Football/Soccer

[Pain_Man]

Shhh, don't tell anyone, or they'll throw me out of the Republican Party and take away my NRA card, but the comments about and article in the Guardian (yes difficult not to :& when reading the Guardian) on the World Cup are hilarious. Since I'm told that the Guardian's readership is largely teachers and social workers (i.e. what y'all call the "Looney Left"--great term btw), and few of the members of this board are one or the other, I post them here.

 

As a concession to my British cousins I'll call it football/soccer.

 

The article, case you're interested (and it's actually not too bad, the rabid anti-American hatred is toned down) although it does start with one of the most ridiculous sentences ever written: The United States always feels challenged by the World Cup. Ehhhnt!!! Wrong answer. 99% of Americans couldn't tell you what the World Cup is, let alone who the contenders are. I know what it is, but could tell you who the favorite is if a gun were to my head. We simply do NOT care about football/soccer.

 

http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup200...rticle_continue

 

 

Here's the comments (naturally I must comment upon the comments ):

 

Best comment of all:

hawkeyepierce

 

June 7, 2006 05:31 AM

Why is the US a benchmark anyway for football? The beauty of the game is in its universality. Do we always have to ask the question whether "America cares?" --- just goes to show how much we care they dont.

 

Why does some much of the rest of the world get their undies in a knot over American indifference to football/soccer? I've never understood it myself. After all, we don't give a rat's ass about curling and that doesn't seem to bother anyone.

 

But football/soccer? Why does it matter if it's not popular here? Why should anyone care that we don't care? It's like there's this sense that we can be browbeaten or guilted into becoming football/soccer fans. Ain't gonna happen. It just doesn't suit our national character. I'm not sure why we find it so deadly dull but we do. I've tried to find it interesting but it still leaves me drowsy.

 

I'd much rather watch a baseball came in late September between to teams out of playoff contention where nothing's at stake than the World Cup Final.

 

 

FareWhetherPhan

 

June 7, 2006 03:11 AM

"The United States always feels challenged by the World Cup." - No. Echoing the comments of others before me, not many people even know what it is. Let's think about this...it starts in the middle of the NBA finals, the Stanley Cup finals (for those in the North), and continues through the middle of baseball season. Quite simply, there isn't much time to watch it. Plus, rightly or wrongly, it's seen as a girl's sport once past the age of around 12. Well, at least the games will broadcast on the Spanish speaking channels in the US.

 

Right on the money. There are just too many other sports going on for people to make room for the World Cup even if more than 12 Americans actually cared. (That's not an insult, just a fact.)

 

June 7, 2006 02:10 AM

The US doesn't feel challenged by the World Cup. I am willing to bet that if you polled America, the majority would not even know what the "World Cup" is. There is nothing shocking to Americans about the historal failure of the Unites States in the World Cup. The fact is, AMERICAN DOES NOT CARE. Play your game.

 

Exactly! Why worry about what we don't care about? Enjoy your World Cup. When the Olympics roll around again, then we'll all care together.

 

 

FareWhetherPhan

 

June 7, 2006 03:11 AM

"The United States always feels challenged by the World Cup." - No. Echoing the comments of others before me, not many people even know what it is. Let's think about this...it starts in the middle of the NBA finals, the Stanley Cup finals (for those in the North), and continues through the middle of baseball season. Quite simply, there isn't much time to watch it. Plus, rightly or wrongly, it's seen as a girl's sport once past the age of around 12. Well, at least the games will broadcast on the Spanish speaking channels in the US.

 

Clinton

 

June 7, 2006 03:44 AM

As a "yank", leave it the Guardian to be the most off-balanced commentary in what is otherwise a fabulous British press. A number of us DO care, not a lot of us for sure, but the numbers of viewers on ESPN for everyone of the games shown live, will run in the tens of millions. Not a lot but not a little either. All you people at the Guardian must give the world at least something to laugh at with your always trying to find some whacky off base article to publish.[/i]

 

Ol' Clint here's way off base. The audience will be nowhere near "tens of millions." I doubt it'll even hit the millions, except possibly for the final. Even then, the time difference, like the last Olympics, means we here in the Colonies know the results long before we can see the game(s).

