Baffling Differences

[Fashion Lad!]

You'll have to excuse him. For some odd reason, he read this paragraph from you, and thought you meant something like "We Americans are far more competitive than anybody else. The rest of you just are nowhere near us on that scale."



I really don't understand why he would have thought that. I mean, just because you said that Americans are a "more competitive group", and that other people in other countries don't feel the need for "I'm better than you", well, that doesn't mean anything right?

Definitely not. Complete misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what you were saying. Clearly, Slyt is suffering from a fairly serious mental malfunction if he manages to believe that, and should probably get himself checked out by a doctor.

Definitely.

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or a dick... but I guess everyone misses the line, "I'm not saying other countries are not competitive" which is a direct fucking contradiction to what he accused me of saying.

[Stormraven]

It takes a lot more skill to race around a lap 500 times than you'd think. Every car there is going as close to 200 mph as they can, and they're often traveling within inches of each other. As we've seen all too often, one wrong move can do massive damage.

Then there's the endurance needed to drive at those paces, and those distances, for so long.

I'm not a fan, but I can definitely see the point of calling it a sport.

[Greenday]

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or a dick... but I guess everyone misses the line, "I'm not saying other countries are not competitive" which is a direct fucking contradiction to what he accused me of saying.

Probably sarcasm. But when you say that America is more competitive than other countries, that's pretty synonymous with saying we are very competitive.

[Boozy]

Definitely not. Complete misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what you were saying. Clearly, Slyt is suffering from a fairly serious mental malfunction if he manages to believe that, and should probably get himself checked out by a doctor.

I don't know if you're being sarcastic or a dick... but I guess everyone misses the line, "I'm not saying other countries are not competitive" which is a direct fucking contradiction to what he accused me of saying.

I think everyone here needs to take a step back and relax. Intense sarcasm is not conducive to friendly debate, nor is cursing at people.

I realize everyone here is rather competitive (nationalities aside ) but let's take it down a notch.

[DesignFox]

<snip>

Ice Hockey.

What's not to love about Ice Hockey? Fast paced, lots of skill involved, many good lookin' guys, an occasional good fight...and if you're at the game, there are few things better than getting drunk and shouting to the rafters for your guys!

Oh, it's also one of the few TRUE team sports out there. Guys get hurt all the time. You can't rely on one or two star players to pull through the 82 game season. The whole team has to be able to work from the greatest of goal scorers down to the back-up goal tender. I've seen some of the best teams in the league completely fall to pieces if their star shooter gets hurt.

It's intense and action packed. The game can change at any moment...it isn't over until that final whistle blows. Tenths of a second can determine who wins and who loses. It's incredible.

AND-
With only a few notable exceptions, everyone at a game is having a good time and leaving as friends whether their team wins or loses. (there are of course exceptions to this rule. Notably in my area, avoid going to a Flyers game. NASTY crowd).



You'd be amazed how many people are into hockey. You generally don't know this unless you are into hockey yourself...until I started watching, I never realized how popular the sport really is.

I'm hooked.

[Skunkle]

To answer a question not really answered previously, as to why the Japanese go nuts with Hello Kitty...

Japanese culture has completely different thinking from the western world on something specific: the division between childlike behavior and 'grown-up' behavior. Also, to a degree, on the division between masculine/feminine things. In most of our side of the world, once you "grow up", you're expected to abandon childlike things, and give up hobbies like playing with toys or reading comic books/watching cartoons. The Japanese just don't draw the line: Adults are huge consumers of toys, comics, animation and clothing, even that with simplistic or 'cute' themes. None of this is seen as being childish - it's just "having a good time". And cutesy things are not necessarily limited to young girls - adult men may like Sanrio characters and not be ridiculed or shamed for it.

I'm not a Japanophile at all, I know next to zero anime and/or manga, and I'm not a Sanrio fan. But I like the general sentiment that growing up doesn't require a person to change his or her likes, interests and hobbies just for the sake of being more 'respectable'. In the US, I think this sort of thing is seen as immaturity, and though we don't really look at it this way, what it sometimes means is that reaching adulthood means being forced to give up fun for its own sake, and only doing such things if one can justify them by calling them 'productive' or 'businesslike'.

