Why Americans Don't Like Soccer

American Thinker ^ | 6/25/06 | Steven M. Warshawsky

[RepublicanPatriot]

My theory is that Americans have neither the belief system nor the temperment for such a sisyphean sport as soccer. We are a society of doers, achievers, and builders. Our country is dynamic, constantly growing, and becoming ever bigger, richer, and stronger. We do not subscribe to a “zero sum” mentality. We do not labor for the sake of laboring. And we like our sports teams to score.

[DCPatriot]

Sums it up very nicely.

[DCPatriot]

Hockey, OTOH, is our current step-child of professional sports...as the writer point out. It's soccer on skates. 60 minutes of fast action with about 300 turnovers.

Still loved the Sabres-Hurricanes series though.

[DCPatriot]

As entertainment, however, jogging might have it beat.

Never saw murder and mayhem between fans...never saw stampedes and death...never saw a country murder their joggers(Iraq)

The global hystery and appeal is a mytery to me.

[DCPatriot]

They wore red coats while fighting in green forests and marched in straight lines in stead of hiding behind trees. They did not use camouflage, no sneak attacks, etc. because it was "against the rules."

Americans are more resourceful. And they don't like following rules that don't make sense.

Sort of like the so-called insurgents are fighting in Iraq?

[DCPatriot]

How about a big gasoline fire around the field.

LOL! And a couple of humgry lions secured by 90 ft. chains.

[MHGinTN]

Hmm, my call is to shorten the soccer field by thirty yards width by fifteen yards, remove the off-sides penalty whistles, and widen the goal three feet (height is okay as is). Reduce the number of players on field to eight per side, and stretch two periods of play to six, with two minute intermissions between periods. Reducing field size would make for more charging the other team's goal, allow TV coverage to capture more of the individual duals between players, and increase scoring. Game division should change for sure, to six fifteen minute periods. Eight subs should be allowed per game and penalty cards should be wiped out at the end of each game. It might help to have two differeent scoring zones, so a goal from thirty yards is worth one and from fifteen is worth two.

Now, does anyone know if there's an online way to listen to the WC games without having to pay for it?... A link would be appreciated.

[JRios1968]

Someone wins. Bottom line. You score more points than the other team and you win. No zero sum.

Ok, you can now explain the reason for the abundance of tie games in metric football. If I recall correctly, a tie is when no one wins. Please correct me if I am wrong. Oh, wait...since it is soccer, is it more proper to say "no one lost"?

[Marius3188]

Actually, being an American I forgot about that. Remember, we all win if we play fair!!!!!!

[JRios1968]

Let me guess...you weigh 350 or so, and can barely move off your couch, therefore you watch soccer?

That "soccer stars get the hot chicks" argument is among the dumbest arguments for the activity called soccer (or "soccre" for the Brits.)

[JRios1968]

If Team USA had won the World Cup you'd see a slew of front-runner soccer fans who would claim to have been devotees for life.

Yeah, and they all would be 15 years old. The rest of us still would yawn and say "fine, get off our case, and when does the NFL start?"

[scrabblehack]

I always thought that a "zero-sum" game was one in which the amount won always equaled the amount lost. Hmmmm...I'm not sure that there is any sport that is not zero-sum....Maybe if one team needs a win to advance, and the other plays defensively to ensure a draw, you could say the game is zero-sum but the overall standings are not.

Capitalism, as described by the capitalists, is not zero-sum. Two sides benefit from a transaction, so the transaction is made. Of course as described by the socialists, it is a zero-sum game -- because one side has gotten X dollars and the other side has given them up.

I think the NFL should consider reinstituting the tie (game). What I really hate are the tiebreakers.

[JRios1968]

Make sure you also share the Capri Sun!

Seriously, though...maybe they should give little trophies to the players of every team that went to Germany...you know, to protect their self-esteem.

[JRios1968]

I think the NFL should consider reinstituting the tie (game). What I really hate are the tiebreakers.

The NFL still allows for ties...if you ever notice any NFL standings, they have space for tie games.

Having said that, playing to a tie in the NFL is the ultimate in futility. Any given Sunday, the head coach of a team that plays to a tie, runs the risk of being unemployed by Monday. I think the NFL ought to adopt the overtime (not "tiebreaker," thankyouverymuch) system used in the NCAA, but the NFL sudden death overtime works just fine.

[saalebhosdike]

FIFA shall concider your advice with the respect that it deserves...

[Mr. Brightside]

Except the insurgents don't hide behind trees, they hide behind school children.

There's a difference between fighting in an unconventional way versus fighting in an immoral way.

Targeting civilians for death is in no way comparable to our forcen in the Revolutionary War. Correct?

[nonliberal]

Instead of two halves, we could have four quarters.

In quarters one and three the visiting team gets those little souvenir baseball bats that you get at baseball games and the home team gets fun noodles. They switch off in quarters two and four. You can't hit a guy more than once after he is on the ground.

Thirty players per team. Four balls. You can advance the ball by throwing rolling or kicking.

And the gasoline fire.

[DoctorMichael]

Even those involved with the game wish it were over.

[DoctorMichael]

Two gay soccer players fight for the ball.

[DoctorMichael]

A group of soccer players form 'The Wall'.

[DoctorMichael]

Gay soccer Referee.