And you thought I was anti-American?
Check this :
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/columnists/sto...,544137,00.html

I personally don't have such strong opinions, I just don't care at all, I've never watched a football (aka "soccer" in 1 country) game, and think all those sports (baseball, basketball, rugby...) are complete crap.
None of these "athletes" would last 5 minutes in 15ft waves, and they would seriously piss their pants if they had to do what professional skateboarders do on a daily basis.
I'm not sure I wanna be thrown in the middle of a rugby field after shouting this out loud

Still a funny article though...

 

 

I dislike ALL american cars... I can't think of one that I like. Not even the Viper..and don't get me started on Vett's. (Even though both are obviously very fast).

-- Aaron

 

Yep hilarious, it sounds like the typical psuedo-intellectual, embittered, angst-ridden Brit who is just plain upset about the lowly position of his country as it relates to contemporary history.

This is coming from a person, me, who cares not a whim about NFL, XFL, NBA, WNBA, WhateverBA...I personally, don't follow any of it. But this guy has it in for America, and that's cool, he can fling poop all day...as long as it doesn't hit Chicago, pfft, who cares...

My question for him is, when will England have such amazing technological advances such as ice or maybe one day, dentistry...?!?




(this is humor, my British friends...I'm Irish and French, not particularly fond of the French part, but love the Irish part...take this with a drop of Guinness...)

 

Maybe he's upset because England can't win anything anymore?

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by le car
[B]And you thought I was anti-American?
Check this :
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/columnists/sto...,544137,00.html

I personally don't have such strong opinions, I just don't care at all, I've never watched a football (aka "soccer" in 1 country) game, and think all those sports (baseball, basketball, rugby...) are complete crap.

 

Ahh...arguing about American sports.

Every sport at the highest levels requires a ridiculous amount of talent and skill. There's no point arguing about which sport is tougher or requires more skill to execute. They are all incredibly tough at the highest levels of competition.

More risk doesn't equate to needing a higher skill level to be successful.

That's like saying rugby takes more skill to play than American football because rugby players don't wear pads. Both sports are equally difficult in their own ways.

And if you want to talk about risk, let's talk hockey. Several years ago, Chris Pronger, then with the St. Louis Blues, took a slapshot to the chest during at game against the Red Wings. The puck hit him so hard it made his heart skip beats. It's one thing to break a bone in your body, but to have something able to alter the way your heart functions?!

In another game involving Edmonton, I think, there was a player who took a shot to the neck. If I recall properly, he had to have an emergency trachaeotomy because his windpipe/throat assembly had been crushed. The fact that Al McInnis can blast a puck up to 120 mph should scare the piss out of anyone. I'd take flipping myself of rails on my rollerblades anyday over standing on the ice between Al and my goal.

Each sport involves its own unique skills. If you're good at something, be proud that you may be one of the best at what you do. Don't go bitching about other sports being inferior. Sure it's just competitive spirit between different athletic disciplines or whatever, but man it gets old really fast.

Temin

 

More than a few Americans have excelled at Wimbledon, as I recall. They also always seem to kick some serious ass in basketball at the Olympics. 1980 was a pretty good year for hockey, too.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by temin
[B]
More risk doesn't equate to needing a higher skill level to be successful.

 

All of the greatest athletes share that 'thing' that makes them somethig special. Some call it balance, some call it flow, some don't have a word for it at all, but it's there. You can see it when Jordan pops a turn-around jumper, just as much as you can see it when Tiger flies his 7 iron 190 yards. You could see it when Pele had the goal in his sights, and you saw it when Ali hit Frasier, and vice-versa. It was evident the first time Tony hawk pulled a 900, and you saw it if you ever watched Bo Jackson so much as breathe.
It manifests itself in slightly different ways for each athlete and each sport - some say Ken Griffey Jr can actually watch the seams on a baseball as it flies at him at 96mph, and if you've ever seen Kurt Warner throw out of a shallow pocket you'd swear he figured out how to look 5 places at once or somehow stop time - maybe both.
The point is that these people are athletes - plain and simple. To say that someone at the peak of his/her game is more or less skilled than another is just silly, as it would be to say that a certain sport takes more skill, heart, or ability than another. To me, that's the whole point of watching sports - it's a chance to see someone who's the best at what they do, do it better than anyone ever has. Magical moments happen all the time in sports, from a Midwester farm boy bringing home a gold medal in wresting, to a victim of cancer wearing a yellow jersey longer, and riding faster than everyone else.
These moments are what sports and athletics are all about, and I don't really care what nation the sports come from - or how their media portrays them. Balance, flow, magic - call it what you want, just as long as you keep it coming....