I�m no huge sports fan but I like to play Fantasy Football.
What I was wondering is if there is enough interest here at Flare...read 9 players other than myself...to create a free Flare league at Yahoo Fantasy Football.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
You'd be better off with fantasy wargaming.
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
Or perhaps inventing stats for Trek characters and playing that way (ooh, you could trick us into knowing sport by matching pigskin luminaries to Trek counterparts).
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
I should have just aked the wall.
Or the cats.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
No, it was a good thought....just, y'knoiw...wrong area, I guess.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
How about "Fantasy Politics"?
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Australia - first time in the World Cup in 32 years! WOO!
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Is that some sort of tennis thing?
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
The World Cup? No. It's actually a huge cup large enough to hold the entire Earth. AndrewR was happy because now the cup is large enough that it can hold the whole world without Australia sticking out over the brim.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
Well, since I am already the "One most looked down upon"....sure, I'll do a league...(note to self *don't pick Rothlisberger as QB)
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
400 quatloos on the newcomer...
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Sorry Masao, Australia beat Japan 3-1 last night! WOO! Posted by Mikey T (Member # 144) on :
God damn Shik, where did that poster come from and why did her lube on the dildo become black dust?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I'm not sure you entirely understood the joke underlying the image...
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I've inexplicably drawn Switzerland in the office sweepstake. Why couldn't I have gotten something a bit more interesting, like, even, I dunno, Togo? At least (unlike no-one else in the company) I've been there. Do Switzerland even have enough flat ground for a football pitch? And shouldn't they be neutral anyway? I might as well have drawn the referees (except for the Mexican ref in the Engalnd-Paraguay game, he was well dodgy, even Motty said so). . .
Furious about the Italy-Ghana result last night. The Ghanaians committed some real howlers. And Essien did all the work. OK, it's not easy to make headway against a team whose main tactic is to fall over at the slightest sign you might score, but conversely it's not really difficult to beat the Italians either - they're all such prima donnas, they can't work together for five minutes before the need to gain the crowds attention, and the reassertion of far-more-important domestic club rivalries, takes over again.
And the Australia-Japan game! Aargh! To be doing so well, then to allow them to let THREE in?! Bloody Aussie gits are full enough of themselves as it is. . .
Ooh, Brazil tonight!
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Shut-up Togo-lover!
The Egyptian Ref in the Aus-Jap match was dodgy - he even admitted he made a mistake by allowing Japan's goal - which they got because they barged into the goalie.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I notice you focus on that rather than the flailing-around for 80 minutes before you could even score one goal. . .
Obviously I have a sliding-scale of teams I like and therefore support - England, Brazil, Ghana, Holland. And there are those I loathe and will never support - you know, our old enemies, Germany, Argentina, the USA, Australia. . . There's the tactical element - I have no especial reason to favour Paraguay, for instance, but to have them beat Sweden on Thursday will help England's placing in the group; HOWEVER, it's actually in England's interest to be runners-up in their Group because that then means they can't meet Brazil before the Final (assuming Brazil win their group; if both win or both are runners-up, they meet in the Semis). But who do I support on Friday, Argentina v Serbia & Montenegro? I'm almost compelled to back the latter, since any victory that weakens the island-snatching hand-ball-fuckers is plus; but it's a fine pickle when I have to want the fucking Serbs to win anything, fucking gangsters of Europe, always have been. . .
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
I thought Montenegro voted to succeed from Serbia?
Tactical flailing. Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Secede. Yes, they did, and with only ONE player in the unified Serbia & Montenegro team actually being from Montenegro, it's no wonder why. So this tournament marks the last (and, well, really first and only) appearance of the S&M (hey!) team on the world stage.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
GO HEAT!
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
US has a soccer team? What grade are they in?
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Yeah the US is not that good at soccer, that and naming countries on a map.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"...and with only ONE player in the unified Serbia & Montenegro..."
