I'm assuming the fundamentals of the sport don't vary between leagues, so it's always going to be fucktons of breaks between what appears to be at most 20 seconds of actual playing at a time.

Basketball is actually my favorite sport to watch, Thork. Also, I thought the goal of any sport was to score more points than the other team, and the losing team, funny enough, fails to score a sufficient number of points. Because there's more points scored, the sport is bad? You'd rather watch a sport with a handful of close goals and perhaps two or three goals for a team, on a good day? A few brief moments of excitement in a soccer game cannot match up to a close fourth quarter in basketball.

Basketball is actually my favorite sport to watch, Thork. Also, I thought the goal of any sport was to score more points than the other team, and the losing team, funny enough, fails to score a sufficient number of points. Because there's more points scored, the sport is bad? You'd rather watch a sport with a handful of close goals and perhaps two or three goals for a team, on a good day? A few brief moments of excitement in a soccer game cannot match up to a close fourth quarter in basketball.

I believe the point he was trying to make was that when you score every fucking minute, it becomes stale.

Scoring, to me, is better than not scoring.

Blanko, is a game still exciting when the team you're hoping to win scores a whopping zero points? That is what I most dislike about soccer. That and what Saddam said about booting the ball back and forth for much of the game.

No, but I also don't like football. The only team sport I can stand watching is ice hockey, and even that's only with international events so I can root for Finland. It strikes a good balance between having always something happening and having goals be an actual significant deal that will make an emotional impact in one way or another. Sure enough, the latter happens in football, but there is a fuckton of boring running around and nothing happening, whereas in basketball scoring happens so often that it becomes mundane and nothing really stands out in a game.

Sure things stand out and get the crowd/player into it. Not all points are equal. Made contested shots, flashy dunks, steals and points in transition, 3-pointers, embarrassing blocks, good passes and play calling. There's a lot of impressive athleticism displayed. I'd argue the players, at least appear to be, more talented and athletic than soccer players.


Also, the US Olympic team is fucking stacked.

I was reading about how exciting American football is. Apparently, in an average game, the ball is only in play for eleven minutes.

So what do the networks do with the other 174 minutes in a typical broadcast? Not surprisingly, commercials take up about an hour. As many as 75 minutes, or about 60% of the total air time, excluding commercials, is spent on shots of players huddling, standing at the line of scrimmage or just generally milling about between snaps. In the four broadcasts The Journal studied, injured players got six more seconds of camera time than celebrating players. While the network announcers showed up on screen for just 30 seconds, shots of the head coaches and referees took up about 7% of the average show.

No wonder this is a national past-time here. It sounds awesome. At least there are cheerleaders, right?

If you think the networks are a little too fond of cheerleaders, you may be mistaken: In these broadcasts, only two networks showed cheerleaders at all. And when they did, they were only on camera for an average of three seconds. "We make it a point to get Dallas cheerleaders on, but otherwise, it's not really important," says Fred Gaudelli, NBC's Sunday Night Football producer. "If we're doing the Jets, I couldn't care less."

I don't like televised sports of any kind, but I do enjoy going to a game in person... well amateur games, not pro. Everything about pro sports in Americaland is too commercial, and too obsessed with rules infractions.

Good tournament so far. Another Euros that thwomps the World Cup.

I don't like televised sports of any kind, but I do enjoy going to a game in person... well amateur games, not pro. Everything about pro sports in Americaland is too commercial, and too obsessed with rules infractions.

Seriously.  This is why I prefer College sports over professional sports, especially baseball.

About to watch England win against Italy with an ice cold beer in my hand.

I've put £2 on England winning against Italy 2-0.

All the English blokes I follow on twitter are fooling me into thinking I should be really excited. Anyway, I'm sure they'll all give me a play-by-play of the Italy/England game.