tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post4472705226896707142..comments2024-03-19T21:14:01.007-07:00Comments on The Compass Rose: Soccer is Un-American & The Most Boring Spectator Sport in the WorldCurtis Favillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-51458223633617944672020-10-24T08:51:03.681-07:002020-10-24T08:51:03.681-07:00Well if his blog is stupid, what does that make yo...Well if his blog is stupid, what does that make you for reading it, you low-grade moron?888https://www.blogger.com/profile/12616551984425163730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-670850336334694362020-10-24T08:50:46.862-07:002020-10-24T08:50:46.862-07:00The biggest reason why soccer has grown so much in...The biggest reason why soccer has grown so much in population for children, is that it's the one sport that is easiest to pretend to play. Any clutch can go out and get lost on a soccer field, pretending to play.<br /><br />And the everybody gets a trophy crowd can give everybody a trophy because no one really knows who's good and who isn't.<br /><br />And then the everybody gets a trophy crowd of kids can grow up and become weak-minded whiny little s*** heads.888https://www.blogger.com/profile/12616551984425163730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-75824643693674643022020-10-24T08:45:36.552-07:002020-10-24T08:45:36.552-07:00Yes, by way of educating you. Soccer never enters ...Yes, by way of educating you. Soccer never enters the top story section on ESPN. I don't know what the hell you've been watching.888https://www.blogger.com/profile/12616551984425163730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-23342931196867297022018-12-29T02:03:41.989-08:002018-12-29T02:03:41.989-08:00>"soccer is unamerican"
>pasuckuak...>"soccer is unamerican"<br />>pasuckuakohowogAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-30836270236567403752018-03-22T10:07:26.347-07:002018-03-22T10:07:26.347-07:00Anon:
"The goalie makes use of the hands in ...<br />Anon:<br /><br />"The goalie makes use of the hands in the game to hold the ball and kick it towards the opponents' goal. And this may surprise you: those same soccer players use their hands in their daily life. By your logic, should we stop reading books because we don't use our feet?"<br /><br />My point isn't that we should choose hands or feet. No one would argue that the feet are our primary "digitized" appendages. <br /><br />We don't walk on our hands, we walk (and run) on our feet. The point is that our hands are our primary human physical tool, which have enabled us to manipulate and control our environment, and have taken us far beyond the usual animal kingdom limitations. <br /><br />Any sport which willfully ignores the hands, artificially handicaps its participants. Rather like--to coin a metaphor--playing with your hands tied behind your back.<br /><br />Need I say more?Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-49996549792359855802018-03-04T23:46:38.410-08:002018-03-04T23:46:38.410-08:00My apologies. By "Ron" I meant Ron Dowd....My apologies. By "Ron" I meant Ron Dowd.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-11781898558722756422018-03-04T23:39:30.420-08:002018-03-04T23:39:30.420-08:00To add to my previous comment: I personally don...To add to my previous comment: I personally don't give a toss if America adopts soccer. To me, it'd be great if people like Ron and Driver could just stop bashing things they know jack about.<br />Newsflash: American football was based off of rugby (invented in England). Baseball was based off of rounders (also invented in England). Without soccer, American football and basketball would not exist.<br />- JosepAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-43551324652115544182018-03-04T19:35:25.195-08:002018-03-04T19:35:25.195-08:00Uh, Driver, just so you know, many conservative co...Uh, Driver, just so you know, many conservative countries such as Poland enjoy soccer. Back when soccer was invented, England was as conservative as it could get.<br />The Czech Republic has hockey, and Japan, Panama and South Korea have baseball. Those countries have little to no problem with soccer.<br />The goalie makes use of the hands in the game to hold the ball and kick it towards the opponents' goal. And this may surprise you: those same soccer players use their hands in their daily life. By your logic, should we stop reading books because we don't use our feet?<br />- JosepAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-45463187721191066812011-10-03T14:27:44.143-07:002011-10-03T14:27:44.143-07:00Dear Anon:
