Go Team USA!

[LaskyaClaren]

Um.

 

No!!!!

 

(Damn you, Dillon!)

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

Dillon Levenque wrote:

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

According to some views, the "World Series" is so-called not because it pretends to be world-wide, but because it was initially sponsored by the New York World newspaper.

(Baseball is the only sport about which I am in any way well-informed. Go on, ask me about the infield fly rule!)

 

---

 

If the Infield Fly rule be invoked but the ball ends up carrying into the outfield, is the rule still in effect?

 

 

---

I don't wanna be anywhere near a game in which flies are large enough to carry the ball.

[LaskyaClaren]

---

Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

Well, all of this is why I don't really do sports.

Except for the street parties that happen in my neighbourhood after a local favourite football team wins. Those are pretty cool, actually, mostly.

---

Those are called tailgate parties and they start before the game..

---

No, not the same thing.

The street parties happen when all 15,000 people who were crammed into that small sports bar in Little Portugal, or Little Italy, or Little Korea or whatever watching the game erupt onto the street in joyous obvliviousness to silly things like passing cars and streetcars, and climb telephone poles and things waving flags and shouting and playing really loud music.

Tailgate parties are things that happen before the refrigerator-men game. I know, because I was offered a burned hot dog at one that took place before a game during which all the fans chanted something that sounded like "Oskee-wee-wee" while their team played.

[LaskyaClaren]

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

Dillon Levenque wrote:

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

According to some views, the "World Series" is so-called not because it pretends to be world-wide, but because it was initially sponsored by the New York World newspaper.

(Baseball is the only sport about which I am in any way well-informed. Go on, ask me about the infield fly rule!)

 

---

 

If the Infield Fly rule be invoked but the ball ends up carrying into the outfield, is the rule still in effect?

 

 

---

I don't wanna be anywhere near a game in which flies are large enough to carry the ball.

---

She has a point. Or would, were it not for the fact that baseball players are, to my mind, very well proportioned in all of the right places, and hardly look like flies at all.

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

madjim wrote:

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

madjim wrote:

Since soccer is easily the biggest spectator sport in the world - despite NASCAR's pathetic claims to supremacy - it is hardly surprising that occasionally there is a small disaster. In fact, it is astonishing that there are so few incidents, although the published figures would be considerably higher if the number of people who died of boredom watching, for example, Stoke City, was included.

Father "I enjoy a game with a bit of bite to it" Jim

---

Okay, let's do the numbers. From the page I screen-grabbed, there have been over 1200 soccer related fan deaths since 1964. From

this page

, I can find only one death over the same period for NASCAR. I doubt that either of the pages I linked tell the full story, but you'll have to come up with a better theory than relative popularity to explain the 1200:1 ratio.

---

I think that globally soccer spectators probably outnumber NASCAR attendees by more than 1200 to 1.

The difficulty in measuring NASCAR fan fatalities, as far as I can tell, is that they are medically brain-dead before they turn up.

Father "they don't just go round and round in circles; they're ovals" Jim

 

---

Football Hooliganism

I can't seem to find as rich a history of such behavior for the brain dead NASCAR fans. Though you may feel the need to respond, remember that not all feelings are rational.

---

You are, of course, absolutely right.

My problem is that I associate football with exotic Europeans, and NASCAR with . . . not exotic Europeans.

(PS. Stop playing with the troll.)

---

I don't think I've ever been absolutely right.

I'll settle for relatively right, particularly when it's effortless.

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

---

Drake1 Nightfire wrote:

You are, of course, absolutely right.

My problem is that I associate football with

exotic Europeans

, and NASCAR with . . . not exotic Europeans.

(PS. Stop playing with the troll.)

---

Huh... Apparently only Europeans play football. Cancel the World Cup!!! Only a few countries will continue to play. England is back in. I did not realize they had NASCAR in other countries than the US. Silly me.

---

I didn't say that only Europeans play football. I said that I 

associate

the sport with exotic Europeans -- specifically, Italians, Portuguese, Spanish, and French, in more or less that order because they are the fans who are the noisiest where I live.

