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Frog BLOG » Sports
“International weekend: a punter's benefit: Spain to beat Finland? Tick. Germany to beat Austria? Tick. Belgium to beat Scotland? Tick. Portugal to beat Norn Iron? Tick. Sweden to beat Ireland. Tick. Italy to beat Bulgaria? Tick. Kazakhstan to beat Faroe Islands? Tick. England to beat Moldova? Tick. Cameroon to beat Libya? Tick. Togo to beat DR Congo. A big accumulator worth £300+ and easy money! France to beat Georgia? Nope. Thanks France! Surrender monkeys”
“The French can't even play their own national sport: rugby!
They came bottom of the pile in the 6 Nations and never won a single game against New Zealand in their recent tour..
Yet this is merely a reflection of that sad state of their nation.. very sad!”
“World Cup...shouldve been us there not those time wasting retards... they make the England camp in South Africa look as harmonious as a Trappist tea party.
Sochaux coach Francis Gillot: "Their attitude is both pathetic and disgraceful. Today I am thinking of the Irish - they should have been there in our place. France is the laughing stock of the world."”
“Thats right! Don't be afraid to speak your mind. This is the 21st century, right?”
“I hate french sports like le tour de france
real sports that us americans really love are
baseball,basketball,track and field,
football etc.that's real sports.the french
have no proof that all american athletes
take steroids.look at me I'm a special
olympics athlete that is all american and I
don't take steroids like other pussies.I
think french men take steroids are pussies
[Moderator's comment: You certainly are special.]”
“My husband and I were in London and taken to a very exclusive French restaurant by a business associate (the CEO of a rather big company)
Rather than present the menu he recited what was available -in French.
We explained we didn't speak French and politely requested a translation.
He hurumphed, half turned away from us and looked down his nose (I am not kidding) then recited it again in French. We stopped him at a lamb dish (we recognised the word) and ordered it.
He bought it out with great aplomb we stared at the most sinewy piece of meat we had ever seen. You could barely cut it. It was awful. Our host was embarassed by the waiters attitude I might add.
He then asked - in perfect English how our meal was. We looked at him smiled pleasantly and explained it was the worse cut of lamb we have had in our lives and we would even dare to guess it was mutton but we weren't sure as back home in Australia we don't even give that to our dogs!!!
To this day we have never said anything even remotely like this to any other waiter but it felt great to tell this arrogant Frog the facts.
Footnote: This associate travelled to Oz 12 months later and after eating some lamb informed us that he completely understood how bad that previous meal was and how he never ever returned to the restaurant and told them why.”
“Hello all.
I am a flag-waving American citizen who somehow landed in the Middle
East and Iam looking for a way out. :(
(its a long story with lots of sordid details: cheating spouse,
dysfunctional inlaws, deceipt and underhandedness...it might make a very interesting movie. :)
Anyway, hello to everyone and I look forward to sharing my international experiences
withall of you in the coming months.
[Moderator's comment: We look forward to hearing them too, Hector, but might I suggest you stop waving the flag as you might get a sore arm.]”
“I've been to see the Tour twice. All the mountain stages. It was fantastic. I like the French.”
“Thank heavens for the French I say. The Scots may have given the world the headbutt, but Zizou rebottled it with gallic flair and delivered it like a modern day two inch punch!”
“il semble que les Américains aient presque autant d'humour que nous.C'est ce qui fait que moi je les aime dans une grande majorité.”
“I'm French and I can say that there are idiots everywhere - including in France (where they are plentiful and where we call them "connards"…).
In general the French have mixed feelings about Armstrong - not so much because he's American but because he dominates so thoroughly and shows so little emotion. Its just not fun when the same guy wins over and over again and so totally obliterates the competition (Michael Schumacher is a lot more unpopular in France than Armstrong). For the French, the Tour de F is an epic about sweat and suffering. Of course Lance went thru that when he battled cancer and he trains like no other cyclist - so the pain and suffering is behind by the time the race starts. There were plenty of French people holding U.S. flags in Paris yesterday and the prestigious Hotel Crillon in the heart of Paris is draped with a Lone Star flag.
