La Liga 2018-19

[Evilo]

He is however right in some aspects (obviously not generalizing from a single post and a single poster).
But that's quite logical. You become a fan of teams playing nice football when you watch them on TV and the teams displayed on TV are usually the biggest teams.
I'm not a fan of a particular football team, but I know I fell in love with the Pens and Lemieux right when they became relevant and were in all the newspapers and a video recordings (as well as on TV when I travelled to the US).
That surely makes me a glory hunter too since they went on to win 2 Cups. I stayed a fan during the tough years though. And surely, even though most fans here chose their team when they were shining, the real test is when they struggle.
So yeah complaining about Barca results not being great are very much first world problems in terms of football. That's what he meant. But that doesn't mean Dastyuk isn't a real fan obviously. The point of being a fan of teams loaded with money and support is also valid.
Also the comparison with hockey stops here because when Pens were dead in the league I was still a fan. Barca, Liverpool and all won't ever be last in today's football.

Anyway, the process makes you somewhat a glory hunter yes. The process of staying fan when the team struggles makes you a more legitimate fan.

 

[Il Mediano]

It’s whh Europeans absolutely despise American or Canadian “fans”

Because they cheer for big clubs across the Atlantic?.... what do you expect? 95% of people who cheer for clubs like Eibar and Sheffield Wednesday are from the area. Who in their right mind would choose to follow a club like that unless they were born into it?

Does that mean every European should be Arizona Coyote fans , otherwise they're plastic? I don't see any North Americans lecturing Europeans on how they should follow the NHL. Why? Because we don't give a s***.

Damn, I guess I should become a Chievo fan before it's too late. I wouldn't want to make Roma too rich with all my fandom, otherwise we might actually replace Fazio.

Canada doesn't even respect Columbus Blue Jackets... how would you expect them to respect Sevilla?

This is accurate.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Because they cheer for big clubs across the Atlantic?.... what do you expect? 95% of people who cheer for clubs like Eibar and Sheffield Wednesday are from the area. Who in their right mind would choose to follow a club like that unless they were born into it?

Does that mean every European should be Arizona Coyote fans , otherwise they're plastic? I don't see any North Americans lecturing Europeans on how they should follow the NHL. Why? Because we don't give a s***.

Damn, I guess I should become a Chievo fan before it's too late. I wouldn't want to make Roma too rich with all my fandom, otherwise we might actually replace Fazio.



This is accurate.

Never compare NHL or NFL with European football leagues. Teams in NHL and other US leagues more or less have more equal opportunity to be successful. And are marketed in a more egalitarian way. So it does not really matter.

European football doesn't work that way. All the money and viewership Americans give to big clubs only serve those clubs and screw everyone else. Admittedly the fault lies heavily with the leagues they are in.

 

[Corto]

Never compare NHL or NFL with European football leagues. Teams in NHL and other US leagues more or less have more equal opportunity to be successful. And are marketed in a more egalitarian way. So it does not really matter.

European football doesn't work that way. All the money and viewership Americans give to big clubs only serve those clubs and screw everyone else. Admittedly the fault lies heavily with the leagues they are in.

Both have their pros and cons though.

Even after watching the NHL and the NBA for 30 years, I cannot wrap my head around the lottery system and the systematic tanking teams opt for on a yearly basis, and how it never got changed.

Having a terrible team, complacent coach and a putrid GM...? No problem, instead of going down a tier in competition, we'll reward you with the best young player on the planet.
Just as a "f**k you" to the mediocre teams who actually tried to make the playoffs but ended up 9th or 10th.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Both have their pros and cons though.

Even after watching the NHL and the NBA for 30 years, I cannot wrap my head around the lottery system and the systematic tanking teams opt for on a yearly basis, and how it never got changed.

Having a terrible team, complacent coach and a putrid GM...? No problem, instead of going down a tier in competition, we'll reward you with the best young player on the planet.
Just as a "f**k you" to the mediocre teams who actually tried to make the playoffs but ended up 9th or 10th.

