Any Football Fans? (as in Soccer)

[Saint John]

I really think if they allowed soccer to more physical that it would catch on more. Pulling out gay little "yellow cards" because Jacque tripped Stefan is absurd. Shit, those guys are in shape. Half of them have legs like fucking tree trunks. I just can't see inventing a sport where only one person on each side is allowed to use his arms and hands. Seems ridiculous to me...wait, it is ridiculous. What a fucking waste of time.

PS Nice way to keep track of time. You have to guess how much time is left. Who's the Einstein that came up with that idea? And what did they use before the watch was invented? An hourglass? A fucking sun dial?

[Deb]

My kids never played that stupid shit and Wyatt will never ever touch a soccer ball let alone kick one. That's child abuse, making your kid play that crap.

I can just picture Wyatt..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mc0n_nYCYC8

I love, love, love watching the little tykes play hockey.........so darn cute! When one falls, they all fall.

[NealIsGod]

I really think if they allowed soccer to more physical that it would catch on more.

Yeah. I think they should wear pads and helmets, hit each other and be able to throw and catch the ball.

[Saint John]

I really think if they allowed soccer to more physical that it would catch on more.

Yeah. I think they should wear pads and helmets, hit each other and be able to throw and catch the ball.

[MartyMoffatt]

I think Drew is a big Cricket fan.

Well Andrew would, being Australian. I think supporting cricket is written into their Constitution.

Soccer suffers as a spectator sport in the eyes of most Americans for several reasons. Firstly, the average US citizen has probably only been exposed to the US version of soccer, or to televised international matches. The fact is that the top US club sides would barely survive in the English Fourth Division so the quality on display there isn’t up to much, and there certainly isn’t the intensity found in the Premiership. Also, international matches rarely live up to the potential of the players and often become effectively games of chess with a football. They are not representative of great football matches, with a few exceptions.

Secondly, points are very hard to come by. In my mind, this is a good thing. It means that scoring a goal is a cause for celebration and is worth the effort of trying. I’d much rather this than a sport like basketball where a game consists of an average of 100 'goals' or more and the effort require to score is minimal – in fact where MISSING the opportunity to score is often more exciting than actually scoring. Yawn.

In fact, if points were the main criteria for deciding if a ‘sport’ is entertaining, then darts would be number one. After all EVERY game contains at least 501 points scored.

Soccer also suffers as a spectator sport in the eyes of some because some of its top players have a reputation for trying to con the referee, either by diving to win free kicks or by feigning injury to waste time, giving the impression they are all cissies. This is unfortunate and frustrating even to avid followers of the sport and is something referees are trying to stamp out. However, most top flight soccer players are in fact extremely fit, particularly in Europe. But these sort of delays, plus substitutions and genuine injures are why the referee has discretionary power to add time on at the end of a match rather than play to a clock. The alternative would be to continuously stop and start the clock. One of soccer’s greatest strength is its fluidity. The ball is actively in play for long periods, which IMO is more entertaining than the three or four seconds at a time the ball is in play during an American Football match, followed by minutes of inactivity before the next 3-4 second rush. (I suppose that does give the average punter time to go for yet another hot dog or to watch yet more adverts on the big screen – all of which add to the excitement I’m sure).

Dean mentioned that the only reason soccer is the most popular sport worldwide is because millions of the people who play it cannot afford the high tech equipment required for American Football etc. Again I think that is one of its best attributes – the fact that it CAN be played by everybody and where the technology isn’t more important than the game. I seriously doubt that, even if the necessary equipment were freely available, these people would choose American football over soccer.

Marty

[youkeepmewaiting]

Well people are on about the sissyness of Soccer (its football goddamn it!!!!!!!!) but at the end of the day you have your American football who go around wearing twenty layers of protection, whereas we have are Rugby lads, who just go out there as "men"

[gr8dane]

I think Drew is a big Cricket fan.

Well Andrew would, being Australian. I think supporting cricket is written into their Constitution.

Soccer suffers as a spectator sport in the eyes of most Americans for several reasons. Firstly, the average US citizen has probably only been exposed to the US version of soccer, or to televised international matches. The fact is that the top US club sides would barely survive in the English Fourth Division so the quality on display there isn’t up to much, and there certainly isn’t the intensity found in the Premiership. Also, international matches rarely live up to the potential of the players and often become effectively games of chess with a football. They are not representative of great football matches, with a few exceptions.

Secondly, points are very hard to come by. In my mind, this is a good thing. It means that scoring a goal is a cause for celebration and is worth the effort of trying. I’d much rather this than a sport like basketball where a game consists of an average of 100 'goals' or more and the effort require to score is minimal – in fact where MISSING the opportunity to score is often more exciting than actually scoring. Yawn.

