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Why Americans needs to embrace soccer (football)
19/08/12 | Phil.K

Posted on 08/19/2012 10:47:26 AM PDT by Jakarta ex-pat

I have just finished watching an absolute scorcher of a game between Manchester City and Southampton (the current league champions won 3-2) and would like to state my case why America needs to embrace this game ASAP.

1) Football (soccer) is THE premier spectator sport in the world.

This doesn't mean baseball, basketball, Ice Hockey, cricket, American football, rugby, Australian rules etc don't have a place at the table. But week in and week out, the thought that David can and does beat Goliath makes it genuine.

2) It can be played anywhere.

Unlike most team sports, no equipment is required to play except a ball. And I don't necessarily mean a football. The kids at my school use "paper" balls, and when I was a kid, we used sweaters for goal posts.

3) It is an international language.

With the chances of our children traveling internationally becoming far more frequent, to be able to communicate with others is a huge asset. Yes learning languages is important, but that's no good if you have nothing to talk about. The EPL is represented by almost half the world. Moreover it is the most watched league in the world. Having some knowledge of its stars and traditions does no harm.

Once again, I'm NOT saying other spectator sports are boring ( well ok basketball and baseball). But in this shrinking world, if you don't know Rooney from Drogba, Pele form Maradonna, or Juventus from AC Milan...you are left with talking about ....


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Sports
KEYWORDS: yougottabekidding
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To: 11Bush

Are you fond of telling other people that they are not entitled to their opinion? That’s where you are “incorrect.”


41 posted on 08/19/2012 11:24:48 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Jakarta ex-pat

If soccer had ROUTINE scores of 40-37, I’d probably watch. Make the goal area 25% bigger.


42 posted on 08/19/2012 11:24:58 AM PDT by willgolfforfood
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To: Jakarta ex-pat

Forger it.


43 posted on 08/19/2012 11:25:16 AM PDT by MamaB
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To: Jakarta ex-pat

44 posted on 08/19/2012 11:25:16 AM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Mater tua caligas exercitus gerit ;-{)
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To: bayouranger

Which sport starts each play with a quarterback’s hands on a center’s butt?


45 posted on 08/19/2012 11:25:30 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: 1rudeboy

Are you telling me I am not entitled to my opinion?


46 posted on 08/19/2012 11:26:07 AM PDT by 11Bush
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To: Jakarta ex-pat
AND, you get to wear those cute little shorts. A game MADE for Jerry Sandusky and his friends.

Why would anyone want to play a game in America that is described as a scorcher, or is smashing?

47 posted on 08/19/2012 11:26:27 AM PDT by righttackle44 (I may not be much, but I raised a United States Marine.)
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To: 1rudeboy
Soccer is gay....I mean just look at them !

That's why William Webb Ellis cam up with a testosteron-laden alternative for his fellow Europeans!

48 posted on 08/19/2012 11:26:56 AM PDT by Reily
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To: 11Bush
"Sorry, didn’t mean to touch a nerve soccer boy"

Soccer boy?

No you are right. As a Brit living abroad, I have no right to opine to anyone about anything.

Maybe it's time for me to just shut the hell up.

49 posted on 08/19/2012 11:26:56 AM PDT by Jakarta ex-pat
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To: Jakarta ex-pat

Embrace this.


50 posted on 08/19/2012 11:27:08 AM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: Mr Rogers

IMHO this is the perfect game, that takes the best of soccer and combines it with the other sports.

Gaelic Football
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEAbWrdB9XU


51 posted on 08/19/2012 11:27:39 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: 11Bush

Of course not, that’s why it’s odd that you went straight to an ad hominem.


52 posted on 08/19/2012 11:30:17 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Jakarta ex-pat

I have obviously hit a nerve in pointing out a fact. I didn’t say that soccer was for fags, or that the game sucks, or anything about the game. I simply stated that I found it strange that you live in a country not your own and have decided that a third country should embrace something not our own.

Don’t get you knicker in a bunch.


