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Today right?
1. Just pick any team; I would say watch some games and see who has a playing style that you like or players that you like to watch. I chose to support Manchester United in 1999 because it seemed like every time I saw them play they would score a game winning goal right at the end of the game.
2. This is a tough one, as there are only really maybe 8-10 teams who are always in the top league, and if you are a fan of most any of them, someone will call you a bandwagon fan. Teams like Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, and Chelsea will all most definitely get you called a bandwagon fan, but they are the only teams that really have a chance to win the league.
3. Relegation is a way of keeping all parts of the league table (standings) interesting. Basically, the teams ending the season with the worst three records is dropped from the Premier League in the the Championship (like AAA in baseball, kind of), and three teams come up from the Championship to the Premier League each year.
4. Some of the best rivalry games are between those top teams, or of teams that are close in proximity. Liverpool and Manchester United is a huge rivalry due to both being top clubs and their proximity. Liverpool vs. Everton, Manchester United vs. Man City, Chelsea vs. Arsenal etc. are all great rivalries. The biggest rivalry in European soccer is Real Madrid vs, Barcelona (called El Superclassico), but that is the Spanish League.
5. Yes, but you seem to have the way it works a little confused. Champions League is a tournament that is played by the top teams from all of the leagues in Europe. Finishing in the top four spots in the bigger leagues (think Spain, England, Italy etc.) gets you a spot in next year's Champions League. Other leagues get less teams in the Champions League. It is a separate competition from the Premier League, and usually features some of the best games all year due to it all being top teams and the clash of styles between the regional leagues.
6. I think I partially answered this above, but there are other tournaments that teams can be qualified for that are separate competitions from the Premier League as well. The FA cup is a knock-out tournament for English teams, as is the Carling cup. Most other leagues have some form of these type of knock-out tournaments as well. The European Championship (the Euros) is like the world cup but only for Europe, and happens every four years, but staggered so there is two years between it and the world cup. The Europa League is like the Champions League, but for the second tier of teams in the European Leagues, and for those who get knocked out of the group stage of the Champions League.
I hope this helps, I played the game all of my life and watch it all the time, ask anything else and I will try to answer it.
1) This one's easy. Watch a lot of games, (maybe the rest of this season, maybe even more) and pick a team that you enjoy. I picked Arsenal because I love their style of play and because they're run financially responsibly. Also their logo is a freakin cannon. But there are good reasons to root for any team.
2) Bandwagoners are gonna happen for any team that's near the top of the table, but I wouldn't let that deter you. If you enjoy the team, that's all that matters. Relegation is a pretty hard thing to predict but there is a definite correlation between a team's wage bill and what place they typically finish in the league every year. Pick a team with a top 10-12 wage bill and they probably will be safe for the near future.
3) Each season, the bottom 3 finishers in the EPL are sent down to the next English league (called the Championship) and the 3 top from the Championship are promoted up. Well, there's a playoff for the 3rd promotion spot but that's the gist of it. That's really all there is to it. There's movement in all of the English leagues each season.
4) Any local rivalries are usually the biggest games. The Manchester teams, Liverpool/Everton, Arsenal/Tottenham, etc. But also, anytime a big team squares off with another big team, always a big game. But you'll also want to watch the games near the end of the season when the bottom teams are fighting to stay in the league. Those are always some of the very best.
5) The Champions League contains the best of most European leagues every year. 4 English teams get a berth annually so there are scenarios where a local rivalry could play out in the Champions League, however I think they eliminate that possibility until later on in the tournament. I think this may also answer your 6th question kinda but I wasn't really sure what the question is there.
Van Gaal has got to go. And yes, let Giggs get some experience as top dog before bringing in Pep for the next 3 seasons.
The decision of a UVA student to "tour" North Korea, hope he gets released soon, but man what was he thinking.....
