northwoods

Perhaps they were marking their territory, to warn off other potential bin-riflers...

I'm realizing that - I had no idea. I understand it's very foolish of me but I had some kind of mental picture of common people going to games... how can you have hardcore fans if they're shelling out ?80 per game or more? that's a lot of scratch to spend on a single game. I suppose people prioritize but come on, 80 pounds buys a fair few rounds. It seems I'm destined for pub-only viewing!

Well I've looked at Dulwich Hamlet, missed their match today but I'll try to get to the next one. I checked out Arsenal tickets online and I can't even BUY them without joining them as a member for 36 quid??? unbelievable!

God's own sport - does that mean New Zealand is best? :P

That might as well have been said in Aramaic, I'd understand it equally the same...

Gingerbeer: my brother's partner is finishing his master's degree in Iowa City, and I think it's fair to say they both wish there was no football anywhere in the state. So I think the answer is "neither". :) Iain - a local rugby club sounds like a treat, we'll definitely come check out a game in September. Thanks for the info! maxxi - cake and pigeons is a sport?

not the answer you're looking for, but I'd love to get my hands on one of these: Bug-A-Salt an american shotgun-type thing that blasts flies with table salt and kills them dead. completely pointless but the 5 year old in me is screaming for one every time a big fly gets into the house.

I do believe one-upsmanship is a recognized Olympic sport, these days.

Cricket, I'll confess, absolutely befuddles me - I understand that the bowler has to hit the sticks with the ball, and the batsman(?) needs to protect them somehow, but beyond that I'm lost about the rest of the process. The idea of a game taking 5 days to complete, that's really something, isn't it? And to have that end in a draw no less. I've spotted the Oval, although mostly while stuck in traffic trying to edge past it, so thank you for hinting at it's secondary purpose beyond causing traffic backups. I'm happy to know this. I will have to investigate attending a match, although I may need to purchase some sort of guide book - Lonely Planet Guide to Cricket, perhaps, or Cricket for Dummies? Mocking american sports is never difficult and in fact is perhaps a sport unto itself; I've never been a fan of american football (costume rugby is an apt term) so it's quite easy to poke fun at it first and foremost. My brother lives in a small college town in Iowa, and the population goes from 68,000 people to over 120,000 people on "game days" when the university team is playing american football. Watching 60k people wearing horrible colors and facepaint and grilling hamburgers on barbecues that mount on the back of their giant pickup trucks - that's never really worked for me, it's kind of terrifying. There's something weird about it that also speaks volumes about us americans as a people. What can I say? My wife and I have been living in France the last few years and we'd routinely go watch the rugby matches at a bar in Strasbourg - often we're the only ones cheering for England, while everyone else cheers for "whoever is not England". So I'm happy I was able to stand up for England and shout down the french lads around us last go-around in the Six Nations. Not so much that I understood the whole game, but it's rather hard not to shout in such circumstances, isn't it? That's also why I want to attend a large football match here, to experience some of that in person. We don't have the same kind of rivalries in the states. The last winter I spent in Minnesota had a memorable week of temperatures in the -30C range, can't say I miss that much. Your weather here is some of the nicest I've ever seen, rain and all.

Right, so looks like they've got a long way to go. In the states football is mostly considered a children's game, so while most kids play it in their youth (like myself) very few go on to play it after the age of 13-14, instead switching to american football or baseball (glorified rounders) or some such. I think this is the problem for acceptance, and also why I have no clue about the fundamentals of the sport. I grew up playing ice hockey so I'm fond of sports that involve fights - hence rugby's appeal. I get the feeling the fighting in football mostly involves the fans, not the players...

Mindbogglingly enough, my home state has a football club: Minnesota United FC never heard of it, and we've got a state of 6 million people who probably haven't either. Maybe there's some culture developing over there? I'll bet they don't even have metal detectors or gun patdowns at the door!

Thankfully I don't have to google, my wife is english (Herne Hill born and bred) so I have an in-house translator. She's a rugby fan though and thusly I need help to decipher the meaning behind football as a sport. As near as I can tell, it involves a lot of fake injuries and faux-hawks, but perhaps there's more to it than that.

Dulwich Hamlet plays in pink? that's a very pride-ful gesture, I'm sure it would be fun to watch. I'll try to visit one of their matches. Millwall fans geared up for a fight might be interesting - I've heard a lot about soccer hooligans but I didn't know England was still keeping reservoirs of them on-hand except for UK vs Germany games... Gingerbeer: I'm from Minnesota, and we both know we have more to offer than those horrible hipsters on the coasts!

Your response is one of the reasons I love reading the Forum. I'm an american but from a remote "flyover state" with likely more cows than people, so we're used to being second best. I can't think of the last time any of my hometown sports teams won anything to be honest. So I'm used to supporting the underdog. Even I have heard of Man U and the sheer fact I'm aware of them seems like a good reason to avoid. Plus there's millions of people worldwide to support them so no reason I should start! I'm open to suggestions, so I'll take your West Ham idea on board.

Hello all, I've recently moved to London and I've never, ever been to a football match before. As you may well know my people across the pond have our own wacky sports and whilst I played football as a youth I've never watched a match or been to a game. It's high time that I rectified this, and I'm hoping to find someone willing to school me a bit on how it works and who I should be supporting... the latter issue seems to be the most important, here! Anyway, I'm a reasonably genial guy of 35, very fond of beer and other tasty beverages, and I'm happy to buy a few rounds of pints in exchange for some football knowledge! Located in Forest Hill area but obviously I'm happy to come to you or meet you in a pub, etc. Thanks!