h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You think your abused now, you had better hope the stars win or you will find out just how abusive GB and Marv can be, the piss taking will be merciless and go on and on!

In terms of meaningful trophies the biggest of the lot in the domestic season is on this weekend.
The FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Aston Villa and its the last one at Wembley before its pulled down and rebuilt.

I'm suprised you think British accents are refined, mines a right mix, Born in Dorset then on to the Isle of Wight and Buckinghamshire whilst I was growing up, then add in 24 years of living in South London, I can assure you it aint refined

And I really think that light pollution is a real problem. Oh would you look at that, theres a pettition on my page!
Here it is http://www.h2g2.com/A296688


Sorry, I know I musn't blatenly plug things like that. Please forgive me?

Nick

I was just thinking "what would that have been like live on TV" ZZZZZZ

Bloke, it's worse than that. They quit selling beer with 10 minutes left in the 3rd (usually the last) period. So if it goes to overtime, you sober up involuntarily!!!

As for your accent not being refined .... a girl can dream, can't I?!?!? Is there some character in a British Comedy with your accent? I am trying to imagine ....

No need to worry about me getting too rough with Blondie, should she lose our bet. Marv has a personal stake in it, because it is his team playing them, but my team has already gone down in flames, as they managed to extend their playoff losing streak to 12 straight games, and 7 years since their last playoff win. The dive dates back to 1993, after the team won the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals and found themselves on the verge of winning the franchise's first Cup ever. That's okay, though... I'm not bitter...

GB, Oh dear Crashed & Burned already then,so now your just a spectator on this bet.
So who out of the other two is going to win then?

GB is a player in this bet, he's not a spectator. He's just betting against me because he thinks my team will lose. Marv is really a fan of my team's opponent.

Bloke, it doesn't look good for me. My Stars lost last night, and now we are behind in the best of 7 series, 2 games to 1. I don't mind losing, but my team looked awful. They didn't show up to play, as we say. They were shut out 2 - 0, for the second time this series. That's what worries me, they did not play up to par. Even the supposedly unbiased national announcers said that they didn't play up to their ability. This game was played in Denver Colorado, aka "the mile high city", so the temptation is to blame it on the altitude with the air being thinner and having less oxygen. But I don't buy it in this case. This is the 2nd time this series that my team didn't show up to play, and the first time was right here in Dallas!!! Help me, Bloke!!! (GB's team didn't even MAKE the playoffs.)

How's your team doing, Bloke?

Well at least you can get a beer at a game, over here its dry inside the ground.
It was another of those attempts to cut down on holigans but all it seems to have done is to cause them to get tanked up before the game which means they're already drunk when they get there and head straight to the pubs after to get even more drunk and stroppy

As for the accent Comic is probably about the right word

Not showing up to play
Wimbledon had quite a few of those this year, hence the reason we got relegated
They even did it in the last game of the season when they had a fighting chance of staying up

Now its a case of they have got to try and get the side back together and retain the best players if they are going to stand any chance of winning in the first division next year and bouncing back into the premiership.

If they don't it could be argh!!!!!! (TOO Bad to even contemplate)

Short of going out there and hitting them with sticks, which wouldn't work as thats what it seems they do to each other anyway, I can't really be of any help.


PS

does the elevation make Denver the "mile high club"



FA CUP FINAL RESULT (for Marv if he hasn't seen it)

Chelsea 1 Aston Villa 0

At least a London side won.

"PS does the elevation make Denver the "mile high club"


Ummmm, I guess in a way it DOES! Perhaps I need to rethink my July vacation plans ... I WAS going to go scuba diving in Cozymel but now I may need to go to Devner instead! I am tempted to make jokes about all of the scoring going on in the mile high city, but that's TOO easy!

I wonder if our teams here in the US got demoted if when they lose ... I wonder if that would get them to play any better? Hmmm. Interesting concept. I know that besides the glory, they get bonus money when they win, plus commercial endorsements. Are your best players media celebrities as they are here? Do they get lots of commercial endorsement deals? Here, the best players can become famous to the general public, not just the people who follow the sport.

Relegating the losing teams in a leauge doesn't gaurentee to make them play any better, look at our lots performance this year
But it does mean that teams in the bottom half of a division can't sit back and wait for next season.
The battles at the top and bottom of each league fill the press over here towards the end of the season.

Having this system is only reason Wimbledon reached the premiership in the first place, when I moved here they were playing part time football as a "non league" team, they got into the old fourth division the year after I moved here and then slowly worked their way up through the divisions.

