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Is There Anything More Intimidating in Sports???

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Mayfly, Jul 11, 2007.

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  1. Mayfly

    Mayfly Active Member

    The salary cap in the Aussie Rules league and the rugby union limit teams from spending NFL and MLB type numbers.
     
  2. Bill Horton

    Bill Horton Active Member

    OK, so Michigan coach Lloyd Carr is a pain in the ass, but it's obvious he knows something about football.
    OK, so Zag can find his way his way to SportsJournalists.com, but it's obvious he's a total gasbag who knows nothing about rugby.
    What do the two have in common?

    U-M's Carr travels Down Under to watch some rugby
    Australian actor Crowe invites coach to critique his team
    Saturday, May 12, 2007
    BY JOHN HEUSER
    News Sports Reporter
    After University of Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr used the boxing film "Cinderella Man'' to help inspire his team last season, he received a phone call at his Schembechler Hall office from the film's star, Australian Russell Crowe.

    Crowe and Carr talked for 20 minutes or so, and in the course of the conversation, the actor invited the Michigan coach Down Under to size up his team, the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

    Apparently, Carr took Crowe up on his word and spent the past week in Australia watching the Rabbitohs in action.

    Owned by Crowe, the Australian professional rugby team impressed Carr, according to a story in a Sydney newspaper that detailed Carr's visit.

    "There is no question the thing I marvel at is the aggressiveness with which they play without pads,'' Carr told The Daily Telegraph.

    Tagging along with the coach on the trip were defensive end Jeremy Van Alstyne and fullback Brian Thompson, who just wrapped up their Michigan careers. The pair trained with the Rabbitohs.

    "It was rough on us, I'm not going to lie,'' Van Alstyne said. "They showed us the ropes.''

    According to the Daily Telegraph story, Carr and his former players were planning to watch tonight's game between the Rabbitohs and the Canberra Raiders before returning to the U.S.
     
  3. Bill Horton

    Bill Horton Active Member

    Here's one more:

    Carr gets a taste of life Down Under


    May 13, 2007

    Michigan coach Lloyd Carr got to hang out Down Under with movie star Russell Crowe this week.

    Carr used Crowe's boxing epic "Cinderella Man" as a motivational tool this past season, which drew the attention of the Australian actor. That led to a phone call from Crowe to Carr and an invitation to Australia, where Crowe has a rugby team.

    This week, Carr visited the team and watched as two of his former players -- Jeremy Van Alstyne and Brian Thompson -- trained with it.

    Carr was amazed by the ferocity of the league, according to a story in Sydney's Sunday Telegraph.

    "There is no question the thing I marvel at is the aggressiveness with which they play without pads," Carr said. "You have to understand, I grew up watching and playing with pads. It's part of your psyche. It's hard to imagine the game without them."...

    Crowe talked with Carr about his Sydney-based rugby team. Carr admits he knew "less than zero" on the game prior to the call but came to realize the similarity of the "history, community and tradition" of football between Michigan and the team.

    Carr sat in on training, video sessions, delivered a talk on his success and watched a game.

    "One of my goals is to get an Australian kid to Michigan. I will tell you this, there is no doubt there are a few kids here who could play American football," Carr says. "But I don't want to recruit 'em because Russell might get mad at me."
     
  4. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Those salary caps are only for league play. The ones selected for national teams make quite a bit more.
     
  5. Bill Horton

    Bill Horton Active Member

    Here's something from an Australian paper.


