In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
I've tried to get into baseball because the mighty Liverpool are owned by the people who own the Boston Red Sox and let us face facts, baseball is rounders, a game played by British schoolchildren.
American sports are weirdly shit, without exception. And I have tried to like them
Today's "Strange but True":
The USA won Gold in the Rugby at the 1924 Olympics.
And GB won Gold in Ice Hockey at the 1936 Nazi games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) - both are great for slightly different reasons.
Ice Hockey - especially if you get two teams with big "enforcers", who turn it into an boxing match at regular intervals.
Baseball - only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns
Basketball - strangely dull and repeative until the last minute, and the crowd react as such.
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
LAFC is more fun than Arsenal. The football isn't as good, but (a) you're allowed to drink and (b) the atmosphere is great. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKAyfwcHHw0
Saying its a better atmosphere than Arsenal, is a bit like saying a politician is better than Gavin Williamson ;-)
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
I've tried to get into baseball because the mighty Liverpool are owned by the people who own the Boston Red Sox and let us face facts, baseball is rounders, a game played by British schoolchildren.
American sports are weirdly shit, without exception. And I have tried to like them
I would agree on Basketball, but at least it has the advantage of being playable in an urban ghetto.
Ice Hockey is great to watch, as is High School American Football (as there are no ad breaks but it is taken very seriously), with cheerleaders, drill team and marching bands. It is like being in a teen flick.
Baseball is actually quite an enjoyable game to play as well as watch.
Never been able to get into baseball tbh, American football otoh is great
As a rugby fan I cannot get into American football, all that padding and helmets.
The best part is they don't have to reset a scrum every twenty seconds
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
I've been to the baseball at Yankee Stadium.
I didn't really understand it, but they put on a good show around it. A very redneck couple also had a classic big screen zoom in wedding proposal moment.
Got some decent tickets for the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadow though, which was much more up my avenue.
In terms of sheer scale, a day at a full Indy 500 looks fairly insane, although I'd probably prefer to see Indycar at one of the classic road courses.
Indy 500 is on my hit list. When there isn’t a pandemic, they get half a million people to turn up, it’s totally nuts.
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
Prof Francois Balloux @BallouxFrancois · 1h Vaccine passports would be very costly, both to the government and the hospitality/event sector. A better use of those funds in my views would be to distribute helicopter money (e.g. £1000 to everyone who's been vaccinated). It would increase vaccine uptake and help the economy.
On the basis of that we're already going to hit about 90% coverage, if this scheme was so successful it got us to 100% coverage, it would effectively cost us £10k per extra jab. If it only got us to 95% its nearly £20k a jab.
There are probably better uses for the cash than preventing 20 year olds from getting immunity via a fairly mild infection.
Vaccine passports have a cost of £0 - it's the NHS app a D alreaDy exists, all that is missing is the rules that require them
Trump is unlikely to run for the GOP nomination in 2024, although it's possible he will if he decides that either Kamala Harris or a Joe Biden less physically well than he is now is a defeatable opponent. I'm not sure how he pivots away from his assertion that he actually won in 2020 and the presidency was only given to Joe Biden and his "crime gang" as a result of the greatest conspiracy in the history of the United States. Louis XVIII referred in 1814 to "the 19th year of our reign". Believing Trump to be insane, I may be biased.
Against all the evidence I think you're right. He won't run. Something is going to happen.
Baseball i generally find dull, but last time i was in the US, I got prime seats behind the batter and saw Ardonis Chapman throwing it 105mph....that was quite something.
You think Brett Lee was quick, then you see 10% extra on top.
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
I've been to the baseball at Yankee Stadium.
I didn't really understand it, but they put on a good show around it. A very redneck couple also had a classic big screen zoom in wedding proposal moment.
Got some decent tickets for the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadow though, which was much more up my avenue.
In terms of sheer scale, a day at a full Indy 500 looks fairly insane, although I'd probably prefer to see Indycar at one of the classic road courses.
Indy 500 is on my hit list. When there isn’t a pandemic, they get half a million people to turn up, it’s totally nuts.
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
It's basically an amateur sport... Only in the sense that Rugby Union used to be "amateur".
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) - both are great for slightly different reasons.
Ice Hockey - especially if you get two teams with big "enforcers", who turn it into an boxing match at regular intervals.
Baseball - only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns
Basketball - strangely dull and repeative until the last minute, and the crowd react as such.
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
LAFC is more fun than Arsenal. The football isn't as good, but (a) you're allowed to drink and (b) the atmosphere is great. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKAyfwcHHw0
My local funeral home is more fun than going to an Arsenal match.
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) - both are great for slightly different reasons.
Ice Hockey - especially if you get two teams with big "enforcers", who turn it into an boxing match at regular intervals.
Baseball - only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns
Basketball - strangely dull and repeative until the last minute, and the crowd react as such.
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
LAFC is more fun than Arsenal. The football isn't as good, but (a) you're allowed to drink and (b) the atmosphere is great. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKAyfwcHHw0
Saying its a better atmosphere than Arsenal, is a bit like saying a politician is better than Gavin Williamson ;-)
Watch the YouTube clip. It's 60 seconds and it gives you a real idea of the atmosphere at the games.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
How’s your six pack Sean?
Your online persona screams impotent wreck.
I understand that, as a Scotch "person", somehow living in Sweden, it must humble your masculinity every day that the only sports you care about were invented by us, the English
Fitba Rugby Cricket Golf
It must be like, God, I dunno, always speaking the language of your colonial suppressor and racial superior, the English, because English is THE global language, and Scots is a sad joke language literally spoken by no one - because the mighty English utterly conquered you (as we conquered everyone else) and reduced you to the status of a pathetic slave state that STILL voted NO to independence from England because you have no pride?
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
I've been to the baseball at Yankee Stadium.
I didn't really understand it, but they put on a good show around it. A very redneck couple also had a classic big screen zoom in wedding proposal moment.
Got some decent tickets for the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadow though, which was much more up my avenue.
In terms of sheer scale, a day at a full Indy 500 looks fairly insane, although I'd probably prefer to see Indycar at one of the classic road courses.
Indy 500 is on my hit list. When there isn’t a pandemic, they get half a million people to turn up, it’s totally nuts.
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
It's basically an amateur sport... Only in the sense that Rugby Union used to be "amateur".
And more pumped full of PEDs than your average Tour de France.....
Prof Francois Balloux @BallouxFrancois · 1h Vaccine passports would be very costly, both to the government and the hospitality/event sector. A better use of those funds in my views would be to distribute helicopter money (e.g. £1000 to everyone who's been vaccinated). It would increase vaccine uptake and help the economy.
On the basis of that we're already going to hit about 90% coverage, if this scheme was so successful it got us to 100% coverage, it would effectively cost us £10k per extra jab. If it only got us to 95% its nearly £20k a jab.
