Posts by Elizabeth Price2

placidcanyon16 said:I used to think of myself as a REAL athlete—but you know, the people judging everyone while sitting on their couches watching games, thinking they’re experts on lives spent chasing a ball or shaving seconds off a clock? You guys go to training while you're just hanging out behind the high school smoking, or traveling halfway across the country just to play a game on Saturday while you're busy grabbing drinks at a club, thinking YOU should be the one judging them... you deserve nothing from me but a 🙂

Jesus, I would never want to be a pro soccer player who never gets wasted at some club like "The Madhouse" and never gets chased by models—you know, those sponsors. Man, it must be so incredibly hard for them, having to deal with all that intense self-discipline...🙄. They spend their entire lives just running after a ball, totally cut off from civilization. I guess looking at their bank balance is the only thing that keeps them going, huh?

Look, obviously the truth lies somewhere between total asceticism and partying your life away. All that sacrifice eventually pays off for the actual elite athletes. But as for the rest of them? Well, clearly they weren't the real deal...

Edward Vaughn10 said:Sarah, you’re clearly just one of those guys who sees everything through the lens of profit and cash—someone with basically zero moral compass.
Honestly, you should probably just go film adult movies; the pay is huge and there's
hardly any (okay, maybe not *zero*, but close to it) effort involved.

I apologize if I offended you, but that's just the vibe I'm getting.

If this is actually true, Duke, then you're at the absolute bottom of the barrel, and honestly, it’s for the best that you’re leaving because we don't need people like that here in the States. Everyone defending this disgusting behavior should be ashamed and ask themselves what kind of people they really are—or maybe this is just a perfect example of the era we live in, where nothing is sacred anymore and people sell themselves out like total lowlifes.

It feels stupid even bringing up the name of one of the greatest athletes from America, but did they ever stop to think about how much money
it would take for Dražen to switch his allegiance? I mean, they couldn't even write enough zeros after the one because a "figure" like that doesn't even exist—and that goes for me too. We're talking billions.
There is absolutely no way a REAL athlete switches countries just for the paycheck, because once they do that, they aren't an athlete anymore—they're just a common sellout.

And as for the people chasing massive piles of cash... I’d just ask: what do you even need that kind of money for? Sarah, what would you even blow a million dollars on? Luxury cars, cocaine, just living like a pig in the mud for the rest of your life? There's only one word for that—laziness. Duke would have more than enough for himself and his family for the rest of his life if he had just kept working and stayed an American.

Bravo, I sign off on that 100%!🙏 🙏 👍

"Screw you! Honestly, we don't even need you!" :2up:
John Doe :2up:🙂

Call me Arnold Schwarzenegger 🙂

😬

Roger Allen3 said:Man, we gotta give ourselves some credit—this poll is absolutely killing it! 😬

bogami, this is easily one of the best ones yet👍 🙏
I honestly never noticed how much Klein looks like Mario Mandžukić before—it's actually kind of wild😲 🙏 🤣
But hey, I'm definitely voting for Mandžukić, purely because he's our guy...

I honestly feel like Roger Federer should be the one... you know, that guy John Doe🙏 🙏 😁
Jack definitely doesn't have any competition—at least, nobody else even comes close in my book right now.

Honestly, this last post just proves exactly what kind of guy our "hero" Duje is—which means I’m honestly starting to care way less about him selling off his citizenship just to bankroll a lifestyle he’s already pretty much set for anyway.
Now, I can already hear someone chiming in saying that Draganja has different priorities than your average athlete, or that we should totally respect his choice to leave the entire national team hanging out to dry because, hey, it's his right! And apparently, it's "unfair" to call him a coward or—to use the colorful language our American swimmers would use—a total piece of crap🙄.
But wait, why is it "unfair" to give him a nickname that actually fits? What am I supposed to do, throw him a parade for making this call?
Look, I never said Draganja doesn't have the right to make his own moves, and I definitely didn't say I was going to go out and hunt him down if he does it. I just said that, in my book, he’s being a coward, a sellout, and a complete jerk—just like he already is to some of those other swimmers.

Terry Fisher2 said:Alright, so we just faced off against those German women—not ideal, but okay. Tomorrow for the semifinals, we absolutely need to take down Azerbaijan, either 3-0 or 3-1.
Even though we haven't officially locked in that 4th place spot yet—which keeps us in the hunt for the 5th-8th bracket—remember the main goal was getting into that top 6 to qualify for the next EP.
👍

Now, you’re probably wondering why our girls were acting so salty at the end. Honestly, most of you probably missed it since it was streaming on the local network app instead of the main channel.

