Posted on 03/11/2009 8:56:05 AM PDT by AreaMan
Soccer is good fun to play.
And that’s all I’ll say about that. Why should anything else matter?
This person knows nothing about soccer. Nothing at all. So what type of idiot publishes a column about something they know nothing about? I guess all journalists do that on a daily basis which is why we are where we are...
I dislike it because it is taking all the best baseball players away. Kids in SoCal are getting bored with baseball, they don't develop the appreciation for it, and it is too slow for their video game lives. That is troubling for me, but if they switch to lacrosse, and stay away from soccer, at least the nation will survive. It will help if they also play football in the fall.
Is he being sarcastic or serious?
In any case.. there a big problem with the development system of the soccer players in US and Canada. Everyone a “winner” is a stupid idea which does not exist in European or Latin American youth systems. Soccer players have to start playing on a professional level very young, College development system just stifles this. Part of it comes from parents not taking the game seriously.. part of it is the liberal crap, there is also the attempt to use the traditional American sport system(college) for soccer, which just does not work at highest level.
Not going to go into boring not boring.. but alteast there are no stoppages and advertisement break every 2 mins. Would have loved for someone try that with soccer in europe, would have been an epic riot.
As my old coach said, football(soccer) is like life is unfair and success or failure rests on a split second decision and luck, while to stay in it you got be able to just keep at it no matter what (the whole fitness aspect of having to run for 90 mins)
This certainly seems true, given the involvement of Big Soccer--the multinational corporations that manufacture soccer balls, uniforms, and equipment along with their flunkies and political allies. However, a few years ago, Keep Our Own Kids Safe, a grassroots movement determined to stand up to Big Soccer and save American children from this dangerous sport, was organized by Rush Limbaugh.
By the way, note the acronym.
Real Football - what some here call 'Soccer' but no-one else in the world does - is about speed, power and coordination.
Football at the professional level is amazing and exhilarating to watch. You guys just need to watch some, not regard the Olympic games as the apogee of the sport.
I agree. No props to the lawn fairies from me
I love football, but I've heard it described as the worst parts of American culture: moments of extreme violence separated by long meetings. :-)
If you look at the major sports, most of them have one team clearly trying to score while the other team is keeping them from scoring. Baseball - only the offense can score. Football - except for a turnover or safety, only the offense can score. Basketball - switches back and forth between offense and defense especially with the shot clock where you don't run into soccer's problem. Hockey - fast action and relatively common turnovers, plus you can have fights. Soccer (especially at the upper levels) - it looks like two teams trying their best to keep the other team from scoring, with their own scoring only coming as an afterthought.
The thing which would perk up soccer for me is eliminating or at least greatly reducing the offside rule. A long kick to a teammate streaking to the goal to bring the score to 10-8 would be much more interesting than yet another 1-0 match.
Although I have to say: Football could use cheerleaders.
“Yeah right - the lefties introduced soccer to america.”
Yes they did, in the late sixties the left started fighting to replace American sports with foreign sports that were less warrior like and male dominant like the hated sport of football.
“boys and girls and little Ned doesn’t get hurt...”
You’re kidding. Soccer is full of broken bones, bruises, hard hits, knee injuries and on and on. Last month, a kid on my son’s team played the last game of a tournament after tearing a big toe toenail completely off because they needed him for a full lineup. The goalie on his JV team last year made one save that broke the opponent’s shin guard and then a few plays later the goalie suffered a concussion AND a broken jaw. He held onto the ball and made the save. His high school team is full of the walking wounded by the end of the season.
Sure, the younger kids aren’t allowed to play that rough, but I have no problem with that.
BTW, in a game at higher levels, midfielders run an average of 6-7 miles, including lots of sprinting.
american soccer has no ties.
european soccer has tie games.
Soccer is a cheep game to play. A field, a ball, some benches and presto you have somethign to keep the peoples busy. (bread and circuses)
Funny how tastes differ. I've always considered basketball a huge practical joke the whole world plays on me. There's really now way a rational person would consider such a ridiculous activity entertaining. It's like they sat down and made a list:
-A sport with constant time outs? check
-A sport best suited for young girls because anything physical is illegal? check
-A sport with way too much scoring, making the each score nearly meaningless? check
-A ridiculous obsession with style instead of substance, like a 7 foot man jumping a foot off the ground to dunk is some sort of athletic wonder? check.
-A sport that's impossible to really officiate, because not only do you have to decide if the poor dear was fouled, you have to decide which poor dear fouled the other.
-A sport that on the professional level is so infested with gang culture that a trip to a live game is an assault on your senses, as rap music blares non stop? check
-A sport where the last two minutes can literally take a half our and include 8 commercial time outs? check
-And last but certainly not least, a sport with the most exciting feature of all human existence...the free throw? check
Soccer can move rather slowly, but it's a threesome with Shania Twain and Brooke Burke compared to basketball.
Might not take them away for long. Remember Gretzky played a lot of lacrosse as a kid.
Do you have a non-work safe version? Please?
it’s still mommy game for little kids
baseball now has this too.....Cal Ripken baseball instead of Dixie Youth.
you can have soccer....
btw....why am I not surprised you like soccer....I bet you like bicycle shorts too?
tell the truth GD.
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yeah, this really sucks.
Any sport that gets the kids moving is good.
I think everyone overlooked one big selling point of soccer — it’s pretty cheap to outfit a team.
As far as everyone being a winner ... um, no. Even in the “scoreless” beginner games, everyone keeps score.
I agree that lacrosse is a better game but this guy still doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
The coach who really laments the rise of soccer and lacrosse is the track coach. You’ve got to be able to run to play both, and track teams have lost many good runners.
I think the answer to that is, yes.
...while to stay in it you got be able to just keep at it no matter what (the whole fitness aspect of having to run for 90 mins)
I'd rather watch soccer players be chased by "hockey-mask" wearing maniacs with chainsaws for 90 minutes. Now that would demonstrate some fitness.
Just kidding.
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