So I'd defend the French public here (but not the French sportswriters - sports journalism in France is what it used to be in the U.S. 40 years ago - utterly unprofessional) One of the best things I like about the whole Armstrong saga is (1) that he infused the race with American professionalism and vitality and elevated the technical level of the sport and (2) that he brought this stunning race to the attention American public. Now I wish Americans could also learn about some of the other great sports events that are virtually unknown in the U.S. - such as the great round the world sailing races (Vendee Globe and Whitebread etc ... ) or the Paris Dakar rallye. Can we get something other than baseball, football and basketball on SportsCenter???”
Lucky she wasn't playing Mauresmo…
“The French clearly didn't like it that Williams showed up the chair umpire, even though she was right. They obviously wanted the Belgian to beat the American. (Then again, being French, they probably would have wanted anyone to beat the American.) They wanted to see an upset and of course cheered for that. And the fact that Williams is supremely successful and an African-American in a white woman's sport is not lost on anyone, although that is something she deals with every day and not just on one Thursday in early June.
For all of these reasons, it was possible to actually feel sorry for Serena Williams.
Williams herself noticed something was up when she went home to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., immediately after the match.
"When I was at home, I was a little upset for a few days, hitting the practice court immediately off the plane, swinging in my sleep," she said. "I always get recognized. But at the same time, everyone seemed to have seen that match, and they seem to really support me."
How could you not feel sorry for this woman as she sat in her postmatch news conference and cried like, well, like a normal human being? "I think (people) saw that," Williams said. "And, as well, they realized that even though I win a lot and I do a lot of things, I'm human. I'm just a young lady trying to make my way in life, and you can't expect everything to be perfect at all times."
Perhaps the most galling moment of the French Open match occurred when Henin-Hardenne raised her hand high to signal that she wasn't ready for Williams' serve, but Williams, already starting her motion, served anyway, which is not unusual in situations such as that.
The serve was a fault. But when Williams asked for two serves, the chair umpire ruled she should have just one, while Henin-Hardenne stood by mute, refusing to say what she had done, refusing to come clean. "I understand that people want to win these days, but …" Williams said at the time."”
True Story…
“A few years ago my bro and I stayed in South West France for a month over the summer, there was a gravel driveway and not a lot to do. So like any Brit who wanted to while away some time, we bought a petanque set, and played all the time. After a few days we reckoned we had our eye in, and entered a local tournament. They have them dotted around the villages.
First round, we lost 10-8 or something like that, and a hearty slap on our shoulders from moustachioed fat men called Claude, and they loved our taking part.
But next round, we beat the previous year's champions.
Not so much backslapping then… more like a scene from Deliverance, it was beginning to go sour.
We didn't hang around for the next round, but quietly disappeared out of the back…”
How did this happen?
“A sore, violent French loser who headbutted another player and got sent off the field during a crucial match getting named 'Player of the Tournament'?!?
'Despite being widely considered the top young player at the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo lost out to German striker Lukas Podolski. Frances Zinedane Zidane was voted player of the tournament'.
[Moderator's comment: Yes, but Cristiano Ronaldo is 50 Reasons To Hate A Portuguese.]”
Love France, Hate The French
“Looks like the love affair between Armstrong and the French media is continuing unabated according to today's Times:
"LANCE ARMSTRONG, the American cyclist who won the Tour de France for a record seven times before retiring last year, is facing a wave of Gallic outrage today after describing the French football team as 'assholes'."
The comment has provoked indignation in France. The state-owned radio station France Info described his presence as a provocation, and the newspaper France Soir greeted his arrival with the front-page headline "Welcome in France, Trouduc" - short for trou du cul (asshole).
Armstrong had been making a jocular reference to the head-butt that resulted in the French football captain Zinédine Zidane - a national hero - being sent off in the World Cup final. The tabloid said that the reference was unpardonable.
Armstrong had slighted the honour of the vanquished Bleus and indeed of the French nation, France Soir said, adding for good measure that he was a friend of President Bush.
The Texan - who claims to be the victim of a smear campaign in France after being accused by the newspaper L'Équipe of using performance-enhancing drugs - had been speaking during a sporting awards ceremony for the ESPN television channel in Los Angeles last week. "All their players have tested positive for being assholes," he said.
The controversy has fuelled acrimony between Armstrong and the country where he achieved greatness after recovering from cancer to win every Tour from 1999 to 2005.”
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