There are probably better uses for the cash than preventing 20 year olds from getting immunity via a fairly mild infection.
The thing about vaxports is you instantly reduce global R for the same level of coverage because you have minimised potential superspreader events and transmission within; as well as boosting total takeup
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) - both are great for slightly different reasons.
Ice Hockey - especially if you get two teams with big "enforcers", who turn it into an boxing match at regular intervals.
Baseball - only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns
Basketball - strangely dull and repeative until the last minute, and the crowd react as such.
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
LAFC is more fun than Arsenal. The football isn't as good, but (a) you're allowed to drink and (b) the atmosphere is great. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKAyfwcHHw0
Saying its a better atmosphere than Arsenal, is a bit like saying a politician is better than Gavin Williamson ;-)
Once in a while I watch Newcastle United in a corporate hostility box - the thought that alcohol is available on the other side of the glass makes the pain of most matches worthwhile
Heck even the cheaper hospitality bars make the match bearable.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
Ice hockey is an incredible live sport. The air vibrates when players are body checked at 25 miles an hour into the perspex sides. And it's so very, very fast.
One of the best sporting events I've ever been to was Calgary vs Edmonton, albeit the amount of impromptu fan violence afterwards was a little off puttiing.
The most violent sport in the world. The fans expect a bloody brawl on the ice every match. I had a phase of being into it as a teenager.
Name a nation that would be brilliant at a sport yet has inexplicably ignored it
My vote: the Dutch should play rugby
The Springboks are formidable at rugby, despite many handicaps - remoteness, relative poverty, racial politics. The Dutch are basically the Boers but even bigger in size (the tallest, biggest western nation) they have plenty of money, they love sport, they'd be superb at rugby, plus they'd get to thrash the Germans all the time (which they love)
LET THE DUTCH PLAY RUGBY. They'd be much better than the Italians, they might be the best in the world within a decade
Russians should take up tossing the caber. In between weight-lifting efforts.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
I've tried to get into baseball because the mighty Liverpool are owned by the people who own the Boston Red Sox and let us face facts, baseball is rounders, a game played by British schoolchildren.
American sports are weirdly shit, without exception. And I have tried to like them
I would agree on Basketball, but at least it has the advantage of being playable in an urban ghetto.
Ice Hockey is great to watch, as is High School American Football (as there are no ad breaks but it is taken very seriously), with cheerleaders, drill team and marching bands. It is like being in a teen flick.
Baseball is actually quite an enjoyable game to play as well as watch.
Never been able to get into baseball tbh, American football otoh is great
I should like American football as it combines a chess like strategic level, a push your luck level of deception on the play by play level and incredible feats of atleticism in the action.
But in practice I find it deathly dull to watch live.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
I've tried to get into baseball because the mighty Liverpool are owned by the people who own the Boston Red Sox and let us face facts, baseball is rounders, a game played by British schoolchildren.
American sports are weirdly shit, without exception. And I have tried to like them
I would agree on Basketball, but at least it has the advantage of being playable in an urban ghetto.
Ice Hockey is great to watch, as is High School American Football (as there are no ad breaks but it is taken very seriously), with cheerleaders, drill team and marching bands. It is like being in a teen flick.
Baseball is actually quite an enjoyable game to play as well as watch.
Never been able to get into baseball tbh, American football otoh is great
As a rugby fan I cannot get into American football, all that padding and helmets.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
Ice hockey is an incredible live sport. The air vibrates when players are body checked at 25 miles an hour into the perspex sides. And it's so very, very fast.
One of the best sporting events I've ever been to was Calgary vs Edmonton, albeit the amount of impromptu fan violence afterwards was a little off puttiing.
The most violent sport in the world. The fans expect a bloody brawl on the ice every match. I had a phase of being into it as a teenager.
But as a spectator sport it's fast and fun to watch (surprisingly more in real life than on a TV).
I most check when Glasgow are playing so I can see a match or 2.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
Ice hockey is an incredible live sport. The air vibrates when players are body checked at 25 miles an hour into the perspex sides. And it's so very, very fast.
One of the best sporting events I've ever been to was Calgary vs Edmonton, albeit the amount of impromptu fan violence afterwards was a little off puttiing.
Invented by Scottish soldiers playing shinty on frozen Canadian lakes. A winning recipe.
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
The thing has genuinely shocked me was just how big the stadia are for college American football and just how often they get packed out (pretty much all the time.)
Had quite the experience in Ann Arbor.
When thr NFL started people thought it was ridiculous to try and take on College football and it would never catch on.
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
I've been to the baseball at Yankee Stadium.
I didn't really understand it, but they put on a good show around it. A very redneck couple also had a classic big screen zoom in wedding proposal moment.
Got some decent tickets for the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadow though, which was much more up my avenue.
In terms of sheer scale, a day at a full Indy 500 looks fairly insane, although I'd probably prefer to see Indycar at one of the classic road courses.
Indy 500 is on my hit list. When there isn’t a pandemic, they get half a million people to turn up, it’s totally nuts.
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
Does college football serve as championship/leagues 1 and 2 effectively. So in the U.K. I& you don’t have a premiership side you have lower leagues. In the us there is no lower league football, and defo no promotion to the nfl. So you have all the uni students plus the locals, who in huddersfield, say, would b3 watching Huddersfield town. Weird for me to think that when at uni I played first team rugby, which is kinda the equivalent of college football. Rarely had more than 20 fans...
Baseball i generally find dull, but last time i was in the US, I got prime seats behind the batter and saw Ardonis Chapman throwing it 105mph....that was quite something.
You think Brett Lee was quick, then you see 10% extra on top.
The old Taipei Stadium used to have the bullpen running parallel, and right next to the street, separated by just a cage. They throw the ball mighty quickly side on.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
Ice hockey is an incredible live sport. The air vibrates when players are body checked at 25 miles an hour into the perspex sides. And it's so very, very fast.
One of the best sporting events I've ever been to was Calgary vs Edmonton, albeit the amount of impromptu fan violence afterwards was a little off puttiing.
The most violent sport in the world. The fans expect a bloody brawl on the ice every match. I had a phase of being into it as a teenager.
It really isn't the most violent sport in the world. It is all theatre. A few broken noses, maybe. That's it. It is little better than wrestling
Bull fighting is properly dangerous
I saw a corrida at Seville once, in the sombra, and the matador hero did really well and got his ears and testicles, despite being tossed and nearly gored. He carried it all off with aplomb, bowing and smiling, and the crowd loved it. As far as I could see from the terraces he didn't break a sweat
On the way out of the arena I happened to see him - a local bull-fighting star of about 22 - being rushed away by his aides
He was utterly ashen. Broken with fear and dripping with sweat - an hour after he sworded the final bull.
