The World Cup and soceer's slipping standards

[februus]

Whatever made you think I classify myself as a fan?

and i classify myself as good looking, but i doubt anyone else does

[JR8]

[quote="JR8

Hum... don't we love a classless society? .

Where does one exist, pray tell?


It is amusing how a poster criticises football, and suddenly, like a swarm of locusts people descend with garish insinuations about the critics background and hobbies. Look in the mirror you football fans at how you behave... and don't be too surprised how many people regard you and the sport with disdain...

JR8, you're becoming an armour- plated iron-masked warrior. Thanks for being the knight. You're welcome to Arthur's roundtable. LOL
Look for the ley lines. In the 60s, 70s for me, well among the flower power folks and in the 50s, 60s China.

They were time framed phenomenon perhaps, but the principles live on.

The whole 60's-thing, the love peace and equality, strikes me as a sham and lie. Me it was fun if you had a rich daddy and could afford to sit around smoking pot and indulging poor people. I suspect '67 (etc) was not as much fun for the litttle people...

50/60s China!? wasn't that when Mao was enforcing equality via near genocide?

[anneteoh]

Hum... don't we love a classless society? .

Where does one exist, pray tell?

They were time framed phenomenon perhaps, but the principles live on.

The whole 60's-thing, the love peace and equality, strikes me as a sham and lie. Me it was fun if you had a rich daddy and could afford to sit around smoking pot and indulging poor people. I suspect '67 (etc) was not as much fun for the litttle people...

It helped end the ghastly war in Vietnam. It couldn't be a sham if people gave up their career to protest against the atrocities of napalm and the bombing of women and chidlren. Why was it a lie? There was a John Lennon and he lost his life. Children in schools are still proud to sing Imagine today. There was an underground revolution and lots of people did all kinds of things ' forbidden fruit tastes sweetest' when there was a heady counter culture movement, against established views based on exploitation and stress.
I view it as a huge movement rolling art, music, philosophy, religion and politics into one Love and Peace sit-ins, festivals etc. But my own started in the 70s in India and long after, mainly to do with understanding religions and spirituality.

50/60s China!? wasn't that when Mao was enforcing equality via near genocide?

Many students I met in London - very virtuous people, remarked the 50s
were the golden age of China. The 60s were more chaotic - political struggles between extreme right and left. I'm afraid that reportage of China, esp in those days, were extremely biased. I had read about two libraries on China from 1911 - 1989, and was a member of several Anglo-Chinese societies. Ever heard of Sir Joseph Needham, Philip Greene, Helen Snow, Norman Bethune ?

Mao was a great leader for China and genocide is not what Chinese people would associate Mao with; but there're exceptions. China is not a religion. To understand the importance of Mao to China, one needs to undersatnd the history not just of China, but of the world from 1911 -1934, 1934 -1945. To me, Mao changed feudal China like no one else can - but never through this horrid accusation of genocide, used by anti-China writers like Jonathan Mirsky and a few arrogant reporters who thought they knew China better than anyone else

In many cases there was propaganda and counter-propaganda. One has to be an 'old hand' to understand Chinese history which is very complex.
Moreover, it depends on your own political persuasion, knowledge and experience of China and Chinese people. No offenence here - I mean the Chinese were of very different persuasions themselves though by that period, they had ploarised into two main opposition groups - the Nationalists versus the Communists, in other words, the capitalists vs the proletariats/socialists. It's never easy to understand any wars is it?

Oh, here I go again, trying to explain when I keep telling myself to get on with my work! I'm also still looking for a way to do a petition for world aid in the gulf.

[JR8]

What should one make of a man that whilst raking in millions singing 'Imagine' [no possessions] had a dedicated refrigerated room in his mansion for his fur coats?

[anneteoh]

What should one make of a man that whilst raking in millions singing 'Imagine' [no possessions] had a dedicated refrigerated room in his mansion for his fur coats?

I'd just lost the profundity of my thoughts when the net went offline!
But a line's still up there - in the heading. Not somethig I'd thought about.

Liberating oneself from all attachments is a Daoist/Buddhist way of attaining enlightenment.

Chapman, the guy who prematurely ended Lennon's life had his own grudges - much to our ( those who love Lennon) loss of a great, generous and avant garde soul. He gave us a world view and feelings when we were 'little people.'

My view's that Lennon did what he could for the poor. He had donated to poor Blacks at Christmas and he had all kinds of people on his island -in fact, he supported quite a number of charities. Above all, he had a right to live the way he wanted. He was an artist who threw sarcasm at the world of greed and conflict.
But I love his music and lyrics - that's what Lennon always is to me.

You say you want a revolution...welll, you know...
I am you as you are he as he is she ...come togther...
Lucy in the sky with diamonds...
Something in the way she walks...
You never give me your money, you only gave me your funny paper...

