Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 517, Watching Competitive Sports.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 517.
Transcription by CastingWords.
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This episode is a dialogue between Bruno and Tamara about watching sporting events that are competitive, meaning someone wins and someone loses.
That's a pretty broad category, but we'll talk about some vocabulary that you would use in a sporting event, such as a football game or a baseball game.
Let's get started.
Hey, what are you doing?
Give me back that remote.
The movie I want to watch is on right now.
Do you mind?
Of course I mind.
I'm watching the playoffs.
Can't you see that?
The playoffs?
Oh, I'll watch with you.
You?
You don't know anything about sports.
It doesn't matter.
I always root for the underdog.
Our team will be victorious.
Go team!
Fine, but I'm rooting for the other team.
Let's just watch the game, okay?
Your team is going to get pounded.
We will be the champions.
Please, can I just watch this game in peace?
I've been waiting for it all season.
Ooh, somebody is a little testy.
I think it's because you know you're backing a losing team.
You can't stand being on the losing side.
Am I right?
Your players are running scared already.
I can tell.
I'm just trying to follow the game.
Look at that!
Your best player just choked.
How could he have missed such an easy shot?
If you don't be quiet, I'll show you what it feels like to get choked.
Bruno says to Tamara, Hey, what are you doing?
Give me back that remote.
Hey is used to get someone's attention.
Sometimes it just means hi, but if you say it with the right intonation, like hey, then usually it's because you're angry or upset.
Bruno is upset with Tamara because she took away his remote.
Remote here stands for remote control.
It's a small device you use to control, for example, your television set or your cable or satellite TV box.
That is what remote means here, but there are other meanings of this word in English, so take a look at the learning guide for some more explanations.
Tamara says, the movie I want to watch is on right now.
Is on meaning is currently showing on the television.
Do you mind?
Meaning, is it okay?
That's an informal way of asking someone to stop what they are doing, usually because it is bothering you.
So, for example, you may be eating at a restaurant and the person next to you is talking loudly on their cell phone, which I absolutely hate.
I could turn to them and say, excuse me, do you mind?
We're trying to eat here.
I probably wouldn't do that, especially if they were bigger than I am.
But...
That's the idea.
You would probably only say it to someone you know.
It's not something you would say to, say, your boss, unless you don't mind losing your job.
Bruno says, of course I mind, meaning, no, I'm not going to stop what I'm doing.
I am bothered by your request.
He says, I'm watching the playoffs.
The playoffs are games that are played at the end of a season.
For example, in baseball, the season begins in April and it ends in late September.
Then after, in October, we have the playoffs.
The best teams play against each other for the championship.
Tamara says, the playoffs?
Oh, I'll watch with you.
Bruno says, you?
He's very surprised that Tamara wants to watch sports with him.
He says, you don't know anything about sports.
Tamara says, it doesn't matter.
It's not important that I don't know.
I always root for the underdog.
To root R-O-O-T for a team means to cheer for them.
That is to be in favor of them, want them to win.
I'm going to root for the University of Minnesota.
That's my university.
So when they play a football game, I am rooting for them.
In baseball, of course, I root for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Well, Tamara says that she always roots for the underdog.
By the way, root has a couple of different meanings in English as well.
Once again, take a look at that learning guide for some more explanations.
She's rooting for the underdog.
The underdog is the team that is not expected to win, the team that you believe is the weakest.
So when the United States plays soccer in the World Cup, They're probably the underdog, meaning no one really expects them to win the championship.
She says, To be victorious means to be the victor, the winner.
She says Often, if you are at a game and you want to cheer, that is, you want to express your support for your team out loud you use the verb go.
Like, go Dodgers means I want the Dodgers to win.
You are telling them to play well, if you will.
Bruno then says, fine, okay, but I'm rooting for the other team.
Let's just watch the game, okay?
Tamara says, your team is going to get pounded.
To get pounded is an informal expression meaning to get beaten badly.
They're going to lose by many, many points.
Tamara is doing what a lot of sports fans do.