You sort of missed the point, here. M...Dear Anon:<br /><br />You sort of missed the point, here. My criticism of soccer isn't based on patriotism, though one might find worse reasons for supporting one's team. Actually, that side of it often gets out of control, as those notorious riots in the stadia prove. <br /><br />We could argue about the inherent values of interest of the sport, or we could argue about why you think it's necessary for everyone in the world to be playing and watching the same activity. Whatever happened to variety and indigenous invention? It would be as silly for me to insist that you play American baseball in England, as it would be for your to insist we take up rugby. <br /><br />I find soccer a boring spectator sport. It might be a whole different thing to participate, but most people don't, as you certainly realize. Unless you count the extracurricular hijinks that takes place in the grandstands. <br /><br />As far as the pace of the game is concerned, I find soccer to be many times less diverting, no matter how continuous the "action" is. Just a bunch of men trotting around, jockeying for position, jostling each other, and, once or twice an hour, trying to kick the ball into the net. So boring!<br /><br />If conformity's your thing, then maybe you should encourage everyone to get stoned, ad Dylan used to say.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-48241629052425180542011-10-03T10:59:49.804-07:002011-10-03T10:59:49.804-07:00WAOOW! WAOOW! What are you Americans scared of? wh...WAOOW! WAOOW! What are you Americans scared of? what? you all seem worried by the fact that FOOTBALL (as the rest of the work call it) requires skill to use the ball with your feet, hence FOOTBALL you got it. And if the game that you call football, when all you do is catching a ball and stops every 5 seconds all supporters to get stuff with food( obese nation!!), was a man's game WHAT'S UP WITH ALL THE PROTECTIONS, THEY SHOULD MAN ENOUGH TO TAKE KNOCKS AS WE DO IN RUGBY, NOW THAT'S A REAL MAN'S GAME. take off all that gear sh** and fight like a man if that's what you call yourselves. No protection.<br />the american media is trying to do everything to stop Football (Not yours, ours) to grow in the US but there is nothing you can do stop the sport to grow over the pond and Believe me it will take over every single one of your boring sports. You don't play a sport or force your kids to choose a sport because you are patriotic, that's mental!!!Your kids love FOOTBALL (the rest of the world one.)And there is no stopping it. You guys need to get out more (Of the US)to understand What's happening around you. Don't just sit there and believe what your media feed you with. THINK, ANALYSE you have brains to do so. Thanks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-36281994261014402292011-08-07T23:47:50.229-07:002011-08-07T23:47:50.229-07:00Thanks for a good laugh. You said "In America...Thanks for a good laugh. You said "In America, we have baseball (invented here in the late 19th Century)"<br /><br />The rules may have been ammended in the USA in the 19th century but derives from rounders (which is mostly a girls game in schools in England). Mentioned in one of the Bronte books many decades (centuries) before Baseball ever showed it's head.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-22241876409998254732010-03-07T13:21:43.670-08:002010-03-07T13:21:43.670-08:00Yes indeed, soccer is played with feet because for...Yes indeed, soccer is played with feet because foreigners don't realize that the very essence of being human is using your hands.<br /><br />Soccer is a liberal's dream of tragedy: It creates an egalitarian playing field by rigorously enforcing a uniform disability, that it is football played with the foot. Anthropologists commonly define man according to his use of hands. We have the thumb, an opposable digit that God gave us to distinguish us from animals that walk on all fours. The thumb lets us do things like throw baseballs and fold our hands in prayer. We can even talk with our hands. Have you ever seen a deaf person trying to talk with his feet? When you are really angry and acting like an animal, you kick out with your feet. Only fools punch a wall with their hands. The Iraqi who threw his shoes at President Bush was following his primordial instincts. Showing someone your feet, or sticking your shoes in someone's face, is the ultimate sign of disrespect. Do kids ever say, "Trick or Treat, smell my hands"? Did Jesus wash his disciples' hands at the Last Supper? No, hands are divine (they are one of the body parts most frequently attributed to God), while feet are in need of redemption. In all the portraits of God's wrath, never once is he pictured as wanting to step on us or kick us; he does not stoop that low.F150 Drivernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-38850272294356842572010-03-07T12:49:49.961-08:002010-03-07T12:49:49.961-08:00Dear Driver:
