The Drifting Topic Bar and Grill

[frodi]

I can get you some tablets that would make it even more real.

[MalcolmR]

Well done frodi, a good win that.

I expect a pint or two of the dark nectar will slide down a few throats tonight!

[frodi]

Indeed, it was hard earned. There was no favours given there. We'll need the two week break to give time for injuries to heal.

[martycanuck]

This might get you singing Rob!

www.msn.com/en-ca/music/news/rihannas-super-bowl-halftime-sign-language-interpreter-justina-miles-goes-viral-with-historic-performance/ar-AA17qMBK?li=AAggFp5

[mank]

This is a question for the soccer people. I was watching some Premier League games over the weekend and wondered what the incessant chanting is by the fans. It is unintelligible on the broadcast but it just goes on and on and on and on...

[MalcolmR]

Feb 13, 2023 13:21:38 GMT -5 mank said:

This is a question for the soccer people. I was watching some Premier League games over the weekend and wondered what the incessant chanting is by the fans. It is unintelligible on the broadcast but it just goes on and on and on and on...

Now that is a question and a half.

Every club has it's own chants, plural. In fact, the bigger the club the more chants they are likely to have. This weekend Manchester United played Leeds United. This is an old rivalry probably going back to the War of the Roses (1455-1487). We have a special song just for them:

"We ALL hate Leeds and Leeds and Leeds, Leeds and Leeds and Leeds and Leeds".

When Fergie was our manager we sang "Alex Ferguson's Red and White Army!" followed by the same rhythm but clapped, over and over and over.

Some players will get their own song: to the tune of Robin Hood

"Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs,
Running down the wing,
Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs,
Running down the wing,
Feared by the Blues,
Loved by the Reds,
Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs, Ryan Giggs!"

The Blues are, of course, Manchester City, so we might sing

"Kicking a blue (and Leeds),
Kicking a blue (and Leeds),
What we like most is kicking a blue (and Leeds)..."

There are literally hundreds, many of which are quite foul mouthed: To the tune of "My old man said follow the van"

“My old man said be a City fan,
And I said bollocks you’re a cunt (YOU'RE A CUNT), I’d rather shag a bucket with a big hole in it,
Than be a City fan for just one minute,
With hatchets and hammers, stanley knives and spanners,
We’ll show the City bastards how to fight (HOW TO FIGHT), I’d rather shag a bucket with a big hole in it,
Than be a City fan!”

And don't forget, these will be being sung by upwards of 20,000 people, mostly young men, at full volume.

The idea is to intimidate the opposing players, and to drown out the songs of the visiting fans. The grounds are nowhere near as noisy as they used to be. Thirty years ago, I knew that it had been a good match when we were walking back to the car and all of us had no voices left.

Some are just a little light hearted. If you are playing a team who are bottom of the league then singing, (to the tune of "I'm getting married in the Morning") "You're getting sacked in the Morning" to their manager is almost compulsory.

There were some formal complaints made about two particularly distasteful chants this weekend. The Leeds fans sang a song mocking the deaths of the players from United in the Munich Air Disaster:

"Who's that dying on the runway"

The United fans replied with one about the two Leeds fans who were stabbed to death in Turkey at a Galataseray match.

Google "Manchester United songs" there's a wealth of them.

[mank]

Thanks Malcolm. I don't know what some of the "base" tunes are but I get the idea. It is something that has never really caught on, on this side of the pond. We have things like Here we go Steelers, here we go, and so on but not constant singing or chanting. Our chants are much simpler such as De-fense. Of course Chief fans do the tomahawk chop and chant oh, oh, oh, oh...

[MalcolmR]

Is there no similar singing at your soccer matches?

[mank]

Feb 13, 2023 15:54:08 GMT -5 MalcolmR said:

Is there no similar singing at your soccer matches?

