Proper Football

[Scottishbengal]

This weekend brings another round of qualifying matches for the World Cup (where the winners truly are the chamions of the world, and not just the USA as is often claimed after the Superbowl and World Series).

My predictions for the British teams are:-

Rep of Ireland to win by 1 goal in Israel

Wales to draw with Austria

England to beat Northern Ireland by 2 goals

Scotland to lose to Italy by 2 goals

[jditty47]

no one cares about soccer.

[Scottishbengal]

No-one in the US or no-one in the world? It's the most watched and played sport across the globe.

[not-another]

No-one in the US or no-one in the world? It's the most watched and played sport across the globe.

I played soccer in highschool. Soccer in USA is more of a womens thing, because it only requires lower body strength. So it dont matter how much junk in the you have in the sitting in the rack, as long as you can run and kick balls then you play soccer. Its alright, but i prefer football or basketball over soccer any fine day.

[R-U-D-I]

I hope Lance McAlister doesn't find us talking about soccer... Personally I enjoy the World Cup, but it's a slower game than baseball 80% of the time.

[BengalszoneBilly]

What amuses me about these two somewhat different games that share the same name, they are closer than one may think!

The fact is that the there is equal amounts of "thuggery" going on during an American football game, as compared to a European "proper" football match.

You'll also see an equal display of serious hits being put on somebody who didn't see it coming! (You know where all the Sponts Center personalities reel together on Sports Center where the recipients "GOT JACKED UP!!!

The only real difference is these two points of similarity here is where these offenses are being commited, and the persons commiting them!

Here in the 'States it takes placee on the gridiron by the games participants.

In Europe it done in the stands by the fans!

[San Antonio Bengal]

Soccer is a great game. I played it some when I was younger, and I'm now playing it at work in our intermural league. People over here don't understand the game. Since they don't understand what's going on, it's boring to them. In soccer there is constant movement. It's a big moving chess match. Check and counter-check.

Personally I enjoy the World Cup, but it's a slower game than baseball 80% of the time.

The thing that I fail to understand is how the people who claim that soccer is boring or slow are the same ones who will watch the stupidest and most boring so-called sport in the world, baseball. The pitcher looks in for the sign, waves it off, waves it off, batter steps out of the batters box, spits, pitcher walks around the mound, batter back in batter's box, pitcher looks in for a sign, waves it off, waves it off, catcher calls times and goes to talk to pitcher, time passes, umpire breaks up the conversation, pitcher readies and finally throws the stinking pitch. And it's a ball, outside. Now this whole silly routine passes for another several pitches and all this is just for one batter. It's right up there with watching paint dry and watching the grass grow.

[jditty47]

soccer is even more boring to watch than nascar. at least in nascar they might wreck...what happens in soccer....someone might score a single goal in 2 hrs after kicking the ball back and forth in the middle of the ENORMOUS field. how f**king exciting.

[Kirkendall]

soccer is even more boring to watch than nascar. at least in nascar they might wreck...

Clearly you've never seen a race. Green Eggs and Ham Jditty am...

[AGrizzlyBaer]

its not an american idea, so we refuse to embrace it. my mom tells of when she was teaching in the early 80's how they said the U.S. was going to switch to the metric system... socer is kinda the same deal

[BengalszoneBilly]

People over here don't understand the game. Since they don't understand what's going on, it's boring to them.

Uh-oh. Grab a seat and get ready to observe a rarity folks. On the eve of tonights big game with Utah, two U.K. fans just might have a disagreement here!

***** collective gasp!! *****

American understand the game of "soccer" perfectly well. It's a game even children understand.

In soccer there is constant movement. It's a big moving chess match.  Check and counter-check.

That's good! But when was the last time you played chess and your Bishop was given a red card and sent off the board for a little "sit" because of a grievous penalty against a Rook? Okay...line up the white Pawns in front of their King. The Black Queen has got her free kick coming!

Sorry San Antonio, I couldn't resist lampooning the comparison. I do agree that Soccer is kind of like chess, but so too is baseball. Or should I compare that sport to "Chinese Checkers?"