In fact, if points were the main criteria for deciding if a ‘sport’ is entertaining, then darts would be number one. After all EVERY game contains at least 501 points scored.

Soccer also suffers as a spectator sport in the eyes of some because some of its top players have a reputation for trying to con the referee, either by diving to win free kicks or by feigning injury to waste time, giving the impression they are all cissies. This is unfortunate and frustrating even to avid followers of the sport and is something referees are trying to stamp out. However, most top flight soccer players are in fact extremely fit, particularly in Europe. But these sort of delays, plus substitutions and genuine injures are why the referee has discretionary power to add time on at the end of a match rather than play to a clock. The alternative would be to continuously stop and start the clock. One of soccer’s greatest strength is its fluidity. The ball is actively in play for long periods, which IMO is more entertaining than the three or four seconds at a time the ball is in play during an American Football match, followed by minutes of inactivity before the next 3-4 second rush. (I suppose that does give the average punter time to go for yet another hot dog or to watch yet more adverts on the big screen – all of which add to the excitement I’m sure).

Dean mentioned that the only reason soccer is the most popular sport worldwide is because millions of the people who play it cannot afford the high tech equipment required for American Football etc. Again I think that is one of its best attributes – the fact that it CAN be played by everybody and where the technology isn’t more important than the game. I seriously doubt that, even if the necessary equipment were freely available, these people would choose American football over soccer.

Marty

That is very nicely put.

It seems like if you score 1 goal in north american sports ,you might as well make it count for 3 or 7,and that way we have so much excitement.

[gr8dane]

What's interesting to me is that so many American kids play on organized soccer teams. But for some reason, the sport doesn't stick with them when they get older.

A couple reasons.

1- It's 2 hours of daycare provided by a coach and a patch of grass. Kids run around like chickens with their heads lopped off, not knowing what the fuck is going on or what to even do.

2- They ditch this shit as soon as they play other sports and figure they can use their hands and have a helluva lot more fun.

My kids never played that stupid shit and Wyatt will never ever touch a soccer ball let alone kick one. That's child abuse, making your kid play that crap.

Well,maybe you wanna get you kids into bowling,darts,curling, or target shooting.

[mystichealer]

Anyone?

I support Everton in Britain, and loosely follow the Houston Dynamos.

Dude, you support the wrong colour in Merseyside.
Once we dump United at that shitehole stadium of theirs on Sunday, and go a further 3 points clear of you losers, it will be Champions league all over again next year.
When you come to Anfield you are gonna get trounced. You do know that don't ya?

No, seriously though, you have had a great season, and i applaud you on that. Pity its all gonna go downhill very soon.

[youkeepmewaiting]

Anyone?

I support Everton in Britain, and loosely follow the Houston Dynamos.

Dude, you support the wrong colour in Merseyside.
Once we dump United at that shitehole stadium of theirs on Sunday, and go a further 3 points clear of you losers, it will be Champions league all over again next year.
When you come to Anfield you are gonna get trounced. You do know that don't ya?

No, seriously though, you have had a great season, and i applaud you on that. Pity its all gonna go downhill very soon.

Whoooaa there RedShite. Most Everton fans dont think we will get 4th and never did. I always new that we would probably end up with getting 5th, which ill be happy with. We had to beat Fulham and didnt.

No, serisouly though, you have had a awful season, considering how much you spend.

[Rockindeano]

What's interesting to me is that so many American kids play on organized soccer teams. But for some reason, the sport doesn't stick with them when they get older.

A couple reasons.

1- It's 2 hours of daycare provided by a coach and a patch of grass. Kids run around like chickens with their heads lopped off, not knowing what the fuck is going on or what to even do.

2- They ditch this shit as soon as they play other sports and figure they can use their hands and have a helluva lot more fun.

My kids never played that stupid shit and Wyatt will never ever touch a soccer ball let alone kick one. That's child abuse, making your kid play that crap.

Well,maybe you wanna get you kids into bowling,darts,curling, or target shooting.

You should feel fucking ashamed of yourself. You live in Canada and are promoting soccer. Go stick your head in a toilet and flush it.

Wyatt will play hockey, baseball and football and basketball.

Soccer is for fags.

[youkeepmewaiting]

Americans dont like Soccer for one reason - they arnt very good at it

[MartyMoffatt]

... (its football goddamn it!!!!!!!!) ....

