Sports!

[Tessar]

So as many of you probably know, I have been a big hater of sports.

But I'm getting interested in football because I saw some (accidentally...) at a friend's house last week and decided after watching a few massive tackles that I need to get in on that!!!

I know we have a few specific sports threads in the past (the bball thread) but I couldn't find one "generally" about sports, or one to do with football.

SO! What's your sport and who's your team?

I don't actually know any football teams at the moment except for the Bears and the Cowboys, but I'm sure a favorite will emerge given time.

[Insidious Rex]

Well as the roughly 3 of us here who have an interest in football/basketball/baseball/hockey etc. have known for a while, you dont hear too much on the Moot above the crickets when you post something about sports unfortunately. Which is too bad. Ive always been firmly against the stereotype that nerds/geeks shouldnt like sports and sport fans shouldnt like nerdy/geeky stuff (Tolkien). So welcome to our little club!!

In football (American that is; NFL) Im a Washington Redskins fan (RGIII!). And yes my non American friends that IS the name of the team. The very last fully racist team nickname still out there and we arent proud of it at all but the prospect of changing the name is a non starter somehow... in 2012... *sigh* Clearly we should be the Washington Lobbyists or Washington Filibusters or ANYTHING BUT A HORRIBLY RACIST TERM FOR NATIVE AMERICANS! Anyway, despite holding season tickets, Im not a hard core Skins fan. Im more of a fan of whoever is on my fantasy team that year (I know... hang my head...).

In basketball I am a true Wizards fan and in Hockey Im a Caps fan (if we ever have hockey again). In baseball I grew up a hard core (Baltimore) Orioles fan and still maintain allegiance to them to some degree but ever since Washington got its own team about 10 years ago, Ive also been a Nationals fan (which has worked out fine since they are both in separate leagues). I will say Im much more focused on the Nationals now and almost dont know what to do with myself as you actually have the Nationals AND the Orioles in the playoffs this year!!! Certainly an unthinkable prospect even as late as just last year. But Im not going to be the first to mention a potential Beltway series... SHHHH!!!

[The Gaffer]

I love the "Washington Lobbyists". They would subcontract the opposition to score touchdowns against themselves.

For me, rugby is my favourite by far. Played it in my youth and support Scotland and Edinburgh. I suppose it's a bit like gridiron, except none of this armour and helmet malarkey and they don't stop for a rest every 10 seconds.

We have a game against New Zealand - the best team in the world - coming up which I am looking forward to. We have never beaten them, and they will be taking us lightly, so there is a sniff of a chance of an upset. But they are so good that you can't help but appreciate the quality on display, even if it is your side that is getting gubbed.

Generally I really love sports but I hate what rampant commercialism has done to football (the non-US version where there is a ball that you kick with your foot).

It is at the stage that in every country in Europe, there is at most only three or four teams that have a hope of winning the league. It takes hundreds of millions of pounds to mount a challenge for the title (a bit like being US President ). Players get paid tens of thousands of pounds PER WEEK and then funnel it all through offshore tax havens so they don't pay any income tax. Gives me the boke!

So I don't really support any football team, other than Scotland, and maybe Celtic if they are in the Champions League (which they are this season). Thankfully, Scotland are dire so there is no risk of getting too worked up about it.

By contrast, the Olympics was great, a proper showcase of what sports should be about.

[Rían]

That would be a fun contest - to come up with a name for the Washington team

I like Gaffer's idea for the Lobbyists, and the Filibusters could specialize in arguing with the referees Let's see, what else? I'll give it some thought during the day whilst I'm out and about ...

(Hmm, maybe the team should have term limits, and/or the players should be up for a vote every 2 or 4 years?)

When my older son was playing football in high school, we made a big deal of the weekend football games - had a party with the neighbors almost every weekend, and it was really fun. I learned quite a bit about football (I already knew a fair amount, but I learned a lot more because he played right guard) and it was really fun. But since he went away for college, we usually just get together once a month, and it's not a huge potluck like it used to be - I miss it!

We each have different favorite teams - my husband likes the Patriots, I like the Packers (it was the first team that I was really aware of because it was my son's favorite team when he was little, and what's not to love about cheese on your head? ) my oldest son likes the Titans now, my middle son likes the Jets, and my daughter likes the Chargers.

[Valandil]

Originally Posted by Tessar

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I don't actually know any football teams at the moment except for the Bears and the Cowboys, but I'm sure a favorite will emerge given time.

