Soccer, Sports and Politics - Part Deux

And this would be fair...

...BEFORE Cable TeeVee became widely available, ~a generation or so ago.

Now? One can watch big boy teams vs other big boy teams at the push of a button.

Hell, with the interwebs, we don't even have to stick with domestic leagues any more.


And I'm mostly joking with @Auriaprottu. For some odd reason, he'd defend college pointyball with his last drop of blood, but then he also likes PROFESSIONAL soccer and PROFESSIONAL basketball, and not from his hometown.


Why not stick to watching teenagers across the board? Why don't college pointyball fans also support the [alleged] murderers in the crimson tide BB program? Why don't college pointyball fans also follow college soccer instead of MLS?

https://thecrimsonwhite.com/114478/top-stories/second-bond-hearing-set-for-former-university-of-alabama-basketball-player-darius-miles-in-capital-murder-case/#:~:text=Miles, a former member of,15.

 

The closest thing we have in America to the way football clubs represent particular neighborhoods is college football. North London has 3 big clubs and Florida have 3 big universities, fighting for bragging rights regardless of how they finish in the rest of rankings.

 

B-but in the time that I have left on the planet...

 

My hometown doesn't have any pro ball that matters.

Did you grow up in America, or were you born somewhere else? You seriously don't get the cultural impact of cfb. It's an institution in and of itself. You're probably too cool and urbane* to follow HS extracurriculars, either, but I won't hold it against you.

*in a bad way, I mean, I'm urbane in a good way. Once it gets too far beyond me, it starts to go south pretty quick.

 

Friday night, Saturday afternoon. They matter as much as Sunday morning. As well they should. Let's stop being hiply cynical and learn to believe in something again without dragging crime or grades into it

 

A lot to unpack here, but I'll do my best.

Yeah, but you have cable TeeVee, right? Just as you follow atlanta united, why not ALSO the Falcons? Or the jaguars? Or the saints?


OTOH, why "college" pointyball, and not ALSO college soccer? Why don't you whip out the pom-pons for the [accused] felons on the Crimson Tides' basketball team?

This could come off as kinda weird and xenophobic.

Who gives a shyte if its "an institutiton?"

I mean, McDonald's is "an institution," but like "college" pointyball, it also kinda sucks. Doesn't mean anyone should consume either "institution."

And plenty of other things that suck also have "cultural impact," like Trump, but that doesn't mean I have to support him. Or, support virtually-illiterate teenagers give each other CTE. [Better to watch virtually-illiterate adults give each other CTE, at least they're good at it.]

Yeah, and I'm sure you and I got our jollies off fisher fvkcing price toys as toddlers, but [one would hope] we both evolved and graduated from that.

In the same way, its creepy and weird to give a fvkc about why HS children do as a grown man, unless you have a child in that HS.

 

Whether you grew up in the US is a legit question. It shapes your perspective on how you see things. I get the sense not, but I could be wrong, but it really doesn't matter at the end of the day. College FB is like lower division footie in most of the world. People know it's not at the top level, but they still support their local (or in-state) teams, even if they could watch a higher level on TV.

I don't care about NASCAR, not really into college sports, casual at best about the NBA and NFL, but those are very popular and I have no problem with people who are big-time into them. I'm old enough to remember when soccer was as niche as you could get, so I'm not going to be all judgey about someone else's thing.

 

IIRC, Aruia was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers until he decided the NFL had gone far enough from his ideals that he couldn't support it anymore.

I watch all kinds of sports at all different levels. Yes, as an alumni of The Ohio State University, I enjoy college football. I enjoy how it differs from the NFL. I also am a fan of the Seattle Seahawks.

It's also possible to enjoy watching an EPL game in the morning and then watching a MLS game in the afternoon. Two different levels but each enjoyable.

 

The people who disagree with this point are too similar, if you ask me, to people who think wine is only a valid drink if you keep your pinky extended while you consume it.

 

What's the date for the 2025 annual Elephants tree fall?

 

Chelsea. Only North London Club to win the EPL and CL in the last 20 years.

 

Yes, but he would have to buy a lot of tickets https://t.co/fQYLEhBzQG

— Brad Williams (@funnybrad) September 20, 2024

 

I used to briefly live a few steps away from Stamford Bridge - it is most definitely not North London.

If it is North London, then so is Fulham - and that is definitely not North London either.

 

@Naughtius Maximus you are being paged. Please answer the Chelsea, North London question.

 

I figured it as based on postcodes, not the Thames. Stamford Bridge's post code starts SW.

 

Exactly. Chelsea is considered more West London and, as you mentioned, has a SouthWest postcode.

 

And Brentford

 

Hmm, I would call us west London, tbh, although, technically, we're north of the river, obviously.

This stuff gets a bit complicated because people's attitudes have altered over time and what people think is north, south east or west London probably isn't what people from 50-60 years ago would have said.