I think soccer DOES INDEED produce e...Dear Driver:<br /><br />I think soccer DOES INDEED produce excess frustration. There's a sense that you want to use your arms, but you can't. That's certainly a frustration. Like playing with both hands tied behind your back. <br /><br />Old television game shows used to dream up ridiculous stunts that people would play for prizes. Like launching ping-pong balls into the air and then catching them in your mouth, or something. Really idiotic. That's kind of how I feel about soccer. Who would dream up a game where you couldn't use your hands? Just dumb.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-36301577151771855042010-03-07T11:17:40.168-08:002010-03-07T11:17:40.168-08:00Soccer is the perfect game for the post-modern wor...Soccer is the perfect game for the post-modern world. It's the quintessential expression of the nihilism that prevails in many cultures, which doubtlessly accounts for its wild popularity in Europe. Soccer is truly Seinfeldesque, a game about nothing, sport as sensation.<br /><br />Soccer penalizes manly contact and burns countless calories, and the margins of victory are almost always too narrow to afford any gloating. As a display of nearly death-defying stamina, soccer mimics the paradigmatic feminine experience of childbirth more than the masculine business of destroying your opponent with insurmountable power.F150 Drivernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-71746128081266698492010-03-07T08:58:11.609-08:002010-03-07T08:58:11.609-08:00hey!
"F-!%)" s h o u l d be...
"F...hey!<br /><br />"F-!%)" s h o u l d be...<br /><br />"F-150" <br /><br />then with this correction every thing that I've ever said or written will not only make sense<br />but will be utterly <br />...and more-soEd Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11285310130024785775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-8325213955725834982010-03-07T07:31:26.655-08:002010-03-07T07:31:26.655-08:00HEY F!%)
I have a 22 year-old (1986) F-150... a l...HEY F!%)<br /><br />I have a 22 year-old (1986) F-150... a little rusty, but still runng good and passes the Emission test every when-ever. I have the extended cab and when my kids were young used to carry 6 kids and all of the baseball equipment around to games<br /><br />no way would I transport anything smacking of soccer... it s just too violent a game and teaches the kids how to "fight for the team" and "win" the war... at all costs!<br /><br />I just inheretid a fortune in greenbacks thinking of dumping my "trusty" old F-150 and getting a brand new little Toyota pick-me-up truck!<br /><br />you know, "they" ain't tellin us about the huge recalls non-stop and more serious defects in them American cars! Besides, most Toyotas are really "made in America" and probably the safest car on the road now.<br /><br />I paid about $12,000 for my truck in 1986 paid it off in two years...<br /><br />actual cost w interest? about $17,000 TODAY same truck costs about $37,000 and a 5-6 year loan which comes to a total cost of (abour $90,000 for a fucking FORD! and, I just found out, Henry was an anti-semitic racist pig! AND NEVER EVER <br />kicked a soccer ball.<br /><br />PLUS<br /><br />a brand new Toyota little truck I can get for about $16,000<br /><br /><br />heck, I can pay cash for that cheaper than my '86 and with how much the dollar is now worth I can use my "old money" and eseentially get the new truck for actually about the price it costs for a ticket to The World Cup Soccer Matches..<br /><br />so<br /><br />I am all for soccer... it is good for the economy... American Sports.. The NFL, The NBE, The NCAA, etc are bankrupting America..<br /><br />I say VIVA ZAPATA !Ed Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11285310130024785775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-25944230006484535002010-03-07T07:27:41.193-08:002010-03-07T07:27:41.193-08:00Dear Driver:
I doubt whether there is anything th...Dear Driver:<br /><br />I doubt whether there is anything that can be done about the soccer craze. Certainly I'm not going to influence the trend by blogging about it. I'm not so vain as to think that what I say publicly on the internet is going to influence events in the world--do you?<br /><br />I'm just expressing an opinion. Blogs are places to express opinions, and to engage in discussion. Sarcasm is one kind of arguing, but only if it's applied judiciously. Exaggeration, such as "foreign sports terrorism" isn't effective because it doesn't get at the heart of my presumptions. <br /><br />Media and public events in the modern world aren't rational phenomena. People don't watch and support and spend money on professional sports because it's morally uplifting, or to show community spirit. They do it for other reasons. It's a form of entertainment. Some sports are fun to play, others are fun to watch. Bowling used to be a much bigger deal in America than it is now. They used to televise bowling tournaments on television, but that went away decades ago. Is this a good or a bad thing? We could talk about that. Bowling fans tend not to get as worked up and passionate about it as soccer fans do. <br /><br />I kind of feel the same way about hockey. We'd end up having the same discussion about why I find hockey boring, compared to baseball. It's partly cultural training, familiarity, and regional preference (if I had been brought up in Toronto, I'd certainly be more likely to feel differently about it).