Watching unfamilliar sports/games

[janneppi]

Yesterday me and some friends watched a baseball game for maybe an hour or so. The game was between KC (Kansas somethings) and SOX (apparently white ones) I had never seen the game before and it struck as unbelievably boring, even more boring than our own version of it. But that's not the point. :)

It was good fun to try to guess the rules, especially since there was no sound so we were in the dark for most of the times. One thing we didn't quite get, how does the pitching thing work out? Is it one or two "faulty pitches" before the guy with the bat has a free go to the base? And what does it mean when the pitching referee makes a sort of a "up in the ass of Timo" hand signal? :p :

Anyways, what other sports would one recommend for watching without a clue? :) Cricket might be fun, if a bit boring.

[MrJan]

The point of cricket and baseball is to drink :D

It's 4 'balls' (dodgy pitches) before you go straight to 1st unless you get beaned (hit by the ball). I watched a fair bit of baseball when I was a student but the only way I actually managed to learn was by playing a computer game.

I was going to say UFC but not too sure that there are that many rules to learn anyway :) Beyond that my only sports are Football and all kinds of motorsport and most people know about them. Trials riding is pretty good and a sport that Britain have actually been succesful in with 7 times world champion Dougie Lampkin.

[veeten]

Yesterday me and some friends watched a baseball game for maybe an hour or so. The game was between KC (Kansas somethings) and SOX (apparently white ones) I had never seen the game before and it struck as unbelievably boring, even more boring than our own version of it. But that's not the point. :)

That's Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox, two teams in MLB's American League.


It was good fun to try to guess the rules, especially since there was no sound so we were in the dark for most of the times. One thing we didn't quite get, how does the pitching thing work out? Is it one or two "faulty pitches" before the guy with the bat has a free go to the base? And what does it mean when the pitching referee makes a sort of a "up in the ass of Timo" hand signal? :p :

That would be a standing pitch count. 4 balls = walk (take first base), 3 strikes = out (lose a turn). 2 Foul balls = strikes, afterwards (during the batter's attempt) they don't count. The count is kept by the Home Plate Umpire, whom is also final arbiter of what constitutes as either a ball or a strike.


Anyways, what other sports would one recommend for watching without a clue? :) Cricket might be fun, if a bit boring.

That, I will leave up to you. Have fun. ;) :)

[BDunnell]

I once tried to watch the Superbowl with a friend but just couldn't sit through it. I found it completely unfathomable. This brought home to me the fact that some sports are just never destined to travel well. The Americans don't need cricket and I shouldn't expect them to understand or enjoy it. The same is surely true in reverse about American ball sports.

[Storm]

I have watched a lot of baseball whenever I have been in the US and also back home when I had no life (in college) :p : Not that I have much right now !

But it was pretty easy for me to understand as its quite similar to cricket in the basic idea and also having seen softball played in my school :)

Last year when I was in America for a few months, my wife (who hates cricket) got hooked on baseball!! (and Obama v Hillary too ;) )
She couldn't understand a thing about it nor did she know any of the players/teams but in a coupla months with a little of my help and watching tons of games she started enjoying it a lot...funny really
Of course it helps if you pick a team to like and enjoy it more when they win...our team of choice was the Boston Red Sox with Ramirez and Ortiz being the favourites :)
Also the Colorado Rockies did pretty well last season and they were quite unfancied I think....now back in India, I have not kept track of baseball.

Football it is again :D

[A.F.F.]

I once tried to watch the Superbowl with a friend but just couldn't sit through it.

:up:

The very same happened to me.

[ioan]

From time to time I try watching football (soccer), and I find it quite boring most of the time! ;)

[janneppi]

That would be a standing pitch count. 4 balls = walk (take first base), 3 strikes = out (lose a turn). 2 Foul balls = strikes, afterwards (during the batter's attempt) they don't count. The count is kept by the Home Plate Umpire, whom is also final arbiter of what constitutes as either a ball or a strike.

Ok, in our version it's one foul pitch if there is no one on any of the bases and two if there are players already on one of the bases. Altough the pitching is completely different as in our game, pitcher throws the ball straight up and it has to land inside a half a meter circle.

The first I watched curling was 2002 olympics, and we spent the whole evening figuring out what was what. Last we had things sorted out from terminology to tactics. :D

[millencolin]

i've been watching a fair bit of Ice Hockey lately, its not too bad. If i was to move to the US for work or whatever, i think Ice Hockey would be the major sport i would most likely get into.

