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ArmchairGM Users Need to Know More About Sports!

17
Vote

by user Alex Holowczak

As some of you can't have failed to notice, I've been writing a load of previews for squads at the Cricket World Cup. Spent hours on them all. You can imagine my disappointment when on some of them the only voter was me and maybe one or two other people. Yet, an article about the Dodgers first baseman, previewing one position, quickly got more votes than my articles.

Now, I'm not complaining about this - it's understandable. But I do think that ArmchairGM users should become more open to other sports, outside their country. If this site wants to become the world leader in this sort of thing, then it needs to embrace articles from other sports from outside of the USA. At the moment, in my opinion, you need to know about American sports to be a user of this site, if not, you won't have anything to contribute.

We've been treated to articles about cricket from a few users, who have soon moved on, e.g. Fahadisawahoo, and recently there has been another. They aren't going to keep coming back here if their articles aren't getting votes. There are so many articles about US Sports that to use this site, a British user will take one look and say, "Oh, this is for American sports" and click back, never to return. Now, I may be wrong, but I think we want the articles about cricket, snooker, rugby etc. even though you might not directly want to know about it. For instance, we get Watford reports quite often now, which is a great thing, but nobody votes for what are good quality reports.

BigPPup will vouch that rugby articles on here that can be quite well written don't get many votes, mainly because nobody knows anything about rugby (compared to the NFL, for example).

So, my challenge for you all is to get to learn a sport you don't know. Be it Rugby, Cricket, Formula One, Aussie Rules Football, the football the world likes, Gaelic Football, Hurling, anything! Just take a look at a specialist site for each, like Cricinfo, or World Snooker etc. and see what you can gather from that. You'll be amazed how much stuff goes on that you don't know about, mainly because I can't cover everything!

So ArmchairGM users, go out and take a look at a sport you've never heard off - and see what you can learn. There are a lot of great people doing great things that I think you'll benefit from knowing about.

Maybe you can write articles about what you've learned about each sport too, so other users can benefit from your experience. If Davis21wylie wrote about snooker, or BigPPup wrote about cricket (for example), I'm sure you might be more interested in it!

Enable Comment Auto-Refresher
JoebookRed-Shirting
1045 days ago
Score 1+-
Alex -- you are absolutely right. I fell in love with Cricket during my 6-week stay in Europe and I wish it was more mainstream in the States.
I'm as guilty as anyone for not reading those articles, but I will begin to and shall comment further. Bravo for calling everyone out... it needed to be done.
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EnyboDiv-I Stud
1045 days ago
Score -2+-
Please sir, may I have another?
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BigPPupMajor Leaguer
1045 days ago
Score 1+-
I agree with you on that one Alex. Ive read all of your articles on the break down of the Cricket squads and they are very impressive. However, you are fighting a seemingly impossible uphill battle to get Americans to pay attention to a sport that does not fall under the big 4 or something that is a hot button at the moment(world cup) As an American Rugby player there are plenty of times that I have my sport trashed and kicked to the side of the curb because it is not popular and we are too lazy to take the time out to learn something new. That being said keep up the good work and one day you will sway us over to your side.
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BigPPupMajor Leaguer
1045 days ago
Score 2+-
Also, if ArmchairGm wants to become a worlwide leader and a bigger site, it can make a huge name for itself by becoming a front runner in covering the fringe sports, rather than rehashing the mainstream ones that everyone can find on ESPN, CBS and the rest of them.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1045 days ago
Score 0+-
Especially in Britain. The concept of a sporting blog is not even in the British psyche, so there's a huge audience there that they can monopolise.
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BigPPupMajor Leaguer
1045 days ago
Score -1+-
Mmm... very interesting sounds like I need to move there... too bad the Irish in me wont allow me to travel to that side of the channel
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1045 days ago
Score 1+-
Mmm... I think you mean the Irish Sea. The other side of the Channel is France. :)
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BigPPupMajor Leaguer
1045 days ago
Score 0+-
Touche, and I definitly dont want to go to France. But then again I rarely go far enough East in Ireland to see the Irish Sea either.
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BU ICEMANJV Squad
1045 days ago
Score 1+-
Alex, I appreciate the effort you put into the articles, but I don't think it's going to win any hearts and minds to chastise those folks (and yes, I'm one of them) who don't have an interest in those sports, and frankly speaking, never will. You don't have to like ALL sports to be a sports fan or to be a good user of this site.
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False ProphetAll-Star
1045 days ago
Score 0+-
I would have read them, but I have been really busy, and only have had time to glance at the articles that automatically catch my eye. I'll read them tonight.
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False ProphetAll-Star
1045 days ago
Score 2+-
Alex, you have a good rep, just keep promoting the sports and people will come. People would give probably less attention if BigPPup or Ddub wrote it because they are not recgonised as people with info on those subjects (although if Ddub through together one of those articles that have so many numbers its mind boggling, I might vote for it just for that.)
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BigPPupMajor Leaguer
1045 days ago
Score 1+-
I guarantee I am the most acomplished and qualified person on this site to write about rugby on this. Just cause youre a funnytalker (as we call them in the states) doesnt make you an expert on the sport. Ive worked hard to grow the sport in this country and will continue to bust my ass to do that, through the median that is ArmchairGM. As well as I play on the field.
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Davis21wylieMVP
1045 days ago
Score 5+-
I actually did a little Wikipedia research on snooker today in response to your article, so maybe once I learn enough to not look like an idiot, I'll write a "what I learned about snooker" article. I guess the bottom line is that it's just hard to get into and/or keep up with sports that aren't happening in your area. I really applaud the way you keep up with American sports, Alex -- sometimes it can be hard enough to follow the Big Four sports over here! But FP's right, keep up the hard work and people will eventually come. You've always got my vote, anyway...
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Anonymous Fanatic #1
1044 days ago
Score 3+-
OK, this seems a bit pnatt-ish. I mean, why do we "need" to know more about a sport that we can't watch, or at least, is not marketed towards us? You can diss all the American sports as much as you want, but you've got to admit that at least they try to target other markets (NFL game in wembley next yr, Japanese MLB players, players from every country in NBA). So that's great you're providing insight on Cricket and Snooker, but since I won't be seeing those matches, I'm not going to delve too much into your analyses. If anything, you should recognize that your services will be appreciated by UK-based fans and try to recruit them onto the site so you UK sports have some more clout.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1044 days ago
Score 1+-
Because if they get voted for and by chance a UK user sees it, they'll comment and perhaps start a conversation. If there's somebody (or two) to start a conversation with, they'll come back. And bingo, we get another user.

