Hey guys, true story, Nobody cares if you dont like football or the idea behind it, but then saying "LOL THEY ARE SO DUMB LOL" and having a constant whine up about it makes you seem like pricks. Seriously for the Germany/spain game i had to sit in earshot of the token wife which didnt know football, didnt like football and decided to comment on everything for added pissoff. Just dont watch it or be involved in it if u dont like it, i dont go to golf clubs and start wailing on them.

People support football cos its a competition and you back a team to win, simple, you therefore gain a sense of representation by that team because you support them to win, their wins and loses become personal because you support them. Voila.

If you dont understand that then you have never, and will never, come to understand the compettive nature of sports and you think that everyone invlolved should get a doll and a "participating trophy".


@ the ball moans. this ball is a completyely different build to others, as stated, its completely spehrical therefore doesnt translate the spin put on the ball and due to aerodynamics does nto fly correctly as intended by its source of power.

Some leagues i.e. the bundesleague didnt have ball sponserships already and thus could swap balls - england however has a contract. There can be no decision, we didnt get the ball due to a contract already in place.

The ball is terrible, hence the terrible play of the world cup - its like giving rugby a different shaped ball - see how much that would damage the game - it was and is retarded.

@ 90% pay cut, blame the sponsers and tv deals.
If it wasnt popular they wouldnt get paid so much, simple supply and demand.

Hit the nail on the head there mate.

Nice post, totally agree.
Now shut the fuck up Balls!!!!!! <3
Anyways, some people seem to get along with the ball. Just look at Spain yesterday.
Was pretty well played tbh.
Of course, they also missed some shots. But that could just have been bad luck.
Their passes, etc were pretty epic and fun to watch.

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Ze Ãœbermensch

Impossible with the amount of commercial bile that is constantly being jabbed down our throats from all angles by the media and society in general.

I was so happy when England got knocked out, everyone pretty much stfu and actually managed to be a little bit humbled by it all, Yes, England isn't actually the football super power that everyone expects the world to believe. Proof is in the pudding.
The general consensus for most competitive activities then.

However, football has pretty much the worst track record for sportsmanship; the game nowadays is all about stalling the other team, and stopping flow. This is achieved by diving and fouling; sure i can respect the handling skill and power but the competition doesnt come from the athleticism anymore in my eyes, not like it used to be. (As you may gather, i used to be a fan of football)

All the stuff about the Ball, well, its a not fair argument. The only variables that change really are the teams and possibly the weather. Some teams did ok with the ball; so it can't be impossible to use. Yeah fair enough, it might be badly designed, i mean sports companies HAVE to waste all those millions on something! Why not make a shiny new ball etc etc But; its the old blaming the tools scenario. You might chuck a rugby player a banana shaped ball and its wrong, but the guy; if he is talented enough can at least try to make do. Germany did well till last night with ball training; I mean, France got to train with the ball, and look at them!

A talented painter can still make beautiful art without a brush.


I can see the stupid wages, all the sponsorship deals and tv exposure really helped their game a lot....

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-"You've really worked out your banter, haven't you?"
-"No, not really. This is a different thing, it's spontaneous and it's called wit."

Everyday all i see is twilight or true blood or adverts for tampons, it doesnt make me flick my bean and store up on 100000000 tampons, it for sure doesnt make me go up to every 16 year old girl on the street and start going WHY DO U WEAR BLOOD STOPPING DEVICES ARGH THIS MAKES ME SO MAD, ITS IN MY FACE I DONT WANNA SEE THIS SHIT AAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA, TRUE BLOOD JUST WATCH SOME FUCKING PORN YOU STUPID BITCHFACE ITS SO POINTLESS!!!


no, i dont do that, i ignore it and continue my day because it doesnt effect my day.


A sport is based around its tools, its what gives it its limitations and expectations. If they made the ground twice the length it would effect the game, if they changed the corner to the middle for "middle kicks" it would change the game, if the goal was 1/2 the size it would change the game. If you change the ball's design as stated i nthe open letter by a designer and creator of footballing inventions it changes how the ball can be played. The germans trained with it for a season, if other teams CANNOT, then it is a distinct disadvantage. How many times have you seen this world cup a shot go miles wide or high, while all year for club they hit the bar, score a goal, hit the fucking target.
The ball can be blamed for this years SHIT level of football quality cos it effects directly the play of the game. If it doesn't translate the topspin, backspin, curl that is put on it effectively then it is a fucking trash ball. Sorry to say it, but to claim "if hes talented enough" is BS. You play football for 20 years at a professinal level, and develop untold amounts of skills and finesses, practice nonstop - and then u come to what is supposed to be the greatest footballing extravaganza and are expected to play with a ball which doesn't use these skills. Practice makes permenant.

An artist who spends everyday of his life painting and developing his skill with a brush would look like a 5 year old in primary school when asked to go without it suddenly.

If you look closesly at the matches, see how far the ball jumps off their feet when they try to bring it down, it jerks about a ft away - even for spain. Watch the curve of the ball on a shot or cross, then look at where the player put his foot through it and at what angle - often it goes completely the other way.

