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What to do when there are no games to watch

Admit it, you're struggling right now.

With none of Europe's major leagues in action today, you are suffering from withdrawal, and trying to figure out what to do with yourself when there are no soccer games to watch. The English Premier League returns on Sunday, but today is a day soccer fans will struggle.

So what can you do? Here are ten suggestions of things to do to help you pass the time and ease your soccer withdrawal:

  • Fire up some FIFA 09.

  • Catch up on all the soccer on your TIVO, from your episodes of Futbol Mundial to Champions League Magazine, to the Club World Cup matches you said you would eventually watch.

  • Reach out to your Facebook friends (and join the SBI group on Facebook if you haven't already).

  • Go to the park and kick the ball around (only for those of you lucky enough to live in warm-weather locations).

  • Break out that copy of Football Manager 2009 that you've been staring at.

  • Go through your jersey collection and see which ones still fit.

  • Work on your Neven Subotic dart board/punching bag.

  • Start researching travel costs for next year's big soccer events, such as World Cup qualifiers, MLS season openers and the Confederations Cup.

  • Read a soccer book or leaf through your old copies of World Soccer and 4-4-2 Magazine.

  • Read through the SBI archives to remind yourself of the year's big soccer stories.

  • Start preparing for the 2009 MLS Draft by reading the ESPN draft position rankings (goalkeepers and defenders so far) by Buzz Carrick, the Mel Kiper of soccer (and yes, I'll be happy to be the Todd McShay).

Now it's your turn. What are you doing to help pass the time on this day without soccer. Share your suggestions below.

 

Comments

  1. TWO goals by Clint?!? Geez, Clint’s filling in for Santa around here (this year Santa outsourced to Amazon who’re still working on getting Xmas to us).

    Reply
  2. Rewatch La Guerra Fria Part 1 between the USA-Mexico, the USA-Brazil 2008 Women’s Olympic Final, and the 2008 Women’s U20 World Cup Final between USA-N.Korea….

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  3. Hey Ives. What platform do you play FIFA 09 on? Xbox360 or PS3?

    If you’re on 360, what’s your gamertag. I’ll challenge you to a match.

    Reply
  4. how about get have a life…its holiday season folks, be with family and friends, football will return soon! it doesn’t hurt to take a day or two to do something else! 🙂

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  5. A soccer book that I’m in the middle of and have found very interesting is ‘Foul!: The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals’. It brings to light a lot of the outrageous things that FIFA and it’s officials get away with. I’ve had to set the book down a couple of times to take break and take in everything I’ve read because some of it will make your jaw drop to the floor.

    Reply
  6. I played FIFA and Civilization: Revolution and checked the Old Firm derby to see if any Americans made the roster. None did. Frick!

    Also went to see Valkyrie, which was not total crap.

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  7. Ives, any word on when tickets will be available for the US vs Mexico game in Columbus? Only time ever that it is worth it to be a soccer fan in northwest PA!

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  8. kebzach u idiot this is soccerbyives.net not basketball.com idiot no one cares if its basketball season this is a soccer site! idiot!!

    Reply
  9. Peter,

    I read ‘Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football’, by David Winner. Thought it was great. Next up for me are Tony Adams bio (heard it was great), and then ‘Bloody Confused!: A Clueless American Sportswriter Seeks Solace in English Soccer’ (becomes a fan of Pompey).

    Ives, don’t insult yourself. You can be the Mike Mayock, from NFL Network, on the draft. He $hits on Todd McShay

    Reply
  10. Well this is the college football bowl season, you can always watch some of those……lol but im gonna rewatch the latest El Clasico!! GO BARCA!!! and go badgers later today!!

    Reply
  11. Just an off-topic thought, but it’s probably a good idea to stop posting anything about Rossi, Subotic, etc in the americans abroad recap…. they turned their back on the US Soccer community, so why should they get any sort of weekly press from the same community???

    Reply
  12. Luis, the USSF site still says “Ticketing details will be announced in the near future.” So I’m assuming nothing official about when they go on sale has been determined.

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  13. watching Nasl games on DVD just saw ny cosmos-boca juniors at giants stadium 1978. Was also watching bundesliga matches from the seventies ..it’s old school Saturday for me.

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  14. RE: Soccer books — I got The Ball is Round by David Goldblatt for Christmas and am psyched about it. I liked Jamie Trecker’s World Cup 06 book well enough, was a little underwhelmed by How Soccer Explains the World (expectations for it may have been too high, I think), and haven’t read a whole lot else. Anyone have other book recommendations?

    Reply

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