IT Meets the World Cup 204
daria42 writes "Looks as if there are some mad soccer fans at ZDNet ... they have compiled a guide to some of the IT systems behind the soccer World Cup. 'What does it take to design, build and operate an advanced, fault-tolerant IP network while the whole world watches?' one of the articles asks. Another looks at how broadcasters have beefed up their infrastructure as they prepare for an influx of fans desperate for information, while another looks at one of the upcoming matches: FIFA vs. Hackers."
Soccer? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Soccer? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Soccer? (Score:2)
That's an interesting point except for the fact that English isn't a latin-derived language in the traditional sense like Spanish, French, and Italian.
Re:Soccer? (Score:3)
Re:Soccer? (Score:3)
But it'snot like the Romans did anything for them...
Re:Soccer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, Americans have a game they play with their hands, which they call, 'football'. I really enjoy American football (or grid-iron as we sometimes call it). It is more of a turn-based strategic game with complex rules and all the physicality of a train-crash. I like it.
But football is a free-flowing game. It has a simplicity and a beauty that gives it unparalleled status as an international team sport.
I for one am pleased to see the American team in the World Cup. They are improving and genuinely competing on the international scene nowadays.
It probably does more for US/international relations than most diplomatic efforts.
Re:Soccer? (Score:4, Insightful)
There are many places in the world that use "soccer", not "football". Here in Australia, for example, where there are several other established codes of "football", "soccer" is by far the most common (and more importantly, least confusing) name.
Saying "football" to a random Australian - depending upon which part of the country you're in and which part of the country (or world) the person you're talking to is from - could result in a conversation about any one of four quite different (well, only three of them qualify as "quite different) sports.
It is more of a turn-based strategic game with complex rules and all the physicality of a train-crash. I like it.
If you like American Football and Soccer, then Rugby Union is probably your dream sport. Most of the athleticism, dynamic and constant play of soccer, all of the body-crunching violence (plus interest) of American Football (only without the body armour)
But football is a free-flowing game. It has a simplicity and a beauty that gives it unparalleled status as an international team sport.
You cannot truly appreciate the fitness and incredible (and unmatched, IMHO) amount of whole-body co-ordination required to play soccer at a high level unless you've actually played the game competitively, IMHO.
The real beauty of soccer - and the main reason behind its popularity - is that it scales all the way from a couple of kids kicking a dead dog's head around all the way up to an epic spectacle like the World Cup. You can play it anywhere, even with people who have never touched a ball before - yet players at the top level regularly perform feats with a ball the typical - even the above average - person couldn't even dream of replicating. Soccer is incredibly easy to just pick up, but simultaneously incredibly difficult to play well.
Re:Soccer? (Score:2)
Heh, we also have "stock car" racing in which the cars are *anything* but stock.
Re:Soccer? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Soccer? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Soccer? (Score:2)
Re:Soccer? (Score:2)
Re:Soccer? (Score:2)
Re:Soccer? (Score:2)
You missed Gaelic football. Which also uses the hands.
Re:Soccer? (Score:2)
For those like myself who thought that Canada is made up of "white" folks and "Indians", you will be suprised that these people are now the minority in cities like Toronto.
Re:Soccer? (Score:2)
Here in England (especially London), despite being a Multi Ethnic community, Ethnic Minorities, who dont have a suitable national team tend to stick to England (I am Sri Lankan, and I am flying my England colours).
Hmm, would be intrested to find out what team the "largish" Sri Lankan community in Toronto take on, as there isnt a Sri Lankan team in the World Cup. Who do they support?
I woudl think that Canadians in general woul
Re:Soccer? (Score:2)
And you would be wrong. As noted in a previous post, most Canadians will support their ancestral team or the team that their ancestral country would support if they didn't qualify. I'm typical of this; born in England, moved to Canada at 8, spent 10 years in Japan. I'll support England first, Japan second and hold some respect for Brazil just because they're Brazil.
This whole "why don't Canad
Re:Soccer? (Score:2)
Except of course what Canadians call 'hockey' is known in most of the rest of the world as 'ice hockey', to distinguish it from real hockey, which is played on a field with a ball, not on a rink with a puck...
Re:Soccer is a boring sport that kids play... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Soccer is a boring sport that kids play... (Score:2)
Re:Soccer is a boring sport that kids play... (Score:2)
I bet you'll be watchin' that thar paint dry, cuz ya caint wait ta dig in 'n start eatin' them paint chips! They wondermous, I ga-ron-tee!
