What sports teams do you support?

[Arneb]

...in football. Greser&Lenz have done it again.


The text reads, "Are you still in the lead or already asleep", parodying IKEA's current ad slogan, "Wohnst Du noch oder lebst Du schon" (are you still just inhabiting or already living").

My only nitpick is that Swedish doesn't use ø (as Danish does), but ö like German.

[Heid the Ba]

If in doubt blame the referee; though we have some justification for it.

[Lianachan]

The Scotland male team, of course, can similarly (and rightfully) blame the officials for their defeat to Wales - and some other recent poor results too.

[Heid the Ba]

Ross County -v- ICT in the Cup. That will be standing room only.

[Lianachan]

It sure will, and we don't even have any standing room any more.

[Heid the Ba]

I should be far too old to be amused by this, but everyone's least favourite test nation play tomorrow at the Wankhede. Here's hoping for another result like last week's.

[Heid the Ba]

In other news: Old Rangers won their case* against HMRC and don't have to pay c£47million in taxes. Money they don't have, of course. The former owner is now banging on about how this was a completely spurious case which rendered the club unsellable and consequently went bust.

There are two problems with this:
1. It was decided by a 2 - 1 majority
2. The previous owner tried to negotiate a settlement.

Fallout from this means:
1. that the SPL case to strip Rangers of titles is now on a very shoogly peg.#
2. more amusingly the players, former owner and staff who were beneficiaries of the payments may have to repay them.
3. there is more money to pay HMRC for the other debts due to them.



* the case was over payments to players which HMRC said were salary, and therefore taxable while Rangers said they were loans.

# this involves the SPL claiming that Rangers made undeclared payments to players in contravention of SPL rules. Since these have now been ruled as loans the SPL have no real basis for their action. New Rangers are fighting this and even if the SPL fail to be reasonable (they rarely have before) or logical (rarer still) the Rangers fans have a fund of about £500,000 set aside to fight this in the courts, money that the SPL can't match.

[Arneb]

Not really my kind of sports, but I think Sebastian Vettel accomplished something remarkable today: Three Formula 1 Championships in a row, and three totally different ones: First, coming from behind to snatch the title when all the odds were against him; second, dominating the entire season start to finish showing skill and driving a car no other team could remotely match; and third, getting off to a difficult start, fighting off an impressive challenge and clinging to the title by a hair after two races in which he won indispensable points starting off from last place.

My hat is off. As it is to his formidable challenger(s).

[Heid the Ba]

Rugby World Cup draw has been made.

We are in with RSA and Samoa, we won't beat the former but should beat the latter.

England, the hosts, have Australia and Wales. Either England go out or the Welshies do.

I did notice that German won a recent qualifier against Moldova, you might be there yet Arneb!

[tubeswell]

Bloody Hell

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/ar ... d=10851411

Its taken me a couple of weeks to even get to saying that - such is my state of sporting mortification

[Heid the Ba]

Gordon Strachan* is the new Scotland football manager. I have no problem with this other than he is a Dirty Hibbee and and an unreconstructed bigot and misogynist.



*That is Strachan with a good Scots "ach" in the middle, unlike his distant cousin Michael Stray-han who used to play for the NY Giants and confused me no end.

[MM_Dandy]

Oh, that reminds me, the Giants cleverly avoided their annual November swoon by having it in December. They stumbled to a 9-7 record (one better than my prediction), and did not qualify for the playoffs (as I had predicted). And speaking of the gap-toothed devil, Strahan is a finalist for the NFL Hall of Fame this year, but I don't think he'll get in just yet.

[Arneb]

Speaking of American Football.

Maybe the American sports buffs here can give me some insight. I read that a professional baseball player has, oh, 5 or 6 games a week; a basketballer and ice hockey player maybe 3. But those American Football players only play what, 20 games a season? That seems a strange break in culture somehow. They hardly play at all, it seems. Can someone explain? Is it the physical demand of the game (but hey, there is ice hockey, and there is handball, if you ever heard of that one). Why that stark difference in game frequency between your 4 favourite sports?

[Enzo]

It is pretty demanding physically - think rugby rather than soccer. A game causes a lot of stress and damage to the bodies, which need to heal over the week. During the season they get a day or maybe two off, but otherwise practice every day. They have an off season of maybe four months. Start of summer is about the start of pre-season, a lot of practice and getting in shape.

Baseballers play almost every day, but pitchers have to get three days rest between games - at least the starting pitchers. Baseball tends to be relatively leisurely. Moments of intense activity, but a lot of time spent being alert and focused and no0t moving a lot.


I used to play pickup football. Meaning we just show up at the field each weekend and pick teams. One year - 1980 - I was in Richmond Virginia working at a large theme park (amusement park). After the park closed in the evening, a bunch of us played football every thursday night. Different divisions of the park had teams. The rides team, the concessions team, the food service team. I was on the games team. That was the last year I played - hey, I was in my 30s, OK? - because I soon found that the aches of last thrusday's game had not healed by the start of this thursday's game.

Basketball is supposed to be non-contact, but there is a lot of bumping and pushing, but I think the main demand is to have endurance and stamina for the constant motion. ALong with the precision of shooting. I guess that description fits soccer too.

Hockey is rougher, a lot of body checking, but not really the same level of violence that a couple of 320 pound NFL lineman colliding at full speed create.

It does take a football team all week to get ready for a game.

[Arneb]

Thanks a lot, Enzo :)

Your description of Baseball reminds me of my summer in England as a final year student when I switched on the TV one morning bumping right into an England player's hattrick (Dominic Cork, vs. West Indies), and thought, wow, there's an exciting game!

[Мастер]

I guess that description fits soccer too.

Soccer must be pretty tough, just look at how the players go down and scream in pain whenever anyone brushes against them :)

[Enzo]

US football has that too. Watch the punter fall down as if someone pushed him whenever an opposing player comes within 5 years.

[Lance]

US football has that too. Watch the punter fall down as if someone pushed him whenever an opposing player comes within 5 years.

Yards?

[Мастер]

If you're moving at 0.0000000648609 mph, they're about the same :)

[Lance]

If you're moving at 0.0000000648609 mph, they're about the same :)

[Мастер]

If you're moving at 0.0000000648609 mph, they're about the same :)

I was expecting a response along those lines, but I figured it would come from Enzo

[Enzo]

AH yes, that would have been yards...

[tubeswell]

... but it WAS Enzo.

[MM_Dandy]

I think Enzo has it about right. North American football (including the Canadians) is probably more like rugby than soccer. Although, I'd say rugby is yet more demanding, with less stoppage. But, what I want to know is how often do pro rugby leagues have games?

I will say that hockey players impress me. It's a really physical game, even if 300-lb linemen aren't jumping on top of you, and they play hard day to day (basically the same schedule as the NBA). Plus, they don't seem to flop as much. At least, I can't recall seeing players going down like a limp noodle with exaggerated flailing unless they were actually hit with some force. At least in the NFL, with regards to kickers, the call is relatively easy to make, so flopping is rightfully ignored. Elsewhere, not so much.

[tubeswell]

I think Enzo has it about right. North American football (including the Canadians) is probably more like rugby than soccer. Although, I'd say rugby is yet more demanding, with less stoppage. But, what I want to know is how often do pro rugby leagues have games?

Seems pretty much daily (or at least several times a week) in this neck of the woods (but England still managed to beat the ABs at the end of last year).