- video: John Cleese - Soccer vs. Football
- book p 117, 118: American sports"
Homework:
- book p 119, 5a: Fill in "go/do/play"; then write a sentence with every sport. Example: Vanessa doesn't go hiking at the weekend.
John Cleese – Soccer vs. Football
The wonderful thing about
football is how creative it is. And this is why it has never caught on in
America. You see, in America, the action is deliberately kept short so that the
sponsors can get in as many commercials as possible... and also so that the
players don’t have to think for too long. They get instructions from the quarterback,
who has in turn received them from the offensive coach, so no-one has to think
for themselves.
This is the Dick Chaney
version of creativity otherwise known as “doing exactly what you’re told”. So
you get four seconds of extremely violent action, and then the only genuinely
creative activity involved is a beer commercial. So American football is played
like a series of advertising jingles while soccer is played like jazz.
And while we’re on the
subject: Why do the Americans insist on calling it soccer? Why do they have
such a problem calling it football? It’s a game played with a ball that is struck
with the foot – hence: foot-ball, you see? Are you following this, America? The
clue is in the title, it’s not that difficult...
Whereas American football, as
they call it, is a game where an object that’s not really a ball at all (it’s
the wrong shape for a ball) is carried around by hand and occasionally thrown
for other people to catch in their hands, you see? Only one person in each team
is allowed to actually kick the ball, and they have to be specially brought
onto the field to do it.
I suppose in its own way that
is a form of creativity. It’s quite a creative use of language: You are saying
one thing and meaning something completely different.
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