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Why Don't I Love Soccer?

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May 15, 2010
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Cobblestones said:
I don't know. Complaining that soccer is gay on a cycling website is pretty rich: let me remind you of shaved legs, thin colorful sweaty lycra, pink jersey, pink bike, pink helmet, pink sunglasses, pink everything really, silly hairdos, the whole European thing, etc.

Glasshouse ... stones ... anybody?

Point made. But the video is good.

There's a lot of commentary here by some folks who have very little self awareness.
 
May 9, 2009
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The Hitch said:
Oh Come on.
For all the good things you can say about football dont compare it to chess. The reason its so popular is because its simple. A large percentage of football fans, players and managers and pundits for that matter, would fail the most basic intelligence tests, and know **** all about anything beyond football. (a study in the Uk recently showed that 15% of children in england think Hitler was the manager of the German national team)
These fans would never be interested in anything that required significant thinking, but thankfully for them football is very simple.

I'm not saying one has to be a chess master to play football and one doesn't have to like chess to be a fan of football. But unlike sports like basketball, one doesn't just go flying down the field trying to kill the king every minute. One has to move the ball around, try to draw the defenders into certain places, and then move forward when you've created the weakness in your opponents positioning. And that is like chess, much more so than any other ball sport. Of course not all countries play soccer like this: some just do try to boot it forward all the time and hope for the best. That kind of soccer is initially fun to watch but in the end unsatisfying to me.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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Cobblestones said:
I don't know. Complaining that soccer is gay on a cycling website is pretty rich: let me remind you of shaved legs, thin colorful sweaty lycra, pink jersey, pink bike, pink helmet, pink sunglasses, pink everything really, silly hairdos, the whole European thing, etc.

Glasshouse ... stones ... anybody?

So? People can like and dislike what they want, I know lycra looks daggy but in my opinion it is still more exciting and a far better sport.
 
May 15, 2010
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auscyclefan94 said:
So? People can like and dislike what they want, I know lycra looks daggy but in my opinion it is still more exciting and a far better sport.

I think you've skipped the point and went straight to defensive.

The point is 'To each his own'. I have little doubt if I was in Europe I would be as rabid about their football as I am about American Football. No sport is simple, but almost all (if not actually all) are simple on the surface, but upon deeper inspction, the layers of complexity are endless for each one.

This is tailor made for the way most male's brains are wired. (Otherwise we would reconstruct them in such a way that they were made for our brains' curiosity.) If God didn't exist, we'd invent him, or some such quote...sports are no different....
 
Jun 22, 2009
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seeing New Zealand equalize in the last minute in their game, and how much emotion they expressed and what it meant to them... Then Switzerland epic win over the world cup favorites (spain)... that's what the world cup is all about. epic epic stuff.

Who can't love this sport :p
 
Jul 16, 2009
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Well said !!!!!

BroDeal said:
Nothing. Soccer is boring as hell. The number of goals is way too low. It's like watching a porno where the actors seldom get past second base.

Ahhhh..... we have a winner!

Yep ..we call it Soccer - Aussie Rules is Football to me.:cool:

Yep ..boring and mostly worse acting when diving than a Porno.:eek:

Sorry ..... whilst the world cup is on I am busy removing my appendix with a rusty hack saw.:D

Boring - sorry all you soccer lovers. Cant see the enjoyment in a Nil all draw.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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Barracuda said:
Ahhhh..... we have a winner!

Yep ..we call it Soccer - Aussie Rules is Football to me.:cool:

Yep ..boring and mostly worse acting when diving than a Porno.:eek:

Sorry ..... whilst the world cup is on I am busy removing my appendix with a rusty hack saw.:D

Boring - sorry all you soccer lovers. Cant see the enjoyment in a Nil all draw.

Sums up my opinion.
 
Apr 12, 2009
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You all watch cycling but think football is boring? :confused:

It's explaining to people why i watch 3 hours of a cycling race, when all the action happens in the last 30 minutes i always have troubles with. Not why i watch football :p
 
Well... at least bike-riders aren't sissies starting to groan as if they were being killed for the slighest push, having to game stopped and everything. No! It's just back onto the bike (unless you're seriously injured) and then a trip to the doctor's car. Also when bike-riders crash it's SLAM-BAM into asphalt, as opposed to football players who hit grass (at a much lover speed, and from a lower position...)
 
Well... sometimes they do act as if they're dying! There was an instant in the Spain-Switzerland match were one of the players got hit in the stomach by, what on the telly looked like an opponents arm just swinging more or less randomly backwards, no hard direct punch or anything... the wounded player curled down as if it was a serious injury...

And well... I suppose the only reason the stop the game is because they can't have an injured player in the middle of the field...:rolleyes:
 
Mar 12, 2009
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RedheadDane said:
And well... I suppose the only reason the stop the game is because they can't have an injured player in the middle of the field...:rolleyes:

Why not? I think it would be hilarious to watch one of these wimps sheepishly get up and start playing again when he realises no one is paying attention to him. It's not like any of them are ever actually hurt. Honestly guys, try acting like men for once in your lives.
 