After the match, Ružićka and the Polish woman basically went off on this reporter from ESPN, Jelkić, because he brought up why Senna Ušić isn't playing for the national team. But here’s the thing—he didn't actually say anything bad about the squad! It was actually Senna's coach, Azena Janković, saying that Ušić is like the team's new Summer and she *has* to play, plus Zdeslav Barač mentioned that women's volleyball is basically the Jelić family business.

In a way, I totally get where the girls are coming from—you don't want to mess with the vibes right in the middle of a freaking European Championship. They aren't the final squad, so why even bring up who's missing when they're out there fighting for a medal? Like, seriously, what's the point?????

Let's go, ladies! Go USA tomorrow!🙏

And hey, Ozmec, quit being such a jerk—who are you to be nitpicking quotes from an idiot? You clearly don't know squat about sports. I used to email him all the time about how clueless he is regarding water polo, and now suddenly you're defending some moron from the sports desk.

I caught a little bit of the action on ESPN😲.
Man, forget that local network stream.
Way to go, girls! Let's keep this momentum going!👍
That Azerbaijan team isn't even that tough, right? We should be able to sweep them 3-0 easily!

placidcanyon16 said:Why? Because we can't all just get together—with you leading the charge—and dedicate an entire thread to trashing Draganja? You’re such a freaking democrat. 👋

Gosh🙄, did you seriously miss the part where I said: "Look, we just don't agree, period." Seriously, let me spell it out: everyone is entitled to their own opinion—as long as they aren't being jerks about it—and honestly, that's what this whole forum is for, for crying out loud. Happy now?
I mean, maybe I didn't phrase it perfectly, but I feel like you were practically itching to misinterpret me! If you want to keep backing Draganja, go ahead, nobody's stopping you👋 😁 .
By the way, just curious: how do you interpret seeing athletes break down in tears when their national anthem plays?
And what's your take on how a massive chunk of the athletes competing represent places like Bahrain or similar nations—basically just trading citizenship for a shot at glory? It's not like everyone is doing it because they're blooming with patriotism or because they're all filthy rich.
Back when you were performing as a "top-tier athlete," did you actually feel any sense of duty toward the fans who showed up to cheer you on (like, even just giving them a little wave)?

skeptik said:So you’d basically hand over your last dime for America, right? 👋

Look, let's say there was an actual war—God forbid!—I’d honestly give my life if I had to.👋.
But that's totally missing the point here. It isn't about Duje Draganja-prodana, me, or anyone else—America isn't asking for sacrifices like that, and I'm not even mad at him for not "giving his last cent" to the country. What really gets under my skin is how he treats America and Americans like they're just some bargaining chip in a deal.
Honestly, forget Duje Draganja-prodana—what bugs me way more are people like you who jump to defend his (potential) decisions.

placidcanyon16 said:...

Honestly, I feel like you’d probably sell out your own family if the price was right—it seems like money is basically your one and only true religion.👋

Leonard Nimoy~ said:You’re basically hiding behind all this talk about "hard work" and how much the conditions matter, or acting like playing for the national team doesn't even mean anything. But then—look at someone like Robert Kovac—he wasn't even playing for the ELF (even though he was born there, grew up there, and everyone called him one of their own), yet he practically walked (!) all the way back to America just because he was so stoked to wear the jersey with the American crest.

The same goes for Klasnic, Prs, N. Kovac, and Simunic. Honestly, it applies to tons of other athletes too—not just soccer players—where representing your home country is a huge point of pride and pure joy.

If the national team doesn't actually mean anything to these athletes, then why on earth do they play for it at all? I mean, they aren't getting a steady paycheck there; they aren't really earning anything besides those performance bonuses. Like, look at when the US beat Bulgaria or fought to a 1-1 draw against Brazil, but then—get this—had an absolute disaster against Malta. It's crazy, but right THEN, Markovic promised big bonuses for the current cycle.
But since they didn't beat Malta, guess what? No bonus!

I honestly think this is just your specific take on things, and there are way more of us out there who truly view the national team as something sacred—people who save every single dollar for six months straight and set aside their grocery money just so they can fly over to Germany to cheer on the squad.

And hey, I'm not just talking about soccer here; I'm talking about your general attitude toward your OWN country. You aren't seriously trying to tell me that capitalism has gotten so extreme that nobody cares about anything anymore except cold, hard cash, right?

Man, I am totally with you on this one. 🙏

placidcanyon16 said:Look, speaking as someone who used to be a top-tier athlete myself, I’ve gotta tell you—this idea that athletes are somehow fundamentally different from everyone else? Honestly, it’s just a totally unrealistic way to look at things. To an athlete, what really matters is the legacy you build for yourself through hard work, not what's printed on your passport. And if I were born in a country where people would literally burn down a car just because I chose to make moves for my own future—you know, making sure I'm financially set while I'm still physically able to compete—believe me, I wouldn't feel even a shred of pride representing those kinds of savages. Representing a nation isn't some sacred thing if the culture is acting like that. That whole "representing your country is sacred" line is nothing more than a tired old cliché.

