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Author Topic:   It's a World Cup year!
caffeine
Member (Idle past 1015 days)
Posts: 1800
From: Prague, Czech Republic
Joined: 10-22-2008


(1)
Message 1 of 291 (555557)
04-14-2010 7:23 AM


Yes, that's right! There's only about 57 days and 11 hours left till the start of the most important international sporting event in the world! Now that we've reached the point in the season where both my English and Czech teams seem pretty secured in mid-table irrelevancy, it's time to start getting excited about the summer spectacle!
I'll miss the opening ceremony and first game due to being at work, though I can't say the thought of not seeing Mexico beat South Africa fills me with gloom. The game I imagine most of this board are looking forward to more will be Saturday evening (or late morning/early afternoon for most of you) - England-USA. I know that the English have a tendency to say this more often than is justified, but I do genuinely think that this is our best chance at winning it for a long time - we finally have a competent manager to go with good players. The US is our biggest challenge in the group stage, but I'm still confident that'll be a comfortable win.
I don't actually think we'll win the tournament, though. My money there has to go on Spain, or possibly Italy*. I'm hoping more the former, as Italy are one of the most boring sides in Europe - if they win it will be by closing down games and taking all the fun out of it. I have no idea whether Brazil are serious contenders this time, as I haven't seen them play for years.
*actually, my money went on France, but that's because the odds were so long and the French are stuffy enough to luck their way to victory.
Predictions? Hopes? General comments?

Replies to this message:
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Taq
Member
Posts: 9944
Joined: 03-06-2009
Member Rating: 4.8


Message 2 of 291 (555598)
04-14-2010 12:29 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by caffeine
04-14-2010 7:23 AM


Ahh yes, the one month every 4 years when Americans pretend to care about soccer.

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 Message 1 by caffeine, posted 04-14-2010 7:23 AM caffeine has replied

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caffeine
Member (Idle past 1015 days)
Posts: 1800
From: Prague, Czech Republic
Joined: 10-22-2008


(1)
Message 3 of 291 (555612)
04-14-2010 1:47 PM
Reply to: Message 2 by Taq
04-14-2010 12:29 PM


Give them some credit. They all got excited when they beat Spain in the Confederations Cup.

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Hyroglyphx
Inactive Member


(1)
Message 4 of 291 (555614)
04-14-2010 1:53 PM
Reply to: Message 2 by Taq
04-14-2010 12:29 PM


Ahh yes, the one month every 4 years when Americans pretend to care about soccer.
Heh, too true... A major factor, I think, is that no stations cover football (soccer) in which to watch it. I think that partly attributes to the lack of fanfare in America.
Most sports bore me to watch, but I love playing most all of them. The only sport I actually watch with religious conviction is MMA. Everything else? Eh... I'll just catch the highlights on Sports Center.

"Political correctness is tyranny with manners." -- Charlton Heston

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Taq
Member
Posts: 9944
Joined: 03-06-2009
Member Rating: 4.8


Message 5 of 291 (555618)
04-14-2010 2:21 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by Hyroglyphx
04-14-2010 1:53 PM


Heh, too true... A major factor, I think, is that no stations cover football (soccer) in which to watch it. I think that partly attributes to the lack of fanfare in America.
ESPN does a decent job of covering MLS, so it's not a complete media blackout. Soccer is becoming more popular here in the states, but it is hard to compete with (american) football, basketball, and baseball for air time and for atheletes.
However, World Cup tickles the patriotic sentiment in Americans so it will get a lot of coverage. The same thing happens for Olympic events. There is almost no coverage of alpine skiing anymore, but it draws big air time during the Olympics because we want to see Americans win in the Olympics. The biggest TV crowd for a hockey game by far this year was the US v. Canada game. I would suspect that the US v. England game will draw a huge American TV crowd.

