I have been looking for the TV schedule, and am I correct in that ESPN will not be showing any Champions League matches this week? No Gunners-Galacticos, no Barca-Chelski?
I think they're on tape-delay in the middle of the night due to this World Cup of baseball thing that is probably bombing in terms of ratings. I have no interest in watching baseball right now and even my friends who really get into baseball (Reds & Indians) aren't interested in watching this. I can't imagine there is an audiece out there for this at all.
As far as the ratings go, haven't most of the games been on ESPN Deportes, or at ungodly hours of the night? IIRC, if you have ESPN Deportes, you most likely have a satellite. Cable systems with ESPN Deportes are usually in Miami, parts of Texas, or Southern California. There's been a few games, broadcast by ESPN2, but put on alternate channels here in Columbus. If people know the game is on ESPN2, but don't bother to check other channels, that might be part of the reason. Then again, when it's Chinese Taipei v. China, or South Korea vs. whatever Asian country, I can imagine why ratings might bomb. There's a few big names that play for Japan (doesn't Matsui play for them, as well as the guy that once played for the Mariners??), but don't most of the well-known MLB guys play either for USA or one of the Caribbean nations? As far as the Champions League, Walt made a thread that suggests Tommy Keegan's as a place to visit over the next two days. They'll have Barcelona-Chelsea live, followed by Juventus-Werder Bremen delayed at 5 PM.
Not to get too off track, but I would like to get into it, just not in March minus the star players. Do it in November with the actual top stars of each country and make it every 3-4 years and I'll buy into it. That said, I don't know the USA's roster, yet I believe it is 94? days 'till the Wold Cup. Just doesn't get me pumped up for the event. That sais it will still get more media time then the World Cup in this country.
Chinese Taipei? Are you a communist? The country is typically called Taiwan by folks that recognize their autonomy from China. Taipei is the capital city of Taiwan.
Hey guys, thanks for the catch. I'm out of town but I'll have the lady tape the Madrid-Gunners game for me. I'm really excited for it. Does anyone else think that it is interesting to hear MLB clubs whine about missing their players to this tournament? Perhaps they could call soccer clubs from the continent and ask them how they deal with crises like this?
KK, calm down. Actually, calm down and go see Good Night and Good Luck. Kryptonite is not a communist, he doesn't even have any facial hair. The team is officially named Chinese Taipei by the powers that be at the WBC. http://www.worldbaseballclassic.com/2006/index.jsp Chinese Taipei (Traditional Chinese: 中華台北; Pinyin: Zhōnghuá Táibĕi) is the designated name that the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as "Taiwan", uses to participate in most international organizations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Taipei
A baseball world series or championship or whatever. Just the one thing I don't need to be devoting my life to now. Sounds extremely boring. barca-chelsea is way more exciting then some stupid world series that the players dont even care about, what a sleeper and what a bad idea. You just don't need this for baseball or football or basketball. It just seems phony. I mean there is already enough of all three. It comes to a point where it's just too much. I don't know how passionate they are going to get in spring training playing gautemala or whoever.
IMO, this is exactly what they need. It's the quickest way to get the rest of the world into baseball. The problem is, no one cares about it NOW (that I know of). It's definately something for the future.
1. What does George Clooney have to do with anything? I'm not into Hollywood types who actually think their important when it comes to the political world and foreign policy. Their levels of self-importance and delusional behavior further justify that their salaries need to be severely reduced to help bring them back to reality. And no, I really have very little clue what the movie is about, just in case you were going to mention that. Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks can be lumped into this category as well. 2. By further using the "Chinese Taipei" name, it only furthers the socialist/communist Chinese agenda. The more they can convince people around the globe that Taiwan actually belongs to the PRC, the more likely it is to happen. I think the Chinese wrote the book on self-fulfilling prophecy. 3. I appreciate the sharing of info and the links, don't get me wrong. I'm not ungrateful. But I would like to point out that I have facial hair, the gloves don't fit so you must acquit, and Wookies do not live on Endor.
It was the same at the winter Olympics - why do the Taiwanese accept being called chinese Taipei, when they just decided to rile the Chinese by scrapping (the largely symbolic) reunification committee?