You don't have to have draft system to market the team equally and ensure they are all exposed equally to foreign audiences.

That is what European football needs.

 

[Il Mediano]

Never compare NHL or NFL with European football leagues. Teams in NHL and other US leagues more or less have more equal opportunity to be successful. And are marketed in a more egalitarian way. So it does not really matter.

European football doesn't work that way. All the money and viewership Americans give to big clubs only serve those clubs and screw everyone else. Admittedly the fault lies heavily with the leagues they are in.

Why? Your entire premise is that North Americans are contributing the wealth gap in European Football , whilst in reality , that gap has been there for decades upon decades and existed long before football grew in popularity in NA.

North Americans are doing as much damage to the European game as Europeans are doing to the NHL. ie : almost nothing. If you want to look at the main culprits , look at UEFA.

Outside of the financial aspect , your other contention was being a "glory hunter" which is certainly something that's translatable into NA sports.

How many fans of the Arizona Coyotes?
How many are fans of the Cleveland Browns?
How many are fans of the Washington Wizards?

Hell, the Steelers/Cowboys seems to fill half of every away stadium with their fans. People from all over the continent cheer for clubs like that. Same with the Lakers and so on.

Yes, NA sports try to create parity with socialist constructs , but no, that doesn't mean "glory hunting" doesn't exist in the NA sports landscape. It certainly does. And to say it's fine in NA because of the salary cap, but it's not ok in European football is ridiculous. It's the exact same thing.

Bigger more successful clubs attract more fans , in every sport , in every league , in every country.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Why? Your entire premise is that North Americans are contributing the wealth gap in European Football , whilst in reality , that gap has been there for decades upon decades and existed long before football grew in popularity in NA.

North Americans are doing as much damage to the European game as Europeans are doing to the NHL. ie : almost nothing. If you want to look at the main culprits , look at UEFA.

Outside of the financial aspect , your other contention was being a "glory hunter" which is certainly something that's translatable into NA sports.

How many fans of the Arizona Coyotes?
How many are fans of the Cleveland Browns?
How many are fans of the Washington Wizards?

Hell, the Steelers/Cowboys seems to fill half of every away stadium with their fans. People from all over the continent cheer for clubs like that. Same with the Lakers and so on.

Yes, NA sports try to create parity with socialist constructs , but no, that doesn't mean "glory hunting" doesn't exist in the NA sports landscape. It certainly does. And to say it's fine in NA because of the salary cap, but it's not ok in European football is ridiculous. It's the exact same thing.

Bigger more successful clubs attract more fans , in every sport , in every league , in every country.

I didnt say glory hunting doesnt exist in US but it doesnt cause financial disparity that it does in European football.

Successful clubs attract more fans, correct. Hence why financial disparity is bad.

 

[maclean]

I didnt say glory hunting doesnt exist in US but it doesnt cause financial disparity that it does in European football.

Successful clubs attract more fans, correct. Hence why financial disparity is bad.

Just because there's a salary cap doesn't mean that there isn't financial disparity in the NHL and yes, worldwide fandom has an effect on that, but it's stupid to call it glory-hunting. People pick teams for various reasons, it can be family or it can just be that they like the f***ing colours, but the same is true of fans who live in the country in question and you don't get to be the arbiter of whether their reasons are "Good enough".

 

[Evilo]

It's true about glory hunters in european countries too.
There has never been more PSG fans than now, Lyon fans in the 2000s or OM fans in the 90s.

 

[les Habs]

Why? Your entire premise is that North Americans are contributing the wealth gap in European Football , whilst in reality , that gap has been there for decades upon decades and existed long before football grew in popularity in NA.

Exactly. I would also add that you've got some of today's biggest clubs as complete outliers to his argument as well. The respective wealth of PSG, City and Chelsea for example has nothing to do with North American fans (Chelsea however benefits from it nowadays and City to a lesser degree if you consider the TV deal).

 

[Scandale du Jour]

You don't have to have draft system to market the team equally and ensure they are all exposed equally to foreign audiences.

