the subscription business for the world cup is already in effect here in ‘murka, but let’s face it, this is not a footballling nation (unless you count the hand-ovoid of the same name).

fox and telemundo are mostly OTA, but this being a massive rural cuntry there is OTA signal only in urban markets, and even there the signal is often shit, even in flat places (hello albuquerque). many repeating stations have been eliminated: e.g, in my boonies, you could watch with antenna 40 years ago but today you need a satellite dish or you’re shit out of luck. the internet is coming to the rescue but not quite there.

result is most people are on cable or satellite tv (same diff, all “cable” to me). and so to watch you need cable, or a cable login for the apps. plus, not all games are on the main OTA station but they’re on their cable-only sports branches.

this past summer telemundo teased for 2 free weeks of world cup before switching to a subscription-only model with little advance notice. univision was fully free 4 years ago, the whole thing. fuck telesucio.

funny thing is this past summer i had a cable login which offered fox but did not include telecaca. which is how i ended up having to put up with aly wagner’s terrible voice modulation the final 2 weeks. telesucio lost their chance to advertise to me i guess. some of those commercials were actually funny! and i’m still trying to find out the lady who sings the kia soul song about, oh, not rushing or something.

as for england: i do believe you should have a human right to behold national events on a publicly accessible signal. especially since you pay a “tv tax” which should purchase you some fundamental rights. match of the day or whatever. world cup yes.

they neoliberal state however demands that you get rich OR ELSE. which should be fine as long as they can pretty much guarantee it. here in the US even food stamps recipients have cable. lol im serious.

It got buried under all the WC stuff but any thoughts on Ronaldo's move to Juventus?

they wanna win the champions league and will keep him in cold storage for that?

http://europe.autonews.com/article/2...oreUserAgent=1

OK the strike was a flop. But it is still strange that the Fiat employees are layed off on the one hand due to budget cuts and on the other end they do have the money to pay 100+ million for one footballer

lmao 5 people showed up

good stuff

the money is good considering neymar cost double and he’s a fucking clown

the money juve will make selling shirts alone should probably make up for the expense, ha ha ha

Once you relate football finances to the real world it inevitably becomes indefensible. I'll be surprised if Juve recuperate the money spent on Ronaldo (especially if you factor in his 30m a year wages).
You can't really compare the price for Ronaldo to that of Neymar. Love him or hate him, Neymar is only now starting to hit his peak whereas Ronaldo probably has 2-3 more years at that level and is already reducing his role on the pitch to compensate for his age. But the fact is, 100m doesn't buy you a world class forward with long term prospects these days.

Either way, for me it makes Juve look a bit like an MLS side, buying into the past rather than looking to the future.

yeah the wear of old age is why i think they will reserve him for champions games or something.

if he can pull a hat trick against a major side once a month juve could win it all.

it’s not like they have a problems beating the rest of italy. it’s the same as bayern, where europe is the only real challenge left to them.

so my thought is ronaldo is there for that specific purpose.

then again maybe they want him to play against sampdoria on a regular weekend...

...

...naaaaaah.

—

oh and now napoli lost their coach to chelsea right?

there went the last threat

On those wqges, I'd not only be expecting him to play every week but clean the kit, drive the team bus, mow the grass on the pitch and do my Christmas shopping for me.

he’s worth more than a hollywood movie. he’s more popular than jesus, ha ha ha.

here’s a random observation to illustrate

i play this cellphone game, clash of clans. it’s a bit old but it’s got like 100 million online players from all over the planet—china, korea, bangladesh, iran (it was banned in iran, people still play it), all of europe (i play w/ a bunch w/ english dudes from bristol), a lot of africa, the americas, kiwis and aussies etc etc etc. everywhere. some clans (you play in “clans”) are national some are global etc.

it’s played in every country in the world

and i cannot tell you how many fucking players in that game call themselves CR7

from every fucking country. no joke.

chinese cr7, iranian cr7, arab cr7... even indian and pakistani cr7s even though they are more into cricket it seems. cr7 is *everywhere*

it’s a celebrity cult

a global brand

the cash potential is immense

you don’t see a lot of neymars though ha ha ha (well there are a lot just not as many as cr7)

cr7 and messi... you see them everywhere. but way more cr7s. fact.