Well, I know that and you know that, but 90% of the people on this board are oblivious to the fact. We've had the arguments in the past about Football being a sport where you use your feet to move the ball around and only one person is allowed to use his hands, and American Football being a sport where everybody uses his hands and only one player actually kicks the ball - so which one is incorrectly named? However, trying to use logic to win that argument seems to be futile.

Marty

[conversationpc]

Well people are on about the sissyness of Soccer (its football goddamn it!!!!!!!!) but at the end of the day you have your American football who go around wearing twenty layers of protection, whereas we have are Rugby lads, who just go out there as "men"

What a load of BS. If American football players went out on the field with no pads or helmets, most of them would end up in the hospital with broken legs, arms, severe concussions, etc. You can't be the size these guys are and not have some kind of protection or they'd all end up injured. Most running backs in the NFL would run over or through those rugby dudes like they were a piece of wet spaghetti.

[Saint John]

Well people are on about the sissyness of Soccer (its football goddamn it!!!!!!!!) but at the end of the day you have your American football who go around wearing twenty layers of protection, whereas we have are Rugby lads, who just go out there as "men"

Gladiators and Vikings wore "protection." Were they "sissies?" Rugby is for pussies.

[youkeepmewaiting]

Well people are on about the sissyness of Soccer (its football goddamn it!!!!!!!!) but at the end of the day you have your American football who go around wearing twenty layers of protection, whereas we have are Rugby lads, who just go out there as "men"

What a load of BS. If American football players went out on the field with no pads or helmets, most of them would end up in the hospital with broken legs, arms, severe concussions, etc. You can't be the size these guys are and not have some kind of protection or they'd all end up injured. Most running backs in the NFL would run over or through those rugby dudes like they were a piece of wet spaghetti.

Ha you've obvisouly never watched Rugby. But yes, i can see how those gruelling 3 seconds of play every 15minutes can be dangerous

[Enigma869]

Soccer suffers as a spectator sport in the eyes of most Americans for several reasons.

Soccer suffers as a spectator sport for one very important reason in the U.S. ...Most Americans simply don't understand anything about the game, and have zero desire to understand anything about the game! The bottom line for the U.S. is we simply don't give a shit! Remember...the only sport in our country we can remotely compare it to is ice hockey (and by compare, I mean having goals scored). In hockey, the net is about one tenth of the size of a soccer net, and yet there is no shortage of offensive action!

Firstly, the average US citizen has probably only been exposed to the US version of soccer, or to televised international matches.

Again, you're missing the point! The "exposure" of soccer in the U.S. is irrelevant, because we simply DON'T CARE! We've had countries across the world trying to jam soccer down our throats for decades, and these other nations don't seem to comprehend that it's not our game, and we don't ever want it to be. The truth of the matter is that most people who attend soccer games in the U.S. have their roots in a country, other than the U.S., hence their interest in the game!

The fact is that the top US club sides would barely survive in the English Fourth Division so the quality on display there isn’t up to much, and there certainly isn’t the intensity found in the Premiership.

I'm not really sure what your point is. Why would the U.S. "survive" against another country who claims soccer (or as you call it, "football") as their own and primary sport? I'm pretty sure if we lined a bunch of Brits up to take on any of our professional sports teams, they would be completely annhialated and embarrassed!

Secondly, points are very hard to come by.

Ding, Ding, Ding! Give the man a prize, for stating the obvious!

In my mind, this is a good thing.

Right...In your mind! In the mind of most Americans, it's just one more reason (to say nothing of the RIDICULOUS fact that nobody knows how much time is left) we think the game sucks ass!

It means that scoring a goal is a cause for celebration and is worth the effort of trying.

Or a cause for a riot and trampling a bunch of innocent people to death

I’d much rather this than a sport like basketball where a game consists of an average of 100 'goals' or more and the effort require to score is minimal – in fact where MISSING the opportunity to score is often more exciting than actually scoring. Yawn.

You probably wouldn't find a lot of Americans who disagreed with your point on basketball. That said, drawing a paralel between basketball and soccer is flat out ridiculous! That's like me comparing Polo to swimming! The fact of the matter is that basketball isn't close to the most popular sport in America and never has been!

if points were the main criteria for deciding if a ‘sport’ is entertaining, then darts would be number one. After all EVERY game contains at least 501 points scored.

You're missing the point, Marty! It's not all about "scoring". You are WAY over simplifying things to buttress your argument about what dopes Americans are for not loving your country's national sport! It's simply a game we didn't grow up with and don't give a shit about! It's not really much more complicated than that! Also, I can assure you that NOBODY in this country has any interest in watching a bunch of overweight, shitfaced, bald, middle-aged men throw darts!

However, most top flight soccer players are in fact extremely fit, particularly in Europe.

