Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/21

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Subject: [Leica] F1 and soccer
From: nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman)
Date: Tue Jun 21 21:50:12 2005
References: <42B88DA9.9050609@aol.com>

I personally find F1 boring because there is so little passing. I much 
prefer to watch motorcycle racing, partly because I ride one myself 
(although my riding bears no resemblance to what I see on TV--I ride 
very conservatively) but mostly because there is a lot more action. Very 
rarely do you see someone leading from start to finish.

I was thinking of going to the races at Assen in the north of the 
Netherlands at the end of the month, but then realized that there would 
be precious little opportunity for photography (except for the other 
fans). I tried to ingratiate myself to a colleague whose boyfriend is a 
motor journalist so as to get access to the pit areas, but to no 
avail...so I will just watch on TV.

As for soccer in the US, I think it is developing now in a very healthy 
way (as opposed to the initial attempts in the 1970s using retired stars 
from Europe and South America). Those millions of kids who play it at 
school are growing up, and some of them are now playing in England and 
other top European leagues. As a result, the US national team is better 
than ever (yes, I know about their shock defeat of England in 1950, but 
that was a fluke, now they are consistently good). I predict that within 
the next couple of decades we will see USA in a World Cup final.

Nathan

Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:

> <<Soccer and Formula One do not fit the current
> USian paradigm:  either can be made to work here, but they need a far more
> patient and developed business plan than either has yet produced.>>
> 
> ==========
> 
> I agree about Formula 1 but not about soccer. F1 is BORING unless you 
> are intimately familiar with the drivers and the car manufacturers. What 
> is exciting about a race where Michael Schmacher wins most of the races, 
> where the team in the lead at the start generally stays in front till 
> the end, where the order of finishing for a team is predetermined by the 
> driver's contracts, and where the cars have almost no relevance to those 
> the average fan drives. Give me NASCAR with Chevrolets, Dodges and 
> Fords. Where drivers are good old boys who are not above running 
> competitors off the track, where the winning driver squirts champagne 
> instead of drinking it. It's almost as exciting as driving in Boston.
> 
> Soccer, on the other hand, has almost made it in the US. Fox TV has a 
> channel devoted primarily to soccer. You can watch a game almost any 
> time, day or night on the foreign language TV stations. Liverpool 
> winning the European championship had a TV audience in the US nearly as 
> big as the average baseball game.
> 
> Remember, this is a country of Soccer Moms and Nascar Dads. F1 is 
> nowhere to be found.
> 
> Larry Z
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
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> 
> 

-- 
Nathan Wajsman
Almere, The Netherlands

General photography: http://www.nathanfoto.com
Seville photography: http://www.fotosevilla.com
Stock photography: http://www.alamy.com/search-results.asp?qt=wajsman
http://myloupe.com/home/found_photographer.php?photographer=507
Prints for sale: http://www.photodeluge.com



Replies: Reply from kargue at sympatico.ca (Kevin Argue) ([Leica] F1 and soccer)
In reply to: Message from lrzeitlin at aol.com (Lawrence Zeitlin) ([Leica] F1 and soccer)