Football fans are such mugs.
They've swallowed the story trotted out over these past years that getting knocked out of CL next season >>> domestic cup glory, that perpetual EPL survival banality >>>> having a go at creating local generational memories.
I went to a Chelsea CL game in autumn; as the man Keith Burkinshaw once said, there used to be a football club there.
In other news, my team finally went a weekend w/o getting beat.
::ice grill::
I went to a Chelsea CL game in autumn; as the man Keith Burkinshaw once said, there used to be a football club there.
Once clubs become the playthings of consortiums, and "Maximising shareholder value" is the "Mission statement", then you know Cup-of-Bovril man is not even on dey radar. The price we pay for being able to see the world's best players, I suppose.
I did see Notts County v Chesterfield a while back and that was much more like it.
Football fans are such mugs.
They've swallowed the story trotted out over these past years that getting knocked out of CL next season >>> domestic cup glory, that perpetual EPL survival banality >>>> having a go at creating local generational memories.
I agree with what you're saying, but as an Arse fan, the monotonous 4th place trophy has been brilliant with hindsight. All the teams around us have been spending, and up until the last couple of seasons Wenger had to turn a profit on player sales.
It would be ironic if only when he starts spending do we drop out of the champs league spots.
And yeah, we won the FA Cup last season, but it was only relief at not screwing it up that made the thing worthwhile. Now, it really is just something that clogs up the fixture list. They should grant the 4th champs league spot to the winner, but I doubt UEFA would approve of Wigan or Bradford getting to play Real Madrid. It would be beautiful if it happened though, and I'd sacrifice Arsenal's spot for the chance to see Messi crying as he's sent home in the last 8 against Scunthorpe, on a cold wet Tuesday night, and Andy Grey going gaga on twitter with the [em]I TOLD YOU SO[/em] schtick.
And yeah, we won the FA Cup last season, but it was only relief at not screwing it up that made the thing worthwhile. Now, it really is just something that clogs up the fixture list. They should grant the 4th champs league spot to the winner, but I doubt UEFA would approve of Wigan or Bradford getting to play Real Madrid.
one of the few bright ideas the Brazilian FA had over the last 25 years was to give a Libertadores spot to the Brazilian Cup winner. It gives the competition extra weight and some hope for smaller clubs to make it into an international competition, which has been great considering the Cup is good at throwing the occasional upset. This has led to such memorable nights as when northern brazilian minnows Payssandu beat Boca Juniors in La Bombonera:
they then lost the return leg at home and got knocked out on PKs but any Payssandu fan will tell you that night was one of the club's greatest moments.
Hang on, aren't you dude who once said that Chuck Berry changing guitar strings>>>>>the entirety of Britsh Rock music?
I kid.
I wish I'd never waded into that debate!
But...
It was a specific idealised *rock'n'roll* that I think Chuck did best. I realise that rock'n'roll can cover a massive spectrum of music, but to me, it conjures up 12-bar-blues on an electric geetar, and predates the strands that followed it - funk rock, horn rock, heavy rock, heavy metal, punk rock etc etc.
For plain, simple 12bb r'n'r, I think he was great. The best.
For rock that has been adulterated with other musical influences, I think the Brits own that. Nobody does as well at weaving disparate elements into an agreeable melange, and while some might justifiably say that adaptation isn't innovation, who cares. The stuff I like most thrown up by the Brits operating under the rock banner is the stuff that sounds least like Chuck.
TL;DR version - I [em]actually[/em] prefer minor chords.
Well played dude.
Don't forget to look me up next time you're in town.
Definitely. I get a few drinks down me and feel a certain melancholy, a fish-out-of-water feeling, but I don't think language is the problem. Sometimes only shared culture will make the tuning fork hum, and I know that I will need to come ashore occasionally to drink with kindred spirits (it was like this in Bangkok! Me & my friend tried to avoid the ex-pat drinking slums, but immediately felt refreshed when we gave in). Trying to get Catalans to understand why I would want to drink to insensibility is an uphill task [strong]when it should be self-evident[/strong]; explaining self-disgust as, imho, a core part of the human condition hasn't been easy and I wonder that even if I should become native-level fluent in the words, I would never quite get the feeling right. And vice versa.
Salut.
(I also realise how pompous that crap sounds, but I've had a few, so fuck it)
I was enlightened a while back after working with various Euromang, hearing how staggered they were at how Brits drank like tomorrow isn't coming and basically did stupid shit. I was able to encapsulate it thus:
Most Euromang won't do stupid shit it because it's daft.
Some Euromang do stupid shit because they don't realise it's daft.
Brits do stupid shit BECAUSE it's daft.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
I definitely drink less since I came out here, significantly so. Moreover, observing the mother country at a remove has led me to believe I'd drink a lot more than usual if I was still there - or at least I'd feel like drinking more...