And??? Who cares how "fit" they are? Maybe that makes the game more appealing to some chick who wants to check out some fruity soccer player's ass, but it certainly doesn't make the drudgery of the game of soccer any more palatable for most Americans to watch! It's not a fitness competition. It's supposed to be a sport!

the referee has discretionary power to add time on at the end of a match rather than play to a clock.

I wasn't on the debate team in high school, but I'm thinking this argument is one you don't want to use for why soccer is so great! This is one of the main reasons people find it so idiotic! I can assure you that if referees in American sports had the "discretion" to just arbitrarily add time to a game, that sport would disappear faster than Journey lead singers!

The alternative would be to continuously stop and start the clock.

Gee, what a concept! I don't know how they would ever manage to try something so revolutionary

Dean mentioned that the only reason soccer is the most popular sport worldwide is because millions of the people who play it cannot afford the high tech equipment required for American Football etc.

And Dean is 100% correct. When the only thing that is absolutely required to participate in the game is a ball, or a reasonable facsimile of a ball, it means that any country on the planet can partake in the festivities, regardless of how economically depressed the country might be!

I seriously doubt that, even if the necessary equipment were freely available, these people would choose American football over soccer.

Marty

And? Of course they wouldn't choose "American football" over soccer! Why would they? They didn't grow up around the game, and know nothing about it! That doesn't make soccer a superior sport, just because people who live in countries with no other options love the game! It just means that they enjoy what they're used to, just like us!


John from Boston

[Rockindeano]

Americans dont like Soccer for one reason - they arnt very good at it

Thank fucking God. I pray, literally on my knees...

Dear beloved God, dude, I need your help, badly.
I need you to not let us win a soccer game in the World Cup, or any other bullshit tournament.
You have power bro, and Goddammit, I mean, please, please let Iran or Iraq, or Chile beat our asses in soccer.
You have any idea of the time that shit takes from our real sports on TV? Jesus Christ God, it's horrible.
Please keep America out of any soccer matches.
Thanks bud,

Your pal,
Deano

[Rockindeano]

... (its football goddamn it!!!!!!!!) ....

Well, I know that and you know that, but 90% of the people on this board are oblivious to the fact. We've had the arguments in the past about Football being a sport where you use your feet to move the ball around and only one person is allowed to use his hands, and American Football being a sport where everybody uses his hands and only one player actually kicks the ball - so which one is incorrectly named? However, trying to use logic to win that argument seems to be futile.

Marty

Under this argument, soccer should be named Tardball, because the game is RETARDED.

[Saint John]

Soccer blows. Talk about a mindless sport. And of course it's the most popular game in the world. All you need is a fucking ball. Take baseball..."America's game." You need bats, balls, umpires, bases and knowledge. The game is complex and so are the rules. Soccer requires a ball, or in the case of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, or any one of a number of hell hole African countries, a human head to kick around. How fucking exciting.

[NealIsGod]

Soccer blows. Talk about a mindless sport. And of course it's the most popular game in the world. All you need is a fucking ball. Take baseball..."America's game." You need bats, balls, umpires, bases and knowledge. The game is complex and so are the rules. Soccer requires a ball, or in the case of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, or any one of a number of hell hole African countries, a human head to kick around. How fucking exciting.

I would watch it if they used a human head.

[Rockindeano]

Soccer blows. Talk about a mindless sport. And of course it's the most popular game in the world. All you need is a fucking ball. Take baseball..."America's game." You need bats, balls, umpires, bases and knowledge. The game is complex and so are the rules. Soccer requires a ball, or in the case of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, or any one of a number of hell hole African countries, a human head to kick around. How fucking exciting.

I would watch it if they used a human head.

Yeah, preferably JT's or Rich Meyers.

[gr8dane]

What's interesting to me is that so many American kids play on organized soccer teams. But for some reason, the sport doesn't stick with them when they get older.

A couple reasons.

1- It's 2 hours of daycare provided by a coach and a patch of grass. Kids run around like chickens with their heads lopped off, not knowing what the fuck is going on or what to even do.

2- They ditch this shit as soon as they play other sports and figure they can use their hands and have a helluva lot more fun.

My kids never played that stupid shit and Wyatt will never ever touch a soccer ball let alone kick one. That's child abuse, making your kid play that crap.

Well,maybe you wanna get you kids into bowling,darts,curling, or target shooting.

You should feel fucking ashamed of yourself. You live in Canada and are promoting soccer. Go stick your head in a toilet and flush it.

Wyatt will play hockey, baseball and football and basketball.

Soccer is for fags.