The white album, Rubber Soul,, Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club, Band, Revolver, Help, Imagine ... I'd given them all away. Didn't they touch you? I'd say, bless Lennon and may he come back in many reincarnations,

What would Lennon say about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan? If you live in Britain you'll see young dead soldiers sent back in coffins, sometimes singly sometimes in a group. It happens every week or every other week. It's eerie and haunting.

Quite a shift in key, from the world cup to music. Make it in D minor? Mozart's Requiem?

[JayCee]

Hum... don't we love a classless society? .

Where does one exist, pray tell?


It is amusing how a poster criticises football, and suddenly, like a swarm of locusts people descend with garish insinuations about the critics background and hobbies. Look in the mirror you football fans at how you behave... and don't be too surprised how many people regard you and the sport with disdain...

Don't try and take the high road, you called football a sport for chavs/pikeys (I am neither, and I am sure neither is februus) so what the hell did you expect? Nice way to insult and generalise about 3 billion people It's usually toffs who believe they are somehow 'better' than others who have this opinion of the beautiful game, and I'm 99% certain from your posts that you fall into that category.

Anyway, I'll leave you 'intellectuals' to discuss Chinese history and politics, you certainly know more about it than the world's greatest and most popular sport

[sundaymorningstaple]

...... than the world's greatest and most popular sport

And I thought it was sex.




















Well, mine anyway!

[JR8]

'Playing the flute' at 7am. sure beats everything else for me....

[anneteoh]

'Playing the flute' at 7am. sure beats everything else for me....

JR8 let's respect the Strictly Speaking thread and keep to the topic.
So you ere serenaded by a flautist cos I never said anything to that effect.

Well, England got through with 1 goal from Defoe. They really need to brush up their passing and striking. What's your predictions for the next match - England versus Germany? Who're you supporting - being an English living in Germany? Will you take your missus out to join German punters and cheer with Rule Britannia while keeping your enemies - ironically your fellow countrymen, Februus and JayCee at bay?

There was much talk about tennis last night when a match between France - Mahut (?) and USA - Ismert (?) . These two guys played 10 hours of marathon tennis. The commentators compared how football's played in 90 minutes, minus substitutions, injuries and what nots esp the intervals between matches - couple of days to a week.

Boy, you should face JayCee for a 1-1 instead of the billions he's coming upfront with; the strict rule is gladiatorial types not allowed. I like your diversion strategies so far...and humour, well that Adonis ( have you seen him? ) Februus came up with that but SMS beat Februus with a typical American obsession and taboo to some. Show there's more than football. Is all this strictly speaking for Nakatago the chemist?? LOL

gladiatorial = extreme cruelty.

[JR8]

Supporting? Nobody.

Like asking which prisoner let out in an exercise pen I'm rooting for, when I think they should all be put down.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Reminds me of an old Soccer/Religious joke.......

Dog decided to come down to earth to watch a football match. This wasn't a league match but an ad hoc game being played by a group of Christians and a group of Muslims.

As the game progressed up and down the field the teams were really kicking and passing and defending up a storm. Finally the Christians scored a goal! Dog jumped up and wildly started cheering. After the elation passed, the game continued back and forth and then the Muslims scored a goal.

Dog jumped up and started cheering wildly again. And again, up and back the two teams went, each time when one scored, Dog would jump up and start cheering wildly. Finally, the guy sitting next to him, totally puzzled, turned to Dog and asked him which was his team.

And Dog's answer?

"I'm only here for the game."

[JR8]

That was bad.

[anneteoh]

Are you saying not everyone can watch football and have opinions about the world cup game?

hmmm see my post earlier, anyone can have an opinion and they are welcome to it, its simply that johnny come lately's opinion who really knows very little about our game matters less in my book.

Looks like football Johnny's coming lately, more than anyone else. At last, sports commentators and tv presenters are raising the big question for the FA. Isn't it time to bring technology into football or , conceding the arguments about stopping the game, assistant referees should be at the goal posts. This is esp pertinent in the England - Germany match today. I was at a concert but the news spread like wildfire - the British goal was not scored though it went through the line! The referee didn't see it go through!
That was shocking enough to stun the English team and dampened their spirit. Mistakes like that cannot be accepted in a fair game. Say no more. England lost 1-4.

[februus]

anneteoh, i think you are missing the point. let me make mine again....

even after last night i would rather have no video technology and it meant my country having a goal unfairly disallowed. when your country get to the world cup finals, you can have your say.

[kraikk]

Matches like last night have converted me to a believer in instant replay. The other game this year was Armando Galarraga's imperfect game. It seems to me that soccer and baseball are getting too comfortable in their popularity that the top brass are reluctant to change. Every other sport has gotten past their "human element" hang ups and admitted that cameras get it right almost all the time: tennis, American football, rugby, even cricket.