Greetings from England

[Ex fan]

Hi, you gather by my name I used to be a fan, well, certainly I am not now. This week in England we have had a banal media circus based around a medioicre football/soccer player called Wayne Rooney, a desperately dull young man whose autobiography was regarded as the most boring ever and who cares about two things in life: money and more money. Moaning about how badly treated he was because he only earned £ 100,000 a week and his team lacked ambition, Rooney has now negotiated a deal that will earn him £ 250,000 a week.
Basically, the question is why? He's not even that good, performing dreadfully in the world cup and not particularly well for Manchester United. However, because he has been hyped as a major brand like Nike, he can more or less demand what he wants. It's enough to make you sick when people with life saving skills like nurses and paramedics are lucky to make £ 25,000 a year.
Yet Rooney is one of a long line of arrogant, greedy footballers that people would cross the road to avoid. Last year we had Michael Ballack of Chelsea complaining he couldn't live in London on £ 130,000 a week, then there was the case of Marlon Hughes who sexually assaulted a woman as he claimed he was a millionaire and could do what he wanted and the perennial jailbird Joey Barton, who has been imprisoned for numerous unprovoked assaults.
However, to the fans, who are bombarded with the " beautiful game" 24/7 and think of little else, none of this matters. I have seen what was once an innocent Saturday afternoon pastime for working men with players on not much more than the fans turn into a money making, OTT monster that is on the television all the time and which is just a business now.

[recovering_fan]

Hi, you gather by my name I used to be a fan, well, certainly I am not now....Rooney has now negotiated a deal that will earn him £ 250,000 a week.
Basically, the question is why? He's not even that good, performing dreadfully in the world cup and not particularly well for Manchester United.

Hello Ex fan, and welcome. As a fellow ex fan, I feel your pain. Don't give them another "quid" !
(By the way, do you guys have pounds-sterling symbols on keyboards or something?)

Cheers,
recovering_fan

[Ex fan]

Hi, you gather by my name I used to be a fan, well, certainly I am not now....Rooney has now negotiated a deal that will earn him £ 250,000 a week.
Basically, the question is why? He's not even that good, performing dreadfully in the world cup and not particularly well for Manchester United.

Hello Ex fan, and welcome. As a fellow ex fan, I feel your pain. Don't give them another "quid" !
(By the way, do you guys have pounds-sterling symbols on keyboards or something?)

Cheers,
recovering_fan

Hey recovering fan, we do over here and I had a keyboard on a German PC before the Euro came in that had DM for deutschmarks.
Yeah I've decided to give up with modern team sports, which are all about money. Even at the lowest level now, it's all about money and boardroom battles. I will admit I like things like the Olympics and amateur, minority sports but not the big ones over here.

[recovering_fan]

Yeah I've decided to give up with modern team sports, which are all about money....I will admit I like things like the Olympics and amateur, minority sports but not the big ones over here.

Oh, really? Well, you will run into some diversity in people's views, here.

Some people believe high-paid athletes still make good role models. Some don't. Some of us seem mainly interested in changing the current nature of Phys-Ed programs, which force non-athletic boys to play sports, even when it humiliates them. Others, like myself, really only dislike the notion that we should spend a lot of time watching sports, and that we should at least educate ourselves about what's going on in sports. They and I don't believe we should spend time admiring athletes. We even have a few regular athletes and sports backers, here...I think...?

Personally, I don't object to participation in sports (even macho team sports like soccer) as a nice, fun, voluntary pass-time for naturally competitive people. I also spent a large chunk of the first 30 years of my life watching various sports on television. I gave it up, because I imagined what my life would be like if I were a professional athlete. My fantasies are very detailed at times, and I started wondering what sort of girlfriends a career in professional sports would get me. Then I realised that most of girls I had ever been interested in weren't all that into sporting events.

I think the original club founder may have shared your views on amateur and minority sports. I seem to recall reading somewhere on this site that that was why he called it "sports suck" rather than "sport sucks", but I was reading pretty quickly on that day, and my memory is a bit hazy.

--RF

[Ex fan]

Yeah, Recovering Fan, I don't think the aim of the site is to do away with all forms of sport and exercise, otherwise we'll have a massive obesity problem and also banning it would make us sound as bad as the people who oppose non fans. What we really want is for sport to be less prevalent in society, so other equally worthwhile pursuits like music and films have an equal footing and for some extreme fans of sport to leave non athletic kids and disinterested adults alone. As someone who did follow football for quite a while, I never regarded anyone who disliked sport as weird or gay. However, as a kid, I must admit I hated team sports and applaud the way many schools in England now either let kids drop games at age 14, or encourage them to learn yoga and aerobics.

[Fat Man]

Good evening Ex fan.

Welcome to our anti-sports forum.

Most of us here favor PE reforms. The sports centered PE actually short-changes the non athletic students.

Earl can tell you about PE reform. He's our resident expert on PE reforms.

We're not exactly for doing away with PE, but only the mandatory PE that revolves around competitive sports. There should be some other PE programs such as weight training or some kind exercise programs for the nonathletic students instead of just competitive sports.

Anyway . . . . .