Good ole Deano.
You make it sound like Wyatt has not started sports yet.Yet you have already chosen what he should/can do.
What if he picked soccer,I am visualizing you standing there ,calling him a fag,'Go flush your heard in the WC you little retard".
If he does pick your sports,You and him on Sunday walks can stand there in the park, yelling at the other kids playing soccer,
"You guys QUUUUEEEAAAAAR or summat,while you are high 5ing.'Awrite son,that telt them'

By the way,my son plays lacrosse.Does that make him a lesbian?

[youkeepmewaiting]

What's interesting to me is that so many American kids play on organized soccer teams. But for some reason, the sport doesn't stick with them when they get older.

A couple reasons.

1- It's 2 hours of daycare provided by a coach and a patch of grass. Kids run around like chickens with their heads lopped off, not knowing what the fuck is going on or what to even do.

2- They ditch this shit as soon as they play other sports and figure they can use their hands and have a helluva lot more fun.

My kids never played that stupid shit and Wyatt will never ever touch a soccer ball let alone kick one. That's child abuse, making your kid play that crap.

Well,maybe you wanna get you kids into bowling,darts,curling, or target shooting.

You should feel fucking ashamed of yourself. You live in Canada and are promoting soccer. Go stick your head in a toilet and flush it.

Wyatt will play hockey, baseball and football and basketball.

Soccer is for fags.

Good ole Deano.
You make it sound like Wyatt has not started sports yet.Yet you have already chosen what he should/can do.
What if he picked soccer,I am visualizing you standing there ,calling him a fag,'Go flush your heard in the WC you little retard".
If he does pick your sports,You and him on Sunday walks can stand there in the park, yelling at the other kids playing soccer,
"You guys QUUUUEEEAAAAAR or summat,while you are high 5ing.'Awrite son,that telt them'

By the way,my son plays lacrosse.Does that make him a lesbian?

Popcorn at the ready...

[Enigma869]

By the way,my son plays lacrosse.Does that make him a lesbian?

Hmmmmm...I'll have to ponder this one


John from Boston

[Enigma869]

Soccer requires a ball, or in the case of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, or any one of a number of hell hole African countries, a human head to kick around.

Absolute classic, SJ! Funny shit (and sadly, true)!


John from Boston

[youkeepmewaiting]

Soccer requires a ball, or in the case of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, or any one of a number of hell hole African countries, a human head to kick around.

Absolute classic, SJ! Funny shit (and sadly, true)!


John from Boston

No its not.

[Deb]

What's interesting to me is that so many American kids play on organized soccer teams. But for some reason, the sport doesn't stick with them when they get older.

A couple reasons.

1- It's 2 hours of daycare provided by a coach and a patch of grass. Kids run around like chickens with their heads lopped off, not knowing what the fuck is going on or what to even do.

2- They ditch this shit as soon as they play other sports and figure they can use their hands and have a helluva lot more fun.

My kids never played that stupid shit and Wyatt will never ever touch a soccer ball let alone kick one. That's child abuse, making your kid play that crap.

Well,maybe you wanna get you kids into bowling,darts,curling, or target shooting.

You should feel fucking ashamed of yourself. You live in Canada and are promoting soccer. Go stick your head in a toilet and flush it.

Wyatt will play hockey, baseball and football and basketball.

Soccer is for fags.

Good ole Deano.
You make it sound like Wyatt has not started sports yet.Yet you have already chosen what he should/can do.
What if he picked soccer,I am visualizing you standing there ,calling him a fag,'Go flush your heard in the WC you little retard".
If he does pick your sports,You and him on Sunday walks can stand there in the park, yelling at the other kids playing soccer,
"You guys QUUUUEEEAAAAAR or summat,while you are high 5ing.'Awrite son,that telt them'

By the way,my son plays lacrosse.Does that make him a lesbian?

Popcorn at the ready...

Scooch over......

[Rockindeano]

Lacrosse rules bro. Tough sport. Actually, it's Canada's national sport.


PS- kicking JT's fat ogre/troll dome around would be funny as all Hell. I bet he would still be yelling "Fuck You!" while being kicked around. "Fuck You Dan! Fuck You Dean!"

[Saint John]

Lacrosse rules bro. Tough sport. Actually, it's Canada's national sport.


PS- kicking JT's fat ogre/troll dome around would be funny as all Hell. I bet he would still be yelling "Fuck You!" while being kicked around. "Fuck You Dan! Fuck You Dean!"

That dude is lucky I wanted to see the concert that night. If that were Sunday and we were ready to check out, that little bowling ball looking motherfucker would have been knocking down slot machines like bowling pins after I thrust my boot in his ass.