She's saying something negative about the other team.
Your team is going to get pounded.
They're going to be defeated by a large score.
Tamara says, we will be the champions.
The champions are the winners, the victors.
Bruno says, please, can I just watch this game in peace?
To do something in peace means to do it quietly calmly, without other people making noise or talking or shouting.
I was in the public library this afternoon and there was a woman there sitting next to one of the computers and she starts talking very loudly on her cell phone.
Did I mention that I really hate people who talk loudly on their cell phones in public?
Well...
I'm sure that the other people in the library wanted to read in peace meaning, without being disturbed by loud noises.
Unhappily, that is almost impossible nowadays.
But now I'm sounding like an old man, aren't I?
Bruno says, please, can we just watch this game in peace?
I've been waiting for it all season.
The season is the time, the months in the year when the regular games are played.
That's called the regular season.
After that, when you have the playoffs, that's called, at least in baseball, the postseason after the regular season.
Tamara says, ooh, somebody is a little testy.
To be testy, T-E-S-T-Y, means to be easily angered or frustrated.
We might use the word irritable, someone who gets irritated, who gets bothered by something.
Tamara says, I think it's because you know you're backing a losing team.
To back something or someone is to support them.
It could mean here to root for them.
In business, if you are backing someone, you are giving them money for their business.
You are an investor.
You would be called a backer, someone who backs a business.
Here, Tamara means that Bruno is rooting for a team that she says is going to lose.
Tamara says you can't stand, meaning you are very bothered by, you are unable to tolerate or put up with the fact that you are on the losing side.
Am I right?
Your players are running scared already.
I can tell.
I can see.
To run scared means to be frightened or worried that something is going to happen, especially with your job or perhaps in a competition like a sporting event.
Bruno says, I'm just trying to follow the game.
To follow the game means to pay attention to what is happening.
Tamara says, look at that.
Your best player just choked.
In sports or in any competition.
When you say someone chokes C-H-O-K-E-S, you mean they do not perform well, usually because they're nervous or under too much pressure and they are not able to do what they would normally do.
That's to choke.
To choke also means not to be able to breathe.
If you eat something and it gets stuck in your throat, you could choke.
You would perhaps pass out, even die, because you were not getting oxygen into your lungs, into your body.
But here it simply means that someone is not performing very well.
Tamara says, how could he have missed such an easy shot?
How is it possible?
Because it was so easy, the player should have made this shot.
Shot here would refer to, for example, in a basketball game, when you throw the ball up, that's called a shot.
Bruno says, if you don't be quiet...
To get choked means that someone grabs you by the neck and squeezes so that you are unable to breathe.
We can say that the person is choking.
That's usually because they eat something, for example, that get stuck in their throat and they can't breathe.
Or if you want to kill someone, you may choke them.
The person was getting choked by his friend because he was angry.
Of course, that's very dangerous.
You should probably not choke anybody today.
Bruno, of course, isn't serious.
He's not actually going to choke Tamara.
We don't approve of that on ESL podcasts.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hey, what are you doing?
Give me back that remote.
The movie I want to watch is on right now.
Do you mind?
Of course I mind.
I'm watching the playoffs.
Can't you see that?
The playoffs?
Oh, I'll watch with you.
You?
You don't know anything about sports.
It doesn't matter.
I always root for the underdog.
Our team will be victorious.
Go team!
Fine, but I'm rooting for the other team.
Let's just watch the game, okay?
Your team is going to get pounded.
We will be the champions.
Please, can I just watch this game in peace?
I've been waiting for it all season.
Ooh, somebody is a little testy.
I think it's because you know you're backing a losing team and you can't stand being on the losing side.
Am I right?
Your players are running scared already.
I can tell.
I'm just trying to follow the game.
Look at that.
Your best player just choked.
How could he have missed such an easy shot?
If you don't be quiet, I'll show you what it feels like to get choked, for this episode was written by somebody who never chokes when she has an important dialogue to write.
Dr. Lucy Say.
Go Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2009 by the Center for Educational Development.
