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Soccer

LFC are champions in the most anti-climatic way possible. Didn't even remember to catch the Man City v Chelsea game. People went out into the streets to celebrate, not very smart. Yes, 30 years waiting, but still... if you waited 30 years, the celebration can wait even longer.

So can Liverpool win every home game? Can they see the win record and the points record? All of this to be anti-climatically determined unless the UK needs to close down again.

YNWA
 
So Liverpool win the title a number of games early and the new narrative is the points record. If you'd like a league to watch uninspired football, I know one. Wolverhampton are one spot out of Europa, I wonder if they feel that's a bad thing? Oh and Man City's ban from the Champion's League has been reversed. I'm thankful for that - doesn't feel right to have them miss it.

I've been watching Juventus lately, pretending that there is still a title race in the Serie A, but mostly to watch Ronaldo.
 
Liverpool drop more points, this time to Arsenal, so the record of most points in a season is down, again, in a very anti-climatic way.

So Liverpool is running out of bonus accolades with the season coming to an end. They'll be presented the EPL trophy next week, again, in a very anti-climatic manner.

The real question becomes what of next year. Like, when does it even start?! Who'll play on Man City? Can Liverpool again have a near century point total. When will crowds be allowed? Does starting the season without crowds make the season more legitimate?
 
In the US, Champions League is muddled. TNT had the rights, but gave them back. So now CBS is covering it, and some games will be on CBS, but probably most on CBS Sports which isn't the cheapest package channel to get.
 
You could buy a DAZN package for a month - I believe it's 20 per month.

I've also discovered that with DAZN you get a max of two simultaneous screens per account, so my brother and I are splitting an annual subscription next season. 75 dollars each.
 
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Congratulations, now you can watch Leeds stumble around for a bit before they get relegated again :)

I was similarly enthused to be following the premier league in a year that Norwich was up, until I realized that they didn't re-build at all, and ended up having an awful season. Hopefully Leeds fares better.
 
rousseau said:
Congratulations, now you can watch Leeds stumble around for a bit before they get relegated again :)
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Like Leicester did? :D
I was similarly enthused to be following the premier league in a year that Norwich was up, until I realized that they didn't re-build at all, and ended up having an awful season. Hopefully Leeds fares better.
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The top of the top flight is the natural habitat of Leeds United. It's the last sixteen years that have been an aberration.
 
Sheffield did pretty good this year, too. Truth be told I don't know much about the lower half of the premier league, or teams in the championship. This season was the first time I could actually watch the premier league at a reasonable price so I'm a noob.

May be worth paying attention to how those promoted adjust - if they have time to?
 
rousseau said:
Sheffield did pretty good this year, too. Truth be told I don't know much about the lower half of the premier league, or teams in the championship. This season was the first time I could actually watch the premier league at a reasonable price so I'm a noob.

May be worth paying attention to how those promoted adjust - if they have time to?
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Historically, promoted teams tend to do well for one or two seasons - perhaps because the rest of the League don't really know them well until they've played against them a few times.

Either that or they get thrashed and drop straight back into the lower division. ;)
 
bilby said:
rousseau said:
Congratulations, now you can watch Leeds stumble around for a bit before they get relegated again :)
Click to expand...
Like Leicester did? :D
I was similarly enthused to be following the premier league in a year that Norwich was up, until I realized that they didn't re-build at all, and ended up having an awful season. Hopefully Leeds fares better.
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The top of the top flight is the natural habitat of Leeds United. It's the last sixteen years that have been an aberration.
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Like a Homeward Bound, Leeds United has finally gotten home. Now it’ll be time to overspend, have a great year, go into Administration and repeat the journey.

As an adopted fan of Stoke City, reality checks can be real tough.
 
Well, best of luck for that. Soccer struggles across America in general. There are definitely hot spots for the game, and maybe it'll eventually catch on. But women's soccer is even tougher to get rolling.
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
Well, best of luck for that. Soccer struggles across America in general. There are definitely hot spots for the game, and maybe it'll eventually catch on. But women's soccer is even tougher to get rolling.
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My kids all played soccer at some level. One of them played on his college team as well and continues to play adult rec league games as he is able to. Hubby is a big fan. Is watching some game or another right now. Heck, even I know off sides and penalty kicks, etc. It is catching on. Personally, I like that it's not like major league baseball or major league football or basketball. I find pro football (US) and pro basketball to be unwatchable. And where I grew up, basketball was KING. I don't know that soccer will ever be like football here but I think that's a good thing. And a really good thing that women's soccer is growing. There are a lot of girls and women who are really hungry for this. Starved, actually.

Last summer, I caught an exhibition game -a MLS team vs an English Premiere league team and was delighted to hear the young girls (guesstimate of their ages=12 ) who were talking about the game being played as I remember boys talking about baseball games when I was a kid: knew all the players, stats, etc. But even more than that, we took lightrail to the stadium and there were several young men talking about how excited they were because it had just been announced that the Women's World Cup champions were going to play an exhibition game in that same stadium. All I could think was Whoa--a bunch of dudes being all excited to watch women play? Maybe times have changed.
 
