StoOgE pretty much covered it, but I figured I would add that it isn't JUST football skills; there are minimum grades/test scores you need to get into college even if on a sports scholarship, and you have to maintain a certain minimum GPA to stay enrolled.Always-honest said:
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MEXICO 5 - 0 USA - "Who is your daddy?"
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`Moe Joe. said:
I thought Australian Rules Football is the number one sport in Australia.
Association Football is what most of the world calls "Football", and he word Soccer was first coined in England as an abbreviation for the word Association to differentiate itself from Rugby Football.
The word Soccer is used in other countries other than the US to describe Association Football. Canada, Ireland, Australia, and possibly New Zealand all refer to Association Football as Soccer. Football, for the most part just refers to the most popular "Football" type sport in their respective country, ie, Football = {Gaelic Football in Ireland; Australia Rules Football in Australia; Rugby Union Football in New Zealand}
ConfusingJazz
Member
StoOgE said:
You should also mention that of the world's top 10 stadiums by capacity, 5 of them are for college football, and 11 of the top 20.
College sports are serious business in the states, and none of the players get paid, which is hotly contested as to whether they should be.
There are 120 teams playing at the highest level, broken down into conferences of 8-12 teams each. The larger conferences have large media deals, broken down here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/stewart_mandel/07/24/tv-deals/index.html?eref=T1
ConfusingJazz said:
This is way off topic...
We really need to find ourselves a new conference. UT is pretty much the gateway into every single Big 12 media market that is worth a shit.
There are 7 top 50 media markets in the Big 12 conferences region.. and Texas pulls in 4 of them. Kansas City and St. Louis are amongst them and I really don't think Mizzou does a very good job of actually pulling those markets in. OU clearly pulls in OKC.
Texas pulls in El Paso and Harlingen as well which are top 60 markets.. and OU pulls in Tulsa which is also top 60. Nebraska (despite a rabid fanbase) can only claim the 67th largest media market.
So, we are responsible for almost all of the Big 12s money for TV contracts... and then split the money 12 ways evenly.. Nebraska, Aggy, Texas and OU need to get 90% of that money and let the rest of them fight over the scraps.
My friends and I had a discussion why soccer in the USA seems to pale in comparison to other countries, and we basically settled on what you've just described.StoOgE said:
Athletes here tend to go towards american football, basketball, and baseball. Soccer is like a fourth-choice sport.
I think even if the best athletes took up soccer over here, we'd still suck ass. The youth coaches can't teach tactics or technical ability.
There's a fuckton more to soccer than just athleticism. Even if we had a team of Kobe Bryants or Terrell Owens, we still wouldn't be a top team because we'd have no technical ability. That's not going to change unless we start importing European or South American coaches for the youth system.
There's a fuckton more to soccer than just athleticism. Even if we had a team of Kobe Bryants or Terrell Owens, we still wouldn't be a top team because we'd have no technical ability. That's not going to change unless we start importing European or South American coaches for the youth system.
Battlezone
Member
iapetus said:
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for saying this. I get so tired of explaining this to Elitist Soccer Guy. And there are plenty of them in Seattle.
woodchuck said:
well it's all part of the same problem: we don't care about soccer.
If we cared about soccer we would 1) Have our top athletes play the game. 2) Have a good youth development system in place like we do for other sports 3) Be able to attract the best players from all over the world to come compete here upping our level of competition.
I don't personally see it as an issue of national pride that our soccer team hasn't won the "big one". I'm glad we are at least somewhat competitive on occasion in the sport considering the general lack of giving a shit about it in the US.
Now, our performance in the World Baseball Classic is another matter....
Always-honest
Banned
i think he said that though.Monroeski said:
Good, by our definition (when regarding international play) means winning 98% of your games.Ryck said:
Remember when the US Basketball team started to play merely above average for a while? We revamped the entire team and system to make sure that Bronze would never happen again. God help you all when the Olympic committee decides to make American Football a Olympic event...
