Posted on 09/10/2017 3:28:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Football used to be a fine game, and still would be if played properly. I might even start watching it again, except that three hours of commercials punctuated by seven or eight minutes of actual game play has not seemed like an attractive tradeoff for many years now. TV has ruined it. TV has ruined basketball as well. Baseball holds its own, though the designated hitter, interleague play and the playoffs have eroded the attraction. Soccer at least still throws out the ball and lets the athletes play the game as God intended.
The problem with soccer (foot ball in Europe) is not the game but the low class hobs that are fans. Soccer is a good game followed by terrible fans.
Rugby is totally different. It was the predecessor to American Football. Many years ago I went to a match between England and Scotland at Twickenham Stadium. Fans for both sides were cheering and drinking for their teams. All fans were mixed together. If violence had of occurred it would have been totally impossible to control. There was no violence and there never is at a rugby match.
It all was good rivalry among fans whom gladly shared a pint after the game.
Rugby is for gentleman fans and those that play it are muscular giants. They also will have a pint with those they defeated or defeated them.
As stated, Rugby is a gentlemans game but most physically violent on the field of play.
What next? Ordering an arugula sandwich instead of a hot dog?
Soccer is unAmerican.
I played rugby. It is not for muscular giants. It is for the fleet of foot and mind. Knocking heads doesn’t hurt but it is a game of thought. Everyone on the team has to think like a QB from scrum on. Oh and I never turn down a beer bought for me.
Curling is the best sport at the winter olympics. Unlike many of the “sports” it is determined by objective standards rather than subjective “style” points.
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>> “Should soccer exist in the United States?” <<
Absolutely not!
It is designed to teach kids to bow to unjust authority.
Referees in youth soccer games deliberately make bad calls just to prove that they have the authority to do it.
Save your kids’ sanity; keep them away from soccer.
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My post was misleading-—they don’t play but follow world soccer (futbol).
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For one thing, it isn't a sport, it's an activity.
A boring activity.
Curling participation verges on public lunacy.
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Lots of forms of moral depravity exist; that’s not the point.
We need to work to end it.
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Soccer gained popularity because non-athletic children of any age, shape or size can participate. This allows for the parents of those children to “feel good” and brag that their kids play a “sport”. Blame the younger baby boomers for pushing their kids into this farce.
What other sport can a participant stand for minutes, run occasionally, kick at a ball, maybe be involved in a score with little or no talent necessary?
But they get pretty uniforms, maybe sweat on a hot day, and get to say they play a sport? Oh, and get a participation trophy.
Makes their overbearing parents proud.
Hilarious!
As the NFL and “Football” die a painful death, soccer (the real football) flourishes and fills stadiums even in America.
Why not? Golf did.....
Soccer is for kids who can’t hit the ball!
Agree about the silly rules for kids. To begin my explanation, I am 100% USA and did not play soccer for real until college — in my era, soccer was called speedball and you could use your hands on an airborne ball. It was played during PE. There were no high school soccer teams until I started a league where I worked as a teacher. The FB and BaseBall coaches hated me for this.
I like soccer because it only needs a ball and a field to play — in grade school we played on a dirt field.
I also like it because for some reason my foot coordination and quick speed developed before my hand and eye coordination developed. Hence I was a poor BasketBall and FB player although I did learn to like the American games. I just liked soccer because I was better at it than my fellow sports friends. (Played in college and lettered) Now soccer was not my only sport, I also liked cross country - I did play FB one year and got by “bell rung” and was jocked out of my shorts a few times. Not good for the ego. It turns out that after my running I was even better at soccer, because I could still run near the end of the match. Also I said quick speed, I could not run fast and far, but my first two steps were faster than most players. Guess what, soccer is a game where the victor is often determined in the first two steps.
End of rant, I love the game and played it well into my 50’s. I had a friend who loved FB and appreciated this fact, because after college he not longer was involved in a sport except as a fan and a coach, he missed the action on the field. BTW, I became an asst coach for him and learned how to coach Def Backs (so I do appreciate the sport of FB even though I would sit down for a soccer match too. How come there are no city teams that have uniforms and equipment so that FB enthusiasts who are not good enough to play in the NFL have a way to continue. There are many of these for soccer players. The reason (cost) has already been mentioned.
Agree about the silly rules for kids. To begin my explanation, I am 100% USA and did not play soccer for real until college — in my era, soccer was called speedball and you could use your hands on an airborne ball. It was played during PE. There were no high school soccer teams until I started a league where I worked as a teacher. The FB and BaseBall coaches hated me for this.
I like soccer because it only needs a ball and a field to play — in grade school we played on a dirt field.
I also like it because for some reason my foot coordination and quick speed developed before my hand and eye coordination developed. Hence I was a poor BasketBall and FB player although I did learn to like the American games. I just liked soccer because I was better at it than my fellow sports friends. (Played in college and lettered) Now soccer was not my only sport, I also liked cross country - I did play FB one year and got by “bell rung” and was jocked out of my shorts a few times. Not good for the ego. It turns out that after my running I was even better at soccer, because I could still run near the end of the match. Also I said quick speed, I could not run fast and far, but my first two steps were faster than most players. Guess what, soccer is a game where the victor is often determined in the first two steps.
End of rant, I love the game and played it well into my 50’s. I had a friend who loved FB and appreciated this fact, because after college he not longer was involved in a sport except as a fan and a coach, he missed the action on the field. BTW, I became an asst coach for him and learned how to coach Def Backs (so I do appreciate the sport of FB even though I would sit down for a soccer match too. How come there are no city teams that have uniforms and equipment so that FB enthusiasts who are not good enough to play in the NFL have a way to continue. There are many of these for soccer players. The reason (cost) has already been mentioned.
About as exciting as watching paint dry. Kinda like golf.
For little kids
Why? Because soccer is the t-ball of sports.
My wife and I were in a nearly deserted sports bar in San Juan a few years ago. There was only one other person there and a soccer game was playing on a huge wall-sized projection TV. The game seemed to end in a tie and we were on our way out when the other person told us we were crazy to leave at this point since the exciting game wasn’t over. Neither my wife nor I know anything about soccer, but the other fellow was so passionate we decided there must be a good reason to stay. The game went on for a while and there was no score until finally the teams lined up and began kicking the ball straight into the opponant’s goal. Still, nothing seemed to happen as each time ball was caught. Finally, somehow, the game ended and the lone patron stormed out of the bar. As we left, we saw him marching angrily down the street. Clearly, we had missed something exciting, but what it was remains a mystery.
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