FIFA World Cup 2010

[LennardF1989]

Dutchies in the Finally, yay.

[CurdyMilk]

All hail the flying Dutchmen!  Giovanni Van Bronckhorst had an amazing goal, probably the best in the World Cup so far.  I picked Spain vs. Netherlands to be in the final for my ESPN bracket before the World Cup started.  Hopefully the Spaniards can pull through.

[Farley4Fan]

Spekkio, when will you stop being such an idiot? A sports channel etc. cannot show replays if they do not have the rights to show them. Period. Why is it so hard for you to understand that? You cannot criticize FIFA for this. And I simply do not believe that it is only the soccer industry that follow the laws of copyright.

This is true but I still feel that FIFA and soccer in general has this air of superiority.  

@ Curdy, that's pretty amazing that you predicted the Netherlands to be there - unless you are dutch.

Homer picks can come true lol

[CurdyMilk]

@ Curdy, that's pretty amazing that you predicted the Netherlands to be there - unless you are dutch.

I am American, but the Dutch have always been my second favorite squad (behind the USA).  It started when Van Nistelrooy was their star. 
Plus they have the best uniforms with the orange.  Haha that is not why but I still like it.

[Spekkio]

Spekkio, when will you stop being such an idiot? A sports channel etc. cannot show replays if they do not have the rights to show them. Period. Why is it so hard for you to understand that? You cannot criticize FIFA for this. And I simply do not believe that it is only the soccer industry that follow the laws of copyright.

When will you stop being an idiot?

I agree copyright exists. For the fourth time now, FIFA is the only major sports organization that does not authorize replays being broadcast. They are the only major organization that will not give permission. How many other times do you want me to say it?

[YaYz0r]

They do authorize replays being broadcasted by companies that do have the rights to broadcast them. They do not authorize replays being broadcasted by companies that do not have the rights to broadcast them. Why is this not fair and why do you think FIFA is the only organization to follow this procedure?

[tigaer]

They do authorize replays being broadcasted by companies that do have the rights to broadcast them. They do not authorize replays being broadcasted by companies that do not have the rights to broadcast them. Why is this not fair and why do you think FIFA is the only organization to follow this procedure?

This. It's exactly like video game coverage in magazines, sports coverage for the Xgames, or even sports coverage in general. It's nothing new, they just decided to only allow select companies to broadcast the replays.

[Spekkio]

They do authorize replays being broadcasted by companies that do have the rights to broadcast them. They do not authorize replays being broadcasted by companies that do not have the rights to broadcast them. Why is this not fair and why do you think FIFA is the only organization to follow this procedure?

Because other sports organizations don't to say no to companies who serve the largest sports market in the U.S.

So there are two possibilities: either this company never offered FIFA the proper amount of money to obtain broadcast rights (unlikely, given its large market and thus its large capital paired with the high interest in World Cup soccer)

OR...

FIFA was just being obnoxiously selective about who gets to broadcast replays (Much more likely, especially given their policy toward Encore games).

And again, we're talking REPLAYS, not GAMES. There is a big difference.

[Farley4Fan]

Yeah their policy towards encore games is pretty gai.

But all professional sports leagues have to give permission even to ESPN to use them.  Are you saying that the difference between FIFA and the rest is that the rest is less strict about the permission or something?

I don't even...

[Gawain]

spekkio: soccer coverage obviously sucks (like so much else) in your country. fifa broadcast rights are expensive, and considering only few americans give a fuck about soccer, it was naiv to expect anything better in the first place.

on a sidenote: i really hope the classic tv industry dies, the sooner the better.

[Farley4Fan]

If the FIFA broadcast rights are so much more expensive than everyone else then I can see where Spek's coming from. 

[Spekkio]

spekkio: soccer coverage obviously sucks (like so much else) in your country. fifa broadcast rights are expensive, and considering only few americans give a fuck about soccer, it was naiv to expect anything better in the first place.

on a sidenote: i really hope the classic tv industry dies, the sooner the better.

Rambo, we're still talking about a station that serves the largest sports market in the world. This is the city that has enough people to support the highest payroll sports teams in all major sports (I don't consider MLS a major sport). It's also a city that has a huge amount of immigrants and tourists. While I agree that soccer is normally not very popular, the World Cup most certainly is. I guarantee you that WFAN has the money to pay for rights to broadcast replays, and would be more than willing to do so barring FIFA being unreasonable or saying no for some reason.

[Farley4Fan]

spekkio: soccer coverage obviously sucks (like so much else) in your country. fifa broadcast rights are expensive, and considering only few americans give a fuck about soccer, it was naiv to expect anything better in the first place.

on a sidenote: i really hope the classic tv industry dies, the sooner the better.

Rambo, we're still talking about a station that serves the largest sports market in the world. This is the city that has enough people to support the highest payroll sports teams in all major sports (I don't consider MLS a major sport). It's also a city that has a huge amount of immigrants and tourists. While I agree that soccer is normally not very popular, the World Cup most certainly is. I guarantee you that WFAN has the money to pay for rights to broadcast replays, and would be more than willing to do so barring FIFA being unreasonable or saying no for some reason.

He has a point there.

As for American sports, I just made a new signature and anyone who knows anything about anything regarding the NBA knows that LeBron has just agreed to sign with the Miami Heat.

I've always been a LeBron James fan but now that he's "gone to the dark side" so to speak, I only crookedly like him.  You know how we all kind of crookedly like Darth Vader?  I decided to put him in the helmet, Dwyane Wade as Darth Sidious (you know, the guy who convinced Vader to join the dark side), and Chris Bosh as Bobba Fett (because we all know Bosh is destined to play third fiddle to the 2 superstar "villains" in Lebron and Wade).

It just all seemed to fit together nicely so I made a nice little signature to reflect this analogy of the NEW EMPIRE (in the NBA).

I was lazy with Bosh/Bobba so I only added Bosh's hair, but that ended up working awesome if I do say so myself.

[YaYz0r]

If WFAN have had the will to get the rights to broadcast or show footage from the World Cup and the economy for it, they would have gotten them. It is not FIFA's fault that they did not, so stop criticizing FIFA for it. Period.

[Gawain]

amen.