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onifre
Member (Idle past 2941 days)
Posts: 4854
From: Dark Side of the Moon
Joined: 02-20-2008


Message 6 of 291 (555622)
04-14-2010 3:05 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by Hyroglyphx
04-14-2010 1:53 PM


A major factor, I think, is that no stations cover football (soccer) in which to watch it. I think that partly attributes to the lack of fanfare in America.
Americans will only enjoy what they get expossed to on a regular basis. Who knew we would love to watch Jersey douchebags punch women in the face so much? Be we do! Season 2 is Miami baby!
The main reason soccer isn't televised the way baseball, basketball and football are shown is because soccer plays none stop for 45 min, no breaks. Which means, no commercial breaks. Which means advertisers can't shove Mc Donalds and Nike down your throat every 5 minutes. If advertisers can't advertise, it won't get shown on TV. Period.
MLS tried to change this by adding more breaks in the game to allow advertisers air time. Which in my opinion is pathetic that American TV has to go that route, while the rest of the world can go an hour and a half without 100 commercials.
- Oni

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Straggler
Member
Posts: 10333
From: London England
Joined: 09-30-2006


Message 7 of 291 (555623)
04-14-2010 3:05 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by caffeine
04-14-2010 7:23 AM


He Shoots. He Scores
A world cup thread. Nice one.
I am only upset that you got in before me.
Predictions? Hopes? General comments?
Spain to win. Brazil to do well. Argentina to do badly (my other half is Argentinian so there is some rivalry there) and England to get to the semi- finals before losing heroically but dissappointingly on penalties to Germany as always (it may be that this is impossible in terms of fixtures I haven't checked - but something like that anyway)
I also predict that I will make a series of drunken posts in this thread detailing England's highs and lows in highly embarressing fashion.

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Straggler
Member
Posts: 10333
From: London England
Joined: 09-30-2006


Message 8 of 291 (555624)
04-14-2010 3:09 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by onifre
04-14-2010 3:05 PM


Tragedy and Triumph
The main reason soccer isn't televised the way baseball, basketball and football are shown is because soccer plays none stop for 45 min, no breaks. Which means, no commercial breaks. Which means advertisers can't shove Mc Donalds and Nike down your throat every 5 minutes. If advertisers can't advertise, it won't get shown on TV. Period.
A national tragedy no less.
MLS tried to change this by adding more breaks in the game to allow advertisers air time.
Football (i.e. soccer) in quarters. Plus a whole host of other suggestions to make it more televisually acceptable to an American audience (or as you rightly point out the "sponsors")
Which in my opinion is pathetic that American TV has to go that route, while the rest of the world can go an hour and a half without 100 commercials.
Games on the BBC have no commercials at all. Games on other UK channels ram as many in at half time as they can whilst still having a bit of half time chit chat analysis with the pundits.

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onifre
Member (Idle past 2941 days)
Posts: 4854
From: Dark Side of the Moon
Joined: 02-20-2008


Message 9 of 291 (555628)
04-14-2010 3:50 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by Straggler
04-14-2010 3:09 PM


Re: Tragedy and Triumph
A national tragedy no less.
I should add that spanish TV (Goal TV, ESPN Espaol and some others in different markets) do show the game without commercial breaks - except for half time when (like the other UK channels that you mentioned) they ram as many commercials as they can.
Games on the BBC have no commercials at all. Games on other UK channels ram as many in at half time as they can whilst still having a bit of half time chit chat analysis with the pundits.
Either one, IMO, is cool. As long as the periods get played and aired in its entirety I'm good with them advertising as much as they can during half time.
Anywhoo...
Spain all the way with a lot of sympathetic support for the US team, if only to watch them upset you're beloved England. This is where my heart lies, but...
I think you'll be surprised big time by Argentina, a la Italy in the last cup. They won't win like Italy did, but they'll do very well.
England? pfft, you better HOPE they win their Group and the US doesn't, cause man oh man will you have to deal with me.
However... If I was a gambling man, my money would be on the African teams - mainly Ivory Coast.
- Oni

This message is a reply to:
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Taq
Member
Posts: 9944
Joined: 03-06-2009
Member Rating: 4.8


Message 10 of 291 (555632)
04-14-2010 4:14 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by onifre
04-14-2010 3:05 PM


The main reason soccer isn't televised the way baseball, basketball and football are shown is because soccer plays none stop for 45 min, no breaks.
Baseball and american football were way more popular than soccer before the invention of the TV. If there was a huge audience for soccer then the sport would be in control of when the advertisements occurred, and companies would be lined up to take those spots. There never has been a strong audience for soccer in the States.
Just last weekend the Masters was on with very limited commercial interruption. The tradition has been 2 minutes of commercials every hour during the final round of the Masters broadcast. It can be done. The reason MLS put in more breaks for commercials was so ESPN/ABC could make money on the low audience draw.

