Let's talk about sport ! - Page 2

Alexa · 08-03-2005, 06:44 PM

I must admit, Ireland has a very good football team.

Sorry, I don't know anything about Australian teams, but if Culhwch says they won last year ... I have to see them playing.

*All right, where is that cable number ?*

littlemissattitude · 08-05-2005, 08:26 AM

I was raised to be a baseball fan, and so I am, although I don't follow it nearly as closely as I used to. And I really like bicycle racing...and yes, I liked it before Lance Armstrong came along. Although I'm quite glad he made it seven in a row. I also like volleyball, more the regulation indoor, six-to-a-team kind, but I've been watching beach volleyball lately, and I'm starting to like that as well. Basketball.

As for the sports I don't like...Golf. Just boring. American football, which seems to be all about hurting the other team. Boxing...again, the point is to injure the opponent. I don't find that the be interesting at all.

Alexa · 08-05-2005, 04:42 PM

I've never had the occasion to play volleyball on the beach *sigh*. I played a lot, especially at the university indoors.

I tried to understand baseball's rules, but I failed. :redface:

I don't like violent sports like box and american football.

littlemissattitude · 08-05-2005, 05:38 PM

I played regular volleyball on a church league for a year during high school, and really had fun with it, although I'm really too short to play successfully. And I played softball the summer between sixth and seventh grades. Unfortunately, I mostly was catcher, which I still think was the beginning of my knee problems.

Actually, baseball isn't that difficult to understand. Then again, I say that as someone who has watched the game as long as I can remember. My father coached Little League when I was a baby and we went to all of the games, so I sort of absorbed a lot of it there, and I can still remember going to my first professional game when I was about two or three years old. The best thing about it, though, is the fairly leisurly pace, which can be enjoyed even if you don't completely understand what is going on on the field.

Alexa · 08-06-2005, 02:12 AM

I saw many movies with baseball games, but I suppose I was caught in the action and didn't pay attention at the game. I know, you cannot understand a sport from a movie, but I didn't have the occasion to watch a match as a sport. Canadiens are more fond of hockey.

The signals are really funny in baseball. How do they choose them ?

littlemissattitude · 08-06-2005, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alexa

The signals are really funny in baseball. How do they choose them ?

You know, I really don't know. I assume that each team just makes them up, as the whole idea is to be able to communicate without the other team knowing what they are saying - can't give away strategy. :smilie: The cool thing is when someone gets creative and almost makes giving signals a show. And that's really strategy, too, because they hide the real signals in the middle of a bunch of meaningless movements. It's almost like a code.

I remember when we used to go to the L.A. Dodgers games all the time. That was when Tommy Lasorda was the third base coach, before he became manager. He's a master at the signal thing, and at making it a show. I think people would go to the games sometimes just to watch him and his signals as much as to see the game. That's something else I like about baseball - there are these great characters in the game who liven things up immensely.

Also, you mentioned baseball movies. I'm not that big a fan of them. However, there is "Bull Durham", which is a great baseball movie. :biggrin: It's about the only one I really like. Well, there's "Field of Dreams", which is not a baseball movie, even though it was sold that way. What it really is, is a wonderful fantasy. Oh, and no, I'm not that much of a Kevin Costner fan.

Alexa · 08-06-2005, 04:26 PM

Why Lasorda accepted to be a manager ? If he was so good, than he transformed the game into an art on the field. What he could wish more than that ?

I'm not a fun of baseball movies either, but when they keep giving them, you have no choice. :wink: I saw the movies. Also one about Babe Ruth's story. And you know, there are a lot, especially with kids. It's a way to make publicity for this sport.

Quotes from Bull Durham:

Quote:

Crash Davis: Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

Quote:

Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: [to himself] What's this guy know about pitching? If he's so good how come he's been in the minors for the last ten years? If he's so good how come Annie wants me instead of him?

08-07-2005, 05:27 AM

I love a good baseball flick. And I'm one of the eleven people in the world who actually likes Kevin Costner as an actor.... And I've always been a fan of American football movies, too - Any Given Sunday, Remember the Titans, most recently Friday Night Lights, which I thought was good but was left quite depressed at the end.

littlemissattitude · 08-07-2005, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Culhwch

I love a good baseball flick. And I'm one of the eleven people in the world who actually likes Kevin Costner as an actor.... And I've always been a fan of American football movies, too - Any Given Sunday, Remember the Titans, most recently Friday Night Lights, which I thought was good but was left quite depressed at the end.

I actually don't mind Costner as an actor; he just comes across as really quite full of himself in interviews, which doesn't impress me much.

"Friday Night Lights" was a good movie. It was depressing, but that's becuase it was very accurate about how high school and college sports are handled much of the time in the US. As a student at a community college, I actually witnessed two coaches trying to talk an instructor into giving an athlete a passing grade that he didn't earn so that he would be eligible to play. To his credit, the instructor would not change the student's grade.

I don't like American football, but it seems to produce some good films. Have you ever seen "Paper Lion"? It was made in 1968 and is based on the true story of a writer who trained with the Detroit Lions in order to write a story about what it is like to be a professional quarterback. Trouble is, the writer is not much of an athlete. The film is also notable because a number of the members of the team play themselves.

Alexa · 08-07-2005, 03:44 PM

Do you think there are many students who pass with the help of their coach ?

I haven't seen "Paper Lion". Wow, it was made the year I was born.

I liked Costner in "Lifeguarde" and "Dancing with the wolves".