Summer Olympics Paris - 2024
- Thread starter Loki
- Start date
Maradona37
Well-known member
Men's gold medal match in volley at 12pm UK time and handball women's gold medal match at 2 pm. I should be able to see the former and some of the latter (Community Shield starts at 3pm).
It's currently 10.27am.
I notice a fair amount of the women's gold medal matches are on after the men's in this Olympics. Must be the drive for equality.
It's currently 10.27am.
I notice a fair amount of the women's gold medal matches are on after the men's in this Olympics. Must be the drive for equality.
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Messi983
Senior Member
Wouldn't say I'm a big volleyball fan, I watch/follow other sports more.
Football was always my first sport but tbf I've lost interest. Still watch games for the sake of watching them but don't really enjoy as much as I did in old times. Two reasons for that. First is money involved in football. It's just a big business nowadays rather than sport. And other thing is Pep (as much as I loved his time as a Barca coach) and other control freak coaches have turned footballers into robots. They don't let players express their personalities so it's unlikely we'll see players like Ronaldinho who were enjoying every minute on the pitch anymore. I understand the reasoning behind this as coaches/clubs just want to win at all costs to bring more money so we get back to the first point. But I don't like it.
That's why I prefer to watch women's football these days. It seems more pure and natural to me. Yeah, technically and tactically they are mostly not great (quality of women's football is improving every year though as is interest from fans and sponsors) but women still play with passion and love for the game. And fans are also more into it, at Barca femeni games you see a lot of families and kids who are cheering loud rather than Asian tourists doing selfies.
Then there is American football that I've first watched 20 years ago but follow more seriously last 15 years. Have lost bit of interest lately too and I actually prefer college football (though recent changes in college football - won't go into details here - will probably ruin CFB for me in few years as well) over NFL which is just a multi-billion dollar industry so in many ways similar or worse to what I'm disliking in "our" football. Still watch games and am excited about start of next season. Shorter season where every win or loss can count in the end is still making the sport interesting.
Used to watch baseball but it's becoming boring despite changes few years ago that have made games shorter. I still follow MLB results and what's going on around the league in general but don't really watch many games anymore. 162 games regular season (add to that 30 games in spring training/preseason - nobody cares about that though - and then obviously postseason) is just way too long and even when I was more into it probably haven't watched more than 40-50 games of my team every season and then some highlights and occasionally other teams, especially in postseason.
Instead I've started to watch more ice hockey that is really fun and entertaining.
As for volleyball I like to watch if I have time and is on TV. I try to follow European championship and some games in VNL (Nations league where top 16 teams in the world are playing against each other on usually a very high level) and now ofc Olympic tournament. Don't watch club volleyball though.
We occasionally played volleyball as kids in school but I wasn't good at it so didn't like to play and prefered table tennis or football (or more like futsal on smaller pitches) if there were enough of us to play.
Maradona37
Well-known member
Good post mate, agree with the majority. I will select two things you said about football:
First, the control freak thing. I kinda feel similarly. Guardiola did start it in a way, but I have conflicted feelings. I love how tactical the game can be now, but as you say it leads to decreased spontaneity so it is in effect a double-edged sword. I posted about Ronaldo and Mbappe always showing their gym work and not ball work on social media (you might have seen me bemoaning it in the Mbappe thread) and that was me sort of implying that football is breeding athletes now rather than footballers. I mean fitness is very important especially in the modern game, but surely technique, intelligence, positioning and football brain should be a player's bread and butter. The game has changed but can you image Maradona, R9 or Hagi working out relentlessly with weights and showing off six-packs? No. It's like that ex-United player, Axel Tuanzebe. Being big and strong is important for a CB like him, but a few years ago he kept posting photos of his body in pre-season. I kept thinking it was utterly pointless as he's a bombscare defensively and should have been working on his technique and ability to pass and succeed under the press. No surprise he's now playing for Ipswich (no direspect to them) rather than a top club.
The second point is about other sports including women's football seeming more pure. I read a good post online - throughout these Olympics we have seen plenty of fair play in various sports, especially the individual ones (taking into account a lot are probably doping). The point is the athletes encourage each other and cuddle and smile when one wins gold, silver, bronze etc. Look at all the heptathlete athletes celebrating finishing (a big achievement) together last night, locked in hands and taking a bow in front of the crowd. All getting a lot of respect whether it's last place or the gold medal winner. That's the spirit of the Olympics.
Then you look at all the aggression in the France-Egypt and France-Argentina games in the men's football (which isn't even close to as important a sport in Olympics as it is in other sports), all the cheating and diving, and it makes you realise that in other sports competitors are well-behaved and respect each other more. With the greed and popularity of football, the game has ironically eaten itself and now we have a bunch of bellends for players, and often fans and officials too. In fact the behaviour of the fans is better for other sports and women's football, as you say.
So taking those two points out from what you wrote, I fully understand why you are fed up of men's football and just go through the motions with it. With me, I love the sport with all I have, so I find it hard to sever that sort of adoration. I will continue to follow it fairly religiously, but I would be lying if I said a lot of the players and the corruption doesn't bother me hugely.
Other than all that, you are one of the best posters on here imo. Your posts are always good to read. Cheers.
Maradona37
Well-known member
The Polish volleyball coach is talking to his players in English during the time-out.
Bit weird.
Bit weird.
Birdy
Senior Member
Messi983
Senior Member
He's Serbian, probably doesn't speak Polish very well if at all.
Maradona37
Well-known member
Ah right, fair enough - didn't know. Makes more sense then.
Loki
Well-known member
I noticed most of the volleyball teams talk in english, even the Japanese. Looks like it's difficult to find good local coaches.
Maradona37
Well-known member
Yeah maybe. Messi983 has clarified it for me anyway. I think I heard China talking their own language.
I know I sound a total dick saying this as a native English speaker, but English is the universal language really so guess it makes sense that that is the most common language different nationalities will speak to each other in the Games and in general.
Messi983
Senior Member
Yep, most are foreign coaches.
You also have some naturalized players, like a Cuban born Wilfredo Leon playing for Poland who probably doesn't understand Polish that well (though he's been playing for them for years now and I'd assume he needs to have at least a basic language understanding to get citizenship). So it's just easier for everyone communicating in English.
You also have some naturalized players, like a Cuban born Wilfredo Leon playing for Poland who probably doesn't understand Polish that well (though he's been playing for them for years now and I'd assume he needs to have at least a basic language understanding to get citizenship). So it's just easier for everyone communicating in English.
Messi983
Senior Member
First and second in climbing, there is that respect and comradeship that you were talking about, @Maradona37
Just beatiful to see.
Just beatiful to see.
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