In fact your comment...

The pitcher looks in for the sign, waves it off, waves it off, batter steps out of the batters box, spits, pitcher walks around the mound, batter back in batter's box, pitcher looks in for a sign, waves it off, waves it off, catcher calls times and goes to talk to pitcher, time passes, umpire breaks up the conversation, pitcher readies and finally throws the stinking pitch. And it's a ball, outside. Now this whole silly routine passes for another several pitches and all this is just for one batter.

...could pass for someone doing "move-by-move" coverage of a Masters Chess match if you simply interchanged the baseball/chess terms.

So why generally are Americans, who love the boring "chess match" called baseball, are apathetic (at best) when it comes to the "chess match" called soccer? Or why do the good people in the U.K. (meaning the United Kingdom in this instance ) love their type of football, don't care for baseball in the least, but it's very close cousin of a game known as "Cricket" enjoys wide spread popularity? And a better question yet...why do we have people who live in many countries such as Mexico and Japan embrace BOTH of these games fervently!?!

I think the answer lies in the cultures of each individual nation. Most Americans my age (30 and up) grew up in a culture that had an organized little league baseball system. We played in it, (or in my case, watched it from the bench and shagged fly balls during batting practice ) we grew up with it, we developed friends within' it that I still maintain to this very day. Our parents would turn it into an official family gathering by loading all of us kids and relatives up into vans and stationwagons, and drive us 20 minutes up from northern Kentucky to the (then) new Riverfront Stadium to watch the Cincinnati Reds "Big Red Machine" baseball team!

Soccer? Yeah...as a kid I heard of it. Played it a few times in gym class. Found it to be amazingly close to hockey. Well...minus of course the ice, sticks, and the urinal cake painted black. I Actually got a soccer ball once for Christmas. (considered it a "rip" at the time. Thanks Grandma... ) Surprisingly it got a great deal of usage. Not in any real soccer. Nobody was too willing to choose up side for that after school. It became our "dodgeball" of choice in my friends spacious basement where we'd play!

Now in the past 20 or so years, soccer has become more and more popular. There are leagues for kids, so now they're growing up with it, and it's becoming a mecca for college level players. UK. (back to meaning the University of Kentucky again!) has a very good team, and out here in Prescott Arizona where I currently live, resides the 5 time National Junior College Champions "Yavapai College Roughriders!" In 16 seasons of soccer being played, their OVERALL record is an amazing 347-25-10!

I predict within the next 20 years as these kids become parents, and their kids begin to play, it will become as mainstream as most other sports in America!

[BengalszoneBilly]

soccer is even more boring to watch than nascar. at least in nascar they might wreck...

jditty...I love you man! You crack me up every time!!

[San Antonio Bengal]

To each his own and that's fine, but what I hate is that 9 out of 10 Americans will just blindly say that soccer is a boring sport without giving it any chance whatsoever. If you've tried something and you don't like it, that's fine. However, the majority of folks who complain about soccer don't even know the first thing about the clubs, the strategy or even all the rules! Once you know a little soccer strategy, what may at first seem boring all of a sudden becomes interesting and filled with nuance. That was where my chess analogy was going. If you don't know how to play you see people staring a little board and moving pieces around. If you know how to play, seeing the strategies unfold can be extremely interesting. Of course, trying to actually watch chess would be brutal. You and I both know that I wasn't refering to being a chess spectator.

As far as baseball goes, I played it in Little League and I was a big Reds fan growing up. Baseball lost its charm along the way. It seems that the game just slowed down and got really boring. Games that would take 2 hours to play now take 3 or 4. Sure, you have all the 'roided guys hitting monster home runs, but what's the fun when you have final scores of 21-19 that take 5 hours to play? What's the fun in knowing that the game winning home run didn't come from a guy with great ability but rather from a guy who knows how to hide his steroids? What's the fun in seeing a "decent" starting pitcher with an ERA of 5 or 6? I'm too young to be this crotchety, but baseball has lost every bit of appeal to me. There's no sanctity to the game any more. There's no charm left. You have drug addicts and home run records on 'roids and MLB keeps giving these guys a pass, but someone like Pete Rose gets zero tolerance. Even if he made mistakes as a manager, he should still at least get some recognition as a player for what he did on the field. MLB is just a bunch of hypocrites who do not care one iota for the game itself.

