Talking about watching sports

Beth
Hello and welcome to Real Easy English. In this podcast, we have real conversations in easy English on everyday topics. I’m Beth.
 
Neil
And I’m Neil. Did you know that there’s a video version of this podcast on our website? That’s at bbclearningenglish.com. You can read along with the subtitles and there’s also a free worksheet for you to download.
 
Beth
Hi Neil, how are you? How was your weekend?
 
Neil
Hi, Beth. I’m very well. My weekend was packed full of sport. I watched a football match. Yeah, I watched my local team playing at their stadium.
 
Beth
Did you win?
 
Neil
Yeah!
 
Beth
Well done. Well, today we’re talking all about sports. We’re talking about watching sports, whether that’s on TV or live, and when you watch sports live, you go there in person to actually see it happen in real time.
 
Neil
So, Beth, do you enjoy watching sports?
 
Beth
I do. It depends on the sport. So, I really love watching gymnastics. So, if there are national championships or world championships or the Olympics, then I really enjoy watching the gymnastics and I normally watch it on TV, but I have been to watch it live as well. And yeah, I really like that.
 
Neil
Mmm. Is it better to watch sport live, as in at the stadium, or on TV?
 
Beth
Actually, with gymnastics, I think it’s better on TV. And that’s because when you’re in a stadium – true, the atmosphere is amazing with the crowd – but you can’t really see the events properly because there are… Gymnastics is a sport where there’s lots of individual events happening and you can’t watch them all at once. I think you’re going to say that you prefer watching live sport, in person, at the stadium.
 
Neil
Yeah. So, for example, something happened in the game that I saw and I didn’t have any idea what it was.
 
Beth
Is this at the weekend?
 
Neil
Yeah. And I only found out why a particular goal was not allowed when I read it on the website later. But I think that’s great because when you’re there at the ground, you’re in the atmosphere and just totally concentrating on this thing.
 
Beth
I think… I think having the crowd there, and they’re all making noise, you feel like you’re in a big group. The atmosphere – you can’t beat. And it’s definitely not the same at home.
 
Neil
Mmm. It’s like a social event because you meet friends, family, go with the kids, and you have a good time all together.
 
Beth
Yeah. Is there any game that you have seen that really… you remember very well because of a particular reason?
 
Neil
Yes, I’ve been lucky. I’ve seen quite a lot of really exciting international matches. And I saw a really exciting cricket match a couple of years ago, with England against Australia, which is a big rivalry, and the drama is incredible because you didn’t know who was going to win until the last minute. And all of the supporters were going crazy, when eventually England won that game.
 
Beth
Yeah, that’s good. I think in those events where it’s so close, it’s like… it’s nail-biting. You’re literally there like: “Argh, who is going to win? It could go to that team. It could go to the other team.” And yeah, definitely a lot of drama.
 
Neil
Yeah. So, that cricket match I was watching was so nail-biting. It was very exciting and it made me feel very nervous. You can imagine, when you’re nervous, you bite your nails, and that’s why we say something is nail-biting. And then when it’s over, there’s a really great feeling of relief… if your team won.
 
Beth
Exactly! I was going to say – if you win, yes!
 
Neil
Yeah, I was actually in the same situation this summer and England lost the game.
 
Beth
Oh. Yeah, not so good.
 
Neil
No.
 
Beth
OK. Let’s recap the language we heard during the conversation.
 
Neil
We heard crowd, which is a large group of people, and we can use it to describe the people at a sports match. For example, there was a huge crowd at the football match.
 
Beth
We had atmosphere, which is the general feeling or mood of everyone at an event. For example, at the gymnastics there was a really exciting atmosphere. 
Neil
We heard drama and there’s often drama at sports matches because unexpected things can happen.
 
Beth
And we can describe a sports event as nail-biting if it’s stressful and exciting. That’s it for this episode of Real Easy English. Why not test what you’ve learnt with the free worksheet on our website? Go to bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Neil
We’ll be back next week with another episode of Real Easy English but until then, why not try our video series, The London Letter Challenge? You can follow the link in the notes for this programme.
 
Beth
Thanks for joining us and goodbye.