Or "A Shot at Glory" or "Bend it Like Beckham?"
Posted on 06/25/2006 2:30:42 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I see what you're saying, but getting rid of the goalkeeper would slow play because scoring would be far too frequent and imagine all of those trips back to midfield! Games would frequently go into double-digits. Unless of course, the opposing team returned the ball to active play from the touchline much like basketball. It's a change we're not likely to see in this lifetime.
~ Blue Jays ~
Yes, take it out like in basketball.
I think it would be interesting to watch that way.
The game in its present form requires the players to use their head. The brain damage is well documented. It would return the game to how it should be played... with the feet...
Funny, I don't recall my FR name being brivette...nope, it sure isn't! Assigning someone else's post to me? That is bad form, and two can play that game...you'd be well-advised to back off that claim, before Mods come in and make you...
What in the world are you talking about?
I enjoy badminton. On a different note, in gym class in High School during a free day some friends and I invented (maybe that's too generous a term) the game moshball. It was like basketball, except you didn't have to dribble, there was no out of bounds, and you could tackle whomever had the ball. It was a huge hit. It got to the point where everyone wanted to play, including the Varsity basketball players. THen the gym teacher put a stop to it. He said "I don't care if you knuckleheads get hurt, but there's no way I'll stand by and watch my basketball team get hurt." And that was the end Moshball's brief glory.
(Next day BUMP!)
Despite decades of strenuous efforts to promote soccer to American youth and sports fans, and despite the phenomenal success of the American women’s soccer team in international competition, soccer remains the neglected stepchild of the American sports scene. Indeed, when the American men’s team was bounced in the first round of the World Cup this week, the response from the nation at large was a great big yawn. Compare this to the black cloud that descended over the country when the American men’s basketball team failed to win the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.
So why don’t Americans like soccer? There appear to be two basic explanations. The first is that the “marketplace” for sports in this country already is filled with baseball, football, basketball, and (to a much lesser degree) hockey, leaving no room for soccer to grow in popularity. As Michael Mandelbaum — author of The Meaning of Sport — wrote in The Observer (UK) in 2004:
“the cultural, economic, and psychological space available for sport is limited and that space is already taken.”
This theory was seconded earlier this month by Andrei Markovits, the Boston Globe’s soccer correspondent, who wrote:
“America filled its own sports space with three games (plus the Canadian import of ice hockey...) thus ‘crowding out’ soccer’s chances of becoming part of America’s sports culture.”
I’m not convinced. Marketplaces are inherently dynamic. If soccer were a worthy object of the American sports fan’s interest, then it would enjoy greater popularity. But it doesn’t. Which brings me to the second common explanation for its lack of popularity: soccer is boring. As a blogger vividly explained only a few days ago:
The first round [of this year’s World Cup] isn’t even over yet, and there have already been five 0-0 draws. Five matches in which nobody scored. In the Argentina-Netherlands match, there were a total of six shots on goal in the match (three a side). For those keeping score at home, that’s one shot on goal every fifteen minutes (and that’s only if you ignore “stoppage time”). There were nineteen total shots taken, if you include the thirteen that weren’t on goal. So barely over one shot every five minutes, on average. When Americans complain that “nothing happens” in a soccer match, this is exactly what we’re talking about.
While I’m on this rant, there were six 1-0 matches, three 1:1 draws (nine total draws), and fourteen other shutouts (twenty total shutouts if you count the 1-0 matches). So out of forty matches played, in 25 of them, at least one team failed to score at all. That’s a staggering 62.5%! (By way of comparison, there were fifteen baseball games today, and two of them were shutouts; in all but 13.3% of the games, fans of either team had at least something to cheer for; and baseball isn’t exactly known for being the most exciting sport in the world...)
In my opinion, a lack of scoring is not merely an incidental aspect of the game of soccer — it is its essence. That is, the ultimate purpose of soccer is to engage in lots of furious activity to accomplish...absolutely nothing. Not surprisingly, when that elusive goal is scored (if it is scored), ear-shattering howls of euphoria erupt from players, announcers, and spectators alike, as if their very souls were being released from the depths of hell.
Goals are indeed a rare commodity in soccer, so much so that soccer is, essentially, a zero sum game. The “pie” of goals not only is meager, it never grows. So it is fought over with an intensity that is almost never found in American sports. This isn’t boring, but it is deeply unsatisfying to Americans.
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. Scoring is a tangible accomplishment that can be identified, quantified, tabulated, compared, analyzed, and, above all else, increased. This is the American way.
