BBP wrote:I was heavily interested in it for about a year, that was after the 2000 European championship were organised in NL and Belgium and my home town was one of the match playing cities. They'd set up bunk beds at the local swimming pool and staying over cost a whopping 120 guilders, especially bad with the chlorine smell. At the time I was friends with a family of which the father was extremely sociable. He met a group of 8 Swedes, who asked him if he knew of a good hotel - and then he offered them to come stay in his home, for free.
Anyway, for a year I followed all the adventures of local football team PSV, of the expensive Mateja Kezman who was disappointing and of the strong defense tandem of Hofland and Nikiforov, of the brilliant goalie Waterreus who was sadly always passed over for the national team since they already had the very good goalie Van Der Sar - but after a year, half of the players you were rooting for have left; and then I stopped caring.
In general football doesn't interest me, I don't follow club results (especially with the Chinese gambling mafia thing), but at the world- and European championships, when you can expect to see good football and where the player trade doesn't figure as much, that's when I'm interested.
And yes guys, I do understand the offside rule.
I've never understood this stereotype that says that ladies don't understand sports. I've known lots of ladies who not only understand sports, but follow them more passionately than some guys. *shrug*
At any rate, I've played football (that's "soccer" to Aussies and Americans
) since I was about 3 or 4. I have played in amateur leagues, although their rather violent tendencies have put me off; now I just play for fun and fitness. I've always played goalie, and I have to admit that by now, I'm not too bad at being goalie.
I played for a university indoor soccer team, and one game sticks in my mind because of what happened. The other team was definitely stronger than us, and before the game they trash-talked us (e.g. "We're gonna beat the pants off you" etc.) Well... during the game they got three penalties, I managed to save them all, and the game ended in a 2-2 draw.
The other team were threatening retribution after the game, although (again) it was just trash talk.
I remember another indoor soccer game because I actually managed to kick a goal while still being in my own goal.
The other team was doing what's known in basketball as a "full-court press" - i.e. they (including their goalie) were pressing their attack quite strongly while I and my defenders were trying desperately to keep them out. The ball came to me, so just to get it away from my goal, I kicked it as hard as I could. It sailed in a perfect parabola over everyone's heads and landed in the opposing goal.
I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes...
Yep, you do get some fun times playing soccer - especially indoor soccer, where the ball, the goal and the court are smaller, so the game is much faster and therefore much more fun.
I remember "Freedom Fries". I think that French toast was also renamed "Freedom toast". 
As for Ann Coulter... the less said, the better. I've played soccer (including in competitions) for almost 30 years; she doesn't know what she's talking about. 
Of course, the Brazilians were missing 5 key players due to injury, but still... I'd never have expected such a lopsided result. Any views?