'Tos

Last post in the last thread:

Thanks Shelby. I believe it was sports metaphors (thanks Betty), so I fit that in. Yeah, it doesn't really make sense, but it works. Semi-Everwood related, semi-nonsensical!

Everwoodian Kopite

That was extremely frustrating. And Torres headbutts as a little girl



I'll try to explain it all as best as I can. This might seem a bit confusing:

Most of the European leagues are being played from August to May, with the exception of a couple of the northernmost countries on the continent who play in the summer half of the year. (Norway, Sweden, Russia and a couple of others.)


National leagues and cups

All of the national leagues in Europe are played without the Play-off you know from the US. The teams in each league play eachother twice and get three points for a win and one pont for a draw. When eveyone have played eachother twice, the team with the most points is new champion, and the bottom two or three (depending on which country/league) get relegated to the division below.

Most countries also have one or two national cup competition. In England the FA Cup is the big one. This tournament is a knock-out competition where massive clubs such as Liverpool can be drawn almost randomly against amateur teams.


Continental competitions

Through your national league you can qualify for next seasons continental competitions (The Champions League and the UEFA Cup.)
The biggest leagues are the English, the Spanish and the Italian, and they get four spots each in the Champions League. Of course these spots go to the top four teams in each league.
Leagues such as the German and the French are considered to be a level below the big three, so these countries only get three spots in the Champions League. Smaller leagues such as the Norwegian just get one spot in the competition.

Then there's the UEFA Cup. To qualify for the UEFA Cup your team has to get one of the two or three spots right behind the teams in your national league who qualify for the Champions League. You can also qualify for the UEFA Cup by winning your country's national cup.

If this was confusing, take a look at last seasons league table in Spain:

La Liga 2007/2008

As you can see, no. 1-4 got into the Champions League. No. 5 and 6 got into the UEFA Cup along with no. 10 Valencia, who won the Spanish Cup.

(There's also the Intertoto Cup, but lets not get into that, cos that competition even confuses me.)

Also, no. 18-20 got relegated to the second division. They were replaced by the three best teams from the second division last season. There's also a third, fouth, fifth and so on division, all with promotions and relegations.


So, as you can see it's a bit of a labyrinth on top of a pyramid

everwoodfan52

My goodness, Matty.

As Jake would say......It's like a Greek Play!

everwoodfan52

If you're interested, Matty, here are some highlights of the Liverpool-Fulham match.....complete with Torres's girly headbutt!




Liverpool Highlights

jediwands

You rock, thank you VERY MUCH for taking out the time to explain all of that, Matty. Much, much appreciated! I'm even printing it out, so thank you!

So as far as who you pull for... Liverpool OF COURSE hee but any other clubs you like as well or just Liverpool? Any teams in Norway or the surrounding area that you like?

Puck

Really, really good points. That's so true. I think it's a cat and mouse game being played by management and Gaborik. I don't think he's 100% healthy by any stretch of the imagination but it's also very weird he's not in LA doing his usual bit trying to get back on the ice sooner rather than later. Unless management is controlling this somehow? He supposedly skates before every game and practice, he's on the ice skating around but when reporters try to talk to him and all he says is he will talk to reporters whenever he's not injured anymore and playing, and management pretty much says the same thing... he's injured, if he wasn't he'd be on the ice. I guess time will tell what this is all about.

Your team has been playing amazingly lately. Remember a tiny while back Luongo wasn't playing like himself and I even commented that the guy is so humble that maybe he was in a bit of pain and was hiding it since he didn't want to use that as an excuse? I wonder if he was battling very silently through an injury back then, worked his way out of it for the most part but then now is injured and it's tied to a past one somehow? Maybe not, though. It's just this guy is so determined on the ice and he's such an amazing guy off, I could see him downplaying everything since that's the kind of person he is. Any news on his status?

You did good with the new title.

Ohhhhh you have to!

And so true about culture and how certain sports are dominant depending on what part of the country you are in. Absolutely.

