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Is soccer un-American?
04/14/2008 | WesternCulture

Posted on 04/14/2008 2:26:11 PM PDT by WesternCulture

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To: WesternCulture
Soccer has a lot going for it, but FIFA's infatuation with rules that make no sense in the modern world has done the sport a lot of harm. For a game in which the ball is always in motion it is awfully dull.

I'd point out, though, that American football isn't much better -- and in some ways is much worse.

41 posted on 04/14/2008 3:10:20 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
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To: Condor51

Why don’t you tell that to Duncan ‘Disorderly’ Ferguson’s face?


42 posted on 04/14/2008 3:12:19 PM PDT by thundrey
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To: WesternCulture
- Okay, but why do people who participate in games like ice hockey, boxing and American football need protection while soccer players do not (apart from certain devices designed for the fibula)?

you're equating soccer with these sports? Let's see. Because in soccer, nobody is intentionally and repeatedly bashing your face in?

that was easy.

43 posted on 04/14/2008 3:13:49 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand ( If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you...)
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To: WesternCulture

Does Posh Spice bring orange slices for the team during halftime of David Beckham’s games?


44 posted on 04/14/2008 3:14:09 PM PDT by ConservaTexan (February 6, 1911)
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To: Cuchulain

“Because soccer is a “contact” sport. Hockey, Football, Boxing, Rugby are “collision” sports.”

- One of the toughest sports on Earth by this logic:

Bandy

Speedier than Ice hockey, less protection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandy

Never heard any bandy enthusiast here in Sweden calling soccer a “sissy” sport though.

Seems like some people simply are unaware of what actually goes on in places like North European soccer fields from time to time.


45 posted on 04/14/2008 3:14:17 PM PDT by WesternCulture
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To: WesternCulture

Soccer is based on the metric system and thus it is entirely and irredeemably un-American!


46 posted on 04/14/2008 3:19:05 PM PDT by rogue yam
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To: snarks_when_bored
One of my favorite columns on this subject. LOL.

Why Hockey Rules (and Other Sports Suck)

47 posted on 04/14/2008 3:19:13 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (I'm out on the outskirts of nowhere . . . with ghosts on my trail, chasing me there.)
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To: WesternCulture
Depends. How many times has he faked an injury or flopped like a hollywood actress to try to draw a penalty?

The only sport in the US I can think of where something like that even comes into play is NBA, but that has more to do with refs being ordered to by the league heads to influence results in favor of their biggest stars to pad their stats and marketibility. Most of the time, a normal player doesn't get the call when he pulls a flop, but if they are on the list of players that get preferential calls, then odds are the other player will get called for a foul.

48 posted on 04/14/2008 3:23:06 PM PDT by Proud_USA_Republican (We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good. - Hillary Clinton)
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To: Stand W

“Soccer won’t catch on as long as the refs can dictate the outcome of the games...”

Nothing at all like Superbowl XL. Oh, wait...


49 posted on 04/14/2008 3:23:21 PM PDT by beelzepug ("That a-hole Bill Maher stole my tagline!")
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To: WesternCulture

Well, if you like a sport with less “gear,” basketball is the way to go.

Everything soccer fans like is present in Hockey at about ten times the speed. Talk about a beautiful sport.

(Taylor to Dionne to Simmer ... Score!)

American football is really about five contests going on during every play. If your are at a game, you can see the battle on the lines, or between the cornerbacks and receivers. Each series is like a military campaign.

An earlier poster stated that “Americans just like to be different.” I hardly knew soccer existed until I was ten years old. At that time, the schools were pushing it heavily (moms think it’s safer, girls can play, schools like that it’s cheap). Now, thirty years later, kids are still enrolled in soccer, and then they grow up and watch football, baseball, basketball (and northeasterners and Canadians) hockey.

We don’t start threads about the beauty or ugliness or uninterestingness of soccer because we just don’t care.


50 posted on 04/14/2008 3:25:01 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (Not a newbie, I just wanted a new screen name.)
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To: SengirV

What? That’s not funny. Some of those guys may have seriously hurt their little pants.


51 posted on 04/14/2008 3:30:11 PM PDT by WildcatClan (Don't blame me...............I supported Duncan Hunter.)
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To: Alberta's Child

I hadn’t read that...funny stuff. But the problem with hockey is that you can’t actually see what those big guys skating around with sticks in their hands are whacking at...


52 posted on 04/14/2008 3:37:23 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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To: snarks_when_bored

Watching a hockey game on TV without glasses is painful. I have to guess where the puck is.


53 posted on 04/14/2008 3:38:13 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Dr. Sivana

Good points.


54 posted on 04/14/2008 3:42:50 PM PDT by WesternCulture
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To: WesternCulture
With all due respect I think the number one thing that turns Americans off to soccer is the rampant fake injuries and dives. North American men find it disgraceful and unmanly to act like you are are hurt or fouled, when clearly you were not, in order to gain an advantage. We celebrate Football and Hockey players who play with broken bones. If they are able, they make every effort to get up in the field of play an continue on without stopping the game. We are angered when a dive occasionally happens in these sports and for the most part can't accept a sport where it seems to be so commonplace.
55 posted on 04/14/2008 3:45:00 PM PDT by Gator101 (Don't tase me, Bro!)
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To: rogue yam

“Because soccer is a “contact” sport. Hockey, Football, Boxing, Rugby are “collision” sports.”

- One of the toughest sports on Earth by this logic:

Bandy

Speedier than Ice hockey, less protection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandy

Never heard any bandy enthusiast here in Sweden calling soccer a “sissy” sport though.

Seems like some people simply are unaware of what actually goes on in places like North European soccer fields from time to time.


56 posted on 04/14/2008 3:45:32 PM PDT by WesternCulture
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To: Dr. Sivana

Not much of skating in basketball, is there?

Bandy, on the other hand, is a sport performed at high speed (using skates) with few measures of protection.


57 posted on 04/14/2008 3:49:55 PM PDT by WesternCulture
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To: Gator101

I agree European football is haunted by dives and such fakings, but I also think people who complain in words like these tend to underestimate the efforts of the ref a lot.


58 posted on 04/14/2008 3:56:55 PM PDT by WesternCulture
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To: WesternCulture

I think maybe you sent me a reply intended for someone else.


59 posted on 04/14/2008 3:58:26 PM PDT by rogue yam
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To: WesternCulture; NYC Republican; Alberta's Child; 1rudeboy; headstamp 2; All
When I posted the Cannon and Lessner article a while ago, I sort of remembered there being another soccer article at the Weekly Standard that was relevant and ought to be posted, but I couldn't look for it at the time. Now I've found it; it's by Jonathan V. Last. I'll just link you to it...

Foul! Why, despite everything, America will never embrace soccer

I can't resist quoting a few lines:

But there is one obstacle to soccer acceptance that seems insurmountable: the flop-'n'-bawl.

Turn on a World Cup game, and within 15 minutes you'll see a grown man fall to the ground, clutch his leg and writhe in agony after being tapped on the shoulder by an opposing player. Soccer players do this routinely in an attempt to get the referees to call foul. If the ref doesn't immediately bite, the player gets up and moves along.


60 posted on 04/14/2008 3:59:12 PM PDT by snarks_when_bored
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