I have only ever seen one American Football game, and one NHL Game here in Britain, yet I still try to support them as much as I can. So you could support snooker/cricket - they're more sparadic for a start. Even something like F1, which you can watch in every Grand Prix (maybe Australia and the Asian races excepting due to time difference).

As for getting into other markets, snooker and cricket are more global than NFL certainly and probably MLB. The two games you mention are actually more like Ice Hockey in terms of Internationalism.

I have tried to get friends to use this, however they left because nobody talked about anything they knew about (it was all American), and also this concept doesn't really exist in Britain, it's just unheard of in the public eye.

Also, I vote differently to you it seems - if I think a user has put a lot of effort into the work, and I vaguely get/agree with what he's on about - I vote for it. Regardless as to what it's about.
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ThecrookedcapAll-Star
1044 days ago
Score 0+-
My suggestion would be to keep trying to put as much video as possible in your articles. You do a good job with that, and I think it helps. I can't really comment on sports like cricket or snooker well if at all because I've never seen them before. Visibility counts for a lot; you mentioned not watching many NFL or NHL games but I recall you mentioning a while back that you've played the video games. That puts you on a higher plateau than we do. I looked up "cricket" on a website of a popular video game retailer and got just a game on a cartoon cricket.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1044 days ago
Score 0+-
That's because cricket games don't sell to well. It's like baseball games. Do you ever play every game of a 162 game season? No - you'll be there forever. With cricket, it takes about a week to play 1 Test match fully, let alone a whole cricket season in one country.

If games are what you want look for International Cricket Captain 2006. You don't play the game, but it is a management game that gives you a good idea of what is going on. If you want to play one, look for Cricket 2005, 2006 etc. They do exist.

Snooker games conversely, are excellent. Look up World Snooker Championship 2007 (which has just been released over here) and you'll find loads of them available. They can be a tad unrealistic, but it is still a very playable game. I've only just completed the 2005 version (by just, I mean this morning!).