Re:Soccer is a boring sport that kids play... (Score:4, Insightful)
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=57 4061 [google.com]
Re:Soccer is a boring sport that kids play... (Score:2)
Re:Soccer is a boring sport that kids play... (Score:2)
ah.... no it doesn't. First off, that article was written BEFORE the last Super Bowl was even played! So unless they can see into the future, I'd really question the acuracy
Second, that article is about the techology being used for the broadcast. It seems no effort was made at all to bother with facts about number of viewers. For number from people who actually track such things just Google "super bowl tv world view
More importantly (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
At least I'm on topic.
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
Re:More importantly (Score:3, Informative)
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
Been to club matches, never seen it (Score:2)
Granted, I wasn't attending especially thug-heavy English matches, but I never saw anything even remotely approaching "Sieg Heil" salutes and overt signs. The big club teams all have racially mixed rosters anyway; it doesn't make particular sense for fans to chant racial slurs -- not that racism makes any particular sense.
Not that the incidents aren't real, but t
Re:Been to club matches, never seen it (Score:2)
England really isn't the centre of hooliganism any more. After the notorious Heysel incident, the 1985 European Cup final at which some Juventus supporters were killed as a result of the behaviour of some of the Liverpool crowd, all English clubs were banned from European competition for several years, and the entire English football establishment cracked down pretty heavily on the whole ugly side of football fandom.
These days the trouble
World cup? (Score:3, Funny)
(spare me the answer. I wish I could cryo myself for a month)
Re:World cup? (Score:2)
Shops, TV even Slashdot now and if that isn't enough, it will be THE topic at the water cooler and in the offices for a a long time.
That's why I took the coming 2 weeks off and plan to live like a hermit, just me, my beer and World of Warcraft.
I just hope the Netherlands lose soon so the madness will die down sooner here.
(and I wish the people that do like it the best of fun with it, just don't bother me wit
Re:World cup? (Score:2)
Buy groceries and try to avoid the ball-shaped coke cans and the "win a ticket" competitions on EVERY SINGLE piece of crap you buy.
Go to work and try to find ANY subject to talk about that doesn't involve it.
Go out with friends to a bar. Use your imagination for the development of the evening.
I swear, I'm THIS close to opening a channel dedicated to World Cup refugees. Kickban for everyone who even comes close to touching the subject.
Re:World cup? (Score:2)
Don't buy the ball-shaped cans (haven't even seen them), don't enter the win a ticket competitions.
Go to work and try to find ANY subject to talk about that doesn't involve it.
I've been to work today and had several conversations that weren't about the World Cup, and England kick-off tomorrow.
Why would someone who hates the World Cup even open a World Cup article, let alone post
FIFA live cast (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't blame them for pirating your content. They should really taking their standard of living when charging them the royalty. What RMB150 per month for FIFA watching? Fuck, some of them just earn less than RMB500 per month.
Life finds its way. You charge them what majority can't afford, majority looks for something free [pplive.com]
.
Yes, but is it streaming in the US? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Yes, but is it streaming in the US? (Score:2)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ [bbc.co.uk]. That, or watch ABC/ESPN/ESPN2.
Re:Yes, but is it streaming in the US? (Score:2)
Being sat in the office, many of us don't have access to TVs or XM radios, which is why internet streaming would be really useful.
The closest thing I found was ESPN 360, but it was locked to a select few ISPs, ffs.
Re:Yes, but is it streaming in the US? (Score:4, Informative)
See:
http://www.ghacks.net/2006/06/06/how-to-view-the-
Re:Yes, but is it streaming in the US? (Score:2)
Re:Yes, but is it streaming in the US? (Score:2)
Article submitter born yesterday? (Score:4, Informative)
Or, ZDNet reprinted a four-page press release from the World Cup after the Cup spent four years soliciting IT sponsors. "Compiled a guide" my ass...
Re:Article submitter born yesterday? (Score:2)
Damn US-centric website (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2, Interesting)
There are over 200 NCAA Division I men's soccer teams, and yet professional soccer in the U.S. is a curiosity at best. Why is this? I think the reasons may be more deeply rooted in the American need to be unique and dominant (see "American-invented sports" such as baseball, football, basketball, NASCAR, etc.) rather than in soccer's popularity or approachability
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:3, Insightful)
Do people get their panties in a twist over Canada liking hockey more? Is it a deep rooted Canadian need to be unique and dominant? Does the fact that they also embrace a version of football that is not soccer piss the world off?