I hope we get more ex-sports-fans and ex-jocks here who have finally become disgusted in sports and have turned their lives around.

Who knows better how bad sports can be than someone who's actually been there? Eh?

So, I would welcome more insights from ex-fans and ex-jocks.

Once again, welcome to our forum.

[recovering_fan]

I hope we get more ex-sports-fans and ex-jocks here who have finally become disgusted in sports and have turned their lives around.
Who knows better how bad sports can be than someone who's actually been there? Eh?
So, I would welcome more insights from ex-fans and ex-jocks.

Awesome.

Here's an insight: use that graphic showing one's brain and one's brain on sports as often as you can in posts.
I took a look at that early today and all my desire to watch College Football Game Day this morning shrivelled into nothing.

Thanks again,
recovering_fan

[Fat Man]

I hope we get more ex-sports-fans and ex-jocks here who have finally become disgusted in sports and have turned their lives around.
Who knows better how bad sports can be than someone who's actually been there? Eh?
So, I would welcome more insights from ex-fans and ex-jocks.

Awesome.

Here's an insight: use that graphic showing one's brain and one's brain on sports as often as you can in posts.
I took a look at that early today and all my desire to watch C0llege F0Otball GameD@y this morning shrivelled into nothing.

Thanks again,
recovering_fan

PS--I just got the whole m3me concept, I think.

OK, since you requested it, here it is!!! Ya got it!!!



Back by popular request!

[recovering_fan]

Back by popular request!

Thanks, Fat Man.

Note: I edited my previous post. I fixed the spelling of certain words, and I eliminated a stupid post-script.
(Sorry, it's late, and my mind races from idea to idea late at night. Inhibition goes. I won't post or PM after 10pm from now on.)

--RF

[Ex fan]

No one is knocking exercise or keeping fit, but it's the whole way team sports are rammed down your throat. In England it's football, in Wales it's rugby, which is far worse as a sport. Also I am totally opposed to the corruption and overkill.

[i_like_1981]

Hi, you gather by my name I used to be a fan, well, certainly I am not now. This week in England we have had a banal media circus based around a medioicre football/soccer player called Wayne Rooney, a desperately dull young man whose autobiography was regarded as the most boring ever and who cares about two things in life: money and more money. Moaning about how badly treated he was because he only earned £ 100,000 a week and his team lacked ambition, Rooney has now negotiated a deal that will earn him £ 250,000 a week.

Hello there, Ex fan. I share your contempt for the recent Wayne Rooney media circus and if you read through my posts, you'll find we're very much alike in our resentment and disdain of this man. I myself find him a self-obsessed, idiotic thug who thinks that the world, or at least England, revolves around him and what he wants. And, like so many footballers here in England, he thinks he has the right to cheat on his partner and get away with it with little repercussion because he's a celebrity. The only reason his wife didn't drop him is because he has MONEY. Money is ultimately the main motive for footballers and everyone who they are close to. We're definitely not the only Englanders who are sick of this man and his unrelenting greed. Even his own fans have turned against him during all this, and I hope that over time, people will begin to acknowledge how unjustified and wasteful these players' salaries are. His latest salary per week is about 10 times as much as I earn in a year, and what exactly is he doing for it? KICKING A DAMN BALL FOR 90 MINUTES A WEEK. BIG FUCKING DEAL! I am sick of these stupid footballers always getting such obscene levels of prestige and payment for something so trivial and insignificant as playing a child's game on an increased scale, and the fact that I know it won't stop, but only get worse, fuels me to constantly return to this site and post about it, with people who I know will support my opinions. Because although the concept of professional sports players' wages is completely absurd and wasteful, very few people I know are happy to acknowledge that fact. They work as well. They work every or most weekdays and are content in knowing that these sports players get paid literally hundreds of times what they do for playing a game once every week and occasionally appearing in some advert. This site needs more support! And those blasted players need their wages substantially reduced!

Sorry I have been late in welcoming you, but be assured, anyone who dislikes that greedy, overpaid and contemptible cretin Wayne Rooney is certain to have my support. We shall talk more. Footballers may get a lot of money, but they do not truly earn it - as far as I care, getting paid one million pounds a month for occasionally playing a game of sport is dirty, dishonest money!

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[Ex fan]

Thanks, 1981, but also don't forget some of the fans can be quite stupid, like the idiots who were hooded up making threats outside his house if he left the team. I mean, so what, he wanted to leave the team, is it the end of civilisation? Personally if Wayne Rooney wanted to teach yoga instead, would it really matter.
Basically the problem in England is football has moved from a Saturday afternoon activity, where working men had a chance to wind down at a game, to some obscene 24/7 activity that hogs the media. Going back to the seventies, it was a Saturday afternoon pastime which wasn't mentioned much during the week and certainly there were no deadly dull made for television tournaments like the Europa League that seem to go on forever.
On another note, I enjoyed watching the gymnastics on BBC Two this afternoon. This is an activity where there is tremendous skill involved, but the gymnasts don't demand huge amounts to perform, behave like prima donnas and have boorish fans chanting abuse.