I haven't been to a professional soccer match. I have been to grade school and high school soccer matches but there is no sing-song chanting. I attended a lot of arena soccer matches back in the day that were played on ice hockey rinks (without the ice of course). It was the best soccer I have ever seen. The boards are still up so there is a lot of rebound passing and a lot of scoring. I attended so many arena soccer matches I lost count. I read they are starting up an indoor league again. 


Arena Soccer Might Be Back

[frodi]

I'm off for a couple of days. I'm busy tomorrow night and then on Friday evening straight after work B and myself are off to Belfast.
For her xmas pressie she wanted a weekend away and last week she cashed in the card.
We've been to Belfast loads of times so this time we're visiting Bangor which is about 20-30 minutes drive. Bangor doesn't have much in the way of decent accommodation so Belfast was picked. It won't be a bucket list trip. Mostly "Oh I'm glad we've seen that but I'm in no hurry to see it a second time."
Also it's a chance to give my car a good burn as it doesn't get much mileage tootling up and down to the pharmacy. (15km round trip) It's a 12 year old car with only 93,000 km on the clock. Barely run in. Just working it out now that is an average of less than 8,000km (5,000 miles) per year. I do more than that on my bike each year.
See ya on the flip side.

[Juli]

So, Jimmy Carter is now in hospice, I guess I'll be getting a couple of points soon. He may not have been the best president, but he's definitely one of the best men to have held the position.

[martycanuck]

I guess you may not be able to watch Monty Python in Tennessee anymore. Welcome to “The Land of the Free.”

www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/tennessee-is-set-to-become-the-first-us-state-to-ban-drag/ar-AA17RmAS?li=AAggNb9

[graham]

Yep, got to protect those kids from eeeeevill drag queens...

[MalcolmR]

So, does that mean women won't be able to wear trouser suits?

[frodi]

What about Scotsmen in kilts?

(Mind you there is always funny about the Scots.)

[frodi]

Bad day at the office Malcolm. From a Leeds fan, have a pint on me.

[mank]

Not sure where to put this...

Over in the Games section under Pictures A to Z that painting of Salma Hayek that Bomber posted doesn't even look like her. That is one terrible painting.

[Bomber]

Mar 6, 2023 7:13:57 GMT -5 mank said:

Not sure where to put this...

Over in the Games section under Pictures A to Z that painting of Salma Hayek that Bomber posted doesn't even look like her. That is one terrible painting.

To be honest, I wasn't looking at the face.

[Rob]

[Rob]

I don't really embrace my Irish roots on St. Patrick's Day. If it wasn't for the posts I see on Facebook, I wouldn't even know that tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. I just wanted beer tonight, and I figured I'd use St. Patrick's Day as an excuse to get Guinness, which I only get once in a while, because this imported beer is bit more expensive than my usual Miller Lite.

I've have Guinness Draught Stout plenty of times. Not sure I've ever had the Guinness Extra Stout before. Is the Extra Stout the stronger of Guinness brews that people in Ireland have mentioned?

[frodi]

A happy St Patricks day to one and all from the land of the shamrock.

Drinks are on me. Pints of Poitín are lined up on the bar. Last man/woman standing must be cheating.

Rob The extra stout is the original. No (real) Irish man would drink draught Guinness from a bottle or can. The only real draught comes from a keg with appropriate gas and cooler. My father went one step further. He would only drink draught Guinness. When the pubs were closed he would only drink bottles of McArdles Traditional Ale. Indeed this was my first drink (officially!) given to me by my father when I was xx years old. (Much to my mothers disgust.)

Meanwhile tonight we are having a traditional Irish dinner of pizza. Tomorrow B's dad is coming over and B is doing bacon and spuds for him. He'll probably join me in watching as much of the rugby as possible. Finishing off at 5pm with Ireland v England which will be a grand Slam decider for Ireland.  (  For England it will be their last chance to put a veneer of respectability on this season.)

[Rob]

We short of kegs around here, so I'll make do with the bottles.

[MalcolmR]

Here frodi. let me buy you a pint. Well done to your compatriots.

Mind you, I think if we had had 15 men on the pitch, it would have been a different story.

