Today's poll question is what bothers you the most about soccer right now? If you have been watching the World Cup, you are likely familiar with that blasted buzzing noise that sounds like they are playing in a bee hive. Perhaps you are a casual fan who enjoys the game but laments the exaggerated vigour with which the players go crashing to the ground when they are touched? If you don't like soccer, why not? The sport has very high enrolment rates at the youth level, and despite this participaction Canada is currently ranked #63 in the World Fifa standings directly behind Macedonia (also trailing powerhouses like Burkina Faso and Iran).
I watched a half hour of the Germany Serbia game at 5am because I couldn't fall asleep, and I'd say that 85% of the time a Kraut and a Serb made contact, the Serb went crashing to the ground. The ref went nuts with the yellow cards, and Serbia capitalized for a stunning upset. I sent a text message to my friend "I haven't seen Germany take this many penalties since the Treaty of Versailles!" It's not often that I find myself cheering for Germany, despite my mom's mom being 100% Kraut (my German forefathers left the Deutschland while Bismarck was unifying the kingdom). It may be more entertaining to watch an underdog win in any sport, but it diminishes the accomplishment when it is achieved by acting like they've been shot if anyone touches them. When those teams win, it increases the incentive to dive and the whole sport suffers. Italy was rewarded with a World Cup in diving in 2006.
Rick Reilly has been covering the World Cup for ESPN, and he wrote a funny bit on ten things that bug him about soccer.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=5288738
The National Post had a great article called "Why the USA Hates Soccer" from Jun 8th, 2002 --it's worth tracking down.
ReplyDeleteI hate a lot of things about soccer --it's dull, there is no scoring, the players flail around like they've been shot if someone so much as breathes on them, the referees are corrupt, the hooligans make other sports-related rioters look like calm, rational people in comparison, the majority of players behave as if they were elected to the Italian parliament, etc, etc.
On the upside? The songs in the stands are kinda cool, and as a Canadian, I do like a good scarf. But that's about it.
Interesting that soccer never really caught on in Canada, the US, Australia or NZ. One would have thought that all of these former colonies would have taken up the game with gusto.
Cheers,
James
I like it at the amateur level and the Mexican leagues where there is much less defense, more offense,and more goals. Other than that it's like watching paint dry to me. To millions of others it's exciting. It's their game so I hope they enjoy it. The only sport I watch on a regular basis starts in a couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteWell it has all the randomness of hockey with all the speed of baseball. It completely lacks the strategy of baseball and the speed of hockey. What's not to despise?
ReplyDeleteI would like to see women players competing against one another at the World level.
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