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Sue, when you read Tom?s post you need to understand that some of his words don?t translate well from Masculine English to Feminine English. Where he writes ?rational?, read ?go on forever evaluating the minute details of a sports match as if anyone cares?; where he writes ?thoughtful? read ?mentally obsessed upon the notion of men kicking circles of air around a field?; where he writes ?analytical? this carries a similar translation to rational.
==Sigh== You just don't understand how genuinely important these things are. Should you ever find yourself in the Eastern US at the right season, I'll take you to a baseball game, and all will become clear: the cheers, the beers, ahh life. Sue the invitation holds for you as well.
I remember reading that John Frawley said it was hard sometimes to put personal biases aside and that it would be easier for someone who has no knowledge and no interest in these sporting events to predict the outcome
.

John put this story in his magazine so I'm not telling tales out of church. He once corretly predicted every game, including the upsets, in the first round of the World Cup. He published the predictions in advance and his subsequent opinions were sought out by people who bet on these things. He worked extra hard on the second round and was even paid for his predictions. The results were disasterous. He thinks that the fact he was doing this for money hurt him as did his efforts to be correct were so strong he injected his sports knowledge into the charts where he shouldn't have.

Sports prediction is a great way to sharpen your skills because the result is unambiguous, you were right or wrong, and you get the results quickly. The problem, as we've all noted is finding the correct significator. I think that changes from time to time and we need to learn how to adjust. I plan to do some work on the upcoming NFL (American Football) playoffs which culminate in the Super Bowl. They begin in about three weeks. I'll send you the information as to game times and locations and teams. Since you have no interest in the outcome and possibly no knowledge of the game, it makes both of you the perfect astrologers for this kind of work. I'll have a bias since I'll probably be rooting for one team anyway, although neither of my local teams is going to make the playoffs.

Bernadette Brady had excellent sports results using Lilly's rules for Beseigement.

And as ever, I will be here to explain, quiet rationally of course, the man's (read: correct) viewpoint.

Tom

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Ah Thomas, Thomas,

What are we going to do with you? I was in England during the World Cup Football (soccer :wink: ) last year. I saw grown men crying in the streets. The only time I got a seat in the underground any morning was when England was playing some team or another. No one was going to work. I actually read an article in the paper this morning that suggested the only time it is truly acceptable for men to show any emotion is when it involves sport.

I have absolutely no knowledge of ths weird game you call gridiron or something strange like that. All I know is that, unlike the football in the UK and Australia, they need lots of padding to protect their delicate bodies. This would be a good way to learn since I have absolutely no emotional interest in the outcome. So how do we go about determining the significators? I would imagine the Super Bowl will be played on neutral territory. And I can't wait to see how unemotional this will be.

I will have to grant that probably the only game that really deserves to be called 'football' is the English variety. (But don't tell Deb I said that)

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Tsk tsk
I saw grown men crying in the streets.
These are the ones who lost all their money for betting with their hearts instead of their heads. This is the real reason fans take the defeat harder than the players.
The only time I got a seat in the underground any morning was when England was playing some team or another. No one was going to work
.

Which is why major sporting events in the US are played at night or on Sundays. We adjust.

I actually read an article in the paper this morning that suggested the only time it is truly acceptable for men to show any emotion is when it involves sport.
False. It is never acceptable for a man to show emotion. Not even when something as devastating as his team's loss is the reason.
I have absolutely no knowledge of ths weird game you call gridiron or something strange like that.
It is called football. It played on "the gridiron," which is an old fashioned word that is rarely used except for nostagic purposes. I don't why it is called a gridiron except that the lines on the field form something of a grid.

All I know is that, unlike the football in the UK and Australia, they need lots of padding to protect their delicate bodies.
That is because you prefer non-contact sports. Soccer players get pushed and fall down and go "boom" from time to time. They get up and whine to the referee. On the other hand "delicate" NFL linebackers routinely weigh 275 pounds and run fifty yards in under just over five seconds. Imagine if you will, having your back to one of them when he tackles you with all that force. How much padding would it take to protect your body? Now imagine there are three of them rushing at you with two linemen each weighing over 300 pounds, and all five want to knock you down and keep you down and any or all of them would like to hurt you enough to get you taken out of the game. Imagine over 1000 pounds of beef lying on your body, and not gently placed there either, and then keeping in mind, this is all well within the rules of the game, ask yourself how much padding a UK or Aussie football player would need to protetct his body? In addition many of the fields are not natural surfaces. No they consist of something called "astroturf" (named after the Astrodome, the first indoor baseball stadium where it was first used). Astroturf is artificial grass. Most people think it is placed over real dirt. It isn't. It is placed over a hard surface which protects the astroturf from getting wet from underneath. It is as hard as concrete, but so are the real fields when they freeze in the winter. Ever been tackled by someone who wieghs 275 pounds on a frozen turf?

For better or for worse, "clothes line tackling" is now illegal. This once favored technique was executed by sticking one's forearm out and driving it to the runner's throat. The effect was the same as if one was running full force into a clothes line. Ahh the good old days.

The averge career in the NFL is three years, and it is so short due to injuries. And as ever justice reigns. The players with the shortest careers tend to be the ones playing in the least compensated positions, the offensive or defensive lines.
I will have to grant that probably the only game that really deserves to be called 'football' is the English variety.
American football got its name because early on, kicking was an essential part of strategy. There were quick kicks and drop kicks, punts and field goals. As the game evolved and the rules changed, particularly the rules regarding substitution of players, it became more and more specialized and kicking became less and less important, although many games are still won in the last seconds by kicking a field goal. Now, at the professional level, passing the ball, a technique virtually unknown in the early days, is paramount. Most NFL quarterbacks can throw a football about 75 yards with fair accuracy, but the pass rush is so fast the receivers can't get that far downfield in that short a time even though they can all run 100 yards in about 10 seconds, but so can the guys defending against them. The game is a combination of speed and power. Now baseball, is a whole other matter. The athlete needs speed, power, and brains. It ain't cricket.


Tom

PS I've come across a non-astrology book that might be of interest. I'll post that later on today or tomorrow in the book section

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A report in the Daily Mail - Britain's Ambulance service has reported the call out for patients with suspected heart attacks rose 450% last Saturday morning because of the excitement of the match. :!: