As an Englishman I think that the USA and Britain are different when it comes to sports. American sports appear to involve or encourage higher scoring with plenty of stoppages, time-outs and breaks, in part to do with the nature of the sports but no-doubt influenced a little by advertising and sponsorships. I also get the impression that sports in America have more of an emphasis on 'the event' with razamatazz and high production and entertainment.
British sports on the other hand emphasise grass roots development of the sport from amateur level and working up. It is not so much working to an 'American Dream' in Britain, but striving to represent the area that you're from. Your rivals are a lot closer in Britain than in the states, each region having complicated and sometimes violent histories with the ones around them- so for some kid to grow up and represent his town, city or county is deemed a great achievement, almost more so than representing your country.
The sport I follow is football (or soccer as you might call it), a sport that is drenched in history. In European soccer rivalry (especially with your closest enemy) may have been forged as a result of thousands of years of history- even before the sport as we know it came to be. Some 'derbies' (games between two local teams) have a history of politics, religion and civil war behind them- and the passion runs high as a result. This is why in Britain, relocating any professional sports team from one area of the country to another just doesn't happen as it has done in the USA. (The one exception I can think of is Wimbledon football club- which involved a huge backlash from fans.) The team, and the history of that area that the team is located in, is just too interlocked to even consider something like that.
This is why I think that gamers who play sports games on-line (or even offline for that matter) as one of the 'big clubs' when they don't actually support that club, are not very genuine, and rather more motivated by an on-line rank than the club or team that they support. I am just fortunate that my team is Manchester United (and for the record I was born and raised in Greater Manchester, and I live 4.2 miles away from their stadium, Old Trafford,) but if Manchester United were not a very good team then I would still choose to play with them rather than opt for Barcelona or Real Madrid as a lot of people tend to do. I think any true sports supporter would agree that the love you your club or team over-rides all.
Worse still, I feel are those guys that post up on the EA Sports forums, from random places like Australia, Texas, Mexico, Sweden and New Zealand that claim to 'support' a British football club, or a club that is about 200 miles away.
Aside from the fact that they hardly ever/don't physically go to watch those teams and don't 'support' them in the sense that they're lending their voice and presence to a game of soccer, they can never truly understand the history of being brought up in the area that there team was from and feel the true significance of that team representing their 'area.'
Yet they have the avatars and the amusing names like 'ManUnited001' and harp on about playing as 'their' team in the latest EA or Konami game fest. I find this slightly silly and also slightly offensive. Are these people devoid of a local club or something? No. Are these people helping their local club to maybe grow financially and through support achieve some greatness? No. Instead they are piling their attention, money and time into a club that could be a thousand miles away whilst their local team shrivels up and dies. How do these people think that teams like Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea started? As small, working men's teams, that’s what! Then they got support from the local mob and so they grew into the super teams that we know today.
If a person's team is not featured in a sports title then it is fine by me if they 'adopt' a team to play with, but they can never claim to 'follow' that team. That is the difference I think.
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You still haven't bothered to do it!
Besides, with all respect what have your comments got to do with this blog? I've spent a whole afternoon (on and off) putting this blog together- In effect you are spamming.
What do you guys think about my blog?
Again: you ask why you're getting banned constantly everywhere you go.
I'm telling you.
Or maybe, the guys that follow competitive teams, end up really digging into the multiplayer scene, because their team is the "best" (statwise and passion wise)
I don't know that that's a region/sport specific thing, yeah? I haven't played alot of FIFA, but it looks to me that some clubs, even the ones that people get super passionate about, end up with pretty nasty OVR team stats. Like, to use your "OVR 49" local club (not yours specifically. sorry, I don't know any names aside from Manchester, tbh) against a "OVR 97" national club, that seems like you're setting yourself up for an online smashing.
As much of a Redskins legacy sort of fan I am(I don't follow so much anymore: but they're still my team), I'm pretty well aware of the statistical disadvantage they would put me in if I'm matched against The Patriots or The Eagles, with regards to raw video game stats.
Maybe those loyalists end up playing front-office/franchise mode more, yeah?