I think I read somewhere that the one Montenegrin player was injured, or somehow otherwise disqualified, and so the team really is just Serbians.
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
Why is everyone talking about the wrong football?
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
What, real football as opposed to imaginary?
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
Oh. You mean soccer. No, but I never did get why exactly we Americans had to name our very different sport Football (especially considering how little of the game actually involves feet contacting the ball). Like why not "American Rugby" or "Rootabaga" or "Sport Where Everyone Needs Joint Replacements in Ten to Twenty" or you know just something that isn't "Football."
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
I think Soccer would be far more popular (with American in particular) if it involved lots of body armor, helmets and tackeling of whomever has the ball but several players the size of small cows.
...but I also think it should involve tasers and possibly telescoping metal batons (hey, they've already got armor). ANd the ball should weigh 25 lbs.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"No, but I never did get why exactly we Americans had to name our very different sport Football (especially considering how little of the game actually involves feet contacting the ball). Like why not 'American Rugby' or 'Rootabaga' or 'Sport Where Everyone Needs Joint Replacements in Ten to Twenty' or you know just something that isn't 'Football.'"
I guess you'll have to blame the genius who named "rugby football" in the first place.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
American Rugby - I'm offended sir. Rugby (both kinds) is played without padding and armor and lycra and no forward passes of the ball. (Some with injuries do wear a padded head gear - about the thickness of the skin of a football.
Australia plays 4 codes of football *sigh* Rugby Union, Rugby League, Australian Rules Football and Soccer.
The popularity/how widespread of the games/the games are = AFL > Rugby Union > Rugby League > Soccer.
Posted by bX (Member # 419) on :
I intended no offense. Just well it's all a little confusing with "Football" being not a particularly descriptive name to begin with and then further muddied with US Football (which is hugely popular here and everyone talks about with only a minority noticing that it's more of a rugby, really), Australian Rules Football, Rugby, Soccer, unsw. And further pondering on how we of the US persuasion have this ugly habit of adopting things that aren't ours and just because we say so, doesn't necessarily make things true... internationally.
I'm not advocating anyone switch--the cat is out of the bag, at this point. I just wish when someone mentions that they enjoying playing/watching football, that one could automatically know what the hell they were talking about without it being a three minute conversation about how weird it is that they're all named the same thing when only one of them is really focused on kicking balls with feet. F'rinstance, being an American I assumed that Jay's proposal was a Fantasy Football League based on American Football, but with him being edumacated and internationally aware with the World Cup on, I couldn't help but think he might lean that direction. But I don't know.
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
People play GAMES outside the U.S.? American football should be called "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire"....then we should combine it with the Disintigrator-mouthed robot from that Dr. Who / Weakest Link episode.
"You've lost your arbitration dispute, you ARE the weakest link.....ZZZZZZZZZZ....goodbye."
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
So how does fantasy whatever work, anyway? You draw up a list of players to be on your team, but then what?
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
You get 10 guys who WISH they could play for real. Then you draw to set draft order from 1-10. Player one selects a player out of a list of ALL the players in the NFL. Then it goes on 1-10 then 10-1 etc. till everyone's roster is full (generally 15 players). Each week you will have to start a QB, 2 RB's, 3 WR's, a defense/special teams and a kicker (this can vary by league). A schedule is set of who's team plays who. You decide who to start or make active based on that players' matchups or the phase of the moon or what the psychic network tells you. Points are awarded to that player for touchdowns, passing, receiving, or rushing yards, field goals, XP's, or for the defense, opponents score, fumbles, ints, safeties, yards allowed. You add up the scores for your active players and compare it to your opponent. high score wins. This usually goes from NFL week 1 thru 14 with weeks 15 & 16 being playoffs & superbowl.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Huh.
(Why not just play Madden?)
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Because the outgoing quarterback told him the coach liked to be called by his first name.
