don't be so thin skinned,j 999,

Septic is London rhyming slang for Yank..septic tank=yank

Do American sports fans sing/chant in the stadium?

Bob, Have you been drinking paint again?

I would say that the atmosphere at a game is a part of the whole experience.

I would say that football and yank football are broadly the same in that they are played in a stadium in front of a partisan crowd.

The few times I've seen yankee egg-chasing on telly it sounds like it's being played in near silence with occasional cheers when someone scores. Is that a fair reflection of reality? (TV companies here often try and filter out the crowd because of the filthy nature of many of the chants, so who knows).

So yes I would say that the amount of atmosphere generated is a measure of something - I suggest of passion.

One of the common complaints about US sports is that they are so dull that they have to find other ways to entertain the crowd - cheerleaders and the like. Fair comment?

To be fair, American football DOES generate insane noise levels. When my local Seahawks (a team I hate, by the way) play, the crowd is so loud the other team can't hear their own signals down on the field and get penalized for offsides and false starts.

There is actually a penalty the officials can impose (and do, often, here in Seattle) for "excessive noise" when the visiting team has the ball. Five yards or the loss of a timeout.

See http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/sp...l/24noise.html on NFL noise.

No such penalty exists in the college game, and while I hate college football to the tips of my toes I admit they are second to none when it comes to crowd enthusiasm. You don't get thousands of fans at Premiership games who paint their entire upper bodies in team colors.

half fair comments IMO

there is a lot of noise in close big football games - a lot - QBs often have to ask the ref for time out because they can't hear the signals or the rest of the players can't hear them

as for passion IMO American college football fans have way too much passion - the outcome of the game for some is life and death it seems - a friend's buddy got so disgusted at one losing game of his team he bolted and walked several miles home - pregame 'Tailgates' are a huge affair at major college and pro venues - for hours before and after the game

yes game day experience, which has little to do with the actual game, is a big deal - cheerleaders, bands, singing the fight songs, etc. At some schools the band may have a bigger following than a losing football team

As for soccer's passion and loudness it helps that the play rarely stops - in real football when the play stops as it does more and more for 'TV Timeouts' the crowd dies down

Do they sing, etc. Yes and doing the wave is still very popular and started in American college football at Univ of Washington i think

Basketball games - college are always a loud affair at places where basketball counts

As for soccer's loudness it does defy me that with so little action the crowd would yell so much - i guess it's more a club feeling than any real excitement from the typically 1-0 dullsville match

And it may be that soccer in most of the soccer world is about the only show in town - especially Latin America and that fuels the feeling that it's the whole city versus the world where in U.S. sports are fragmented amongst three or four or perhaps even more sport teams in the same city vying for attention. The winningnest team often gets the most but it can change.

An interesting discussion and perhaps soccer does elicit more a passion - especially in third world countries

Baseball games in midsummer can be a little quiet at times. You don't hear a continuous roar at cricket matches, either. American football games are comparable in noise levels to Premiership games.

But it's true: we don't sing. Ever. Or chant much. Mostly we just howl and roar, like a cowboy at a roundup in an old Western: "yee-haw"! Or another favorite, "hoo!", or "AAHHH".

We make a lot of noise, but there's nothing like the sound of 50,000 mostly male voices singing. At Anfield, coming out into the stadium during "You'll Never Walk Alone" sent chills up my spine, and I'm not even a Reds fan. They use piped-in music to prompt them for it, now, though.

But the impromptu "You'll never work again -- sign on, si-ign on" version from the away supporters is awfully good. And hearing Spurs supporters singing "Anfield is a Library" a few weeks later warmed the heart, though of course Spurs let in the tying goal right after. They used to sing it about Highbury, which rhymes, but it's been a while since they've sung a happy song away at Arsenal.

Best of all are the popular songs reset with dirty words.

About the only organized fan thing at American sports is The Wave, where sections of seating all stand at the same time, in order, in a wave across the sections. It is traditional to decry the wave as being stupid and unserious, especially when it happens at a baseball game, because of course baseball is a deadly serious matter and one should be CONCENTRATING, not enjoying oneself. I kind of like it.

What I don't like is the constant booming music, horribly distorted and windblown but very, very loud. "Louie, Louie" is always popular, and now every batter has his own theme song as he strides to the plate -- a few bars of "Bad to the Bone" or "Who Let the Dogs Out".

And I don't like the scoreboards prompting "MAKE SOME NOISE" and so on; it's cheesy. In the old days, the music, and the prompting, came from a guy playing the organ; now it's super high-tech and super annoying.

American sports have lots of breaks to play music in; you couldn't do it at a soccer match.

I'm off to the Lane now to make some noise as THFC take on the spaghetti munching surrender monkeys of Getafe (and probably lose if this season is anything to go by).

European football on winter weeknights: Yanks, you don't have any idea what you are missing.

poor the yanks.

Does Wembley have the requisite hyper-drive PA system and scoreboard to bombard the fans with earsplitting music and constant exhortations? If it doesn't, you won't be getting the full effect.

Look closely -- you'll probably see at least one career-ending injury. Watch the linemen, the big fat ones (they average well over 300 pounds now -- 21 or 22 stone -- but are as quick as sprinters for short breaks). Most of them won't see the far side of 55 years of age, or the top of a flight of stairs again.

Someone once asked Why is Fodor's Infested with Spurs fans?

ironic since it seems none live anywhere near White Heart Lane or would

maybe that's why they're moving to Enfield i hear on the soccer street

Does Wembley have the requisite hyper-drive PA system and scoreboard to bombard the fans with earsplitting music and constant exhortations? If it doesn't, you won't be getting the full effect.>>>>

Yup it has all that stuff. It isn't just used for football - it's a multi-purpose stadium. I just hope that one year i'll get to go to a cup final there. Maybe the 2018 World Cup Final.

*remembers 1981, 1982, 1991, 1999 and sighs*


Bob: Spurs MAY be moving to enfield as they have outgrown their current site (and it's a pig to get to). Quite a lot of clubs are doing this. I don't like it - I think it's a bit corporate and souless and, not to put too fine a point on it, American.

"spaghetti munching surrender monkeys of Getafe"

Spaghetti munching - why - is it popular in Spain ?

Is they paella munchers? I'd never heard of them until the draw.

Spain/Italy - same place really - they both drink wine and pinch girls bums.

Oh, yes, snook, please pardon me for not recognizing the cleverness.

And Warner, somehow I knew you'd equate noise with quality.

Have a pint and a lie down - you sound like you need both. There's nothing rude about the term "septic".

I would advise you not to attend a football match if you're that sensitive. The experience will make your hair turn white overnight (it made mine all fall out)

Now - COME ON YOU SPURS!

"infested with Spurs supporters"? Just the one, as far as I know - not me.

There are a few of us. And one's even a girlybird.

One of 'em's even a septic. Me.

and all are masochists

You say that like it's a bad thing.

well i do admire their 'pluck' for self-imposed flagellation.