Soccer, sports and politics (R)

OSU defense fell asleep. Nice finish though.

 

We may be using the same rules, but the off-pitch stuff (caps, playoffs, all-star games, drafts, conferences within a league, baseball nicknames, artificial parity, etc. is what makes our league a joke.

MLS, just stop trying to put an American spin on this game. This country hasn't made any significant contributions to global culture except for jazz, so stop mutating stuff to suit the LCDs who live here. Follow UEFA to the tee and let it be foreign. Those who can't get on board don't deserve to be on board.

 

Blah.

Why not go totally global and have the same 3 teams win every season?

 

And to you as well!

You got to grow up watching traditional football, but you'd deny that to millions of American kids who don't know any better. Shame on your selfishness.

 

I'm reminded of something my grandfather said decades ago. "You don't feed junk food to young people- they will find that on their own. You make sure they get vegetables and grains and milk and fruit..."

 

Shohei Ohtani just signed the richest deal in sports history (10 years $700 million).

Here's how much he will actually earn: 😲

$70M: Salary
-
$25.9M: Federal Tax
$4.65M: California Tax
$2.1M: Agent Fee
$2.0M: Jock Tax
$1.64M: FICA/Medicare
=
$33.6M: Net Income pic.twitter.com/CcyeDkA92p

— Andrew Petcash (@AndrewPetcash) December 9, 2023

 

Plus $104,000 in social security, which is the same I pay.

 

I grew up watching dire stalemates in empty stadiums, with offside traps, muddy pitches and center-halves with names like Eric and Graeme competing to see how far they could kick the opposing forwards.

Thanks to an invention called "television" American kids can have the best of all worlds.

 

DeSantis is protesting as well.

 

Okay, you had an opportunity to watch better, but chose not to, or the club you were born into supporting wasn't very good, you haven't said which.

Either way, give us that same chance.

Watching sports without a dog in the fight isn't quite the same.

 

The team I was born into supporting was Liverpool. My Dad inherited his season ticket from his Dad.

However we moved when I was 13.

I switched to Notts County after moving to Nottingham, partly due to the violence at Liverpool games and partly due to the entitled attitude of their supporters.

I really have no clue what you are talking about. I suspect English isn't your first language.

 

NC and Nottingham have their stadiums right across the street from each other right?

 

That’s a grim picture:

1733561880042455535 is not a valid tweet id

Definitely not in my bucket list

 

I don't know how old you are, but Liverpool's been good enough for some time to have won more domestic stuff than they have. Maybe that's why they felt so. But you were there and I was not.

It isn't. I speak American, so you'll have to do your best to figure it out- or not.

"Having a dog in the fight" is an American reference to having a reason to support one of the competitors. It's usually regional proximity.

"Give us the same chance" you grew up with to be able to support domestic ball without caps and with a single table. Why should I have to fly across the ocean to see it done right, by teams I have no regional connection to, so no reason to care who wins? Why can't I drive three hours to a stadium and see it in person? Or, with a proper ladder, 20 minutes (because there'd be a club here in my town)?

 

I switched from Liverpool to Notts County in the 1980/81 after traveling with a friend to watch Notts County lose 5-1 at Manchester City without a single fan complaining. Little did I know at the time that a. Notts County would get promoted to the top-flight that season and b. we've been complaining every since.

You're living in a fantasy world. Promotion and relegation started in England when the Football Alliance failed and there was a surfeit of teams in the English Midlands, all connected via the rail network.

If this seasons USL League Two champions were promoted, their nearest competitors would be close to a thousand miles away. On top of that they'd need a stadium, a brand new team of full-time professionals and some fans.

And this is the USA, I don't see the big deal about driving for 3 hours. People drive 3 hours to their nearest Walmart.

MLS owners don't want promotion and relegation, most USL owners don't want it, most lower division teams couldn't afford it and most American soccer fans don't care. But we should have it because ... they have it in England? Shall we bring back the royal family?

The only people who seem to want it are a handful of romantics who only see the tears at the end of the season and didn't realize just how miserable a relegation season can be and a few businessmen who want the financial benefits of MLS without investing the money.

If you go to most European countries you'll find that 90% of fans support teams that will never be relegated based on sporting merit.

In Portugal for instance you'll see the average attendances of the teams in the Primeira relegation places are about 2,000, because guess what? The people who live there would rather drive 3 hours to watch Benfica or Porto.

 

Crosspost in Wypipo thread?

 

Should be 75%

 

We all slag officiating in sports but the NBA has to be up there in blind (purposeful or not) refs. I've seen dudes take 4-5 steps from the wing on a drive & not get a travel.

This is hilarious…🤣😭😂 https://t.co/MnYsLAIZJ3

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) December 9, 2023

 

That guy was awesome. Bet he's a helluva dancer.

 

When was the last time someone was called for traveling in the NBA? Was it even this century?

 

Just for @Auriaprottu I superimposed a map of the 1892 Football League onto the continuous United States.


You don't see it?

Here's a closer look.


This is why you're going to have to drive 3 hours even with pro/rel.

 

Because of the nature of football it's a shame that hasnt been a Notts Derby in few years.

Scottish football has the Dundee Derby which seems will be back next season after united got relegated. Apparently the two sides and St. Johnstone make up the Tayside Derby. There is also the Edinburgh Derby and of course the Glasgow Derby.

 

There was a 3-3 League Cup draw at the City Ground in 2011. The home team won on penalties.

We do play friendlies. Notts lost 1-0 at home in August 2023 in front of 16,193.

It's not as intense a rivalry as you would think. Forest have bigger rivals in Leicester and Derby. We have a big rivalry with Mansfield.

 

Damn... the American disease of gloryhunting has reached their shores.

That comment was about home support. With a proper system, you can support your true local club. With the US "system", you're more or less forced to support the nearest MLS club instead of the nearest club, period, because there is no path to the top flight. That drains off support that could be going to smaller clubs closer to my home.