I think that's the main reason the bigger teams have so many supporters, more people know the athletes by name and have seen their matches. I find it pretty elitist to say that only people from Manchester can claim to support the team. I'm sure when they get a fat revenue check from selling jerseys worldwide they aren't worried if the fans who bought them know about the suffering and history of their area. Furthermore, your argument that people should only support their local teams so that they can grow and improve is all fine and good if your you either 1)have a local team (soccer is poorly represented in America so most areas don't 2) your team is fun to watch.
Let's face it if a team isn't good than they likely aren't entertaining to watch. Why would I pay to see a match if I thought the team was terrible or uninteresting? Your assessment about American sports being more based on winning and profit than British sports is as silly as thinking you've somehow earned the special privilege of calling yourself a fan of a team just because you happened to be born in the region where they practice.
If your argument were the least bit valid than Manchester United would only be comprised of players who were born and raised in the area, regardless of if they were talented enough to compete. Since this is not the case I find your reasoning flawed and bid you good day.
I couldn't have said it better. But Germany?! LOL No, I can see why you support them.
@Gawii
I think you're a bit biased on this subject and reflect the matter upon yourself too much. You're born an living in Great Britain, the birthplace of football. I'm born on an Island with only 16000 inhabitants. If we all come to Old Trafford there are 60000 seats empty. I think your opinion would differ greatly if you weren't born in Manchester. I'm from The Netherlands and am a Liverpool supporter. I live in Amsterdam now and in the Dutch competition I'm supporting them but ultimately. I support Liverpool because I get that special feeling when I see them play. A feeling for something much more important. So nobody from outside of Manchester can love Man United? Rubbish. You can say what you want, those people can say they made a choice. You didn't even think about which club you like. A forced marriage usually isn't a very healthy relationship.
You know which country I support if it's England vs Holland? Once again it's all about a feeling. You can't force that feeling because of the place you are born.
@Magnalon
Can you for once write one comment on the subject of the blog and not three to five about your favorite subject 'banning people'? Dude, do that shit on your own website. There is a feature on Dtoid for these kind of things. They're called PM's. Send somebody a PM if you think you need to be a moral crusader. You're fucking commenting and linking to some question you asked him FIVE MONTHS AGO. And seriously dude, because you've asked for something it doesn't mean people have to do it. "I asked you to..." who do you think you are? It's fine if it really helps Destructoid but this is getting out of hand if you ask me. Commenting 2 times in rapid fire posting fashion and assuming that someone is maybe, eventually going to do something in the future which you don't like. You're not Nostradamus and this is not Minority Report.
What do you get in the end? Not people who change, stay on Dtoid and become great community member because you asked them to. People will leave because random people tell them to do stuff without having the decency to comment on the content of the blog. I could of course send you a PM as well but I think I had to be said and people should know of other opinions too. But I'll spend only one comment on the subject instead of a bazillion.
So yeah, it looks like a nice article but I have no appreciation for the subject. There do appear to be some people on D-Toid that do, though, so I guess there is room for a sports writer.
Dude, chill the fuck out.
We can't always like everything about the PS3, smoke weed all day because it's legal, and be one big happy family.
This dude constantly pushes people's buttons, and certainly not mine. I have NEVER asked for a banning outside of Hoborg, but that was only because he blatantly broke the rules on a number of occasions, and flaunted it.
Also, you have a shit ton of your own ludicrous opinions, but as soon as someone that isn't part of the tight knight PS3 Friday Night Fights group points out one flaw it's OMG POOR TAKESHI TIME! I felt like this needed to be said (sound familiar?) I can do it too.
Not everyone is going to agree with you! Just deal with it!
Anyways, you've ALWAYS had a problem with people who don't agree with every word you say (myself included, from day one), so I wouldn't expect less of a response from you.
If you check the comment log, you'll probably find TWICE as many helpful comments in the last 6 months from myself, holding new user's hands while others (your friends that you'll NEVER say shit to) just shit all over them.
I think ALL you do is read my Michi comments, and are completely oblivious to anytime I'm extremely cordial to a new user (fuck, I was cordial to MICHI). You'll see time and time again in the c-blogs "Magnalon is always helpful", or "I won't be as helpful as Magnalon here". I would have let that go if you actually responded to my arguments against some of the absurd statements you've made in the past, but of course, if I'm not in the FNF scene, I can go fuck myself, eh?