And they do have NASCAR in other countries: mine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASCAR_Canada

(PS. Stopping being so grouchy.)

(PPS. Honourable mention goes to the Brazilians who, although not European, mostly live here in Little Portugal. The nice thing about being Portuguese, apparently, is that when your team gets eliminated,  you can simply switch over to supporting Brazil.)

---

I associate soccer with middle schoolers who's parents get thrown off the field for fighting with each other and the coaches.

I associate NASCAR with bumper stickers placed by people who don't know where the bumpers are.

I associate professional

(and increasingly amateur)

 sports with professional (and increasingly amateur) religion.

---

Well, all of this is why I don't really do sports.

Except for the street parties that happen in my neighbourhood after a local favourite football team wins. Those are pretty cool, actually, mostly.

---

Madison Wisconsin was infamous for University of Wisconsin Badger game after-parties (and partying in general). At away games, the UW Band would continue playing to fan cheers long after the game ended (the "Fifth Quarter"), forcing the home team radio announcers to deliver the post game wrap-up over a raucous rendition of "

". At home, fans built bonfires on State Street after the game. Those autumn post game parties inspired the Halloween "Freakfest" street party, which routinely drew over 100,000. Madison's population is 240,000.

 

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

Dillon Levenque wrote:

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

According to some views, the "World Series" is so-called not because it pretends to be world-wide, but because it was initially sponsored by the New York World newspaper.

(Baseball is the only sport about which I am in any way well-informed. Go on, ask me about the infield fly rule!)

 

---

 

If the Infield Fly rule be invoked but the ball ends up carrying into the outfield, is the rule still in effect?

 

 

---

I don't wanna be anywhere near a game in which flies are large enough to carry the ball.

---

She has a point. Or would, were it not for the fact that baseball players are, to my mind, very well proportioned in all of the right places, and hardly look like flies at all.

---

Yeah, but don't you worry a li'l about why they're always scratching those right places? If they have flies large enough to carry the ball, imagine what the cooties are like.

[Dillon Levenque]

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

Um.

 

No!!!!

 

(Damn you, Dillon!)

---

I'm terribly sorry, Laskya. I was so sure you really wanted to be asked! In fact, you should not feel too bad about having trouble knowing the answer to the question (which was in fact, "Yes": Once an umpire has called "Infield Fly" it matters not where the ball eventually lands. Infield fly means a ball that can be caught by an infielder 'with ordinary effort'.)

Professional baseball players, who are paid many millions of dollars not just for their athletic abilities but for their skill at the game—a game that to be played well requires every player to be thinking constantly about what is about to happen on the next pitch and what he or she will do depending on the result— have been known to totally biff the Infield Fly rule.

I found several examples on the first page I looked, but this one is by far the best since not just one but TWO players failed to understand the rule in spite of having played baseball on an organized basis almost every day of their lives since the age of six: "Other star players, such as Albert Pujols (greatest active hitter) are not as lucky as Perez. On April 8, 2010, Matt Holliday hit a pop-up behind second base. Umpire Mike Reilly called the infield fly before Brandon Phillips muffed the catch. Phillips then mistakenly thought he had to force Pujols at second base, so he threw to second. Pujols mistakenly thought he’d been put out on that throw, so he headed back to the dugout. Orlando Cabrera completed the unlikely double play by running over and tagging Pujols while he was off first base."

I apologize to anyone who doesn't follow baseball (meaning most of the rest of the world) because this will have made no sense whatever, but if you're interested you can Google "Infield Fly rule" and get a full explanation. Besides, you're all probably too busy thinking about a poor pass someone made in the 53rd minute anyway.

 

ETA Quoted post

[LaskyaClaren]

---

Dillon Levenque wrote:

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

Um.

 

No!!!!

 

(Damn you, Dillon!)

---

I'm terribly sorry, Laskya. I was so sure you really wanted to be asked! In fact, you should not feel too bad about having trouble knowing the answer to the question (which was in fact, "Yes": Once an umpire has called "Infield Fly" it matters not where the ball eventually lands. Infield fly means a ball that can be caught by an infielder 'with ordinary effort'.)

