Soccer
Posted on July 6th, 2010
My second-favorite comic strip is Get Fuzzy; in this strip, Bucky Katt expresses my views on soccer entirely:
I’ve linked to this before; Stephen H. Webb’s “Soccer Is Ruining America” is a great read. Here’s just a sample:
For those who think I jest, let me put forth four points, which is more points than most fans will see in a week of games—and more points than most soccer players have scored since their pee-wee days.
1) Any sport that limits you to using your feet, with the occasional bang of the head, has something very wrong with it. Indeed, soccer is a liberal’s dream of tragedy: It creates an egalitarian playing field by rigorously enforcing a uniform disability. Anthropologists commonly define man according to his use of hands. We have the thumb, an opposable digit that God gave us to distinguish us from animals that walk on all fours. The thumb lets us do things like throw baseballs and fold our hands in prayer. We can even talk with our hands. Have you ever seen a deaf person trying to talk with his feet? When you are really angry and acting like an animal, you kick out with your feet.
You simply must read the rest.
And for an alternate view, check out David Freddoso (whom I met before watching the fireworks on the Fourth – nice guy) on why “Conservatives Should Stop Dissing Soccer.“
Tagged: Soccer
That’s exactly how I feel about golf.
Also, on dissing soccer: One of our writers said “Soccer Is a Socialist Sport,” and I’ve never seen so much hate mail in my year working this desk. So beware.
A very entertaining article — and blatantly (presumably deliberately) ignorant of its subject as well. But don’t let’s allow facts to stand in the way of a good, entertaining moan.
Now someone explain to a European: how can anyone who enjoys watching baseball accuse any other sport of being dull to watch? Cricket has more action than baseball does (not to mention Association Football, a.k.a. soccer).
My wife would no doubt agree with you – she finds baseball horribly dull. The few games she’s gone to with me, she’s taken a book! Simply un-American, that is.
I have to believe that most of those who find baseball dull simply haven’t had the opportunity to learn the game. It’s complex, to be sure, and much of the drama is psychological strategy – between managers, and between pitcher/catcher and hitter. If you don’t understand that, I suppose it’s like watching a chess match without understanding the limitations of movement on the various pieces.
Commercials have nearly ruined televised baseball, with a break every half-inning. But I’ll watch 7 year olds playing baseball a thousand times over watching even the greatest soccer teams playing. (And yes, I understand the game and played organized soccer from about age 6 to age 15.)
That’s just fine. I can live with that. As long as the principle applies across the board: cricket, lawn bowling, darts, water polo and, yes, Association Football.
As for preferences, de gustibus non est dispudandum.
I don’t even know what half of those things are!