 

That's would doom the World Cup to ratings limbo even if it were popular here.

 

Why do you think Olympics ratings have been falling off; the further away from N. America they get, the fewer people who are interested in watching events the results of which they already know.

 

Grantchstr

 

June 7, 2006 04:27 AM

....Soccer in the US has grown/is growing by leaps and bounds - and the author has also missed a crucial point, the economics of football. Nike as just one example is a US company and a significant player in football - even Coke sponsors football. And there is a dark rumor that Manchester United is American owned! Heaven forbid!

 

If memory serves, and correct me if I'm wrong my cousins, but one of Rupert Murdoch's companies owns Manchester United and he is now an American citizen (tho' of course born in Australia).

 

thank your lucky stars that the US doesn't care about football. If our very best athletes were devoted to the sport, you would see something that would make the Brazilian juggernaut pale. Imagine the the speed and grace of Brazil (American football wide receivers) the organization of Germany (afterall, Germans are the largest American ethnic group), the innovation of the dread Argies (they are a second rate new world power; imagine what would happen if the American improvisors, the creators of jazz gave a damn about your sport) all wrapped into one team. What would be the result? Perennial US dominance. Please keep bitching about our indifference to "soccer." It's a secret form of prayer, a way of saying, "Thank god the Yanks don't care. Imagine having to carry their water on the pitch the way we do in Basra."

 

Yes, this one I particularly like. There are people from every country on the planet in this country. And if football/soccer were suddenly to become wildly popular, then our economic might would buy all the best players for American teams. And suddenly, as the poster writers, we'd own football/soccer the way we own basketball, football and baseball.

 

And you can read the rest, if you want, following the article.

[Grain]

We had a World Cup draft at work today, picking teams to make it out of their respective groups etc. I ended up with Brazil, France, Portugal & "drum roll please" Poland! I like their hooligans

[dbminter]

My question is... why does ANYONE care? I am reminded of a sketch from Saturday Night Live ripping into the Chicago Bears for their idiotic rap video: "We play with ball! We kick the ball!" And, that's ALL BOTH football and soccer are.

[spinningwheel]

My question is... why does ANYONE care

 

I dunno'

 

 

 

[lfcrule1972]

Hey Grain you will be ok with Brazil mate

[volvofl10]

We had a World Cup draft at work today, picking teams to make it out of their respective groups etc. I ended up with Brazil, France, Portugal & "drum roll please" Poland! I like their hooligans

 

kin hell ! ! ! if it wasnt for bad luck you'd have no luck at all then

 

you strike me as the kind of guy who had a tenner on shergar in 1982..................... a tenner that he would go missing

[Grain]

My hooligans lost their first game, about 3 hours after the pick. Come on Brazil....

[Pain_Man]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when the World Cup was held here (US), didn't a Colombian player "own-goal" in a game against the American team thereby causing his team to lose? (Not that it did the American team any good, I'm certain we were defeated ignominiously in the game after that... We suck at soccer...and we don't give a rat's ass.)

 

And, wasn't he murdered when he went back Colombia?

 

"Own-goal" I love that term. The Royal Army used to label IRA guys who blew themselves up as "own-goals" didn't they?

 

The question is? Did the term originate from the game or from the Royal Army? (I know, 99% chance it comes from the game, but my sick sense of humor's hoping for the alternative... )

Edited June 15, 2006 by Pain_Man

[dbminter]

And, wasn't he murdered when he went back Colombia?

 

Yes, ironically enough, he was killed by a bodyguard who just happened to be named... Castro.

 

The question is? Did the term originate from the game or from the Royal Army? (I know, 99% chance it comes from the came, but my sick sense of humor's hoping for the alternative... )

 

 

No, your sick sense of humor is thinking it comes from the came!

[lfcrule1972]

Hey Grain - forget Poland they lost last night mate and are almost certain to not qualify for the next round - on a brighter note Brazil and Portugal both won if not convincingly.....

[volvofl10]

USA did well the other night a full 90 minutes without picking the ball up and running with it

[Groundrush]

[digidragon]

I find it a bit strange that the USA bother to enter if everyone's so disinterested in it.