[BengalszoneBilly]

To each his own and that's fine, but what I hate is that 9 out of 10 Americans will just blindly say that soccer is a boring sport without giving it any chance whatsoever.

Like I was saying, give it 20 years. Those numbers will flip. It took me having to strike up a friendship with an Englishman to get me to sit down and actually watch a complete soccer match!

While "Google" seaching one evening, I mistakenly surfed into his personal website. I posted a quick "Oops...sorry, thought you were someone else" type comment. He read it, saw my location in Prescott Arizona, knew of the local (and seemingly more famous outside the United States than in!) college soccer team here that I mentioned in the previous post, and inquired about it.

We e-mailed back and forth about once or twice a month about computers, our jobs, politics, etc, until the World Cup play began. Well this normally reserved British gentleman who never seemed to get over excited, even when we discussed politics, lost his freakin' MIND!! Suddenly his tone took on a "life-or-death" ergency, and his once pure vernacular took quite a profane turn when there was an issue in the England/Germany World Cup Match. I don't remember the issue exactly, a handball or something. Could you possibly help me out here ScottishBengal?

When our U.S.A. squad advanced past Mexico to go to the finals,(?) he couldn't figure out why I too, wasn't going beserk!?! I confessed my ignorance then and there, thus the education began. He knew all the American players (mostly due to their professional soccer careers which are in Europe.) and I knew none. Honestly I'm not even close to a soccer fan, but I will sit down and cheer loud and long for our American team in this next and quickly approaching World Cup.

Baseball lost its charm along the way. There's no charm left. You have drug addicts and home run records on 'roids and MLB keeps giving these guys a pass, but someone like Pete Rose gets zero tolerance. Even if he made mistakes as a manager, he should still at least get some recognition as a player for what he did on the field. MLB is just a bunch of hypocrites who do not care one iota for the game itself.

I couldn't agree more. I've touted this very arguement here for years, yet few have woken to smell the coffee. I'm happy to see you've already had your cup! To me it's like someone who's complaining about a small dent on a bumper of a car you sold them, yet the blown engine under the hood is okay.

That was where my chess analogy was going. If you don't know how to play you see people staring a little board and moving pieces around. If you know how to play, seeing the strategies unfold can be extremely interesting. Of course, trying to actually watch chess would be brutal. You and I both know that I wasn't refering to being a chess spectator.

Sure, I knew, but just the thought of someone selling tickets to such a thing seems ludicrous to me. No one would pay to go to one, they're too boring, mind numbing, and a comment on how pathetic your life really is. Then the thought struck me...I thought the same thing about "sim" games when they were first introduced, yet they sell in huge numbers! Sorry...I still don't think they're any good. The sad truth to me seems that there is really that many people who have patetic lives where Sim games, ant farms, and raising a family of "Sea Monkeys" is a viable option for entertainment!

[San Antonio Bengal]

Sure, I knew, but just the thought of someone selling tickets to such a thing seems ludicrous to me. No one would pay to go to one, they're too boring, mind numbing, and a comment on how pathetic your life really is. Then the thought struck me...I thought the same thing about "sim" games when they were first introduced, yet they sell in huge numbers! Sorry...I still don't think they're any good. The sad truth to me seems that there is really that many people who have patetic lives where Sim games, ant farms, and raising a family of "Sea Monkeys" is a viable option for entertainment!

I thought the very same thing about the Sims games and I still think the same thing about the "Sims" games. What scared me is that I knew this one guy who was addicted to the game almost to the point where the life he had built within the game was more important than his real life! I've also never understood the craze surrounding Sea Monkeys. I can't even stand the idea of having a fish as pet. It's not a pet -- it's a decoration!