53 posted on 08/19/2012 11:30:34 AM PDT by 11Bush
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To: Jakarta ex-pat

Three reasons Americans should shun soccer: 1) It can end in a tie; 2)there are more fake injuries in soccer than in pro wrestling; 3)waching a game in person is more dangerous in the stands than on the field since there is no “hooligan list” of American football, baseball or basketball fans.


54 posted on 08/19/2012 11:30:47 AM PDT by Repulican Donkey
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To: Jakarta ex-pat

Well, thanks to Obamacare, it’s becoming much harder to get Ambien.

A niche could be opening.


55 posted on 08/19/2012 11:30:55 AM PDT by Bratch
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To: Jakarta ex-pat
I grew up playing football, basketball, and baseball. I don't know that I ever saw a soccer ball before college; I don't think the game was known in southern Indiana in the 50's and early 60's. I paid a bit of attention in college because Jerry Yeagley was putting IU on the soccer map using mostly U.S. born players (which was unusual in elite college soccer back then), so it was a local interest story. Besides that, I watched a few Olympic games over the years, and otherwise ignored the sissy European game.

My attitude started to change when my daughter started playing, around 7 or 8 years of age. Based on an impressive sample size of one, I will offer a theory about people's responses to this thread: it all depends on what you grew up with. Soccer cynics will be folks, like me, who were never exposed to the game as youngsters; they remain focused on the big traditional U.S. sports. Then there will be a scattering of people who actually played themselves or, as a reasonable proxy, watched their kids play, which is the next best thing. The point is, all the big team sports are kids' games, and you need to be able to see it through the eyes of a child. If you didn't grow up with it, that's hard.

Not having played myself, I will never understand all the intracacies of soccer, but my appreciation has grown as my daughter has developed. She's now a reasonalby competitive travel player, certainly not an elite player, and I can kinda, sorta appreciate what the team is trying to do. It has become fun, which just goes to prove that even old dogs can learn new sports.

It helps that I've always been a fan of defense, and I'm disgusted with what the TV dollar has done to football, baseball, and especially basketball, which has become a nearly unwatchable parody of what used to be the greatest game ever invented. The shot clock and three point shot have ruined offensive basketball; the playoffs and interleague play have turned baseball's regular season into a fraud; football has turned into an aerial circus. I respect soccer for not selling out to television. If the people who ran the NBA or NFL were in charge of marketing soccer, the typical score would be 17-15, the Olympic women's teams would dress like beach volleyball players, and there would be an artificial play stoppage every three minutes for commercials. Good for soccer for holding out.

That said, too many high-stakes, major tournament soccer games end in PK shootouts, and calls/non-calls involving potential penalty kicks loom far too large. There are debatable calls in every sport. They loom excessively large in soccer because there is so little scoring. A bit more scoring would benefit the game, at the expense of reducing the number of upsets. That's a price I would pay; soccer purists would probably disagree.

All it would take is making the net a foot wider or six inches higher.

56 posted on 08/19/2012 11:32:06 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: Repulican Donkey
waching a game in person is more dangerous in the stands than on the field since there is no “hooligan list” of American football, baseball or basketball fans.

You obviously never have been to an Oakland Raiders game.

57 posted on 08/19/2012 11:32:29 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Jakarta ex-pat

Space is more costly than a couple of baskets in an urban area, basketball is rising.


58 posted on 08/19/2012 11:32:44 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Jakarta ex-pat
"Soccer was invented by European ladies to keep them busy while their husbands did the cooking." - Hank Hill
59 posted on 08/19/2012 11:32:44 AM PDT by Washi (The secret ingredient in a Chick-Fil-A sandwich is liberal outrage. Delicious.)
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To: Jakarta ex-pat

I’m British, but I’m not into football (or ‘soccer’) at all, which makes me something of a deviant over here. But then, I’m not really into spectator sports at all. Watching other people playing a game and then trying to bathe in the reflected glory of ‘your’ team winning never really appealed to me and I’ve never really understood why people care so much about this silly nonsense.

This Mitchell and Webb sketch sums it up really:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN1WN0YMWZU


60 posted on 08/19/2012 11:33:35 AM PDT by sinsofsolarempirefan
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