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Jun 18, 2006
footbale I've been watching much of the World Cup this year, thanks to digital cable and DVR. I've caught both of the US games, and several others as well. I'm not there yet, but I'm drawing a conculsion: Soccer is dumb. My reasons: 1. The second half is pointless. Every game I've seen was decided at halftime. Normally, if two teams are tied at halftime, you expect some resolution in the second half. I've only seen one goal scored in the second half so far (I'm sure there have been a few others in some games I haven't seen, but since I've caught most games late, most of my viewing has been second half viewing). 2. Red/Yellow cards. This could be a good concept, but it's not. In most sports, they threaten or eject you for a play that is flagrant, of if you are being overly obnoxious over a period of time. In soccer, this happens, well, apparently whenever the ref feels like pulling out a card. I have seen three occurnences of the same slide tackle that resulted in a. a foul, b. a yellow card, and c. a red card. I can't for the life of me tell the difference in the three. Plus, it seems that you can get ejected for just playing agressively, not necessarily for flagrent fouls. And then your team not only has to play short handed that game, but for the next one as well. 3. Own goal-- Seriously, what other sport has the potential for this? Hockey, maybe. Theoretically basketball, but it never happens. But soccer?? Important matches are decieded by own goals. So far, the only goal for the US team was scored by Italy. England won it's first match on an own goal, and they are already in the second round now. With such low scoring games, a team could potentialy advance without scoring a goal themselves. After the 94 World Cup, a player in Columbia was killed because of an own goal. 4. Substitutions-- or lack thereof. Why only 3? Part of the problem with the second half is that everyone is too tired around the 60 minute mark. I think I would like it if I quit watching games after the first 30 minutes. That's when they are decided anyway. Then I can go back to watching A-Team reruns. posted
by Unknown @ 9:48:00 AM |