I can see how being on the inside you can have that opinion. If only the teams were as defensive as you lot

I get that the ball is shit and badly designed, fair enough, but blame the mass commercialism of the sport that fucked it up. I mean i've seen diseased African kids on the tv kicking round a deflated piece of crap and still having skills and finesse (for kids at least). Do you think some of the players from like south America etc grew up playing with nice balls? In some cases, the started learning playing with tin cans, rubbish, flat balls.
It's not the tools, its the talent and the skill; a 20 year trained painter without a brush still knows shit loads about shape, tone and colour; so will make the best finger painting ever! Which leads me to question, what idiot decides to change the balls design and not make it compulsory (regardless of contracts) that the teams train with it. I don't see this short of shit in the NBA or the NFL; is FIFA or whatever run by idiots?


I do like it how you compared it to twilight, football is pretty much the male equivalent (though obviously football can be enjoyed by the ladies too, etc etc)

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-"You've really worked out your banter, haven't you?"
-"No, not really. This is a different thing, it's spontaneous and it's called wit."

The point of the ball is - before germany 2006 there was a standardized design 16 panels, this was reduced to 8 in germany and now its 2 which arent even stitched.

There are regulations btw, but its not in weight or size, its in the aoerodnynamics of not having the channels for the air through the panels, instead having some arteficially created idea to replicate it which hasnt worked

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WQp1VxA ... r_embedded[/youtube]

just look at it ffs...

Even nasa agree.

http://www.goalymoly.com/football-news/ ... table45378

A bad workman may blame his tools, but your gonna get a better job done with a wrench than a boomerang.

@is fifa run by idiots - Yes it is.

Oh and as I missed it yesterday cos my net was down...


WHO DID YOU THINK YOU WERE KIDDING MR SONNY, IF YOU THINK YOU'LD WIN THE CUP,

Curse of the nike "wright the future" commercial

I understand being in competitive teams, I was very good at football and rugby, of course I got a sense of achievement when we won and was annoyed when we lost. I say 'we' because I was actually part of the team, supporting a team doesn't give me any sense of achievement since it's not me winning or losing, I understand that I don't have any input into it. Although this would probably change if I personally went to the matches and cheered for them.

What people don't seem to understand is that it is just a sport, I can see the appeal of the Olympics, because it is about people pushing the boundaries of what's physically possible, which is actually interesting. I enjoy sitting down and watching football with friends and a few drinks, but I doubt I will ever feel an emotional investment for it, unless of course I have bet on it

The ball looks like a rather large oversight, if a ball is curving like that then of course a team that hasn't trained with it is at a disadvantage (from the looks of it, you're at a disadvantage either way though). One of balls examples, that rugby players playing with a banana should be able to adapt, well that's true, but it depends how long you have had to practice with it and also if it curves randomly in the air (like this football), then it will be hard to play with anyway, no matter how well you adapt.

I would probably be more inclined to support a team if they weren't getting paid so much for something I find rather trivial though, I would prefer for the money to go to some scientific research or the like, so I guess I'm rather biased Of course they get so much money because most people's opinions contradict my stance on the triviality of it

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

Which is why if they were insistent on introducing a newly designed ball, it should have been made equally insistent that all teams got the recommended or adequate amount of time to practise with it, regardless of contracts; but no, because of footballs mass commercialism; the sport ultimately suffers, and i have no real beef with the sport itself (maybe the drama queens and the lame modern day tactics) but i do hate how its mass popularity has turned it into more than just a competition of athleticism and instead becomes this massive xenophobic display of mediocrity. I heard one guy in the pub the other day saying how all the other national anthems other than the UK sound silly or something like that, they don't sound like nation anthems... i soon left.

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-"You've really worked out your banter, haven't you?"
-"No, not really. This is a different thing, it's spontaneous and it's called wit."

I was just going to argue this point but Ballsee has already said it better with: Being an artist myself, it doesn't matter about what you use; fingers, brush... jeez I have cut and shaped a piece of wood to paint with! It's about talent and knowing how to use it, with or without the tools!

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Classy is when a woman has everything to flaunt, but chooses not to show it!

Yeah, but you're not going to be able to paint something which looks like it was painted with a brush are you? Hence you are forced to paint in a different way due to the tools you're using, often meaning you can't get the same result. In an artists case it is subjective whether it is better or worse, in the case of this new football, it is just worse.

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

You could use your own hair as a brush...

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-"You've really worked out your banter, haven't you?"
-"No, not really. This is a different thing, it's spontaneous and it's called wit."

This.

Also
Football is the same as anything which grows popular (i.e. gets commercialised), and anything which has cross country competition will of course bring out the xenophobes and woodlouse. Hell I'm not a xenophobe but during a competition, Sonny and all his countrymen are nazi's, the spanish are a bunch of piella eating pricks and the french and italians are cheating scum. You go for the thing which is obv in your opposition and you harrass and harrang it. During the season ill cheer on Nicolas anelka and how hes awesome, as soon as international competition hits, hes another frenchman who looks abit like osama bin laden. During the season all of the manc supporters are peadophiles and all of the arsenal supporters are fags. Its just competition and put downs - like me calling sonny a shitcock for dominating me 1000000 times in tf2.