Wow, 3/4 teams in the state, man that's definitely highly competitive within the state. Yeah, in Ohio it's Ohio State then I guess Cincinnati, Miami U, Kent State, but it's not even close as far as which one is "the school" for the state. Ohio State all the way.

The Crow

I forgot to mention another highlight of Saturday: Notre Dame losing to Syracuse. That was sweet. The only way the day could have been better is if Okie State had played and gotten decimated by someone.

cowgirl08

Yeah theres the University of Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Baylor as the big ones baylor has been down for awhile though.

OMG anyone see this D2Football.com - Abilene Christian Scores Record 93 Points in Win this is a school like a block from HSU we play them all the time insane Its a smal school just D2 but they kick some butt at football however as you can see there defense isnt to bueno good for them though their offense is the best in the nation yes 93 points you read it right!!! O and they are the number 4 play in the sports center top ten if ya want to check it out

jediwands

LOL Not a fan of Notre Dame I take it, Alan? Hee.

I respect the tradition of the school (I almost even went there on a basketball scholarship) but I'm not a huge fan as far as rooting for them. They're just kind of there but I guess, always in your face, since they do have that big TV contract that will never go away.

That's cool. I'd imagine there's major recruiting competition going on instate big time, not to mention attracting out of state athletes.

And that's INSANE about the 93 points! WOW! For football no less! I could see basketball even if that's high for basketball in college though it's not entirely uncommon but football? That's nuts! Checking out sports center!

cowgirl08

Yeah for sure!

ANd I know i thought i read it wrong when I drove by the stadium lol I was like hmm wonder how its going and it said 74 to 50 at that time i was like what the!!

jediwands

lol I can imagine your reaction to those numbers!

That's totally incredible how close you are to there. Such a small world!

I saw it on sports center. Amazing stuff!

cowgirl08

I go to hardin SImmons university its in the same town and about 3 blocks down the road from here lol we even workout at there track for pre season and vice versa crazyness

'Tos

Let us, well me heh, know if Gaborik ever does play. Has there been any talk about it in the media? Well, I'm sure there has been, but any rumors about where, if there are attempts to trade him, he may go?

That's very possible. Good point. It's amazing what these players in general play with, and for sure, Luongo would want to play no matter what, which is going to be interesting for the management to deal with. They will have to make sure he rehabs and rests, and doesn't rush himself, because you know he's going to try if he can. He's obsessed, but that's why he rocks.

Week to week, which might just be the vaguest time line ever, heh. Apparently not as serious as once thought. No tear, but he does have an adductor strain, which sounds like something you hurt when you're adding. I don't really know what that is, but it'll probably take a few weeks minimum to fix, and the guys will just have to step up. Luckily we have been playing well, so we'll just have to see. He's a big part, so knowing it's not a season-ending injury (like poor Brendan Morrow in Dallas got this week) is nice. So many goalie injuries this year. Brodeur was the big one, and now Louie too! Watch out Vezina candidate goalies, you'll be next!

cowgirl08

Just wanted to stop in and say today was my lucky day!!! Wooo any Romo fans in here? Well I went to my old highschool when I got home today for thanksgiving break and they were raffling off a tony romo signed jersey and I won!! It has a frame and everything picture dallas star and a label thing

Everwoodian Kopite

Liverpool FC is my everything. They're even more important than the Norway team to me.

But of course, I do have a few other teams I sympathise with. Like the Norwegain top division team closest to where I grew up, Tromsø. (Although thats like a six hour drive away)

I also have a real soft spot for the Scottish team Celtic. This is both a political thing for me due to their rivalery with Rangers (I think I've talked about this in another post), and because of their great fans.

There are quite a few other teams around the world that I keep an eye out for, but as you can tell, it doesn't always much to do with what happens on the pitch. I'm very interested in supporter culture, and the deveopment in fan power. (Teams like Barcelona (arguably the biggest club in the world) and even the Green Bay Packers are owned by the fans, and for me this is the way it should be.)

The Crow

That's pretty cool. Romo seems like a really cool guy, and I'm jealous of your jersey now. Unlike you, I never win things like that.