[Lewis]

Hi, you gather by my name I used to be a fan, well, certainly I am not now. This week in England we have had a banal media circus based around a medioicre football/soccer player called Wayne Rooney, a desperately dull young man whose autobiography was regarded as the most boring ever and who cares about two things in life: money and more money. Moaning about how badly treated he was because he only earned £ 100,000 a week and his team lacked ambition, Rooney has now negotiated a deal that will earn him £ 250,000 a week.
Basically, the question is why?

Hi Ex Fan. I believe the answer is greed, basically when you get paid so many million for 90 minutes work, you slowly lose touch with reality and you are only motivated by personal gain.

I find it quite patronising, given that there was a spending review this week implementing cuts. I guess it shows how money obsessed they are.

[i_like_1981]

Thanks, 1981, but also don't forget some of the fans can be quite stupid, like the idiots who were hooded up making threats outside his house if he left the team. I mean, so what, he wanted to leave the team, is it the end of civilisation? Personally if Wayne Rooney wanted to teach yoga instead, would it really matter.
Basically the problem in England is football has moved from a Saturday afternoon activity, where working men had a chance to wind down at a game, to some obscene 24/7 activity that hogs the media. Going back to the seventies, it was a Saturday afternoon pastime which wasn't mentioned much during the week and certainly there were no deadly dull made for television tournaments like the Europa League that seem to go on forever.

I was only born in 1981 so I wouldn't remember the 1970s personally, but from what I have learned, football was a pretty big deal for many people back then. An episode of Life on Mars, which was set in 1973, revolved around a football fan's murder - a Manchester United fan - and it turned out he'd been stabbed by another United fan so that it could provoke tensions between United and City for a big derby that Saturday. So it seems to me that hooliganism and disdain between teams and fans were pretty alive then. Football has had a very long, well-established presence in Europe from what I've seen - the Europa League has been going on since 1972, apparently, and the EURO championships have been going on since 1960, so I don't know if you were sheltered from this crap during your experiences of the 1970s or it has sllipped your memory, but this football mania does go back a while. Although you're right - it's worse today than it ever has been. We have money grabbers and greedy gluttons like Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo who think that everyone and everything should bow down at their feet and satisfy their urges, and the television and internet are pretty much dominated by this stuff when a major tournament is happening. It probably wasn't so bad back when the internet didn't exist, but now it does and everybody is using it for their own gain. That's why football mania is unavoidable now - think of all the electronic mediums it is transmitted through. It's coming at us in far more ways than it was 20, 30 years ago. As much as I love the internet and today's computers, damn the people to hell who use it to further inflate the scale of pointless tournaments like the World Cup. For shame!

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[Ex fan]

Thanks, 1981, but also don't forget some of the fans can be quite stupid, like the idiots who were hooded up making threats outside his house if he left the team. I mean, so what, he wanted to leave the team, is it the end of civilisation? Personally if Wayne Rooney wanted to teach yoga instead, would it really matter.
Basically the problem in England is football has moved from a Saturday afternoon activity, where working men had a chance to wind down at a game, to some obscene 24/7 activity that hogs the media. Going back to the seventies, it was a Saturday afternoon pastime which wasn't mentioned much during the week and certainly there were no deadly dull made for television tournaments like the Europa League that seem to go on forever.

I was only born in 1981 so I wouldn't remember the 1970s personally, but from what I have learned, football was a pretty big deal for many people back then. An episode of Life on Mars, which was set in 1973, revolved around a football fan's murder - a Manchester United fan - and it turned out he'd been stabbed by another United fan so that it could provoke tensions between United and City for a big derby that Saturday. So it seems to me that hooliganism and disdain between teams and fans were pretty alive then. Football has had a very long, well-established presence in Europe from what I've seen - the Europa League has been going on since 1972, apparently, and the EURO championships have been going on since 1960, so I don't know if you were sheltered from this crap during your experiences of the 1970s or it has sllipped your memory, but this football mania does go back a while. Although you're right - it's worse today than it ever has been. We have money grabbers and greedy gluttons like Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo who think that everyone and everything should bow down at their feet and satisfy their urges, and the television and internet are pretty much dominated by this stuff when a major tournament is happening. It probably wasn't so bad back when the internet didn't exist, but now it does and everybody is using it for their own gain. That's why football mania is unavoidable now - think of all the electronic mediums it is transmitted through. It's coming at us in far more ways than it was 20, 30 years ago. As much as I love the internet and today's computers, damn the people to hell who use it to further inflate the scale of pointless tournaments like the World Cup. For shame!

Best regards,
i_like_1981

I will admit the hooligan scene turned a lot of people against football and the sport went through a severe period of decline because of it. I am glad this has largely gone, but the problem is the game has become too big and has extended beyond being a Saturday thing to 24/7. Also lesser sports that I enjoyed as a kid like banger racing, equestrianism, English pro wrestling and greyhound racing are never shown on the media as they're not as " cool" as football and don't make as much money for Rupert Murdoch. There was even a time when the BBC used to show judo, a sport I have taken part in, but which is now ignored except when the olympics are on and a clueless commentator tries to explain what a tai otoshi is.