What sports teams do you support?

[Heid the Ba]

I actually LOL'd when I saw the score.

[Arneb]

Fun.Fun. Fun.

I must say I gained some respect for Ronaldo, his strict work ethics, impeccable fitness and, of course, sheer bloody goal instinct. I also think he just isn't a diver anymore.

The Pepe sendoff was wonderful. He visciously attacked our best player, Müller, who had scored a penalty a few minutes before - first slapping him in the face, then shouting in his ear and giving him a headbang - the way he would just casually step on Messi's already broken hand in La Liga, with only a poo-poo from a docile referee to expect. Instead, Müller doesn't cry but leaps up,giving him a clear opinion in a non-violent way, and the referee just issues a sharp whistle, gives Pepe a short, disgusted look, rips out the red card, and never so much as glances at the guy anymore. Balls. I think that broke the Portuguese morals, and the rest is history.

[Heid the Ba]

I didn't see any of it, just the score afterwards. A hat-trick for Muller, what is this, the 1970s?

[Lance]

U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A

WUFF! WUFF! WUFF!

[Мастер]

Germany and Portugal are still on the television here, with about 15 minutes to go.

Relativity.

[Мастер]

Ghana let me down

[MM_Dandy]

HA!

[Enzo]

Play at some level of the championship is taking place here in the Lansing area.

Curling is the sport.

[MM_Dandy]

Curling, you say? What is it that they are curling?

[Arneb]

There was one comment from Austria re. yesterday's game which I liked: Schland müllert die armen Portugiesen.

[Lianachan]

I got quite into the curling at the winter olympics in 2010 - a sport I had previously been entirely disinterested in. Stayed up one night watching it on TV, and was surprised at how tactical it is. Also, since then I have acquired mutual friends with (what passes as) high profile Scottish curlers.

Arneb - you may not be surprised to hear that the English commentators and pundits here had a rather different view of the Portuguese sending off. Muller apparently "got him sent off", and that's a terrible thing to see, a disgrace, etc.. Personally, I think if you want to avoid being sent off then it helps not to backhand somebody in the face then run up to them shouting and bump their head with yours, but what do I know. I think their drummed up, xenophobic Dambusters footballing rivalry with you guys is hilarious, given that (as far as I'm aware) there is no such rivalry at all from your point of view.

[Heid the Ba]

I got quite into the curling at the winter olympics in 2010 - a sport I had previously been entirely disinterested in. Stayed up one night watching it on TV, and was surprised at how tactical it is. Also, since then I have acquired mutual friends with (what passes as) high profile Scottish curlers.[/url]
They can be quite high profile during the Olympics, but then go silent for nearly four years.

Arneb I think their drummed up, xenophobic Dambusters footballing rivalry with you guys is hilarious, given that (as far as I'm aware) there is no such rivalry at all from your point of view.

Amusing Dambuster fact No. 1: 20% of the aircrew were RCAF and 10% RAAF/RNZAF.
Amusing Dambuster fact No. 2: Another 15% or so were in the RAF but from the above countries plus South Africa, so barely half the aircrew were British, never mind English.

I didn't see Emg-ger-lund the other night but a couple of years ago I changed channel into one of their games:
The Memsahib: Who are those people dressed as Crusaders?
Me: England fans.
TM: Weren't the Crusaders and military orders mostly French?
Me: Yes they were.

[Arneb]

I got quite into the curling at the winter olympics in 2010 - a sport I had previously been entirely disinterested in. Stayed up one night watching it on TV, and was surprised at how tactical it is. Also, since then I have acquired mutual friends with (what passes as) high profile Scottish curlers.

It reminded me of cricket - something I enjoyed watching while I had tons of time, a lazy frame of mind and no appetite for sudden excitement. Quite enjoyable if you are in the mood, and definitely a game for intelligent people.

Arneb - you may not be surprised to hear that the English commentators and pundits here had a rather different view of the Portuguese sending off. Muller apparently "got him sent off", and that's a terrible thing to see, a disgrace, etc.. Personally, I think if you want to avoid being sent off then it helps not to backhand somebody in the face then run up to them shouting and bump their head with yours, but what do I know. I think their drummed up, xenophobic Dambusters footballing rivalry with you guys is hilarious, given that (as far as I'm aware) there is no such rivalry at all from your point of view.

