Soccer - "The Beautiful Game" - Why?

[Anonymous]

Soccer parents are the absolute f*king worst ! We grew up a soccer family and none of my siblings and I plan on having our children play for this very reason.

They bring the same type of attitude found on some of the boards here to the sidelines...and every kid in this area is the next 'star'.

I am hoping to find a sport like 'curling' where the fan base is low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Soccer parents are the absolute f*king worst ! We grew up a soccer family and none of my siblings and I plan on having our children play for this very reason.

They bring the same type of attitude found on some of the boards here to the sidelines...and every kid in this area is the next 'star'.

I am hoping to find a sport like 'curling' where the fan base is low.

Don't blame the game or the player. Blame the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soccer parents are the absolute f*king worst ! We grew up a soccer family and none of my siblings and I plan on having our children play for this very reason.

They bring the same type of attitude found on some of the boards here to the sidelines...and every kid in this area is the next 'star'.

I am hoping to find a sport like 'curling' where the fan base is low.

Don't blame the game or the player. Blame the parents.

Yeah I bet they have "curling moms" in Canada!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The men are quite beautiful, no?

That's exactly what I was going to say. And the soccer hair is mesmerizing, no?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-cWW9I3TowU/Rlb9kEB6W6I/AAAAAAAAAA0/ZubJ9jflw80/s400/dgad3.jpg

sweaty Italians

yummy

[Anonymous]

How about this as a reason why soccer seems unable to get pop-culture support in the US?: It is not TV-friendly. The action is effectively non-stop, so there is no break for commercials.

[Anonymous]

I totally agree with pp, they are so yummy and well, they also play good soccer!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, Impatient? How does that explain baseball, the most boring sport on earth?

Baseball only is boring if you don't understand it. And baseball has several virtues that soccer doesn't:

(i) No ties.
(ii) No contrived way to pick a winner (penalty kicks) when a game can't end in a tie (elimination rounds).
(iii) Players don't fall to the ground, writhing in agony as if they've just been stabbed, to be carried off the field (excuse, me, pitch) on a stretcher, only to hop up and return to the game as soon as they get to the sideline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, Impatient? How does that explain baseball, the most boring sport on earth?

Baseball only is boring if you don't understand it. And baseball has several virtues that soccer doesn't:

(i) No ties.
(ii) No contrived way to pick a winner (penalty kicks) when a game can't end in a tie (elimination rounds).
(iii) Players don't fall to the ground, writhing in agony as if they've just been stabbed, to be carried off the field (excuse, me, pitch) on a stretcher, only to hop up and return to the game as soon as they get to the sideline.

Soccer itself has some virtures that baseball doesn't:

(i) No fatsos. You can't run for 45 straight minutes with a beer belly and saddlebags
(ii) No contrived way to make teams/athletes seem more interesting by announcing statistics on every possible situation and outcome.
(iii) The World Cup actually refers to the World, not two cities in New York

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you watch really good players at work, the way they dribble, and pass the ball, and just move on the field, is absolutely beautiful. I also find that Latin Americans almost dance on the field, whereas Europeans, even when playing very well, don't have the same moves. In my opinion, the beautiful game really, is mostly played by those rare football players, those who come around once every few decades.

I totally agree

[Anonymous]

Maradona is not beautiful but his playing absolutely was. He had the incredible ability to "dance" on the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, Impatient? How does that explain baseball, the most boring sport on earth?

And golf.

And football. Sorry, football fans, but it takes so much time to move the ball three yards.

[Anonymous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5W6vBI3mGE

This is all you need to see to understand why this is the most loved sport on the planet.

[Anonymous]

While I like soccer, I actually think ice hockey (at least as played by Europeans) is the beautiful game. It has many of the merits of soccer (physical strength, grace, coordination) while being significantly faster and more consistently interesting to watch. I'm not as much of a fan of the grinding/fighting/checking North American game, but even that requires training, skill, and coordination that most athletes in any other sport can only dream of.