Australians and New Zealanders like Aussie Rules Football or Rugby more. Why is that?
India and Pakistan love their cricket. Any deep seeded psychological reasons the world would like
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
That would be because they didn't qualify for the finals.
All countries are first drawn into qualifying groups within their supra-regional-FA (e.g. UEFA for Europe). Group winners (and
From the UEFA zone, t
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Having lived in China for 3 years I can assure you that football (or soccer) is huge there. They just haven't got good enough players so they didn't qualify for the world cup, but it's definitely the no. 1 sport in China.
You can count the most populous nation as a football nation.
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Sorry, you are the short sighted one here. Why would they establish a precident of free games? It would make it increadibly difficult to switch them to a charging system later on. Prices are set to what the market will bear, and if the market gets 'used' to free, it makes it tough to raise prices
A good example is gasoline... people cry murder for $3 a gal
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Furthermore, there aren't that many common liquids more expensive than $3/gal. Water and soda only are if you extrapolate the per gallon price from a 12 or 20 oz. bottle. Brand name soda is available for 2L @ $0.99, which makes it ~$2/gal. Water in bulk is ridiculously cheap. 100% Juice is the only one that I can think of right now that is routi
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Foremost is diving, players who act up every chance they get - ie, when another player approaches them. This is just too much for Americans (with American football), Australians (with Aussie Rules) and Rugby watcher, who are used to seeing real injuries.
Also, the fact that is it such a defensive game these days, with hardly any goals being scored makes it poor to watch. Watching people get excited over an almost goal makes me la
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:3, Interesting)
Watching people get excited at a basketball score every 2 seconds makes me laugh everytime. That really is the sport of people with ADD.
Are you telling me gridiron fans don't get excited when one of their players is tackled just before reaching the tryline? Or that a baseball fan isn't excited when a player hits the ball that just falls short of going into the crowd?
Wh
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
The difference is that the entire game doesn't consist of this, whereas is Soccer it does - the exception being an actual goal.
hy not? It's the greatest and most nerve-wracking spectacle in sport. Nothing comes close.
Sure, I will admit it is ner
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
No, the entire game consists of adverts, replays and idiotic banter from the commentators. In a score/minutes watched ratio, American football is actually pretty low scoring. And low playing. There are few near-scoring opportunities at all, most of the time they're just running into each other in the middle.
It is more a test of who can't screw up kicking a goal. Is this a fair measure of a football player?
Yes.
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
American Football has peaked and will only decline in popularity from now on.
Why?
One word: liability.
American Football is too dangerous to continue. That's why so many schools have emphasized "soccer" over American-style football (and the Title IX need to offer sports to both sexes). The possibility that a student will suffer a paralyzing injury is too great a risk for a school to bear. Injuries happen in soccer, but rarely as devastating. If kids don't grow up playing American football, there will be a
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Sure...currently. But the kids currently in elementery schools will enter junior high and then high school never having played American football and with a decided preference for the football the rest of the world plays.
Granted I went to Texas Tech...
Oh...OK. I wasn't talking about Texas, I was talking about the US. As the TV ads say "Texas. It's like a w
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Aren't Americans used to paying for cable TV anyway? All the World Cup games are on ESPN, with some on ABC, what percentage of households do they reach?
Not many broadcast channe
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:3, Insightful)
TV aside, you're wrong there. Ever heard of the phrase "jumpers for goalposts"? Perhaps not, it may be a UK-only thing. Anyhow, soccer is one of the most accessible sports out there. All you need is a ball and something to mark the goals, which is more than enough for kids to develop a lasting interest. Hell, a year or so ago some friends and I were on a coun
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Really? And here in the US, most of the interesting matches are broadcast on ABC which is.. you guessed it... free! lol!
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:5, Interesting)
The real question should be:
What does it take to make Americans watch Football
And not for nothing but I have only once in my life watched an entire game of Football/Soccer. Ireland v Italy from the Meadowlands, in 1994.
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
I would like to see an article that has the number of viewers of last year's Super Bowl. Not a speculation of how much many might watch the next Super Bowl.
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Actually, that billion was a potential audience, i.e. how many it was broadcast to. I think that actually two million watched it outside of North America.
