techno.blog("Dion")

I had to travel for 24 hours, with 3 flights one way. Luckily the timing of the flights was spot on for the footy action. This meant that I was able to watch yesterdays games at pubs in various airports.

What was interesting about this was seeing all of the people getting together to watch. I saw *so* many people in country football jerseys all over.

It also proved to me the small world philosophy. I was sitting next to a couple from Wales and Leeds, and after hanging out we found out that we both live in the same town in the US. In fact, the guy is the referee for UW Madison. Very cool.

This reminds me of the big screen change at this world cup. In the past everyone was told to NOT travel to the world cup country unless you have tickets to stop fighting in the streets. This cup has been a testiment to the changes, as we haven’t had the same problems (yet. long may it continue).

Also, instead of trying to fit into small bars to watch the game, Germany, and other countries, have setup huge HD setups so you get to watch the game with thousands of people from all over the world. Some friends have said that this experience has been better than the games themselves!

Kudos to the Germs, and everyone having a great time over there.

Now I need to find the perfect place to watch the England game tomorrow where I am.

Well, a great weekend spent watching the World Cup.

A few non-profound thoughts:

• There are no crappy teams. Gone are the years of beating the African teams 10-0. Now Sweden can face a team of 10 men from a country of 1MM and only draw (Go Trinidad!). And teams like the Ivory Coast look great (losing to Argies isn’t a bad thing)
• Why do latinos fall over in agony every time someone gets near them? I think that players should put on a “pain tester” gadget that lets the referee know if the player is in pain or not (and if so how much). If you clutch your head after falling over you get a red card.
• I hate my cable company for not having ESPN 2 in HD.
• England got lucky, but they have time to step up.
• Footy brings together nations.
• The US commentary is so painful. I wish I could get the BBC feed

It is finally coming up. The 2006 world cup is about to kick off in Germany, and I am excited for a month of thrill-seeking. The olympics are great, but this is the world event that I look out for.

I love the fact that FIFA has more members than the UN.

How great it is that a round ball can bring together so many in a celebration of world sport.

Makes the World Series look “quaint” :)

Robert Kraft, the US owner of the New England Patiots (American Football), and the New England Revolution Soccer team, has been pegged as a possible owner of Liverpool football team (English Premier League).

This comes after Malcolm Glazer (another american and owner of the Tampa Bay Bucs) bought Manchester United.

Now, many claim that Kraft is very different, and actually cares and understands the game of soccer, however the first thing that the Liverpool faithful supporters here from him is:

Liverpool is a great brand

That made my cringe. A brand? This is a team that people in Liverpool spill blood over. This is their city (with Everton ;). They have an immense legacy in football, and you call it a brand????

That just keeps promoting the american stereotype!

It was a good day for british sport.

Football (Soccer)

England 3 – Argentina 2

Rugby Union

England 26 – Australia 16

Rugby League

Great Britain 38 – New Zealand 12

Cricket

Pakistan (244-6) v England

I have been watching the Ashes all summer. It has been a fantastic spectacle, and will push forward cricket for sure.

We had our fair share of luck (winning 4 of the 5 tosses), but the lads fought very hard and deserved to win.

Well played both teams.

I went through a timewarp yesterday. Along with family, we trekked to Chicago to see the English football team play the US at Soldier field. As soon as we were there we got transported to Little Britain. Every accent was english. British soccer jerseys (a bunch of people switched their England shirts for Liverpool ;) were all over.

The brits really know how to have a good time. I love hearing the chants throughout the game. On the US side all you hear is “Goals. Goals. Goals. For the Red, White and Blue” blaring from the speaker system, versus gems such as:

“Are you Scotland in disguise”

or:

“Stand up, if you hate Arsenal”

or:

“Who ate all the pies, who ate all the pies, you fat b*d, you fat b*d, YOU ate all the pies”

To the game itself, England are very lucky to have won the game yesterday. The US is unfortunate. Most of the pressure came from America throughout the game really, and Calamity James lived up to his reputation. England looked more likely to score on the breaks though.

I often feel that the US team is very solid, but they lack that LITTLE bit when it comes to the final third. It was the same again, as all rights, they should have been able to win 3-2.

Normally we are watching the top of the table at the end of the premiership season. Not this year. All eyes were on the relegation battle, and congratulations to Bryan Robson and West Bromich Albion.

It was amazing to listen to all of the games, as all FOUR of the bottom teams were “safe” at one point or another. Amazing stuff.

This is why major US sports need to have hierachies. If you are midseason and you are doing crap in Baseball… who cares? You don’t have much to play for.

I am also REALLY excited to head to Chicago in 2 weeks, to see the USA play England in a “soccer” friendly. I hope it is better than the game I went too when we lost to Australia :/

It is always good when the game is half decent (rare in my experience). Not that it isn’t exciting to watch the commercials :/

New England fans must be wiping their eyes. They go from a curse, to a dynasty. 3 superbowl wins in 4? And, it is harder and harder to build a team which stretches the years like that.

Great stuff!

I have often wondered why statistics are so important in american sports.

This is especially true in baseball. When you watch the game for the first time you are bamboosled with ERAs, RBIs, and other TLAs.

It dawned on me that one of the reasons is probably the fact that there is so much time in a game where NOTHING is happening.

Compare this to football (soccer). A commentator has to spend most of his time talking about what is happening, since the action is almost continuous. There is minimal time for stats (although they are shared).

In baseball, there is time in between each at-bat. each pitch. each inning. while someone is singing. and forever after on ESPN :)