Posted on 06/09/2006 8:56:48 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
So you Think Soccer Sucks?
Fine. I am honestly surprised that you could find the energy to type it, or its equivalent. I am not surprised that you are probably the same person complaining that soccer is being “rammed down your throat,” or other such nonsense.
Do you realize how silly you sound? In what sort of universe can a professional sport, any professional sport, be forced upon anyone? Just turn off the sports media. That enough should be understandable to every member of this website, even the re-treads, trolls, disruptors, and shills.
But we need to get a few things straight. Above all else, your team is playing in the largest tournament on the face of our planet. That’s right, your team. Your other teams, be they named Penske, Padres, or Packers, do not perform on such a stage. A Packer fan may tell a Bear fan that his team sucks. The Bear fan will reply in kind. Such is the nature of rivalry. But try and explain to me that soccer is a wussy sport when I see the following:
Mexican fan: Your team sucks.Oh yeah, that’s real testosterone on display. Chicks dig a competitor.
U.S.A. fan: Soccer is ghey.
If you cannot bring yourself to cheer for or even defend your own country, then how about shutting the heck up. If you cannot bring yourself to shut the heck up, then walk into a stadium full of English, German, or Dutch fans, stand up, and shout the same out loud. But please try those fans first. Other countries’ fans may mistakenly deliver you to a painless death. Drink a beer or two if it makes you brave. Remember that there will always be someone braver than you.
I don’t want to hear about how soccer is a “socialist” sport. It’s insulting. To your intelligence. I don’t care to talk about restrictor-plates, revenue-sharing, anti-trust exemptions, or the Fair Catch Rule, whose very name suggests wine spritzers and flower arrangements. Please understand this is not about the superiority of one sport over another. This is about rising to the pinnacle of a sport that gives every country in the world the opportunity to qualify. It’s a sport. It has a ball. It's about being the best. What more do you need?
Americans love to fight - traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble player; the fastest runner; the big league ball players; the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win - all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed.1I don’t want to hear that the rules are lame. You don’t know the rules. You all but admitted you don’t watch, so how can you? Injury time, the calculation of which was always the source of debate, is now announced at the sideline as the half is ending. It’s been that way for years. Please try and keep up.
Players take dives. Live with it. It happens in every contact sport. Sometimes a player takes a dive in order to give himself or his teammates a rest. You would also if you just spent the last forty minutes and incalculable miles alternating between a run and a sprint.
Your team needs you. Your country needs you. The next couple weeks will not be easy and will only become harder, and the stakes higher, as time goes on. Sure, I think Landon Donavan is a priss, DaMarcus Beasley is over-rated, and Claudio Reyna is too old. It matters not. I do not expect you to start drinking at 5AM. I do not expect you to march down Main Street with the Stars & Stripes. I do not expect four Chicago cops in riot-gear come to the apartment (my personal best). But I expect you to get behind your team or get out of my way.
Thanks for letting me “share.” Thanks for letting me “emote.” Chuckle if you wish. Just remember that somewhere (not necessarily in Germany) someone in American gear is drinking and dancing with a hot Brazilian, or Swedish, or Australian chick and you are not.
_____
1George S. Patton, Speech to the Third Army, 1944.
The way the US played today is a poor example of how the game is played. Today's game set back soccer in this country by 10 years.
Your "insults" would be much more compelling if you could stick with one age accusation per post.
I'd just like to say that you're either misunderstanding or ignorant. We are not saying you have to like soccer or you're stupid, unpatriotic, whatnot. We're saying that America is playing in the world-cup. Hate soccer if you want. Just don't come onto a world cup thread, bash our team, and disrupt our thread. Hate soccer, if you must, but don't go out of your way to bash the U.S.A.
And, as a sidepoint, the reason soccer doesn't seem to have a sense of humour is that people continually bash it well beyond the points of rationality. Sure, not everyone like softball or bowling. But they don't ALWAYS go out of their way to mock the sport. We accept that it is a sport and that's that.
(Yes, this is a useless debate. Freepers will still bash soccer and our team. But it's a good vent :)
"So You Really Think Soccer Blows?"
Yes.
Mexican: Your team sucks. GOP_Raider: Soccer sucks and we suck at soccer.
SECURE THE BORDER!!---er, um, sorry, force of habit I guess.
I'm not familiar with this "soccer" thing. Is that the "sport" where a bunch of homosexuals in pajamas run around kicking the round white and black ball?
Ok, I'm done with my lame attempt at sarcasm. Here's something I've never quite understood with futbol/soccer. I was watching Mexico/Iran yesterday at work and I asked myself "Self, why does the clock keep running after a foul, yellow card, etc. is called?" I've never understood this, but maybe I'm used to nearly every other game where time limits are kept (football, hockey, basketball, etc.) stopping the clock?
The system now is probably the best it'll ever be (referee keeps time; injury time announced at end of half).
No more than it occurs to soccer fans that their following everyone else--in every underdeveloped country, every nowhere economy, every country people leave to come to America--could mean they're sheeple.
And no more than it occurs to soccer fans that ONE country alone does not have 'soccer' as its number one sport--the same country that is the ONLY world superpower.
The ONE country that doesn't follow everyone else LEADS the world. Make the connection. ;)
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/14741693.htm
Amen. I cringed through the whole match. They were an embarrassment. They never showed up. The commentator (here in Europe) remarked that they looked like schoolboys showing up for a friendly. Ugh. They had no aggression, no drive, no NOTHING. Italy-Ghana may have ended 2-0, but they PLAYED, and they were both impressive. We're so going to exit in the 1st round.
I think Landon Donavan is a priss, DaMarcus Beasley is over-rated, and Claudio Reyna is too old.
I don't know anyone who's made the claim. You must be setting a record for whining about it in one thread, though.
Try comment #2. LOLOLOL
"Sure they can change the channel. They just don;t like being told they enjoy a sport that they don't like."
How is that claiming one is forced to watch?
Forced to watch/told to enjoy. You should be able to catch my drift. Well, maybe not.
One quick look at the history of the Billboard chart shows that just because something is popular doesn't mean it's good. And I like soccer, I just don't think its popularity should have anything to do with its (or anything else's) perceived quality.
You seriously don't understand the difference between being told something and being forced to do something?
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