Yeah if I wanted to watch guys running around making idiots of themselves trying to score I'd watch Blind Date.
The only reason soccer is the "world's sport" is because only thing you have to have to play it is a bloated goat baldder. It says more about the state of mankind than about the appeal of the game.
I wish we would pass a law...that for like 20 years or so..all the best American athletes were forced to play Soccer...So we could win like 4 World Cups straight...and then declare a moritorium on the rest of the world talking to Americans about boring soccer. (MM waits to be stoned and caned by the international members of Clutch Fans)
The US team is getting better, and were exciting in the last WC. I remember sitting in our theater room in my boarding school in Switzerland and watching the games. The saudi's and BUlgarians and russians, and French, and Germans etc. were all talking **** about the US. They were saying how crappy they were and how much they sucked. And then they won one...then another etc. The best laugh was when the Saudis had their scarfs and flags etc while watching their team play.....and the saudi's ended up losing by like 8 goals against the Germans.
The US's only problem right now is if they are going to use scabs or make a deal with the professional players before the second round of WC cup qualifying begins. The US will win a WC in the next 13 years! No friggin doubt in my mind. They will have a hard time in Germany because of their poor record in European held WC's. But if they pull off a good showing in 2006, it will show that our current batch of players can compete with the powerhouses on their home turf. As one english journalist put it "the americans have too much talent,money and orginization not win it all. But most of all their society demands a winner." I just hope americans don't take winning a WC for granted.
If you can't see the skill level, stamina and overall ability to play the game of soccer then obviously your really closed minded to it. The excitment of the game of soccer is honesty higher than any sport out there. Just waiting and anticipating a goal is so worth it when it happens. It's not like every other sport that is all about scoring. The ability of every team out there to keep the opponents from scoring is unbelievable. I even give props to the refs in soccer. You try to basically run the length of a soccer field for 90 minutes straight.
They settled on a deal through the end of 2005 a few days ago. We will play a full squad against Trinidad and Tobago next month in the first game of the finsal round of qualifying. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=322748&cc=5901
Ahh, my two favorite arguments from the pro-sucker crowd. 1. You don't like it because you don't understand it. We understand it fine, it isn't complicated, it is stupid and boring. We would rather chose one of the many other better options available to us here in America that many of the soccer countries do not have, like football. 2. Soccor players are the best athletes because they run for 90 minutes straight. No, they don't. There are plenty of stoppages of play in soccer. There is also much less contact than in other major sports. Soccer requires more athletecism than baseball, which never requires more than a burst of energy. Hockey, basketball, and football are just as draining though. In addition to running, there is hitting people, possibly wearing pretty hefty pads, and/or having some huge guy leaning on you all night.
Europeans have just as many options as us, if not more, and yes they do have football, yet they still flock to the soccer stadiums every week. There are far less stoppages in soccer than any of the sports you mentioned. They do far more than run, soccer probably takes more skill than any other sport in the world to play at a high level. The only position that can compare is QB in American football.
Just don't see how that is true. I look at basketball players, at football players, I see the vertical leaps and the pinpoint passing and huge guys with amazing agility and I say "now there is an athlete." I don't think the same thing looking at a soccer player. And does it really take a huge amount of skill for a soccer goalkeeper to defend the 10 or so shots on goal during a two hour match?
I said it takes more skill, not that they are better athletes. I think it breaks down pretty easily like this, basketball players use their hands to shoot, dribble and pass, soccer players do the same but with their feet. Which do you think takes more skill? As I said in my previous post I think QB is the only position in sports that takes more skill than a non-goalkeeper soccer player.
basketball is in the rise, but never ever, ever will it be on the same level that soccer has world wide. I did read some sociology stuff that discussed that the US is obsessed with the upperbody, all our big sports focus on the upperbody and arms, we are obsessed with our benchpresses and women's...uh.. upper body (which is why some women in the US can still be considered attractive here and not elsewhere if they have a rack, but still have fat below the waist). Meanwhile, Europe and South America likes more balance (sometimes the legs more) and soccer, and thinner women all around as opposed to just top heavy ones. Explanation is kind of deep, but centers around the hypothesis that the US concept of power and superiority comes from our ability to create and push (arms, hands push and make, breasts produce milk) while other nations find their strengths in their cultures or deeper histories and are thuse more leg based (legs symbolize more history, roots, mobilization). food for thought.
now that's true. although i often don't envy basketball refs for the same reason. umpires have the life.
They use their feet, but to a lower level of precision. They aren't better with their feet than TMac is with his hands. (Soccer doesn't require you to kick a ball through a hole twice the diameter of the ball from 23 feet away) Besides, you can do a lot more with your hands than your feet - it makes for a more interesting game. IMO, too much of soccer is designed around making it difficult for the offense to score.
After going to a soccer game in Brazil (Maracana Stadium), I understand how soccer is the most popular sport in the world. Those fans were nuts about their teams. My pick is basketball since we are now drafting all of these Europeans and players from alot of small countries.
I think there's something to the cultural thing. Soccer is european, it's relatively laid back. Players play hard, but much of the play is at midfield and every emphasis in the game isn't on scoring goals. It's just a slower game, scoring wise, than basketball, where teams have to attempt to score every 24 seconds or give the ball back. I don't think soccer leagues even have single elimination playoffs, and the world cup is but once every 4 years. In the U.S. it's all about scoring, about deciding winners and losers on the field, about being the top dog.
You can play Soccer with a bunch of rolled up socks for a ball and a pair of sticks for the goal. Basketball requires a goal and a ball full of air. Soccer will always be the most popular. DD
