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Wästed The Great said:
Eh, it's all perspective. It absolutely bores me to death to try to watch football (soccer) but I like NFL. Why? because I know the players and the game. Just like hockey. I could care less about rugby, swimming, cricket or basketball. I don't know the players.
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How then, at some point did you start to like NFL? Did the knowledge of the players come upon you as if you were struck by lightning? Was the knowledge of players forced upon you, as if you were indoctrinated?

Earlier, on page 2089, I posted a video with highlights of Van Basten's career. Fantastic football. This is not just some guys running and kicking a ball around. This is football of the highest level.

The beauty in a sport lays in actions, the play and the tactics of the game itself, performed by players. Because of these actions, one learns to discover players, one recognizes (styles of) players; not the other way around. Naturally, some stars of the game have already a name before you might get into them, but isn't it cool to see what they and other players do? Isn't it great to "discover" a player, purely by his actions?

By the way, I do understand it's cool to be into a sport if you already know lots of players, statistics and such. And if one is very much into a sport, then sometimes there simply isn't much room for an intense liking of another sport. But who says you need to know every player before you have to like a sport? It's not per se a necessity.

Now on the quickness of boredom that seems to be going on with some of you. Why be bored because you don't know something? How can one broaden one's interests if one is bored (so quickly) by unknown aspects?
 
I grew up with football, and I tend to be bored like hell by it.


In other news, I dreamed that I went to the Ukraine. The place turned out to be a dense, snow-covered pine forest in eternal twilight with wolves howling incessantly. That raises two questions: Why do I dream of going to the Ukraine? And why does it look like Finland in my dreams?
 
Nope. The Ukraine hasn't featured in my thoughts for quite a while.
 
An 800 page book about this:
The latest works are part of a "Century Trilogy", involving British, German, American and Russian families and chronicling them from the First World War to the Cold War. I just read the second part, set in the thirties and forties.
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and none of the action/story took place in Ukraine? That surprises me a bit. But then again, it's a novel.
 
Cornfed Hick said:
Et tu, Wasted? Let's get one thing straight. "Real" football is played played by god-like giants in war armor who run like gazelles and slam into each other with murderous intent, not a bunch of pansies in short-shorts who collapse in histrionics when they get a minor boo-boo. Soccer is entertaining in its own way, but I mean, come on... Jack Lambert would have made Messi mess himself.
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You can enjoy American football more than football, you may call it just "football" in the U.S., but there's just no way you can refer to it as "real football". It's known that American football started off as a blend of already existing rugby and football in the 19th century. Football's history dates back to 9th century. And leave that to the side, apart from U.S., every country refers to football as football, and your football as American football. Simple as said.

I'd go ahead and call American football as a pussy's rugby, but I prefer not to. :innocent:
 
(On the Ken Follett novel)

Hmm, even if it's a novel and more focused on characters than on real history, I still think it's a bit ridiculous. Forgive me for criticizing a book that I have not read but:

Western Ukraine (together with Belarus) saw the most intense warfare and worst civilian horrors of the WWII theater in Europe: the deportations, the Soviet and German occupations, the scourging of the Lebensraum and the holocaust. Involved in the thick of the fighting from the very beginning in September 1939 right to the final phase in 1944-1945 when, providing the Red Army's main point of re-entry into Central Europe. Also providing the ground over which the war's two biggest campaigns -Bagration and Barbarossa- were fought. It is no accident that Belarus lost a higher proportion of its civilian population than any other country in Europe and that Ukraine lost the highest absolute number.

800 pages, not a single word about Ukraine. Alright, it's a novel, but it's hard to imagine it was done by someone who has a clue of what went on.

That said, I am aware of its success. I might give it a try because I understand it could be a great read and an own engaging style is also worth something!
 
Cornfed Hick said:
Agree. This is a fookin' disaster. Sal Paolantonio hit it on the head: Reid was propped up by Jim Johnson, the legendary defensive coordinator, during his best years in Philly. After Johnson died of cancer in 2009, Reid's win-loss record got worse each year. I've lost all hope in Lamar Hunt's kid as an owner.
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Yes, I think this is a huge mistake. Why rush into hiring a coach?? There is talent out there without grabbing a guy that clearly has serious problems.


Cornfed Hick said:
Et tu, Wasted? Let's get one thing straight. "Real" football is played played by god-like giants in war armor who run like gazelles and slam into each other with murderous intent, not a bunch of pansies in short-shorts who collapse in histrionics when they get a minor boo-boo. Soccer is entertaining in its own way, but I mean, come on... Jack Lambert would have made Messi mess himself.
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HA! You notice I put 'real' in a quote. I'm the same, football is played with a brown ball meant to be carried or thrown. It's a sport where given the choice between having your finger operated on and being out of a game or cutting it off and getting back in leads you to play in the second half.

Forostar said:
How then, at some point did you start to like NFL? Did the knowledge of the players come upon you as if you were struck by lightning? Was the knowledge of players forced upon you, as if you were indoctrinated?
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I've watched football since around college age. My parents weren't sports nuts, so I learned it at school with friends. Like hockey, it took me a while to get into. Without sounding like a super busy jerk, I just don't have the time or the patience to learn or care about something like that right now. Between the things that I know I enjoy, my family and work, I just don't have time to devote to trying to learn a new sport. Maybe some day, but for now, meh, I'll watch sports easily available that I know about.
 
Gave a listen to Ride the Lightning again, truly a masterpiece. However, like someone else pointed out, the production is kind of poor, some harmonies are very badly heard etc. I should relisten to MoP as well so I could say which I like better.
 
Given the choice between listening to Master Of Puppets and not listening to Master Of Puppets, what do you think the right choice is?

[from my list of misheard lyrics]

"Bastard, bastard.....bastard of puppets...."
 
Every time I listen to the classic era Metallica albums, the more I realize how overrated Master of Puppets is when facing up a masterpiece of an album that is called Ride the Lightning. It's not even close, for me.
 
Forostar said:
(On the Ken Follett novel)

Hmm, even if it's a novel and more focused on characters than on real history, I still think it's a bit ridiculous. Forgive me for criticizing a book that I have not read but:
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Exactly, you haven't read it. There is a lot of action on the Eastern Front. Please read it before criticising it. There is a long scene that is very heavy to stomach that details German war crimes in the Eastern Front. It doesn't explicitly happen in the Ukraine, but it stands for all that happened there. Even in a novel of that magnitude, that is pretty much all you can do.
And maybe I was wrong, maybe there are a few Ukrainian places mentioned in passing, I'm not exactly sure. But you can trust me, Follett knew what he was doing.
 
As the sun breaks above the ground
an old man stands on the hill...


A friend of mine is married to a friend of Maradona's. Two degrees of separation, in fact. :D
 
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