12/23/24
March 21, 2003
I remember the good old days when there used to be a single soccer/football post every week that handled all the information at once. Now I see that the last 5 posts have been about footy.
posted by grum@work to editorial policy at 07:13 AM - 32 comments
Or angry. But I seem to be a bit sloppy nonetheless.
posted by grum@work at 07:19 AM on March 21, 2003
Sounds like a decent idea to me. I would like a separate something-or-other for actual game discussions, if nothing else.
posted by bcb2k2 at 07:49 AM on March 21, 2003
Would everyone be just as tolerant about consecutive hockey posts from Succa, Samsonov14 and myself when the playoffs begin? Yes, probably. I don't know a thing about hockey, but I do read the threads and look at the links, if only to learn. This is the vital section of the football season. High-profile European games are being played, promotion and relegation issues are taking shape, managers are resigning or being sacked and some of us are in a bit of a tizzy with the excitement of it all. On a positive note, it'll all be over in a few weeks time, and we have a close season with no international tournaments this year.
posted by squealy at 07:52 AM on March 21, 2003
I don't know about you but I intend to spend the close season yapping about what just happened, how and why, and then pondering what might be to come. The season never ends old chap. Oh, and glorying in my victory over Starfucker in the fantasy league.
posted by Fat Buddha at 08:27 AM on March 21, 2003
Of 25 posts on the front page 10 are about soccer, one of them only tenuously, is that too much? At least we aint banging on about the cricket.
posted by Fat Buddha at 08:38 AM on March 21, 2003
It's not our fault the other sports have nothing to post about. Why does it seem that everytime there's something about soccer, somebody's in here complaining about it? Too many posts. Too long. etc. etc. You never see any soccer fan in here complaining about the other sports. I guess we're the only ones doing anything interesting around here. Whatever.
posted by worldcup2002 at 09:33 AM on March 21, 2003
I've considered this before too, grum, but I haven't yet figured out if it is a problem or not. The soccer contigent definitely seems to be the most vocal part of the site. For one thing almost half of the posts on my front page (5 days) are soccer (8 soccer posts out of 18 total). It also doesn't help that the last three posts have been about soccer, but that probably has more to do with people being preoccupied with things besides sports. Is soccer smothering the rest of the site, or has SpoFi's soccer base just grown more quickly than other areas? I can understand some concern about single game FPPs, but without worldcup pointing them out, I know I would miss some highly entertaining match commentary. The front page real estate doesn't seem as valuable (as other sites) because of the limited number of posts the site gets anyway. If other sports were represented as well as soccer, it would soon get out of hand. As the site grows, others may look back at those FPPs and think it is acceptable for single games in any sport, which might be a bad precedent to set. So, as much as I enjoy the single game posts, we may need to figure a way to make them less visible to the rest of the site, if that is what they want.
posted by pfuller at 10:42 AM on March 21, 2003
Oh, and I have never posted under the influence of alcohol, but after reading what I just wrote, I might start.
posted by pfuller at 10:46 AM on March 21, 2003
It's not our fault the other sports have nothing to post about. Nothing important to post about, really. In hockey, we could have posted about the latest firing (Ftorek in Boston), the financial peril of some teams (Ottawa, Buffalo, Pittsburgh), the unexpected success of some other teams (Minnesota, Tampa Bay) and gloating about the success of a trade or two (Amonte, Nolan). Combined, they'd make a great post. Individually, I think they'd end up with two or three comments of "I agree" or "That was stupid". That said, I expect a good post about the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs. But I wouldn't want to see is 5 posts in a row about different games/series in the playoff (until the final round). All I am suggesting is that there be side links where general discussions would be allowed about the sports. I'm not suggesting we ban all soccer posts. That would alienate at least 50% of our community I believe. But things like the posts about the upcoming games in the something-or-other-Cup could be pushed to the side bar and clear the front page for more interesting discussions (the easiest/hardest jobs in sports, the soccer prodigy, faking penalties/injuries in sports). I will, however, accept the decision of the site elders and won't pursue the matter any further or attempt some form of protest by flooding the front page. The last thing I need to worry about is having the SpoFi Soccer Mafia come after me. :)
posted by grum@work at 11:10 AM on March 21, 2003
Post all you want...i enjoy the soccer posts and i don't think there should be a limit... You guys post hockey, basketball and baseball posts all the time, but no one comments on them...
