AD V8 573 Mr. Smith Americans may be unsophisticated but (long)

["Granier, Rob" <rob.granier@domain.elided>]

Items to ponder when reading the AD: 

The AD DOES NOT represent the typical swath of civilized society in terms of
intelligence.  The Alfa Romeo, plus the combination of modern computer
technology and ones ability have an opportunity to express ones self in
writing, all combine to allure (IMHO) above average folk in terms of smarts,
IQ.  Thus, is this crowd often trying to keep itself "sophisticated" by
separating itself from what is perceived as unsophisticated?  At least the
Americans, anyway?  I'm not so sure.  So much of what is ingrained into our
likes and dislikes radiates from our childhood and adolescence. So, sorry if
we seem unsophisticated. 
Other parts of the World don't care for American sports simply because it's
not part of their culture.   Hence the U.S. has never grasped Soccer as a
spectator sport.  And to make such a comment 
"NASCAR may appeal to some but the idea of more or less identical cars 
circulating an oval track while large crowds wait for something interesting 
to happen"    
is saying NASCAR isn't sophisticated either?  Sorry, but there are technical
aspects that play into winning a NASCAR event.  Handling, due to many
aspects like tire pressure, chassis adjustment,  ("Looseness, tightness")
and steering, of course the horsepower aspect, fueling strategy, also
performance good or bad by the pit-crew play almost if not more so factor
into a driver finishing first vs. tenth. All important in ANY type of
auto-racing, the only difference is the track lay-out.  The talent
difference of the drivers is pretty damn close in modern NASCAR.  I do think
however that Jeff Gordon could compete on any type of track, in any type in
vehicle.  With his tremendous success at a very young age in Winston Cup,
I'd hoped he would take a shot at racing in CART  or especially F1.  
Finally, one last non-Alfa thread to rebut:    
"Sorry, but US football, US baseball, and now US style ice hockey ( how the
US has ruined that game is criminal, any takers? I'll explain how exciting
it used to be compared to the boring pap now served up by US dominated
hockey) has the entire world yawning and wondering just why Americans turn
out in droves and spend huge sums of money to watch. Baseball is like
watching paint dry, it even makes cricket look somehow cerebral. US (and
Canadian) football where players rarely kick the ball, let alone do anything
interesting with it, is equally dull."
I'm hoping a serious puckster will chime in soon on his crazy take regarding
the US changing Hockey.  That's the silliest statement of all. I'm a fan,
(Go Sharks!) but never played the game. But, I know that The "Dump the Puck
Into Corners and Keep it on their side with checking, etc" is and was not an
American idea!  Christ, hockey is played by, coached by, and managed by
Canadians, Europeans, and Americans, in that order!  Just because a larger
percentage of the teams play in the U.S. does not mean the "Goon-style" of
conservative, physical play was started by Americans.  You don't think more
fans want to see higher scoring? 
Finally, the other two American sports he mentions, football and baseball.
After being an AD digest member for several years and picking up bits
regarding many of the perticipants backgrounds I can safely say that I'm
likely the only one here that played Football, Baseball and Basketball
through High School.  I played these games he finds boring, and if you know
the nuances either through partcipation or study, one will find:
BASKETBALL (NBA style) should be the sport you bash!  Fundamentals have
eroded, the players are spoiled, clueless boobs and the game is less
exciting because of it all.
Football doesn't need the ball to be "kicked" all day long to be exciting.
Speed, collisions, force, power, gracefulness, strength, will, teamwork,
stamina, strategy. Also, the ball does get kicked about 25 times a game!  It
offers more than any other sport plus looks great on TV.   NFL Europe also
looks great in those stadiums in Frankfurt, Glasgow, Barcelona, Amsterdam,
Berlin, etc. with an average of 30 to 40K fans in the seats.    
Baseball, the National Pastime. It is similar to Cricket..if you have places
to go at a certain time after this game, then this is not the game for you.
It's beauty is that it does not have a game-clock, and no lame shoot-out to
determine the winner. You play nine innings or longer until someone wins! 
In todays game unfortunately the players have become overspecialized. This
only adds to the "watching paint dry" theme due to the field Managers making
numerous pitching changes, ensuring their big contract guys do what they're
paid to do.  Plus, the current folks "in charge" are arrogant and basically
clueless constantly threatening actions that will only drive away fans young
and old.  But it is a game with a strategy on every single pitch that
highlights individual skills unlike any other. 
There goes my Lunch-hour.....

Rob Granieri
CA Bay Area
Alfa 164S   
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided