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IT Meets the World Cup
daria42 writes "Looks as if there are some mad soccer fans at ZDNet ... they have compiled a guide to some of the IT systems behind the soccer World Cup. 'What does it take to design, build and operate an advanced, fault-tolerant IP network while the whole world watches?' one of the articles asks. Another looks at how broadcasters have beefed up their infrastructure as they prepare for an influx of fans desperate for information, while another looks at one of the upcoming matches: FIFA vs. Hackers."
In China, most of them don't pay for watching FIFA.
Don't blame them for pirating your content. They should really taking their standard of living when charging them the royalty. What RMB150 per month for FIFA watching? Fuck, some of them just earn less than RMB500 per month.
Life finds its way. You charge them what majority can't afford, majority looks for something free
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in most of the world, the World Cup is (dare I say it) more important than any other sporting event (yes, even the olympic games). It'd do good to US citizens to dig out of the hole and stop pretending; while you're at it you might as well start ditching the imperial measuring system. And yes, in most of the rest of the world, interesting matches are broadcast for free. lol!
Why? It's more "World" than the "World Series".
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
soccer is still not a widely accepted sport in the US, so while you laugh at what a "stupid" sport soccer is, the rest of the world is laughing at us for not supporting what could be a World Cup Championship calibur team this quatrain. when a foreign country wins the World Cup, there is literally partying and dancing in the streets, but sadly, that would not be the case should the US take the cup.
Actually, in English, it is called 'football'. That was the point of starting this 'Soccer?' thread.
Now, Americans have a game they play with their hands, which they call, 'football'. I really enjoy American football (or grid-iron as we sometimes call it). It is more of a turn-based strategic game with complex rules and all the physicality of a train-crash. I like it.
But football is a free-flowing game. It has a simplicity and a beauty that gives it unparalleled status as an international team sport.
I for one am pleased to see the American team in the World Cup. They are improving and genuinely competing on the international scene nowadays.
It probably does more for US/international relations than most diplomatic efforts.
So it's great when it happens a 100 times in a game?..
The excitement will take no end at the 101th time someone scores... yeaaaaayy
Advertising. Plain and simple.
Soccer does not stop for anything. There's no stopping for injuries, time-outs for strategies, etc. Soccer is the most dynamic sport on the planet, period. I really admire those guys spending 90 minutes running and doing stuff. I think that Soccer, as a TV spectator sport, has not catched on major networks because advertisers here in the US do not like it. There's no place for 30 second ads! Gasp! Egads! There's no place for gimmicky Super Bowl ads!
I really like Soccer, on TV and on the flesh. I really hope that the US team goes far this time, even though I'm rooting for other teams. That's the only way US spectators will notice and learn what the rest of the planet knows. Soccer RULES!
the future is but past forgotten
I am probably going to get modded troll by every north american here but this needs to be said. Football, or "soccer" as you so quaintly call it does not lack the strategy of american games however it does lack the 30 second break every two or three seconds so the teams can take a breather and the TV pundits can explain what just happened. Hockey is, and always will be, much more interesting when it is played by 18 year old girls rather than burley frat boys in pads and american "football" is an enigma: as Giles from Buffy said once, I have never understood why a nation which prides itself on its virility has to put on 40lbs of protective clothing just to play rugby. Football (not the american sort) has been labelled "the beautiful game" throughout the world because of the grace and skill needed to play it at a high level. The game has a true World Cup in which countries come together and compete on a level field... you do not need to be an american college frat boy to get into the team and some of the best players in the world have come from the poorest parts of the world. If you have not developed a love for fast paced games then it is likely you have not taken the time to understand how they are played and never felt the rush of watching your team win from a losing position.
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http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=57 4061
There are many places in the world that use "soccer", not "football". Here in Australia, for example, where there are several other established codes of "football", "soccer" is by far the most common (and more importantly, least confusing) name.
Saying "football" to a random Australian - depending upon which part of the country you're in and which part of the country (or world) the person you're talking to is from - could result in a conversation about any one of four quite different (well, only three of them qualify as "quite different) sports.
It is more of a turn-based strategic game with complex rules and all the physicality of a train-crash. I like it.
If you like American Football and Soccer, then Rugby Union is probably your dream sport. Most of the athleticism, dynamic and constant play of soccer, all of the body-crunching violence (plus interest) of American Football (only without the body armour)
But football is a free-flowing game. It has a simplicity and a beauty that gives it unparalleled status as an international team sport.
You cannot truly appreciate the fitness and incredible (and unmatched, IMHO) amount of whole-body co-ordination required to play soccer at a high level unless you've actually played the game competitively, IMHO.
The real beauty of soccer - and the main reason behind its popularity - is that it scales all the way from a couple of kids kicking a dead dog's head around all the way up to an epic spectacle like the World Cup. You can play it anywhere, even with people who have never touched a ball before - yet players at the top level regularly perform feats with a ball the typical - even the above average - person couldn't even dream of replicating. Soccer is incredibly easy to just pick up, but simultaneously incredibly difficult to play well.