Sports

[pcm92]

Sorry, can't help you there.

I just wanted to say, it's the NHL playoffs! Yaaaaayyyy!!!

What hockey team(s) do you like?

[Tad]

I can't say I follow a team as such, but I'll gladly watch any NHL game as it's rare you find a boring one. It's kind of difficult to follow them over here in the UK as they usually play in the early hours in the morning, but the playoffs usually mean they start early resulting in more reasonable times.

The league over here in the UK has just finished for the season and I'm now watching Team GB in the world tournament and the NHL playoffs. Team GB have just won their last two games and we need to win the next three this week to go up a division.

Who do you support?

[pcm92]

The Arizona Coyotes.

[crackdude]

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim!

[pcm92]

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim!

Do you really like the Ducks or are you just saying that because they are the Yotes's main rival?

[Tad]

Heh, think he might just be referencing the films.

Ah, the Arizona Coyotes! We've had some of your players from your affiliated teams over here. Dundee Stars have just signed one for the coming season too: http://www.eliteleague.co.uk/stars-sign-forward-scott-brannon

Justin Sawyer has played for the Cardiff Devils...and very suspiciously left the country out of nowhere. Rumour has it, he got into series trouble here and he fled. Kevin Harvey was an idiot to put it mildly, Sean Erickson was good, but he never quite settled and decided to move back to Rapid City Rush.

[crackdude]

I'm a legit Ducks fan. I celebrated our 07 Stanley cup with much enthusiasm!

When I was a kid, I loved the movies, yes. But one day Eurosport started broadcasting the NHL playoffs. It was about 15 years ago, I was a kid and I saw them... Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. The speed, the goals, the tackles. I was a fan. I bought the NHL games and would acompany the season games.

Later, in 2006, a canadian transfer student came to my class (a Maple Leafs fan), so I had someone to talk about NHL and the next season we were champions. It was a great time.

Eventually I started to lag behind the games and couldn't keep up with the seasons. I still follow the playoffs every year tho.
Maybe another exciting run by the Ducks would motivate me enough to stay up till 2AM to watch the games.
Happy about tonight's 3-0 win

[crackdude]

Fuck hockey man...

[Tad]

The Ducks coach has been shown the door as well it seems. Not too surprising considering their recent performance.

I'm not a football fan, but it was nice to see someone outside the "big" teams win the premier league last night. The whole league is built to squash the little teams so this is pretty special.

[crackdude]

Every league squashes the little teams really..

I think it's wonderful. But it's also sad to realize that without the huge financial backing Leicester has now they wouldn't have done it. Come mid-season break Vardy would've been bought by some big money shark along with other 2 or 3 good teammates and they would drop places on the table.

This just highlights how football can be improved if things like transfer/salary caps were implemented and the winter market is abolished.
If the future is an European Superleague then I don't want anything to do with it.

[Tad]

The European super league kind of already exists does it not? It's just called the Champions league.

[crackdude]

The European super league kind of already exists does it not? It's just called the Champions league.

No. The Champions League is (regardless of it's name) a cup. Not a league.
Its name comes from the original intention of iteratively turning the European Cup into a league. The first few Champions Leagues had 2 group phases. Effectively, 12 "league" games. But the format is now the same as the World Cup.

The Super League concept involves something akin to a full blown double round robin competition between 12-20 clubs that would exit their national league system to compete at a higher level.
It's just a concept for now.

[Tad]

Ah, right. Yeah, this super league sounds a bit much. It'll probably eclipse the other tournaments too, so can't see it happening.

[crackdude]

It raises so many problems.

For example, why would I want Porto to be fighting for its life on a "superleague"? What would be the purpose? So Benfica and Sporting stay in Portugal winning titles, but we are "better" for barely staying alive in an european level? This makes no sense.

I believe there is already a SuperLeague forming, called English Premier League.
This happens in other sports. The NHL stands above all other leagues. Same with the NBA. I have no problem with the better players flocking the BPL, as long as there's still market for the rest of us.

[Tad]

Aye. I also don't think some of them would really do that well anyway. The Spanish league for example is always considered great, but from what I've seen, there's only about 3 teams that are any good. The rest are pretty poor.