On the money front it's just the same over here, famous footballers appear on ads for anything are are rarely out of the press (especially the tabloids)

Demoting and promoting teams: It's a nice idea, but not one I think will happen anytime soon. The team owners aren't going to sign any agreements that could potentially cost them millions, because if they got relegated, they wouldn't get the national tv time or the endorsements. Having bad teams is becoming a strategy for owners lately, as the massive unloading of expensive talent that went on following Florida's World Series victory, San Diego's World Series appearance, and St. Louis' Super Bowl victory show. They put together one great season for the fans, and then can fade back into ineptitude and reap the benefits from their new loyal fan base. St. Louis was in a new, hostile town, and Florida was a young expansion team, so they needed to build their fan base. San Diego is the true scum of sports, though... their near miss with the championship came not coincidentaly the same year that a bill was on the ballot to get the people of San Diego to build them a new stadium. The series ended in October, the voters approved the bill in November, and the dumping of high-priced stars began the following spring.

It all depends on having a league structure which supports promotion and relegation.

The owners would not be able to get away with weakening the team intentionally if relegation was a threat.

It appears to me, from the far side of the pond, that you only have one layer of professional teams, so there is no competition for league places, the financial position of teams outside the NHL is so different that they could not step up and equally no team in the NHL would survive if they were relegated, due to the loss of income.

The situation over here is different because the revenue from TV, football pools and othe betting is pooled and while most of it does go to the premiership sides, some goes to the clubs in the lower divisions.
This has served to keep teams in the lower divisions in a position where they can compete if they get promoted although the gap between the premiership clubs and the others is widening to ta point where it is getting very difficult.

This is the situation Wimbledon face next year, if they are to get back into the premiership quickly they need to keep a top flight team together, at the same time the drop in income due to being relegated is considerable.

That said there are big arguments over here about the distribution of the TV money which will only intensify with the coming of digital broadcasting and the availability of all matches on a pay per view basis.

I find it intriguing that sports stadiums for Privatly owned teams would be built using taxpayers money, over here it the government are looking to the private sector to stump towards the costs of new national stadiums (eg the Wembely rebuild) the chances of getting local government to cough for a new stadium for a top flight team are nil.

Some government money was put into stadiums following the Fire at Bradford and the Hillsborough tradgedy to pay towards all seater stadiums and other safety measures but most of the money still came from the clubs.

Having said that some local councils have funded or part funded improvements to grounds for their local teams in the lower divisions / non leauge, but these have generally been on the basis of dual use ( ie use for other local events as well as football)

Publicly funded stadiums for privately owned teams?!!??! You have that TOO!?!?! I was sooooo angry when The Stars (my hockey team) got a new sales tax imposed to pay for a new arena for them and for the local pro basketball team which are both privately owned. Even though the so-called "tourist tax" probably will never affect because it adds extra sales taxes on to Dallas hotel rooms and rented cars, I STILL hate it that regular people have to subsidize a couple of VERY rich men. I am not clear who (the rich owners or the city) owns the arena when it's built. I don't live in the city of Dallas, so I never got a chance to vote against this "tourist tax". I am definitely a hockey fan, I just think these rich owners should cough up the money for their own buildings. Oh yeah, the day after this bill passed, the owner of the hockey team went out and bought the local pro baseball team (the Texas Rangers) from George W. Bush, the former President's son and a current canditate for US President. I thought to myself, where does this guy get the nerve getting the taxpayers to pay for his new arena when he had the cash to go out and buy a baseball team?!?! Arrrrrgh!!!! If the taxpayers pay for the arena or statium, then the city should own the building and get the parking or consession revenue and the teams should pay rent to use the facility. That's my opinion, and I like it!


When teams play badly here, typically the owners take a hit in the pocketbooks because tickets stop selling. A few teams sell out every game no matter how bad they are, but most will lose revenue due to lack of ticket sales, and the drop in food and souvieners being purchased at the games if they keep losing.

Well I must point out one small fact. Patrick Roy, goaltender for the Avalanche, has now tied the all time record for playoff victories to be decided by shutout. He is allready has marked the record for all time playoff wins and with each W he adds to that record. I expect tomorrows game to be close fought and a great one to watch. As for who is going to win in the east, Philly looks good with their rookie goaltender. They are leading the series 3-1 and are going back home. I like them for the victory. Which ever team from the West goes forward will win IMHO. Of the four remaining goalies three have their name in the Cup. While a Rookie has won the cup, (Patrick Roy with the Canadienes) going up against a major force such as Belfour or Roy is not conducive to your confidence. One of the major factors to Colorado's success since March is the addition of Dave Andreychuck and Ray Bourque to our team. Ray has never been on a championship team in his 20 years in the league. He has been a drvieing force in the locker room giving a lot of leadership and hope to the team. Bourque is also a premiere force on the blue line. Since his aquisition the Av's have lost only four games, tied one. Dave Andreychuck has also been a force in front of the net. He is a big tough player that screens the goalie well. The GM of Colorado has made his finest trade in getting these two guys. The other factor in this series is that Dallas has not met the same calibre of team this year in the playoffs that Colorado has gone up against. Winning Detroit 4-1 was a suprise for Colorado. Dallas did not meet as tough of a team in the first two rounds. I hope that my team wins the next two, but I would make no promises. Again we shall see tomorrow.

