Posted on 08/08/2005 11:22:35 AM PDT by onja
mods-If this isn't in the right place please move or cut it.
Why do most Americans hate soccer? It's not just that they don't like it. They are actively against it.
Soccer takes more skill and endurance than the other sports. In middle and high school you take a beating.(Elbowed, tripped, kicked, tackled- All done fairly or behind the ref's back and without body armor) There are many tactics decided by the players(unlike football and baseball). It's a sport many different people can do. Not just people who are huge or work out daily at the gym. Fast people, skilled people, strong people(fullbacks), tall people(goaly), small people, smart people. Footballers don't need much skill. Mainly strength. baseball doesn't need too much skill. Mainly the basics(throwing and catching) and strength. And, seriously, why does everyone think soccer players are gay, weak, etc? They aren't. In middle school half the team played another school sport. All of the highschoolers could easily have played school football or basketball. Out of the hundreds of players I've played I've never seen one who was even acted at all gay.
That would be the NFL. And the NFL has the trash-talking and the end-zone show-offery.
4 or 5 hours, if you include all the pre- and post-game shows.
Sounds like some of the dates I've been on!
Agreed, see post 23.
World Cup Prelims June 18-19
Scores
0-0
1-0
1-0
1-1
2-0
2-0
2-0
2-0
2-1
2-2
2-2
3-0
3-1
There were no 3-2 matches!
"Where I came from most of the soccer players were big Christians, smart and atheletic..."
Big Christians.
As opposed to what, small Hindus?
We tolerate the WNBA?
(Just to keep the lesbos tranquilized)
Soccer is for sissies! Rugby football kicks a$$!
The real reason why soccer is as popular as it is, is the nationalistic aspect.
My son (now 13) has played soccer since first grade, and is getting ready for another season. Let me add that he is a HUGE baseball fan, loves that sport the best, and plays it quite well. (Also enjoys basketball, skiing, whatever.)
Last year, he was the starting goalie on the team after having not played in goal for a couple of years. (It's a high-stress position.) But seeing him gain composure and confidence after playing in goal ...it was terrific for him. Especially the day that his Little League coach (whom he respects - heck, the guy quoted Patton during one practice!) watched when my son was getting hammered in goal by multiple shots - and not one scored. He felt ten feet tall that day.
So yeah ... if the parents don't try to coach from the sidelines, and the team plays as a team - AND plays to win (none of this no-scorekeeping stuff), it's a great game.
Although I still like baseball better. :-)
Incorrect on both accounts.
Football requires a lot of mental skills. Requires more than strength, it requires quick mobility, both lateral and sprinting, and requires contact, which has many levels of subtlety (read about Reggie White and his dominance of the line, it wasn't his strength.)
In terms of baseball, hitting a round ball with a round bat at speeds over 90mph from a distance of 60'6" is an incredible feat. If you succeed a mere 3 out of 10 times, you are enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Eyesight, hand eye coordination, knowledge of situation and response, and stamina are all areas that make baseball difficult.
As to your question, just as you are ignorant of the physical and mental disciplines that football and baseball require, many are ignorant of soccer's requirements. Part of that is because soccer has been pushed as the "fair" sport. "Everybody gets to play" in many leagues, regardless of skill level. Nothing wrong with that, in fact it is the rule in many other sports at young ages. It's how kids learn the sport. But soccer advertises it as if it makes it special.
While other sports have a long tradition in the U.S. (Baseball started in it's current form in the 1850's, football in the 1890's), soccer has been only a recent addition to the sports buffet in America.
And then there is the "superiority" attitude, some of which you seem to have demonstrated in your post, which rubs some people the wrong way. I put it this way. Soccer fans are the most intelligent, cosmopolitan, and sophisticated of all sports fans... just ask them.
Low scoring is usually the answer some give, but hockey doesn't have high scores and is accepted. Tennis doesn't have high scores (or even regular numbers in scoring!), and it's accepted. So, I don't think low scoring is the answer.
I think in order of importance, it is:
1) Attitude of many current soccer fans.
2) Lack of tradition.
3) Ignorance of the sport.
Gotta love it.....
(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
OMGSOCCERISSOGAY
Soccer players have narrow shoulders and thick hips, along with bicyclists arms. Real athletes (Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Track, etc.) have broad shoulders and thin hips, along with discernable biceps and triceps.
Not soccer players.
If the end result of the sport is to have its athletes physique built upside down, how good can it be?
Yes, and hitting a baseball is the most difficult skill in sports to master.
I do disagree that it doesn't take much skill to play baseball - the constant reorganizing of priorities (which field is it hit to, what base do you cover, baserunning skills, trying to place the ball in a particular field, etc.) does make it quite complex.
Because there's no points scored.
Here is how I see it.
Basketball--most atheletic players of any kind. The only sport close to the endurance they exhibit is motocross.
Baseball--takes the most skill. Most men between the ages of 20 and 35 wouldn't even get the bat on a 70 mph pitch.
Football--requires the most physical strength and toughness.
Soccer--who cares. And I am NOT calling soccer gay.
If Karl Marx had invented a sport it would have been soccer.
Football requires struggle to move around, and baseball is so complex you can't predict what will happen in many situations. I watch football mostly, baseball occasionally.
Plus, it's gay. :D
j/k
WC cup qualifying is generally very, very defensive in style. League matches are more open-ended scoring-wise. This week's MLS action (in the August heat) was:
2-1
2-1
3-2
2-2
2-0
2-1
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