Why America hates football (soccer)

Guardin ^ | August 1, 2004 | Michael Mandelbaum

[mikrofon]

Who wouldn't like to see Kerry duke it out with Hillary sword in hand?

With Hillary wearing that piece of body armor known as "Ol' Crusty", I wouldn't give the Frenchman much of a chance...

[Calamari]

and let them use their hands, too.

[Vigilantcitizen]

So am I!! Nothing like a day of good old woodsball!!

---

I was strictly woodsball at first, but now I'm quite fond of hyperball/airball fields. There's a lot less running involved between shooting. A lot more action involved.

But I still enjoy good, old fashioned woodsball every now and then. A couple of buddies have excelllent home fields on their back 40's, which are a mix of woods with hard bunkers thrown in.

Actually, at my advanced age of 37, I do better against the kids in the woods, where my treachery comes more into play, but I've been hooked on the tournament style play since I played in my first 3-man rookie tournament with two other thirty somethings, all three of us armed with Tippmans, and we placed 10th out of 27 teams.

I started with a plain Tippman 98 two years ago. I've added a 14" dye barrel, a drop forward with gas on/off, a 12 volt x-board revvie(electric feeder hopper), a two finger trigger with some custom tricking to the trigger-sear by me(Gunner's mate..USN). It's deadly accurate, and while not as fast as the electronic (IE $750 and up)guns, I've never felt outgunned and it never let's me down like electronic guns do when the batteries die.

One of the two tournament fields I go to is Fat city located in Senoia, Georgia(About 25 miles SW of Atlanta). They have a team that is ranked nationally playing the new X-ball format. There are also several nationally ranked teams that practice there.

http://www.fatcityonline.com/

Fat city's team placed 7th in PSP Novice 10 man last year, and another Fat city team, Rock it kids, won the Rookie division, their first year on the circuit.

2003 results here:
http://warpig.com/paintball/tournament/psp/2003/ranking/index.shtml

The guys there are great. They will get out there and play with the newbies, not to dominate, but to teach.

Man, y'all had to get me started. It's really too hot to play down here in Georgia right now, and it's been that way about two months now. I'm jonesing for some cooler weather so I can play.

[foreverfree]

bump

[foreverfree]

Also, the quality of soccer has alot to do with it. You can't see much world class soccer in the US, anything less than world class soccer is horrible on TV.

Speaking of soccer on the telly, it doesn't sound right with American/Canadian announcers IMO.

ff

[foreverfree]

You have heard of a "pick" in basketball, yes?

I have. What is it?

ff

[cruiserman]

There's plenty of that now as it is. The worst part of the game IMO. Thankfully there are refs that call them on it.

[Alberta's Child]

I've got to admit, though . . .

One of the most entertaining sports scenes in recent memory involved a game between Columbia and some other South American country about ten years ago. Columbian star Carlos Valderrama (the guy who with the large blond afro) was fouled hard from behind, and lay writhing on the ground "in agony" while play continued. After about a minute of this, the Columbian training staff checked him out and went so far as to bring a stretcher out onto the field, and hauled him off to the sideline. As soon as they set it down, he sprang up from the dead and bolted back out onto the field -- afro waving in the air as he ran.

What a show. LOL!

[Clemenza]

By that line of reasoning, would'nt basketball and football be losing popularity because they are seen as "ghetto" sports.

Oh, I forgot. In our contemporary cultural cesspool, Hip Hop is the most popular form of music...

[Alberta's Child]

Here's the legend himself . . .

I once said that if Ronald McDonald had been a Columbian, he'd look exactly like this.

[rock58seg]

Dangit boy! That stuff you just put out is what we try to avoid steppin in Texas, But, if you think boring is nuanced, well bless your little heart.

[rock58seg]

Aw cricket is easy too. But, Curling,...now there is a wonderfully nuanced spectator sport.
LOL

[yawningotter]

Subtlety in baseball is Greg Maddux throwing a big fat slider to Barry Bonds in april when he has a 10-0 lead just to get Bonds looking for another big fat slider game 7 of the NLCS.

[DaiHuy]

I'll tell ya what 3rd and a yard for a first down inside field goal range with less than 10 seconds to go in the game is a hell of a lot more exciting than a bunch of guys kicking a ball around a field and maybe scoring once every day and a half or so.

[Vigilantcitizen]

That being said I don't understand why so many people on both sides of this discussion have to be such insulting doofuses. So you do/ don't like a sport, who gives a damn, neither position makes you special or interesting.

I agree. I think soccer is boring, and I should know, I watch baseball, NASCAR, and golf.

But soccer is too large a sport worldwide for anyone to claim it sucks, and those that claim it's un-American are just plain silly.

There may not be a lot of action in soccer, and there is not alot of scoring, but it takes one hell of an athelete to run up and down a field for sixty straight minutes with no breaks or time outs. It takes major athletic ability to handle the ball with the feet like world class players can. It takes amazing teamwork to run offense/defense at the top levels.

Back when I grew up playing football/baseball in the 70's-80's, there were no soccer leagues until one reached high school. Because of Pele, I wanted to learn to play, but had no where to go. Now, my semi-rural Georgia county has a soccer complex, and the sport has taken off here amongst the kids. And I, for one, am glad to see it.

About another ten years, and pro soccer will overtake NBA basketball in revenue/fans. Let America win a world cup and see what happens.

[nutmeg]

read later bump

[Roy Tucker]

We'd like soccer more if you removed the goalies. We don't allow goal tending in basketball and Americans like to see lots of scoring.

[yawningotter]

I suppose that our lack of appreciation for subtlety applies to auto racing as well. Watching a Formula One race where the driver who is in the lead at the first turn of lap one will win the race is far too subtle for American audiences. We prefer watching 20+ drivers running bumper to bumper three wide at Talladega all trying to figure out how to get to the front without getting hung out to dry or wiping out the whole draft.

[freedumb2003]

I would also point out that soccer is not popular in the U.S. for the same reason that baseball is losing its popularity: It simply has a reputation for being a Third World sport.

No, it's just boring.

[freedumb2003]

Soccer is too subtle for most American sport's fans, hockey has the same problem

No, it's just boring. I guess American Football is too complex for you.