He was a man who KNEW he had come very very close to death.
Brilliant sport. About the only sport I'd rank alongside all the many great English sports
The EU has paused its legal action against the UK for alleged breaches of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
It said it was doing so to create the "necessary space" to consider UK proposals for reforming the deal.
Prediction: that there will be a renegotiation but that the EU and UK will call it something else. For Boris each delay, extension, grace period etc is a tiny step forward.
Completely agreed. Boris holds all the cards, since the EU can't implement the Protocol without our agreement - and we don't have to agree unless we're happy. They're the ones who want this implementing not us, which means they're the beggars not us.
Whoever is prepared to walk away is always stronger. That was never May, but it is Frost and Boris.
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
I've been to the baseball at Yankee Stadium.
I didn't really understand it, but they put on a good show around it. A very redneck couple also had a classic big screen zoom in wedding proposal moment.
Got some decent tickets for the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadow though, which was much more up my avenue.
In terms of sheer scale, a day at a full Indy 500 looks fairly insane, although I'd probably prefer to see Indycar at one of the classic road courses.
Indy 500 is on my hit list. When there isn’t a pandemic, they get half a million people to turn up, it’s totally nuts.
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
Does college football serve as championship/leagues 1 and 2 effectively. So in the U.K. I& you don’t have a premiership side you have lower leagues. In the us there is no lower league football, and defo no promotion to the nfl. So you have all the uni students plus the locals, who in huddersfield, say, would b3 watching Huddersfield town. Weird for me to think that when at uni I played first team rugby, which is kinda the equivalent of college football. Rarely had more than 20 fans...
Sort of, but not....Its much much bigger, not just the fans, but the tv rights, the amount the coaching staff get paid (some get more than the NFL coaches), the money made for the colleges involved is eye watering.
So imagine Liverpool, but all the best under 23 talent play in a separate "college" team, because they aren't allowed to play in the first team until they have played a minimum of 3 years for this secondary team, and the manager of the U23 might actually be Klopp (or on the more money than Klopp). And the attendance at their games is double or triple that of the first team.
The way it is setup different sports have different entry requirements for the draft. NFL it is 3 years of college, so college American football has top talent on the field throughout their development period, such that last year the best of the best are world class.
In comparison, basketball is only one year. So the superstars turn up, play a year of college as a foundation, then leave and go to the NBA. So the standard is much lower, as the 2nd to 4th years playing are really the ones not good enough to go to the pros.
And I believe baseball, it is 0 years of college, so most superstars just don't bother with it, and thus college baseball is much more akin to lower league football.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
I've tried to get into baseball because the mighty Liverpool are owned by the people who own the Boston Red Sox and let us face facts, baseball is rounders, a game played by British schoolchildren.
American sports are weirdly shit, without exception. And I have tried to like them
I would agree on Basketball, but at least it has the advantage of being playable in an urban ghetto.
Ice Hockey is great to watch, as is High School American Football (as there are no ad breaks but it is taken very seriously), with cheerleaders, drill team and marching bands. It is like being in a teen flick.
Baseball is actually quite an enjoyable game to play as well as watch.
Never been able to get into baseball tbh, American football otoh is great
As a rugby fan I cannot get into American football, all that padding and helmets.
Name a nation that would be brilliant at a sport yet has inexplicably ignored it
My vote: the Dutch should play rugby
The Springboks are formidable at rugby, despite many handicaps - remoteness, relative poverty, racial politics. The Dutch are basically the Boers but even bigger in size (the tallest, biggest western nation) they have plenty of money, they love sport, they'd be superb at rugby, plus they'd get to thrash the Germans all the time (which they love)
LET THE DUTCH PLAY RUGBY. They'd be much better than the Italians, they might be the best in the world within a decade
The Netherlands play rugby union.
I've seen them play, I saw England absolutely hump them in 1998 in a world cup qualifier.
Perhaps the strangest one that has close to zero UK profile is handball. It is quite exciting to watch, very physical and popular throughout Europe. I guess we didn't invent it though.
All three of our children played handball, in fact the youngest still does. It is very popular with parents! Ice rinks are freezing cold, football is often wet and miserable, sailing is crap for spectators, swimming and gymnastics are tedious, but handball is perfect: indoors, fast-moving and you can have a good natter with the other parents. Keeps the kids in top physical condition too.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
I've tried to get into baseball because the mighty Liverpool are owned by the people who own the Boston Red Sox and let us face facts, baseball is rounders, a game played by British schoolchildren.
American sports are weirdly shit, without exception. And I have tried to like them
I would agree on Basketball, but at least it has the advantage of being playable in an urban ghetto.
Ice Hockey is great to watch, as is High School American Football (as there are no ad breaks but it is taken very seriously), with cheerleaders, drill team and marching bands. It is like being in a teen flick.
Baseball is actually quite an enjoyable game to play as well as watch.
Never been able to get into baseball tbh, American football otoh is great
As a rugby fan I cannot get into American football, all that padding and helmets.
Plenty of helmets at a typical rugby union club.
You spelled 'league' wrongly.
Sorry.
There are plenty of league cast-offs at a typical rugby union club.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
Ice hockey is an incredible live sport. The air vibrates when players are body checked at 25 miles an hour into the perspex sides. And it's so very, very fast.
One of the best sporting events I've ever been to was Calgary vs Edmonton, albeit the amount of impromptu fan violence afterwards was a little off puttiing.
The most violent sport in the world. The fans expect a bloody brawl on the ice every match. I had a phase of being into it as a teenager.
It really isn't the most violent sport in the world. It is all theatre. A few broken noses, maybe. That's it. It is little better than wrestling
Bull fighting is properly dangerous
I saw a corrida at Seville once, in the sombra, and the matador hero did really well and got his ears and testicles, despite being tossed and nearly gored. He carried it all off with aplomb, bowing and smiling, and the crowd loved it. As far as I could see from the terraces he didn't break a sweat
On the way out of the arena I happened to see him - a local bull-fighting star of about 22 - being rushed away by his aides
He was utterly ashen. Broken with fear and dripping with sweat - an hour after he sworded the final bull.
He was a man who KNEW he had come very very close to death.
Brilliant sport. About the only sport I'd rank alongside all the many great English sports
Name a nation that would be brilliant at a sport yet has inexplicably ignored it
My vote: the Dutch should play rugby
The Springboks are formidable at rugby, despite many handicaps - remoteness, relative poverty, racial politics. The Dutch are basically the Boers but even bigger in size (the tallest, biggest western nation) they have plenty of money, they love sport, they'd be superb at rugby, plus they'd get to thrash the Germans all the time (which they love)
LET THE DUTCH PLAY RUGBY. They'd be much better than the Italians, they might be the best in the world within a decade
Weirdly. I must be the only PBer to have played against Holland at rugby. Preston Grasshoppers schools invitational tournament c1983. Had a very good kicking game ISTR. Were about as good as my own very average school team.
