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.
It's not unique to soccer though. Every sports thread has somebody come on just to say something stupid and insulting about it. Don't know why, when I see a thread about a sport I don't like I keep scrolling, but there's a major crowd in this world that thinks the world must know which sports they don't like and why (and the why is generally shallow, because of course they don't know enough about the sport to have a good reason to not like it).
Yes it certainly is. And I prefer the Swedish ones . . . they are the most fun. Although there was that Argentinian girl in Pasadena in '94. Carmela o Carmelita! [misty-eyed]
You sure are working hard to prove you're a hetero, me thinks thou protests too much.
I'm still happy I was there to console her.
Good one. Best I've seen so far. It actually required thought instead of merely reaction.
Witness reply #45.
People who "hate" soccer dont understand it. Its fast moving (no stupid timeouts all the time), requires skill and the athletes are ATHLETIC, totally in shape....No lard butt linemen.
I so want Germany to lose. But they wont.
Totally want Poland win next game..does that one start at 3:00?
Excellent point.
How's the saying go? "Those who protest the loudest are the most guilty." Or something like that.
Because of soccer and parents who love it, a fair number of Stan Musials, Jackie Robinsons, and Joe DiMaggios will never play baseball. Therefore, I totally despise soccer.
I think what he, and I, mean is the following... People may not like soccer. Fine. You may think it is boring and gay. OK. You don't have to watch it. But the U.S. has a good chance to show its worth in a world wide sport. It wouldn't hurt anyone to just support America. Just be patriotic and support an America team or please be quiet. I personally don't care for many sports. But if the U.S. was invlolved in a world tournament then I would support them, yes, even cricket.
well once he explained he was the decoy, the flakcatcher for the WorldCup threads, i got the picture ; )
haha. Just read that. That works too :)
2:55 Eastern.
Soccer is such a happy sport....
Thank you!
It's a tremendous sport..and the conditioning of the players is remarkable..I first got turned onto the game when I was posted to Spain in the late 60's..a girlfriend took me to a Real Madrid game..some 70,000 is the stands going nuts...in the late 70's back in N..I got to see Pele and Beckenbauer play for the Cosmos at Giants Stadium..amazing..Franz was the best I ever saw..
It certainly can be, especially if it points out a reason for the existence of the thread. ;^)
I don't hate soccer but I am not a fanatic either. You could count on one hand the number of games I have watched more than a minute of in the past 4 years. I will watch some games in this World Cup like I have done in the past and likely the semis and final. I will watch as long as the games hold my interest and in the multi channeled universe we have flip when they don't. I will give the games I watch a chance. My picks for the final would be Germany and Brazil unless they meet earlier.
btw every single game in the tournament is being shown on cable in High Definition up here in Canada so that helps.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.