Mar 12, 2009
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I've Tried, but...

So I sit down yesterday to watch England- Algeria. My mindset was "I'm going to watch an entire match and really try to get some idea what people all over the world see in this sport. This was about the third time I've done this; always with disastrous results but never mind that. What do I get for my time and effort? Possibly the worst 90 minutes of sports I've ever seen. That was just awful. From what I've read in the WC forum, it was no worse than almost every match so far. If this is the "beautiful game" give me ugly any day. And to the idiots with the horns- congrats, you've pulled off the seemingly impossible task of making soccer even more annoying than it already was.
 
marinoni said:
Why not? I think it would be hilarious to watch one of these wimps sheepishly get up and start playing again when he realises no one is paying attention to him. It's not like any of them are ever actually hurt. Honestly guys, try acting like men for once in your lives.

You give me the impression of never have seen a football match (i dont mean that in a negative way)

It happens ALL THE TIME. One player Drogba has made a bit of a reputation from this. Comically he does this despite being a 190 cm (6 foot 3) 300 pound beast.
Anyway it happens all the time. Very often they fall down holding their head when another its another part of their body that gets touched.
 
It seems to me (as someone who is rather clueless about soccer) that a lot of the enthusiasm for the game comes more from nationalism or home team support than sport.

Not being nationalistic I could care less if the U.S. were beaten by a team of midgets from East Bumfcukastan. Maybe this is why I don't care about the Olympics either.
 
Soccer is a lot more interesting live than on TV. The field is too big for TV. You can't see plays develop at all. Plus, half of the reason to go to a soccer match is for the experience. The fans tend to be super zealous, singing songs, with great rivalries, great characters, etc. It reminds me of the way my in-laws are died in the wool Boston Red Sox fans and hate the Yankees to the death. Unless you're from there, to see it with your own eyes, you can't understand it. I know some soccer fans have gotten violent at times, and that's too bad, but overall the entire atmosphere at matches is terrific.

It also helps the more you understand the sport. The same way many cycling fans see a bunch of riders along the road and don't know what's what, the more you understand strategies and rules in soccer, the more interesting it is.

I'm not nationalistic as well. If the US wins, I'm happy, sure. But I find myself the same in other sports, cheering for underdogs. And like baseball and the Yankees always winning with all their money, or basketball where every other year it's the Celtics and Lakers (though that's probably rigged by the refs and league) I find myself rooting against the favored teams who have won many times already, regardless of the country.
 
BroDeal said:
It seems to me (as someone who is rather clueless about soccer) that a lot of the enthusiasm for the game comes more from nationalism or home team support than sport.

Not being nationalistic I could care less if the U.S. were beaten by a team of midgets from East Bumfcukastan. Maybe this is why I don't care about the Olympics either.


Yes a lot of the enthusiasm does come from nationalism or home team support and I have similar feelings on this.

As they say. Nationalism and home support: the last refuge of the scoundrell
 
Jul 17, 2009
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Sunderland Sunderland Sunderland Sunderland Sunderland Sunderland

Black Cats Baby

Ye knaa what ah mean leik.


I love it that this only thing louder than those horns in Africa is the British Hooligans singing god save the queen mid match

seriously

word up

Rooney: 0 points in 8 international matches

USA leads in goal differential hahahahahaha my home is divided
 
RedheadDane said:
Yeah... but then again... you can't really see that much from the seats (unless you have front-row seats I guess...)
Well, I guess I cheat because I used to work on video crew in the USL, inter-league and lower international matches, and probably will next year in MLS, if they pay well enough and treat us well enough. Ran camera from most angles, including being on the sidelines of the pitch, also worked in the booth, and as a TD looking at all the monitors. Also interviewing players, coaches, etc. Plus watched matches I didn't have to work from the press box. Having a master press pass has it's advantages... :eek:
 
The Hitch said:
Or as we call them in england "the billionare seats"

Yeah... then again... I'd never sit so close to the pitch. I'd be terrified of getting hit by the ball...

Alpe d'Huez said:
Well, I guess I cheat because I used to work on video crew in the USL, inter-league and lower international matches, and probably will next year in MLS, if they pay well enough and treat us well enough. Ran camera from most angles, including being on the sidelines of the pitch, also worked in the booth, and as a TD looking at all the monitors. Also interviewing players, coaches, etc. Plus watched matches I didn't have to work from the press box. Having a master press pass has it's advantages... :eek:

CHEATER!!!
 
Mar 12, 2009
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In an earlier post on this thread, I questioned how much sense the offside rule made. The explanations offered were very clear and I definitely saw the point. However, I just saw the offside call against the US early in the match against Algeria. That play is precisely what I was complaining about. When I see that I dont see a player breaking the rules. I see a player cleverly ducking the defense and putting himself in a position to score. How is it the American players fault that Algeria's defense didn't cover him? That just makes no sense to me at all.
 
Mar 12, 2009
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Just finished watching the US-Algeria match. Is that what everyone's on about? I'm not a knowledgable enough observer to comment on the skill level in this match but the action was just about non-stop. Very enjoyable.