(also: i particularly enjoy beating cr7s haaa haa haaa)

haaaaa haaaa oh... just found this

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/18/juve...t-one-day.html

he put $6-9 mil in juve’s coffers in 24h? lol

—

here a more serious, 30% increased profits projected for juve

https://en.as.com/en/2018/07/17/foot...94_172879.html

share prices also saw an increase

im catching up on unread emails from vacation.

got this lil’ excerpt from the economist on july 19 (hilarious)

—-

Many football-mad Haitians have adopted Brazil as their team. On July 6th, as the Brazilians played Belgium, the Haitian government quietly raised fuel prices by around 40%. A Brazilian victory might have left Haitians too ecstatic to protest. But Brazil lost and Port-au-Prince burst into flames. Three people died. Jack Guy Lafontant, the prime minister, reversed the policy, but could not save his job. He resigned on Saturday. The policy is sound, but the government botched its pitch

—-

If there's even a shred of truth to the rumour that Inter are looking to trigger Messi's €700m (that's right, €700m or £622m or $818m) release clause, football has truly, 100% fallen off the cliff.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...is-real-madrid

https://www.serpentsofmadonnina.com/...ventus-ronaldo

I can't honestly see it happening but it got me thinking: if Messi does ever leave Barca (although with a 700m release clause I'm not sure how he ever could), I'd love it to be for PSG, just to see Neymar's reaction.

No way he'd go surely? Even if Barcelona we're offered that o can't see them accepting it. And whilst Milan may be flush ATM, they're not €700 million flush?

Given no club even comes close to making 700m in annual revenue, I'd have thought FFP would make it a non starter.

But it would be interesting if Ronaldo and Messi both moved to Serie A to see if the media loses interest in Spain and starts concentrating on Italy instead, and the impact that could have on clubs like Real and Barca.

If Man Utd buy Maguire for £80 million the game is gone. Well more gone. Super gone. Absolute joke. And that' not even considering the money Everton have spunked the past couple of seasons.

80m on Maguire?!?! It's like they've based his value solely on a couple of WC games. He's a good player but probably worth about half that. And that's pushing it.

It's telling that 99% of these insane transfers prices involve Prem teams, which is increasingly creating its own financial bubble. Interesting that none of the big Spanish or Italian, etc clubs are spending that kind of money on those kinds of players.

Agreed. The fact that's alright players going for silly money is the worst thing. Same with the rumours of Zaha going for £70 million. It's not even relating to anything now. They're just daft numbers.

I can handle the crazy prices going for the very top tier players just because they really are exceptional talents, but the money (and especially wages) for these other players drives me mad. I mean Andy Carroll gets 90k a week at West Ham and isn't even 1st choice on those rare occasions when he's fit. That's obscene.

so tell me who are your enemies so i can support them and make this interesting ha ha ha ha

liverpool against h8kurdt! it helps that i like klopp and his bundesliga imports... was bound to happen regardless

what team is west ham’s nemesis? arsenal? someone else?

man, so many good teams to choose from. who gives a good spectacle, besides the obnoxious pep? (pep can make teams fly... but i hate him ha ha ha). so i gotta be for man u over man city? are mourinho’s teams dull?

gimme some prem pointers...

who are the heroes? and who are the villains, besides that russian dictator who owns west ham?

*spits on ground* looks like we have a wanna-be hero around here, boys...


Well Mourinho is starting to look like a man being left behind. Like Wenger did. Still good manager, but don't seem to have that extra push to win the league or a champions league anymore. Sad to see tbh.

Personal heroes-always had a soft spot for Crystal Palace. Mainly cos their fans are ace
Villains-Liverpool. No one likes Liverpool.

Things I'm looking forward to seeing this season

-How Sarri does with Chelsea given how Abramovich seems to no longer want to spend big on them. Watched Napoli a bit last season and they were great to watch.
-How Wolves do now they've been promoted. Can they do it on the big stage?
-Don't think Spurs have bought anyone yet and you gotta keep moving in football. Like a shark. Could see them struggling for a champions league place this season.

2 more weeks!

You could just get on our masochistic level and support either West Ham or Everton?

I'm actually looking forward to seeing how Spam do this season. Always liked Pellegrini. Funny thing is a couple of seasons Everton were after both Yarmolenko and Anderson. Everton being Everton it didn't work out and now they're at West Ham.

You optimistic, Demo?

Here's a recent ranking of the teams apparently most hated by other fans.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footb...eague-12994750

The club West Ham hate (besides the big one, Millwall, who aren't in the Prem) is Spurs. After that it's Spurs reserves, then Spurs Youth team then Spurs Ladies. After that it's any other London club,. Then MU.

I don't know if there's any 'hero' teams, although I'd say that (of the really big teams) Man City probably get the least amount of hate.

The clubs at the bottom of that ranking aren't necessarily popular they're just considered irrelevant, as in why would anybody even care enough about a team like Huddersfield (even in Huddersfield) to actually hate them?

I am actually. Not unrealistically so but all going well I think we could conceivably finish somewhere between 7th-10th, which is about where I see Everton too.

Add 7 and 10 together and that's where I see Everton this season if we don't scrap that back 4, especially CBs, and get players who can actually run.

Come on we all know Symbols is gonna fall for MU. He likes Bayern and lives about as far away from Manchester as most of their other fans. It's a match made in heaven.