<br /><br />I'm perfectly willing to admit to cultural blindness. And that would apply to anyone. Do you believe in dog-fighting? In cock-fighting? In some parts of the world, those are very popular. <br /><br />But the fact that soccer is a "good, clean" sport really has nothing to do with my individual, and admittedly narrow, view of soccer. I find it boring. And I wonder why, given our perfectly satisfactory national pastimes, we need to sacrifice them in favor of a dull replacement. I think lots of people act like sheep. If you tell them that soccer is the next new thing, they'll jump gamely on the bandwagon and watch it, encourage their kids to play it. They think having their kids play soccer is socially chic. It isn't. It's just dumb.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-9706329552759598312010-03-07T07:01:17.266-08:002010-03-07T07:01:17.266-08:00High school baseball programs around the country h...High school baseball programs around the country have nearly succumbed to the foreign-sports terrorism known as soccer. Young minds and bodies are being wasted by continuing the slide into the soccer abyss. How can we protect our American sports culture from the foreign sports terrorism?<br /><br />The only way to protect our sport culture is to write long internet articles bashing soccer. That'll show soccer to stop raping and boring us.F150Drivernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-86889858111731685932010-03-03T17:28:49.818-08:002010-03-03T17:28:49.818-08:00Ron:
"I bet they'll all say soccer is bo...Ron:<br /><br />"I bet they'll all say soccer is boring but they only watch it because its the only sport they can beat America in while Americans dominate real football."<br /><br />This sounds sarcastic, but I'm not sure what you're getting at. I mean, on a national level, American sports aren't really "regional" in the sense you mean here. Football, for instance, is big everywhere in the country. <br /><br />I think that Olympic sports tend to be much more popular in countries in which there is a paucity of other kinds of amateur or professional sports (with the possible exception of soccer). Russia, Japan, China, Africa--I think countries like that get very hyped up about Olympic events, much more so than America, where we have already a half dozen big-time sports which are avidly followed by millions of fans. <br /><br />Yeah, the Olympics come very four years, and everyone gets rah-rah for a week, but on balance, it doesn't have the same pull here as it does for Koreans, for instance. <br /><br />So, not trolling. I'm perfectly serious. Soccer is a bore, and America doesn't need it. Take your stupid soccer ball and go back where you came from. Cut off someone's head and use that instead--then you'd really have some excitement.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-7550290676062659512010-03-03T16:58:58.224-08:002010-03-03T16:58:58.224-08:00Yes soccer is all about national "insecuritie...Yes soccer is all about national "insecurities", like the national "insecurities" of the great nations of Manchester United, AC Milan, Corinthians FC, Real Madrid...etc. Humans born in countries not named USA get excited about their local soccer clubs because of national insecurities. They also find American football really really exciting didn't you hear? Ask anyone in any country in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America...etc if soccer or american football is more exciting to watch. I bet they'll all say soccer is boring but they only watch it because its the only sport they can beat America in while Americans dominate real football.<br /><br />Also this made me laugh: "Americans, for instance, can't generate much "national" fervor in international competitions such as the Olympics"...you have got to be kidding. Now I know you're just trolling with your anti-soccer rant.Ronnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-78152435038321161512010-01-07T09:15:29.918-08:002010-01-07T09:15:29.918-08:00the original soccer was played not with a ball
bu...the original soccer was played not with a ball<br />but with the cut-off head of the enemy captured and slaughtered...<br /><br />I think that the Incas or Aztecs invented it..<br /><br />same "ball" was used in ancient basketball<br />and polo<br /><br />so we get terms like<br /><br />"slaughter" the other team (enemy) or<br /> "we murdered them"<br /><br />or as Vince Lombardi said:<br />"doesn't matter how you play the game,<br />winning is everything"<br /><br />hey, I can be "anonohmus"<br /><br />so, I am!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-16814306506877808682010-01-07T08:03:54.394-08:002010-01-07T08:03:54.394-08:00Ron:
Thanks for this post.