"So nobody from outside of Manchester can love Man United?" Of course you can appreciate a team from another league- but to call yourself a 'supporter' is ludicrous. It shouldn't matter that your local team isn't a success. Why aren't they a success? Because people like you don't support them! It shouldn't matter if your local team is amateur, semi-pro or pro- they represent you at the end of the day and that is what counts.
What you just said is exactly what I'm talking about- you just don't appreciate what football (soccer) is really about.
As for being American and supporting Germany, I think that is a bit crap to be honest.Your Country represents you- so why 'support' a team that is not only about 2000 miles away, but was once at war with you? Not being disrespectful here mate, but you sound like a typical 'glory seeker.' Liking a team because they win things is not what a true football supporter is about- something that I don't think you'd fully understand.
"is as silly as thinking you've somehow earned the special privilege of calling yourself a fan of a team just because you happened to be born in the region where they practice."
Please don't take this the wrong way, but this is what I would say is the 'typical' American viewpoint of someone not born and raised with the sport. You don't pick a team because they are great or doing well- you pick them because they represent your area- this is a typical European philosopy- as I discussed in my main blog.
"If your argument were the least bit valid than Manchester United would only be comprised of players who were born and raised in the area..." No, but the spine of the team and the basis of their success is built on local lads. Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary and Phillip Neville,Danny Welbeck and even Michael Owen were all born and raised within a short drive of Old Trafford. My brother, who's 20 years old now actually played for a while with Gigg's brother at semi pro level. This 'local spine' has been one of the reasons atributed to Manchester United's success.
You support Manchester United because you were born and raised in the area, or because your parents supported the club. There's a saying in England that goes; You can change your clothes, your religion even your wife, but you can never change your football club.
By the way, despite my bitching, I did fail to mention this was a good blog.
You and I have been going at it a long while, so I just think we need to trade AIM/MSN info and talk it out.
Hey Takeshi I saw you playing Critter Crunch of PSN last night. Is it thoroughly enjoyable?
Haha, Takeshi has been making veiled insults at me for a few months now: it was bound to come out.
As for your philosophy I know many Germans who follow clubs that aren't the ones closest to them so maybe it's more of a British philosophy than a European one. Or maybe it just coincidentally happens to be your philosophy strictly because you grew up knowing your team and got lucky by living close to one who you liked. If you pick a team based on the area you live you aren't really picking anything, you're just accepting what you have and learning to deal with it.
Newsflash: Anyone can learn about the players and follow the matches and be as much of a fan as you claim to be. Thanks to the internet we now have something called a "global community" so your argument is pretty much worthless.
Also I still stand by my argument that if it was really all about the area where people lived than your team wouldn't need my German players to win.
You've just proven one of the points I was making in my blog. You obviously know fuck all about what being a true sports fan is all about. You're a 'Glory Seeker.' If you flipped this over and this was on a British, Italian, French, Spanish or even German forum you would be in flames now my friend.
Once again, easy for you to say I should support my local team, you're born in Manchester. I was born on an island which has right now (just looked it up for you) 900 males between 14 and 34 years of age. You can't possible think one can create a prize winning football club with that amount of people. My support wouldn't change that.
Zodiac brought up a great argument: "If you pick a team based on the area you live you aren't really picking anything, you're just accepting what you have and learning to deal with it." I'd rather support a team out of choice than because you just happened to be born in a particular city. Let's put it this way: Do you support Man United because you like them or because you were born there?
You honestly can't call me a glory seeker. I support Liverpool. The last time they won anything big was back in 2006. I also support the English National team which didn't even make it to the European Cup last year. Funny thing is that the Owner, Co-chairmen and Manager aren't from Manchester and only the Manager is born in the UK. So isn't your team controlled by glory seekers then? What about the player from other countries currently in Man United's squad?
@Magnalon
Thanks for making my point even clearer...
How very nice of you to also bring my friends into the discussion. They're my friends for a reason. I don't shit on their comment's blogs or statements because there is no reason for that. And please tell me what the PS3, my friends, FNF and even the Dutch laws on soft-drugs have to with this?
It's great to see you supplied so many responses that I can use.
"Dude, chill the fuck out."
"you have a shit ton of your own ludicrous opinions"
"Not everyone is going to agree with you! Just deal with it!"
To be fair I'm pretty chill about this all. I just said what I had to say, without going crazy.
May I give you a tip? Think about your comments for a second that way you don't have to comment 4 times in a row. It also comes across ways stronger if write one cohesive comment. You know with arguments that actually make sense and stay on topic.