Jokes aside, I do think a lot of that has to do with Euromang having a more grown-up relationship with alcohol than we do. When me & the missus first moved to Berlin, we were in "BRITS ON TOUR" mode for about three months, out on the lag almost every night until our kidneys started screaming for mercy. On the other hand, the locals will visit bars more for the social aspect than the boozing. I have a couple of friends out here who drink like Brits, but on the whole our German buddies tend to reserve the business of getting hammered for special occasions.
One thing I have observed, however, is that you can be out late of a Friday or Saturday over here and still see plenty of youngsters travelling the U-Bahn and S-Bahn who've had a skinful before heading off to some techno club in a converted laundry out East somewhere. What you [em]don't[/em] see is all of them piling out onto the streets and public transport [em]at the same time[/em] with nowhere else to go other than home. I remember how surprised we were when we'd gone out for a drink at the Carpenters on Cheshire Street with a few mates during a visit home, and had stayed out long enough for the last bell. Hadn't heard that sound for a long time. I quite enjoy the fact that, if the mood takes you, you can drink as long and as late as you like out here. Or not at all.
Most Euromang won't do stupid shit it because it's daft.
Some Euromang do stupid shit because they don't realise it's daft.
Brits do stupid shit BECAUSE it's daft.
Co-sizzle. I can just about manage to behave like an adult for about 5 consecutive days before I break out the stupid hat.
The problem with a lot of the trouble you encounter in British towns at night, in my experience, seems to be caused by competition for limited late-night resources by punters in all states of inebriation.
In some places, you can avoid drinking with the sub-human faecal matter of society by frequenting more "Upmarket" areas, perhaps also with a bonus localised taxi rank. It depends on how the streets are laid out, to some degree, but the worst scenario is everyone in town, regardless of where they have been drinking, descending on the same food outlets and same taxi ranks.
So you end up with laid-back, mildly-sozzled folk such as myself having to face-down tit-whizzing stag-dos, coked-up scally permutations or worse, Joey Barton, over who-was-here-f*cking-first. Throw in a few gobby slappers and all the ingredients are there for a perfect shitstorm.
I have a Greek mate, a big guy who served in their Navy and now spends his Summers scuba-diving around the islands with his Mrs. He tells me they were once in an empty local bar when a party of Brits descended on it, and proceeded to drink the place completely dry, travelling through the entire spectrum of (good-natured) loutishness, stalling somewhere around comatose Cro-Magnon. He could not believe the amount they drank.
He turned to his Mrs and said "No wonder they won the f*cking war."
Funny how eastern euroman gets conveniently overlooked when the talk turns to alcohol consumption sophistry.
Two such dudes get on my morning train; its 6.20 am, train ride is 20 minutes tops, both have necked 2 large cans of Strong Lager by the time it rumbles into Cannon Street. Every week day.
And for all I know, they tucked another 2 away before I got on.
Eastern Euromangs with cold and poverty have dey yagging game on lock. Home-made vodka and such. The 6am yaggers you refer to could be coming back off nights, and getting sufficiently drowsy to kip through the daylight.
That works for a neighbour of mine.
Good dude.
Or they are all alkies, you call it.
Apologies for the radio silence again. I thought it was no good Duder and Doc doing all the BritStrut abroad work so have moved to Germany. Sadly over the other side of the country to you though P**l, I'm holed up in the home of Can, Kompakt and, um, King Size Dick, Cologne. As someone with a lifelong interest in urban music and ghetto porn, with only pigeon foreign language skills, Germany seemed like the only sensible choice.
Hope everyone is doing good - L*o very pleased to see it is all working out for you - about time that Record/non-record karma came round. Speaking of which, in my last week before I left I picked up a lovely copy of this for a quid in a Music and Video Exchange which was a nice leaving gift from London.
Ste*e, sorry didn't make that drink, things went a bit mental there. Would be honoured if we could meet up next time I'm over. Does this mean the flat is complete as well?
Also, are we still doing music and stuff? I rediscovered Talk Talk in my collection just before I moved and left all my records in storage. I believe in you was a miserably lovely soundtrack to walking the streets of the city working out what you do just before leaving a country (the landmarks? The out of the way haunts? Nothing?). What is the educated Brit Strut's view on the tortured earnestness of Hollis and co? Also, XTC while we're at it as well.
Also, trying to improve my Deutsch so would welcome recommendations of decent German radio stations as just sat through Orinoco flow followed by Phil's cover of True Colours and don't think my will is that strong.
Fuck me, it seems everyone is jumping ship these days. We might have to rename the thread.
Still firmly in the UK, I'm muddling through the tail end of some orrible flu virus that's had me up for the last few nights alternating between uncontrollably shaking because its so damn cold or hiding under bed covers drenched in sweat. I'm still struggling to put together a coherent thought that isn't just repeating those two facts repetidly ad nauseam.