I tend to agree that ...Ron:<br /><br />Thanks for this post.<br /><br />I tend to agree that soccer is not an interesting spectator sport. The "tension"-points seem to be lacking. There's a kind of aimlessness while the ball is moved from one side to the other. It almost seems as if the strategic positioning of players towards an approach to the goal would be no more, nor less, effective in setting up a possible try, if the individual players simply chose random paths towards the clustering. This is the "strategy" soccer fans tell me is interesting, but I simply don't see it. With football, you have 22 men in close proximity put into hectic motion for 5-8 seconds, all interacting with each other; this happens over and over again. It's breathtaking. With baseball, each moment of action (the pitch) is fraught with suspense and possibility. <br /><br />I'm careful to try not to judge other sports by standards that are alien to it. I'm willing to accede officially that soccer is as interesting to its fans, as baseball and football are to me (as spectator events), even though personally I fail to see it as imaginatively engaging. <br /><br />Ultimately my point isn't about personal preference. You mention the idea that soccer's appeal is based to a large degree on national "insecurities". I would agree that people who want or need to "get excited" about a sport that represents them may play a much larger part in their supposed interest than the regionalism which affects American football (but which seems less a factor in pro-baseball). Americans, for instance, can't generate much "national" fervor in international competitions such as the Olympics. Is that because Americans are more "secure" in their sense of nation-hood that others? I can't say. <br /><br />I do think that the tendency to adopt soccer in America isn't based on any inherent interest or delight in the game itself, but the sense--among the American middle-class--that it's "supposed" to participate, i.e., it's the "in" thing, or it's so "cosmopolitan" or it's so chic for your kids to be playing soccer instead of traditional American sports like baseball or football or basketball. Its advantage is that a lot of kids get to play, and there's little real violence in the game for youngsters. These kids run, almost literally, around in circles, with little sense of what all the movement means. As a set of possible skills which utilize the motor abilities, soccer strikes me as a pathetic excuse for meaningful physical activity. What we want to train our kids to do is use their arms and hands and psycho-physical neurosystems; a sport which denies them the use of their hands seems quite regressive, on balance.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-60954201056465804072010-01-07T01:11:59.154-08:002010-01-07T01:11:59.154-08:00How come so often arguements about soccer as a spe...How come so often arguements about soccer as a spectator sport rarely revolve around the sport itself?<br /><br />I've often posed this question to people I meet here in Miami, which is more of a foreign city than an American one: <b>Could you watch an entire soccer match, from start to finish, if the two teams were "The Blue Team" and "The Red Team," with no national identity or other identity?</b> In other words, is the sport itself entertaining or intriguing to you?<br /><br />Honestly, I consistently see soccer "fans" realize that I have a point. Also, consistently, football fans realize that, in fact, football truly <i>is</i> that interesting.<br /><br />In a free market, you have to let me <i>choose</i> to be entertained by soccer, not forced. The game itself is just plain not entertaining. Although my opinion is biased, I do believe, based on the reactions I get from both American and foreign soccer fans, that they really don't enjoy the game, so much as they sport their nationalistic pride. And that's not a spectator sport. That's national insecurity.<br /><br />You can like the NFL or hate. It's only a matter of one channel away from being out of sight, out of mind. Same goes for soccer. And I won't debate whether I can change my TV channel with anybody.Ronnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-85963106208280313802009-12-30T20:41:54.403-08:002009-12-30T20:41:54.403-08:00Dear Anon:
