Luis Scola Named MVP for FIBA Americas Championship

Since Americans have football backgrounds where toughness and "refusal to shy away from contact"(minus some ball handlers obviously ) far exceeds soccer, I don't see how soccer backgrounds give them an advantage here.

 

Soccer , aside from the cross training on footwork , will help a basketball player because it develops his toughness and tenacity . Yes, many americans have football backgrounds, but how many of them are playing basketball. Allen Iverson, with a football background as a quarterback , actually played like a tough quarterback during his MVP year , drawing fouls as he fearlessly penetrated inside and getting tackled to the floor more often than not.

Ginobili , probably has a soccer background, has good footwork and also knows how to draw fouls when penetrating inside. Other players that have soccer backgrounds are Steve Nash, and Hakeem Olajuwon.

 

After Playing Soccer 10 years of my life and playing football 5 years I can easily say from my experience that soccer is tougher then football any day of the week. Playing soccer to me was all about getting exhausted then sliding in the grass and getting grass burns, throwing elbows, getting any cheap move possible because it's expected.. Soccer to me was all about blood sweat and tears,,, Nothing better then feeling a little blood dribble from your shin while your all itchy from the grass and tired since you'v been running 30 minutes straight without a break and tearful afterwords because you cannot wait for the next game. Soccer could very well be the funnest game to play even ahead of basketball if your into contact and tough sports, basketball no doubt is funner to watch though in my eyes.

Playing football just didn't give me the same tough feeling, all these pads and people just looking for one big hit.. it was hardly a grind and never once.. NOT ONCE did I ever feel exhausted after a football game(I played cornerback and wide receiver though). I had my bruises and cuts every now and then but no way was it near the level of toughness as soccer is. I never played Rugby but I'm sure thats the toughest sport of them all. Blood sweat exhaustion tears and that itchy feeling that grass gives you is what it's all about and where men are made. I'll forever laugh at the fools who try to claim football is tougher since it promotes hitting and gang tackles, they obvisoley have never played competitive soccer at a high level.

 

If soccer is tough to play then how come we only play it as children and then move on to football?

 

Maybe because you sucked when you played football and had to turn to american football? Trust me, football is a great foot-eye co-ordination sport, it takes a hell lot of skill and it can be very, very tough, especially on strikers and mid-fielders, they have to run the most and most likely to be tackled. IMO, if you can excel in both football and basketball, then you can be insane at basketball when it comes to positioning and footwork. Those things are invaluable.

 

this argument is stupid. it's like saying that soccer is what made hakeem nimble. you are what you are.

 

Now there's my answer. Soccer is too tough and skilled for the average American adult, only our children can handle it.


Sorry for hijacking this this thread. The Rox are lucky to score Scola, it's going to be interesting see him play alongside Yao.

 

So training serves no purpose?

 

Sounds like an allergy problem to me. Maybe you just need an inhaler and some Benedryl.

 

I went to Vegas this weekend and actually went to the FIBA Gold Medal game and watched Team USA v. Argentina (no one at our hotel even knew what FIBA was, so it didn't surprise me that we could walk up to the booth 30 minutes before the game and get lower level seats.) In any case, watching the game I was impressed by Scola because he continued to do well despite being consistantly double teamed. More than that though, this guy had a ton of passion despite being down 30 + points, he played hard on every possession. The only thing is I can see him getting technicals next year as he was arguing with the refs on every call - even on fouls that he wasn't a part of.

But, in any case the real reason I posted on this thread was to talk about him winning the MVP award. I don't know if you could hear it on TV, but when he was given the MVP trophy there was a loud roaring of boos from the crowd. It was actually pretty embarassing, aside from the boos there were a lot of disparaging remarks made from the crowd. I was embarassed that despite the fact that the US won big, the crowd felt the need to boo a player from another team winning an award.

 

He only won cause Chuck Hayes was not on Team USA.

 

My guess is because while growing up 90% of an average mans dream is to play as an professional in whatever sport they go into when older.. Not to mention free scholarships and popularity that it also brings. If it was about toughness not only would soccer have more respect.. but Rugby and Lacrosse also.

I guess my point isn't that we change to football because it's 'tougher' or 'funner' we just see football as being the more expected choice.. as a professional you have fame and fortune, as a student you have popularity..

And the soccer player? They have scars and no-one really cares about them. When they do make it to the professional level in America (MLS) they will be like the WNBA players as in barely scrapping by with their pay, not to mention scouts will rarely really care whether you choose their school or not.. who cares about soccer right?

I guess a perfect example would be T-Mac himself, he liked baseball but basketball for him was the more expected choice with the most benefits and popularity

I'm not saying football isn't funner then soccer, thats the consumers choice and opinion. I'm just saying Soccer is tougher then Football

 

no no. he's not better than anthony or lebron. but still, congrats to him.

 

Hmmmm.. did someone here actually refer to soccer players as tough? Have u seen a soccer game? These guys fall over at the slightest contact (and many times without any contact!). Many of times I look into the crowd to see if there any snipers cuz of the way they go down, I'd have sworn they were shot.

Having said this, if anyone is silly enough to suggest that soccer doesn't help develop basketball footwork, obviously those people haven't played or coached basketball at anything near even a High School level. Footwork is probably the most important skill (outside of anything to do with the basketball in itself) in basketball, and playing soccer goes a long way toward helping develop one's footwork!

 

Like most things because we see it on TV and want to do what's on TV.

If you go to English speaking countries in Europe even though basketball is played upto and including parts of high school at a very high rate, you see a huge drop off after high school. It's a pretty simple explanation, basketball isn't on tv very much, but soccer is, so people continue to play soccer or even rugby for that matter, but not basketball.

 

Ok enough with the soccer/football toughness caparison..

Can't we all just agree that curling is in fact the stupidest 'sport' ever invented?
(and yes I hope you take offense if your into curling)

Now that we all agree, back to the discussion at hand

 

I don't think you have ever played soccer in your life. It is one of the most physically demanding team sports. Yes, soccer players flop--a lot. But that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of real tackles that hurt. And every soccer player will tell you the toughest thing is the non-stop running, in various speeds, constantly changing directions, with jumping in between, for 90 minutes. You can't call a timeout. You only have one intermission break. You can only have two subs per game. . .

 

you guys are from houston and know of a certain hakeem olajuwon dont you?!?!?!?!?

olajuwon's low post repetoire is credited for soccer being his 1st love.

athletes who have a background in soccer are going to have an upper leg in regards to footwork when they transition to basketball. period. irrespective of your opinion on soccer. it's not even up for argument. especially in houston on a rocket's forum where people should know about hakeem olajuwon.

that said. is it really true that scola has a soccer history, besides just the generalization on argentenians? that would be awesome and would explain a bit of why he doesnt have butter toes, if you will.

 

When you are running at full speed, even the slightest contact may cause you to lose balance and fall to the ground, not to mention thet still need to use their feet to control the ball (not like FOOTBALL, they actually hold the ball with their hands, how ironically) so it's normal. If you don't believe it, try youself. Actually in the soccer world, "Flop" is not as serious as some fans here thought. in most case, the player will try it to get a 12yard penalty kick from the confused referee in opponent's restricted area(is this the correct word?).

Back to the topic, Scola. I do notice Scola "flops" a lot in this tournament, It seems like it's Argentina tradition. Will you Rockets fans be happy or upset that we have a "flopper" in our squardon? I myself feel happy about that.

 

good for scola!

all i have to say about soccer - soccer fans are ****ing crazy!