Maybe even on ebay eventually if you're that interested, and willing to part with about $40-50.
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ThecrookedcapAll-Star
1044 days ago
Score 0+-
If I wasn't student teaching right now I might actually try, and the money in my bank account has to last for a while, so no dice. Video games are a good way to spread the love; much of my soccer love comes not from World Cups but from Winning Eleven (Pro Evolution Soccer for you)!
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KelsdadAll-Star
1044 days ago
Score 1+-
Thank-you for the scolding, Alex. I'm embarrassed to say the least that we as a group didnot reward you for your work. The fact we as a country don't care about predominently European sports isn't the point. As mentioned above, if we had access to them we would be more responsive, but we can't be expected to follow something we have no chance of ever seeing. But to not read your articles, and to not vote them is reprehensible behavior, and I apologize. And as you stated above, alot worse articles have received alot more votes, which again embarrasses me.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1044 days ago
Score 0+-
It's okay - I don't mind. New users will mind - and that is what we want to attract.
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ThecrookedcapAll-Star
1044 days ago
Score 0+-
There is one sport that a few of us try to write about where the access argument doesn't cut it: soccer! Between MLS, Champions League games, national team games (men's and women's) and World Cup, just on the ESPNs there's at least 3-4 games per month. I've heard from soccerphiles here that in actuality with secondary cable stations (like Fox Soccer Channel or Setanta) you can actually watch more soccer matches every week here in the U.S. than you can in England!
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1043 days ago
Score 0+-
Yes - because you can only get them in England if you pay extra.
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I am a cpcpMajor Leaguer
1044 days ago
Score 1+-
Here's the thing (I had a whole list, but this is the main thing):

I love pretty much all sports. I love playing soccer and hockey and rugby and golf and I love driving fast. I'm sure I'd even enjoy playing cricket. The thing is, I can't stand watching other people doing it. If I'm out there huffing and puffing and dragging my out-of-shape butt all over the field or pitch or whatever, I have a blast. But I don't have a place in my schedule to watch/read about every single sport. I have my group of sports that I follow and I watch games and read articles and attend those events.

One other thing that kind of bugs me, you keep calling Manny out saying that he's trying to boost his editing stats. How is writing 12 different opinions and then writing another opinion complaining about them not being promoted any different? He's behind you in edits, you're behind him in opinions, he's on vacation and can't write and you pop up 12 articles... hmm... Like Manny, I couldn't give two craps about the rankings, but it seems a bit hypocritical. Just being honest.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1043 days ago
Score 0+-
cpcp, I can assure you it's nothing to do with the rankings. Besides, there are only 12 articles because there are 16 teams in the World Cup (I haven't got around to the other 4 yet). I could do them "all-in-one" but the article would be mega-long. Besides, in the past, I've done live-blogs without using comments (I edited all day). I previewed every aspect of an entire snooker season in one (my browser couldn't open it after a while). So the only reason is because I couldn't do them all-in-one. I wasn't complaining for my benifit, I was complaining that a new user wouldn't see as much point to contribute.
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BU ICEMANJV Squad
1043 days ago
Score 0+-
By the way, when's the last time somebody saw a NASCAR article on here? There certainly aren't a heckuva lot of those here, and that's arguably the most popular sport in the U.S. of A. right now, and getting more popular around the world.
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ThecrookedcapAll-Star
1043 days ago
Score 1+-
I'm planning on recapping the 500 on Sunday.
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I am a cpcpMajor Leaguer
1043 days ago
Score 3+-
Top six reasons there aren't NASCAR articles on Armchair:
  1. Most trailer parks don't get "that innernater thing"
  2. It's tough to type while holding a beer and a cigarette
  3. Too many fans get po'd when they can't wikify "dem der racers"
  4. Armchair is ad free, NASCAR fans don't know where to go if there's not a big logo pointing it out.
  5. All the NASCAR writers have been disqualified for cheating
  6. Like myself a lot of people would rather go out and drive fast on regular roads than watch other people drive fast in ovals.
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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer
1043 days ago
Score 1+-
7. There isn't anyone here from Alabama (that I know of).
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PeanMajor Leaguer
1043 days ago
Score 0+-
haha nice cpcp, that should've been an article!
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ThecrookedcapAll-Star
1043 days ago
Score 0+-
I've got kin down in 'Bama. My dad was born there and my Grandmother (and a whole lot of other relatives) lives there. So I guess that makes me "most qualified"!
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Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
1042 days ago
Score 0+-
The reason there weren't enough NASCAR articles was becuase I hadn't finished my preview yet. If you are interested about two months ago I posted a recap of the 2006 season along with a fairly interesting breakdown of where Jimmie Johnson's season ranked all-time. My plan is to become the voice of NASCAR on this websight and write about it at least twice a week.
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JCantRootWaterboy
1043 days ago
Score 0+-
This is BS ... we need more articles on Cup Stacking!
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Phoenix SuperfanVarsity
1042 days ago
Score 0+-
I think the biggest thing to blame here is that American TV refuses to broadcast these sports.
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