If you are talented enough you should be able to adapt to the new tools, hence getting a result just as good! Obviously the results will not be the same but the user will become more experienced.

On the other hand, if the tools are impractical then of course the results will be a massive FAIL and the idiot that thought it was a good idea in the first place should be shot

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Classy is when a woman has everything to flaunt, but chooses not to show it!

Again, you could use your hair as a brush. most art brushes are horse hair or something...

Either way, the skill is in being able to adapt to your immediate surroundings; and over come challenges. But its not like THE FUCKING BALL WAS MADE OUT OF LEAD! FFS, people still scored, Portugal scored 8 goals in one game, so it cant be that fucking impossible to use. Honestly, the ball is a scapegoat to make up for a shit team who are too busy concerning themselves with money than sportsmanship and athletic competition.

And I still dont get the whole xenophobic football werewolf thing? lol Must be and English thing i dont understand.

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-"You've really worked out your banter, haven't you?"
-"No, not really. This is a different thing, it's spontaneous and it's called wit."

Most brushes are made from the tail of a Kolinsky or Ox, sometimes they are made from Squirrel, Goats and Ponies! And of course you have your synthetic ones.

If I was Rapunzel I would use my own hair

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Classy is when a woman has everything to flaunt, but chooses not to show it!

If i was stimpy the cat, i would use my nose hair.



couldn't find a suitable pic

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-"You've really worked out your banter, haven't you?"
-"No, not really. This is a different thing, it's spontaneous and it's called wit."

lol come on, now you're just trolling, balls.

Thank you Germany, without you we would be the Nazis

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All roads may lead to Rome, but all Wikipedia pages eventually get you to the Third Reich. - m3n

Relentless don't be dissing my awesome A-Team/MacGyver improvisation skills!

Sorry, im not trying to troll, just trying to make a point.

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-"You've really worked out your banter, haven't you?"
-"No, not really. This is a different thing, it's spontaneous and it's called wit."

Portugal walked the ball into the net pretty much 7 times, in the group stage until a few games like this where one team creamed the opposition so much then there was a huge disproportion of goals from previous world cups as this one - Sepp Blatter breathed a huge sigh of releif when germany netted 8 in 2 games and portugal 8 in 1 game, pushing the average way up closer to the normal 2.5 of 2002.

Seriously, the skill of football is in controlling the ball and what not. Sure if the ball isn't great you gotta make do and soldier on and adapt - however if the ball doesn't react as any other ball has in your life and your trying to do the same thing as b4 with it - then its going to be fail.

And what is the ball a scape goat for? pray do tell. Because atm I don't care who wins/ who loses, that england went out or that germany went out. I care about how this world has been, and how shit it has been due to the ball. The quality of this worldwide football festival has often been of that of division 2 football on a sunday afternoon. Now either every single player has suddenly after fantastic seasons become utter shite - or there is something wrong with the

a) setting, (well the weather is as normal in europe, the fans are loud, but thats no indicator to poor touches etc every game)

b)pressume, (teams such as france/italy/germany all under great amount of pressure to perform; but then again so are the spanish; also every club game is the same pressure - every cup final or every end of season game - which all these players go through every week for club). So perhaps its some pressure, understandable. But the only other option is something they all share,

c) the fucking ball. If the ball is trash, then its gonna pretty much effect every player - every touch - every pass - every shot - every free kick. Its no suprise that Japan scored the first 2 free kick goals in the last 16 after playing with the ball in february til now. No one else could for so many games. Week in week out they do it for club, now they look like total noobs.
Sure, they can adapt and change, but if a ball doesnt tell it wha u want to do your reduced to the "simple game" which most teams have had to do. Pretty much every footballer has come out with criticsm of the ball, nasa has, professional developers of football equipment have.

/thread SIGH

in other news,

Pie.

Im just looking forward to monday.

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-"You've really worked out your banter, haven't you?"
-"No, not really. This is a different thing, it's spontaneous and it's called wit."

Lovely ball indeed

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Da boyz need themselves a Nob they do

That was an absolute peach of a goal.

Two funny names spotted in the German team:

Their goalkeeper's name is Butt and one of their players is Cacau, who's black (/brown). ^^

Update: Aaaaand Paul the Psychic Octopus strikes again. :-P

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War does not determine who is right - only who is left. - Bertrand Russell

because obviously Paul has any notion of it. Good thing he got the euro cup finals wrong last time eh.

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Da boyz need themselves a Nob they do

Paul is awesome

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/1031681 ... final.html

fuck paul

What a shitty match so far. -.-

All both teams are doing is fouling each other whenever there's even a whiff of a nice attack...

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War does not determine who is right - only who is left. - Bertrand Russell