That is what European football needs.

What does it have to do with Canadian/American fan support?

I support Madrid because I discovered soccer with WC98 and Zidane. I did not pay attention again until Euro 2000 and I learned there that Zidane was going to Madrid so I have been following them ever since. I did not even know how good they were historically at that time. I like Arsenal because Ozil got transferred there and he was my favourite Real player at the time.

I am a card carrying Madridista that wakes up at 6h30am on some Saturdays to watch us shit the bed against Eibar.

As @Evilo brillantly said, that's how out of market fans discover teams/players. Is that glory hunting? Maybe, so what, it is entertainment.

Would I like a more fair system? Sure! It could be better... or not. We w
Could end up with a super league and the small clubs would end up being irrelevant.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Just because there's a salary cap doesn't mean that there isn't financial disparity in the NHL and yes, worldwide fandom has an effect on that, but it's stupid to call it glory-hunting. People pick teams for various reasons, it can be family or it can just be that they like the ****ing colours, but the same is true of fans who live in the country in question and you don't get to be the arbiter of whether their reasons are "Good enough".

Yes I can. You don’t have to agree or listen though.

Various reasons. Yea they just happened to pick teams that field Messi and that human feces Suarez and win all the time.Come on.

All I am saying is that is not good for the sport.

 

[East Coast Bias]

The American salary cap model is designed to decrease player wages, increase owner profits, and prevent a rich owner from buying a club and spending like crazy - wrecking that model.

Sure it's increased competition in some leagues, but let's not kid ourselves. It's not some brilliant plan to create fairness. It's a financial model.

 

[les Habs]

It's clear somebody just doesn't like Barça.

He is however right in some aspects (obviously not generalizing from a single post and a single poster).
But that's quite logical. You become a fan of teams playing nice football when you watch them on TV and the teams displayed on TV are usually the biggest teams.
I'm not a fan of a particular football team, but I know I fell in love with the Pens and Lemieux right when they became relevant and were in all the newspapers and a video recordings (as well as on TV when I travelled to the US).
That surely makes me a glory hunter too since they went on to win 2 Cups. I stayed a fan during the tough years though. And surely, even though most fans here chose their team when they were shining, the real test is when they struggle.
So yeah complaining about Barca results not being great are very much first world problems in terms of football. That's what he meant. But that doesn't mean Dastyuk isn't a real fan obviously. The point of being a fan of teams loaded with money and support is also valid.
Also the comparison with hockey stops here because when Pens were dead in the league I was still a fan. Barca, Liverpool and all won't ever be last in today's football.

Anyway, the process makes you somewhat a glory hunter yes. The process of staying fan when the team struggles makes you a more legitimate fan.

Well he is somewhat right, but he's also quite wrong in how he's putting it all forward.

I completely agree that TV coverage can play a big part. As I've noted in the past, in the early 90s all I could get was the Eredivisie. Long story short that's how I became an Ajax fan (and still am to some degree, but I only truly support Barça). Then I was able to get the Premiership and so on, but TV coverage can definitely play a part. Today though, at least over here, it's quite different. You can get quite good coverage of various leagues and get a good amount of matches that don't just include the top sides. This is somewhat of a more recent development in my experience, but it seems to have somewhat slowly got here over time. However now I would say that some of the smaller clubs are benefiting from this expanded coverage when it comes to money. I think this is more a Premiership thing and I think one could make a case it could be worse for these clubs in the long run as they may not develop their own talent, but they're able to bring in more foreign talent than in the past. Don't get me wrong, foreign talent isn't anything know in England, but the degree and depth has progressively gotten greater.

Sure, complaining about Barça is somewhat of a First World problem, but @DatsyukOwns wasn't complaining about the result. On top of that he made a valid point that everyone generally agrees with and that you have essentially echoed as regards Dembele. In fact I would say that making the complaint he did demonstrates his level of suppport to a degree and that he's less of a glory hunter than he's being accused of because despite the relative level and place of the team right now he's still criticizing the manager's selection. And it's as much a First World problem as, well actually it's not as much as, but as much as complaining about PSG's selection. As for that being what @BKIslandersFan meant, I completely disagree and his subsequent posts back that up.

