Posted on 07/13/2021 4:33:59 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
And also, people love the drama that comes with PKs.
In the old days, they used to do a replay if the match ended in a tie after 90 minutes.
My issue with Southgate was that he used two players who had barely played, just two minute in the extra time. They weren’t warmed up and game ready. Too much pressure for younger players.
Exactly, it defied all logic. That’s why I think somebody told Southgate to do it.
You have never played soccer. If you want to see a physical, brutal game, take a look at a replay of Saturday's Argentina-Brazil game. Most physical game I have seen in a long time.
Statistics puts the average distance covered by a soccer player at 7 miles per game depending on position, and as much as 9.5 miles for some players. The crashing of heads is one of most dangerous in sports.
The Distance Run Per Game in Various Sports
Baseball: .0375 miles
Football: 1.25 miles for receivers and cornerbacks
Basketball: 2.55 miles
Tennis: 3 miles
Field Hockey: 5.6 miles
Soccer: 7 miles
Watch highlights from games in the 1970s, things that would be a straight red card today, weren’t even called as fouls.
I played soccer. Too lame. Played rugby and enjoyed that for 25 years.
I have no problem with the PKs. It is a crapshoot, but the drama and pressure make it exciting. I am not a big Golden Goal fan.
I ran way further in the infantry.
It’s a bunch of pansies running around making far too much.
I will admit it was fun to make fun of them when doing joint ops with the brits heh.
Played rugby just twice. Much tougher physically than American football. Lots of physical contact and endurance. I was a novice playing with a bunch of Brits overseas. Hurt all over the next day. Best part was the drinking and socializing after the game.
Non-sequitur.
I am not a fan of soccer, but I realize that many go nuts over the game. I think the solution to soccer’s problem of 1-1 ties being settled by penalty kicks is enlarging the size of the goal—maybe a foot higher and a couple of feet wider. Goalies are taller and more athletic than they were when the goal size was set.
Same for basketball. Raise the net to forty feet...players are much taller than years ago.
I don’t pay attention to sports anymore, not that I did much anyway, but it’s worse now. It’s bread and circuses for the masses while the world burns. It keeps unintelligent people distracted so they don’t wake up and see what is happening. As long as they can put on their jersey or other swag and go cheer for their team (who quite frankly don’t care) they can be kept in the dark. We need patriots not mindless drones.
George Carlin : Here’s how I’d change basketball. You could make basketball a lot quicker. You know what you do? You have a two second shot clock.
[laughter]
George Carlin : As soon as that ball is in bounds, get that sumbitch up in the air. I didn’t come to watch a game of catch. I’m looking for a four or five hundred point ball game! I’m a fan! I want six overtimes and a thousand points on the board! Another thing I would do for basketball, at the center court line, for ten feet on either side of the center court line, I would have a gasoline fire.
[laughter]
George Carlin : You talk about the fast break, you’d see the *really* fast break. Here’s another suggestion for basketball. I would allow twenty-five points for any ball that goes in the basket off another guy’s head. You’d see some good fights during those close games, I’ll tell you. And you’d increase the chance for serious injuries!
For me it is not an either/or proposition. I am an admitted sports nut that still derives pleasure from watching one of the few institutions based on merit. That said, I have not watched the NBA the past two years. Too politicized.
NFL is highly political, most is these days. NHL was trying to stay out and they’re being drawn in too. You’d be better off getting some people together and just playing your own games.
The penalty kicks only come in after 120 minutes of play on that big soccer field.
I’m not sure if you ever played soccer in a competitive league before, but that 120 minutes in a tough, competitive final is a killer on the human body. And it’s not like basketball where the players take rest every now and again either.
At 78, my playing days are over. Just the treadmill and 3 miles a day while watching sports on TV.
Yup.
Which in turn got the nativists all hot and angry.
Same for basketball. Raise the net to forty feet...players are much taller than years ago.
But no one is complaining about too much scoring in basketball, if they were, raising the goal a couple of feet might make sense.
But soccer does appear (at least to me as a non-fan) to have a problem with low-scoring and no-scoring matches. As one who used to follow baseball, I realize that a no-hitter is an exciting game for fans to watch, but boring to those who don’t love the sport. I am assuming that something similar occurs for soccer fans—that there is a beauty in a defensive match.
Judging by how excited soccer fans get when a goal is scored—Gooooool!!! I’d think fans would like to see it happen a bit more often and making the goal a bit bigger, not hugely (or four times) bigger would allow a bit more scoring in a game.
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