So, second group-stage matches have started. Which means we begin to have an idea about who'll be going onwards to glory in the knockout stages, and who'll be off for an early bath. England v Trinidad & Tobago tonight, a simple proposition one would think, except that T&T managed to hold Sweden to a goalless draw. Germany are almost certainly through, we'll know after the other match in their group this afternoon, Ecuador v Costa Rica.
Posted by MaGiC (Member # 59) on :
I just felt really bad for Poland last night...
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by bX: I intended no offense.
Hehehe, no no - I was just being cute... the whole "American Rugby" thing, that's all. Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
quote:Lee mentioned: ...except that T&T managed to hold Sweden to a goalless draw.
In World Cup, what DOES happen if there's a draw? if there a single-goal overtime like in the US, or do they have to play another game?
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
Is there no one other that Wizzy who wants to play?
If I may borrow from Brad Pitt in "Troy," Is there no one else?
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
In the group stages, there's 4 teams to a group, who all play each other once. You get 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and the big 0 for a loss. At the end of the stage the top two go through to the knockout stage, based on points.
If there is a draw on points they go on goal difference etc, but they don't bother with replays because tha whole thing has been timetabled long in advance.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
If there is absolutely no difference between two teams that have equal points at the end of the group stage, even with goal difference, then they draw lots. Seriously, it's actually happened in the past. Hell of a way to crush a nation's dreams!
God, Sweden sucked last night. What a bunch of prima donnas, do they all play for Italian clubs or something? That last-minute reprieve they got was in no way earned. It's really too much to hope for that England will beat them next Tuesday, and that T&T will simultaneiously beat Paraguay with sufficient GD to drop Team Ikea into 3rd place - but it'd be no more than they deserved. The Soca Warriors have been fantastic, they've earned the right to progress, even if it does mean they run right into the Krauts in the next round.
And, I loved the way that just after Rooney was finally brought on, it was the amusingly-monickered Peter Crouch that went and scored. One in the eye for the Scouse Shrek!
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
I was also happy to see Sven play Rooney. Not because I admire him in anyway - he is an incredibly ugly, spoiled, obscenely overpaied, petulant little arsehole with an IQ rivaled only by the very stupidest of rocks, but because it showed me that there are more people in the world who think Alex Furguson is a prick. That cheered me up.
Posted by Trimm (Member # 865) on :
Looks like us Fantasy Football folks are outnumbered by all the soccer folks.
And did anyone else see that 6-0 blowout? That was insane!
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
God, there was good football last night. Ghana (yay!) beat the Czechos - almost unheard of. And then - I watched Italy v USA with a couple of Italians. Needless to say they were in a real piss by the end of the match! Don't see why though - Italy did not play well at all. Even with ten men they should have annihlated the US (with 9 - this is only about the 4th World Cup game ever where there have been 3 red cards). But the Yank defence was superb, especially Casey Keller in goal. Hell, I'm no fan of Italy, but by the end I was quite definitely rooting for the States. I was nervous that the Azurri would manage to score again in stoppage time, something they did back in '94 against (a far superior performance by) Nigeria, and for which I've never forgiven them. . .
Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :
This one is for Andrew...Australia is through to the next round.
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
Let's see...the U.S. leaves 0-2-1 with a tie for leading scorer between one of their players and an Italian player. Yeah, this is why Americans prefer the NFL and NBA.
(why am I being handed this red card?)
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
So, in other words, they prefer to watch sports where they don't lose, and especially not to foreigners?
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Declining American global capital aside, I'm not so sure that's the root cause here.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
I think some people may very well be confusing "cause" with "effect".
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
Mute point - the Yanks are out of it! Which is a shame in a way (although I can't realy pinpoint why I should think this...). Ghanas penalty was iffy to say the least. That said, team USA were pretty much going home any way. Bad luck.
The Ausies are through to the next round though, so that should make some people happy. No thanks to that wanker ref Graham Poll. And he's the English representitive! What a dickhead!
