Is Soccer Un-American?

Denver Post ^ | August 03, 2004 | David Harsanyi

[tjwmason]

And if you fail, you get a yellow card.

And that stops them how? My younger sister (an avid fan) continually claims that it is only opposing teams' players who pull fakes (but then whenever Man.U. loose a match she claims that they were 'robbed', and sometimes tries to show me how in the Man.U.Television replays).

The reason that you don't see American footballers doing the same is because they simply have to make a quick trip to the oxygen tank at the sideline.

I'm not claiming some great depravity of soccer players in comparison with American Football players; I have never even watched an American Football match (I'm not a great sports fan, as you may have guessed, and they're only televised on the specialist sports channels over here) and so cannot comment on them. But I would compare them with rugby players, and especially since it went professional a few years ago, the comparison is not very generous to soccer players especially given rugby's more intense physicality.

[Choose Ye This Day]

I can't watch 9 seconds of guys adjusting themselves, much less 9 innings.

[Freebird Forever]

I thought we celebrated our diversity, not just try to cram people into the same baseball/ football mold.

Liberals, deviants & DU trolls like to celebrate diversity.

Don't know if you belong to any of those groups, but by spewing their catch phrases (and being a relative newbie) you will be considered suspect.

For future reference, celebrating diversity and E Pluribus Unum are not compatible concepts.

[1rudeboy]

If you get a second yellow card for any reason, you are ejected from the game and your team plays a man short. If you get a second yellow card in a subsequent game, you are suspended for one match.

Whether this punishment is severe enough to prevent diving is open to debate. I know that hockey has the same problem . . . but that's what you get in sports that have physical contact but no tackling (in the NFL sense).

[1rudeboy]

"Liberals, deviants & DU trolls" also surmise that the rest of the world hates us. [hint]

[Freebird Forever]

That's like saying that, citywide, most BoSox fans hate New York.

So, are you agreeing or disagreeing with my comment?

[egarvue]

I'm an American football fanatic, but I like soccer too. The same could be said for football: "Back and forth, back and forth for an hour, and then the score is 7-0. Big woop." I've seen hundreds of football games where there's only 1 touchdown the entire game.

[philosofy123]

If you prefer to watch a bunch of losers scratch their crotch and spit tobacco, 7 feet tall Amazon monkeys, or 300 lbs Amazon gorillas; just do that. The rest of the world do not identify with the freaks of nature. The rest of the world rather watches a team played by average size people who orchestrate a defense/offense that is breath taking for the people in the know. If you had enough interest and watched a Spanish broadcast of soccer, you would be surprise at the announcer as he is going play, by play for LONG time, and then FINALLY, when the team scores goal, he goes nuts, screaming in ecstasy GOOOOOAAALLLL!!!! That is a multiple orgasm achievement. No time out to interrupt the game because the stupid gorilla needs the teacher (coach) to tell him what to do.

The team practices before the test. And, once on the field, the team plays and adjusts using ITS OWN BRAIN! Brain that is what is missing from football, baseball, basketball!

Ignorant intolerant closed minded Americans are typically the type that disses Soccer. Actually the name is FOOT BALL to the entire world BECAUSE IT IS PLAYED BY THE FOOT, AND IT IS NEVER TOCHED BY THE HANDS! WE have a thing that is not round at all, but looks like a banana, and it is played with the hands and we call it "foot - NOT" "ball - NOT"!

[philosofy123]

If you prefer to watch a bunch of losers scratch their crotch and spit tobacco, 7 feet tall Amazon monkeys, or 300 lbs Amazon gorillas; just do that. The rest of the world do not identify with the freaks of nature. The rest of the world rather watches a team played by average size people who orchestrate a defense/offense that is breath taking for the people in the know. If you had enough interest and watched a Spanish broadcast of soccer, you would be surprise at the announcer as he is going play, by play for LONG time, and then FINALLY, when the team scores goal, he goes nuts, screaming in ecstasy GOOOOOAAALLLL!!!! That is a multiple orgasm achievement. No time out to interrupt the game because the stupid gorilla needs the teacher (coach) to tell him what to do.

The team practices before the test. And, once on the field, the team plays and adjusts using ITS OWN BRAIN! Brain that is what is missing from football, baseball, basketball!