:D :D

I agree, except for the last sentence.

haaa haaaa haaa

don’t care for man u one way or another, but as i said, the obvious bundesliga transition team is liverpool, and they’re popular now, so i can bandwagon all the way to the champions league final, while pep collapses.

and im guessing man city worth keeping an eye on— i always enjoyed the great kevin debruyne, even while you guys talked shit about him (something about him sucking at chelsea or something). from here on out i’ll will know them as Neo-Wolfsburg.

and aubameyang went to arsenal i think? and mkhitarian just joined them? perfect then— i’ll call them Old Dortmund! sounds like some cheap midwestern beer. gtg to the store for some hotdogs and a sixpack of old dortmund.

plus spurs, just to irk demonyo ha ha ha. is kane really all that?

oh and the napoli guy in chelsea. yes, thanks for that.

5 teams to keep an eye on more than i can handle. might have to prune the choices later down the road cuz i gotta still keep an eye on bundesliga. and the new system might lemme see serie a and la liga and some french teams...

holy fuck im gonna get teevee indigestion.

Jahanbakhsh went from AZ to Brighton for a record transfer and apparently he (if he had a choice anyway) choose them over Leicester. Is that a smart move? Leicester ended up 6 places higher last year. And to be honest I don't think I know anything of Brighton.

I hope he does well. He might need to get accustomed first, he was sort of a late bloomer at AZ as well. The first two years he didn't score so much. Last year he became top scorer with 21 goals.

Neither team are particularly attractive so I assume he's only taken the Brighton job as a potential stepping-stone to a bigger club.

H8Klopp will disagree but they're a decent team to support right now. At that top end, I'd say them, MC and Spurs are playing the best football. For various reasons I prefer MC but in lots of ways (mainly due to Salah and Klopp) Liverpool are the more likeable. Spurs are just a big fat no.


Ah? He barely played at Chelsea and I only really noticed him after he joined Citeh. I've been gushing about him ever since. Zero hate for KDB from me.


It won't irk me. I'll just pity you when they inevitably choke under the 1st sign of pressure. Also they haven't done much business in the transfer window so far and that could see them fall behind a bit.

But yes, Kane is all that.

Hahaha I'll.not deny they're playing great stuff. Just shame it has to be Liverpool. Funny thing is, I like Spurs but Liverpool are a big fat no for me.

well i won’t really be “supporting” these teams, just keeping an eye on them because they’re fun to watch.

really takes me a while to develop an attachment to a team—the players, the style of play, the coaches... i like a team more when i get to know it. and then it’s not really so much a tribal affiliation, but an aesthetic one.

but it’s funny to hear you guys on your liverpool/spurs cross-rejections ha ha ha ha

I know it's just out of curiosity, but with that in mind keep an eye on Burnley. A very unfashionable, relatively 'small' club, but given their resources they were arguably the team of the season last year, so it'll be interesting to see how they do this season (especially with added Europa commitments).

I only mention them because I imagine they're the kind of team that go largely under the radar outside England but are as much a part of what makes the Prem what it is as the other bigger clubs we've been mentioning.

Albeit for different reasons, and obviously not talking about supporting or anything but another 'team to watch' is actually West Ham, who, after last season's outright chaos, have probably had the biggest shake up of any team this summer.

You'll obviously want to concentrate on the bigger teams but try to keep an eye on those two when you can.

And I'm not just saying this, but Everton v West Ham is almost always a great fixture to watch (even though Everton invariably win the fuckers). They're not necessarily the best in terms of quality but usually hyper competitive and I know for West Ham fans anyway, they're increasingly thought of almost like derbies (if West Ham have a bogey team in the Prem, it's definitely Everton). So yeah, that'd be an under the radar fixture I'd look out for.

Oh and prepare to cancel Christmas if you find yourself hooked before the winter schedule kicks in.

great, great! thanks for that. those narratives definitely add interest to the proceedings.

i canceled christmas when i moved out of my parents house ages ago—hate the season, the music, the movies, everything, lol. but the germans love it, and their football goes away for a month. if there is one big plus to following the prem it has to be the workaholism. and while america is up to her eyebrows in college hand-ovoid and superballs, i’ll be happily watching the prem. that’s gonna be a huge relief for me if it works out.

the bayern newsletter has a “60 second roundup” from their florida friendly vs man city

https://fcbayern.com/fcbayerntv/en/v...90718?mobile=1

you can tell from the title bayern didn’t win... damn you, pep! lololol

also james says he’s “very happy here”. better say that after what he did vs real madrid last year.

https://fcbayern.com/us/news/2018/07...eason?mobile=1

the new bayern coach looks like an interesting choice...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niko_Kovač

Assange has clearly demonstrated what happens to real adversarial dissidents and insurgents – they’re persecuted, demonized, and threatened, not befriended by and invited to parties within the halls of imperial power

Alright, lad. We just like watching football.

Although all that talk of persecution and demonization does sort of describe Mpurinho in a press conference.

he’s a paranoid too, right?

should be an entertaining sight