The Off Topic Topic

[Syt]

Yeah, we tried the foam balls too, but it rains too much in Denmark and being hit in the face by a soaked ball is not so funny.

I had forgotten about that.

(We aimed for the face  )

[celedhring]

There was this dude that always wore Pearl Jam shirts that would kick the shit out of my shins every time. For years I hated Pearl Jam because of him.

[Liep]

Yeah, we tried the foam balls too, but it rains too much in Denmark and being hit in the face by a soaked ball is not so funny.

I had forgotten about that.

(We aimed for the face  )

We all did I think. Luckily it was so uncontrollable in that state that we rarely hit.

[CountDeMoney]

Fucked up

1969 Chevrolet Impala With Idaho Plates Found Abandoned in London

LONDON — The owner of an abandoned Chevrolet muscle car with Idaho plates has 10 days to claim the rare vehicle before it gets "turned into soup cans," police said. The 1969 Chevrolet Impala SuperSport was likely stolen by joyriders and dumped by the side of the road in the Sutton area of south London last month, according to the city's Metropolitan Police.

With crash damage to its front and side, the vehicle's condition means it's unlikely to be auctioned. Officers' attempts to find the owner have so far proved "fruitless" and investigators are making one "final attempt" before the Chevy winds up on the scrapheap.

"Unless we find the owner, this classic American muscle car faces being turned into soup cans, which breaks my heart a little," Met police officer Jamie Stone said.

The owner of the vehicle, which has an Idaho license plate 2CJM614, may have been storing it in a garage in London and not realized it was taken, the Met said. However, it hadn't been registered in the U.K. "This is the only opportunity we have to try and reunite it with its owner before it gets destroyed," Stone added. The owner has until March 20 to claim the vehicle.

[Tamas]

My theory: in Europe from a sport you want something fluid and in a reasonable time span.

In the US it seems like a sport event is more like a night at the circus plus dinner. Football (soccer) is not good with that. American football, much more so.

[Syt]

I just had a look at my old school's webpage (I left there 23 years ago). A few teachers I had are still around. The students look pretty much the same on their group pictures (jeans + t-shirt/sweater + sneakers). Waaaaay more extracurricular activities, though. And a small cafeteria (we couldn't buy food at the time, but then the latest classes finished at 2pm). And there's courses on consumer awareness or youth culture in movies and afternoon courses in cooking or airbrushing.

And I doubt they still have the old Tandy computers with COMAL installed on them.

[Valmy]

My theory: in Europe from a sport you want something fluid and in a reasonable time span.

In the US it seems like a sport event is more like a night at the circus plus dinner. Football (soccer) is not good with that. American football, much more so.

Baseball and Basketball are more like that former.  Football is an all day party, but it happens once a week on traditionally the same day so there is that.

[crazy canuck]

I so do not get the complete world love for Soccer.

When played well it is a very good game to watch.  The problem for North Americans is we rarely get to see the quality of play the rest of the world takes for granted.

[Syt]

I so do not get the complete world love for Soccer.

When played well it is a very good game to watch.  The problem for North Americans is we rarely get to see the quality of play the rest of the world takes for granted.

That's part of it, but there'll still be people going to watch at a grassroots level (though in that case the social element is stronger than the sports one, I think).

[Eddie Teach]

When played well it is a very good game to watch.  The problem for North Americans is we rarely get to see the quality of play the rest of the world takes for granted.

That's not it at all. When we do watch it's generally World Cup or possibly Premier League games. These aren't compelling enough to make us look for it as a regular thing.

[Valmy]

I so do not get the complete world love for Soccer.

When played well it is a very good game to watch.  The problem for North Americans is we rarely get to see the quality of play the rest of the world takes for granted.

We have the Premier league televised nationally.  And our national team makes the World Cup every single time and we watch them.  More than I can say for a lot of the rest of the world.

But we have many major sports going on here all the time.  It is hard for new ones to edge in but soccer is doing pretty well.

[Grey Fox]

I so do not get the complete world love for Soccer.

When played well it is a very good game to watch.

but that seldom happens and while I do watch soccer, I find most game to be very boring affairs. I prefer Australian Rules Football over it, actually.

[Jacob]

I think the big determinant in whether you find soccer boring or not, is whether you can find excitement in the positioning, strategic, and tactical play that does not directly involve attempts at goal.

If you cannot, and only things fairly directly related to scoring are exciting to you, then you'll likely find association football boring. Conversely, if you can find a 10 minute long battle for supremacy on the midfield strategically engaging, then you'll find it a lot more engaging; but it seems, to a lot of non-fans of association football, that's just pointless dickering about.

[CountDeMoney]

I think the big determinant in whether you find soccer boring or not, is whether you can find excitement in the positioning, strategic, and tactical play that does not directly involve attempts at goal.

I find that exciting in hockey;  unfortunately soccer doesn't seem to have any of that.  Just a bunch of swarthy guys running around and falling down in pain when they're not touched. 

[crazy canuck]

When played well it is a very good game to watch.  The problem for North Americans is we rarely get to see the quality of play the rest of the world takes for granted.

That's not it at all. When we do watch it's generally World Cup or possibly Premier League games. These aren't compelling enough to make us look for it as a regular thing.

Well yeah, the World Cup only happens every four years which was my point.