The Soccer Gap: What conservatives are missing.

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

[Diverdogz]

However, I have one major problem with soccer. The way its participants (at the highest level, at least) roll around on the ground and feign injury

In American Football, it is quite common for a punter to grossly exagerate contact to draw a penalty flag. Nice try, play again.

[Hotspur]

Another example of how soccer fans look down upon fans of other sports as inferior and as uncultured mental midgets.

Not looking down on anybody. A "sport" (which NASCAR really isn't) in which the fans hang out for seven hours with people waiting for a guy to crash a car is an inferior sport.

I have no problem or compunction classifying cultural activities into hierarchies of inherent worth. Must be the conservative in me.

[Phantom Lord]

Baseball was around for decades before it became the "national pastime."

Kind of hard to watch the games when there was no TV for those many many decades. And when all the games were played during the day while everybody else was at work. And most jobs didnt provide someone with a cube or office where they could listen to it on the radio. Especially since radios were not portable!

Soccer has come to be in America at a time when everyone has a tv and portable radio. It has had more advantages than any other sport in history and it still fails.

[Prodigal Son]

I would think the loss to Brazil in the second round that year killed any chance that soccer would be big in America. It's was probably one of the most riveting sports contests I've watched, ranking up there with the Tyson/Buster Douglas fight.

Uhh- dude it was the semi finals that the USA got put out by Brazil. What we were realistically shooting for in that game was a tie at the end of regulation so we could've gone on to a shoot out- which is how the final between Italy and Brazil ended. In a shoot out- anything can happen and actually the US side might've found itself in the final match if it had gone to that. We were that close (holds up thumb and forefinger) but after Brazil scored- it was over for us.

[1rudeboy]

Please see my #176. My understanding is that Lowry is a neo-con.

[Phantom Lord]

Yeah, all the regular guys that populate the soccer stadiums of England and Europe, especially the ones that run from nation to nation beating the snot out of each other in national fervor. All liberals.

I would venture to say that they either do not vote or vote for big government candidates. LIBERALS!

[Cincinatus]

I still claim that it's too soon to tell. I don't care for it, but it has its following. I notice that the pro-soccer crowd seems notably younger than its detractors.

[Phantom Lord]

but the decline in baseball's popularity has mirrored the increase in foreign-born major-league ballplayers.

That and the fact that the players are a bunch of crybabies who threaten to strike if the owner looks at them the wrong way. Baseball is constantly shooting itself in the foot.

[Phantom Lord]

Take a dive in hockey and your gonna spend two minutes in the box.

And speaking of hockey, a player will take a puck or stick in the face, go to the locker room and get 20 stitches and then return to the ice. Same with borken bones. Put a cast on it and get back on the ice.

[GoreIsLove]

However, I have one major problem with soccer. The way its participants (at the highest level, at least) roll around on the ground and feign injury.

Vlade Divac?

[untenured]

I notice that the pro-soccer crowd seems notably younger than its detractors.

It's often noted that immigrants bring their passion for soccer to this country. It will be interesting to see whether their children gravitate toward the NBA/NFL/MLB colossus or toward the MLS.

I'd bet the former, though. Like the metric system, Americans seem proud of their rejection of soccer.

[Methos8]

The USA-Brazil game in 1994 was not a semifinal. After the first three round-robin games, the USA finished second in its group and advanced to the single elimination rounds (along with 15 other teams).

I believe that the furthest that the USA has ever advanced was a semifinal, but it was a LONG time ago.

[NittanyLion]

And speaking of hockey, a player will take a puck or stick in the face, go to the locker room and get 20 stitches and then return to the ice.

Yep. If he needs less than 10 stitches, I've seen them do ir right on the bench. The player may only miss one or two shifts. Now that's tough.

[KC_Conspirator]

I made the similar point as well. I said that there are some cultural differences that some people can't get over when it comes to soccer.

One, its not an American sport and we have traditionally liked playing our own.

Two, there are ties in the game and Americans hate ties. Do you remember all the handwringing that used to go in in college football before they had overtime? Hell, they even incorporated an overtime in hockey.

Three, Americans are now supposed to only like high scoring sports. A 2-1 baseball "pitchers duel" is now a thing of the past with juiced balls and pee-wee ball parks where the fences are moved in. In basketball, a 24 second shot clock was installed and a "no zone" rule was put into place just so nobody could play defense. They even seriously discussed having the "no zone" rule in football because they thought the scoring was too low, but they changed the kicking and passing rules instead to encourage higher scores.

[Phantom Lord]

The rest of the world should worship us. We saved their asses in 2 world wars and keep them safe today. I dont see the europeans over in the middle east trying to settle things between Israel and the Palis, and I dont see them trying to settle the fights between their own countries. When ever a conflict arises in Europe they call the US Military to the rescue.

They should worship us and we should look down on them. Wimps.

[wny]

It's not boring if you're playing. It's just a lousy spectator sport-unless you're already into it, just like golf and bass fishing. I agree about football. 2 hours to play 8 or 10 minutes of actual football. Boring as hell. Baseball's a bit different. stretches of boredom punctuated by excitement. Again, like soccer, one needs to be a fan to appreciate the strategies and intracacies (sp?)of it. if you want non-stop action go to the NHL. Tonight's Detroit-Colorado game 7 for instance.

[Hot Tabasco]

Give em pads, unlimited substitutions and the ability to check then it might become watchable. Till then, there's more excitement watching my petunias...

[keri]

I just finished reading the rest of the thread:-)

I do hope FIFA won't give over to pressure (American?) and change the offsides rule. (Part of the fun is the difficulty in scoring.) Soccer would be completely ruined without it, AND shootouts;-)

How can anyone sit through a shootout and be bored???

[marshmallow]

In American Football, it is quite common for a punter to grossly exagerate contact to draw a penalty flag. Nice try, play again.

What do you mean, "nice try"? I'm not "trying" to do anything. Merely giving my observations as an onlooker.

And the practice I mentioned is not "quite common" in American football. It happens occasionally. And it is frowned upon by other players.

In soccer, it is epidemic, indeed universal and has become an art form, from what I've seen.

Why not admit that it is a blemish on the sport rather than going for the "everyone does it" approach.

[Nate505]

Why not admit that it is a blemish on the sport rather than going for the "everyone does it" approach.

I agree here. Flopping in more prevelent in soccer than just about any other sport, except maybe basketball....but like in basketball, they usually do it for strategic purposes.