How the FUCK did he manage to book Simunic THREE FUCKING TIMES!!!! THe prat is the biggest advocate of new technologies in the game, such as refs having two-way communications with the fourth official, so how in the name of all things (nearly wrote thongs in my haste) holy did he do it?
And the second handball by Tomas should have been his ticket to an early shower. And for that matter, some of the Ausie moves got off lightly I thought.
After the debacle of poor refereeing in 2002 even FIFA have getting on refs backs to do their job. Poll said before the Cup began this year "If you make a big mistake it will be your last game."
Well guess what pal, start packing your bags. Twat.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jay the Obscure: This one is for Andrew...Australia is through to the next round.
YUP! I was up this morning! Woo! Sloppy umpiring though.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Umpiring?
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Refereeing then.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Yes. It's just not cricket, you know. Honestly, you convicts and your Ashes - remind me, who has them currently? 8)
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
For the first time in many, MANY years - you do. But of course you ALWAYS have them seeing as the old fogies at Lords won't let them go to Australia when WE won them.
Oh I think AFL calls them umpires too! Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
The Heat so kicked the Mavericks' asses. Did you see that shit? I mean damn.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
UP, CAMELODUNUM!! Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
A friend in Vancouver won a small scholarship to art school recently. The task was to simply create an ad, for whatever product she wanted using Photoshop or Illustrator & incorporating a various list of items. This is what she came up with:
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
You did that Asterix in Britain joke last time.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I did, yes. But, you know...4 years....
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
The potential responses multiply before me, like those other Worfs in the shuttle in "Parallels."
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
If you're going for the one I think you might be....well, I've gotten a shock about that myself lately.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I'm not saying anything.
God, I'm pissed off. That was a FUCKING OUTRAGEOUS penalty decision this afternoon. That diving fucking wop bastard was celebrating even before he hit the ground! I'd no real love for the Sheilaroos, but the way I see it, if Italy can't beat them even with only ten men, they don't deserve to go through. The shoddy - hell, fixed! - refereeing continues. . .
I'm also annoyed because I drew Switzerland in the office sweepstake. Not that Team Neutral covered themselves with glory - Ukraine are Andrey Shevchenko and ten other men, and that's showed in every game they've played to date. Italy v Ukraine will be interesting - there's more diving in the Red Sea, but only just. . .
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Utter bullshit. That is all I have to say.
Utter fucking bullshit.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
And yet - and yet, the Italians see nothing wrong with it, and continue to view it as a great victory! The same Italian friends with whom I watched the Ghana match, who literally sulked for DAYS because their team lost that one, resort to verbal abuse at any suggestion that it wasn't a penalty. Oh, well, brightsides - they can never again complain about the 1994 Final.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
You... you... have Italian friends??
Anyway, it sucks and it's crap - but I'm not going to sulk for days I'm not THAT passionate about it. We whoop their asses in the Rugby anyway.
Just sucks it came down to the last ten seconds. It was fantastic we even GOT to the world cup and got as far as we did. We AREN'T a powerhouse soccer nation - and the fact that Italy - a powerhouse soccernation only JUST beat us says something about their own team.
Or we had a great team. (Oh and we didn't have Harry Kewell on for that match either - but one team can't rely on one player).
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
Bastard Italaians. They cheated to get that far and then cheated some more. That was never a penalty, not in a million years! The worst rthink is that we now have to rely on the bloody Ukranians to beat the greasy bastards.
Oh well, in other news, not that we expected any different, the Brazilians are through as well. I'm off to watch the rest of Spain/France. Come on you geriatric frogs!
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
Amazingly, France won. Given their recent form I was thinking Spain was gonna tonk them. But France actually played proper football, whereas Spain's whole strategy was based around synchronised falling-over.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
A guy came into work today whose father is Spanish, mother is Italian, & he's Argentinian. No joy in THAT household.
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