Man Utd

Originally posted by trev33
because you live in can'tada and don't care about soccer, therefore all you ever hear of soccer is about the top teams. pretty simple... just like you.

That's not true at all. Premiership, Serie A and La Liga are all popular here in Toronto where there are a ton of European immigrants and 2nd generation Europeans.

What do you know about Canada, really?

Originally posted by Ragnorak
The officials should have had 5 red cards themselves. Worst officiating I've ever seen. Drogba's booking was laughable. The awful decisions against United weren't so funny (offside against Rooney and not against Drogba for the goal, no penalty, "foul" against Fletcher for the goal.

This ^. Just a terribly officiated game for both sides. Atkinson should spend some time officiating some League Two games. Maybe they're more his pace.

Originally posted by darvlay
That's not true at all. Premiership, Serie A and La Liga are all popular here in Toronto where there are a ton of European immigrants and 2nd generation Europeans.

What do you know about Canada, really?

so if you you really weren't a soccer fan like uzless you would still hear about the exploits of the lesser teams in the prem and other top european divisions just by watching the news or other sports related programmes?

americas cooler little brother who always has a decent little stash, no?

Originally posted by darvlay
It's the BIG FOUR, not the BIG THREE.

Liverpool were a better team than Chelsea or Arsenal last year.

3 out of 20, 4 out of 20...does it really make a difference?

Originally posted by trev33
so if you you really weren't a soccer fan like uzless you would still hear about the exploits of the lesser teams in the prem and other top european divisions just by watching the news or other sports related programmes?

americas cooler little brother who always has a decent little stash, no?

Canada is a big country thousdands of kilometres from coast to coast. European soccer is big in TORONTO which is just one city in the whole country. No, the news doesn't carry premiership scores. Yes, we have soccer-related programming and many friends of mine subscribe to Setanta and have their favourite clubs.

Our MLS team sells out every year and travels well. That's not because Toronto is desperate for a championship in ANY sport, it's because soccer is big here.

Originally posted by trev33
because you live in can'tada and don't care about soccer, therefore all you ever hear of soccer is about the top teams. pretty simple... just like you.

Not true. There are sections of Canada, ok mainly the areas around toronto that have seen massive influxes of immigrants so much so that your standard white guy is now the minority in a city like Toronto. last year I think white people only made up 49% of the toronto population.

The point is that the immigrants that have moved here have brought their interest in soccer with them. I'm a white guy that got interested in english soccer when Fox Sports used to have a game of the week every saturday and then our local sports station picked up some games too. I quickly realized though that there wasn't much competition outside of the top teams and quickly lost interest along with my F1 interest....used to love getting up early sat/sunday morning to watch those races with my father. Oh well, 'tis the way of things these days i suppose.

Originally posted by uzless
Not true. There are sections of Canada, ok mainly the areas around toronto that have seen massive influxes of immigrants so much so that your standard white guy is now the minority in a city like Toronto. last year I think white people only made up 49% of the toronto population.

The point is that the immigrants that have moved here have brought their int ...[text shortened]... g to watch those races with my father. Oh well, 'tis the way of things these days i suppose.

What's wrong with F1? Besides the fact that it's boring, that is. Are they run by the Steinbrenners too?

Originally posted by uzless
Not true. There are sections of Canada, ok mainly the areas around toronto that have seen massive influxes of immigrants so much so that your standard white guy is now the minority in a city like Toronto. last year I think white people only made up 49% of the toronto population.

The point is that the immigrants that have moved here have brought their int ...[text shortened]... g to watch those races with my father. Oh well, 'tis the way of things these days i suppose.

so you watched it for a while and decided it wasn't for you, big deal... happens with a lot of people. doesn't mean a thing, you're trying to say that the prem is falling apart because only a select few has a shot at winning the title but the reality is that winning the title isn't everything. not something i expect a north american to understand but outside the 'top 4' there's a whole other league going on that some say is more interesting, the league at the very bottom of the prem. bottom 3 get relegated each year which costs them about 25 million. having 3 teams exit and 3 new teams entering the league each year really keeps it entertaining, a team that was promoted just this year (for the first time in ages) burnley beat man utd in the league. that's what keeps people watching, yes the chances are that in recent years, man utd, liverpoo, arsenal and chelsea will finish in the top 4 but as this year is proving it's not guaranteed and the smaller clubs can upset them in any one game.

Originally posted by darvlay
What's wrong with F1? Besides the fact that it's boring, that is. Are they run by the Steinbrenners too?