I don't profess to know the minutiae of the rules, but if that really was a red card offence, then the rules are wrong.

[Rob]

I can get a six-pack of Miller Lite, Budweiser and whatever for around $7. A six-pack of imported beer, whether it comes from Europe or Mexico is usually a few dollars more.

Though you guys won't touch Miller, Coors or Budweiser, etc, in your countries, do those beers cost more or less than your native beers?

[frodi]

Mar 18, 2023 15:05:04 GMT -5 Rob said:

I can get a six-pack of Miller Lite, Budweiser and whatever for around $7. A six-pack of imported beer, whether it comes from Europe or Mexico is usually a few dollars more.

Though you guys won't touch Miller, Coors or Budweiser, etc, in your countries, do those beers cost more or less than your native beers?

About the same.  Pricing is usually based on alcohol content. 

[frodi]

Mar 18, 2023 14:18:47 GMT -5 MalcolmR said:

Here frodi. let me buy you a pint. Well done to your compatriots.

Mind you, I think if we had had 15 men on the pitch, it would have been a different story.

I don't profess to know the minutiae of the rules, but if that really was a red card offence, then the rules are wrong.

Even with 15 men we still would have beaten you.  Maybe not by so much but the energy used by stopping the quick Irish ball is sapping and by the last quarter they would be drained.

Yes the red card was harsh but dems the rules.  Professional players know the rules and shouldn't be putting themselves in the situation where they will fall foul of them.  And when you do find yourself in that position you don't present your shoulder and elbow to the other players head.  Even hitting him on the head while lowering your body position gives the ref a chance to see mitigation and downgrade it to a yellow.  He didn't do that.  Part of todays game is to keep all 15 on the pitch and England didn't manage that.  If you play on the edge of the rules as England do then you have to accept that sooner or later you'll have to pay the price.  If you keep mouthing off at the ref then you are going to get on the wrong side of the officials. 

I was watching the Under 20 6 nations this evening. Again Ireland v England.  (2nd Irish Grand Slam in 2 years! ) Same again, a dangerous tackle, by an England player.  Upended an Irish player, 360 degrees , just missed landing on his head.  TMO review and a straight red.  England capt threw a hissy fit at the ref.  He never regained his composure and got very little from the ref for the rest of the game.  This is system wide problem for the English, not just a one off.  The issue as I see it is that it is seen as a way of playing rather than a problem. 

Thanks for that pint.

[frodi]

Mar 17, 2023 14:33:02 GMT -5 frodi said:

A happy St Patricks day to one and all from the land of the shamrock.

Drinks are on me. Pints of Poitín are lined up on the bar. Last man/woman standing must be cheating.

Rob The extra stout is the original. No (real) Irish man would drink draught Guinness from a bottle or can. The only real draught comes from a keg with appropriate gas and cooler. My father went one step further. He would only drink draught Guinness. When the pubs were closed he would only drink bottles of McArdles Traditional Ale. Indeed this was my first drink (officially!) given to me by my father when I was xx years old. (Much to my mothers disgust.)

Meanwhile tonight we are having a traditional Irish dinner of pizza. Tomorrow B's dad is coming over and B is doing bacon and spuds for him. He'll probably join me in watching as much of the rugby as possible. Finishing off at 5pm with Ireland v England which will be a grand Slam decider for Ireland.  (  For England it will be their last chance to put a veneer of respectability on this season.)

After all that, what did I end up drinking during and after the match yesterday.  Draught Guinness from a can. B got some in for her father and it turns out that was all the beer that was in the shed.  Beggars can't be choosers.

[martycanuck]

Post op photo of me wearing the only shirt I could find that fit over my shoulder/arm brace. Ironically probably the one I was wearing when I first injured it. My goalie jersey. One of my friends said it looks like I have my body armour on and he ain’t wrong!

[martycanuck]

I did later find a 3X Comp-o-stik T-shirt in our swag stock too though. Not as hot to wear!

[martycanuck]

And me in the day wearing the jersey back in the day. Looking good!