A Response to a Grrrr off the Fox News Site
I had to respond to this person's Grrrr.
Pat S. in Boston Mass., writes: Mike, I am so sick and tired of all my soccer-loving friends telling me I'm uncultured because I don't like soccer. I think it's boring. When I say that, they respond with the typical, "Baseball is boring, too." OK, but I enjoy baseball. Plus, I'm a Red Sox fan and any game that David Ortiz is playing in usually ends up being exciting. Just because I don't want to watch a bunch of whiney injury-fakers play kick-the-ball-back-and-forth for 2 hours doesn't mean I'm uncultured. Which brings me to my next Grrr. Is it me, or does it seem like the players in the World Cup have no dignity whatsoever? Some of the "injuries" and "collisions" that occurred during the tourney were laughable. Don't these guys realize they are making fools of themselves? Do they have so little faith in their own abilities that they have to fake their way through half the game? Maybe that's why the sport is not so popular in America. In America, we are taught to simply get up and dust ourselves off after a collision or fall during a sports game. If it's really bad, we walk it off and then get back in the game. My answer to these overly-dramatic soccer players is this: Curt Schilling/Game 2 of the 2004 World Series/bloody sock.
Granted, I think the only exception is if you are a BoSox or Yankee fan because of the huge rivalry in baseball but can you handle spending at least three hours watching a game that could be over in less than two? How can you deal with the advertisements and little games they try to do each half-inning? If you see a baseball fan bringing a book to read during the game, it has to mean that the game itself is boring.
I do not accept the reason that Americans do not like soccer because of the fake "injuries" and "collisions" during the match. If you are, then I think you are being quite pessimistic. If this was your first World Cup tournament, then I feel sorry that you did not have a chance to watch the hundreds of games that have been occuring in England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, etc. and the UEFA Champions League and European Championship to see why we call soccer "a beautiful game." Plus, you can also learn what it means to be a true die-hard fan of any such team.
For being taught to simply get up and dust ourselves off, it is not about that anymore. The "game" in America is more about sponsorship, advertisement, and players caring more about their salary than teamwork, and the fans losing out in the end. Also, player interference does happen in any American sport.
As for Curt Shilling, good for him, but there are also a good deal of soccer games that have played thru injury to get their team to win too without the use of "diving" so do not make your quick assumptions.
The one thing I would like to see in America is seeing a team get demoted for being the worst team in the league.
Comments
Posted by: Brian Gray
Posted on: July 22, 2006 08:23 PM
I wonder what people think of those that will get buried in their favorite soccer team's cementary.