posted by StarFucker at 12:39 PM on March 21, 2003
You know, i just read some of the comments above, and i really don't get the complaint... If no one is commenting in threads with hockey, baseball, etc... Why bitch that they are not on the page anymore?
posted by StarFucker at 12:53 PM on March 21, 2003
No, the complaint isn't that no one is posting on the hockey/baseball/basketball threads (because that is obviously not the case with the NCAA thread, the diving thread and the Nolan-trade thread). It's that with every one non-soccer thread, there are 2 soccer threads ready to push it off the front page before the end of the day. And remember, I'm not complaining about soccer threads. I'm just suggesting certain threads about games and standings could be better handled by putting them on the sidebar where ongoing discussions (over the span of weeks) can be maintained, instead of popping up with a new thread about ongoing games every 4 days.
posted by grum@work at 01:15 PM on March 21, 2003
***We interrupt your regular programming to bring you this live address from the President of the United States of Association Football (also known as Soccer) (USAFAKAS -- pronounced "you'se a fack-ass") ... *** My fellow Soccer nuts and non-soccer fans all around the world, Today, I am privileged and proud to proclaim the victory of Operation Wacky Freedom over non-soccer sports. Through great risk and valor, this secret operation has brought liberated soccer-lovers from the boredom of non-soccer sports. Through a multi-faceted offensive, we have secured victory. We have won with the erudite humor and witty repartee of Fat Buddha and BigCalm, the crazy rants and unfortunate naming of StarFucker, the earnest contributions of Ufez and 86, of pfuller and corpse, and many many others who have fought with honor. We know that we have sent our best people into harm's way. We are proud of their efforts, and we are grateful for their sacrifice. We have fought in the locker room, on the front page, on the side bar and in the comments section. And we will continue to fight until we bring freedom from boredom to all, and we will prevail. Thank you. May Pele bless us all.
posted by worldcup2002 at 01:41 PM on March 21, 2003
Sounds to me like you aren't really interested in keeping your threads available, but you are biased towards soccer. Don't take this too harshly. Us soccer fans get plenty of abuse here in the States and whenever an issue is being brought up about TOO much soccer...well, believe me we will be raising our eyebrows. Too much soccer in the US is about as funny sounding as Bush Jr. is really smart. There are new games in the Premier League every week, there are UEFA Cup games, Champions League games, FA Cup games...European Leagues galore! And its a year round season so there is no rest really. Even when the season is at a break during a couple months in the summer, there are International matches all the time. We get excited about our teams and players. There is a lot of drama going on all the time. If you recall, people get into serious fights sticking up for their teams. And on this website in particular, there are diehard fans of many teams and we like to hear about it. I don't know what else to say about this issue. I didn't find anything wrong with the format/content at all. Would everyone be just as tolerant about consecutive hockey posts from Succa, Samsonov14 and myself when the playoffs begin? Yes. No problem here whatsoever! Maybe what needs to be done is set up a side bar link for the major sports discussed on this site (football, American football, hockey, baseball, basketball, golf, tennis) and that can be used to discuss upcoming games, trades, player transfers, standings and other general topics in the sport. Thats fine i guess...but is it really necessary yet? Maybe if we were as big as Metafilter. But it seems like the discussions die after they are a few days old anyway. This is the vital section of the football season. High-profile European games are being played, promotion and relegation issues are taking shape, managers are resigning or being sacked and some of us are in a bit of a tizzy with the excitement of it all. On a positive note, it'll all be over in a few weeks time, and we have a close season with no international tournaments this year. Great point squealy...Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Cup, the end of the seasons are all coming to an end. Its a really exciting time! We have a Soccer Mafia?
posted by StarFucker at 01:49 PM on March 21, 2003
Look, from a pure mathematical point of things, what we have is unavoidable. There are too many international soccer leagues to count, and only one NHL, one NBA, one MLB, one NFL. Unless SportsFilter really means (Predominantly American Sports)Filter, the preponderance of soccer posts is a natural outgrowth of a worldwide audience. Unless we'd rather have a narrow parochial audience. My feeling is even if we went with the sidebar idea, some other complaint would come up. "Oh, there's too much soccer on the sidebar now. Maybe soccer should have it's own page, but you can't really find it unless you know where it is." I will not stand for the ghetto-ization of soccer!
