So hey let's talk about sport(s). One quick nomenclatural ground rule: The games known as football evolved differently in different places. So let's not re-rehash the whole business about whose game is the "real" football. If you insist on referring to the American version as "handegg" then you must also refer to Association football as "kickball". We also need to come up with a good derogatory term for Australian rules football or they'll feel left out and we don't want that now do we?

Now, to bring everyone up-to-date on the current NFL season.
FYI, People seem to hate the whole "split threads" idea so this time I'm just going to quote the most recent relevant posts.
Nov. 8

PonderThis wrote:So hey how about those Giants!

giantsfan97 wrote:Dominant yesterday, but I still and very wary. They were 5-0 last year (beating the crap out of bad teams) to start the season but then sucked the rest of the way.

This year, still pounding bad teams and not so good against quality opponents, but I do think the Giants are significantly better in almost every area except special teams than last year.

I feel a little bit bad that your team has been so bad, but not really because I hate them. Also, the Eagles look like they might be the best team in the NFC.

sum yun gai wrote:as a packers fan who grew up hating the cowboys, last night's game was just pathetic. also, i'd be willing to put my packers up against those eagles any day of the week, especially after our guys get healthy again. i think the fact we're still in contention with how many injuries we've had at every position speaks for itself

jvcc wrote:How have the Bears been doing? I don't have the time to keep up with my team of choice.

chrismachine wrote:They came up to Canada yesterday and beat the bills and are generally doing well enough.

Nov. 9

giantsfan97 wrote:The Bears record is good but they pretty much stink. The Packers will get it together and start dominating although I'm not sure their head coach is any good.

jvcc wrote:

giantsfan97 wrote:The Packers will get it together and start dominating...

BOOOOOOOO.

PonderThis wrote:I'll tell you, g-man, I really think the Giants are looking good right now. I'm liking them better than the pack. If they can continue to play good steady ball they've got a good chance of making it all the way.

Well, depending on how well the Saints keep playing anyways. And I have to admit the Eagles are looking good too. And according to the standings Atlanta is doing well but I have to tell you I have a hard time taking them seriously.

I think I jinxed it! Sorry, gif. And of all teams they were beaten by the Cowboys -- which I totally did not expect.

That having been said, I think they were just taken off guard. Jason Garrett and the 'Boys had something to prove and it was just your bad luck you had them this last weekend. I think the Giants will rebound from this. The Cowboys, meanwhile, will probably do better from here on out in the season but because of that atrocious start I doubt Jason will be able maintain the level of play he got out of them this last week. My pull-it-out-of-my-ass guess for their final record: 7-9.

Haha, I enjoy my contributions to this discussion.

What about Gaelic Football or Irish Football or whatever they're calling that these days?

I'm already veering off topic, but am I right in saying that the traditional languages of Ireland and Scotland are both spelled "Gaelic", with Irish Gaelic being pronounced gay-lic and Scottish Gaelic being pronounced gah-lic? I only learned about the distinction very recently in regards to the debate about whether it is wise to use public funding to support the revival and education of Scottish Gaelic.

Oh, um, sports. GO TEAM.

PonderThis wrote:We also need to come up with a good derogatory term for Australian rules football or they'll feel left out and we don't want that now do we?

Bloodball sounds good to me, if we're going by what part of the body you're most likely to get on the ball.

What's that ball game they played in Tron?

Or we can call it footy.

I watched the original Tron for the first time on Saturday. Gaaaah.

jvcc wrote:I'm already veering off topic, but am I right in saying that the traditional languages of Ireland and Scotland are both spelled "Gaelic", with Irish Gaelic being pronounced gay-lic and Scottish Gaelic being pronounced gah-lic? I only learned about the distinction very recently in regards to the debate about whether it is wise to use public funding to support the revival and education of Scottish Gaelic.

Oh, um, sports. GO TEAM.

FUN FACT: I'm currently studying a module called 'State and Empire in Britain circa. 1530 - 1720'. In short, it mostly deals with the relations between the nations that make up the British Isles (or 'Atlantic Archipelago' as some historians insist on calling it so that they can cover every region without getting hung up on technicalities), with rather a large part of the module dealing with the relations between England and the Gaelic territories. It's a bit tricky, seeing as for Gaels, the idea of countries such as England and Scotland was supposedly a bit nonsensical, they saw things more as there being one territory of Gaelic chieftans (for want of a better, more informed term) spread across most of Ireland and a large part of Scotland. I believe that one of the more famous quotes is that 'land divides and water unites', as having to cross hills and mountains makes communication between North and South a bit tricky, whereas there's only 12 miles of fairly placid sea inbetween Ulster and a part of Scotland, making the spread of culture in that region far more simple. So yes, those two sorts of Gaelic are basically derived from pretty much the same culture with just a few minor differences, or at least that's what I've learnt so far.