I think the problem here is your misun...Dear Anon:<br /><br />I think the problem here is your misunderstanding of the relationship between the mechanics of any specific sport, and the feelings different peoples have about their sense of identity and possession.<br /><br />I for instance feel no sense of "patriotism" towards bowling, which is primarily an "American sport" but which I find inherently dull--particularly as a spectator sport. <br /><br />Also, there's the issue of participation versus audience appreciation. Lots of sports are very healthy, demanding and "mental" but hold almost no interest externally (to someone watching or following "the action"). <br /><br />My sense is that soccer is boring to watch, but ultimately the point isn't about liking an inherently fascinating action versus another, but about roots and identity. <br /><br />Why not switch sports? England and Europe get to have American football and baseball, and we get soccer and rugby. <br /><br />What's wrong with this picture? <br /><br />My point isn't that soccer is bad, or that baseball is better. Context is everything. <br /><br />But change is painful, and involves re-inventing traditions and relinquishing continuities. <br /><br />There's a movement afoot in the world to make everyone part of the same paradigm, to wipe away differences and flatten out the human condition, so everyone is more and more alike. Watch the same things, do the same things, hear the same versions of things--perhaps eventually even breeding into a single hybrid "post-racial" human type. <br /><br />But the variety and mutiplicity of the world is interesting. Difference is interesting. Soccer is just fine where it is, and I see no reason why it shouldn't thrive. But as I pointed out earlier, in media time/share, attention is a zero sum game. If soccer becomes the dominant paradigm in North America, we can pretty much kiss American football and baseball and basketball good-bye, because soccer mania is messianic: Once it takes hold, people get a little hysterical about it. People kill each other in the stands, for god's sake! <br /><br />Soccer isn't bad. It looks boring to me. But it obviously doesn't look boring to you. That's exactly as it should be. You should love who you are, and what you have, just as I should love who I am, and what I have. That kind of provinciality is quite useful and valuable in the world. It's what gives it its flavor and spice. <br /><br />Why should everyone in the world go nuts over soccer? Why not have 30 different national games, and everyone loves their own thing?<br /><br />It's just great that you like soccer. Love it to death. But please don't insist that it become my obsession, or that I fall in love with it. There's no necessity that I do, or that I become more "tolerant" of it co-opting my culture, out of some duty to "diversity," etc.<br /><br />No one's asking you to love baseball or American football, just don't insist that WE must love all the things YOU do and love to watch, because there's absolutely no reason that we should. <br /><br />I grew up playing and watching and fantasizing about baseball and football. I resent it when people want to sweep these sports aside in our schools, and have all the kids concentrate on soccer. You grew up playing and watching and fantasizing about soccer--which is exactly as it should be. Why must there be a winner, and a loser, here?Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-19465149105017310502009-12-30T18:56:09.609-08:002009-12-30T18:56:09.609-08:00Curtis,
There are actually quite a few Americans ...Curtis,<br /><br />There are actually quite a few Americans like you, who have this nativist/nationalist anti-soccer stance, not too different from the brits who started making fun of american football back in the 80's when the nfl tried to enter the british market (and again today with the nfl london series). Its funny how something as simple as a sport can be percieved as a threat and somehow trying to replace the traditional sports which were popular there forever.<br /><br />The "other-football-bashing" begins in America every World Cup, or really whenever soccer hits the top story section of ESPN (beckham, win vs spain..etc). People like you don't even realize that you are not against soccer as much as you are against a soccer culture displacing a baseball/football/basketball culture in the US. Otherwise you wouldn't spend time and energy trying to convince people that soccer is a bad sport, just like you wouldn't spend time trying to convince people that sumo wrestling is a bad sport.<br /><br />Funny how countries are so protective over whatever they call "football".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com