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The Soccer Gap: What conservatives are missing.
National Review Online ^ | May 31, 2002 | Robert Ziegler

Posted on 05/31/2002 9:28:33 AM PDT by xsysmgr

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To: Phantom Lord
So, non-stop does not equal action and excitement.

The most eloquent defense of commercial breaks I have ever read.

121 posted on 05/31/2002 11:00:36 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Phantom Lord
I live in NC. I am surrounded by NASCAR freaks, and not a single one of them would say they dont hope for accidents. And most of them will readily announce prior to the start of a race that they hope a driver they dont like is taken out by an accident.

Now that's class. Why would anyone want to watch boring ol' soccer when you can spend seven hours hanging out with people like this?

122 posted on 05/31/2002 11:00:39 AM PDT by Hotspur
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To: Clemenza
"MEN WHO WATCH SOCCER SQUAT WHEN THEY URINATE!"

Like the story stated ...it a Liberals kind of game

123 posted on 05/31/2002 11:01:05 AM PDT by tophat9000
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To: Phantom Lord
Hey.....2 of my friends play soccer....:)

But seriously, I have never seen them play a game and probably won't.....I don't have much of an interest in sports. Hockey perhaps is the one sport I like the most.

124 posted on 05/31/2002 11:01:12 AM PDT by rwfromkansas
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To: philosofy123
You also don’t need a brain either to play American football because somebody else will do the thinking for you.

I think that reveals a poor understanding of modern American football. Players have to constantly learn how to read defenses or offenses as a play is unfolding and memorize a large number of plays. It is true that coaching matters a lot in football, but that is because the game is so complex that a huge division of labor has developed among players and coaches. Often, for example, the quarterback is given a set of options to choose from and only selects on after surveying the defense.

I don't know much about it, but I would be surprised if soccer were more complex than football. (That says nothing of course about whether it is better or worse.)

125 posted on 05/31/2002 11:01:25 AM PDT by untenured
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To: Trailerpark Badass
I will have you know that i attended UFC 5. Had been watching it since the first one and when they announced that UFC 5 was going to be in Buffalo, where I was living at the time, I got tickets the second that the went on sale.
126 posted on 05/31/2002 11:01:40 AM PDT by Phantom Lord
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To: Clemenza
I don't know about Glasgow, but I would fear doing it in London for fear of being "Rogered" by an English soccer poof.

Brilliant retort. I'm overwhelmed and speechless.....

127 posted on 05/31/2002 11:01:43 AM PDT by Hotspur
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To: xsysmgr
Its against the rules to hit your opponent. What kind of a sport is that?

Signed, Football Fan

128 posted on 05/31/2002 11:01:54 AM PDT by Ahban
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To: Hotspur
Would you please list those 12.
129 posted on 05/31/2002 11:01:58 AM PDT by Deb8
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To: xsysmgr
This thread has turned into quite a food-fight.

Basically, I think it's a generational thing. Kids who grew up playing football and baseball in the 1950's and 1960's (like me) don't like soccer because they've never really played the game. We tend to like what we're familiar with.

With the nouveau vogue of soccer in America in the 1980's (largely introduced and driven by Euro-worshiping Yuppies), more and more American kids took up the game. Thus, they have a different take on it than us oldsters do -- they grew up playing it, appreciate the game, and like to watch it, fantasizing themselves on the field in a close game, just as we older types do in the Super Bowl or World Series. My sons-in-law, kids in the 1980's, both love soccer. But they like football and baseball too. Go figure.

130 posted on 05/31/2002 11:02:03 AM PDT by Cincinatus
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To: untenured
I think that reveals a poor understanding of modern American football. Players have to constantly learn how to read defenses or offenses as a play is unfolding and memorize a large number of plays. It is true that coaching matters a lot in football, but that is because the game is so complex that a huge division of labor has developed among players and coaches. Often, for example, the quarterback is given a set of options to choose from and only selects on after surveying the defense.

You're correct. In terms of playcalling, football is probably one of the most complex sports in the world.

I don't understand the position of people putting down one sport to prop another. It's inane...

131 posted on 05/31/2002 11:04:21 AM PDT by Nate505
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To: Ahban
Its against the rules to hit your opponent. What kind of a sport is that?

Uh . . . basketball? It might (sorry, it will) come as a surprise to you, but you can knock somebody on their a** at full speed as long as you touch the ball first.

132 posted on 05/31/2002 11:05:06 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: KC_Conspirator
Find for me an editorial complaining that people dont like golf and telling them why they should like it. Or an editorial or commentator questioning the mental capacity of someone who doesnt like golf? I have never seen one, ever.
133 posted on 05/31/2002 11:05:25 AM PDT by Phantom Lord
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To: philosofy123
You also don't need a brain either to play American football because somebody else will do the thinking for you.

Exactly why it's more fun to watch. You can second-guess the coach. A much more cerebral game for the spectator.

134 posted on 05/31/2002 11:05:54 AM PDT by AmishDude
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To: tictoc
This thread has already exceeded the interest in soccer for the entire US. Plus it has exceed the level of action and excitement from an entire year of soccer games.
135 posted on 05/31/2002 11:06:59 AM PDT by Phantom Lord
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To: Phantom Lord
Americans dominate golf. We didnt invent it and more people play it than any other sport when you include recreational players. And yes, more people play it than soccer.

Golf isn't a sport; it's a hybrid sport-skill-game like pool or darts, more game than sport.

Basketball, Football, and Baseball are very popular around the globe.

Basketball, yes; American football and baseball, certainly not.

If they had a league in their countries with the number of teams that we have, how would their teams stack up against ours? Pretty poorly I would think.

I'm talking about their national teams. And the influx of foreigners into the NBA in recent years has been staggering.

136 posted on 05/31/2002 11:07:16 AM PDT by Hotspur
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To: Cincinatus
Thus, they have a different take on it than us oldsters do -- they grew up playing it, appreciate the game, and like to watch it, fantasizing themselves on the field in a close game, just as we older types do in the Super Bowl or World Series. My sons-in-law, kids in the 1980's, both love soccer.

If that is the case, then why do they play most professional soccer games in stadiums where they close off the upper deck because the crowds are so small?

The ironic thing is that soccer was probably poised to become much more popular here in the U.S. when this country hosted the World Cup. I truly believe that the incident in which that Columbian player was shot to death back home after he mistakenly scored into his own net did irreparable harm to soccer -- it confirmed the nagging suspicions of most Americans that soccer is nothing more than a Third World sport.

137 posted on 05/31/2002 11:07:47 AM PDT by Alberta's Child
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To: xsysmgr
"He holds.... He holds.... He holds !....... He holds !.....

(yawn)

138 posted on 05/31/2002 11:08:09 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Hotspur
I find your vigorous defense of soccer somewhat strange. My favorite sport is hockey - and I couldn't care less whether someone likes it or not. Why do you feel the need to promote soccer to the detriment of all other sports? Is soccer your God? It would seem so.
139 posted on 05/31/2002 11:09:15 AM PDT by NittanyLion
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To: Made In The USA
What they need to have a shot-clock, legalize tackling, and use sticks.

They have that it's called Hockey

What they need is to play on the small enclosed field

(kind of a cross between an arena football field and a hockey rink)

and let them play shots off the wall

...Then...ta da..Human pinball!!

140 posted on 05/31/2002 11:10:08 AM PDT by tophat9000
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