~Devil Trigger~
In favor of setting Muslim women on fire
US vs Mexico, qualifiers in a few...
sweet sweet vengeance incoming...
sweet sweet vengeance incoming...
ConfusingJazz
Member
Always-honest said:
If you want an interesting story about college football, read about the SMU "Death Penalty" from the 1980s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Methodist_University_football_scandal
Vox-Pop said:
the problem is that the sport most 4th graders play can barely be called soccer. The only thing similar between what 4th graders in the US play and what 4th Graders in Holland play is that they try to kick a ball into the net.
It always amuses me when people feel they're justified to find soccer boring because they played it as a kid.
If someone watched a Premier League or Champions League match and still find soccer boring, that's fine. But I hate when people say it sucks just because they watched some high school team, MLS, or Mexican league team play.
Huevos de Oro
Member
As someone from Mexico, I wholeheartedly agree with this. The US national team does deserve a lot more recognition than that. Their federation has done an outstanding job these past years to improve the quality of the domestic league, and has followed a very well organized work schedule in order to get better as a national representative. And guess what? They are better. All of this based on hard work and organization.Ryck said:
It was painful to watch how their historical match against Spain in the recent Confederations Cup went almost overlooked in the US, while everyone else in the world was amazed by their performance. Hell, I rooted for the US team on that match against Brazil. Just based on the way they sweat blood and leave their soul on the pitch on every match, they surely deserve more people in their own country cared.
Huevos de Oro
Member
That sport should be played by wearing fur loincloths only.Brannon said:
AAK said:
I can't speak to the Rugby stuff...
but most of those football plays were great athleticism, bringing down a giant of a man headed the other direction isn't easy. However, many of them are illegal under current rules (you can't leave your feet to spear a guy, helmet to helmet contact is illegal, can't grab a facemask, leading with your helmet is illegal).
A cover corner is probably the toughest job in sports.. you have to keep up with the fastest guy on the team, the entire scheme of a passing play is based on confusing the shit out of you, you have try and read a QBs eyes but not be fooled by the QB trying to look you off the ball.. and if you screw up and your guy gets open you have to have the ability to correct while the ball is in the air and get back to where you are supposed to have been in the first place to break up the pass... and the best ones are so good no one even bothers to even test them by throwing their way.
I wish I could find a good video of Asante Samuel at work, but they are all just interception highlight reels.. which are impressive, but his ability to turn change direction and take off running is just amazing.
Fersis said:
Believe it or not, there are over 300 million people living in the US who hold very opinion on things. I'm sure if you looked the people touting the virtues of US soccer after a big American win are not the same as the people calling soccer a women's and sissy Euro-sport after a big American loss.
Fersis said:
Well, you have to take those matches into perspective. Yesterday's match was a B team for the US, so it's really not indicative of what we can do. It's only drawing a backlash reaction because Mexico is acting like they somehow took us down. Wow, congrats. Yesterday's win is basically what amounts to a Varsity team beating up on a Junior Varsity team.
ConfusingJazz
Member
StoOgE said:
I can't think of a more scary proposition in sports then going for a jump ball across the middle as a receiver. Seems like you are just asking for a blowhard announcer to say "BOOM!"
I would say it's better playing soccer than watching it, I'm sure you can say that about all sports though. Its has all been said before but there is just no incentive to play Soccer in America. Also I'm sure most of the suburbs kids who play soccer are forced into it and many of those player are girls from my view of things.woodchuck said:
To be honest the only reason why Soccer teams play here and some what survive financially are from the Latino and just hardcore fans of the sports, the Gold Cup seemed to have more Mexican fans than USA fans from the camera stills. I went to a Galaxy game a while back and most of the people their were Latino. I'm not sure if things have changed but that just my anecdotal view of things.
\ConfusingJazz said:
I was a receiver in high school and going over the middle scared the living fuck out of me every time. We ran an option based offense, so our QB's idea of a pass was to just lob the ball up and let us go get it.
and because we ran an option offense we were recruited more for our size and blocking ability than our speed.. which meant we ran a lot of short crossing routes to try and get open when we did throw the ball.
