ST It Takes a Galaxy: What's your favorite holiday memory?

Mo Salah is great, and I'm really glad he'll be able to play in the World Cup after that ridiculous foul by Sergio Ramos in the Champions League final. But I have to root for Brazil, or second for Argentina.

 

That foul was an absolute disgrace. And Brazil is probably my #2; my best friend since 6th grade (and housemate) is Brazilian, so it would be a betrayal of the highest order if I didn't at least support them. Although it is kind of funny to see him moaning face first into the carpet when they lose. But his girlfriend (also a housemate) is German, so... I don't think anybody who lives here will still be speaking to each other by next month.

 

I love American Football. I bleed green and gold and love the Green Bay Packers as much as I love Star Wars.

As far as soccer, I'm cheering for England because apparently the US can't find 11 guys who won't embarrass themselves on the world stage.

 

Having seen the level of talent that so many youth players in the US have, it really seems like the system and the management that are supposed to pull it together at the top are in need of real change. We should be able to put together a very good team. My son just finished a season in the youth league that's part of US Soccer and is designed to develop players for future MLS and national team positions. It has a lot of respect because of that position and purpose, but whether it or the system above it are really working is kind of debatable right now.

 

@EHT oh I know US Soccer is a very good thing. (I was being more sarcastic than anything.) My daughter has been playing since kindergarten. (Will be getting sunburned cheering my defender on all weekend at a tournament.)

It’s frustrating seeing all this younger talent. The USWNT has it figured out and are a delight while the men’s team continues to struggle. I agree it’s something in the management, coaching or something. And that’s the maddening bit. How are they not able to be a consistent entity? These guys have our their entire lives into honing their skill and then they get stymied.

 

Oh yes, I knew what you meant... and I share that view that they should be better. So the talent is there, but US Soccer at its higher levels is not doing the greatest job of thinking creatively and finding and cultivating the best talent for the top teams. Despite what's below them, at the top levels they've just been letting the same coaches keep using the same players and looking for the same predictable things. The U12 team that my son was on this past season that I mentioned is part of this: http://www.ussoccerda.com/home.php . It had both good and bad aspects to it; this coming season he'll be playing on the top team at his club's age level in a more "normal" regional/national league, and we think he'll be able to have more fun with it and regain some of the confidence he had playing in past years. Ironically, apparently recruiting scouts for colleges and pro teams go to these league games and tournaments just as much as they look at those DA showcases. Either way, for both him and our daughter, we just want them to keep doing it as long as they enjoy it, which they both really do. Don't want them to be one of those situations where a kid gets burned out because of pressure and quits.

And good luck to your daughter at the tournament.

 

Hiking, reading, jogging, Lord of the Rings, Potter, Indy, superheroes, video games, Disney parks, college basketball and football.

 

The World of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra is my favorite fictional world/universe (whatever you would call it) outside of the Star Wars universe. The characters, the culture, the physical geography, the bending, etc. are all so fascinating. I want some novels written about this world.
I'm glad the property hasn't entirely gone away. We're not likely to get a new show any time soon, but we are still getting graphic novels and short comics on Free Comic Book day. Little of it is great, but it is still good.

 

I was talking to a friend whose kid is really involved in soccer as well. I like his take to a certain extent. USMNT is too scripted in its play where they become predictable. where everyone knows how to defend against him.

I love youth soccer. My daughter is U12 (just a regular traveling team) as well. It's the parents I can't stand. Stop screaming at the refs, people! Had a mom on the opposing side spending the entire game playing head games with my kid with you're trash, you should quit. you don't belong here nonsense because, well, she was doing actually a great job apparently defending her kid. And the field marshal was nowhere to be seen. Sigh. Parents like that I cannot stand. That is exactly what takes the fun out of it. /rant

 

Geez, yeah... can't stand those parents. We've been pretty lucky lately with not encountering them too much, but at a recent game they were really bad. Mostly yelling at the ref, but at one point my son got a yellow card by accident. He and the defender were going shoulder to shoulder, which is allowed, but the other kid turned and my son hit his chest. So my son felt bad anyway and was just standing there while they were checking on the other kid, and the parents for that team were telling him he should have had a red card for it. They're not supposed to talk to players at all. Luckily he just ignored them.