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
That's... quite amazingly implausible. One billion? That's a sixth of all humanity. A bit more than three times the entire population of the United States. Even in the USA, the game only att
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
Re:Damn US-centric website (Score:2)
What should they stop pretending to be? You really think most US citizens are closet Soccer lovers who are denying that they are interes
laugh if you will... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:laugh if you will... (Score:2)
Another use of technology in World Cup (Score:3, Informative)
They use some algorithms and a lot of data. For the record, with 83% accuracy, Brazil will beat Italy.
Re:Another use of technology in World Cup (Score:4, Interesting)
"The first stage was gathering a lot of information. We went back 20 years and collected all sorts of information about the teams; things like team performance, score and scorers."
Shame that the none of the teams and player are the same as 20 years ago. Injuries are going to play a major part in this year's cup and there is no way you can account for them.
Want to predict the outcome? Go with the bookmakers. They are rarely wrong.
Re:Another use of technology in World Cup (Score:2)
83%, huh? Last I saw (before the opening matches) Brazil were the favourites to win the World Cup, at 5-2 odds; England were second, at 7-1, and Germany and Argentina were both on 8-1. That's a 28.6% probability that Brazil will win, saying nothing about the other finalist. Now these guys think that it's an 83% probability that Brazil will win, specifically beating Italy in the final?
Well, I for one will trust Ladbrokes and William Hill's judgmen
I'll tell you why... (Score:5, Insightful)
Advertising. Plain and simple.
Soccer does not stop for anything. There's no stopping for injuries, time-outs for strategies, etc. Soccer is the most dynamic sport on the planet, period. I really admire those guys spending 90 minutes running and doing stuff. I think that Soccer, as a TV spectator sport, has not catched on major networks because advertisers here in the US do not like it. There's no place for 30 second ads! Gasp! Egads! There's no place for gimmicky Super Bowl ads!
I really like Soccer, on TV and on the flesh. I really hope that the US team goes far this time, even though I'm rooting for other teams. That's the only way US spectators will notice and learn what the rest of the planet knows. Soccer RULES!
What? (Score:2)
Re:I'll tell you why... (Score:2)
Re:I'll tell you why... (Score:2)
Here is the real fun ... (Score:3, Interesting)
NATO surveillance planes to patrol World Cup [yahoo.com]
Erich Mielke would be happy.
Re:Why football (soccer) isn't more popular in N.A (Score:3, Insightful)
The excitement will take no end at the 101th time someone scores... yeaaaaayy
Re:Why football (soccer) isn't more popular in N.A (Score:2)
I dislike basketball too, it appears that the only difference between the two are the fequency of goals.
Re:Why football (soccer) isn't more popular in N.A (Score:2, Insightful)
A faster sport (Score:2, Offtopic)
First period (this stops when someone reaches 8 hits): 8-4 to Alex O'Connell after 27 seconds of fencing time.
Half time break: 1 minute
Second period (this stops when someone reaches 15): 15-11 to Alex O'Connell after 29 seconds of fencing time.
An ideal sport for those with the attention span of a small goldfish.
See http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5396021508 [google.com]
Re:Why football (soccer) isn't more popular in N.A (Score:3, Funny)
Wow is right. You must be new here. Welcome.
Re:Mad Soccer fans? (Score:2, Funny)
Thanks goodness it's the last time, I'm tired of ya'all callin Soccer Football.
Re:Mad Soccer fans? (Score:2)
Re:Don't mention the World Cup (Score:3, Interesting)
Which is, as everyone knows, called "The World Series" because it was originally sponsored by a (now defunct) newspaper called "The World".
Re:Don't mention the World Cup (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Don't mention the World Cup (Score:2)
troll (Score:2)
Re:Don't mention the World Cup (Score:2)
Oh, and I'm a huge football (American) and football (real) fan as well...I'm taking Monday morning of to watch US/Czech.
Re:Don't mention the World Cup (Score:2)
Going by your logic it would make perfect sense to rename the English Premier League to "World Premier League", given the fact that there are _many_ non-English players playing in the English Premier League.
Biggest difference here is that the World Cup is played at a national level whereas the World Series is played at a league level.
Re:Oh, quit knocking soccer! (Score:2)
Actually, "Mate" is also a very popular infusion [wikipedia.org] in some South American countries, notably Argentina and Uruguay. But again, "football" means the the same both in USA and England. Why does american football is called, well, football is beyond me.