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onifre
Member (Idle past 2941 days)
Posts: 4854
From: Dark Side of the Moon
Joined: 02-20-2008


Message 11 of 291 (555641)
04-14-2010 6:04 PM
Reply to: Message 10 by Taq
04-14-2010 4:14 PM


Baseball and american football were way more popular than soccer before the invention of the TV.
Why were these sports promoted as US sports? I don't want to drag this thread off course but there is a history of post-war propaganda surrounding these two sports.
There never has been a strong audience for soccer in the States.
How, if the US was built by immigrants from the countries that LOVE these sports? There always has been a strong audience. But, the audience that loves it are the "people" no one really cares about - foreigners. Watch spanish TV, it's all soccer.
More so, are you ignoring the millions of hispanics and people from europe, africa, australia, middle east, asian, etc., who currently live here and love the sport? Maybe they're not as seen as some obnoxious football fan, but they're there.
But now we're getting into why people don't follow the game, which is different to why TV networks don't promote it. TV network's specific reason is commercials, on regular, everyday games. An exception or two can be made, but overall, unless the way the game is played gets changed, normal coverage of a soccer game would suck for advertisers.
Just last weekend the Masters was on with very limited commercial interruption. The tradition has been 2 minutes of commercials every hour during the final round of the Masters broadcast. It can be done. The reason MLS put in more breaks for commercials was so ESPN/ABC could make money on the low audience draw.
And they'll do the same for the World Cup. They do it every four years. But normally, that is not the case for golf nor soccer. You are talking about an exception to the normal process.
- Oni

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 Message 10 by Taq, posted 04-14-2010 4:14 PM Taq has replied

Replies to this message:
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Straggler
Member
Posts: 10333
From: London England
Joined: 09-30-2006


Message 12 of 291 (555648)
04-14-2010 6:30 PM
Reply to: Message 9 by onifre
04-14-2010 3:50 PM


Re: Tragedy and Triumph
Spain all the way with a lot of sympathetic support for the US team, if only to watch them upset you're beloved England. This is where my heart lies, but...
There is a line in the sand and you have crossed it sir!! Let the banter wars commence!!!
I think you'll be surprised big time by Argentina, a la Italy in the last cup.
With Diego as coach? I remain unconvinced. They have an understandable but irrational soft spot for the guy but he is awful. Despite my domestic rivalry I cannot but secretly hope that they do OK. Domesticity is turnin me soft in me old age.
England? pfft, you better HOPE they win their Group and the US doesn't, cause man oh man will you have to deal with me.
We'll cross that unlikley bridge should we ever come to it. But if you should lose...... Expect the drunken mirth of millions to be unleashed in your personal direction
However... If I was a gambling man, my money would be on the African teams - mainly Ivory Coast.
To win? Nah. Aint gonna happen.

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nwr
Member
Posts: 6408
From: Geneva, Illinois
Joined: 08-08-2005
Member Rating: 4.2


Message 13 of 291 (555653)
04-14-2010 7:00 PM
Reply to: Message 11 by onifre
04-14-2010 6:04 PM


onifre writes:
Baseball and american football were way more popular than soccer before the invention of the TV.
Why were these sports promoted as US sports? I don't want to drag this thread off course but there is a history of post-war propaganda surrounding these two sports.
It's probably because the yanks never were any good at cricket or at Aussie rules football

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onifre
Member (Idle past 2941 days)
Posts: 4854
From: Dark Side of the Moon
Joined: 02-20-2008


Message 14 of 291 (555656)
04-14-2010 7:19 PM
Reply to: Message 13 by nwr
04-14-2010 7:00 PM


It's probably because the yanks never were any good at cricket or at Aussie rules football
Haha! True. But honestly I don't think the "yanks" were any good at any sports, that's why they quickly switched to black people and hispanics.
"We don't like soccer cause it's played by foreigners and minorities. But we like football, baseball and basketball because....um, well, ah. Hmm..."
This comment should piss a few people off - lol
- Oni

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Straggler
Member
Posts: 10333
From: London England
Joined: 09-30-2006


Message 15 of 291 (555661)
04-14-2010 7:40 PM
Reply to: Message 14 by onifre
04-14-2010 7:19 PM


Witless Banter
You piss people off? Never.
Frankly I am still pissed that someone started a World Cup thread before I did (curse you Caffeine!!)
Is it too early to start an Olympics 2012 thread.......? (I was onsite in Stratford the other day - Place is looking gooooood)

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