Oh i forgot another "popular" us sport...bull riding....now that is something to behold...if you don't mind the animal cruelty.
You just sit on the back of this massive bull, who we picked specifically because it is wild and seems impossible to be tamed, and just hold on to that tiny bit of rope with one hand....off you go.
The EU has paused its legal action against the UK for alleged breaches of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
It said it was doing so to create the "necessary space" to consider UK proposals for reforming the deal.
Prediction: that there will be a renegotiation but that the EU and UK will call it something else. For Boris each delay, extension, grace period etc is a tiny step forward.
Completely agreed. Boris holds all the cards, since the EU can't implement the Protocol without our agreement - and we don't have to agree unless we're happy. They're the ones who want this implementing not us, which means they're the beggars not us.
Whoever is prepared to walk away is always stronger. That was never May, but it is Frost and Boris.
While I wouldn't go that far, this is the EU facing up to the reality that they have got no realistic retaliatory measures they can take. The only one available to them is to put a border on Ireland which is a non-starter. All of the bluster this afternoon from the delusional remainers about how the EU can make life difficult etc... is just a load of bollocks. There is a very narrow and very well defined path for retaliation against a unilateral breach of the NI protocol or use of A16.
Simply, until the EU implements the previously agreed trusted trader scheme to cover 99% of GB/NI trade they have got no reasonable grounds to do anything but accept the suspension of the protocol for GB/NI trade. That's the reality of the situation. Not some unquantifiable goodwill or the idea that the EU can somehow use this to suspend bits of the TCA or ratchet up border pedantry even more.
Reality has bashed the commission over the head and if they aren't willing to implement the trusted trader scheme then the treaty is void and needs to be renegotiated in light of that new development.
It is a rules based organisation being hoist by its own petard.
Hockey ("ice hockey"?!?) is a fantastic game. Actually I think great live and if you get the right commentators. But must be NHL. Wouldn't know what it's like in the UK but can't imagine it's on a par. Fans also get a bit unruly.
Prof Francois Balloux @BallouxFrancois · 1h Vaccine passports would be very costly, both to the government and the hospitality/event sector. A better use of those funds in my views would be to distribute helicopter money (e.g. £1000 to everyone who's been vaccinated). It would increase vaccine uptake and help the economy.
On the basis of that we're already going to hit about 90% coverage, if this scheme was so successful it got us to 100% coverage, it would effectively cost us £10k per extra jab. If it only got us to 95% its nearly £20k a jab.
There are probably better uses for the cash than preventing 20 year olds from getting immunity via a fairly mild infection.
Vaccine passports have a cost of £0 - it's the NHS app a D alreaDy exists, all that is missing is the rules that require them
It may have a cost from the government budget of £0, but it's got real costs to other people in enforcement, as well as the loss of trade. And actually it will cost the government money - they will have to offer something for those without smartphones/who don't want to install the NHS app (no way I would install anything written by an organisation as untrustworthy and incompetent as the government, I can't be alone in thinking this). They will also have to sort out all the hard cases... eg I don't think my vaccine has gone on my medical records because the NHS bureaucracy appears to have lost them. I gave up trying to sort out what fate had befallen them after about 3 hours on the phone to several GP's useless receptionists, and decided to circumvent the system. The online system wouldn't book me because it couldn't find my records, so I eventually went to a "no questions asked" walk in.
Even if I did download the NHS app, I doubt my jab would show up - I would probably have to have a real human somewhere try and find my medical records and add the jab to them... So there will be a real cost of employing some humans somewhere to sort all those sorts of issues out.
Hockey ("ice hockey"?!?) is a fantastic game. Actually I think great live and if you get the right commentators. But must be NHL. Wouldn't know what it's like in the UK but can't imagine it's on a par. Fans also get a bit unruly.
There was a great ice hockey game on the Sega Megadrive.
I did try to ice skate once, but it was a bit of a farce. I almost ended up as a Covid hospitalisation!
Hockey ("ice hockey"?!?) is a fantastic game. Actually I think great live and if you get the right commentators. But must be NHL. Wouldn't know what it's like in the UK but can't imagine it's on a par. Fans also get a bit unruly.
Its actually good in the UK. The talent level isn't the same, but its a fun night out. Highly recommend Cardiff, only been a couple of times while visiting friends, but it appears all the rugby types turn up on a Sunday night and sing like they do at the rugby.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
Ice hockey is an incredible live sport. The air vibrates when players are body checked at 25 miles an hour into the perspex sides. And it's so very, very fast.
One of the best sporting events I've ever been to was Calgary vs Edmonton, albeit the amount of impromptu fan violence afterwards was a little off puttiing.
The most violent sport in the world. The fans expect a bloody brawl on the ice every match. I had a phase of being into it as a teenager.
It really isn't the most violent sport in the world. It is all theatre. A few broken noses, maybe. That's it. It is little better than wrestling
Bull fighting is properly dangerous
I saw a corrida at Seville once, in the sombra, and the matador hero did really well and got his ears and testicles, despite being tossed and nearly gored. He carried it all off with aplomb, bowing and smiling, and the crowd loved it. As far as I could see from the terraces he didn't break a sweat
On the way out of the arena I happened to see him - a local bull-fighting star of about 22 - being rushed away by his aides
He was utterly ashen. Broken with fear and dripping with sweat - an hour after he sworded the final bull.
He was a man who KNEW he had come very very close to death.
Brilliant sport. About the only sport I'd rank alongside all the many great English sports
Sport my arse.
Have you ever watched it?
It's a genuine sporting competition. Most animal-loving wankers like you who moan about it have never been to a proper corrida in one of the great centres of the sport - down south: Grenada. Cordoba, Malaga, Seville, Ronda, Cadiz.
eg Most Brits don't realise that if the bull successfully evades the picador three times, the bull is officially released and allowed to go round to the matador's house, charge up the stairs, and gore the matador's girlfriend to death in her bed, unless she jumps out of the window. This is why most matadors live on the ground floor
The EU has paused its legal action against the UK for alleged breaches of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
It said it was doing so to create the "necessary space" to consider UK proposals for reforming the deal.
Prediction: that there will be a renegotiation but that the EU and UK will call it something else. For Boris each delay, extension, grace period etc is a tiny step forward.
Completely agreed. Boris holds all the cards, since the EU can't implement the Protocol without our agreement - and we don't have to agree unless we're happy. They're the ones who want this implementing not us, which means they're the beggars not us.
Whoever is prepared to walk away is always stronger. That was never May, but it is Frost and Boris.
