Posted on 06/09/2006 8:56:48 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
So you Think Soccer Sucks?
Fine. I am honestly surprised that you could find the energy to type it, or its equivalent. I am not surprised that you are probably the same person complaining that soccer is being “rammed down your throat,” or other such nonsense.
Do you realize how silly you sound? In what sort of universe can a professional sport, any professional sport, be forced upon anyone? Just turn off the sports media. That enough should be understandable to every member of this website, even the re-treads, trolls, disruptors, and shills.
But we need to get a few things straight. Above all else, your team is playing in the largest tournament on the face of our planet. That’s right, your team. Your other teams, be they named Penske, Padres, or Packers, do not perform on such a stage. A Packer fan may tell a Bear fan that his team sucks. The Bear fan will reply in kind. Such is the nature of rivalry. But try and explain to me that soccer is a wussy sport when I see the following:
Mexican fan: Your team sucks.Oh yeah, that’s real testosterone on display. Chicks dig a competitor.
U.S.A. fan: Soccer is ghey.
If you cannot bring yourself to cheer for or even defend your own country, then how about shutting the heck up. If you cannot bring yourself to shut the heck up, then walk into a stadium full of English, German, or Dutch fans, stand up, and shout the same out loud. But please try those fans first. Other countries’ fans may mistakenly deliver you to a painless death. Drink a beer or two if it makes you brave. Remember that there will always be someone braver than you.
I don’t want to hear about how soccer is a “socialist” sport. It’s insulting. To your intelligence. I don’t care to talk about restrictor-plates, revenue-sharing, anti-trust exemptions, or the Fair Catch Rule, whose very name suggests wine spritzers and flower arrangements. Please understand this is not about the superiority of one sport over another. This is about rising to the pinnacle of a sport that gives every country in the world the opportunity to qualify. It’s a sport. It has a ball. It's about being the best. What more do you need?
Americans love to fight - traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble player; the fastest runner; the big league ball players; the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win - all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed.1I don’t want to hear that the rules are lame. You don’t know the rules. You all but admitted you don’t watch, so how can you? Injury time, the calculation of which was always the source of debate, is now announced at the sideline as the half is ending. It’s been that way for years. Please try and keep up.
Players take dives. Live with it. It happens in every contact sport. Sometimes a player takes a dive in order to give himself or his teammates a rest. You would also if you just spent the last forty minutes and incalculable miles alternating between a run and a sprint.
Your team needs you. Your country needs you. The next couple weeks will not be easy and will only become harder, and the stakes higher, as time goes on. Sure, I think Landon Donavan is a priss, DaMarcus Beasley is over-rated, and Claudio Reyna is too old. It matters not. I do not expect you to start drinking at 5AM. I do not expect you to march down Main Street with the Stars & Stripes. I do not expect four Chicago cops in riot-gear come to the apartment (my personal best). But I expect you to get behind your team or get out of my way.
Thanks for letting me “share.” Thanks for letting me “emote.” Chuckle if you wish. Just remember that somewhere (not necessarily in Germany) someone in American gear is drinking and dancing with a hot Brazilian, or Swedish, or Australian chick and you are not.
_____
1George S. Patton, Speech to the Third Army, 1944.
Probably. But he'd have to catch the soccer player before collapsing of oxygen deprivation. I know he's fast, but he'd only feast on the slow.
Great post. I've always been suspicious of that whole "everyone but the US does it," since I've met no Canadians who enjoy it. Not that that means NONE of them do, only that it's odd considering soccer's supposed dominance.
Because of the unique combination of tempo, strategy, tactics, personal skill and beer. Basketball is closest to football in terms of continuous gameplay, flow, whatever (that's what makes it interesting to me) but it's the larger scale of field in combination with the lower score that makes football even better in my eyes.
All I can say is that once you travel to different countries, you realize how important soccer is and also start to get excited about it. Especially the World Cup. I enjoy watching certain matches and of course watching the U.S.
Well, not as much as curling does, but yeah. Thanks for your interst.
soccer ... the sport of socialist/communists world wide.
By the way, does every team get a trophy for "trying their best" and "...everyone is a winner ... oh goody".
And its not Nill, its Zero or Nothing as in "The score is 1, Nothing or 1 - Zip".
As for the whole communist/socialist aspect, I dealt with it in my original post. It's fair to point out that Latin American countries such as Brazil, Argentina, etc. have won roughly 50% of the World Cups, but completely unfair to suggest that political philosophy determines the outcome. Quite silly, really.
This is a dang funny thread...but why would you root for Rafter against anybody? Is he a relative?
No. He was a great player who played serve-and-volley like I do. And, Pete Sampras was and is, an ass.
injured and in pain and THEY pissed and moaned. Sorry.
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