(no subject)

[godricgal]

The world cup has started. The streets are deserted. There is no traffic, no pedestrians. It's eerily quiet. I look forward not to the point at which the match ends, there will be much noise, for it looks like we're going to win. 

I'll have to do my shopping early tonight: you NEVER go out on the night of an England game, it's just not fun.

It saddens me that football is the only thing that can muster up a bit of national pride.

 

Seriously, it’s freakily quiet.

ETA We won thanks to an own goal, how funny is that?!

Comments

[gijane7702.livejournal.com]

It must be weird to see the streets of London so deserted!!

England is up in the favorites to win (how did the USA team place 5th?!?) Once, they choke, I'll be rooting for England as well :D

~C

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

Dude, Englands not going to win the world cup. It's practically the law. We always f-up at the last minute.

[gijane7702.livejournal.com]

So, England's like the Boston Red Sox of the World Cup, eh?

Well, never say never. The Red Sox did finally win a World Series! YAY!!

Baseball's a cool sport...I enjoy watching it (esp Red Sox/Yankee games), but American Football is my sport. Come August...WOOT!!

Football (soccer) I like. Jut not playing it. My poor little nose!

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

I don't mind rugby, which is like big boys American Football - none of that pussy padding;)

It always amuses English people that you have a World Series and only Americans participate.

I like to win at sports like cricket and rugby because it pisses of the Australians, with whom we have a friendly sporting rivalry. 2004 was sweet because we won both the rugby World Cup and the Ashes:D It'll never happen again so we savour the victory, probably more than we should.

[gloryforever.livejournal.com]

I think the "World" part of it came about when they let the two Canadian teams (the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montreal Expos) join the MLB. Still, it's a bit rich, isn't it?

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

I didn't know the Canadian teams took part. But yes, it's still a wee bit of an exaggeration!

[gijane7702.livejournal.com]

Pussy padding???!!

That just proves we're smarter than you lot...less injury with the padding :D

'World Series' cause Canada plays too!! Two countries equals the worls you know *rolls eyes*

~C

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

So...do you like football (it's weird calling it football when it's soccer to me)? Or is it just a national interest sort of thing? I'm afraid sports don't really do much for me. Skim the Quidditch chapters? Definitely. :)

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

I don't like football, no. It seems to be the only thing that can collectively excite and inspire passion in people over here:( It is the national sport, I'd much rather it were rugby or cricket or Quidditch;)
The Quidditch chapters aren't my favorite but I do love the Luna commentary in HPB.

[mrstater.livejournal.com]

The Luna commentary is fabulous. Though I did love Lee Jordan, too. Hehe -- and you know McGonagall wanted desperately to laugh at all the off-the-wall things Luna said, and all Lee's inappropriate remarks. ;)

[gloryforever.livejournal.com]

"LEE JORDAN, ARE YOU GETTING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"

Lee was amazing, really.

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

Commentary is definitely the best thing about Quidditch matches. JKR said that she didn't like writing them for exactly the reason that they're not my favorite parts to read - there only so many ways that a match can be different.

[gloryforever.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, I think it's a world wide trend ... the teachers and I were talking on Wednesday about it. Our people only get the meaning of mexican pride on two ocassions: September 16th and whenever the national soccer team is playing.

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

Really? I thought Mexicans would be 'rallying together' sort of folk. Heh, well you learn something new everyday. At least y'all still celebrate your independence day. National pride over here is exclusively reserved for sport. St. George's Day merrily passes us by, year in year out.

[gijane7702.livejournal.com]

Is St George's Day supposed to be like your equivalent to the Fourth of July?

That's too bad :(

~C

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

Well St. George is the patron saint of England. He killed a dragon.

It's not really the equivalent to an independence day, whether in Mexico or in the States, but it's our national day.

[gijane7702.livejournal.com]

I KNOW who St George is!!! Bloody hell woman!

I was just trying to figure out what his day would be here. *sigh*

Poor GG, you're right, the English should have more pride in their country. Tis a fantastic place.

*thinks of Hugh Grant's speech in 'Love, Actually' when his Prime Minister tells the America President to sod off and says how great England is*

Great scene!! To bad Tony'll never tell George to screw off :(

[gijane7702.livejournal.com]

Hey can you put the 'N' on America for me?

~C

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

You can't edit comments. If you want to, delete it and write it again.

[gijane7702.livejournal.com]

Forget that...just so you know, there's supposed to be a 'N' there :D

Log onto MSN!!

~C

[patriot-jackie.livejournal.com]

FOOTBALL!!


T.T Oh how I miss thee...

Vince Young - though he's a Longhorn, (I'm a solid Aggie), I'm totally psyched that he was signed to the Tenessee Titans!! XD

So... o.o Y'all ever watch real football over there? XD

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

Er...I didn't understand much of that!

Yeah, we (well, not me) watch real football all the time - the World Cups going on and everything:D In the winter you can't escape it, every bloody channel, every radio station. Hours and hours of read results on BB1 at the weekend - (IMHO the only thing more boring in broadcasting than the football results show, is the shipping forecast, which is also rather lengthy)

Sorry, I'll try to stop be facetious long enough to answer your real question: In a word, no. They show it on Channel 5 at like, 4 in the morning. Channel 5 doesn't not have much of a reputation owing to the fact that you're lucky if you can get your tele to receive it. We've been waiting for them to fix it since they launched about (Hmmmm) 10-15 years ago(?) I think we get more baseball than American Football.

I get this ribbing from the Australians as well. When they use the word football, it refers to rugby league (I think it's league, but it could be Union). Then they complicate matters further still, by having a American Football-esque game called 'Aussie Rules' but strictly speaking it has more in common with Gaelic football.

I know far too much about the subject for a person who claims not to like sports;)

[patriot-jackie.livejournal.com]

LOL

Vince Young (the dude in orange in the pic) was the star quarterback of Texas University, and he was a STAR! He can run, throw, and even defend! O.O That guy makes PLAYS. Texas A&M or the Aggies are sworn rivals of UT. ^^ The Tenessee Titans are one of my favorite teams; they signed Young for their team. ^^ I can't wait to see him in action. - And actually be able to CHEER for him! XD

Well, there's nothing like going to a friday night high school football game. ^_^ And then college... O.O

Marching Band: a one-way ticket to FB fandom. XD

Regardless of the fact that FB is my favorite sport, I've never made it to a NFL (National Football League) game. :( I shall make the journey one day!!

Speaking of marching bands, not to be random, but y'all do have those over there, right? o.o

[godricgal.livejournal.com]

The difference between college football and the NFL has always baffled me, not that I've really taken the time to discover it. Perhaps you could enlighten me:)

Well we do have marching bands but not in the sense that you are talking about me thinks. Our military has marching bands and there are several private bands across the country, but not in schools. Our school system is sooooo different from yours. We don't have the inbuilt social structure that you guys do. You go to school, you do your lessons, you go home. End of story. We have the school teams but if you tried to get a crowd to turn up to a match, you'd have a tough job on your hands. But that's part of the English culture of not giving a damn:( There is no class president, no prom, no graduation. Given how much you have to slog your arse off for GCSEs and A-Levels the end of school is somewhat anticlimactic. You turn up, pick up your results envelope and go home, in many cases never to return again.

I personally think that they ought to try and introduce some sort of social system into schools, it might foster a bit of pride and loyalty. But, the idea of attending an American-type school scares the hell out of me. I once went along on a school trip in California, I was terrified, but then I was 14 and they were all seniors.

[patriot-jackie.livejournal.com]

Heeey... This is random. ^^; But it's been nagging me. >.> Everyone has some comment that I haven't responded to that's been nagging at me.

So. NFL vs College Football.

College Football - it's played by college students. You don't get paid to do it, though you can receive full-ride athletic scholarships. The rules of CB differ in minor aspects from the NFL. - Little things like that they can't stop playing the game for commercial breaks or you can't celebrate maddly after a killer play. (I HATE that rule!) Basically, it's the step right below the NFL; you get recruited to the NFL through college. (Though you can also come out of high school; that's not often, though.)

CB is played in conferences because we have hundreds of colleges, so it'd be insane to attempt getting every team to play one another. There's a ranking system, and if you win your conference, you get to go to a bowl game where you play another team who also won their conference. By this way, you get the national team standings. If you do extremely well, you can be placed in a better conference the next year. - The best conference is the Big 12 - the top 12 teams, basically. If you do extremely poor, you'll probably be moved down a conference.

NFL - Professional football. You get paid uber gargantuan sums of money to play on a field for 4 hours. - And that includes halftime!

Each team comes from a different city in the nation, and you have two Confederations: the National Football Confederation and the American Football Confederation. Basically, they're like the conferences CB has for the pros.

The Super Bowl is the match up between the NFC and the AFC; no teams between these two confederations play a game against each other until this game. The winners of the NFC and AFC face off in the most-watched sports event in the US. :)

And then you have the Pro-Bowl which is just stupid... The best players in the league play another game of NFC vs AFC. Not many people watch it; you pick teams, not players or confederations. ;)

--

So. Despite the TOTAL randomness, I hope I answered your questions. ^_^