Why Soccer isn't really a sport.

[Belegon]

My hero.

Sorry, My Queen...they pissed me off and I ranted...

Please forgive me....

 

[matriarch]

Sorry, My Queen...they pissed me off and I ranted...

Please forgive me....

Nothing to forgive, he was being an arse.

You were far more polite than me.
I think he should be dropped into the middle of a group of soccer fans and then make his opinions known.

I wonder how fast he can run??

Ooops...........I didn't see your last post.
You're entitled to your rant.......we all know how much you love baseball.

 

[English Lady]

I adore football (sorry, i find it difficult to call it soccer) but I won't take any offence.

I don't like several sports'cos they don't float my boat darts for example and golf, but I can appreciate the skill, practise and dedication needed for a person to become a professional at their sport, whatever it might be.

As Bel said, just 'cos I don't like it, it doesn't mean it's not valid, bloody hard work and admired by others.

Variety is the spice of life, right?

 

[AchtungNight]

Soccer reminds me of baseball too. They both seem long and boring at times, yet both can also be very fun and exciting. They both take a lot of skill and dedication to play, let alone master. They both have many great players and enormous numbers of fans. And they both figure prominently in my next story.

 

[Guest]

Couldn't agree more! Soccer isn't really a sport at all.

On the other hand...

FOOTBALL is the best sport in the world.

It's called FOOTBALL! No wonder most of you in the US don't "get" the game (I know a lot here do, so I'm not gonna say "all" ), you don't even call it by its proper name.

It really is "the beautiful game". If you sat down and actually watched a game (particularly if you are rooting for one side or the other) you would see it's full of passion and drama. It's also full of frustration and name-calling (particularly of the ref), but it's a true team sport, and one that's played in parks, school playgrounds, fields and back gardens by millions of people, the world over.

It's "the people's" sport, and one literally millions of people are very passionate about. It's a sport anyone can play (even though I always got shoved in goal, haha), but it's also a sport that, to be the best at, you have to be at the highest level of fitness and have a tactical brain, to boot. Football teams work as a unit, and every individual has to be keenly aware of everything going on on the pitch, at all times. Defensively, they are so good, so that means the attack has to be even better, and so on. That's why there's not many goals, at the top level. Watch a game in the park, and you'll see goals flying in at regular intervals. A goal, in a top level game, really is something to be celebrated, and it's how that goal was set up which is often the most fascinating thing.

I doubt you saw it, but I imagine many here did, but that Argentinian 24 move goal (including a touch from 9 out of the 11 players) in the group stage of the World Cup was something quite special indeed.

Billions love the game, millions play the game, on a daily basis, we can't all be "incapable of intelligent argument" now, can we?

And can I just say... "sour grapes"? Just because the US aren't at the top of the sport, doesn't make it not valid for the rest of the world.

Lou

 

[S-Des]

i prefer womens beach volleyball. sand ,sweat ,hugging....

That's three this morning. Too fucking funny for words. Thanks for the laugh.

To anyone who took this thread seriously . . . COME ON!!!! I was half tempted to post a joke in the soccer thread, but like Mal said,

I haven't read a single post. I just read the thread title and thought

"Why does that person want to commit suicide by lynch mob?"

BTW, Lou, I disagree with you, but can't bring myself to argue. I love your AVs, you are so dammed sexy! Fine, I'll watch the damn world cup 'til it's over.

 

[Liar]

Couldn't agree more! Soccer isn't really a sport at all.

On the other hand...

FOOTBALL is the best sport in the world.

It's called FOOTBALL! No wonder most of you in the US don't "get" the game (I know a lot here do, so I'm not gonna say "all" ), you don't even call it by its proper name.

Aye. Its's even easy to recognize. It's the game that you play with your feet.

Second best sport in the world. Nothing beats a good hockey battle. (If you're actually there - it suuucks on TV)

 

[NoJo]

Football is, more than any other ball sport, a team game. Which is why Argentina's 24-pass goal is the goal of the World Cup, and why they're the team of the World Cup.

The U.S. is not really a country where people praise team skills above individual flair. A game where cooperation is the key is unlikely to appeal to the U.S. individualistic spirit. Shame for them.

It's also, (when played well), a very fast-moving game. But you have to watch the teams, not the players, to understand and appreciate the game.

 

[mcfbridge]

Aye. Its's even easy to recognize. It's the game that you play with your feet.

Second best sport in the world. Nothing beats a good hockey battle. (If you're actually there - it suuucks on TV)

Couldn't agree more with that. Hockey is a great game.

Sweet Sarah, don't take it personally, you know I luv ya.

Lou, Where the Hell have you been?

 

[NoJo]

A lot of the games in the World Cup have been spoilt by stifling refereeing.

When you get a really top-class referee, like in the France/Spain game, the pace and excitement of the game goes up dramatically. That ref gave more yellow cards for diving and fakery than for actual foul play. The result -- a brilliant game, and a pretty clean one too.

 

[she_is_my_addiction]

Okay. There are several sports I don't like, but wonder of wonders, they're still sports.