    By Iain Payten
    May 12, 2007 12:00am
    GAZING up at a huge locker-room poster of John Sattler, Lloyd Carr shakes his head as he's told the story of a 1972 grand final so fierce the bloody Souths captain was chaired off with a ripped Rabbitohs badge and a broken jaw.
    "So the jaw is broken in this photo?" Carr asks. "Boy."
    As a career coach of 28 years, Carr mentally stores the tale, perhaps to recall when he returns to his domain at the University of Michigan.
    Like any visiting American football coach or player, Carr is amazed by the ferocity of league and the absence of helmets. But the Sattler story is something else.
    "There is no question the thing I marvel at is the aggressiveness with which they play without pads. You have to understand, I grew up watching and playing with pads. It's part of your psyche. It's hard to imagine the game without them," Carr adds.
    But this week Carr has done just that, after spending seven days with Souths at the invitation of co-owner Russell Crowe.
    Most Australians have probably never heard of Lloyd Carr. Not unless you are a fan of American college football.
    There, in the wildly popular arena of US college sports, Carr is nothing short of a living legend.
    As head coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines since 1995, Carr is the "winningest" college football coach in the States and as big a name as they come.
    Think Wayne Bennett in Brisbane. Then multiply by 20.
    In any given home game at Michigan Stadium, Carr can expect to see his 45 players and 20 assistants in front of a full house. The team has now had more than 200 of them in a row – and the capacity of the stadium is a mere 112,000.
    Michigan football alone generates $50 million a year – roughly a third of the entire NRL.
    So it's been a slight change of pace for Carr and two of his college stars strolling around Marrickville Oval this week, shadowing Souths coach Jason Taylor.
    "It was one of those wonderful surprises that life presents sometimes," Carr says of his trip.
    "One day my assistant came in and said, 'Coach, Russell Crowe is on the phone'. I thought she was teasing."
    Crowe delivered Carr the spiel on his new Souths, and rugby league. Carr admits he knew "less than zero" on the game prior to the call but came to realise the similarity of the "history, community and tradition" of football at Michigan and Souths.
    Carr has sat in on training, video sessions and on Thursday delivered a talk on success to the side.
    "It comes down – in business and sport – it begins with the kind of people you recruit. If you, the coach, surround yourself with good people who are passionate, who are unselfish, who are highly motivated, who are willing to be part of a team, you have a great chance to be successful," he summarises.
    Carr says he is "highly impressed" with Taylor – who in turn said yesterday he had greatly appreciated the American's visit.
    "I've got a lot more out of it than I thought I would, actually," Taylor said. "Because he doesn't know the game, it's been more general.
    "Philosophical and personal things about coaching and winning, and consistency of success in a football environment.
    "He's been doing this for 28 years. It helps put the week-to-week highs and lows in perspective."
    Apart from the no padding, Carr has picked up on the "high tempo" and conditioning of NRL footy.
    "The biggest surprise is that on TV the players look much bigger than they are, but they are much faster than they look like on TV," Carr said.
    Two of his promising football stars – defensive end Jeremy Van Alstyne and fullback Brian Thompson – trained with the Rabbitohs squad this week. Though big and fast, the pair admit the fitness session left them gasping.
    "It was rough on us, I'm not going to lie. They showed us the ropes," Van Alstyne says diplomatically.
    Thompson added: "But if you are going to compare any game in the world to gridiron, it's league.
    "Running fast and hard and charging into people."
    Carr and his players will watch the game tonight before heading home. With a few Souths recruits perhaps?
    "One of my goals is to get an Australian kid to Michigan. I will tell you this, there is no doubt there are a few kids here who could play American football," Carr says. "But I don't want to recruit 'em because Russell might get mad at me."
    At least not without padding.
     
  6. Bill Horton

    Bill Horton Active Member

    OK, one last thing.
    I played rugby. I have the X-rays to prove it. I'm betting Zag's husband won't let Zag take his panties off long enough to let him play rugby.
    Man up or shut up Zag.
     
  7. Flash

    Flash Guest

    Those statements only demonstrate zagoshe's small-mindedness and inability to conceptualize there is a world beyond the computer room in his mother's basement.
     
  8. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    Liverpool's anthem = intimidating? Bwhahahaha It's a showtune.

    Europe is filled with crazy fuckers.

    I'd say a great deal of these nutters reside in Istanbul...whether it be a Turkey international or local club derby. There's an unnerving feeling about being greeted by the former Ottoman empire.



    In Belgrade, I would shit myself if I had to sit in between Partizan and Red Star fans.



     
  9. Flash

    Flash Guest

    You ever stop to think that there are parts of the world where the NFL is worth sweet fuck all to people?
     
  10. Brooklyn Bridge

    Brooklyn Bridge Well-Known Member

    I know a guy who plays local club Rugby. About 6'2" close to 300 pounds, played Div. I football....and he's on the "B" squad. I like to think I can handle myself, but rugby, no thanks. If you talk about Pro Bowlers, they might be a bit more athletic, but for sheer brutality and playing with recklessabandon, I think rugby wins. (Football has been playing with helmets for 100 years or so)

    The dance sort of reminds me of the scene from 300 when the Spartans meet up with the locals before the battle. The local militia man is upset because he has so many more "soldiers." Leonidis goes down the line asking what they do--blacksmith, craftsman, yada, yada. He turns to the Spartans and asks "What is your occupation?" They all respond "WAR!" nice.
     
  11. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    Attic, asshole. Attic.

    Get it right.
     
  12. Flash

    Flash Guest


    Criminy. Post of the day.
     
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