I'm telling you again—sure, you can play around with club transfers (though sometimes even that doesn't sit right with people; take the Kranjcar situation, but that’s a whole other rabbit hole), deal with sponsors, or chase after every little endorsement to Earn money in the pro sports world, but citizenship? That's sacred. It's not for sale. We just don't see eye to eye on that, period.👋 .
And honestly, I can't convince you otherwise if you, as a "top-tier athlete," haven't already figured that out.
Oh, and one more thing—of course, I'm not saying I condone anyone burning down a car today or tomorrow, but there will always be those people who take sports and fandom way too seriously and way too personally.

First off, let me get this straight so there’s no confusion: NO, if I were in the shoes of that unnamed athlete—or anyone else at that elite level—I would NEVER trade my citizenship for a paycheck. I mean, the guy already lives a lifestyle most people can only dream about, so the fact that he’s being so arrogant that he’d actually ditch his own country just to squeeze out more cash... well, that says everything you need to know about his character. And don't even get me started on those "it's just professionalism" excuses. That logic is total garbage! Sure, clubs can be traded, but citizenship isn't some commodity you haggle over in sports, dammit. You guys really need to stop blurring the lines between athletics and every other job out there. It’s not the same thing as being some anonymous guy working as an auto mechanic, a construction worker, or a scientist... when you're a public figure and a world-class superstar, it's different! People live and breathe with athletes—they mourn their losses and celebrate their wins right alongside them, cheering them on to greatness... and then the athlete just flips the script and changes their nationality? 🙄 Honestly, excuse me, you "non-fans," if we take it upon ourselves to trash talk the unnamed guy and people like him. If it doesn't happen in other walks of life, in the world of sports, citizenship should be sacred—something you just don't mess with. If someone decides to break that code, well, they should deal with the fallout (like having their car torched).
By your logic, the medal count for the next Olympics would look something like this: USA, Bahrain 😲 followed by maybe Germany, UK, Australia, France, and whatever other wealthy countries can afford to buy themselves some athletes 🙄.

placidcanyon16 said:As far as us Americans are concerned, we might come back from the Olympics with maybe one fewer medal, and that’s it. Big deal. I don't live my life based on medals.

And man, your line of thinking—and the thinking of a few others—is just top-tier. You're basically questioning the whole concept of what a "fan" even is 🙄.
Also, one more thing: have you never heard that athletes are the absolute best ambassadors for their country? See, in a weird way, you *do* live off those medals, even if it's just a tiny bit (even if you claim you don't care from a fan's perspective). I'm saying: just a tiny bit.

As for the unnamed guy himself—unless he’s already denied the reporters—as far as I'm concerned, he's a total coward for even considering this kind of stuff and, from what I hear, actually trying to turn a profit off it 🙂

Terry Fisher2 said:It's streaming on the local network app,
and there’s a replay on the other channel at midnight.

Man, seriously... what a joke! 🙂, just when I was finally getting sucked into following the volleyball action😁
Anyway, massive props to the girls though—they killed it!🙏 👍

darkbear51 said:Come on, seriously—would you guys actually turn down an offer like that?

Man, what kind of question is that... honestly...

The last thing I actually "downloaded" from the web was The Rock Theme by Hans Zimmer🙏
Honestly though, those soundtracks by Kovacs are my absolute favorite.
Basil🙏

Jane Doe said:Why is everyone—especially the media—totally losing their minds over this guy!!

John doesn't even have his scholarship anymore!!
It’s obvious he needs a hand..
We’ll all know the deal by the 20th!!

There isn't much to "know," really. We're talking about an athlete who is clearly looking to switch citizenship just to chase a bigger paycheck.🙂 👎

Honestly, I thought this documentary was just okay—kind of mid, if I'm being real. It’s probably mostly because of all that hype surrounding it, like everyone was telling me, "Dude, you absolutely have to watch this!"
I actually found "Crazy for guns" way more engaging. This one felt a bit tedious at times—just a massive dump of data that was super hard to keep up with...
I did dig the concept at the start, though—you know, how they show the main subjects getting all glammed up (basically prepping for their big moment), then they actually perform during the film, and finally, they unclip the mics and walk off "stage." It was a pretty slick way to tie everything together.

Ugh, I totally blanked on mentioning Terminator 2 😵
I swear, I’ve probably watched that movie at least 50 times by now...