All things sporting [3]

So its not just in the UK where you open a huge bag of crisps and discover half a dozen huddled at the bottom of a bag of air then.

Doesn't matter what language its in , its still bloody good.

And the Oscar goes too

Love the Arabic commentary- foreign commentary always sounds better than British- they are probably saying much the same crap but they do it with so much more zest and passion!

Qatar has been accused of using slave labour for World Cup 2022 construction

Some of these stadiums are unbelievable.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/football/qatar-has-been-accused-of-using-slave-labour-for-world-cup-2022-construction/story-fnkjl6g2-1227356615019?from=public_rss&utm_content=travel&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_term=travel&utm_medium=banner

Anyone been reading about the FIFA arrests today? US coming in to save Europe once again.

chris63 wrote:

This type of over the top reaction over a rubber ball is why I don't go in for organized sports.

Woman struck by piece of bat at Fenway has 'life-threatening injuries'

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/05/us/boston-fan-struck-by-bat/index.html?sr=tw06515bostonfanstruckbybat1006pStoryLink

Good day for Anglo soccer today.  Both England and the US won in the Round of 16 at the Women's World Cup.  The US will play China in the quarterfinals while England will face the hosts, Canada, who won two days ago.  Australia has also advanced.

Not so good for the Fjordian ladies- losing to England- ouch!

I know with the US our women's team is light-years ahead of our men's team, at least in terms of how competitive they are at the international level.  But I don't know if that's just because American women kick ass soccer or because we're willing to put in the money and resources (from youth leagues on up) to help develop a world-class women's soccer team.  I would assume some of both.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Not so good for the Fjordian ladies- losing to England- ouch!

Another thing for our great nations to have in common.

Semifinals will be USA vs Germany and Japan vs England.  We had a family get-together today and I was pleasantly surprised how many people were aware of the Women's World Cup going on.  It's been getting pretty good focus at the local sports bar too, especially games the US is in, of course.  Germany will be our biggest challenge yet but I'm fairly optimistic. Playing in an adjacent country (particularly one with a lot of Americans and American sports fans living in it) surely helps.

Will be interesting to see how England do; hopefully they won't end up in a penalty shoot-out, or else will have better luck there than the English men tend to.

Another thing for our great nations to have in common.- Blue



Eldo- strangely no one cares here much and its had a 100th of the coverage the male game would get, if that- Im afraid womens football is still largely considered a bit of a joke by most football fans. Even female football fans seems to prefer the mens game to watching womens football.
I watched half a game recently, and the standard is a lot better than it was last time I watched one, but it is still occasionally laugh out loud funny and not in a good way- particularly for some reason goalkeepers.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Another thing for our great nations to have in common.- Blue

I've been watching Outlander a bit recently, which deals wih the time leading up to Culloden. It's a sad story, but I guess that's the way of war.

People wrongly tend to think of Culloden as Scots versus English- but Scots fought on both sides (there were 4 Scots regiments in the government army, my own clan among them), along with Irish on both sides as it was really a religious war between a would be Catholic Monarch and a Protestant Crown.

Very true. Although I guess people also see it as the day any dream of an independent Scotland was burried for well on 300 years. With Scots fighting Scots over wether their loyalty should lie to the powers in London or not. I guess it's not to different to your current referendum in that regard, just a lot less bloody.

I have been taking an interest in Women's football for about a year or so. A lot of the teams have only gone professional in the last 2 years and since then the quality has come on leaps and bounds.

I am pretty sure it wont ever reach the quality of the men's game just because of the limitations at the elite end of the physical spectrum, however I think in 3 or 4 years time it will be akin to Championship (second tier) for excitement.

NSFW

Pettytyrant101 wrote:strangely no one cares here much and its had a 100th of the coverage the male game would get, if that- Im afraid womens football is still largely considered a bit of a joke by most football fans. Even female football fans seems to prefer the mens game to watching womens football.
I watched half a game recently, and the standard is a lot better than it was last time I watched one, but it is still occasionally laugh out loud funny and not in a good way- particularly for some reason goalkeepers.

That's how most women's sports are seen in the US, especially the WNBA (women's basketball).  It takes a major female star to elevate the sport into the public consciousness, like the Williams sisters for tennis.  I think women's soccer benefits in the US from the relatively weakness of the men's game, both of which are probably related to a cultural perception of soccer as a girl's sport, starting at the youth level (not that that's necessarily accurate).  There have been some legit female stars from the US women's team, both today and from the '90s when we last won the World Cup.

But yeah, most of the time the response is this:

USA going to the final!