Competitive Jerks Racing and Training - 2023 (Read 573 times)

 

Mikkey - It's odd that Football is not as appreciated in the US, the US is really a massive cultural island.

 

me - After a long while I'm finally planning some vacations. We've done a lot of traveling the last 3 years, but I was always working through those. Now I'm finally planning to go a full 20 days without opening my laptop for work as we visit family in Brazil next month.

To the Americans - Vacation is this thing that exists outside the US & A, where the person does not work for like 20 or 30 days or even 6 weeks 😁

We are certainly a massive cultural island in many areas. Probably mainly because we can be. It has been said that soccer will get big in the US because it is the most popular sport for young kids to play, in schools and municipal leagues. Maybe because the basics of the game are easy to understand, and it doesn’t require any specialized equipment. So the theory is when the kids grow up, they will take the game with them and the popularity will expand. But they’ve been saying that for decades, and it hasn’t happened. The best soccer playing kids are also the best all-around athletes, and they move into one of the traditional sports as they get older. There have been so many pro leagues come & go over the course of my life. Teams have some level of popularity depending on the city, but it’s always way down the list vs other sports. Maybe it would help if the men’s national team was in any way competitive—the women’s national team is way more popular. But even then, people would probably only follow it every four years at World Cup time, like we do with other less popular sports for the Olympics. 

I couldn’t care less about soccer, but I’d take the Euro vacation philosophy. Typical vacation in the US is 1 week—that’s probably about 90% of them, with the other 10% around 2 weeks. Some barely-measurable fraction is longer than that. I once had a German colleague tell me “you don’t really start enjoying the vacation till the third week.” I’ve literally never taken a 3 week vacation in my life. I can probably count the 2 week vacations on one hand (other than around Christmastime, with the extra off-days built in).

I have tried to watch some of the football but the standard is...challenging.  Great to see the crowds.

 

I don't really watch much football but I actually thought the standard in the NZ v. Norway match was very good.  Maybe it was being there live, rather than on TV, as you can actually get more of an appreciation of when the players are working the ball back and around.  In the last 10 mins or so, when the players were getting a bit tired and there were a few botched clearances.  But the great thing about womens football - or at least this match - is that they spent almost all their time playing the game rather than diving or complaining to the ref, which is one of the most annoying things about mens football.

 

We are certainly a massive cultural island in many areas. Probably mainly because we can be. It has been said that soccer will get big in the US because it is the most popular sport for young kids to play, in schools and municipal leagues. Maybe because the basics of the game are easy to understand, and it doesn’t require any specialized equipment. So the theory is when the kids grow up, they will take the game with them and the popularity will expand. But they’ve been saying that for decades, and it hasn’t happened. The best soccer playing kids are also the best all-around athletes, and they move into one of the traditional sports as they get older. There have been so many pro leagues come & go over the course of my life. Teams have some level of popularity depending on the city, but it’s always way down the list vs other sports. Maybe it would help if the men’s national team was in any way competitive—the women’s national team is way more popular. But even then, people would probably only follow it every four years at World Cup time, like we do with other less popular sports for the Olympics. 

I couldn’t care less about soccer, but I’d take the Euro vacation philosophy. Typical vacation in the US is 1 week—that’s probably about 90% of them, with the other 10% around 2 weeks. Some barely-measurable fraction is longer than that. I once had a German colleague tell me “you don’t really start enjoying the vacation till the third week.” I’ve literally never taken a 3 week vacation in my life. I can probably count the 2 week vacations on one hand (other than around Christmastime, with the extra off-days built in).

Well Megan Rapinoe probably helped with that with her vocal politics!  Unfortunately she’s in favour of trans women competing (now that she’s retiring and a millionaire) so I’m guessing that women’s football could end up being a farce.

I watched the women’s Euros last year and hand on heart I thought it was great and I agree with Marky about the lack of complaining/cheating which is so annoying in mens football.

RP- Funny I feel MORE sore when I run less.  I'm still trying to find the right balance of volume and complete rest day.  It is very hard to take days off but I do think the workouts are better the day after I do.

Beatles- I was a Stones guy but I appreciate their talent and music.

Dave- Really solid week. I like the mile intervals and think I have some coming up this week.

It was hard to fit in the training this week.  More early runs that I like (heat and work schedule). Had 2 workouts with a track workout Wednesday (pyramid) and a LR with 8 alternating between MP effort and HMP effort.

Weekly for period: From: 07/17/2023 To 07/23/2023

Totals: Time: 09:20:18 - Statute: 70.69 mi - Metric: 113.74 km

Beatles not a fan. Insect or music.

😂👏. - First page material right there!

Dave - I don't think Fifa even wants Football to become the #1 sport in the US. They're probably just happy to bite as much as they can from the US market, any small bite is already USD 2 billion in revenue.

By the way, I bet you didn't know that the 2026 World Cup will be played in the US again? (With some matches in Canada and Mexico).

Re: Athletes, any good footballer can go make millions on the European clubs. I also don't think your average footballer stands a chance at playing on the NBA (where being 7 feet tall is a requirement), or the NFL (where weighing 300lbs is a requirement). Maybe that sprinter dude who grabs the ball under their armpit and runs to the finish line? Not all footballers are that fast though, maybe Cristiano Ronaldo or Mbappe.

Another major roadblock for widespread adoption of Football in the US is that sports broadcast in the US is quite something else. It's about 90% ads and 10% sports. Any sports broadcast from the US sucks donkeys, it's so bad. They really botch marathon broadcasts to the point it becomes unwatchable. And with Football you only have 15 minutes in the middle of the game for ads. I mean, they still spread short ads throughout, but the match is still playing, they can't move away from the pitch.

I've long given up watching UFC events live, I'd rather watch the fights in the morning as it takes me 90 to 120 minutes instead of the whole 6 hours of broadcast.

For the record, I used to be a big Football fan as a kid cause you get converted early on, but grew out of it and these days I mostly watch UFC events and athletics.

I find the NFL and Baseball super boring, I'd rather watch flies fuck.

Rugby however seems very fun and I will watch a match when I catch one playing on the TV.

Your running group is great. It is indeed much nicer to run with company so long as it's convenient.

Steve/Merkle - No, the weather was about the same. Early mornings are always very nice here in Porto, sometimes there's even a cool breeze during summer. I just think 2h30 is very close to my upper limit of how long I can exercise. Hopefully I can push that a bit further over the next few months.

Beatles not a fan. Insect or music.

Car?

This is the Jeep RP is going to upgrade to when he finally totals his current one.