 

I also find it strange that while the World Cup involves nearly the whole world (including America), the World Series only seems to involve North America. Seems a weird use of the term "World"...

[Grain]

I wish Canada would be able to table a team worth talking about, unfortunately if it doesn't involve sticks, ice and fighting we aren't that good. Would be nice to at least make the worlds biggest sporting event, no fun beating the Americans in hockey all the time .

[dbminter]

Well, isn't Canada like the ONLY place in the world that cares about curling? I mean, who the Hell curls?

[Pain_Man]

Did we shoot a Tomahawk missile up anyone's ass?

 

No?

 

Waste of time.

 

USA did well the other night a full 90 minutes without picking the ball up and running with it

[Pain_Man]

I find it a bit strange that the USA bother to enter if everyone's so disinterested in it.

 

ESPN & FoxNews are both covering it. And there are several million, mostly immigrant, followers of the World Cup in the US.

 

Another odd factor in the mix is the popularity of youth soccer. But US youth soccer is a rather different game than the English variety played 'round the world. It's faster and points are much more frequent.

 

Ironically, despite the fact it bores me to tears, soccer's the only organized sport I ever played. (I use "soccer" here to differentiate from the way its played 'round the world.)

 

 

Remember there is one (used to be two) Canadian team (the Expos) in Major League baseball, so it's not exclusively American.

 

The Japanese are getting better and better (there are several Japanese players among MLB's best; American players have also been playing in Japan for 20+ yrs); and there are a few Koreans in the game as well. So it is becoming more and more international.

 

I believe we'll see a truly world series in our lifetimes.

 

The Cubans and Dominicans also produce outstanding baseball players.

 

If it weren't for the huge disparities in national wealth, there'd probably be Dominican teams in MLB. Cuba too if it weren't for the Beard and the poverty. It's also growing more and more popular in Mexico.

 

If Japan weren't 10,000 miles away, they might already have teams in the MLB. However, the distances, given the present flying speeds, make it simply impossible logistically.

 

After all, except for the World Cup and the Olympics, soccer/football is organized into national and regional leagues, is it not? E.g., teams from Senegal and Japan don't regularly play each other.

 

I find it a bit strange that the USA bother to enter if everyone's so disinterested in it.

 

I also find it strange that while the World Cup involves nearly the whole world (including America), the World Series only seems to involve North America. Seems a weird use of the term "World"...

[Pain_Man]

I'm no hockey fan but you don't beat us all the time. Besides, we just buy your best players. So there!!

 

Personally, I've always inclined toward George Carlin's definition of hockey:

 

"Hockey's not a sport, it's three activities in one. Ice skating, beating the shit of someone and chasing a puck. What the fuck is a puck anyway? Where else have you seen one besides at the bottom of a urinal?"

 

 

 

I wish Canada would be able to table a team worth talking about, unfortunately if it doesn't involve sticks, ice and fighting we aren't that good. Would be nice to at least make the worlds biggest sporting event, no fun beating the Americans in hockey all the time .

[Pain_Man]

 

 

(Well, there is Minnesota, but I don't think they're actually a state.)

 

Well, isn't Canada like the ONLY place in the world that cares about curling? I mean, who the Hell curls?

Edited June 16, 2006 by Pain_Man

[volvofl10]

Puck = just another volvo typo

[polopony]

Well, isn't Canada like the ONLY place in the world that cares about curling? I mean, who the Hell curls?

 

I think its only hairdressers

[Grain]

Quite a few European countries are into curling, although I can't personally stand it. It usually involves a lot of drinking though, which is it's only bright spot Watching paint dry IMO, now hockey.... or Canadian Football!!

[Pain_Man]

"Vovlo: a Swedish car with a Japanese transmission built in Belgium."

 

--Pain Man Sr (retired after 48 yrs in the automotive repair business)

 

Puck = just another volvo typo

[volvofl10]

whats a vovlo ? are you after my job Pain Man

[Pain_Man]

Maybe. What's it pay?

 

whats a vovlo ? are you after my job Pain Man