I'm not gonna chat/talk to you about this. I've said everything I had to say. I don't agree with your methods just as much as you don't agree with so many others (Gawii for instance). Are you going to talk to them about it? Oh and I never read the comments on Michi's blog. So I don't know what you're talking about.
@Primo
It was great to see you online again! (and off and on and off and on :D) Critter Crunch is amazing! You should read Dtoid's review, they gave it a 9.5 if I'm correct. I thought it was going to be a rather simple puzzle game that would be fun for about an hour or so. I couldn't be more wrong about it. It's actually quite detailed with lots of online and offline modes. And boy, it's the cutest most adorable character I've seen in a long time. I thought nothing could surpass LBP's Sackboys but they did it. I think there's a demo coming next week but it's so cheap I guess you don't even have to wait for the demo.
So there are no football teams whatsoever that you can go and see? No amateur teams, or semi-pro teams? No team out there that you can really support and help?
''Supporting'' a side is to go and see them. How can you be a 'Liverpool' supporter and understand what 'Liverpool FC' is all about without growing up in Liverpool? Have you ever strolled along the side of the Mersey? Have you visited the Quayside and been to the Liver buldings? Have you experienced the days and weeks of banter with Everton supporters in the build up to a derby match? Do you regularly visit Anfield? No. No. No and No.
Zodiac is coming at it from what I would call the typical point of view of someone that knows fuck all about being a sports fan. For starters you don't ''pick'' a team, you're usually born into one. That team represents the area that you're from and what you are all about. What sort of bullshit point is the guy making there? Of course you have to deal with the team you're given in life.
Ask and Manchester City fan, or any other fan that has supported a team through the good times and the bad- it is all part and parcel of what makes the game great- and the fact that Manchester City have been relegated to practical obscurity and are now fighting at the top of the Premier League shows that the fans behind them have helped them through some tough times.
If all Manchester City fans were like Zodiac then they'd all go and pick a new, more interesteing team to watch when they were playing in League Two, and Manchester City would have faded into obscurity. What a load of bollocks.
I have a soft spot for 'Columbus Crew' believe it or not. A pen pal of mine was a supporter (in the true sense of the word) and we exchanged programmes and stuff. I followed their results from back when you used to have a 'shoot out' at the end of tied matches. I wouldn't come out claiming that I 'support' them though. I wouldn't change my avatar to 'The Crew' and have black and yellow all over my blog. That's because I've never been to a game, I am not from Columbus, nor do I know anything about Columbus.
If you cannot find your way to a clubs stadium without the aid of a map then you cannot claim to truly support them.
Not at all- I am sure any true supporter of any football club at any level would agree with me from Premiership level down to Semi-Pro. If anyone is being 'elitist' it is the glory seekers out there that only pick a club because they are a 'big name' or doing well.
why don't you support Citeh? They've suffered over the years because too many people in Manchester choose to support the most successful team: United.
Personally, living in a city full of United fans (London), I can agree with what you are saying, but I also think that there are various reasons why people support the clubs they do - and it doesn't always need to be about the area they are from.
For instance, many black people have grown up supporting Liverpool - no matter where they are from - due to the fact that John Barnes was such a hero for their community back in the 1980s. I think that is a perfectly valid reason to support a team, whether you're born and raised on the Mersey or on the beaches of Jamaica. Takeshi supports Liverpool because Dirk Kuyt plays for them (kidding!).
Also, in many countries you don't get to see a shit team like.... say... Fulham (hah, Primo!!) on the TV so they end up supporting GREAT clubs like Arsenal, who are shown along with your Barcelonas etc.
Forget Chelsea: the song we sing to their fans is "where were you when you were shit?" because they have crawled out of the woodwork over the past five years. Strange that.
The fact of the matter is, the smaller teams are failing now because any time they end up with a half-decent player, money will talk and he'll be bought up be a team in the higher divisions... this leads to a domino effect ending in the quality of football being much poorer at the lower end of the scale.
As someone who was born and raised five minutes walk from Highbury (ten from Emirates haha), I can say hat I'm very lucky to have a great local team, but I wouldn't begrudge somebody 'supporting' the same team just because they enjoy the way we play or are growing up idolising Cesc Fabregas.