Well in fairness... while i agree you know their pain... soccer fans are a different breed. I'm both a soccer fan and a basketball fan... I'll say this.. i've never seen a basketball player killed after a world cup loss. Haven't read every post in the thread so if its been mentioned i apologize... but there was a Columbian player killed after the 94 world cup.. a defender who scored a goal on the team... don't remember who it was, Escobar or something like that. "The Motive" was never discovered but one can only guess.... Mike
Dude, some hard core soccer fans commit SUICIDE after their teams lose. They estimated approximately 30 Brazillians would commit suicide if Brazil didn't win the 1994 World Cup. This one is straight from wiki when Brazil lost to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup: "Brazilian society was in utter shock after the event. Many newspapers refused to accept the fact that they had been defeated, a famous radio journalist retired (briefly), and some fans even went so far as to commit suicide[4]." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maracanazo When heaps of basketball fans start to commit suicide after a loss, maybe your argument will make a bit more sense. Rocket Zoom
Let me get this straight, mr lurker first time poster. So what you are saying is your religion is bigger and more passionate than my religion. you are clueless to what makes Americans, Canadians, Australians, Indians, Pakistanis love their sports. You just said none of us have any idea what sports pain is all about, because soccer is not our #1 sport. You can kiss my @ass soccer fan.
what stupid people do is irrelevant. Plenty of 17yr old emos commit suidide over heartbreak, and they do that because they honestly believe no one else can understand their pain. what? next
Here is another example of how crazy soccer can become: "The game added hugely to the rivalry between the two teams in England where they felt that they had been cheated out of the competition by Maradona's hand ball. Meanwhile in Argentina, the game was not just seen as revenge for the Falklands War but mostly for what they still see as the unfair game in the 1966 World Cup." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentina_and_England_football_rivalry LOL, Argentina sees the 1986 win over England as equivalent revenge for losing a war. Seriously, you can't compare the dedication of those hard core soccer fans to any other fans from other sports. Rocket Zoom
us soccer fans we are a weird fans. No one can measure the pain of an individual, but no other sport brings out so much emotion from so many people like soccer does. however noone says basketball fans aren't passionate: <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.com/v/eG6O_IPRzmE"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://youtube.com/v/eG6O_IPRzmE" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/orTpTGeHpFk"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/orTpTGeHpFk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jGt29x_yLHQ"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jGt29x_yLHQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/z1iOoJ1JOOU"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/z1iOoJ1JOOU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
btw: thank you for finally 'splaining why the whole American NBA idea that Ginobody is the "national hero of Argentina" is just bullsh!t. Do you not believe me. I can pull several articles from USA journalist saying Ginobody is their national hero. My best friend with FC Barcelona season tickets just laughs at that. He says, "it doesn't matter how much coke Maradona does or how fat he gets...no one is the national hero but him." Stupid American journalist! Ginobody is nobody! Last time I was in Barcelona (during the 06 Finals between France and Italy) I asked several Argentinian women/bartender/fans who Ginobody was...and none of them knew. Then I asked them who Messi was (much less Maradona) and they said yes. btw: do you know where you were when Maradona ran through six (or was it seven) English defenders for that goal. I do. I saw it!
I believe that in terms of sadness, one can't really say that a Brazilian heartbroken over a World Cup Loss is more heartbroken than a Houstonian over a Game 7 loss. People are passionate about what they are passionate about, can't really tell people otherwise. But in terms of sheer magnitude of a loss...an NBA Playoffs loss doesnt even begin to try to compare to a World Cup Loss. Unlike the USA, which prides itself in NBA, MLB, NFL, Hotdogs, Microsoft, DELL Computers, etc etc, these countries pride themselves in their soccer teams alone. Thats their dignity out there on the field. When Mexico lost to the USA, or Argentina last time, I was devastated. Way more devastated than any Rockets loss. With the Rockets theres always next year...with Mexico I have to wait till 2010.
When a guy quits on his NBA team and leaves, the fans give him a nickname (Scottie Quitten). When a guy quits on his club soccer team and leaves, their fans write songs about other players sleeping with his wife or said player's alleged gay relationship.
when a guy drinking a Guinness is asked "hey heypartner, what was Game 7 like" and before his hands recover from covering his eyes...soccer fan says "you don't know what pain is..." what? would you soccer fans just shut up? no you won't because every chance you get you want to tell us how much we need to pet that chip on your shoulder. if us Americans don't know what read sports pain is....then why are you trying so hard to convince us.... because you have a chip on your shoulder. what?
Initially it was just soccer fans vs bball fans, now it becomes Americans vs What? The Rest of the World? Honestly, what's your real concern, my friend?
The reason soccer fans do this is that after 90 minutes of watching hardly anything happen they just explode in frustration. I would go completely nuts too after all those anti-climactic plays in soccer.
I guess you overthink what they said. N weeks passed, hp is still in a mood? It's hardly to be cheerful considering continuous playoffs failure rocket has been through last 4 years. Being a rox fan, i feel your pain... it's hard to swallow. but why not cool it down, just forget their words and move on... that proves yourself to be a real man.
[exits GARM lurkermode] he explained it several times already and it kinda doesnt surprise me that most are overlooking it....not reading before responding is the norm in here these days. he is referring to PERSONAL pain, not country, not soccer vs bball. a diehard basketball fan (which he is) feels the same level of personal pain over his favorite team getting bounced as a soccer fan feels over his favorite team getting bounced. it is just flatout elitist to think that just cause the said basketball team isnt the national team their fans dont know how it feels to get painfully bounced out of their championship aspirations. Reading comprehension people, for once heyp is being straighforward about what he means....lets try to understand what the *real* question is. [/exits GARM lurkermode] edit: heya ayears, good to see you're still around.
I beg to differ: Favourite Basketball Team: Houston Rockets Favourite Club Soccer Team: Didn't even qualify for the european cups(they finished 7th. Favourite soccer Country: Have been screwed in 1974 and 1978 and in 1994 (IIRC). And now we are playing terrible soccer. I agree with HeyP that his personal pain is not less then the personal pain of soccer fans.
The 4-year factor is being severely underrated. You support your team through one season then its playoff time. Soccer fans support their team for 4 years. When you lose, one year goes down the drain. When they lose, 4 years go down the drain. The pain of losing 4 years is more than than the pain of losing 1 year. There's more. In the NBA, the worse you do during the season, the more you're rewarded in the draft. In soccer, if you support a club, the worse you do, the closer you get to being relegated. During a club season, the bottom 3 or 4 teams are removed from the top division and the top 3 or 4 teams from the lower division are promoted. In the NBA, if you're the worst team, you get the best chance of drafting first. It's been a year and I'm still not over Brazil losing to France in the World cup. The next time I get to watch the team I support go for the World Cup is in THREE YEARS.