You don't know what the movie is about, but you mockingly ask me what George Clooney has to do with anything. I suggest to you that the pursuit of knowledge may actually be an asset to your life. The movie is about Edward R. Murrow's opposition to red-baiting in the 50's when Sen. McCarthy was terrorizing people's lives as part of a Congressional witch hunt to "find communists" working in the US government. My point was that it was pretty damn outrageous to infer that Krypto is a commie because he used the official name of the baseball team. George Clooney has every right to use his free time, screen time, and whatever else-time to speak up for any cause he pleases. It is not delusional to believe that we still have Constitutional rights in this country. You know what I'm not into? Athletes who talk about Jesus all the time. Jesus this and Jesus that. Especially when the question was: "How does it feel to be a Superbowl champion?" But I'm not going to bring up some line of argument where I think athletes should be paid a fraction of their salary to be brought back down to Earth for thinking that we actually care about their religious beliefs. I realize that they're paid according to demand and talent. And I realize they have the right to say whatever they want when given a platform to speak.
I'm going to remain calm and not freak out the mods here. But I cannot help but offer a brief response. Clooney's movie is essentially a fraud, which anyone who has actually gotten their facts from the real world rather than from Hollywood will already know. The movie presents a grand total of two actual cases of people accused of communist activities: the first turned out to actually be not only a communist, but in the financial employ of the Soviet Union while holding down a job in the code room of the Pentagon. The second referenced case was of a guy who was brought up before the HUAC. This stands for "House Un American Activites Committee". Joe McCarthy was a US Senator with no involvement whatever in the House case. None. Furthermore, despite the myth of Murrow's great courage and bravery in taking on the establishemnt, Murrow and CBS actually came very late to that party. The New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC and several national magazines had already come out against McCarthy publically and had been running editorials and articles opposing him six to nine months before Murrow decided to get on the bandwagon. CBS and Holywood have spent the last 50 years creating this absurd myth about Murrow, and this silly movie is just another example of it. Also, for the record, whatever you may of may not think of McCarthy, there is one basic undeniable fact that the left gets hysterical trying to keep you from hearing: McCarthy's sole interest was in identifying Communist Party USA members currently employed in the US Dept of Defense and/or the US State Department. He didn't give a crap about your political pursuation or what stupid philosophy you espoused. ALl he cared about was getting Stalinist agents out of sensitive government positions. Period. And neither you nor Clooney nor CBS nor anyone else can point to ONE SINGLE SOLITARY PERSON who was a) wrongly accused by McCarthy of being a communist and b) not working for the governemnt in a sensitive military or diplomatic position. That's the inconvenient fact they always leave out in these boogeyman McCarthy tales. Now, make no mistake: the guy was an opportunistic politician who was using this issue to gain political clout. WHich is what they all do. He drank a lot, was something of a bully and lied about his military record. He was not anybody's idea of a really great guy. As for Clooney's little speech, I'll only say this: "I'm smart and you're all stupid, and the reason we know this is because you disagree with me but I'm OK with that because if you agreed with me then I wouldn't be smarter than you any more" is not exactly an endearing meme to address to the country at large.
For *****************'s sake, please ******** start the ********** season incredibly ********** ********** ********* soon.
Whether or not George Clooney has anything to do with this doesn't matter. But your statement is absurd. Throughout history artists have always spoken out on political matters, and often times with results that have unquestionably affected lives for the positive. I know you wanna hop on board the Archer gravy train here about how evil "Hollywood types" are and how self important they are. You may even try to argue that they aren't really artists, but at the end of the day your post just screams "ignorance" from the rooftops. Stop trying to act like the token hard guy, and think before you post.
Oh come on hang. Look, I know we come from far different places politically - that's entirely OK by me. But the fact is that Holywood is full of self-important blowhards who like to parade their moral superiority in front of all of us and jam it down our throats. They are largely uneducated, insular clowns who no one ever dares to stand up to and whose egos are as big as all outdoors. Read Barbara Streisand's latest screed?
Just because you present your opinion as fact does not make it so. "Fact is" you're a very opinionated person who speaks in generalizations and in re-tread disgust about liberals. It's one of your weaker traits. Deamonizing "Hollywood" is the biggest shadow box going.
Fine by me as well Bill, but I'm far more conservative than you think I am. Regardless...I just thought KK's post was patently absurd, thats all. And if you want to be honest parading moral superiority, it's not a Hollywood thing, it's an overall celebrity thing in this country. Whether it be Sean Penn, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Charleston Heston, Arnold Schwarzeneger, or George Clooney, everybody thinks they have the answers. And everyone claims moral superiority. And people only want them to shut up when they disagree. And no, I haven't read Streisand. But her latest album of Duets with Barry Gibb is delightful.
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Nonesuch again. ------------------------------------------------------ I have to quote a line from "A Few Good Men" here. What are we going to talk about next, my favorite color?