Yeah, I am so surprised at Littlle England's reaaction, because really, between grown man, an elbow in the face is only friendly reminder of who the man in defence is. Re. the rivalry thing - I think you are exactly right. We still can't figure out why they get so excited about awar they won, after all, and for good reasons in a good cause. What football's got to with it we just can't fathom. And speaking of '66 - OK, it hurt, because it wasn't a goal. We had plenty of time, plenty of opportunity to even the score, and we did. So, what the fuss? Of course, every victory over England is especially sweet because we know they'll go into WWII hype about it.

[MM_Dandy]

Holy great wall of Mexico, Batman. You got to love a sport where a team is stunned (reeling, even) after a draw.

[Мастер]

Wow, so two of the three matches today were a draw?

I have no particular preferences until Saturday (go Switzerland!) and Monday (go Portugal!)

[Arneb]

I have no particular preferences until Saturday (go Switzerland!) and Monday (go Portugal!)

I'd have expected *some* support form your side, really...

[Мастер]

After Ghana let me down? Go 'schland!

[Heid the Ba]

There was one comment from Austria re. yesterday's game which I liked: Schland müllert die armen Portugiesen.

"müllert"? I know it is a pun but what does it mean?

[Arneb]

It's not even a pun. You may be aware that English tends to turn nouns into verbs rather liberally, like to OK, to leverage, to orgsam,to birth, to interface, to cache, to IRU (OK, maybe that is new), and German is infected by this to a degree. Since Thomas Müller scored three of the four goals, müllern, to müller might mean "to destroy the opposing team with three goals scored by Thomas Müller". So that's just a simple joke right there - See what Müller did, and make a new verb out of it.

As a secondary line, you may remember Gerd Müller, the Bayern München and Germany shooting star of the 70s. He was a forward famous for his goal instinct, averaging (see? averaging) more than 1 goal per game for his international career, and 389 goals in 453 games for Bayern. He was an instinctive forward, and his manner of scoring was often very unconventional, very hard to defend, very hard to anticipate. Therefore, the verb "müllern" was coined in the 70s in Germany to describe his particular style of scoring goals. To give that verb to Thomas Müller (Müller being the most frequent surname of all in Germany) can be considered a high honour.

[MM_Dandy]

Ah, so it's like getting Melvined.

Spain down 0-2 at the half, Chile is smelling the blood in the water.
Update: Same score in the 81st minute. Can you pull the goalie in soccer?

[Arneb]

Yes, very much.

And yes, very much.


BTW, both of the Chilean goals were very Mülleresque. Short turn, kicking while falling, the unexpected extra step. shooting without a run-up, using the tip of the shoe for kicking, unconventional trajectory of the ball...

[tubeswell]

Cameroon-0, Croatia-4

[Мастер]

It's not even a pun. You may be aware that English tends to turn nouns into verbs rather liberally, like to OK, to leverage, to orgsam,to birth, to interface, to cache, to IRU (OK, maybe that is new), and German is infected by this to a degree. Since Thomas Müller scored three of the four goals, müllern, to müller might mean "to destroy the opposing team with three goals scored by Thomas Müller". So that's just a simple joke right there - See what Müller did, and make a new verb out of it.

So would that be müllern, müllerte, gemüllert?

[Heid the Ba]

Thanks, I wasn't sure if there was more to it than that.

Since the English pundits are already talking about their team as having a Golden Generation I really want them to lose and The Sun headline tomorrow to be "Golden Shower". I suspect the first part will come to pass, but not the second.

[Arneb]

So would that be müllern, müllerte, gemüllert?

Exactly. As in English, practically all neologisms behave regularly.

Since the English pundits are already talking about their team as having a Golden Generation I really want them to lose and The Sun headline tomorrow to be "Golden Shower". I suspect the first part will come to pass, but not the second.

Ah, the joy, the infinite joy.