I've been to a few Highbury games when I was younger. Moot point, because I follow every single game on TV for well over a decade; I know what the passion is like.

American sports are different in atmosphere, to be sure. For example, baseball is the perfect family sport: People gorge on the food, talk on their cell phones, banter with their friends, etc, but don't ever tell me that when it's close the fans aren't as passionate. Same goes for American Football, etc.

When you have rivalries and a close game, it's only human to have strong emotions. To say only English Soccer fans feel that passion and emotion when the game is close is both ignorant and naive.

Prey tell, how many close baseball, american football, hockey, basketball, etc games have you been to?

I hate American sports. I hate how commercialized they are. I will hardly ever support American sports. But don't ever question the passion of the fans.

Every sport produces the same emotions. Again, don't be stupid.

Not every sport is exciting, but people are people. To think that "different cultures" separates people from having the same passions and emotions, is idiotic. The cultural differences and the trends are what gives each sport it's own character, but that doesn't mean one equals more passion than the other. I think some are confusing characteristics with passion and emotion.

Just about everyone at most major sporting events are louts and idiots. That's the point of being a fan at a sporting event. And it's not wrong to say Liam was an idiot. He was being a fan. Being an idiot at a sporting event, such as soccer, football, basketball, that's ingrained in every culture. And the second that some remember that people are people no matter where you hail from, that they have the same emotions and the same passions, with their own characteristics, the second there will be less of these UK vs US discussions.

^I would also say that college basketball and football are fairly passionate. Especially rivalry games like Duke vs. UNC, University of Oklahoma vs. Texas, and Alabama vs Auburn, Michigan vs. Ohio St.. Rivalries that have gone on for generations, where there can sometimes be complete and utter hate for either side that can't be described.

Alabama vs. Auburn is extreme, a bunch of rednecks.

i consider the Duke vs. UNC rivalry pretty tame, a bunch of preppy white boys but it is passionate.

OSU vs. Michigan is a heated rivalry....no killings, though. those pussies.

God bless.

this thread is amazingly fun and serious as it should be, where is gdforever

it's gdforever's birthday. she's passed out drunk in a laundry closet during her shift at the hospital where she works.

God bless.

I really don't understand what you're arguing about here? TheyknowwhatImean (not me) said that American's don't grasp the range of emotions because they've never been to a proper match. You were the one who first mentioned passion. I'm not for one second suggesting that American's are more or less passionate about their sports, as you say, that would be stupid. But the range of emotions that was referred to isn't necessarily related to passion. It's a mix of a lot of things. It's difficult to describe to somebody who's never really experienced it because I don't think there is an American equivalent. There isn't the same culture of away support in America because of the logistics, you don't have two groups of strangers baying for each others blood - sometimes quite literally - for 90 minutes in a partial cauldron of hatred. Us against them. It messes with your brain and produces irrational reactions.

Again, I'm not sure what you're arguing about here as you more or less said exactly that yourself. American fans are more passive, it's a completely different culture and if you've never experienced it, is it really that offensive to suggest you don't quite grasp it? Again, you were the one who mentioned passion. By assuming range of emotions = more passionate you've kind of proved his point anyway, as you don't seem to grasp what it's all about.

I asked how many matches you've been to as it's a completely different experience being there to watching it on TV. Do you get the same buzz from watching videos or listening to bootlegs as you do from actually seeing Oasis live? I mentioned away games as that's a different experience in itself - you're in the minority so its intensified. Going back to the original thread, Liam was at a high pressure away match, so it's relevant.

To be honest, I think we're actually singing from the same hymnsheet here, but between you and gdforever I've never encountered a more pedantic pair of posters anywhere on the internet.

^I would like to add again, that College Football in America is exactly how you describe football (soccer). Go to OSU vs. Michigan or Alabama vs. Auburn. Then tell me there isn't a wide range of emotions, or fever, or that there's a logistical problem, or each aren't side beating each others heads in because their disdain for each other doesn't go back years, it goes back generations. Families torn apart, friendships, marriages gone to disaster, ended because of two teams. Because for a few months on a Saturday, two teams beat each others heads in.

College football rivalries are all that you have described Nyron, if I may be so bold.

Why is sexually assaulting a man better than assaulting a woman?
I'd personally pick a female.

They produce the same amount of emotions but display them differently, you wouldn't know seen as you are an arsenal fan who lives in America. arsenal fans on away matches sit in their seats and do the odd chant, real supporters from clubs like newcastle and stoke get off their faces before the match even starts, take their tops of and jump up and down all game when they're losing two-nil at 8:30 on a winter night. They don't sit eating nachos with a baseball cap and a big foam finger.

You should 'catch flack'. I agree with the sentiment, but 'you men', seriously? As if all men are one person. And people ask why I don't like what feminism has become.