I grew up playing soccer (or football, as the case may be) and love to play it. Watching it is so-so. Except when it's a live game at Soldier Field and the Chicago Fire are playing....

However, my little rude counterpart: just because you don't like something doesn't mean it isn't so. Perhaps you might try rolling that one around your brain for a while.

 

[oggbashan]

If you don't like soccer, try Australian Rules football.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde:

Rugby is a game for gentlemen played by thugs; Soccer is a game for thugs played by gentlemen; Australian Rules is war without the Geneva Convention.

Og

 

[Guest]

A lot of the games in the World Cup have been spoilt by stifling refereeing.

When you get a really top-class referee, like in the France/Spain game, the pace and excitement of the game goes up dramatically. That ref gave more yellow cards for diving and fakery than for actual foul play. The result -- a brilliant game, and a pretty clean one too.

Yup. It's rather like "over-parenting" - you end up with unruly kids who bicker and fight over the slightest thing.

Given a little freedom and forgiveness for minor mistakes, they flourish and produce some great results.

I really have been watching too much of Dr Tanya...

 

[R. Richard]

One of the problems with almost any sport is the difficulty aspect. If you haven't yourself played the sport at a high level, you have no real idea how difficult some of the things you see done are to do. Actually, some of the things you don't actually see are perhaps even more difficult.

Once you have tried to do some of the things you see being done, you realize how difficult they are to do and your level of appreciation rises dramatically.

JMHO.

 

[Weird Harold]

It's also, (when played well), a very fast-moving game. But you have to watch the teams, not the players, to understand and appreciate the game.

I think that it's not so much that you have to watch the teams as it is that you have to watch for the full 45 minutes of each half -- there are no commercial breaks or time-outs to facilitate trips to Fridge to take on beer or trips to the head to offload beer.

There is also a severe shortage of replays during the game compared to the sports Americans favor.

I don't think most americans have the attention span to really appreciate soccer.

 

[wornoutkeyboard]

I beg your pardon!

I thought the rest was funny. The "diving" passage had me laughing out loud. Just looked like harmless humor to me.

Don't blame me - blame the Godfather....

~WOK (who shall remain blameless)

 

[English Lady]

I think that it's not so much that you have to watch the teams as it is that you have to watch for the full 45 minutes of each half -- there are no commercial breaks or time-outs to facilitate trips to Fridge to take on beer or trips to the head to offload beer.

There is also a severe shortage of replays during the game compared to the sports Americans favor.

I don't think most americans have the attention span to really appreciate soccer.

this is why mini fridges are so popular over here

Also, you pile up the drinks/snacks to last you through a half, then spend a penny at half time. Then hold on tight till full time.

Never go to the loo in the midst of a footie match -you'll miss something mportant every time *L*

 

[NoJo]

I think that it's not so much that you have to watch the teams as it is that you have to watch for the full 45 minutes of each half -- there are no commercial breaks or time-outs to facilitate trips to Fridge to take on beer or trips to the head to offload beer.

There is also a severe shortage of replays during the game compared to the sports Americans favor.

I don't think most americans have the attention span to really appreciate soccer.

I think they do have the attention span (after all they can sit through movies), but U.S. adverstisers don't like the lack of breaks. Famously, they've suggested changing Association Football to have four quarters (and increasing the size of the goal to increase scores).

As most of top division football teams' income comes from commercial TV (Sky in particualar), it's quite possible that some kind of change to make football more suitable for TV will happen.

 

[Liar]

I think that it's not so much that you have to watch the teams as it is that you have to watch for the full 45 minutes of each half -- there are no commercial breaks or time-outs to facilitate trips to Fridge to take on beer or trips to the head to offload beer.

That's what the mini-frigde by the couch is for. Duh.

Offload? We europeans don't do that.

 

[Weird Harold]

As most of top division football teams' income comes from commercial TV (Sky in particualar), it's quite possible that some kind of change to make football more suitable for TV will happen.

I think it's more likely that changes in technology will do more than than changes in the rules of the game to make soccer more acceptable to US advertisers.

I've wondered why they do't show the games in letter-box format and use banner ads in the dead space letter-box format leaves on standard TV screen. ESPN and ABC seem to have gone part way towards that kind of visual format, but they still have far too many pop-ups for coming attractions and near-useless trivia about the teams.

If I understood Spanish better, I'd much prefer watching the Univision and Gala presentations They're visually much less cluttered that the ESPN and ABC broadcasts and the anoucers seem to be more interested in the game itself than in explaining why I should be interested.

 

[frozen_north]

Sigh... This person must really love flames and hate mail. DUDE!!WAKE UP!!! While we may not all like the soccer(baseball fan here), it is truely the worlds sport. I defy you to find ANY other sport that has started wars!

 

[matriarch]

..... I defy you to find ANY other sport that has started wars!

....and, in one particularly famous incident, temporarily stop one.

Football game between Allies and German troops during World War I

 

[matriarch]

An article printed in the Washington Post, on Sunday, June 4th 2006.

The Soccer Wars
Bono Says the World Cup Is a Peacemaker. Not Quite.

By Daniel W. Drezner
Sunday, June 4, 2006; Page B01

The World Cup is coming, which means a flurry of desperate attempts by tournament promoters to excite Americans about an event that electrifies the rest of the world. This year is no different. ESPN, which will broadcast most of the games in the United States, is airing a series of ads with members of the rock band U2. In one, Bono says that the World Cup "closes the schools, closes the shops, closes a city and stops a war."

If stopping a war seems like an exaggeration, another ad explains soccer's peace-building qualities in more detail: "After three years of civil war, feuding factions talked for the first time in years, and the president called a truce. Because the Ivory Coast qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Because, as everyone knows, a country united makes for better cheerleaders than a country divided."

Does the World Cup really put a stop to war? Does soccer, known for its dangerously rowdy fans, have the conflict-reducing powers that ESPN and U2 proclaim? To be charitable to the World Cup, which this year will be held in Germany starting June 9, the evidence is mixed. It is undeniable that soccer has the power to unite -- but its power to divide should not be underestimated.

The belief that sports can be a source of peace dates to the start of the modern Olympic movement. But social scientists are split on whether competitive sports reduce or inflame conflict. A 1973 article by Richard Sipes in the journal American Anthropologist distilled the debate into two simple, but contrasting, arguments. One is that combative sports and war are substitutes for aggressive behavior -- that the presence of sports is a healthy way for people to discharge their competitive urges. The other is that sports induce a warlike attitude, abetting conflict rather than reducing it.

Sipes tentatively concluded that sports foster aggression. It is possible, however, that the worldwide appeal of soccer (well, minus the United States and Canada) has a pacifying effect. Former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer recently declared that once the tournament starts, "a football will become the symbol of our One World."

There are certainly tangible examples of soccer soothing the savage beast of war. What did the British and Germans do during the famous 1914 Christmas truce across the trenches during World War I? They played a soccer match (the Germans won, 3-2). During the peak of popularity for Brazilian soccer phenom Pele, the combatants in the Biafran war in Nigeria declared a two-day truce so they could watch him play. Of course, in both cases, the cessation of conflict was only temporary.

Soccer has also functioned as a useful outlet for postwar grievances. For generations after World War II, the conflict resonated in soccer matches between the Netherlands and Germany. Franklin Foer, editor of the New Republic and author of "How Soccer Explains the World," argues that the Dutch did not fully recover from the war until Dutchman Frank Rijkaard spit on Rudi Voller's mullet during a 1990 second-round World Cup match. Rijkaard's loogie was the only shot fired in restoring Dutch pride.

Successful teams have also provided the occasional boost for national comity. The Ivory Coast example cited in the ESPN ad works here. Since 1999, the country has been mired in coups, rebellions and ethnic conflicts. When the national team -- the Elephants -- qualified in October 2005, the head of the Ivory Coast Football Federation pleaded with President Laurent Gbagbo to restart peace talks. Elections are scheduled for October of this year. While a truce is in place, however, Human Rights Watch warned in May that both government and rebel forces were devoting their energies to terrorizing civilians.

The problem is that historically, soccer has been just as likely to be the trigger for war as the trigger for peace. The best-known example took place in June 1969 between El Salvador and Honduras. Immigration and border disputes between the two countries had reached a boiling point at the same time that a three-game elimination match between the two national teams was taking place. Rioting during the second game led the two countries to break diplomatic relations. Two weeks later, the 100-hour Soccer War took place, resulting in about 2,000 casualties.

Soccer also played a role in the run-up to the Balkan wars of the 1990s. In March 1990, Red Star Belgrade, a Serbian team, faced Dinamo Zagreb, a Croatian team, in the Croatian capital for a league title, a scant two weeks after Croatia elected nationalist Franjo Tudjman as president. According to Foer, that day was the first time in a half-century that Serbs and Croats openly fought each other. Red Star and Dinamo fans became so violent that the Serbian team had to be taken away by helicopter. Fifteen years after the match, the Zagreb daily Vecernji list observed, "The game that was never played will be remembered, at least by the soccer fans, as the beginning of the Patriotic War, and almost all of the contemporaries will declare it the key in understanding the Croatian cause." The leader of Red Star's ultranationalist fans -- the Delije -- was the notorious Arkan. He later recruited from the Delije to form the paramilitary force that engaged in ethnic cleansing of Croats and Muslims during the war, and ultimately was the victim of a gangland-style killing.

While success at the World Cup can bolster national pride, losing can reap the whirlwind. A working paper by business professors Alex Edmans, Diego Garcia and Oyvind Norli finds that "losses in soccer matches have an economically and statistically significant negative effect on the losing country's stock market." Some individual players suffer consequences worse than that. Colombian defender Andres Escobar, responsible for an own goal in a 1994 World Cup loss to the United States, was killed upon returning to his hometown of Medellin.

Soccer will never bring about peace on its own. The flip side is also true -- by itself, soccer cannot start a war. The World Cup, like the Olympics, suffers from a case of overblown rhetoric. Bono's assurances to the contrary, the passions inspired by the World Cup embody both the best and worst forms of nationalism.

ddrezner@gmail.com

Daniel W. Drezner will be an associate professor of international politics at the Fletcher School at Tufts University starting in the fall.