I work with basketball fans. After every Jazz game, the next day, I have to hear about the game, and what happened, and they discuss it all. Sadly, I have no one to chat at work about the soccer games I watch. Last night, for instance, I saw the Mexico vs. USA game, and what a game it was. Tons of good goals, a few yellow cards, all that you can ask for in a soccer game. Sure, Chelle and Jules try to be nice and listen to me as I talk about it for a minute, but its not the same as say, chatting about it to a person who also saw it. And now, a fellow I work with has come out and said that if I watched a real sport, then I would have people to chat about it. Really? Basketball is a real sport over soccer? Le’s compare the two, shall we?
Basketball. Two teams vying for points against each other. Not unlike soccer in that respect, but let’s focus on the differences. In basketball, the court is 94 feet long by 50 feet wide. Not a long distance. You play five people versus five people, and they barely fit on that little court. You are stopping every few minutes to restart a play, or to wait and watch to see what your opponent is going to do. You have 15 minute quarters, and time-outs available to stop play whenever you get tired. You are constantly stopping to catch your breath and what not, but you hardly need it, seeing as how all you do is maybe a light jog. The point system is ridiculous. 2 points for every basket? No wonder the score in these games is so high. And you get three points for shooting just a tad farther out than normal. And why are people cheering so much for every basket? You’ll have another one in like two minutes, so calm down. You have five chances to foul before you have to leave. And everything is a foul, it’s a wonder people stay on as long as they do.
Soccer. Let the angels sing the glories of this sport. You are playing on a field that is 360 feet long by 240 feet wide. You have eleven on your team, and you are all spread thin. You have a 45 minute half, and the only times you get to stop to take a breather is when the ball goes out, and you have maybe 45 seconds to rest up, or if someone is injured, then you’ll have maybe a minute and a half. You get no time outs. You get 3 subs FOR AN ENTIRE GAME. If you’re playing, I’m telling you right now, you’re in for the long haul. You get 1 point for every goal, and they are hard to score. You have a guy blocking the goal, for crying out loud! If you really want to score, you have to get past 10 guys, and then out-smart the goalie! Its hard to do, and thus, the screaming with every goal is completely justified. There are nowhere near as many points in soccer than there are in basketball.
And to throw another 2 cents in about another favorite American pastime. Baseball. I don’t even consider this a sport. You sit around for 6 hours, and every little bit, you have to sprint 90 feet. No wonder half of the baseball players are overweight guys. They’re not even getting any exercise. They do not compare to our soccer guys, who have legs of steel, and calves that make me go weak in the knees.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial in soccer. I think everyone should be watching this sport, and now maybe you’ll start. At least you know you’ll have me you can talk to about it!
Basketball. Two teams vying for points against each other. Not unlike soccer in that respect, but let’s focus on the differences. In basketball, the court is 94 feet long by 50 feet wide. Not a long distance. You play five people versus five people, and they barely fit on that little court. You are stopping every few minutes to restart a play, or to wait and watch to see what your opponent is going to do. You have 15 minute quarters, and time-outs available to stop play whenever you get tired. You are constantly stopping to catch your breath and what not, but you hardly need it, seeing as how all you do is maybe a light jog. The point system is ridiculous. 2 points for every basket? No wonder the score in these games is so high. And you get three points for shooting just a tad farther out than normal. And why are people cheering so much for every basket? You’ll have another one in like two minutes, so calm down. You have five chances to foul before you have to leave. And everything is a foul, it’s a wonder people stay on as long as they do.
Soccer. Let the angels sing the glories of this sport. You are playing on a field that is 360 feet long by 240 feet wide. You have eleven on your team, and you are all spread thin. You have a 45 minute half, and the only times you get to stop to take a breather is when the ball goes out, and you have maybe 45 seconds to rest up, or if someone is injured, then you’ll have maybe a minute and a half. You get no time outs. You get 3 subs FOR AN ENTIRE GAME. If you’re playing, I’m telling you right now, you’re in for the long haul. You get 1 point for every goal, and they are hard to score. You have a guy blocking the goal, for crying out loud! If you really want to score, you have to get past 10 guys, and then out-smart the goalie! Its hard to do, and thus, the screaming with every goal is completely justified. There are nowhere near as many points in soccer than there are in basketball.
And to throw another 2 cents in about another favorite American pastime. Baseball. I don’t even consider this a sport. You sit around for 6 hours, and every little bit, you have to sprint 90 feet. No wonder half of the baseball players are overweight guys. They’re not even getting any exercise. They do not compare to our soccer guys, who have legs of steel, and calves that make me go weak in the knees.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial in soccer. I think everyone should be watching this sport, and now maybe you’ll start. At least you know you’ll have me you can talk to about it!
5 comments:
Oh my Vieve!!! I think I can speak clearly here. I think you are a little too sensitive to what the guy said at work. We know how much you love Soccer. Others might love other types of sports, but hey, we are all in this together watching people that are good at the things that they are doing. (Ok...some might be great at their type of sport, but they are getting paid lots of money.) Then on the other hand, there are people in our office that watch your soccer games, but quietly sit back and listen while you get all excited. We just do not like to steal the glory from you. HEE HEE
Yeah, let's name the other "sports" that are not sports. NASCAR. Golf. Bowling. I'm sorry, I understand that they take a certain degree of skill, but they should not be classified as sports. If it's something you can do until you are 70 years old, it's not a sport. If it's something you don't have to spend hours training by building up your endurance, it's not a sport. The reason Americans don't like soccer is because they only like American sports. Ew.
Okay, I may incur your wrath here but it must be said. Soccer definitely takes the cake for players that need to be in shape. I think it is one of the most rigorous sports, but because of the fact that they don't score often, it can get a bit tedious to watch. Bring some good company and some good food, I will watch almost any sport if I have to, but in most cases, I would rather play the sport than watch.
Soccer tedious? For the love of mike... who could find this tedious? Does it somehow compare to sitting through endless timeouts? Or maybe it's tedious because you don't have to wait for the next batter to walk up to the box and bang his stick on the ground. The only time that the ball stops moving in soccer is when someone has committed an egregious foul and downed a player.
I heard one opinion that soccer is tedious because the score is too low. Here's the solution. Convert all goals in the game to SoccerScore (tm) where you multiply the number of goals by 2000. Not even basketball can top that.
Soccer is the ultimate proof that a benevolent God loves us.
I have to say that I agree with everything you just said.
The End
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