Toni said:
Jimmy Higgins said:
Well, best of luck for that. Soccer struggles across America in general. There are definitely hot spots for the game, and maybe it'll eventually catch on. But women's soccer is even tougher to get rolling.
Click to expand...

My kids all played soccer at some level. One of them played on his college team as well and continues to play adult rec league games as he is able to. Hubby is a big fan. Is watching some game or another right now. Heck, even I know off sides and penalty kicks, etc. It is catching on. Personally, I like that it's not like major league baseball or major league football or basketball. I find pro football (US) and pro basketball to be unwatchable. And where I grew up, basketball was KING. I don't know that soccer will ever be like football here but I think that's a good thing. And a really good thing that women's soccer is growing. There are a lot of girls and women who are really hungry for this. Starved, actually.

Last summer, I caught an exhibition game -a MLS team vs an English Premiere league team and was delighted to hear the young girls (guesstimate of their ages=12 ) who were talking about the game being played as I remember boys talking about baseball games when I was a kid: knew all the players, stats, etc. But even more than that, we took lightrail to the stadium and there were several young men talking about how excited they were because it had just been announced that the Women's World Cup champions were going to play an exhibition game in that same stadium. All I could think was Whoa--a bunch of dudes being all excited to watch women play? Maybe times have changed.
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Oh, and I'm totally getting an Angel City jersey when they are available. I have zero interest in going to LA ever and I am not much of a soccer fan but I'm getting the jersey.
 
It's an interesting problem. Probably worth noting that the situation isn't that different for men and women when you look at the big picture. Elite sports are male dominated, but that is a very small (like miniscule) proportion of people playing the sport as a whole. Odds are if you want to play sport as an adult you're in a rec league.

I'm not sure what kind of compromise you can make for fundamental, physical differences - just seems like one of those things that creates an awkward dynamic for some sports.
 
rousseau said:
It's an interesting problem. Probably worth noting that the situation isn't that different for men and women when you look at the big picture. Elite sports are male dominated, but that is a very small (like miniscule) proportion of people playing the sport as a whole. Odds are if you want to play sport as an adult you're in a rec league.

I'm not sure what kind of compromise you can make for fundamental, physical differences - just seems like one of those things that creates an awkward dynamic for some sports.
Click to expand...

My son the big soccer player (just played HS and small college team) has played on mixed gender rec teams since college. That's how he met the long term girlfriend before the current one.
 
Toni said:
rousseau said:
It's an interesting problem. Probably worth noting that the situation isn't that different for men and women when you look at the big picture. Elite sports are male dominated, but that is a very small (like miniscule) proportion of people playing the sport as a whole. Odds are if you want to play sport as an adult you're in a rec league.

I'm not sure what kind of compromise you can make for fundamental, physical differences - just seems like one of those things that creates an awkward dynamic for some sports.
Click to expand...

My son the big soccer player (just played HS and small college team) has played on mixed gender rec teams since college. That's how he met the long term girlfriend before the current one.
Click to expand...

I played for a county team as a youth, and straight through high-school, but in Canada there is absolutely no focus on the development of soccer players. If I was born in Europe I might have been identified for a youth camp, but most coaches in Canada are volunteers without much knowledge of the game. At best I got European ex-pats as coaches when I was playing for our county. In high-school our coaches were teachers who made sure we didn't break anything.

Hockey is king here - in my city our Junior team sells out an arena of 10 000 people all season. Lots of poor parents hoping their kid makes the NHL, but it's really a lottery, even some of the best junior players never achieve long-term careers in the NHL.
 
rousseau said:
Toni said:
rousseau said:
It's an interesting problem. Probably worth noting that the situation isn't that different for men and women when you look at the big picture. Elite sports are male dominated, but that is a very small (like miniscule) proportion of people playing the sport as a whole. Odds are if you want to play sport as an adult you're in a rec league.

I'm not sure what kind of compromise you can make for fundamental, physical differences - just seems like one of those things that creates an awkward dynamic for some sports.
Click to expand...

My son the big soccer player (just played HS and small college team) has played on mixed gender rec teams since college. That's how he met the long term girlfriend before the current one.
Click to expand...

I played for a county team as a youth, and straight through high-school, but in Canada there is absolutely no focus on the development of soccer players. If I was born in Europe I might have been identified for a youth camp, but most coaches in Canada are volunteers without much knowledge of the game. At best I got European ex-pats as coaches when I was playing for our county. In high-school our coaches were teachers who made sure we didn't break anything.

Hockey is king here - in my city our Junior team sells out an arena of 10 000 people all season. Lots of poor parents hoping their kid makes the NHL, but it's really a lottery, even some of the best junior players never achieve long-term careers in the NHL.
Click to expand...

Soccer here is pretty much at the same level as you describe in Canada. Only one of my kids was ‘serious’ about soccer and played for his small college team. Three played in high school. One played only on a summer youth team for a year or two. All played summer youth leagues at some level. Only two of their coaches ( except for college) had ever played the game as kids or had anything other than very cursory knowledge of the game. My husband played in a little bit as a kid. I had barely heard of the sport.

I was thrilled none of my kids wanted to play hockey. Thrilled. Equipment was expense and then the dental work! Plus ice time was very early...And hockey moms are crazy....
 
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