Hortlund's New Career.

[Pat]

AIK defeated Djurgården today, as expected

Update on the goal-post issue:
The Swedish climate is not always kind to our football fields, even though we play our seasons from spring to fall and not fall to spring as most other countries, so some teams have turned to artificial grass. Apparently the three arenas in question are ones with artificial grass. Why they for this reason don't have their goal posts fixed I don't know.

Is this the Sandbox?

I suppose, now that you're here...

[Admiral Yi]

I read an interesting short story ages ago (maybe in Sports Illustrated) about a baseball hustler who went town to town challenging local semi-pro teams to money matches, them against himself as pitcher and whatever local high school talent he could pick up.  His trick was to sneak onto the field at night, dig up the pitching mound and move it back a couple feet.  Then he told his pickup batters to sit on fast balls, knowing that all the other guy's offspeed stuff was going to bounce in the dirt way in front of home plate.

[Jaron]

Only Europeans get this worked up over something as stupid as soccer.

[Pat]

Of course you would never understand; for you sports teams are no more than shallow money-making franchises with rediculous by-names that moves to other towns when they are bought or sold. I wouldn't be able to feel very strongly about that, either. My father signed me in as a member of AIK the day I was born.

And you're the only ones who don't understand football.

[Agelastus]

Only Europeans get this worked up over something as stupid as soccer.

Given the sport's popularity in South and Central America (where two countries fought a brief war over a football match, allegedly) you may want to extend this generalisation to at least one other continent.

[Pat]

Indeed, and having been in Beijing at the time of the asian championship final between China and Japan I can assure you they take their football seriously as well. At least I found the thousands of riot-gear-clad police marching in square columns outside the arena and the, despite the thousands of riot-gear-clad police, full-scale rioting after the game, indicative of that.


(Though admittedly we had been sold phony tickets and had to see the game from a nearby sports bar after we were denied admittance And we only read about the rioting in the international press later (there was not a word in the local english-language newspapers).)

[Neil]

Only Europeans get this worked up over something as stupid as soccer.

Non-whites and scum get worked up about it.

[garbon]

Scum get worked up about it.

I don't get worked up about soccer.

[Valmy]

Given the sport's popularity in South and Central America (where two countries fought a brief war over a football match, allegedly) you may want to extend this generalisation to at least one other continent.

One area where Venezuela is indeed a superior country.

[Neil]

Scum get worked up about it.

I don't get worked up about soccer.

Yeah, but you're still non-white.

[garbon]

Yeah, but you're still non-white.

Which is why I removed that part of your statement.