posted by worldcup2002 at 02:05 PM on March 21, 2003
I see what you're saying, grum, but I don't know that it's a big problem. If anything, those hooligans should be an example for the rest of us. I'm wary about tweaking the site too much, because sooner or later we're going to end up with emoticons around here. Fucking emoticons.
posted by Samsonov14 at 02:35 PM on March 21, 2003
;)
posted by Ufez Jones at 02:43 PM on March 21, 2003
And its all downhill from there folks.
posted by trox at 03:10 PM on March 21, 2003
( ) <---- # (;-p)= That's me heading a soccer ball. Goallllll!
posted by worldcup2002 at 04:58 PM on March 21, 2003
After being subjected to the "shock and awe" of the posts by StarFucker and worldcup2002, I'm going to admit defeat and backpedal from my suggestion. I now realize that the idea I proposed will not be accepted by the majority of the international SpoFi community, and I will hand over my IMO (ideas of mass organization). The need to end this meaningless and unecessary war is far greater than any goal of mine. I, for one, welcome our new ball-kicking overlords. ;)
posted by grum@work at 08:18 AM on March 22, 2003
No! Don't surrender! More hockey, I say. Lots more. I was surprised that Ftorek's firing didn't merit a post (don't look at me!) More hockey! Especially down the stretch. There are too many international soccer leagues to count, and only one NHL I can make posts about the AHL, OHL, QMJHL, WHL, Swedish/Finnish elite leagues if you like. Hell, there's even hockey in the UK. (Granted, I don't follow any of these -- except maybe OHL/AHL, partially -- but you get my point).
posted by mkn at 10:54 PM on March 22, 2003
You're welcome to. You won't see me complaining about other sports. Thing is, it's probably more interesting to see news of baseball (Japan? PR? Cuba?), basketball (Euro? China?), hockey (Russia?) and football leagues outside the US (CFL? ok, maybe not) than news of the usual suspects. I mean, where's the lacrosse? Hurling? Rugby? Field hockey? Australian Rules football? C'mon! C'mon!
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:58 PM on March 22, 2003
mkn, you finger-pointing punk, you're right. I should have posted the Ftorek thing. Since the Bruins occupy about 80% of my sports time, I try to be careful about not being too Boston-centric. Also, you've probably noticed that the intermittent NHL reports have become even more intermittent. The sad fact is that when the Bruins are headed down the toilet, it hurts me to talk hockey. Even this made me puke in my mouth a little bit. Just for you, I'm write a FFP about the best hockey player in the league, Joe Thornton.
posted by Samsonov14 at 01:12 PM on March 23, 2003
Or "writing" rather. All this puke in my mouth makes it hard to type.
posted by Samsonov14 at 01:13 PM on March 23, 2003
Soccer Mafia? Can I be Fat "Walnuts" Buddha?
posted by Fat Buddha at 04:48 AM on March 24, 2003
How about Fat "Sandy Balls" Buddha?
posted by worldcup2002 at 09:23 AM on March 24, 2003
Any ideas on how i can change my nick around to be more mafia-like?
posted by StarFucker at 08:46 AM on March 25, 2003
Skuf' Carter? (best anagram I could come up with, sorry). I'll take Big "Knuckles" Calm.
posted by BigCalm at 09:58 AM on March 25, 2003
Fuc' Starker!
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:40 AM on March 25, 2003
FartSucker!
posted by 86 at 01:31 PM on March 25, 2003
That is harldy mafio sounding... Maybe the gay mafia...
posted by StarFucker at 01:44 PM on March 25, 2003
Soccerfilter! Seriously, I do enjoy reading about soccer on this site. It's a neglected sport in the media in my area, and I'm learning a lot. However, these consecutive posts start to push all the other stories off the front page in a hurry. Would everyone be just as tolerant about consecutive hockey posts from Succa, Samsonov14 and myself when the playoffs begin? Maybe what needs to be done is set up a side bar link for the major sports discussed on this site (football, American football, hockey, baseball, basketball, golf, tennis) and that can be used to discuss upcoming games, trades, player transfers, standings and other general topics in the sport. Important things (like championship final games) could get their own front page link. And just so everyone understands, I'm not drunk.