While I wouldn't go that far, this is the EU facing up to the reality that they have got no realistic retaliatory measures they can take. The only one available to them is to put a border on Ireland which is a non-starter. All of the bluster this afternoon from the delusional remainers about how the EU can make life difficult etc... is just a load of bollocks. There is a very narrow and very well defined path for retaliation against a unilateral breach of the NI protocol or use of A16.
Simply, until the EU implements the previously agreed trusted trader scheme to cover 99% of GB/NI trade they have got no reasonable grounds to do anything but accept the suspension of the protocol for GB/NI trade. That's the reality of the situation. Not some unquantifiable goodwill or the idea that the EU can somehow use this to suspend bits of the TCA or ratchet up border pedantry even more.
Reality has bashed the commission over the head and if they aren't willing to implement the trusted trader scheme then the treaty is void and needs to be renegotiated in light of that new development.
I agree completely with that, though if they're desperate for the Treaty to be implemented in full (minus Article 16 which is a perfectly legitimate part of the Treaty but they're desperate for it not to be exercised) - and they can't realistically retaliate in any meaningful manner - and we have legitimate grounds to implement Article 16 since the Trusted Trader Scheme hasn't been implemented . . . then what would you call that if not holding all the cards?
I expect there's currently a bit of a divide in Brussels at the moment between those who have faced up to reality and realise the Trusted Trader Scheme is needed afterall and desperately looking for a face-saving way to implement it . . . and others who still believe their own delusions of grandeur and think they can bully Britain into backing down.
Oh i forgot another "popular" us sport...bull riding....now that is something to behold...if you don't mind the animal cruelty.
You just sit on the back of this massive bull, who we picked specifically because it is wild and seems impossible to be tamed, and just hold on to that tiny bit of rope with one hand....off you go.
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
I've been to the baseball at Yankee Stadium.
I didn't really understand it, but they put on a good show around it. A very redneck couple also had a classic big screen zoom in wedding proposal moment.
Got some decent tickets for the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadow though, which was much more up my avenue.
In terms of sheer scale, a day at a full Indy 500 looks fairly insane, although I'd probably prefer to see Indycar at one of the classic road courses.
Indy 500 is on my hit list. When there isn’t a pandemic, they get half a million people to turn up, it’s totally nuts.
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
Does college football serve as championship/leagues 1 and 2 effectively. So in the U.K. I& you don’t have a premiership side you have lower leagues. In the us there is no lower league football, and defo no promotion to the nfl. So you have all the uni students plus the locals, who in huddersfield, say, would b3 watching Huddersfield town. Weird for me to think that when at uni I played first team rugby, which is kinda the equivalent of college football. Rarely had more than 20 fans...
Sort of, but not....Its much much bigger, not just the fans, but the tv rights, the amount the coaching staff get paid (some get more than the NFL coaches), the money made for the colleges involved is eye watering.
So imagine Liverpool, but all the best under 23 talent play in a separate "college" team, because they aren't allowed to play in the first team until they have played a minimum of 3 years for this secondary team, and the manager of the U23 might actually be Klopp (or on the more money than Klopp). And the attendance at their games is double or triple that of the first team.
The way it is setup different sports have different entry requirements for the draft. NFL it is 3 years of college, so college American football has top talent on the field throughout their development period, such that last year the best of the best are world class.
In comparison, basketball is only one year. So the superstars turn up, play a year of college as a foundation, then leave and go to the NBA. So the standard is much lower, as the 2nd to 4th years playing are really the ones not good enough to go to the pros.
And I believe baseball, it is 0 years of college, so most superstars just don't bother with it, and thus college baseball is much more akin to lower league football.
Some baseball players do, some don't. Many go to college to do an actual real degree. As baseball is much less reliable in turning 18 yo superstar into actual pro superstar. There is an interesting article on whether it is better to draft from college or straight from HS here.
Hockey ("ice hockey"?!?) is a fantastic game. Actually I think great live and if you get the right commentators. But must be NHL. Wouldn't know what it's like in the UK but can't imagine it's on a par. Fans also get a bit unruly.
Its actually good in the UK. The talent level isn't the same, but its a fun night out. Highly recommend Cardiff, only been a couple of times while visiting friends, but it appears all the rugby types turn up on a Sunday night and sing like they do at the rugby.
Good to hear. Do they get a lot of ex-NHLers a la the US footie/PL?
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
I've been to the baseball at Yankee Stadium.
I didn't really understand it, but they put on a good show around it. A very redneck couple also had a classic big screen zoom in wedding proposal moment.
Got some decent tickets for the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadow though, which was much more up my avenue.
In terms of sheer scale, a day at a full Indy 500 looks fairly insane, although I'd probably prefer to see Indycar at one of the classic road courses.
Indy 500 is on my hit list. When there isn’t a pandemic, they get half a million people to turn up, it’s totally nuts.
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
Does college football serve as championship/leagues 1 and 2 effectively. So in the U.K. I& you don’t have a premiership side you have lower leagues. In the us there is no lower league football, and defo no promotion to the nfl. So you have all the uni students plus the locals, who in huddersfield, say, would b3 watching Huddersfield town. Weird for me to think that when at uni I played first team rugby, which is kinda the equivalent of college football. Rarely had more than 20 fans...
Sort of, but not....Its much much bigger, not just the fans, but the tv rights, the amount the coaching staff get paid (some get more than the NFL coaches), the money made for the colleges involved is eye watering.
So imagine Liverpool, but all the best under 23 talent play in a separate "college" team, because they aren't allowed to play in the first team until they have played a minimum of 3 years for this secondary team, and the manager of the U23 might actually be Klopp (or on the more money than Klopp). And the attendance at their games is double or triple that of the first team.
The way it is setup different sports have different entry requirements for the draft. NFL it is 3 years of college, so college American football has top talent on the field throughout their development period, such that last year the best of the best are world class.
In comparison, basketball is only one year. So the superstars turn up, play a year of college as a foundation, then leave and go to the NBA. So the standard is much lower, as the 2nd to 4th years playing are really the ones not good enough to go to the pros.
And I believe baseball, it is 0 years of college, so most superstars just don't bother with it, and thus college baseball is much more akin to lower league football.
US universities have amazing sports development programs. It's never really been a big thing in UK sport; I think their system is superior frankly
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
I've tried to get into baseball because the mighty Liverpool are owned by the people who own the Boston Red Sox and let us face facts, baseball is rounders, a game played by British schoolchildren.
American sports are weirdly shit, without exception. And I have tried to like them
I would agree on Basketball, but at least it has the advantage of being playable in an urban ghetto.
Ice Hockey is great to watch, as is High School American Football (as there are no ad breaks but it is taken very seriously), with cheerleaders, drill team and marching bands. It is like being in a teen flick.