Uuuh yeah, sport. I'm not exactly well versed on American Football, so I'll do my best with some other things. In cricket news, Australia have announced their squad for the Ashes series. I have no further comments to make on that. Stoke won 2-0 against Liverpool on Saturday with what can only really be described as a demolition job. I intend to limit any comments about football as it is known here to that unless I'm desperate to pad out an irrelevant post with some sport.

PonderThis wrote:So hey let's talk about sport(s). One quick nomenclatural ground rule: The games known as football evolved differently in different places. So let's not re-rehash the whole business about whose game is the "real" football. If you insist on referring to the American version as "handegg" then you must also refer to Association football as "kickball".

ooh! ooh! can we change the swear filter to do this?

MysticalDescent wrote:

jvcc wrote:I'm already veering off topic, but am I right in saying that the traditional languages of Ireland and Scotland are both spelled "Gaelic", with Irish Gaelic being pronounced gay-lic and Scottish Gaelic being pronounced gah-lic? I only learned about the distinction very recently in regards to the debate about whether it is wise to use public funding to support the revival and education of Scottish Gaelic.

Oh, um, sports. GO TEAM.

FUN FACT: I'm currently studying a module called 'State and Empire in Britain circa. 1530 - 1720'. In short, it mostly deals with the relations between the nations that make up the British Isles (or 'Atlantic Archipelago' as some historians insist on calling it so that they can cover every region without getting hung up on technicalities), with rather a large part of the module dealing with the relations between England and the Gaelic territories. It's a bit tricky, seeing as for Gaels, the idea of countries such as England and Scotland was supposedly a bit nonsensical, they saw things more as there being one territory of Gaelic chieftans (for want of a better, more informed term) spread across most of Ireland and a large part of Scotland. I believe that one of the more famous quotes is that 'land divides and water unites', as having to cross hills and mountains makes communication between North and South a bit tricky, whereas there's only 12 miles of fairly placid sea inbetween Ulster and a part of Scotland, making the spread of culture in that region far more simple. So yes, those two sorts of Gaelic are basically derived from pretty much the same culture with just a few minor differences, or at least that's what I've learnt so far.

That is very interesting, although you made me look up the word "module". I'm guessing it means a class, or some component of university studies.

Colonial powers or pseudo-colonial powers love arbitrarily drawing borders and making new countries.

jvcc wrote:That is very interesting, although you made me look up the word "module". I'm guessing it means a class, or some component of university studies.

Pretty much. I did four modules per term, which I believe translates roughly into four classes per semester. Modules like 'philosophy of mind' or 'post-Kantian philosophy'. Philosophy does not lead to jobs. In addition to the plans detailed in that thread I made, I'm now considering doing another degree, but in a different country. Again, somewhere English speaking, but not England. England is for suckers.

Ooh, try the US!!!

People seem to tend to lump English in with philosophy in the category of "useless Liberal Arts majors". Now, I have the utmost respect for philosophy. I was the treasurer of the philosophy club at my old school and almost minored in it. But I feel like English has considerably more practical application since knowing how to write well is invaluable in almost any job.

jvcc wrote:But I feel like English has considerably more practical application since knowing how to write well is invaluable in almost any job.

I figured that, but looking at the things that people are actually, seriously paid to write for a living it seems that the loosest grasp of which words go in what order will suffice. Apostrophes are optional, but if you use them, make sure you use them every time you use the letter S.

Not that Philosophy is useful at all. It's interesting, but most people aren't inclined to try and understand it well enough to realise when an argument is complicated. It looks like bullhonky, but doesn't contain obtuse technical terms, so it also looks like it should be easy. But it does contain non-technical-sounding words that people don't know, so it looks easy and pretentious.

But then, I'm reading me some Noam Chomsky words at the moment, and he talks about subjects (mainly politics, but philosophy as well) posing no technical barrier for entry and so relying on artificial means to determine whose opinion is most valuable and blah blah blah. It's all terribly interesting. Then he starts talking about philosophy of language, which I don't care for as much, but I'm soldiering through it. The politics segment though, that was pretty good.

MysticalDescent wrote:Stoke won 2-0 against Liverpool on Saturday with what can only really be described as a demolition job. I intend to limit any comments about football as it is known here to that unless I'm desperate to pad out an irrelevant post with some sport.

I kinda feel sorry for Liverpool. I don't know much about the sport over there or the whole Premier League business but I do know they really got screwed over big time by ex-owners Tom Hicks and that other guy. I don't know if you heard about that whole trainwreck, but it made news here in Dallas due to Hicks last-minute legal shenanigans where he attempted to derail the bankruptcy trial (Hicks had defaulted on the loan that he had taken out to buy the team in the first place) via a judge here in Dallas. The man is a total scumbag.

PonderThis wrote:

MysticalDescent wrote:Stoke won 2-0 against Liverpool on Saturday with what can only really be described as a demolition job. I intend to limit any comments about football as it is known here to that unless I'm desperate to pad out an irrelevant post with some sport.

I kinda feel sorry for Liverpool. I don't know much about the sport over there or the whole Premier League business but I do know they really got screwed over big time by ex-owners Tom Hicks and that other guy. I don't know if you heard about that whole trainwreck, but it made news here in Dallas due to Hicks last-minute legal shenanigans where he attempted to derail the bankruptcy trial (Hicks had defaulted on the loan that he had taken out to buy the team in the first place) via a judge here in Dallas. The man is a total scumbag.

It's a pretty strange situation for the average football supporter here for a few reasons. For a start, there's always the worry that it could be your club that's the next to be duped like this. Portsmouth are a club of similar size to Stoke and they got taken over by a Sheikh, who it has now transpired never actually existed, resulting in them going into administration, selling their best players and being relegated. Even Notts County, a wonderful team with fantastic history who have somehow found themselves in the fourth tier of the football league with average gates of a few thousand every week managed to get taken over by mysterious wealthy businessmen who then disappeared. On the other hand, it's pretty hard to exist in this country without knowing at least one 'supporter' of Manchester United/Chelsea/Arsenal/Liverpool/Manchester City who would be extremely hard pressed to point to Salford/West London/North London/Liverpool/Manchester on a map but comes with the bog standard arrogant sense of superiority that is compulsory for all gloryhunters. It's pretty hard to feel sorry for those people and even harder not to laugh at them just a little, tiny bit. That said, it's not as though the club is particularly well-liked amongst football supporters either for all manner of reasons. On yet another hand, possibly the result of a radioactive mutation, it's not as though Liverpool were going to disappear overnight, unlike Chester City who ceased to exist for failure to pay off around £20,000 in debts, or Dundee in Scotland who are in a similar situation. The worst case scenario was that the bank would have to take them over and would sell them immediately. It wouldn't even count as a period of administration as the Premier League wasn't prepared to have one of its star attractions (sigh) have such a blight next to its name. The situation isn't that dissimilar at Manchester United - the more they protest about the Glaziers, who really are screwing the club over, the more most football supporters in this country revel in it. Anyway, what I don't understand is why Hicks and Gillette (sp?) were going to such lengths to derail the sale when they'd appointed people to the board with the specific job of selling the club. I don't really know what their motives were.

With regards to University: For what it's worth, I have two semesters per year, one before the Christmas holiday and one that straddles the Easter holiday. You do two modules per subject per semester. So, for example, this semester I'm doing 'Quantum Mechanics' and 'Optics and Thermodynamics' in Physics, and 'Castle and Cloister in Medieval Europe' and 'State and Empire [whatever the years were I said earlier on]'.

Also:

I'm done with sports until spring training.
Now my hats actually have to do their primary function of keeping my head from freezing.

PonderThis wrote:I think I jinxed it! Sorry, gif. And of all teams they were beaten by the Cowboys -- which I totally did not expect.

That having been said, I think they were just taken off guard. Jason Garrett and the 'Boys had something to prove and it was just your bad luck you had them this last weekend. I think the Giants will rebound from this. The Cowboys, meanwhile, will probably do better from here on out in the season but because of that atrocious start I doubt Jason will be able maintain the level of play he got out of them this last week. My pull-it-out-of-my-ass guess for their final record: 7-9.

I can't remember a bigger swing of emotions I've had recently than the long TD to Nick to bring the Giants within 1 score only to have it called back by a dubious penalty.

The Giants didn't deserve to win. The defense came out and played like they expected to win without trying. The offense would have been fine except for the penalties. EXAMPLE #1: A short TD run by Jacobs called back by penalty. Two plays later is a god dang pick-6 for 10 to 14 point swing. EXAMPLE #2: The aforementioned TD called back by holding.

I haven't been that upset by a football game yet this year, and the worst part is that we came out of the game with a poopcakes ton of injuries. I don't see how the Giants can win the Super Bowl, they'll be fortunate to make the playoffs (and they'll only make it due to a relatively easy schedule).

Garlic football is right out.

Saltine wrote:Garlic football is right out.

The Australians recently beat the Irish at Garlic Football.
If you American guys get a chance, you should watch some AFL. I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

Dusk wrote:

Saltine wrote:Garlic football is right out.

The Australians recently beat the Irish at Garlic Football.
If you American guys get a chance, you should watch some AFL. I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

Back in the day it would show up on ABC's Wide World of Sports every now and then. It still shows up from time to time on the occasional cable channel. I've enjoyed it when I've caught it, but it would be a lot better if someone would carry it on a regular basis so I could really follow a season.

'round here the AFL is the Arena Football League

Ha, yeah. Saw that live on TV.

Is this one sport or science?

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/11/30/japan.world.cup.bid/