I realize that at least some of the blog readers will no doubt chafe at this as blasphemy, but I'm so glad the World Cup is over. I watched the final and it sucked. The last ten minutes of regulation it looked like neither team was even trying to score. I cannot stand the faking of injuries. A guy gets barely clipped on the shin guard and he goes down as if he just took a mortar shot. Ridiculous. I am so glad that the Americans generally do not that kind of crap.
As for the Americans, all I can say is WTF. Never, in any category, sport, or list, should the United States be the answer to the question, "who tied Slovenia, barely beat Algeria, and lost to Ghana." I love the heart and passion with which Donovan and Dempsey play the game, but the rest of the team, perhaps aside from the goalkeeper, looked downright inferior to their competition. How does this happen? I understand the notion that our best athletes generally play other sports, but c'mon. Let's assume that fact effectively reduces our population to half of what it is - 150 million. That would still make us one of the largest countries in the world, and THAT is what we put out? Seriously?
As far as soccer generally, there are several things I just do not understand:
1) the idea that you can "tie"
2) the idea that merely taking a shot on goal AND MISSING is worthy of applause
3) the idea that it is sound strategy to blast the ball out of bounds just because you don't like the circumstances in front of you. Yes, I realize that quarterbacks can chuck the ball out of bounds on purpose at times, but this is a rarity (a couple/few times a game), not 380 times.
4) the faking (see above)
5) the idea that someone throwing the ball in does not have to stand in a spot to do it. Yes, basketball players can run down the baseline when passing it in sometimes, but only after a basket is scored.
6) the fact that the World Crap is played once every four years.
In short, I neither understand nor particularly like soccer. I watched the US play, and I cheered hard for them, but once they were out, I was pretty much done. The only reason I watched after that was so I could ruin my day.
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This is almost enough to make me unsubscribe to your blog. Soccer is awesome and the fact that this only happens every 4 years is what makes it even more exciting and meaningful. For the last 4 years I had to accept Italy as world champions (they are the worst when it comes to flopping around like a dying fish.) And the fact that goals are so hard to score (only 60 players have scored a goal in the 19 World Cup Finals) makes those “shots on goal” worthy of applause and when the ball actually does reach the back of the net, it is warrants screams and complete elation; if you are a fan of the scoring team. Now, in “sports” like basketball results reach ridiculous numbers. A score like 83-79 tells me that there needs to be more defending. The ONLY thing I agree with is the bit about tying.
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