But yeah, before I try and make it all about myself.. Great to have you back Junior. Again. I think there is still some small German contingent hanging about the strut. Hopefully they can advise appropriately.
Great news Junior - still in the same field of Medical stuff, or career change? Seem to remember Skeletor said you'd re-negotiated your love life too, is the move connected?
Comments
Holy shit, look at these cup results!
Man City 0 Boro 2
Blackburn 3 Swans 1
Spurs 1 Leicester 2
Chelsea 2 Bradford 4
Is this the year that Premier league clubs stopped giving a fuck about the FA Cup?
Or was that last year, when Arsenal managed to win it?
Srs doe I suspect both City and Chelsea gaffers will sleep like logs.
They've swallowed the story trotted out over these past years that getting knocked out of CL next season >>> domestic cup glory, that perpetual EPL survival banality >>>> having a go at creating local generational memories.
I went to a Chelsea CL game in autumn; as the man Keith Burkinshaw once said, there used to be a football club there.
In other news, my team finally went a weekend w/o getting beat.
::ice grill::
Once clubs become the playthings of consortiums, and "Maximising shareholder value" is the "Mission statement", then you know Cup-of-Bovril man is not even on dey radar. The price we pay for being able to see the world's best players, I suppose.
I did see Notts County v Chesterfield a while back and that was much more like it.
Joanne-Guest-Crooked-spire-muhfug-dem.
DENNIS. UNWISE.
I agree with what you're saying, but as an Arse fan, the monotonous 4th place trophy has been brilliant with hindsight. All the teams around us have been spending, and up until the last couple of seasons Wenger had to turn a profit on player sales.
It would be ironic if only when he starts spending do we drop out of the champs league spots.
And yeah, we won the FA Cup last season, but it was only relief at not screwing it up that made the thing worthwhile. Now, it really is just something that clogs up the fixture list. They should grant the 4th champs league spot to the winner, but I doubt UEFA would approve of Wigan or Bradford getting to play Real Madrid. It would be beautiful if it happened though, and I'd sacrifice Arsenal's spot for the chance to see Messi crying as he's sent home in the last 8 against Scunthorpe, on a cold wet Tuesday night, and Andy Grey going gaga on twitter with the [em]I TOLD YOU SO[/em] schtick.
Touch of the Julian Clary about him now!
one of the few bright ideas the Brazilian FA had over the last 25 years was to give a Libertadores spot to the Brazilian Cup winner. It gives the competition extra weight and some hope for smaller clubs to make it into an international competition, which has been great considering the Cup is good at throwing the occasional upset. This has led to such memorable nights as when northern brazilian minnows Payssandu beat Boca Juniors in La Bombonera:
they then lost the return leg at home and got knocked out on PKs but any Payssandu fan will tell you that night was one of the club's greatest moments.
Whoa! A first! Good old L*o!
Ah, hold on, a fuller reading...
Hang on, aren't you dude who once said that Chuck Berry changing guitar strings>>>>>the entirety of Britsh Rock music?
I kid.
I wish I'd never waded into that debate!
But...
It was a specific idealised *rock'n'roll* that I think Chuck did best. I realise that rock'n'roll can cover a massive spectrum of music, but to me, it conjures up 12-bar-blues on an electric geetar, and predates the strands that followed it - funk rock, horn rock, heavy rock, heavy metal, punk rock etc etc.
For plain, simple 12bb r'n'r, I think he was great. The best.
For rock that has been adulterated with other musical influences, I think the Brits own that. Nobody does as well at weaving disparate elements into an agreeable melange, and while some might justifiably say that adaptation isn't innovation, who cares. The stuff I like most thrown up by the Brits operating under the rock banner is the stuff that sounds least like Chuck.
TL;DR version - I [em]actually[/em] prefer minor chords.
Don't forget to look me up next time you're in town.
Can accommodate, at last.
Well apart from Fridays and Saturdays.
Definitely. I get a few drinks down me and feel a certain melancholy, a fish-out-of-water feeling, but I don't think language is the problem. Sometimes only shared culture will make the tuning fork hum, and I know that I will need to come ashore occasionally to drink with kindred spirits (it was like this in Bangkok! Me & my friend tried to avoid the ex-pat drinking slums, but immediately felt refreshed when we gave in). Trying to get Catalans to understand why I would want to drink to insensibility is an uphill task [strong]when it should be self-evident[/strong]; explaining self-disgust as, imho, a core part of the human condition hasn't been easy and I wonder that even if I should become native-level fluent in the words, I would never quite get the feeling right. And vice versa.
Salut.
(I also realise how pompous that crap sounds, but I've had a few, so fuck it)
Most Euromang won't do stupid shit it because it's daft.
Some Euromang do stupid shit because they don't realise it's daft.
Brits do stupid shit BECAUSE it's daft.
