OT: Boneyard "Other Football" World Cup Thread

[SAMCRO]

That was the same tactic Netherlands used in the 2010 final. Just foul every Spaniard on the pitch and hope for the best.

 

[ZooCougar]

This game has been rough to watch so far. Honestly, I can't see either of these teams beating Germany.

 

[Husky25]

This game has been rough to watch so far. Honestly, I can't see either of these teams beating Germany.

More of the same for Holland. They've been a little more forward than in the Costa Rica game, but not much. Holland doesn't deserve to win, but they almost went up right there.

 

[whaler11]

General EPL questions:

1. Any good blogs that cover the entire league?

2. I need to settle on a team. Are there any well written team specific blogs to help make that decision?
I'm looking outside of the power teams. No way I'm going with Manchester City or United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs. I don't dislike Everton but probably too mainstream. Aston Villa may be too mainstream as well.

Something from the Stoke, Crystal Palace, West Brom, West Ham, Swansea City group looks about right to me.

 

[SubbaBub]

General EPL questions:

1. Any good blogs that cover the entire league?

2. I need to settle on a team. Are there any well written team specific blogs to help make that decision?
I'm looking outside of the power teams. No way I'm going with Manchester City or United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs. I don't dislike Everton but probably too mainstream. Aston Villa may be too mainstream as well.

Something from the Stoke, Crystal Palace, West Brom, West Ham, Swansea City group looks about right to me.

Ultimately you want a side that isn't likely to be relegated and has the possibility of challenging for the top 4 spots. Add in American players and you end up with either Stoke City, Aston Villa or Everton (hardly mainstream if you ask me, a very blue collar fanbase). It also has the bonus of a long standing rivalry with Liverpool.

If you want a colorful owner to despise, Cardiff is your squad, though I wouldn't recommend it. They were deservedly relegated.

Looking for an underdog? Southampton is a good one. For a longshot, Sunderland.

If you have NBC sports Extra Time on your system, all matches are shown live, so picking a team to watch is a bit easier these days.

 

[UCFBfan]

General EPL questions:

1. Any good blogs that cover the entire league?

2. I need to settle on a team. Are there any well written team specific blogs to help make that decision?
I'm looking outside of the power teams. No way I'm going with Manchester City or United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs. I don't dislike Everton but probably too mainstream. Aston Villa may be too mainstream as well.

Something from the Stoke, Crystal Palace, West Brom, West Ham, Swansea City group looks about right to me.

I'm a Swansea fan and they are a good team to follow. I agree with Subba that Everton is not a bad choice and won't be relegated anytime soon. I actually like the Swansea blogger for ESPN. I believe his name is Maxwell Hicks. Swansea does things their way and assuming they hold on to Michu or Bony, should be safe from relegation again this year. Unfortunately, their way means not splurging on big named players. So if you like small market teams that do it right, Swansea is a personal favorite for me. Plus, with NBC Extra Time you can watch every one of their games live. Their home crowd is awesome!

 

[ZooCougar]

General EPL questions:

1. Any good blogs that cover the entire league?

2. I need to settle on a team. Are there any well written team specific blogs to help make that decision?
I'm looking outside of the power teams. No way I'm going with Manchester City or United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs. I don't dislike Everton but probably too mainstream. Aston Villa may be too mainstream as well.

Something from the Stoke, Crystal Palace, West Brom, West Ham, Swansea City group looks about right to me.

I am in the same boat. But instead of window shopping I am just going to start watching more games on NBC Sports and see what catches my eye. I don't want to be a frontrunner but I am open minded about Arsenal and the Spurs. On the other hand, I am a UConn football fan, so I have earned some frontrunning time...

 

[Waquoit]

Something from the Stoke, Crystal Palace, West Brom, West Ham, Swansea City group looks about right to me.

Stoke City is my 2nd team. I've been following them since they were recently promoted. Mainly because they are called STOKE CITY! What more do you need?

But I've also come to like Crystal Palace. Their home crowds sound awesome on TV, especially when they all sing "Glad All Over" at the top of their lungs.

 

[Husky25]

I'm in Zoo's boat. First things first though, catch the games when they're on. If there is not a UConn football game, I basically have babysitting duty as a compromise to watch football later in the day. He's getting older now so will require less supervision. I am hoping to catch more than a few high profile matches this season.

 

[SAMCRO]

General EPL questions:

1. Any good blogs that cover the entire league?

2. I need to settle on a team. Are there any well written team specific blogs to help make that decision?
I'm looking outside of the power teams. No way I'm going with Manchester City or United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs. I don't dislike Everton but probably too mainstream. Aston Villa may be too mainstream as well.