Professional baseball players, who are paid many millions of dollars not just for their athletic abilities but for their skill at the game—a game that to be played well requires every player to be thinking constantly about what is about to happen on the next pitch and what he or she will do depending on the result— have been known to totally biff the Infield Fly rule.

I found several examples on the first page I looked, but this one is by far the best since not just one but TWO players failed to understand the rule in spite of having played baseball on an organized basis almost every day of their lives since the age of six: "Other star players, such as

Albert Pujols

(greatest active hitter) are not as lucky as Perez. On April 8, 2010,

Matt Holliday

hit a pop-up behind second base. Umpire Mike Reilly called the infield fly before

Brandon Phillips

muffed the catch. Phillips then mistakenly thought he had to force Pujols at second base, so he threw to second. Pujols mistakenly thought he’d been put out on that throw, so he headed back to the dugout.

Orlando Cabrera

completed the unlikely double play by running over and tagging Pujols while he was off first base."

I apologize to anyone who doesn't follow baseball (meaning most of the rest of the world) because this will have made no sense whatever, but if you're interested you can Google "Infield Fly rule" and get a full explanation. Besides, you're all probably too busy thinking about a poor pass someone made in the 53rd minute anyway.

 

ETA Quoted post

---

No, it's ok. I did ask for it! 

I was just expecting -- well, I wasn't expecting anyone to call me on it, actually -- but the sort of thing I might have expected would have been "What happens to the batter when an infield fly is called?"  Or maybe, "What's an infield?"

This was informative, though, even if I did have to read it over twice to figure out exactly what was happening. :-)

[LaskyaClaren]

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

Dillon Levenque wrote:

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

According to some views, the "World Series" is so-called not because it pretends to be world-wide, but because it was initially sponsored by the New York World newspaper.

(Baseball is the only sport about which I am in any way well-informed. Go on, ask me about the infield fly rule!)

 

---

 

If the Infield Fly rule be invoked but the ball ends up carrying into the outfield, is the rule still in effect?

 

 

---

I don't wanna be anywhere near a game in which flies are large enough to carry the ball.

---

She has a point. Or would, were it not for the fact that baseball players are, to my mind, very well proportioned in all of the right places, and hardly look like flies at all.

---

Yeah, but don't you worry a li'l about why they're always scratching those right places? If they have flies large enough to carry the ball, imagine what the cooties are like.

---

Ew.

 

I'm sure you're wrong, and that they clean up very nicely.

Unlike hockey players.

[LaskyaClaren]

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

Madison Wisconsin was infamous for University of Wisconsin Badger game after-parties (and partying in general). At away games, the UW Band would continue playing to fan cheers long after the game ended (the "Fifth Quarter"), forcing the home team radio announcers to deliver the post game wrap-up over a raucous rendition of "

". At home, fans built bonfires on State Street after the game. Those autumn post game parties inspired the 

Halloween "

Freakfest

" street party, which routinely drew over 100,000. Madison's population is 240,000.

 

---

This sounds pretty delightful. Can one go to the party if one isn't going to the game?

I don't think we have anything quite like this here. Varsity sports are not popular, even within the universities here, and, well, Toronto hasn't had a winning team of any sort in over 20 years anyway, so we don't get to celebrate much.

Which is maybe one of the reasons why the World Cup is so exciting here. I've noticed over the last 3 World Cups that it has become an increasingly high profile event in Toronto, to the point that the McDonald's restaurants here are now festooning their packaging with World Cup stuff. Probably about 15% or so of the cars are flying national flags of one of the World Cup countries or another, and the bars are filled everywhere for all the games.

The street parties aren't really "parties," as such. They are just spontaneous celebrations that overflow onto the streets when a team wins a game, and in the case of a really important victory, they can bring traffic to a standstill for a couple of hours in a sizable section of the downtown. Most often, though, you can tell when someone has won a game by the sound of car horns honking, as fans drive around downtown waving flags through the windows of their cars and shouting at passers-by.

