Czuch Chuckers: I've never heard anyone say nil when they mean zero when talking about a sports score. Who talks like that? 3-0. It's three-zero or three to nothing.

And what American would watch soccer anyway? Do you like soccer, Czuch?

Personally I dislike sports that breed nationalism. The Olympics are another sporting event that I avoid mainly because of this nationalism. Bring people together? It seems to divide and inflame people lots more than bring them together. Then there's a lot of politics, politicians, judges, and referee scandals.

That's what I like about Major League Baseball. If you're good enough to make the team, it doesn't matter where you come from. I either root for a player or a team, not a country, and I see nothing wrong with hoping that the Oakland Athletics lose every game. They're my team's rival in the division and that's how it is. Just like a Boston fan rooting for the Yankees to lose.

As for soccer in the United States, aside from where I live I doubt if it is even in the top 7 sports. Around here it's different because my city is over 70% Hispanic and over 50% recent immigrant. Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Golf, NASCAR, Formula 1, Surfing, Beach Volleyball, Pro Wrestling, Horseracing, well maybe not surfing, but I bet the rest of them outdraw soccer. Why people get so worked up about guys kicking a ball around over and over never ceases to amaze me. There's got to be more to it than the actual game itself. I guess most people have a nationalistic pride even though it's a team and not their country. Plus, you throw in the underdog angle and an upset or two and there you have it. This World Cup series seems really strange as to how it's organized. Why do teams from small countries play against teams with such large populations? This is fair? Are players only allowed to play on the team that they are citizens of for the World Cup series, or can they play on any team? How often does a team from a small country in population advance to the finals? How did Trinidad and Tobago make it this far? I heard that basketball in the 1950's was held this way amongst highschools in a midwestern state (Illinois or Indiana, I'm not sure) and one of the smallest schools won the championship once. This can't happen in California highschools as they seperate the schools by the amount of attendance and have divisions for each class size. Besides the World Cup soccer championship, are there other leagues besides national teams? Does the Madrid team play some of the English teams in an orgianized league, say? Can an English player play on a German team besides the national team in the World Cup? As you can see I am not too sure of how the various soccer leagues and teams are organized. Baseball has quite a few different leagues around the world and various championships too. The Major Leagues are just one part of it all. Maybe the best players in the world play in the Major Leagues, but there's plenty of other places where baseball is played. Baseball is a lot harder to play and organize than soccer is. That is obviously a deterent to it spreading as fast as a simple to play and organize as soccer. Perhaps it is this simplicity to soccer that creates so much of its appeal? Soccer looks easy to play, but it's not. Baseball looks complicated and it is. Football and Baseball are the major spectator team sports in the United States and fans of each will sometimes point out the supposed superiority of their favorite sport over the over. I like both of them, but think baseball is the better game of the two. Here's plenty of people around here that will disagree with me on that and have trouble believing anybody would watch baseball when there's a football game on. What do we know in Southern California? The NFL left here in 1994 and there's no professional football around. Plenty of college football teams and tradition though. Considering this area has the second largest population of it in the United States, that must mean something.

I'm just rambling on here, but "nil," where'd you get that? Where are you from? Nil is a bid to take zero tricks in a couple of cards games that I know how to play.