Baseball is actually quite an enjoyable game to play as well as watch.
Never been able to get into baseball tbh, American football otoh is great
As a rugby fan I cannot get into American football, all that padding and helmets.
Plenty of helmets at a typical rugby union club.
You spelled 'league' wrongly.
Looking for a change of scenery after a day visiting the peace park and museum we spotted the floodlights only a block or so beyond the shell of A-bomb, and there was a game on. They are another franchise that didn't get the memo about heroic naming are Hiroshima Carp, but boy did they get the memo about US scouts in the stadium. I've never been on a big screen so much in my whole life. Until they decided we were imbeciles, working out how and when to clap our plastic bags together and bored of us.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
I've tried to get into baseball because the mighty Liverpool are owned by the people who own the Boston Red Sox and let us face facts, baseball is rounders, a game played by British schoolchildren.
American sports are weirdly shit, without exception. And I have tried to like them
I would agree on Basketball, but at least it has the advantage of being playable in an urban ghetto.
Ice Hockey is great to watch, as is High School American Football (as there are no ad breaks but it is taken very seriously), with cheerleaders, drill team and marching bands. It is like being in a teen flick.
Baseball is actually quite an enjoyable game to play as well as watch.
Never been able to get into baseball tbh, American football otoh is great
As a rugby fan I cannot get into American football, all that padding and helmets.
Plenty of helmets at a typical rugby union club.
You spelled 'league' wrongly.
Looking for a change of scenery after a day visiting the peace park and museum we spotted the floodlights only a block or so beyond the shell of A-bomb, and there was a game on. They are another franchise that didn't get the memo about heroic naming are Hiroshima Carp, but boy did they get the memo about US scouts in the stadium. I've never been on a big screen so much in my whole life. Until they decided we were imbeciles, working out how and when to clap our plastic bags together and bored of us.
Hockey ("ice hockey"?!?) is a fantastic game. Actually I think great live and if you get the right commentators. But must be NHL. Wouldn't know what it's like in the UK but can't imagine it's on a par. Fans also get a bit unruly.
Its actually good in the UK. The talent level isn't the same, but its a fun night out. Highly recommend Cardiff, only been a couple of times while visiting friends, but it appears all the rugby types turn up on a Sunday night and sing like they do at the rugby.
Good to hear. Do they get a lot of ex-NHLers a la the US footie/PL?
Not really no. Its normally ones that haven't made it to the big leagues, plus European players who again can't get a contract in NHL or a big European team. Rather than say MLS, where traditionally the European players are ones that played at an elite level but past their best and want a couple more years of money rather than dropping down to have to play Doncaster on a wet Wednesday in December.
Hockey ("ice hockey"?!?) is a fantastic game. Actually I think great live and if you get the right commentators. But must be NHL. Wouldn't know what it's like in the UK but can't imagine it's on a par. Fans also get a bit unruly.
Its actually good in the UK. The talent level isn't the same, but its a fun night out. Highly recommend Cardiff, only been a couple of times while visiting friends, but it appears all the rugby types turn up on a Sunday night and sing like they do at the rugby.
Good to hear. Do they get a lot of ex-NHLers a la the US footie/PL?
Not really no. Its normally ones that haven't made it to the big leagues, plus European players who again can't get a contract in NHL or a big European team. Rather than say MLS, where traditionally the European players are ones that played at an elite level but past their best and want a couple more years of money rather than dropping down to have to play Doncaster on a wet Wednesday in December.
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
I've been to the baseball at Yankee Stadium.
I didn't really understand it, but they put on a good show around it. A very redneck couple also had a classic big screen zoom in wedding proposal moment.
Got some decent tickets for the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadow though, which was much more up my avenue.
In terms of sheer scale, a day at a full Indy 500 looks fairly insane, although I'd probably prefer to see Indycar at one of the classic road courses.
Indy 500 is on my hit list. When there isn’t a pandemic, they get half a million people to turn up, it’s totally nuts.
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
Does college football serve as championship/leagues 1 and 2 effectively. So in the U.K. I& you don’t have a premiership side you have lower leagues. In the us there is no lower league football, and defo no promotion to the nfl. So you have all the uni students plus the locals, who in huddersfield, say, would b3 watching Huddersfield town. Weird for me to think that when at uni I played first team rugby, which is kinda the equivalent of college football. Rarely had more than 20 fans...
Sort of, but not....Its much much bigger, not just the fans, but the tv rights, the amount the coaching staff get paid (some get more than the NFL coaches), the money made for the colleges involved is eye watering.
So imagine Liverpool, but all the best under 23 talent play in a separate "college" team, because they aren't allowed to play in the first team until they have played a minimum of 3 years for this secondary team, and the manager of the U23 might actually be Klopp (or on the more money than Klopp). And the attendance at their games is double or triple that of the first team.
The way it is setup different sports have different entry requirements for the draft. NFL it is 3 years of college, so college American football has top talent on the field throughout their development period, such that last year the best of the best are world class.
In comparison, basketball is only one year. So the superstars turn up, play a year of college as a foundation, then leave and go to the NBA. So the standard is much lower, as the 2nd to 4th years playing are really the ones not good enough to go to the pros.
And I believe baseball, it is 0 years of college, so most superstars just don't bother with it, and thus college baseball is much more akin to lower league football.
US universities have amazing sports development programs. It's never really been a big thing in UK sport; I think their system is superior frankly
It’s something now being actively done by our sports teams. The way England£ football has approached junior to senior pathways, the way cricket clubs (counties) are embedded in the local communities etc. We will never have the same varsity set up in the U.K. but the kids are getting the same levels of training and development.
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
I've been to the baseball at Yankee Stadium.
I didn't really understand it, but they put on a good show around it. A very redneck couple also had a classic big screen zoom in wedding proposal moment.
Got some decent tickets for the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadow though, which was much more up my avenue.
In terms of sheer scale, a day at a full Indy 500 looks fairly insane, although I'd probably prefer to see Indycar at one of the classic road courses.
Indy 500 is on my hit list. When there isn’t a pandemic, they get half a million people to turn up, it’s totally nuts.
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
Does college football serve as championship/leagues 1 and 2 effectively. So in the U.K. I& you don’t have a premiership side you have lower leagues. In the us there is no lower league football, and defo no promotion to the nfl. So you have all the uni students plus the locals, who in huddersfield, say, would b3 watching Huddersfield town. Weird for me to think that when at uni I played first team rugby, which is kinda the equivalent of college football. Rarely had more than 20 fans...
Sort of, but not....Its much much bigger, not just the fans, but the tv rights, the amount the coaching staff get paid (some get more than the NFL coaches), the money made for the colleges involved is eye watering.
So imagine Liverpool, but all the best under 23 talent play in a separate "college" team, because they aren't allowed to play in the first team until they have played a minimum of 3 years for this secondary team, and the manager of the U23 might actually be Klopp (or on the more money than Klopp). And the attendance at their games is double or triple that of the first team.
The way it is setup different sports have different entry requirements for the draft. NFL it is 3 years of college, so college American football has top talent on the field throughout their development period, such that last year the best of the best are world class.
In comparison, basketball is only one year. So the superstars turn up, play a year of college as a foundation, then leave and go to the NBA. So the standard is much lower, as the 2nd to 4th years playing are really the ones not good enough to go to the pros.
And I believe baseball, it is 0 years of college, so most superstars just don't bother with it, and thus college baseball is much more akin to lower league football.
Some baseball players do, some don't. Many go to college to do an actual real degree. As baseball is much less reliable in turning 18 yo superstar into actual pro superstar. There is an interesting article on whether it is better to draft from college or straight from HS here.
Sure....Baseball has also a much more of an complex structure than say American football, as you have all these feeder leagues from single A to triple A....while also having the college route. And virtually no player in baseball goes straight to MLB, they have to work their way through the ladder and prove you have the numbers on each rung before moving up.
Where as NFL, the top college draft picks will play straight out of college, and basketball again there is far less sending players to feeder leagues (although they have G league and they loan players to places like Europe).
I guess baseball is closer to the old UK football model, where you have some at elite academies, you have some talented young players at home town clubs, you have some working their way through the pyramid ala Vardy. But that is going the way of the dinosaurs now, as EPL far less likely to buy unproven lower league players.
So what on earth is going on at Novavax? They have (had?) an apparently effective vaccine. They apparently started making it. They've had a nice new wave of Covid to round out their trial numbers. Why do they seem to be so incapable of getting authorisation and bringing it to market?
I mean, Jessica von Bredell-Werndl, the leading German horse dancer, who stables her 17 horses in Schloss Bagrossian-Fitzpatrick-Jynncks got more points than Equatorial Guinea COMBINED
So what combination of fighting in the nightclub queue, trying to not drown with or without a boat and playing with animals are Team GB likely to win some medals this evening?
So what on earth is going on at Novavax? They have (had?) an apparently effective vaccine. They apparently started making it. They've had a nice new wave of Covid to round out their trial numbers. Why do they seem to be so incapable of getting authorisation and bringing it to market?
It’s Novavax. What did you fucking expect?
They are the Spurs of biotech
Should have guessed from a company that has No Vax in their name.
Having been to all the US major sports in the US, I would say as a day out ranked in following order
College American Football (better than NFL) Ice Hockey Baseball (only with good seats, otherwise its like sitting side on at the cricket, minus the 20 lads ona stag dressed as nuns) Basketball (strangely dull and repeative until the last minute).
I have not been to MLS, so can't comment on that.
I've been to the baseball at Yankee Stadium.
I didn't really understand it, but they put on a good show around it. A very redneck couple also had a classic big screen zoom in wedding proposal moment.
Got some decent tickets for the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadow though, which was much more up my avenue.
In terms of sheer scale, a day at a full Indy 500 looks fairly insane, although I'd probably prefer to see Indycar at one of the classic road courses.
Indy 500 is on my hit list. When there isn’t a pandemic, they get half a million people to turn up, it’s totally nuts.
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
Does college football serve as championship/leagues 1 and 2 effectively. So in the U.K. I& you don’t have a premiership side you have lower leagues. In the us there is no lower league football, and defo no promotion to the nfl. So you have all the uni students plus the locals, who in huddersfield, say, would b3 watching Huddersfield town. Weird for me to think that when at uni I played first team rugby, which is kinda the equivalent of college football. Rarely had more than 20 fans...
Sort of, but not....Its much much bigger, not just the fans, but the tv rights, the amount the coaching staff get paid (some get more than the NFL coaches), the money made for the colleges involved is eye watering.
So imagine Liverpool, but all the best under 23 talent play in a separate "college" team, because they aren't allowed to play in the first team until they have played a minimum of 3 years for this secondary team, and the manager of the U23 might actually be Klopp (or on the more money than Klopp). And the attendance at their games is double or triple that of the first team.
The way it is setup different sports have different entry requirements for the draft. NFL it is 3 years of college, so college American football has top talent on the field throughout their development period, such that last year the best of the best are world class.
In comparison, basketball is only one year. So the superstars turn up, play a year of college as a foundation, then leave and go to the NBA. So the standard is much lower, as the 2nd to 4th years playing are really the ones not good enough to go to the pros.
And I believe baseball, it is 0 years of college, so most superstars just don't bother with it, and thus college baseball is much more akin to lower league football.
US universities have amazing sports development programs. It's never really been a big thing in UK sport; I think their system is superior frankly
It’s something now being actively done by our sports teams. The way England£ football has approached junior to senior pathways, the way cricket clubs (counties) are embedded in the local communities etc. We will never have the same varsity set up in the U.K. but the kids are getting the same levels of training and development.
It's the one stop nature that's great I think, the Uni of Warwick/Coventry if it was a US setup would basically have Warwickshire 🐻 + Godiva Harriers + Cov City + Wasps academy all in one place
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
I've tried to get into baseball because the mighty Liverpool are owned by the people who own the Boston Red Sox and let us face facts, baseball is rounders, a game played by British schoolchildren.
I’m going to see the Cardinals play in September. Never been before
That would be Donald Ibrahim Swann: Welsh-born, son of a Turkmen-Russian mother from Turkmenistan and an English-by-nationality father from Russia; a convert to the Quakers.
That would be Donald Ibrahim Swann: Welsh-born, son of a Turkmen-Russian mother from Turkmenistan and an English-by-nationality father from Russia; a convert to the Quakers.
*makes note to read his biography some time*
Thanks for that. I never knew Swann was born in Llanelli.
Somewhat ironic his family came from Turkmenistan as people from Llanelli are known as "Turks" by Swansea Jacks.
In the US, they have a similar venn diagram with baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey on it.
Baseball. Shit sport. No one plays it except countries nuked by America or basically nuked
Basketball, meaningless goals all the time, you have to be 9 foot tall
American football, so bad the Canadians play a slightly better version, no one else plays it
Ice hockey, lol
I've tried to get into baseball because the mighty Liverpool are owned by the people who own the Boston Red Sox and let us face facts, baseball is rounders, a game played by British schoolchildren.
I’m going to see the Cardinals play in September. Never been before
Olympics baseball. Japan 6/5 Corals & Skybet. USA 4/1 Hills. Both are shorter on Betfair. My pin has landed on the favourites, Japan.
Comments
US college football is a really weird one, they get 100k crowds for what’s basically amateur sport, just because it’s a social event for all the students and friends.