The Japanese get a lot more done in less time by allowing more creative outlets for stress. As per the guns and sports, I think many parts of the world use these as their stress outlets. Firearms are seen as not a stress release, but as a reason not to have stress in the first place because you're automatically on top of any situation. "Peace through superior firepower", as the term goes - not something I agree with, but that's not really germane. Watching/rooting for sports is also a stress release activity, but that isn't their only purpose, or the only reason for the rabid affection fans have.

Sports without fierce competition, sometimes to the point of violence, are, I think, seen as a weakness. I've noticed that not only America but many countries have a deep-seated fear of being weak or inadequate, and one can easily be the strongest, most secure, most firepower-laden player and still feel insecure.

I can't say I can understand every reason for everything in every culture, but when I don't understand something, I do what the other people in this thread are doing: Ask around until I get some ideas, and then ponder them.

[Fryk]

Not to mention that Japan has some of THE coolest toys in the world! I would kill to get my hands on some of their Transformers. They cost too much to import, though.

[jackfaire]

but that's not really germane. .

OOOOOOO big word sorry I know I am not being topical teasing

[Fryk]

That's not a big word. It only has seven letters in it. And the're all lowercase
:: P

[Slytovhand]

What's not to love about Ice Hockey?

Ok, let me clarify... the intense difference between Ice hockey and grass hockey! Slightly slower, but less violent - and that's probably the thing I don't get - the fights and violence associated with ice. I suppose I just like a game where you really only have to rely on the skill alone - not the brawn. So, with the little I've seen, I've liked when one player can easily flick around another, but don't like when they ram each other. It's not just the ice hockey, cos they have similarly full contact sports over here that I don't get as well.

Speaking of which - American football! What the...? How can 20 minutes take over an hour???

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Wait...there is an actual GAME being played during hockey?

So THAT is what kept interrupting the fight.

[protege]

Speaking of which - American football! What the...? How can 20 minutes take over an hour???

It's because of the commercials, the endless chatter from the announcers, and because every damn play has to be shown (and analyzed) from multiple angles. Throw in the constant updates from other games--usually games that nobody cares about--and 20 minutes can easily take an hour

[muses_nightmare]

I'm really not into sports, though I do have to say when people say ice hockey it annoys me, it's Hockey, just Hockey. Anything else is Blank hockey. That being said I think I'm one of the few Canadians that couldn't give a crap about hockey. I also don't watch the olympics and could care less about medals etc.

Yeah, there are probably more things that baffle me about other cultures, but it's nearly 2am right now and my brain is losing thinking abilities.

[jackfaire]

I'm really not into sports, though I do have to say when people say ice hockey it annoys me, it's Hockey, just Hockey. Anything else is Blank hockey. That being said I think I'm one of the few Canadians that couldn't give a crap about hockey. I also don't watch the olympics and could care less about medals etc.

Yeah, there are probably more things that baffle me about other cultures, but it's nearly 2am right now and my brain is losing thinking abilities.

We used to have a roller hockey team why I am not sure but the games were awesome for us kids we loved em better than the I....uhm hockey games.

[DesignFox]

I knew what Slyt was getting at, so I felt the need to clarify.

I don't "get" field hockey. Not nearly as action packed.

And yes, if the game is actually being played, there's more to it than brawn. The best teams in the league are not bullies on skates (There is one team like that, and they've lost half the games they've played this season... )

There's also a few reasons for the fighting, but my SO is better at explaining that than I am. He's the big hockey fan, and the one that got me interested in the sport.

I don't get football, either. It's probably better to actually be at the game than trying to watch on TV...but meh. I just could never get into it. Toooooo sloooow!

Hockey is so fast that you miss stuff if you blink. That agrees more with my easily distracted mind.

Of course, this is coming from the person who is still recovering from last night's trip to the arena...so...yea.

Anyway. I don't get people who take any sport so seriously that they are fighting over it. I enjoy a little good natured heckling with fellow hockey fans...but flat out attacking one another or getting into serious arguments, etc. I don't understand people like that. It's a game! It's supposed to be fun!