It's really very sweet. :-)

[Dillon Levenque]

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

Dillon Levenque wrote:

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

According to some views, the "World Series" is so-called not because it pretends to be world-wide, but because it was initially sponsored by the New York World newspaper.

(Baseball is the only sport about which I am in any way well-informed. Go on, ask me about the infield fly rule!)

 

---

 

If the Infield Fly rule be invoked but the ball ends up carrying into the outfield, is the rule still in effect?

 

 

---

I don't wanna be anywhere near a game in which flies are large enough to carry the ball.

---

She has a point. Or would, were it not for the fact that baseball players are, to my mind, very well proportioned in all of the right places, and hardly look like flies at all.

---

Yeah, but don't you worry a li'l about why they're always scratching those right places? If they have flies large enough to carry the ball, imagine what the cooties are like.

---

Ew.

 

I'm sure you're wrong, and that they clean up very nicely.

Unlike hockey players.

---

 

I'm just going to enjoy having read that you have enough knowledge of hockey players to say that. I shan't comment on it in any way whatsoever.:-)

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

LaskyaClaren wrote:

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

Madison Wisconsin was infamous for University of Wisconsin Badger game after-parties (and partying in general). At away games, the UW Band would continue playing to fan cheers long after the game ended (the "Fifth Quarter"), forcing the home team radio announcers to deliver the post game wrap-up over a raucous rendition of "

". At home, fans built bonfires on State Street after the game. Those autumn post game parties inspired the 

Halloween "

Freakfest

" street party, which routinely drew over 100,000. Madison's population is 240,000.

 

---

This sounds pretty delightful. Can one go to the party if one isn't going to the game?

I don't think we have anything quite like this here. Varsity sports are not popular, even within the universities here, and, well, Toronto hasn't had a winning team of any sort in over 20 years anyway, so we don't get to celebrate much.

Which is maybe one of the reasons why the World Cup is so exciting here. I've noticed over the last 3 World Cups that it has become an increasingly high profile event in Toronto, to the point that the McDonald's restaurants here are now festooning their packaging with World Cup stuff. Probably about 15% or so of the cars are flying national flags of one of the World Cup countries or another, and the bars are filled everywhere for all the games.

The street parties aren't really "parties," as such. They are just spontaneous celebrations that overflow onto the streets when a team wins a game, and in the case of a really important victory, they can bring traffic to a standstill for a couple of hours in a sizable section of the downtown. Most often, though, you can tell when someone has won a game by the sound of car horns honking, as fans drive around downtown waving flags through the windows of their cars and shouting at passers-by.

It's really very sweet. :-)

---

It can be delightful, but it was generally not. In the last few years, Madison has laid down the law. Freakfest draws far fewer people, but there's also far less violence.

Wisconsin is also home to the Milwaukee Brewers and Green Bay Packers. The Packers are an interesting story. They're the only non-profit, community owned professional team in the US. There are currently 86,000 names on the season ticket waiting list. If you put your name on the list today, you'll be eligible to purchase your first season in the year 2969.

I've never been to a Packer Game. I've never worn a cheesebra. I've never decorated my body in green and gold. I do love to shop during Packer Games, because the stores are empty. Everybody is home rooting for the Pack, including my mother, who screams so loud and long when they score a touchdown that cars pull over on I-43 while frantically tossing their pot out the window.

Packer fans don't do pot.

They do brandy.

[Dillon Levenque]

UW has hooks that go deep. The very well-known and successful British author Terry Pratchett has begun a collaborative effort with another less well-known but also successful British author: Stephen Baxter. The first novel in the series came out last year; a second has been published.  The first one was titled, "The Long Earth". The story has to do with a suddenly acquired ability to step into parallel words. For most people, a device is required. For a very few, the ability is innate.

A key figure in the first novel was the daughter of the fascinating man who developed the device that permits everyone else to move to the parallel worlds (he himself could move between them at will). He was a professor, she was a student. Both at the same school.