Probably final report from Christiansburg. Shoveled the driveway already , 12-14 inches total
We are just about done with snow for the day, maybe some minor flurries in the next few hours. My earlier estimate was off by a bit, and after shoveling the driveway I think we probably hit six inches. A new dusting covered everything since then (9 AM).
1. Several ways to do this. One, find a player you like, and support their club. That's partly how I became a United fan. Ryan Giggs was the shit. Another, listen through some of the clubs songs and chants online, root for whoever is funniest. Third option is pick a team based on who your friends like, whether that means liking the same team, or picking the rival just make things fun. Finally, you could just pick the one with the crest/colors/jersey you like best.
2. Chelsea, United, Man City, Arsenal, and Liverpool are gonna be the teams with the most bandwagoners because they're the more successful teams in the league. If you wanna stay safe of being accused of bandwagoning, Tottenham wouldn't be a bad choice. For teams in danger of relegation, just check the table: http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/matchday/league-table.html.
3. The bottom three clubs in the standings at the end of year are relegated to the Football League Championship, and three top teams from that division are promoted for the next year. It seems to be the same few clubs on that merry go round from year to year.
4. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/picturegalleries/11197636/The-...
5. The Champions League is totally separate, and run by UEFA, so yes some draws feature rivalries of sorts.
6. UEFA is the European governing body for football. They run the Champions and Europa Leagues, which run concurrently with regular home leagues. It's a way to see matchups between teams from different leagues. The Premier League has been slipping in recent years in competition against Champions League opponents. The Europa League features teams of a slightly lesser quality than the Champions League, but is still fun to watch.
5.
man, loss to southhampton at home is rough. dreadful to see such an iconic franchise play so stagnantly. fire van gaal, giggsy at interim hc, bring in the special one?
Damn.
1st how do I pick a club to support? 2nd how do I pick a team that isn't full of bandwagon fans or likely to be relegated soon 3rd how does relegation work? 4th what are best rivarly games to watch throughout the year? 5th can teams from Premier and Champions league play each other if they are rivals? 6th in seeing stuff about Europe and other things what's that in relation to Premier?
How's that for a start?
looks like blacksburg is done, NOVA has a waaaays to go
jesus that liverpool game today
yuuuuup
May not be the best source. I'm a United fan, and as such, it's hard to remember what soccer is supposed to look like.
Notre Dame is constantly in over their head in bowl games. USC seemed to be the most overrated. The fact that USC has had a number of awful seasons, yet they've only spent one season completely out of the rankings was telling.
In the second chart, Alabama (and Texas) started the season 8 times in the top five but only finished there 5 times. The overrated tag would certainly apply there. To be fair though, they only started 2 seasons ranked #1 and finished that way 4 times. Both Alabama and USC had a lot of awful seasons coupled with a few dominant ones.
Only FSU and USC had a season where they were ranked #1 from start to finish.
Doesn't make sense considering a few years ago this tech grad was on the East.
how we looking eshiben?
Go for it... I've been watching for a long time, I can try to answer some questions. First of all, come on you Gunners!
Countries like this have very strict rules about what you can and cannot do. You have an official keeper who follows you around and makes sure you see only what you should. If you attempt to leave the group they can pick you up. In the end, unless you really really want to see the country it is best to avoid it. If you try to spread messages about religion, freedom, kim is not god they will lock you up fast. If he was try to spread religion or democracy I hope he gets out fast. If he was being a dummy he can stay a bit.
It's a hidden side quest.
Ever try to predict how much beer a super mutant would consume at one sitting?
French and I have been puzzling about catching bluefish in the chumline for fresh cobia bait. Seems like they'd be typical blues, eat any and everything they see and be fairly easy to catch. Not true. My guess is that they hone in on the chum and ignore anything not. Got to wondering if a "chum" fly would do any better. Kinda like the "fish chow" fly that can work on recently stocked trout when all else fails. Any thoughts?
I bet he's sledding today.
I feel like Tottenham has been that way for so long that they are now actually a bandwagon team as well, just for that reason.