Things I love and hate about soccer...

Dr. Giganto

Things I love:

How important each goal is: Although soccer does get a lot of shit here in the States for being too low-scoring for people's liking, it makes each goal REALLY important (unless, of course, it's the Argentina-S&M game, in which case Argentina probably could have won 10-0.

Things I hate:

The whole "lying on the ground writhing in agony then get right back up and start running again after the foul is called" thing: This is far and away the WORST thing about soccer. Maybe it's a part of the game, but bear in mind that as an American football fan, I'm used to seeing players play with broken bones, separated shoulders, sprained ankles, etc. It's even worse when the player takes a dive. It's a good thing I'm not a FIFA referee, because I'd be handing out yellow cards left and right for diving and for lying on the ground crying like a little girl.

Offsides: GRRRRRRRR....I HATE OFFSIDES!!! I realize and understand why it's a rule and why it is important for the flow of the game, but I hate when I see a nice scoring chance negated by an offsides (which are oftentimes bad calls by the linesmen).

I'll add more as I think of things...

Tyler Durden

I don't know if you've ever seen it TD, but my favourite "rolling on the floor footballer" was Rivaldo in the last WC in a match against Turkey.

He was trying to time waste, and a Turk kicked the ball at him, not too viciously, from about three or four yards away. Rivaldo fell over like he'd been shot, clutching (of all things) his face!!! The Turk was sent off and Rivaldo said he had nothing to apologise for!!

Dr. Giganto

Two more things to file under "Things I love"

The length (or lack thereof) of the matches: 45 minutes per half, about 5 minutes of stoppage time, and a 15-20 minute halftime break. That means the match is settled in less than 2 hours. Brilliant. The average baseball game is about 3 hours long (some much longer). The average American football game is about 3 1/2 hours long. Way too long. Soccer's got it perfect. Just long enough to give you enough action, not so long that it becoms tedious to watch. And, by a similar sentiment...

NO COMMERCIALS!!!: This is self-explanatory.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

Good list so far and I agree with all of Tom's likes and dislikes.. probably because I'm American..

Something I like..

The Man down Rule..

Now, I don't like it if it's a bad call but when the refs get it right it's a great rule. In American sports, a guy gets thrown out and it doesn't really affect his team. They just put someone else in and move on.. In Soccer a guy screws up and now the whole team has to suffer..

Dakstang

WC's Resident Redneck

I love how in some countries everything just stops when there team is playing. It seems that everyone in the country is watching it.

Now if they could only take that passion and apply to a worthwhile sport like American Football we would have something!!!!! (I KEED I KEED!)

Dr. Giganto

yeah, I agree with both Nicky and Dak.

You REALLY get punished for dirty play, which is good when it's called correctly.

Also, it's like for the rest of the world, the World Cup is the Super Bowl, World Series, and March Madness all rolled into one. It's quite an event...

K Jay

I think I covered this in one of the awesome Tom Dogg articles, it is the reason soccer cannot ever become viable in the US market.

This isn't a loaded question and i'm not looking to do the usual UK blast on US sports but doesn't it make you sad that TV execs decide what classes as sport determined by advertising revenue? I mean I love poker but it ain't true sport is it?

I had a sig, once.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

No. Poker is not a sport. A sport to me should have some kind of physical exertion. I think poker is a skill, but not a sport..

Golf is a sport though.

Anyway, commercials would fuck up soccer. You can't do it. I don't mind commericials in the NFL, it gives me time to ge pee and grab some more snacks, it really doesn't bother me but if Soccer had commericials it'd fuck up the entire flow of the game.

K Jay

I got an "A" on my Phsyical Education exam at GCSE for sucessfully lobbying that the skillfull and "muscle memory" element of darts makes it a sport over the cardio-vascular training of other sports. I do not think there is any way of doing this with poker whatsoever! But if you got cash to spare I'll still take ya!

I had a sig, once.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

I don't think a lot of Europeans understand why we love American Football so much.. It's a culture.. We talk about the games all week, place bets, talk trash, and then when it's time we sit around all Sunday, hard hitting action, breaks to go pee and grab snacks.. get drunk as hell and by the end of the night try and take a young lass home with ya..

Just like Soccer.