What makes one a legitimate supporter is how they actually feel about the club. Part of that is staying with the team through the bad times, but at the end of the day it's about one's own personal connection. I can say that I've been a paying supporter, that I've watched X amount of matches, that I've supported the club for 20 years, that I know more about the players than a vast majority of local supporters, etc, etc. However that doesn't make me any more a supporter than say @DatsyukOwns because he could have every bit as much if not more a personal connection with the club than I do. As @Il Mediano put it, it seems to only be a problem for Europeans and not vice versa.

 

[les Habs]

What does it have to do with Canadian/American fan support?

I support Madrid because I discovered soccer with WC98 and Zidane. I did not pay attention again until Euro 2000 and I learned there that Zidane was going to Madrid so I have been following them ever since. I did not even know how good they were historically at that time. I like Arsenal because Ozil got transferred there and he was my favourite Real player at the time.

I am a card carrying Madridista that wakes up at 6h30am on some Saturdays to watch us **** the bed against Eibar.

As @Evilo brillantly said, that's how out of market fans discover teams/players. Is that glory hunting? Maybe, so what, it is entertainment.

Would I like a more fair system? Sure! It could be better... or not. We w
Could end up with a super league and the small clubs would end up being irrelevant.

Yeah, but your Bale thing now makes the rest of this irrelevant.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

The American salary cap model is designed to decrease player wages, increase owner profits, and prevent a rich owner from buying a club and spending like crazy - wrecking that model.

Sure it's increased competition in some leagues, but let's not kid ourselves. It's not some brilliant plan to create fairness. It's a financial model.

It also ensures all players certain portion of revenue through CBA.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Yeah, but your Bale thing now makes the rest of this irrelevant.

Hey, you do not always choose who you love

Bale is an awesome athlete and has had great moments with Madrid. He also had sucky ones. I'll never forget the goal against Barca in 14

 

[maclean]

Yes I can. You don’t have to agree or listen though.

Various reasons. Yea they just happened to pick teams that field Messi and that human feces Suarez and win all the time.Come on.

All I am saying is that is not good for the sport.

Guy, Suarez hasn't even been with Barca that long. That year when Suarez went to Barcelona and James and Bale went to Madrid was like a super mindf*** year. But from your argumentation I would gauge that you probably had different worries then, like hair growing in places it had never grown before.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Finally a goal! About time. Real has struggled in the last third today.

They created chances, they were fairly good in possession, but they were shit in the last third. We were also kinda lucky not to conceed. Courtois with a few good saves.

 

[Power Man]

We beat Valencia?

 

[Scandale du Jour]

We beat Valencia?

2-0, yup.

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

Off game from Leo and he still makes a play like that, nice finish from Aleña. Dembele's been the star of the game, absolutely fantastic. Hope he keeps it up

 

[les Habs]

I haven't seen the match yet, but following the scoreline I got the impression that Coutinho should have been subbed off sooner.

 

[Power Man]

2-0, yup.

Tbh I didn’t expect that

 

[les Habs]

Somewhat of a "meh" match. Ref was absolute garbage. Positives were of course Messi when he saw the ball. Alba once again who is such a threat as a LB and it's not all down to his speed or runs either. Pique. Alena who despite Messi's assist showed excellent composure, but that isn't a surprise considering what he's already demonstrated with the B team.

Dipshits and hypocrites can comment all they want, but I'll still complain about Valverde:

• If you're not playing Suarez and you're starting Messi up top then you should have both Dembele and Malcolm starting. If you're going to insist on Coutinho then put him as an ACM as I've been saying.
• Coutinho needs to step it up and if that is the case then give Malcolm some minutes.
• If you're going to play Dembele and Malcolm then again for the love of God play Malcolm on the right and Dembele on the left.

Still have to question selling Mina and bringing in Lenglet instead. Still have to question the Vidal signing as well.