The Bears are really about all you need to know.

(PS: we DO have a pro football thread - I started up the "NFL Beef Thread" some years back when the Bears were NOT so good, and so the name refers both to the size of the players, and the fact that I had to 'beef' about what they were doing to my team! )

[mithrand1r]

Originally Posted by Tessar

SO! What's your sport and who's your team?

Baseball: NY Yankees
Football: Dallas Cowboys
Hockey: NJ Devils

My favorite pro sport is baseball.

I do not watch as much sports as I did in high school or college since I am too busy. I do listen to sports (especially baseball) on the radio. I think baseball is great on the radio.

[Midge]

My family are die-hard Chicago Cubs fans. We get made fun of a lot because we're in St. Louis Cardinals territory.

It's so bad that my brother is named for Ryne Sandberg and my uncle actually named his daughter Wrigley (yes, after the field!). She's cute though, which more than makes up for the weird name.

Other than baseball, I don't really know what kinds of fans we are. I (obviously) am a band-wagon fan - I don't watch the games or care about the scores or even know the names of the players, but I'm a fan because if I weren't, I think I'd be disowned.

However, baseball is by far my favorite sport.

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by mithrand1r

Baseball: NY Yankees
Football: Dallas Cowboys
Hockey: NJ Devils

That's two out of three on the Axis of Evil (The Devils are okay)

[Insidious Rex]

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

That's two out of three on the Axis of Evil (The Devils are okay)

Yeah throw the Pittsburgh Penguins in there and the Lakers in basketball and you become that fan everyone loves to hate.

[Insidious Rex]

Originally Posted by Midge

It's so bad that my brother is named for Ryne Sandberg and my uncle actually named his daughter Wrigley (yes, after the field!). She's cute though, which more than makes up for the weird name.

Thats awesome. True devotion at that level is deserving of high praise. Ive named a few pets after sports figures or places but no kids. My step daughter is named Raven and of course everyone assumes she was named after the football team from Baltimore (she grew up just south of Baltimore) but her mother HATES the Ravens and actually gave her that name a year before the Ravens came into existence. Of course she could care less about football but has a bunch of raven clothing just because it all has her name on it...

[mithrand1r]

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

That's two out of three on the Axis of Evil (The Devils are okay)

This comes from my youth.

Cowboys and Yankees are teams that I liked when I was young. Both were winning teams, had nice uniforms (not the Dallas dark blue uniform, that is awful), and I liked Tom Landry.

Devils I liked because they are from the area.

[Draken]

Well rugby league obviously, which I miss playing greatly, still. My "first" team are the mighty Leeds Rhinos but I've also been very involved with the somewhat-less-mighty Gateshead Thunder.

Fantastic Grand Final this year which summed the sport up: plenty of tries, not decided until the final few minutes and the Leeds captain winning Man of the Match after being knocked out in a clash of heads. As for the injury ignored by one of the Warrington players that game, I can't bring myself to type it...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/19863795

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by mithrand1r

This comes from my youth.

Cowboys and Yankees are teams that I liked when I was young. Both were winning teams, had nice uniforms (not the Dallas dark blue uniform, that is awful), and I liked Tom Landry.

Devils I liked because they are from the area.

It's sometimes strange which teams we adopt
My dislike of the Cowboys comes from my political youth, when they were 'America's team' and generally associated with conservatism and anti-hippiesm (and winning).

The Yankees are great- other dynasties come and go, but the Yankees are always there. Even when they don't win they're still a threat- always rich, always arrogant, and almost always good.

I'm from Vancouver, so in American football I cheer for teams from the coast- the Seahawks, but 49ers are my favorites.

In baseball, the Mariners (Ichiro, how could you?) and the White Sox- solely because I had a friend from Chicago.

In hockey, the Canadiens- I grew up in the era of Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson and Ken Dryden.

In soccer, Man United because both sides of my family are from there and I was weaned on tales of the Busby Babes and Bobby Charleton.

And Barcelona, because I love Catalonia, because of George Orwell, and a hangover of hate for those Falangist bastards at Real Madrid.

[Coffeehouse]

Originally Posted by Tessar

SO! What's your sport and who's your team?

I'm an avid football fan (the European, original one! Aka 'soccer' to stateside Mooters), and follow English Premier League. My primary team is Fulham, from London. A small club in the top division, but with a real folksy atmosphere!