I got nailed a few times doing just that. Luckily for me I was 6'2 and weighed 230 back when I still lifted regularly.. so for the most part I was bigger than the guy trying to lay the wood.
It was all well worth it though.. when the ball carrier got into the secondary on my side of the field I would get to just light up the undersized secondary throwing blocks. We played one game and a FS and CB converged at the same spot and the HB was following my block and I just uprooted both of them at once. Then the little HB turned on the jets and squirted out of the hole I left. So much fun hitting people.
ChoklitReign
Member
This thread has made me embarrassed about every country in the world. IT'S JUST A FUCKING GAME. The arguments about which game is "tougher" are entirely circular and completely based on what sport you grew up watching. Grow up, morons. Every country has different tastes in sports. Soccer will probably become more popular in America if my dad is any indicator of the average American (he got really interested in it after they beat Spain). You are proof that Europe has as many idiots as America combined.
pizzaguysrevenge
Banned
That's because we don't actually care about the match itself. We just like beating other countries at their national sport.Fersis said:
It's fun when our third or fourth tier athletes can beat up on the best that other countries have to offer.
I've always wondered why soccer never caught on in USA. I personally like football and basketball more than soccer, but I still enjoy watching soccer and don't hate it like most of my friends. When I ask why they hate it, they basically say two things:
1. It's stupid, all you do is kick a ball.
2. It's a pussy sport.
I don't agree with either of those, but I can see where they are coming from with #2. You see two people become entangled, then someone will just fall on the ground acting like they are in a huge amount of pain. When a call is made, they get up and keep playing as if nothing happened. If people weren't taking falls all the time, it might get a little bit more respect.
1. It's stupid, all you do is kick a ball.
2. It's a pussy sport.
I don't agree with either of those, but I can see where they are coming from with #2. You see two people become entangled, then someone will just fall on the ground acting like they are in a huge amount of pain. When a call is made, they get up and keep playing as if nothing happened. If people weren't taking falls all the time, it might get a little bit more respect.
KirmiziBeyaz said:
Sorry I have to come back to this post, that is total bollocks, soccer goalkeepers get some of the most non-equipment based protection in any sport from the rules and the culture. I don't think I can count on the fingers of both hands the number of times I have actually seen a keeper genuinely put themselves at risk to gather a ball or make a save. Goalkeepers in football don't get any protection, because they don't NEED any protection. They're diving onto soft grass pitches with a large ball being kick at them from distance. I've been hit more times than I care to mention by a soccer ball whilst playing in goal. That also doesn't hurt. So why the need for protection?
And I cannot believe you even pulled in that Cech shit. He doesn't suddenly permanently have a soft head because Hunt slid into him at less than 5m/s, he has always had one and it was the first time he'd taken that sort of knock on it. Funny how it was the first time he'd taken that knock, despite having played soccer for 15 years. Guess you might put that down to the fact that it's a freak incident. The reason he has to wear head gear is because he's a selfish fuck, and instead of retiring and sitting on the fat pot of money he's already earnt, he's happy to play on knowing that the next striker will be that little bit more worried about going into a challenge on the keeper incase they injure the oh so mighty and great Petr Cech.
Please, spare me the emotion of feeling sorry for Cech, the US gaffers may not know the truth, but i certainly do as Hunt, who caused the injury got an absolutely boat full of shit from the media for weeks. And Cech's save against Sheffield United was probably one of the worst examples of athleticism i've seen in any sport. He back peddled a few steps and was almost a whole foot and a half off the ground when his hand touched the ball. I have friends who play Sunday league (traditional small town soccer leagues, generally made of guys who are friends, or frequent the same watering holes) who make saves like that a couple of times a year. And they ain't on 100K a week. Or a year. Possibly every 5 years. Oh yeh, not paid at all, that's the wage from their normal job. The Antonio Holmes catch pretty much destroys it in every way shape and form, and that's not even taking into account stuff like padding etc..
Oh yeh, well done Mexico. Surely this is expected?
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