That soccer may be “the most popular sport in the world” speaks volumes—but not about America’s lack of sporting knowledge or sophistication, as soccer aficionados like to argue. Rather, I think it reflects the static, crimped, and defeatest attitudes held by so many of the other peoples on earth.
The day that soccer becomes one of the most popular sports in the United States is the day that American exceptionalism diminishes in our souls.
Yet another of these idiotic, chauvinistic, "soccer is unworthy of American attention" articles. The rest of the world loves the game, for very good reason. Many Americans don't. So bloody what. I find baseball mind-numbingly boring. Different cultures grow up with different sports and thus appreciate their finer qualities more than those who don't. This type of crap pisses me off when I hear Irish people boasting about the superiority of hurling as well.
The other problem I forgot to mention with such a low scoring shot is that one controversial call can win, lose, or have a huge impact in a game unlike virtually any other sport. Fouls around the goal area which results in penalty kicks are near automatic. At the very least, the majority of them score. With only one referee (which makes ZERO sense to me; get these guys some help out there -- football is played on a smaller field and has up to 7 officials), sometimes fouls are called or missed and they tremendously affect the game. Open the game up a bit and these things matter a little less.
In case you're too lazy to click there, let's summarize:
In post 175, you said:
To: JRios1968
Hi JRios1968-
The original non-sequitur is in post# 5. Do you really believe people can't read between the lines of your posts?
~ Blue Jays ~
175 posted on 06/26/2006 12:54:54 PM PDT by Blue Jays
Well, let's go back to post 5.
To: tet68
soccer=gay
5 posted on 06/25/2006 2:36:17 PM PDT by
Now, like I said...last chance to back off from assigning someone else's post to me. Not only was that post not mine, it was intellectually dishonest...but not as intellectually empty as your trying to pass it off as my post.
The choice you have is simple...back off your claim, and recover some intellectual depth points (not that you have demonstrated any,) or be finally and incontrovertibly exposed as the troll you are.
"This American loves soccer.
Eighty to 85 minutes of play action vs. 10 to 15 for your average NFL game.
What's not to love?"
What is NOT to love is the lack of scoring.
Therefore this American loves watching basketball. Continuous action AND scoring.
But soccer IS gay! :D~
Or "A Shot at Glory" or "Bend it Like Beckham?"
Get a grip! You agreed time and again with the non-sequitur in post#5 by essentially repeating his sentiments later in the thread. We can see right through you and your ongoing sophomoric games.
The notion of someone who recklessly posts pictures of his own children on the internet criticizing someone else for "intellectual depth" is patently absurd. It likely won't be long before the Division of Youth and Family Services is knocking on your door due to your outrageous online activity.
~ Blue Jays ~
Well, you had your chance and once again you blew it. It would have been so easy for you to admit that you were wrong. It would have been a lot less painful for you to admit that you shoot off comments that are moronic at best, but mostly just simply uninformed.
You had your chance...one that you hadn't earned, especially after using my child's picture to take a cheap shot at me...very grown up, but I am used to that from soccerfan. All you had to do was show one instance in which I said "soccer is gay." What was your pitiful response? You assigned someone else's comment to me. When the glaring error is pointed out, you act as if I am the one shooting off.
And now that I gave you the courtesy of showing you exactly where you committed your error, you reply with the most idiotic comments you have yet made in this thread. I "recklessly" post pictures of my children? I can see why you would be unfamiliar with the pride of a parent in his children, seeing how you are obviously a shame to your parents. A house call from the "Division of Youth and Family Services"?? What exactly is that? And why would they knock on my door? Do you have any idea how ridiculous such a comment is? And why am I even addressing such a moronic post, to begin with?
However, you have done the thread a service by exposing yourself again and again as a thoughtless soccerfan troll...a triple redundancy if I have ever seen it.
Why do you continually post to me? You are insane. Go away and stop stalking me.
~ Blue Jays ~
I'll netflix them and get back to you. I doubt they can hold a candle to The Mighty Ducks, though. Adam Banks is a character for the ages.
In addition to Michael Caine and Pele, the movie Victory also had appearances by Werner Roth of the NASL Cosmos, the great Osvaldo Ardiles of Argentina and Tottenham Hotspurs, O.B.E. & Captain Bobby Moore of England and West Ham United, Hallvar Thoresen of Norway and PSV Eindhoven, and a bunch of other soccer greats.
~ Blue Jays ~
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