Something from the Stoke, Crystal Palace, West Brom, West Ham, Swansea City group looks about right to me.

1. ESPNFC.com, worldsoccertalk.com, premiereleague.com, sbnation, soccerblog.net for starters. sbnation ap is good b/c you can follow a team or league, and get all the social media updates (tweets, etc...) to stay in the loop. That will lead you to other good sites, blogs, etc...

2. I'm a Spurs fan, and got there about 6-7 years ago in a similar way to how you are thinking about it. I refused to pick a top 4-5 club, so Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal (aka The Scum, Gooners), and Liverpool were out right off the bat (otherwise I would have selected Liverpool). I watched a lot of games, and Spurs always seemed to be on. At the time Bale was coming up, they were beginning to compete, and they played a fun style, and (in kind of a chick way) I liked their away kits. I landed on them and have regretted it ever since . Being a UConn FB and Spurs fan is a lot to deal with, my wife makes fun of me b/c of it.

Of the teams out there, just watch for half a season or so, and you will find the team you identify most with. Watch games through Christmas, and I think you'll find the team you want to follow. Speaking of Christmas, it is a great time to watch games. Teams are playing 4-5 games in a 2-3 week span. Plays a big role in positioning in the table. Another recommendation, find a team in the League Championship (level just below Premiere league). Fun to follow and pull for someone to get promoted. Not as much coverage on TV, but you do get some games. I follow Nottingham Forest, Derby, and Reading.

Also, if you want to watch a good movie related to English football check out The Damned United - based on a true story of one of the top historic Managers in English club football.

 

[whaler11]

I've been watching for 2-3 years and just haven't naturally been drawn towards anyone. I have just found having a well written blog can really enhance following a team (sorry Zoo I'm mainly talking about baseball).

So I think I'll see what's out there for Swansea, Crystal Palace and Stoke and see if any of them grab me.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

I tend to root for teams that I have seen, which are: 1) Arsenal, 2) Barcelona FC, 3) Bruges, 4) Olympic Lyon (France).

I used to be a Man U fan because I like Manchester better than London; but, they got too big for me and I shifted to Arsenal after going to a match there a few years back and as they are now on US TV, too. I am lukewarm on Barcelona as they have also become too big for me (guess I can morally support just on big money team, and that is the Yankees). That said, going to Camp Nou (game was against Salamanca, which is now a B level side) is a bucket list level event and gives me the excuse to detest Real Madrid and Ronaldo. Club Bruges was actually my favorite match as the stands are close to the pitch, it’s a manageable size (30K), Bruges is a fantastic city, and well, they have Belgium beer. That said, they are not on US TV at all. Lyon is my favorite team as I have been more than one of their matches and they are good team that gets into the Champions league often; but, they do not have the money of the other teams and thus give me my underdog team. Lyon is a good city too, unlike Paris, which feels too full of itself. Plus, they give me the reason to despise Paris SG.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

The Guardian has pretty great soccer coverage. It can be a bit tough sometimes to keep up with all the UK/soccer slang, but it's doable... I mean, it is technically the same language.

For me, finding an emotional resonance with a team helped. Liverpool is owned by the Fenway Group and my best friend is from the UK and a die-hard Liverpool fan. Easy enough. Otherwise, it can be tough.

The Sports Guy wrote a column about it a ways back, though it's only sorta relevant now: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060719

This is also a decent article about choosing an EPL team, giving pros and cons of each: http://www.nbcsports.com/joe-posnanski/how-pick-premier-league-club

 

[Waquoit]

Too bad you guys didn't go see Liverpool when they came to The Rent. That did it for me. So what if their best player like to nibble once in awhile.

 

[whaler11]

The Guardian has pretty great soccer coverage. It can be a bit tough sometimes to keep up with all the UK/soccer slang, but it's doable... I mean, it is technically the same language.

For me, finding an emotional resonance with a team helped. Liverpool is owned by the Fenway Group and my best friend is from the UK and a die-hard Liverpool fan. Easy enough. Otherwise, it can be tough.

The Sports Guy wrote a column about it a ways back, though it's only sorta relevant now: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060719

This is also a decent article about choosing an EPL team, giving pros and cons of each: http://www.nbcsports.com/joe-posnanski/how-pick-premier-league-club

I've been listening to the Guardian WC podcast. I've figured out 90% or so of what they have been talking about.

Took me longer to figure out that Robben's dodgy flapper referred to his arm. I assumed they meant his teeth/mouth the first time I heard it.

 

[Gurleyman]

Too bad you guys didn't go see Liverpool when they came to The Rent. That did it for me. So what if their best player like to nibble once in awhile.

I posted back after the Italy game that he's bitten three people in four years, but when you think about all the biting he has done in that time (steaks, apples, hard to open packaging, etc.), it's really only a very small percentage of his bites that have had an affect on games. Statistically negligible.

 

[Husky25]

I posted back after the Italy game that he's bitten three people in four years, but when you think about all the biting he has done in that time (steaks, apples, hard to open packaging, etc.), it's really only a very small percentage of his bites that have had an affect on games. Statistically negligible.

I watched the NED/CR game with a Liverpool native and big fan. He said that Suarez's contract is being sold. A quick Internet search reveals to Barcelona for over 80 million Euro.

 

[upstater]

The Guardian has pretty great soccer coverage. It can be a bit tough sometimes to keep up with all the UK/soccer slang, but it's doable... I mean, it is technically the same language.

For me, finding an emotional resonance with a team helped. Liverpool is owned by the Fenway Group and my best friend is from the UK and a die-hard Liverpool fan. Easy enough. Otherwise, it can be tough.

The Sports Guy wrote a column about it a ways back, though it's only sorta relevant now: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060719

This is also a decent article about choosing an EPL team, giving pros and cons of each: http://www.nbcsports.com/joe-posnanski/how-pick-premier-league-club

I've been watching for years and can't pick a team. But I do excel at rooting for teams soon to leave the Premier. QPR last year, Fulham this year. I began the season also rooting for Swansea because I liked their style, but then the manager was fired. If Fulham every gets back to the Premier, I will root for them because they just picked up a few guys I like to watch.

 

[UCFBfan]

I'm in Zoo's boat. First things first though, catch the games when they're on. If there is not a UConn football game, I basically have babysitting duty as a compromise to watch football later in the day. He's getting older now so will require less supervision. I am hoping to catch more than a few high profile matches this season.

Since Premier league games are on in the morning it makes catching thrm easy to do with a young one. It's even better when there's a 7:45 start. My daughter is 2 and my wife sleeps in so I got up with our daughter. She and I watched plenty of early morning soccer! Beats seeing SportsCenter on repeat 100 times!

 

[UCFBfan]

I've been watching for years and can't pick a team. But I do excel at rooting for teams soon to leave the Premier. QPR last year, Fulham this year. I began the season also rooting for Swansea because I liked their style, but then the manager was fired. If Fulham every gets back to the Premier, I will root for them because they just picked up a few guys I like to watch.

As a Swans fan I appreciate if you don't root for us! No need for bad karma!Lol

 

[DarthGrumpy]

The Guardian has pretty great soccer coverage. It can be a bit tough sometimes to keep up with all the UK/soccer slang, but it's doable... I mean, it is technically the same language.

Thanks for the review link. Interesting.

Also, isn't the Guardian the paper with the dirt on FIFA with respect to the 2022 Qatar World Cup bid?

 

[Gurleyman]

If you're struggling to pick a team, you can always be like a little kid and choose your team based on which uniform (or "kit" as they say over there) you like best. Personally, I'd go with Aston Villa - the maroon/light blue color scheme is interesting, the white away jerseys with the maroon pinstripes are sharp, and Brad Guzan is their keeper.

Or, now that ManU has a giant Chevrolet logo on their kit for next year, you could use that as an excuse to hop on that bandwagon. USA! USA!:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...NEW-KITS-2014-15-The-strips-team-wearing.html

 

[DarthGrumpy]

If you're struggling to pick a team, you can always be like a little kid and choose your team based on which uniform (or "kit" as they say over there) you like best. Personally, I'd go with Aston Villa - the maroon/light blue color scheme is interesting, the white away jerseys with the maroon pinstripes are sharp, and Brad Guzan is their keeper.

Or, now that ManU has a giant Chevrolet logo on their kit for next year, you could use that as an excuse to hop on that bandwagon. USA! USA!:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2607738/PREMIER-LEAGUE-NEW-KITS-2014-15-The-strips-team-wearing.html

Could be worse, I had a girlfriend in high school who like my team, the 49'ers, because Joe Montana had a cute butt. That as the last time I watched a game with her.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

...now that ManU has a giant Chevrolet logo on their kit for next year, you could use that as an excuse to hop on that bandwagon. USA! USA!:

Bad enough it's Manure, you won't be able to stop.

 

[SAMCRO]

Germany v Argentina, whose everybody got? I'd like to see Messi lift the cup, but think that Das Vaterland will clinically breakdown their South American allies 3-1