Ignorant intolerant closed minded Americans are typically the type that disses Soccer. Actually the name is FOOT BALL to the entire world BECAUSE IT IS PLAYED BY THE FOOT, AND IT IS NEVER TOCHED BY THE HANDS! WE have a thing that is not round at all, but looks like a banana, and it is played with the hands and we call it "foot - NOT" "ball - NOT"!

[Heyworth]

The main tactic is to fall over and lie on the ground in faux agony whenever an opponent comes near. The hope is to get a foul awarded.

And you never ever see that in, say, basketball...

[philosofy123]

You mean the knuckle dragging type?

[Freebird Forever]

"Liberals, deviants & DU trolls" also surmise that the rest of the world hates us. [hint]

If by "us" you refer to the conservative, "America,love-it -or-leave-it", patriotic types, I believe that you are correct.

At least that is the type of thinking they encourage.

[philosofy123]

There is a significant difference between love making that spans 30 minutes, and love making of your type that spans three minutes. The announcer of the "Real" foot ball games screams in ecstasy goooaaallll!! That is multiple orgasm to the people in the know. For you corn dog eaters; you don't know what you are missing.

[philosofy123]

There is a significant difference between love making that spans 30 minutes, and love making of your type that spans three minutes. The announcer of the "Real" foot ball games screams in ecstasy goooaaallll!! That is multiple orgasm to the people in the know. For you corn dog eaters; you don't know what you are missing.

[thePilgrim]

***Liberals, deviants & DU trolls like to celebrate diversity.***

Oh, brother. I'm talking about diversity in sport preferences, which is certainly NOT unAmerican and you try and turn it into some kind of political statement.

***Don't know if you belong to any of those groups, but by spewing their catch phrases (and being a relative newbie) you will be considered suspect.***

I notice that you did have to check my join date. I also notice that this forum seems to go out of its way to make newcomers feel NOT welcome. I even have posters sending me mail trying to get me to admit to being certain what I have learned are banned FReepers.

***For future reference, celebrating diversity and E Pluribus Unum are not compatible concepts.***

Like I said, I thought we were talking about sports, not making political statements.

Perhaps you might like to label me a "soccer mom," who, if I remember overwhelmingly supported Clinton. Perhaps that would give you a good reason to consider me "suspect."

Of course, you should probably consider Basketball fans "suspect," too. I do notice the large numbers of liberal elite hollywood in attendance. We could probably make the same observations about most sports. I can only think of NASCAR as an exception.

Christian.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Don't get mad at me. I like soccer.

Now, what I HATE are watching futbol matches broadcast in English, especially American. Once I had to endure Bob Costas doing color commentary on a World Cup game. BOOOOOORING!

NOBODY can beat the excitement of Andres Cantor. If the announcer's not into it, it ruins the game.

[dmz]

Please enlighten me on how it is un-american?
Is it because it played in Europe, and Asia and everywhere else?
_________

LOL. You've got it part right.

It's un-American because it's played in Europe and Asia and everywhere else AND Americans are not competitive internationally. If we can't dominate the sport, it's un-American.

[thePilgrim]

***That is a multiple orgasm achievement.***

Perhaps you need to teach the rest of us how to watch the game.

Christian.

[GMMAC]

Can't believe there's been little or no comment on soccer's wonky time-keeping.

Aside from it's monotony, that's the issue that really puts me off. It's apparently virtually totally arbitrary and, whether it's honest or not, it just doesn't look honest. The "game" generates billions around the world, and thus could easily afford the large visible timers which are used by every other sport where time is a factor, but it doesn't and none of it's fans seem to mind!

Maybe it's this complacency on the part of its fans in the face of possible chicanery that makes it so "old world" and distasteful to most North Americans - at least other than those who habitually fawn over pretty much anything non-domestic.

If so, besides being un-American, it's also un-Canadian - at least to those of us whose forebearers came to this continent to escape old world values.

[kaktuskid]

Why doesn't baseball have Japan as an official part of their regular game schedule that counts? No, Japan may win the "World" Series. They should call it the American Series.

The "World" Series has nothing to do with the globe...it is named after the long-defunct New York WORLD newspaper (when major league baseball was virtually NE teams)