The Soccer Gap: What conservatives are missing.

National Review Online ^ | May 31, 2002 | Robert Ziegler

[xsysmgr]

If I get up at 5:00 a.m. and put a soccer game on, I'll be back asleep at 5:05 only in a recliner instead of a bed.

[dighton]

Count me as indifferent to sports, but more indifferent to soccer than the others.

[wny]

The problem with soccer is that it's boring as hell.

[Clemenza]

It because Liberals tend to be "Europhiles" in philosophy, politics, literature, etc. Soccer is what is popular with their cultural idols across the pond. Liberal don't want to be bothered with a nice middle American game like football.

MEN WHO WATCH SOCCER SQUAT WHEN THEY URINATE!

[Dan from Michigan]

I DO want to go to a European Soccer game....the real game there is probably in the stands.

[Dr. Frank fan]

Soccer is a nice game for children to play. There is not much required equipment (minimally, you need a ball and use of the local school field). The basic rules are simple and easy to learn and coach. Thus 22 kids with absentee parents and a volunteer coach can still run around for 2-3 hours every Saturday and in the process create a reasonable facsimile of a competitive sporting event.

Low personal cost, low time investment, less need to spend time with one's own kids. No wonder leftists prefer soccer.

[Alberta's Child]

The author of this article is mistaken about a few things. For one, the increase in popularity of youth soccer has nothing to do with the appeal of the sport itself -- youth soccer is popular because 1.) it is inexpensive to play, and 2.) because parents who have no interest in professional soccer can watch their kids play the game without having any expectations about "how the game is supposed to be played."

Projecting the popularity of youth sports onto the adult scene is idiotic -- Can anyone think of the "youth sport" explosion that preceded NASCAR's increase in popularity over the last 15 years? Was there a massive explosion in go-cart racing that I missed?

[Made In The USA]

I've got a short attention span for soccer, run around for a couple hours for a big 1 to 0 victory... big yawn. What they need to have a shot-clock, legalize tackling, and use sticks. They could call it socco-lacrosse. Then I'd start to watch it. GO K-HAWKS!

[Alberta's Child]

. . . the World Cup of Soccer, watched by an estimated 3.5 billion people around the world . . .

The fact that most of these 3.5 billion people live in countries where they still pee in their drinking water might explain why the game has never caught on in the U.S.

[Phantom Lord]

I said it on another thread and I will say it again... Soccer Sucks!

The Simpson's episode where a big time soccer match came to town summed up soccer perfectly.

[Outlaw76]

"MEN WHO WATCH SOCCER SQUAT WHEN THEY URINATE!"

Only when trying to spray it on some fool who would say that's head.

Soccer is fun to play, fun to coach, fun to watch. What it lacks in the U.S. is tradition and genuine superstars. That takes time to build, Pele is still a soccer hero to me. U.S. Soccer matches also lack the historical rivalries that make U.K. Soccer alot of fun to watch, and well... lets face it we are not yet up to that skill level league wise either. I just with the games didn't come on so darn early in the morning. I hope I can catch a U.S. Game, or hopefully something along the lines of an Argentina/Brazil match.

[keri]

Soccer is the only game I can watch and stay interested in. (Basketball to a lesser degree.) I'd rather watch grass grow than waste time watching interminable football games, and baseball's interesting only when the Diamondbacks play;-)

Soccer really is a great game. It does require some smarts and creativity, though.

[Phantom Lord]

Strap on some pads and play the game galdiator style and Americans will love it.

Hell, just implement these changes on the current indoor soccer league and it would become worth watching.

Hockey with a ball and continue the ban on use of hands. Now were talking action!

[Cacophonous]

Another advantage of soccer for kids is that, like baseball, you don't have to be a physical freak to be able to play. You don't have to be big or tall. For little tykes, that's a good thing.

Having said that, I deplore the sport. The reason liberals love it is that they get points for ties; it's full of a fruity Eurosnots and other "diverse" peoples; and it is anti-Christian (if God had wanted us to play soccer, He would not have given us hands).

No true capitalist conservative would stand for that.

I remember when my alma mater won a co-national championship after playing to a scoreless tie. After several shootouts and overtime periods, or whatever in hell they do in case of a tie.

Baseball is a true sport. It is the only team sport where the object of the game is not to push a ball, a puck, or something across a line, or in a basket or a goal, and to prevent the other guys from doing it. Baseball is at once a team sport and display of individual skills, and it is beautifully engineered.

[weikel]

Well except for the English soccer hooligans LOL.

[Phantom Lord]

U.S. Soccer matches also lack the historical rivalries that make U.K. Soccer alot of fun to watch, and well... lets face it we are not yet up to that skill level league wise either.

We also don't have the tradition and history of killing fans of the other team at our sporting events. Europe can keep soccer, and their traditions and habits formed around it.

[rwfok]

Gladiator style?

[Weimdog]

Soccer is "the beautiful game". If you can't understand it, your "thick". Americans have but one sport, basketball. All the rest are variations of sport imported from Europe.

[Clemenza]

We have ENOUGH sports in this country (football, basketball, baseball, Hockey), whereas in a place like Costa Rica or France, all you have is soccer, with sports like basketball maintaining a small following.

[Clemenza]

Yes, soccer is a beautiful game--- for the EUROFAGS who like watching men in short shorts!