For years it was always Ferrari plus one other team. Gave up watching entirely a couple year ago. News today has lots of F1 teams dropping out, sponsors leaving and even the tire manufacturer is leaving. That sport is heading for irrelevance.

http://www.thestar.com/wheels/article/722104--mcdonald-the-end-of-formula-1?bn=1

Originally posted by trev33
so you watched it for a while and decided it wasn't for you, big deal... happens with a lot of people. doesn't mean a thing, you're trying to say that the prem is falling apart because only a select few has a shot at winning the title but the reality is that winning the title isn't everything. not something i expect a north american to understand but outside ...[text shortened]... ar is proving it's not guaranteed and the smaller clubs can upset them in any one game.

wow, you sound very european. You do realize that your argument breaks down to what amounts to an assertion of the "class system".

You have the elite, the middle class and poor. This is acceptable to you in an area such as sport??

Very european indeed. Any blue blood in you?

Originally posted by uzless
wow, you sound very european. You do realize that your argument breaks down to what amounts to an assertion of the "class system".

You have the elite, the middle class and poor. This is acceptable to you in an area such as sport??

Very european indeed. Any blue blood in you?

i think players wages are getting out of control and would like to see some sort of salary cap implied but other than that, yes i'm happy with the way it is. where do you think chelsea was 10 years ago? it's very possible in the current system to move up the leagues and ultimately compete in the prem. it took hull about 4 or 5 years to move from the bottom tier of the english league football to beating arsenal in the prem. that's just not possible in america. and the added bonus of the f.a cup, taken seriously by everyone and yet a couple of years ago a team from the championship reached the final and an unfancied prem team won it. success for the little teams is very possible. and failture for the top clubs just as possible.. liverpoo hasn't won the league in about 20 years and yet they spend as much as anyone else has recently.

all european leagues are the same, are you saying that all soccer leagues in europe are becoming unpopular?

Originally posted by uzless
wow, you sound very european. You do realize that your argument breaks down to what amounts to an assertion of the "class system".

You have the elite, the middle class and poor. This is acceptable to you in an area such as sport??

Very european indeed. Any blue blood in you?

LOL! This coming from a fan of sports where there is no promotion/relegation system to enter the top tier is hilarious.

The only way a city can have a team is if someone buys the franchise. You think that's more egalitarian? Another one under the plutocrat illusion. 😵

Originally posted by Ragnorak
The officials should have had 5 red cards themselves. Worst officiating I've ever seen. Drogba's booking was laughable. The awful decisions against United weren't so funny (offside against Rooney and not against Drogba for the goal, no penalty, "foul" against Fletcher for the goal.

I didn't see the game as dirty, but I suppose he who preposes the word ...[text shortened]... e midfield area where United totally dominated. Fletcher was outstanding again.

D

Agreed, Rooney clearly wasn't offside, but technically Drogba wasn't offside because Brown, who was lying at his feet, was playing him on. I haven't yet seen a clear replay of Drogba pulling him down, so I don't know if it was a foul, but there is normally so much pushing and shoving during free kicks and corners that the refs all over the world have been acquiescent about it.

Granted, it definitely wasn't the dirtiest game I've seen, but there still a lot of cynical fouls and off the ball nonsense, I was expecting a proper scrap any moment in the last quarter.

I enjoyed the game too, apart from the Utd tantrums. I disagree that they dominated though, they had slightly more possession, but nothing to brag about, really.

Originally posted by Palynka
LOL! This coming from a fan of sports where there is no promotion/relegation system to enter the top tier is hilarious.

The only way a city can have a team is if someone buys the franchise. You think that's more egalitarian? Another one under the plutocrat illusion. 😵

No it's centralized planning. It's communism baby. Some call it a dictatorship with Bettman at the helm but it's not. Hell, what do you a salary cap is??? It's price control. We are under no illusion when it comes to our sports in North America.

I will grant you though that most N. Americans haven't a clue if you were to ask them to compare their organizational heirachy to politcal systems.

You'd probably be met with a blank stare and then someone would call you a fag...

Originally posted by uzless
No it's centralized planning. It's communism baby. Some call it a dictatorship with Bettman at the helm but it's not. Hell, what do you a salary cap is??? It's price control. We are under no illusion when it comes to our sports in North America.

I will grant you though that most N. Americans haven't a clue if you were to ask them to compare their o ...[text shortened]... ms.

You'd probably be met with a blank stare and then someone would call you a fag...

Franchising and communism are so far apart that I don't even know where to begin. You have a few rich clubs that maintain the status quo by making it too expensive for anyone else to join them. Classical predatory strategies. And the salary cap? The salary cap is like a cartel establishing quotes on production. They keep costs down while splitting the benefits "fairly" across the oligopolists.

Who gets to be at the center to do all that socialism? That's right. The big capitalist who's always conflicting with the labour unions and can unilaterally veto their offers as long as he has the backing of a few owners.

You're kidding yourself if you think that's equality. It's corporatism at its worst.