University of Wisconsin, Madison. Coincidence? I don't think so.

 

Edit: As it turns out the first book was published in 2012 (I just didn't see it until last year), the second in 2013, and a third a few weeks ago.

[Madelaine McMasters]

---

Dillon Levenque wrote:

UW has hooks that go deep. The very well-known and successful British author Terry Pratchett has begun a collaborative effort with another less well-known but also successful British author: Stephen Baxter. The first novel in the series came out last year; a second has been published.  The first one was titled, "The Long Earth". The story has to do with a suddenly acquired ability to step into parallel words. For most people, a device is required. For a very few, the ability is innate.

A key figure in the first novel was the daughter of the fascinating man who developed the device that permits everyone else to move to the parallel worlds (he himself could move between them at will). He was a professor, she was a student. Both at the same school.

University of Wisconsin, Madison. Coincidence? I don't think so.

---

There was some hoopla when I was a kid, over a Sports Illustrated (I think) article ranking the Top 10 party schools in the US. UW Madison was not on the list. Instead, there was a highlight panel dedicated entirely to UW, noting that they were not included in the amateur rank because...

...they were professionals.

[Dillon Levenque]

---

Madelaine McMasters wrote:

---

There was some hoopla when I was a kid, over a

Sports Illustrated

(I think) article ranking the Top 10 party schools in the US. UW Madison was not on the list. Instead, there was a highlight panel dedicated entirely to UW, noting that they were not included in the amateur rank because...

...they were professionals.

---

 

:-)

On, Wisconsin.

[Phil Deakins]

---

Dillon Levenque wrote:

UW has hooks that go deep. The very well-known and successful British author Terry Pratchett has begun a collaborative effort with another less well-known but also successful British author: Stephen Baxter. The first novel in the series came out last year; a second has been published.  The first one was titled, "The Long Earth". The story has to do with a suddenly acquired ability to step into parallel words. For most people, a device is required. For a very few, the ability is innate.

A key figure in the first novel was the daughter of the fascinating man who developed the device that permits everyone else to move to the parallel worlds (he himself could move between them at will). He was a professor, she was a student. Both at the same school.

University of Wisconsin, Madison. Coincidence? I don't think so.

---

I would never have imagined that I'd get to write a post about the book called The Long Earth in a thread about football. But here I am doing exactly that.

If you haven't already bought the book, don't buy it. It doesn't have a proper ending so it's a disappointemnt. The concept is good, and it builds quite well, but it doesn't really finish. It just fizzles out and you're left wondering about very significant things. What was it that all the animals were running away from through the Earths? And what happens when 'it' reaches the home Earth. Seriously. And then you think, what was the point in making a big play of the animals running away from some unkown thing if we're not going to be told what it was?

[madjim]

---

Phil Deakins wrote:

---

If you haven't already bought the book, don't buy it. It doesn't have a proper ending so it's a disappointemnt. The concept is good, and it builds quite well, but it doesn't really finish. It just fizzles out and you're left wondering about very significant things. What was it that all the animals were running away from through the Earths? And what happens when 'it' reaches the home Earth. Seriously. And then you think, what was the point in making a big play of the animals running away from some unkown thing if we're not going to be told what it was?

---

Baxter is excellent and normally writes for informed grown ups with an insight into the extrapolation of contemporary culture and a mature sense of humour, Pratchett is not at all excellent, but has made a success out of writing sub-Adams/Pythonesque lightweight moral tales for "adults" who mourn the passing of Benny Hill and would prefer to read comics, but their children - and in many cases grandchildren - would laugh at them. The latter's style is based on that of Piers Anthony, who gave up a semi-successful career writing literate SF (eg Chthon)  to make pots of money from churned out pun-filled rewrites of stories with plots stolen from kids tv.

You have missed the main point of the book, though, Phil. Nowadays the human story-machines NEVER provide an ending, or even a full explanation, having signed a 23-book contract to run the story arc through the end of the world and back. I blame George RR Martin and his competitors for this.

