Posted on 06/18/2014 6:54:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
And nobody said they were all 0-0, BTW.
I don’t, and part of that is because the offside rule is so annoying. Every other sport with a similar layout makes the defensive player catch up, either stop the pass or reduce shooting options. Soccer lets the rule book bail out the defensive player by making it against the rules to pass him before you get the ball. It eliminates exciting plays, punishes good players capitalizing on mistakes, and rewards bad players by making getting caught out of position a good thing. Most of the soccer fans I know, including guys raised in England and Mexico, think the rule sucks both because it’s over complicated and it outlaws good play.
I was at that game, too. What fun, I remember it being hot. My friend and I went to a bar afterward to let the traffic clear (we were taking the bus! back to LA), and it was filled with morose Argentinians. Then, two girls draped in Argentina flags walked in, and everyone stood up and started clapping. Then the party began (actually, continued).
I was speaking generally, of the myth that nothing happens and nobody scores in soccer.
Whilst all the haters on here were telling us about how boring soccer is, they missed yet another brilliant game, 90 mins of goals, skill and drama.
Aussies won’t make it out, but they played much better than I expected.
I have a feeling Spain are going out, I think Chile pulls the upset.
Interesting enough, at lunch today, I walked through the student union building of the university where I work. Both big-screen TVs had the Royals-Tigers baseball game on rather than World Cup Soccer matches. I've always maintained that anyone who claims baseball is boring has not taken the time to learn the game. I've have always been amazed at how many foreign students become fans of American sports - MLB, NFL and CFB, and NBA.
Gridiron?. Not bad, but way too long.
Then you'd have to feel the same way about soccer.
Hockey?. Great game, but not American.
True. However, the highest level of the game is played in the NHL which is headquartered in the U.S. and where 3/4 of the franchises exist.
Basketball?...not bad, but not American either.
What? You might want to brush up on sports history a bit.
NASCAR?. Sorry, its Monte Carlo, Le Mans, and F1 glamour and cars for me. Redneck F1 just dont cut it.
Given the elitism in these statements, I'm not surprised that you're a soccer fan too. I enjoy F1 but NASCAR races are generally more interesting. The F1 guys who have tried racing stock cars have discovered that these hillbillies are talented racers.
When people tell me they cannot watch soccer because it’s boring, I tell them to learn by watching baseball. And I’m a baseball fan, so maybe it prepared me for soccer.
Adios, España.
A smaller field, eight players, no offsides. Then it might be interesting.
7. Substitute a nice competitive NASCAR Sprint cup race.
Whatever baseball is, it’s not a chess match. It’s who has the best pitchers that game.
Best pitcher cor the game. That’s part of the chess match.
Then the game should be called pitchball, not baseball.
I’m trying to keep up with it because mi amigas a mi trabajo are talking about it.
One said all of her family would sit “nobody move until goal. Then so much screaming dog go hide.”
It has kind of smoothed over the Mexican/Texican/Californio/other South American friction at work.
Ok
1—I understand baseball, just as I understand cricket. I still don’t like either. And I find both overlong to the nth degree, dull, boring and lacking excitement. I don’t deny individual plays and players are exciting, but its far too long and tedious. Baseball and NFL are way too long. You can get three rugby matches and two soccer matches in the time it takes to play one baseball or NFL game.
I’ve equally always maintained that anyone who claims soccer is boring has also not taken the time to learn the game.
I have watched MLB both as a TV viewer and as an actual spectator (once) and sorry, I am/was bored and much prefer the NFL/CFL, or basketball.
BTW, in the 80s here in the UK, gridiron became a near-phenomenon, yet when CH4 tv channel tried to capitalise on that by showing MLB, it flopped and for nearly 30 yrs it didn’t appear again on our screens. Even the NFL audience here wasn’t interested. CH4’s showing of Aussie Rules at the same time was a huge hit.
2-—A soccer game is 90 mins. A rugby game is 80. Long isn’t one of their faults.
3—No, I know my sports history thanks. James Naismith was Canadian. Scots-Canadian to be exact. He had been living in the US for a very short time, nor would he be a US citizen for decades.
Basketball was invented by a Canadian and to claim its American is rather tenuous, just as Bell was the Scottish born and bred inventor of the telephone, not an American.
4—Jokey and sarcastic rather than elitist. After all, big Dario is a hero in Scotland as well as the US. Again, I am not denying NASCAR isn’t great stuff, but frankly it will never have the glamour of F1: the cars, the history, the racetracks and locations. The one US race that does enthrall us is the Indy 500, that is a race par excellence.
I am a fan of what I jokingly call “feetball” (because they use both feet, as opposed to our football, where the kickers only use one!) when it’s played at the highest level. You’d pretty much have to put a gun to my head to make me watch the MLS, but I’ll watch the World Cup because of the intensity and the level of play. And not *all* 0-0 ties are boring either, just most of them. Brazil and Mexico was probably one of the greatest 0-0 games of all time. That Mexican goalie...sheesh.
Liverpool and AC Milan are playing here in Charlotte in early August. I’m thinking about going if I can find out how much the tickets cost. I’ll be interested to see what kind of crowd two heavyweight clubs like that can draw here in North Carolina (Bank of America Stadium seats ~74,000).
I have to say, way down my bucket list would be to see an EPL game at Old Trafford or Anfield, or an Old Firm game once Rangers get back on their feet. Not so much for the game as for the atmosphere.
}:-)4
I really wish rugby (union or league, either one) would get bigger here. I have seen a few international matches on Youtube and have a tremendous amount of respect for the athletes, combining the running of a soccer player with the hitting of an NFL safety. First time I ever saw a Jonah Lomu highlight reel, my jaw hit the keyboard. It made me wonder how good Lomu could have been as an NFL runningback, or how good an NFL power fullback like, say, Earl Campbell could have been playing rugby. Or, even better, Bo Jackson.
}:-)4
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