Makenshi said:
It's a f***ing industry today, with players costing millions and all. I can't think of another sport with so much business involved.
Hah! You serious? Here's a hint into how that's not so.
Most valuable sport franchises
1. Manchester United $1.8 - Premier League (football)
2. Dallas Cowboys $1.6 - National Football League (gridiron)
3. Washington Redskins $1.5 - NFL
4. New England Patriots $1.32 - NFL
5. New York Yankees $1.3 - Major League Baseball
6. Real Madrid $1.29 - La Liga (football)
7. Arsenal $1.2 - Premier League
8. New York Giants $1.18 - NFL
9. New York Jets $1.17 - NFL
10. Houston Texans $1.17 - NFL
's right. 6 out of the top 10 most valuable sport franchises are in the NFL. The collective worth of that league is $33.3 billion for an average worth of just short of a billion per team. And you worry about the commercialization of football? Hah!
Also, unlike football, NFL teams don't float on massive bubbles of operational debt. I'd be shocked if both the Premier League and La Liga completely collapse, sooner rather than later.
Makenshi said:
We have the nasty habit of playing bad in the group games, and then kicking ass in the finals. Spain does the other way around: fast and furious in the group games, than delusion in the finals. That's what the expression is supposed to mean.
Never noticed. Such platitudes tend to be just excuses, tho', like the old "we play badly against bad teams" adage.
Makenshi said:
Currently, despite having 6 World Cups
Saying "we have 6 world cups" at the drop of the hat just shows you're a bit insecure, dude.
Makenshi said:
But we could beat Spain anyday.
I doubt it. But power to you.
Makenshi said:
Actually, no one here buys Spain being declared #1 by FIFA just because they got Euro (only this one, and no other before, is that true?). That's considering WE got the last America's Cup (Eurocup's equivalent) and others before, and have 6 world cups. Italy is the current world champion, they should deserve 1st place in the rank, as four World Cup's, including the last one, counts more than just the last Euro Cup.
Ugh. The FIFA world rankings are mostly bullshit, but before you criticize it, at least familiarize yourself with it. The World Cups are completely irrelevant, the world rankings only count back 4 years, so those stacks of World Cups are irrelevant.
Also, World Cups do count "as more" than the Euro Cup. The list uses a multiplier based on how important your match is. Friendlies count for one, FIFA and contintental cups (like Euro and American cups) for 2.5, matches in those cups themselves for 3.0, and World Cup matches for 4.0.
Moreso, a multiplier is applied based on age. Matches played in the last 12 months count for 1.0, in the 12 months before that for .75, in the 12 months before that for .5, in the 12 months before that for .25.
It also considers opponent strength, and regional strength (Europe and South America are strongest for 1.00 and 0.98 relatively, all other regions are 0.85)
So, based on that, the world rankings considers all matches you've played during the last 4 years, adjusts for how long ago they were, what the situation was and how tough your opponent was, and then gives you a point total. Spain didn't automatically default to #1 because they won the Eurocup, they defaulted there because they had to beat some of the best teams in the world to do so, and have consistently won since 2006.
That's why Spain has 1761 points, which is an awesome total followed in the distance by the Netherlands at 1442 points (Brasil being fifth with 1288 obviously).
Now there's no reason to give more value to this than needed. It's a nice ranking systems as systems go, but it's just a system, it doesn't predict who will win nor does it absolutely dictate who is the superior team. It's nice for sportsfans to get bogged down on it tho'.
(after we beat South Africa, that is)[/u]