Bloke: there are many levels of competition in our major sports. Baseball and hockey in particular have many leagues of professional levels. Baseball alone has three distinct pro levels, A, AA, and AAA. However, these teams cannot now nor probably ever will compete with the MLB teams for the reason that all of the minor league teams are owned by a major league team. They're farm clubs, and their sole purpose is to develop talent for the major league level. Individual players can be promoted and demoted in the ranks of this system, but entire teams won't. It's the same story in hockey, but I think there might be some minor hockey teams that aren't owned by NHL parent clubs.

As for publicly funded stadiums, I am strongly against welfare for a multi-billion dollar industry, which is what that amounts to. I'm proud to live in the second-largest sports market in North America, and be completely without a local football team. When the Raiders and the Rams demanded new stadiums from the city, the city voters told them to take a hike. St. Louis and Oakland can be bilked (and both are paying... Rams are headed back into the cellar in their new stadium, and the owner of the Raiders is filing a law suit against the city of Oakland) if they're stupid enough, but Los Angeles will not have another football team until a stadium can be built with private funds. Meanwhile, the other sports residents of the LA area are doing just fine... Disney ponied up their own money for building the beautiful new Edison Field for baseball's Angels. The Arrowhead Pond for the Mighty Ducks of hockey is only a few years old, and built by Disney as well. The Lakers and Clippers of basketball teamed up with the Kings of hockey to build their new stadium, Staples Center. It's brand new, it looks good, it's in a much better location than their previous venue, and every seat is a good one.

Publicly funded stadiums
By the sound of it theres a lot more public money going into these schemes in the US than I'd imagined, I'd always thought that the US would be totally privatly funded.
I'm begining to think that you may be providing more public money to professional sports than we do in the UK!!

The only locally raised tax in the UK is the local council tax, which is raised on the supposed value of property (real estate), all other taxes are raised on a national basis.

Like GB I don't like giving public money to private concerns, it always seems to end up in some rich bastards pocket.
The only exception to this I will accept is if there is public use of the facilities (and not just as paying customers). For example I have heard of some lower division teams getting some money towards improved training facilities but only on condition that these facilities and the stadium could be used by local amateur teams as well.


Feeder teams (Farm Teams) don't exist as such in the UK, the FA shareholding rules effectivly prevent it. (if you own more than 10% of the shares in any league club you are banned from owning shares in any others)

The trouble is that the rich guys all have powerful friends in politics, and they can get help whenever they want, it seems. In the case of the new arena here in Dallas, the rich owner could afford to buy a lot of advertising to bolster his "it's good for Dallas" campagin. What a CROCK of %&*#!!! This guy was and is wealthy enough to write a personal check for the damned arena if he wanted to. Proof positive of that was that he turned around and bought a baseball team the day after the arena bill passed (by a very narrow margin). I guess he would not have bought the baseball team had the bill not been passed. And if this isn't bad enough, the new arena is going to be called American Airlines Center (or something similar with the airline's corporate logo on it). The airline paid for the rights to slap their name on the place, thus getting free advertising every time the venue is mentioned!!! The city of Dallas didn't get that money, I can tell you that. This is so out of control ... it makes my blood boil.

P.S. My Dallas Stars won today, Bloke. That's probably why the other two guys haven't showed up here yet. The series is now tied, 2 games each. They play next here in Dallas on Tuesday night.

Congrats to the Dallas stars for coming out to play. This is going to be a great series.

Thanks Marv. It will only be a good series if the Stars continue to show up for their games. Games 1 and 3 were boring, and I am not just saying that because Dallas lost ... they did not compete and it was not fun to watch. Conversely, games 2 and 4 were very entertaining, and I would have said that even if Dallas did not come out on top. Of course, I enjoy it more when my team wins but still, the game is better when both teams are playing like the want to win. I predicted 7 games, and I am sticking to it. I wish New Jersey would win out of the East, but that does not look likely at the moment. If Dalas should lose, I will cheer for the east, because that is where I am from!!!

I am sure Bald Bloke is really bored with this conversation! Sorry Bloke. You can blame GargleBlaster and Marv for following me over here!!! I think they are monitoring my activities!!