Lost my enthusiasm for football in general years ago.Cancelled my sky sports first as most games were SO BOOORRIIINGGG !!! data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 NOT good VFM.
And since 98 there hasn't been a really decent international competition.All the over-hyped players are found out on the big stage.They are so average (not just the England players too!).There is just no passion or excitement any more.There's far too much cheating in diving, feigning injury to get the ball kicked out of play, conning the ref into getting players sent off etc.
They fall down like a sack of spuds after the slightest knock.Compare this to teh US athlete who ran 100m with a broken leg or the GB hockey player playing with a jaw fracture and teh countless others who just played on regardless of the knock or injuries they were carrying!
There's something SERIOUSLY wrong with a sport when it has to heavily rely on a penalty shoot out to make a competition the slightest bit entertaining.Something that the Olympics DOESN'T have to!
That with the obscene player wages (especially in these times), I really don't see how anyone can still follow it and gladly pay extortionate ticket prices/tv subs to fund them !!
Surely these wages are not sustainable?
I seriously think it's days in present form are numbered.
Hopefully the Olympics will inspire youngsters into more 'proper' sports and make them see that there IS something better than THE FOOTY !
I hate the sport even more now after the olympics which has put the whole thing more into perspective.
Roll on the next world/euro athletic/cycling championships
What is getting me most with the football and more so since the Olympics, and this was even present last night in that pointless England friendly, is what can only be described as cheating. It is now acceptable in the game at large, referees turn a blind eye to it and so do FA/FIFA/UEFA and nothing is being done about it. You have these big beefy footballers who go down from the lightest of touches, nothing but pansies they are.
Looking at the Olympics and the legacy it leaves and how it hopefully inspires youngsters to take up sport, what does football teach children? If they lie, cheat and fake injuries, they will get on just fine.
I still find football exciting as last season shows, but I just wish the people in charge would grow some balls and start trying to drag the game back from the cheat fest that it currently is.
Your post reminds me of Stuart Pearce excusing his team as tired. Olympic athletes getting their moment in the spotlight and leaving absolutely nothing behind, giving it their all on the track, the velodrome, the water or whatever, the culmination of years of hard training is what you call heart. I'm not even referring to the medal winners.
Whilst London 2012 is fresh in memories football will lose even more respect than usual if they cannot follow the example set
The Olympics are not perfect. You have your high profile drug cheats and political power plays. But the overall impression of 2012 was positive to the extreme
And now the Paralympics have finished too, what to do now? data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Discuss it on a forum. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
My wife is now keen to go to some other major championships.
So we are thinking next years holidays might be centered around a trip to a World Athletic/Swimming/Cycling/whatever championship.
There is the commonwealth games in Glasgow of course in 2014, but without any disrespect intended, Glasgow isn't my wife's idea of a holiday... data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I was thinking the same thing. I'm interested in following the Paralympics more I think.
The Cycling UCI Track World Championships are in Minsk, Belarus February 2013, the Swimming Worlds are in Barcelona August 2013 and the Athletics Worlds in 2013 are in Moscow. London gets the World Champs for Athletics back at the Olympic Stadium in 2017.
So for 2013, you have pick of Belarus, Spain or Russia. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Barcelona in August sounds nice data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Gonna be sweltering. Went there in July and circa 30*c plus every day. The swimmers have the right idea then /proxy.php?image=http://cdn.static-avforums.com/forums/images/smilies/biggrin.gif&hash=7767212988548ff9fa396aeb19158477
Commentators have it right when the say the hangover from Olympics 2012 has allowed people to look past disability and view it normally as sporting competition data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7