 

Travel, music (specifically record hunting), a good hike, saltwater activities ranging from surfing to fishing, classic Hollywood cinema. Probably the biggest obsession outside of the Star Wars galaxy and everything even remotely related to it is college (American) football, followed by international and professional soccer (world Football).

 

I told my daughter if she gets berated or heckled by a parent to calmly look them in the eye and say, "I'm sure your mother would be really proud of your behavior" and walk away. If she gets carded, I don't care. Grown ups need to act better than that.

And since she is a defender, do you know how hard it is to sit on my hands and NOT teach her a clean and proper slide tackle?

 

Refs won't give her a card for talking to parents anyway, I don't think. Her coach might not like it, though. But do you mean they're not allowed to do slide tackles in her league? They can in my kids' games, they just have to be clean, as you said.

 

They can slide tackle and head at this age. Our team just doesn't do much of either. And I'm okay with not heading if you don't know what you're doing.

 

I have recently, after an about 35-year-hiatus, taken up LEGO again (and of those now-legal clones, Sluban). Not so much the SW LEGO btw, although I got me a mini-MF and two mini-TFs (discount, and got a minifig of that code cracker dude from TLJ with it as well). But I have some of that old 1980s space LEGO and bought for about €300 lose bricks with it. I want to build a station and some space ships.

I have been a semi-fanatic cycler (I've always had good city bikes but never one those pro bikes) but in recent years I've grown lazy and gained about 15 kilos. I need to get into that again!

I'm also somewhat of an autodidactic 'gatherer of knowledge'. I have no overarching grand plan for this, so it boils down to occasionally reading a book My main interests in this are the natural sciences (on a pop sci level) and history, with an inclination towards the hidden and/or darker currents: occult societies, nazis, etc.

And music of course. A friend of mine once said, and he firstly meant music but in a wider sense he mean everything, that well over 95% of it sucks, but that the remaining 5% are moreethan you can process in a lifetime. I agree. I could name genres and artitst, but I suppose I'd better save that for another occasion.

 

I missed a couple of the question changes in here but on the topic of interests outside of Star Wars, I love music, reading, photography, my Dobermans and horse back riding. I follow horse racing pretty regularly now that I am not as actively involved in my daughter's athletic schedule with her having gone up to college.

 

there are several passions outside of Star Wars that I have. One is helping the environment in anyway possible. That usually means helping with animals. I am also into politics, but forums and politics don’t really merge well, so I’ll leave it at that. Even though I am not very good at it I do love to drive. I don’t very much care for what car I may be driving. I just love to drive. Lastly I really love to read as much as possible. Which is a bit strange seeing as I have dyslexia, but it is what it is.

 

Academics: History, Politics, International Diplomacy, Religion, Military Strategy.

Sports/Hobbies: Fencing (saber), chess, strategy and RPG video games.

Franchises: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls

 

Spending as much time with my grandchildren as possible. (They're 5 and 2) I only get to see them every couple of months or so when I can get time off from work. They live 400 miles away. (FaceTime is my best friend lol).
I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe (especially Loki), and TV shows Shadowhunters and Lucifer.
I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of anything else at the moment.

 

Karate. I hold a 3rd Dan in Okinawan GoJu Ryu Karate, and am one of the senior instructors at our dojo in Lancashire, UK. We teach kids from the age of five, and we have students as old as sixty-five. We also have disabled students who we adapt techniques for. It’s great to see shy kids and adults grow in confidence as they get better and stronger.

I also love video games, play the saxophone, mountain biking, movies and just hanging around with my wife and kids really. Oh and barbecues. And wine.

 

I could talk about any one of the 5 main games for hours. That series is great.

 

I sunk an absolutely disgusting amount of time into Fallout 3. It dominated my 8th grade year. But nothing compares to how much time total I’ve spent playing Skyrim.