Father "currently devouring the oeuvre of Dan SImmons" Jim

[madjim]

---

Dillon Levenque wrote:

 

On, Wisconsin.

---

I have a very good friend who lives in Wisconsin.

And wishes she didn't.

She thinks Detroit is civilised in comparison

and that it is almost as cold as Canada, with even less culture, if that is possible.

She has confirmed my suspicions that there is nothing else to do in Wisconsin apart from party to stop freezing to death.

Even in the "summer".

She says there is an upside.

They have occasional tornadoes, but very rarely have earthquakes, tsunami or hurricanes.

Father "although such extreme meteorological events might make the place more interesting" Jim

[Dillon Levenque]

---

Phil Deakins wrote:

---

Dillon Levenque wrote:

UW has hooks that go deep. The very well-known and successful British author Terry Pratchett has begun a collaborative effort with another less well-known but also successful British author: Stephen Baxter. The first novel in the series came out last year; a second has been published.  The first one was titled, "The Long Earth". The story has to do with a suddenly acquired ability to step into parallel words. For most people, a device is required. For a very few, the ability is innate.

A key figure in the first novel was the daughter of the fascinating man who developed the device that permits everyone else to move to the parallel worlds (he himself could move between them at will). He was a professor, she was a student. Both at the same school.

University of Wisconsin, Madison. Coincidence? I don't think so.

---

I would never have imagined that I'd get to write a post about the book called The Long Earth in a thread about football. But here I am doing exactly that.

If you haven't already bought the book, don't buy it. It doesn't have a proper ending so it's a disappointemnt. The concept is good, and it builds quite well, but it doesn't really finish. It just fizzles out and you're left wondering about very significant things. What was it that all the animals were running away from through the Earths? And what happens when 'it' reaches the home Earth. Seriously. And then you think, what was the point in making a big play of the animals running away from some unkown thing if we're not going to be told what it was?

---

 

I agree that it's improperly finished, Phil, but I think the authors made it so clear in the pre-publication phase that it was intended as Part One in a series (of five, if they get that far) they felt no compulsion to do a wrap-up ending. They probably assumed that in the age of the Internet everyone who reads the book already knows it's but a warmup. The second book was released in March of last year and the third in June of this year.

As it happens I knew nothing of the series prior to reading the book but there was enough information on the jacket so that I wasn't too let down by the sudden stop at the end. I somewhat intentionally don't spend a lot of time reading about what's new in books, prefering to discover them myself when they finally get to the New Fiction or New Nonfiction shelves at the library. It's more fun that way.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

Just piggybacking Dillon

Go TEAM!!!!!

[Phil Deakins]

I don't know that I read the cover, and I certainly had no previous idea that it wouldn't have a proper ending, so it was a let down for me.

[madjim]

---

Phil Deakins wrote:

 I certainly had no previous idea that it wouldn't have a proper ending, so it was a let down for me.

---

Are you talking about a book or Second Life?

Father "hates ...to be continued" Jim

[Phil Deakins]

It's odd that nobody has posted about the USA's exit from the tournament.

It was a terrific match to watch and Tim Howard, the US's goalkeeper, was the team's hero. He made more saves in a single game than any goalkeeper has in the history of the World Cup - 15.

The game was end-to-end (because the defenses were so open), which made it an excellent game to watch, and went into extra time before Belgium took the lead to win in the end. Had it not been for Tim Howard's heroics, Belgium would have won sooner.

An excellent performance by the U.S., and one that should make you Americans very proud of your team.

[madjim]

And Wilmotts is supposed to be a master tactician! Did he not point out to his team that Howard goes to ground faster than a fox chased by a pack of hounds, and is easily beaten by chipping the ball. It took a substitution to demonstrate that to all those potential world cup winners in the Belgian team, Lukaku having the benefit of being Howard's erstwhile team-mate at Everton, and therefore knowing his weakness as well as his strength, and first chance he had he put it in the air, out of reach of the floundering ex-hero.

Father "How much are these guys paid? And I'm not even a soccer enthusiast." Jim