Which of those nations do you expect to win a WC Title during your lifetime ?

[Rhye]

Better than sports those pot-smoking EuroFags like, such as cricket, which is like baseball, but only without the excitement.

But there's hope for you yet. NFL Europe seems to be exploding in popularity. Go to one of their games and you'll see a real sport.

hahahaahahhahahahahahahahaha

you need a lesson, foolish mortal!

 

[nerovats]

I just think european and americans like different kind of sports. You like short spurts we like make endurence. Compare American Football with rugby. Quite close but in rugby the game goes on right away, in AF the game is stopped very 10 seconds to boring for me that way. Same with baseball hit, run, 10 seconds of action 1 minute of waiting. Just basketball doesn't seem to fit the line, which I enjoy watching.
So I don't think AF will become as big in Europe as it is in American or teh other way round for football.
I happen to find cricket a lot more interresting then baseball, as probably a lot of europeans do (if they know the rules, outside of brittan it's not that big a sport in europe).

Probably the best example is cycling. A huge sport in Europe, but before Armstrong hardly anyone in the States even new you could also cycle outside and not just on the tracks. Just after he won the tour a couple of times cycling got some real attention in the US.

 

[Rhye]

the biggest difference is that americans have never felt what happens when your team scores a goal. Especially in a stadium.
When you see basketball, it's very little emotion, repeated 80 or 100 times.

 

[SonicX]

Why?

Because you're wrong?

For 50 million brits, football is right. For 280 million Americans, soccer is right.

I choose to speak the US version of English ... more people speak it and the probably of me ending up there are like 1000x greater than in the UK

 

[willemvanoranje]

I don't choose either. I use my own mixture of American, English and the by far coolest Aussie accent with of course my own Dutch mixed through (not that I notice it).. but one thing i have to say... it is football, and NOT soccer.

 

[Inter4]

Italy IS a top team. We have a 3rd place in 90, a 2nd place in 94, and 2nd place in Euro 2000.

Yeah, it's so great to always end up 3rd or 2nd..

That's a TOP team, that never wins.. does that ring a bell??!!

 

[naervod]

I think its pretty pretentious to say that football is the only correct way of saying it. I use football and soccer interchangably, and although saying football makes a bit more sense, there really shouldn't be a right or wrong way of saying it, if people want to say it different ways. Besides, if we follow the logic that football is the correct word and the American way is wrong, we should also start calling mail "post", calling crisps "chips", etc. Soccer's just the United States (as well as Canada and New Zealand IIRC) way of saying something easily understandable to any other English-speakers. If we want to call it football, we shouldn't be restricted by outside forces, its our own version of the language and we should be able to do what we want with it without coming under fire.

 

[Rhye]

Besides, if we follow the logic that football is the correct word and the American way is wrong, we should also start calling mail "post", calling crisps "chips", etc.

In fact I always try to say post instead of mail, trying to use a northern english accent

 

[Shabbaman]

But there's hope for you yet. NFL Europe seems to be exploding in popularity. Go to one of their games and you'll see a real sport.

It's probably exploding in popularity in the US, because it isn't over here. The NFL Europe is turning into NFL Germany.

How did this thread become so off topic? It is a reasonable question, after all.

 

[willemvanoranje]

@ Willem : http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/default/magazine/overzicht/050908Taalunie/index.html is a link to the VRT news site
39% van de Nederlanders vindt het eigen Nederlands-Nederlands mooi. En 46% van hen vindt het Vlaams-Nederlands mooi. In Vlaanderen noemt 63% de eigen taal mooi, 57% zegt dat ook over het Nederlands-Nederlands.
http://taalunieversum.org/taalunie/nederlandstaligen_zijn_trots_op_hun_taal/ is the official link

Thanks for the link

So a lot of Dutch people say Flemish is beautiful.. well I have to agree.. it's a really soft language with nice sounds, and Dutch sounds a bit too rough sometimes I think. Funny that the Flemish like Dutch Dutch better than the Dutch haha..

Back on topic.. under the right circumstances, like Greece had in 2004, probably half of the countries that ever qualified for a World Cup can become champion..

 

[SonicX]

Last off topic bit : We like Dutch Dutch because you could never create the same effect in Flemish for sarcasm and other Hans Teeuwen stuff. That needs to be done in Dutch ... sounds way cooler with those hards consonants

 

[Gr3yL3gion]

That's a TOP team, that never wins.. does that ring a bell??!!

Sounds like the team on your nickname

 

[Rhye]

Sounds like the team on your nickname

Lol he even had to change his nickname because Vieri moved to Milan....
Now that he's Inter4, Zanetti J. (n.4) has injuried. Mmmm....

 

[SonicX]

Perhaps he should choose ACMilan as a name and hope it will have the same effect on them

 

[willemvanoranje]

Inter is being blamed for Internazionale's maleur? How you gonna deal with that Visinoni?

 

[classical_hero]

I don't choose either. I use my own mixture of American, English and the by far coolest Aussie accent with of course my own Dutch mixed through (not that I notice it).. but one thing i have to say... it is football, and NOT soccer.

The Australian accent is without a doubt the best accent ever. Although mst people do call it "soccer" here, but there is a growing trend of people who are starting to call it football. I have done so for a long time.

 

[Inter4]

Inter is being blamed for Internazionale's maleur? How you gonna deal with that Visinoni?

I'll resign and take 6 mil euros!


Rhye: Of course I changed it! How could I have the number of a mercenary!?! At least now I have the number of a faithful one.

 

[Marla_Singer]

For 50 million brits, football is right. For 280 million Americans, soccer is right.

There are 60 million brits calling it football and 290 million Americans who don't know what that sport is.

It's pretty simple, all English speaking countries where footie is the #1 sport, it's called football. It's only in the English speaking country where footie isn't ranked #1 that we choose the alternative name of "soccer". English speaking Africans call it footie, English speaking Europeans call it footie.

I choose to speak the US version of English ... more people speak it and the probably of me ending up there are like 1000x greater than in the UK

You like better to say color than colour ? flavor than flavour ? Why not neighbor instead of neighbour ?

Just like willemvanoranje, I mix both English and US vocabulary, I don't believe one is superior to the other one... and that would certainly not be the case about footie.

 

[Marla_Singer]

To get back on topic, it's rather funny that the 4 guys who voted for Mexico are all from North America.

Gainy has voted for "other" but without specifying which team he had in mind. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if it would be Scotland.

 

[SonicX]

You like better to say color than colour ? flavor than flavour ? Why not neighbor instead of neighbour ?

Just like willemvanoranje, I mix both English and US vocabulary, I don't believe one is superior to the other one... and that would certainly not be the case about footie.

That's right. I always use US English, probably because I learned English from television before I was teached English in school. I can surely say I solely use US English, because foreign students to which I gotta speak English always ask me if I'm American ... even the American ones sometimes ask me "what state are you from ? Texas, right ?"