[dfwgator]

It’s still odd to me that there is a sport in which one’s hands are never used.

Never? Soccer has throw-ins, and goalies do use their hands.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

that poster assumes people get their "jollies" from watching sports. So their viewing purposes are a little different than most people, and surely you could understand why they would be shocked and confused by NOT using their hands.

Oddly though, I am suddenly in the mood for women's tennis....

[OldPossum]

Yes, but do you think (I don’t know, not knowing the game) that tossing the ball into play is a big deal? The fact that the goalies can use their hands does not seem important to me in that they represent just a tiny fraction of the players, all of whom cannot use their hands—aside from the minor point above.

I mean, contrast that with baseball in which the players both throw the ball, catch the ball, and hit the ball by use of their hands, all of them. I think that it’s ludicrous to think of soccer as skilled when they are tasked with running down a field and kicking a rather large ball; contrast that with someone holding a bat and trying to hit a small object traveling at speeds in the area of 100 mph, without knowledge of whether the pitch will be thrown with tremendous velocity, off-speed, curving, dipping, all the tricks of the pitcher, who is fairly close to the batter.

I see no parallel in the skills displayed. But then again, the two of us probably wouldn’t agree on much of anything in terms of sports.

[Kaslin]

The ball is thrown in with the hands if it has been kicked outside of the field, and the goalies use their hands to throw the back to players.