LOL—The author wrote a book about “bias.”
That's just stupid right there. I doubt HE wouldn't know an offside from a throw in, a yellow card from a red card, or a defender from a striker. Yet he thinks he knows enough about soccer to ridicule those that do like it. THAT is a sure sign of a liberal, IMO.
What gives, that these people have to denigrate a popular sport? Do others feel a need to write pieces denigrating basketball or baseball, say? Seems to me that these folk feel some kind of inferiority complex re the most popular sport on the globe....
Yet recent studies have shown that the cumulative effects of heading a soccer ball thousands of times..may be even MORE dangerous to the human brain. And when two players collide..skull to skull..well, at least in American football...we're smart enough to wear helmets..
Don’t conservatives have better issues to cover than pronouncing soccer Anti-American? I mean, personally, I don’t care to watch soccer, or even about the World Cup, but, really, who cares what sport people want to watch or care about?
“But it’s not just because it’s so dull that I don’t like soccer. Another reason I don’t like it is because of the Americans who do like it.”
If the determining factor of me digging something or not depends on what other folks think or don’t think about it, it is time to throw in the towel.
Freegards
This is almost word for word exactly and precisely what I’ve been saying—soccer may be good or bad, but SOCCER IS A TOOL OF THE LEFT BECAUSE THE LEFT HATES AMERICA.
Isn't trying to score points the purpose of any sport?
If conservatives want to do something about soccer, then they should start showing up at matches between the U.S. and other nations with lots of patriotic flags and banners. I would love to see someone dressed as Washington or Patton getting the crowed revved up.
Other countries do it. Why cant we? Dont let the self-hating Americans be the face of our team.
Go all out with the display. The lefties will quickly move on to something else because they will never like to be associated with such displays of nationalism.
Goldberg and his ilk must feel threatened by soccer (football as most of the world calls it) or he can't figure out why so many people are in love with the sport. He is the outsider looking thru the window at the huge party going on inside and although he is invited to come in, he refuses to do so.
What I find disappointing is that some conservatives are now conflating soccer with politics. Soccer is neither a liberal or a conservative sport. It is a global sport that transcends borders and ideology. Just because I enjoy soccer and the World Cup, some are trying to label me as a liberal. It is ridiculous.
Every country in the world enters a team in the quest for the World Cup. After nearly four years of elimination tournaments, 32 teams make it to the finals. And now we have one more game to decide a true world champion. Sit back and enjoy the game with the hundreds of millions of others who will be watching.
I started playing soccer in 1974 at age 13. I also played baseball, football, basketball, swim team, wrestled and surf team. I went to a public school and grew up in lower middle class neighborhoods.
I went on to serve my country for 12 years, leaving due to a spinal injury. I was a Rescue Swimmer and SSET Member among other duties.
I received almost a year’s worth of Imminent Danger Pay and multiple Expeditionary Medals.
The above is only included to qualify me to say:
Bernie and Ann can pack sand. I have served this country to a degree that they can only dream of. Their opinions are worthless and they have not earned the right to pontificate on what is American and what is not. Those who repeat their incoherent ramblings on soccer are just as ridiculous as they are.
*** YAAAWWWNNNN ***
When I was young I enjoyed watching the SJ Earthquakes play at Spartan Studium. Now I can't handle soccer. For all the reasons Goldberg articulates. So much for the social sea change.
Here’s a novel notion for Goldberg, Coulter, and all you other soccer-haters out there. If you don’t like soccer, don’t watch it! I know, it’s tough to swallow, but different people like different things. There are many people who like soccer. If you don’t, why do you care about the ones who do?
I always thought it was liberals who insisted that everyone always has to agree with them and think like them. Don’t we conservatives believe in diversity of thought anymore?
I don’t like soccer, but I also don’t think that every sport needs lots of scoring.
Real baseball fans enjoy a no-hitter, or even a 1-0 pichers duel as much as a 15-13 slugfest. Many think that the Triple Play is the most exciting play in baseball (others suggest stealing home).
Real football fans could enjoy the powerfully offensive Rams beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 11-6 in a defensive struggle of the 1999-2000 NFC championship, or for that matter 9-0 in 1979-1980 NFC championship. No one described the 16-7 Super Bowl III as “boring” (only ONE touchdown scored). In the good ol’ days, before the NFL started tinker with the rules, typical scores were 14-7 or 10-3. There were plenty of NFL fans then.
Hockey fans loved seeing a hot goalie keeping the scoring down, or a well-executed power play defense.
For me, soccer doesn’t bring anything that hockey does 10x better. But the mere fact that there isn’t a lot of scoring isn’t a convincing argument against it. I DO believe that it is a valid point that a game of ANY importance can be decided by a shoot-out. That would be like deciding the World Series with a Home Run Derby. Tie games of any sort should be decided by playing the game. Those palookas should have to run around until one of the goalies drops from exhaustion and a bonafide score is made.
(I do believe If scoring=”interest”
I think the structure of the tournament play turns a lot of Americans off. Here’s how we fared this year...makes no sense to me:
Game 1: We beat Ghana 2 to 1
Game 2: We tied Portugal 2 to 2
Game 3: We lost to Germany. Now this is where it gets screwy. Portugal won their 3rd game, beating Ghana 2 to 1, just like the US had. But Portugal went home, and the US progressed. Why? Because Portugal had also lost to the Germans...and had scored fewer goals up to that point than the US had. So, even though the US lost, apparently Portugal would have had to beat Ghana 6 to 1? to progress. It just sets up a screwy situation - the US lost, but all the nouveau soccer fans are celebrating anyway....they progressed! because Germany beat up on Portugal more than the US. And frankly, after seeing Germany beat up so hard on Brazil, I suspect Germany was sandbagging it with the US...under this screwed up system, that ploy could get your better competition eliminated early, which may have been their intent.
Game 4: US lost to Belgium 2 to 1.
So all the US world cup fever, complete with celebrities cheering the team on with Twitter posts etc, was because the US won ONE game. That’s it. The team won ONCE, but advanced to the fourth round.
Sorry, but I can’t get excited over watching a tournament with that structure.
I think that the author has a point about the underlying tone among many (not all) soccer enthusiasts that America is somehow inferior because the whole world loves soccer except us. I have found it odd that so many conservatives who like soccer will resort to 'the rest of the world loves soccer' argument. Since when does America take marching orders from the rest of the world?