Posted on 06/13/2002 9:37:16 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:39 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Like many Americans, I've spent the past few days engulfed in the requisite feelings of guilt and shame over my inability to embrace soccer.
Here the World Cup has taken center stage on the international sporting scene and most of us are treating it as nothing more than a mild curiosity, like an especially good tire sale or a nightclub brawl involving Jennifer Lopez and her new paramour.
Tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning, the U.S. team will play Poland in a game that will be televised on ESPN.
(Excerpt) Read more at sunspot.net ...
Every game has a strategy some are still boring. At least in soccer they MOVE, at least in cricket they stop for tea, which by the way seems to mean beer out in the Empire and scotch wiskey in Great Britain.
No sir we must come to grips with the fact that America wants to be number one in every way and the only way to be the most boring in sports was to invent baseball. If however you count watching and not just playing, then golf on TV takes the lead.
I'll say. I stayed up to watch US v Portugal and was very glad I did. I kept saying, we can't be this far ahead. Then the goals started to equalize. But we held on. I look forward to Friday's (very early) match. Go Team USA. (BTW, I started playing in college way before the AYSO boom. It was a perfect sport for me).
Please don't take this personally, but....
Why is it that fans of boring sports (baseball, soccer, tennis) always feel the need to lecture people that aren't fans on how they don't appreciate the subtleties of the game.
Baseball - One guy throws a ball at another guy that tries to hit it with a stick. If he hits it, there are 8 other guys on the field that try to stop him from getting to a base safely.
Soccer - 10 guys move a ball around a field by kicking it. 11 guys try to stop them from putting the ball in the goal.
Tennis - One player uses a stick with tightly strung netting to hit a ball past another player more times than the other player can hit it past him.
Ping Pong - see Tennis, except with a round piece of wood.
Is there something I'm not seeing? The poster that said "every pitch is designed to affect the outcome of the game", well of course they are! Because if the batter hits one out of the park, that adversely affects your chances of winning! The "strategy" of every pitch is to blow it by the batter, nothing more, nothing less.
Is there any strategy in soccer? Besides "Hmmmm, #14 is open, I'll kick it to him", or "I think I can kick it at the goal now. Tennis used to be about strategy, moving the other player around the court and wearing him/her down, but now the players are all so strong it's about who get the most aces.
Did I miss anything?
Wrong answer. I think that statement pretty much validates any criticism of your understanding of the game.
To be fair: baseball isn't everyone's cup o' tea, and I understand why. Most of us who love the game grew up immersed in it. If you are a casual fan, your appreciation of it is casual as well. Same goes for any sport. I can't appreciate basketball on the same level that my father does, because I never played it. But I try to refrain from disparaging what I don't completely understand.
If you've ever seen how they train in China for table tennis, you might rethink your opinion. It's almost a military exercise. One guy does neck curls with weights slung around his neck. And the difference between ping pong paddles and table tennis paddles is quite big. I had no idea myself until I got quality inverted rubber. I never knew such bizarre spin could be imparted to the ball at over 100 miles per hour. Oh, and if you've ever seen me out of breath and sweating madly while playing, you'd have to agree at least it's ATHLETIC, even if you won't concede the 'sport' moniker!
Now chess, that is not a sport. It involves no movement whatsoever, other than shuffling pieces on a board.
I agree its very patchy. Why can't FIFA take a lesson from the NFL and certify the referees, after they have been to school to get some uniformity in the quality of the referees. I also believe that instant replay would help the refs deal with the bad acting and surreptitious fouls which plague these games.
Bah!
I started playing in 4th grade at Fannin Elem, Midland, Texas about 1959.
This is perhaps the most direct, to the point answer I have had in some time! PLAY BALL! ;-)
Two certified referees on the field with handheld screens for instant replays. Enforce an automatic yellow card for "divers". A more liberal (eew!) offside rule - only offside when the attacker is clear of the defence when the ball is played - this would also make it a bit easier to call for the linesmen. 5 or more substitutions per game (I wouldn't want open subst. because it'd kill some of the strategy part of the game). Let the goaly only use his hands inside the goal area, but only award the other team an indirect free kick for violations against this inside the penalty area. Slightly increase the goal.
Not many years ago, soccer was a nearly global sport, with the U.S. virtually alone in knowing and caring nothing about it. We had football, with that funny pointed "ball" that rarely made contact with a foot, and we didn't feel we needed soccer. Then somebody decided we did, and next thing you know we're all referring to typical suburban mothers as "soccer moms". Are we sure we wanted this to happen?
I know I'm sounding like a tin-foil hatted nut, but it does seem a little bit like a deliberate cultural invasion, especially as it has coincided with the big push for "multi-culturalism" in our public schools, and the very un-American anti-gun movement, and all the other "the world is one big village" stuff. And from what I've read, the soccer programs for children are extremely structured, with virtually no room for individuality. And it wouldn't be the first time sports has been used in an effort to promote left-leaning feel-good internationalism (think Ted Turner's Goodwill Games). Maybe you want to steer your kids away from soccer. Certainly you don't want to feel guilty for thinking it's a crashing bore.
Personally, I would love to play soccer again but the fear of sports injuries prevents me from doing so. I've got too many years of homeschooling left. :D
Hey wait..my bad...I didnt mean to offend the homosexuals but calling them french. :)
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1. I wasn't criticizing the game, I was making a statement about the object of the game.
2. Are you going to tell me that the pitcher is not trying to get the batter to miss the ball? I wasn't trying to say that every pitch is a fastball, but please don't argue that the pitcher would prefer that the batter hit the ball.
I personally think baseball is a great game. I love watching my kids play, because they really enjoy themselves. I can't help it that MLB has turned it into a nap aid.
However, if they shortened the game to seven innings, cut the season in half, and played 60 of the 81 games in the division, then every game would mean something and it might be interesting to watch. While they're at it, maybe they could call out any batter that steps out of the box twice during an at bat, and immediately eject and suspend any player charging the mound.
But hey, I don't appreciate the subtleties of the game, so what do I know?
Actually, the overwhelming majority of pitchers in the majors are pitching under the assumption that the ball WILL be put into play. Unless you're a Randy Johnson, it is unlikely that by sheer will you can overpower a major league hitter. So you don't try to make him miss the ball, you try to make him hit it poorly, or to someone.
And yes, I can think of situations where a batted ball is preferable to a whiff: man on first, one out, number 8 batter at the plate (in the NL). Get him to hit into a double play and you force the pitcher to lead off the next inning, or succumb to a pinch hitter.
But you knew all that....
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