Jokes aside, I do think a lot of that has to do with Euromang having a more grown-up relationship with alcohol than we do. When me & the missus first moved to Berlin, we were in "BRITS ON TOUR" mode for about three months, out on the lag almost every night until our kidneys started screaming for mercy. On the other hand, the locals will visit bars more for the social aspect than the boozing. I have a couple of friends out here who drink like Brits, but on the whole our German buddies tend to reserve the business of getting hammered for special occasions.
One thing I have observed, however, is that you can be out late of a Friday or Saturday over here and still see plenty of youngsters travelling the U-Bahn and S-Bahn who've had a skinful before heading off to some techno club in a converted laundry out East somewhere. What you [em]don't[/em] see is all of them piling out onto the streets and public transport [em]at the same time[/em] with nowhere else to go other than home. I remember how surprised we were when we'd gone out for a drink at the Carpenters on Cheshire Street with a few mates during a visit home, and had stayed out long enough for the last bell. Hadn't heard that sound for a long time. I quite enjoy the fact that, if the mood takes you, you can drink as long and as late as you like out here. Or not at all.
Co-sizzle. I can just about manage to behave like an adult for about 5 consecutive days before I break out the stupid hat.
The problem with a lot of the trouble you encounter in British towns at night, in my experience, seems to be caused by competition for limited late-night resources by punters in all states of inebriation.
In some places, you can avoid drinking with the sub-human faecal matter of society by frequenting more "Upmarket" areas, perhaps also with a bonus localised taxi rank. It depends on how the streets are laid out, to some degree, but the worst scenario is everyone in town, regardless of where they have been drinking, descending on the same food outlets and same taxi ranks.
So you end up with laid-back, mildly-sozzled folk such as myself having to face-down tit-whizzing stag-dos, coked-up scally permutations or worse, Joey Barton, over who-was-here-f*cking-first. Throw in a few gobby slappers and all the ingredients are there for a perfect shitstorm.
I have a Greek mate, a big guy who served in their Navy and now spends his Summers scuba-diving around the islands with his Mrs. He tells me they were once in an empty local bar when a party of Brits descended on it, and proceeded to drink the place completely dry, travelling through the entire spectrum of (good-natured) loutishness, stalling somewhere around comatose Cro-Magnon. He could not believe the amount they drank.
He turned to his Mrs and said "No wonder they won the f*cking war."
Two such dudes get on my morning train; its 6.20 am, train ride is 20 minutes tops, both have necked 2 large cans of Strong Lager by the time it rumbles into Cannon Street. Every week day.
And for all I know, they tucked another 2 away before I got on.
That works for a neighbour of mine.
Good dude.
Or they are all alkies, you call it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2933346/Former-Manchester-United-captain-Roy-Keane-investigated-alleged-road-rage-row-taxi-driver.html
Shhhhhh, only a matter of time before Citeh/Chelski snap Eriksen up.
[removed][removed]
I'll see you Everton wondergoal and raise you Mesut Ozil getting his mojo back:
Apologies for the radio silence again. I thought it was no good Duder and Doc doing all the BritStrut abroad work so have moved to Germany. Sadly over the other side of the country to you though P**l, I'm holed up in the home of Can, Kompakt and, um, King Size Dick, Cologne. As someone with a lifelong interest in urban music and ghetto porn, with only pigeon foreign language skills, Germany seemed like the only sensible choice.
Hope everyone is doing good - L*o very pleased to see it is all working out for you - about time that Record/non-record karma came round. Speaking of which, in my last week before I left I picked up a lovely copy of this for a quid in a Music and Video Exchange which was a nice leaving gift from London.
Ste*e, sorry didn't make that drink, things went a bit mental there. Would be honoured if we could meet up next time I'm over. Does this mean the flat is complete as well?
Also, are we still doing music and stuff? I rediscovered Talk Talk in my collection just before I moved and left all my records in storage. I believe in you was a miserably lovely soundtrack to walking the streets of the city working out what you do just before leaving a country (the landmarks? The out of the way haunts? Nothing?). What is the educated Brit Strut's view on the tortured earnestness of Hollis and co? Also, XTC while we're at it as well.
Still firmly in the UK, I'm muddling through the tail end of some orrible flu virus that's had me up for the last few nights alternating between uncontrollably shaking because its so damn cold or hiding under bed covers drenched in sweat. I'm still struggling to put together a coherent thought that isn't just repeating those two facts repetidly ad nauseam.
But yeah, before I try and make it all about myself.. Great to have you back Junior. Again. I think there is still some small German contingent hanging about the strut. Hopefully they can advise appropriately.
"THE BRITS TOOK THAT SHIT ABROAD"
Great news Junior - still in the same field of Medical stuff, or career change? Seem to remember Skeletor said you'd re-negotiated your love life too, is the move connected?