You think Brett Lee was quick, then you see 10% extra on top.
Only in the sense that Rugby Union used to be "amateur".
Fitba
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
It must be like, God, I dunno, always speaking the language of your colonial suppressor and racial superior, the English, because English is THE global language, and Scots is a sad joke language literally spoken by no one - because the mighty English utterly conquered you (as we conquered everyone else) and reduced you to the status of a pathetic slave state that STILL voted NO to independence from England because you have no pride?
Oh. Sorry. Oops!
Heck even the cheaper hospitality bars make the match bearable.
--AS
But in practice I find it deathly dull to watch live.
I most check when Glasgow are playing so I can see a match or 2.
Weird for me to think that when at uni I played first team rugby, which is kinda the equivalent of college football. Rarely had more than 20 fans...
They throw the ball mighty quickly side on.
Bull fighting is properly dangerous
I saw a corrida at Seville once, in the sombra, and the matador hero did really well and got his ears and testicles, despite being tossed and nearly gored. He carried it all off with aplomb, bowing and smiling, and the crowd loved it. As far as I could see from the terraces he didn't break a sweat
On the way out of the arena I happened to see him - a local bull-fighting star of about 22 - being rushed away by his aides
He was utterly ashen. Broken with fear and dripping with sweat - an hour after he sworded the final bull.
He was a man who KNEW he had come very very close to death.
Brilliant sport. About the only sport I'd rank alongside all the many great English sports
Whoever is prepared to walk away is always stronger. That was never May, but it is Frost and Boris.
There were quite a few people from South Bend there that weekend.
No wonder Yankees boil their kettles on the stove instead of using a proper electric one. Or worse, the microwave.
So imagine Liverpool, but all the best under 23 talent play in a separate "college" team, because they aren't allowed to play in the first team until they have played a minimum of 3 years for this secondary team, and the manager of the U23 might actually be Klopp (or on the more money than Klopp). And the attendance at their games is double or triple that of the first team.
The way it is setup different sports have different entry requirements for the draft. NFL it is 3 years of college, so college American football has top talent on the field throughout their development period, such that last year the best of the best are world class.
In comparison, basketball is only one year. So the superstars turn up, play a year of college as a foundation, then leave and go to the NBA. So the standard is much lower, as the 2nd to 4th years playing are really the ones not good enough to go to the pros.
And I believe baseball, it is 0 years of college, so most superstars just don't bother with it, and thus college baseball is much more akin to lower league football.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vh-wEXvdW8
There are plenty of league cast-offs at a typical rugby union club.
I must be the only PBer to have played against Holland at rugby.
Preston Grasshoppers schools invitational tournament c1983.
Had a very good kicking game ISTR. Were about as good as my own very average school team.
You just sit on the back of this massive bull, who we picked specifically because it is wild and seems impossible to be tamed, and just hold on to that tiny bit of rope with one hand....off you go.
Simply, until the EU implements the previously agreed trusted trader scheme to cover 99% of GB/NI trade they have got no reasonable grounds to do anything but accept the suspension of the protocol for GB/NI trade. That's the reality of the situation. Not some unquantifiable goodwill or the idea that the EU can somehow use this to suspend bits of the TCA or ratchet up border pedantry even more.
Reality has bashed the commission over the head and if they aren't willing to implement the trusted trader scheme then the treaty is void and needs to be renegotiated in light of that new development.
It is a rules based organisation being hoist by its own petard.
I've never seen that. I've heard the tune obvs but never seen that clip. Genius
It is perfectly judged, it satirises ugly English exceptionalism superbly, yet it has just enough atoms of truth in it to drive everyone else mad
I mean, the world IS speaking English.
Why?
Because we are the BEST! I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest
And actually it will cost the government money - they will have to offer something for those without smartphones/who don't want to install the NHS app (no way I would install anything written by an organisation as untrustworthy and incompetent as the government, I can't be alone in thinking this).
They will also have to sort out all the hard cases... eg I don't think my vaccine has gone on my medical records because the NHS bureaucracy appears to have lost them. I gave up trying to sort out what fate had befallen them after about 3 hours on the phone to several GP's useless receptionists, and decided to circumvent the system. The online system wouldn't book me because it couldn't find my records, so I eventually went to a "no questions asked" walk in.
Even if I did download the NHS app, I doubt my jab would show up - I would probably have to have a real human somewhere try and find my medical records and add the jab to them... So there will be a real cost of employing some humans somewhere to sort all those sorts of issues out.
I did try to ice skate once, but it was a bit of a farce. I almost ended up as a Covid hospitalisation!
It's a genuine sporting competition. Most animal-loving wankers like you who moan about it have never been to a proper corrida in one of the great centres of the sport - down south: Grenada. Cordoba, Malaga, Seville, Ronda, Cadiz.
eg Most Brits don't realise that if the bull successfully evades the picador three times, the bull is officially released and allowed to go round to the matador's house, charge up the stairs, and gore the matador's girlfriend to death in her bed, unless she jumps out of the window. This is why most matadors live on the ground floor
It's a proper sport
I expect there's currently a bit of a divide in Brussels at the moment between those who have faced up to reality and realise the Trusted Trader Scheme is needed afterall and desperately looking for a face-saving way to implement it . . . and others who still believe their own delusions of grandeur and think they can bully Britain into backing down.
There is an interesting article on whether it is better to draft from college or straight from HS here.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2894865-mlb-draft-2020-do-more-future-stars-come-from-high-school-or-college.amp.html
The answer isn't clear.
Still don't get baseball.
And no I won't post a link to their "Don't be a..."
Edit: "Try not to be a..."
Where as NFL, the top college draft picks will play straight out of college, and basketball again there is far less sending players to feeder leagues (although they have G league and they loan players to places like Europe).
I guess baseball is closer to the old UK football model, where you have some at elite academies, you have some talented young players at home town clubs, you have some working their way through the pyramid ala Vardy. But that is going the way of the dinosaurs now, as EPL far less likely to buy unproven lower league players.
They are the Spurs of biotech
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cricket
- New cases: 2,195
- Average: 1,497 (+101)
- In hospital: 243 (+32)
- In ICU: 33 (-)
- New deaths: 0
Population vaccinated:
- 1st dose: 62.07% (+0.06)
- 2nd dose: 57.35% (+0.13)
Much better from the 30s.
I believe she was very young when her father passed.
That would be Donald Ibrahim Swann: Welsh-born, son of a Turkmen-Russian mother from Turkmenistan and an English-by-nationality father from Russia; a convert to the Quakers.
*makes note to read his biography some time*
Somewhat ironic his family came from Turkmenistan as people from Llanelli are known as "Turks" by Swansea Jacks.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/07/27/pensions-triple-lock-mps-canvassed-opinions-dropping-manifesto/ (£££)