Baseball doesnt do it for me cause i keep thinking 'I could be watching cricket right now'

Basketball is bloody brilliant to play (played for over 10years, wanna get back into it) but watching it i find boring. Its not that exciting until the final 5 mins as points scoring is too often and lacking excitement

GridIron is a sport that I know most of the rules of already (through playstation games :p : ), but it is too damn slow inbetween plays. I'm not going to watch a football game that takes 4 hours!... plus I can't help but make a joke about the fact they wear helmets


The fact is though, if i were ever to move to the USA or Canada for work, I would have to get Setanta Sports so I can watch the NRL and cricket

[jso1985]

I started watching ice hockey and rugby without understanding them much(I still doesn't understand lots of aspects of rugby), now they're sports I follow whenever I can.
I have tried to watch virtually all sports(even Curling :p and even went to a game) most of them where quite boring but the top boring prize goes to baseball, the sport of 3-hour lenght games where 2h57min of them is two guys spitting and making stupid throws and only 3 mins of some action

[JSH]

i've been watching a fair bit of Ice Hockey lately, its not too bad. If i was to move to the US for work or whatever, i think Ice Hockey would be the major sport i would most likely get into.


The fact is though, if i were ever to move to the USA or Canada for work, I would have to get Setanta Sports so I can watch the NRL and cricket

I find the Ice Hockey the best sport to watch(especially live) here in the US. It's so fast and so different to the sports in Aus.... Also helps that living in Detroit our Redwings just won the Stanley Cup..

I have Setanta sports. It shows NRL, International Rugby Union games and AFL. But not cricket.... I can get cricket on special subscription but it costs $$$$$

[MrJan]

I quite like hockey but I think that is because it is the closest US sport to football in the sense that games don't last much longer than you expect (unless OT) and it's quite quick.

I was supposed to see an AHL game in December but sort of overslept a bit, had to make do with going to see an Elite League game in the UK which must be a lot worse in terms of quality but I still enjoyed it.

[TOgoFASTER]

I once tried to watch the Superbowl with a friend but just couldn't sit through it. I found it completely unfathomable.

I enjoy the NFL, but have to agree with you on the Superbowl.

[Eki]

How about kyykkä?

http://www.kyykka.fi/international.shtml

Or wife carrying that is based on the old game of kutun viskaus (translation doesn't travel well)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wife_carrying

[turves]

When I was in Oz I went to the MCG in Melbourne to watch a game of Aussie Rules Football. Heck knows whether there were any rules or not, but it was very entertaining.

[ShiftingGears]

When I was in Oz I went to the MCG in Melbourne to watch a game of Aussie Rules Football. Heck knows whether there were any rules or not, but it was very entertaining.

If someone kicks the ball - catch it on the full.

If you don't - fumble it around a lot and then kick it.

[Valve Bounce]

When I was in Oz I went to the MCG in Melbourne to watch a game of Aussie Rules Football. Heck knows whether there were any rules or not, but it was very entertaining.

But wait, there's more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AbugTv3FzY

..........and this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-DsNnCAGUk

(keep your eye on that little guy #29).

[leopard]

..........and this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-DsNnCAGUk

(keep your eye on that little guy #29).

Which one, I see at minute 1s the guy #29 in yellow t-shirt was a referee. ;)

[Rollo]

but it is too damn slow inbetween plays. I'm not going to watch a football game that takes 4 hours!... and cricket

Not going to watch a game that takes 4 hours? But you are prepared to watch a game that has more laws and and the end of five days still might not have a result. :D
The point of American football in America is to drink lots and have a barbeque.

A totally unfathomable sport is cheese rolling :D a sport where "twenty young men chase a cheese off a cliff and tumble 200 yards to the bottom, where they are scraped up by paramedics and packed off to hospital". At the end all you win is a friggin' wheel of cheese :eek:

http://www.cheese-rolling.co.uk/the_event.htm

[MrJan]

At the end all you win is a friggin' wheel of cheese :eek:

That's one of the best prizes in sport. I think someone this year was carried off on a spinal bored because the rain made the ground so treacherous.

[Valve Bounce]

Is it Roquefort Cheese?

[Mark]

When I was in America, Chica's husband tried to talk me through a game of American Football, but I still couldn't figure what it was all about. Ok you need to get the ball to either end just like any other type of football but aside from that I'm lost!

[veeten]

why not just go to market. They have plenty of cheese. ;) :D

[Eki]

:cheese: