It's the European football (soccer) championship, held every four years this year's hosts are Switzerland/Austria. It's one of the biggest sports events in the world. It's practically the world championship minus Brazil and Argentina if you look at the teams.

It started today, 2 games were played.

Switzerland 0:1 Czech Republic

Portugal 2:0 Turkey

Wow, two games, three goals.

I like watching soccer in person when I know the players, but watching professional atheletes I don't know play a game like soccer is up there with sitting in a traffic jam in terms of enjoyment. Only sitting in a traffic jam is better because its more exciting.

I kind of felt similar about watching American football while in the USA. That is a really odd game - they spend more time stopped than started I disagree about the 'athletes I don't know' factor though. Sure it helps if a team I know, or even have some loyalty for, is involved in a game in any sport, as far as getting involved, but I think a big part of the enjoyment is appreciation of the skill, as well as the rising tension. Where a football (ie soccer) game gets really good is when two teams play with great skill, but are evenly matched enough that the scores stay poised where anyone can win until the last moments.

Personally, my favourite spectator sports are cricket (by a wide margin), followed by Rugby (either variety), and then soccer. I guess basketball is OK too, though I rarely see it. Olympics coming up soon so we will all be able to have an overdose of all kinds of sport if we wish.

American football leaves a lot to be desired too. I watched several games of some sort of Australian football (It didn't look like rugby) while I was there, and thought that was much more entertaining.

Probably 'Australian Rules Football' (Aussie Rules for short). Not my favourite game by a long shot, but is fast moving and skillful - and massively popular in some states (Australia is evenly divided between states where Aussie Rules is the predominant football code, and states where Rugby League is predominant. I generally only watch 1 game of Aussie Rules a year - the grand final.

I liked it because it seemed all players had to all have the same skillset. In American football, all a quarterback has to do is throw and run. The center has to hike and block.

One sport I will stop channel surfing to watch is ultimate fighting.

I'd have to agree there is certainly a lot of skill involved in all the fighting type sports, including regular boxing. They aren't really my cup of tea, but one can't deny their athleticism.

The antithesis of sport to me is horseracing. They call it a sport but I really don't get that. Is cockroach racing a sport too?

I tried riding a cockroach. We didn't get very far.

In defense of jockey's, there is a significant amount of skill and athletic ability they need to master. Granted, the horse does most of the actual work.