Have you ever reached a point when you...

[BlueBallz]

I used to be more of an NBA fan and some hockey as well. With the advent of wall to wall coverage the past 10 years (thank you uncle rupert) of English football, I have paid a lot less attention to soem American sports. The fact that some of the players appear more frequently in the police blotter than the sports pages turns me off to no end........

[balibeachboy2122]

Blue,

I can understand the argument that all the football converage nowadays hardly leave times for anything else (and i should really know since i watch both the premier league,the eredivisie plus some spanish,italian and german football and a lot of the European football).

But your argument in regards to the problems some american atheletes have with the press is a little strange to me..

Surely the the Sun and the news of the world dont report on Ashley Cole being a choir boy,Joe Barton being such a upstanding citizens and some of your blue boys (former and present) acting like angels (and yes ManU has some lovely characters as well if you must believe the Sun).

I know everything is a bit more extreme in the States but
1)Boys will be Boys and even though i am sure a lot of these professionale athletes are prats or can act like them at times i think it is rather silly to judge them to harshly because,speaking for my self,i probably do some silly things as well.
2)I think USA athletes get involved with ''justice'' a little more often because,lets face it the USA is both a more litigious society then most countries in Europe or the world and surely more prone to nipping supposed disturbances of ''order'' in the butt (i mean look at the incarceration rate,the general justice system and the amount of cops they have on the street and the farreaching power these have).I always feel extremely safe in NYC but i would never start a discussion with NYC cop even though he might arrest me in regards to something deemed silly.Anyways all i am saying its mostly a difference of culture.

BTW speaking by personal experiance,NHL player are the nicest most approachable professional athletes i ever had the pleasure of meeting (especially compared to football players)
Behind them UFC fighters hence my my interest in watching these sports (besides the fact that they totally kick ass)

[Road Runner]

I gave up on Accrington Stanley after they resigned from division 4.

RR.

[kevin4252]

I passed on the Yankees when they traded Skowron, thank god the Mets came along a few years later,

[Guest]

Like Dave,ive followed MUFC since the 60's-Ive seen the greatest theyve had since the Munich Disaster.I have been very disappointed when they got rid of Denis Law,and when George Best went walkabouts,but no player is ever bigger than the club.I was devastated when we were relegated in'74,but that season in the 2nd division turned into one of the most memorable.
The only time Ive thought of packing it all in was when the Glazers took over,and the likes of Bobby Charlton were queing up to kiss their corporate arse,the whole thing made me sick.The average working class supporter being sidelined to make room for suits and " hospitality packages".Another grass roots football team sprung up in Manchester called Football club of Manchester,started by disaffected United fans(mostly my age group incidentally).I went a few times as a protest against what is happening at OT,but my heart was never in it,your club is your club is your club....you can change your wife,your religion ,your profession ,but never your football team.

[Jake_Sully]

That's a wonderful sentiment. Do you mind if I borrow that quote TB about the "you can change your wife,your religion ,your profession ,but never your football team."

[BlueBallz]

BailBoy I can recite numerous sordid incidents regarding American athletes. Its just a turn off. They are pampered and live in a bubble. Its so predictable when these young men have been coddled all their lives and always given preferential treatment. It goes to junior high school since our society seems to put more emphasis to winning on the ball field than in the classroom.

Forget about these knuckleheads running around siring kids all over the place. What about the Yank footballers who KILLED a man when he was legally drunk. He paid off the family and got 30 days in jail. There was another guy who did the same thin and he didnt even serve jail time!!! Guess what, a couple of years later he was arrested for DUI!!!! He is STILL playing football coz he can help someone win. Players lie to Congress (another group of liars) about using banned, performance inhancing drugs!!! Recently a star on the local baseball team got arrested for beating up his father in law in full view of everyone after a bad game!! The case is ongoing but I doubt anything will happen to him. Oh BTW this same fellow has two restraint order against him from women whom he has physically threatened.

I could go on and on with cases like this. Its starting to happen more and more to European footballers because since the Bosman ruling wages have skyrocketed. Stay tuned....

[jimslim]

I've been a West Ham fan since I was a kid , everyone else was Man U or Liverpool so I just wanted to be different .

I could never give up supporting them , even though most of the time its a painful experience , nowdays I look upon it as a type of therapy .

Another season of woe this year methinks , but we Irons are well prepared

[balibeachboy2122]

Westham fans are pretty awesome....

A little mean (though not as mean as Millwall) but great supporters nonetheless..

Btw my team (Ajax) just qualified for the CL again (after way to many years of absence)....

Just came back from the stadium....the atmosphere was awesome....

Slight dilemma now if we do end up in the same group as ManU (will have to jeer Rooney for the first time in my life....)

As for athletes being spoiled and acting unresponsibly....perhaps but then again power corrupts and like i said it is easy to judge when your not in the same situation...

So do i think there excesses that arent resolved properly,yes.

Do i think society is honest and everybody is equal....come on now (no disrespect but you spend a big part of your time in Thailand blue...how equal is society there....).

In general,i think a lot of athletes in the States are okey guys.Society permits them more because Americans tend to be a little more extreme in everything compared to Europeans (so also in the position athletes have and are alllowed to have in everyday life) but if you stop watching sport because of this i dont think the world is an easy place to function anymore.

As for Congress,i tend to agree with you.Not so much because there might be corruption or behaviour that treats them different from the norm (there just aint....) but because they dont get anything done and have been extremely disfunctional for years (and sorry yes,the extreme partisanship of the Republicans is the main cause in my eyes,though there are plenty extremely incompetent Democratic Congress man as well).

Then again,because voters are not realistic anymore and punish those people who get elected to Congress and actually try to achieve the betterment of the greater good by restricting them somewhat in there personal interests,it is harder then you think to do something useful in Congress