Off Topic: Soccer and NASCAR

[FVD]

It's played everywhere, in all countries, regardless of status and class. I wouldn't consider the countries in Europe to be third world, but then maybe we have different definitions of what a third world country is. I'm sorry that you have to watch little Mexican kids play soccer in your backyard, that must be an enormous burden to bear.

[froot loops]

Take your views to the politics thread Gonz.

[Panoptes]

Little ILLEGAL INVADERS.

[froot loops]

There is a politics thread for you to spew your shit. Take it there.

[LightninBoy]

It's not a third world sport, contrary to what Gonz thinks.

But it is lame.

[Marko69]

But it is lame.

[Fraquar]

My take on sports in general is pretty simple. When I was growing up you developed your core skills through pickup games - in EVERY sport.

Today, I look in a 20 mile radius of where I live and I see two things:
1) A lack of space, and most of what space there is they close off to pickup style games. Pretty sad watching a perfectly good baseball field go unused for over 300 days a year.
2) Available free space that is essentially unused the kids don't take over like we did growing up. Case in point is a wide expanse of grass that has gone unused for 20 years where I live, and the sad thing is even adults don't even take their dogs there to take a dump......

Growing up we needed space to play baseball and the best available space was land behind the local church. We approached the Pastor, asked him if we could use that space and told him we'd maintain it. His only request was that we supported his church in the church league which we happily agreed to. Cut the grass, lined the field, and the Pastor even had a single dugout built for us to keep out equipment in. It was our "Field of Dreams" long before the movie.

When winter started setting in and the local park was no longer being actively used we approached the local Fire Department and asked them to flood the parking lot so we could turn it into an ice rink. Shoveled up snow and created walls around the rink and it lasted for a good 3 months - just had to keep the toddlers with their shovels and pails away from it until the ice set. lol.

Both those locations served us kids well for about 4-5 years until we outgrew them. Saddest thing was the next generation of kids coming up behind us just didn't seem to care about pickup games anymore.

[Marko69]

I notice you said every sport so you must've played soccer as well in the pickup environment? Those are the best ever memories for anyone, (and with any sport as well) ....., the teenage "soccer" years in Edinburgh at the Gilmerton Dip were just incredible days. So many memories of great, non referee'd soccer challenges "down the Dip"! Do you have soccer memories from your youth?

And you are very correct......., you'll struggle to see kids out playing with a ball here in Scotland. Faces in phones maybe!

[froot loops]

Yeah we played baseball and basketball all the time.

[Fraquar]

I notice you said every sport so you must've played soccer as well in the pickup environment? Those are the best ever memories for anyone, (and with any sport as well) ....., the teenage "soccer" years in Edinburgh at the Gilmerton Dip were just incredible days. So many memories of great, non referee'd soccer challenges "down the Dip"! Do you have soccer memories from your youth?

And you are very correct......., you'll struggle to see kids out playing with a ball here in Scotland. Faces in phones maybe!

Open fields were for Soccer, Kill the guy with the ball, football games, baseball games, and just general horseplay. If you found a building you took chalk and drew a box, got a bat and ball and had at it. The power lines across the local intersection were the perfect goal post. Got tired of baseball for a little bit at the ballfield, pull out a rubber kickball and change things up.

There were few places that we didn't play or even invent something to do - because the LAST thing you wanted to do was be in or around the house.

TBH, we played more soccer at the High School tennis courts than we did in the fields. Playing doubles with a soccer ball.

[LightninBoy]

I notice you said every sport so you must've played soccer as well in the pickup environment?

LOL. Not speaking for Fraquar, but in my day, if you suggested a pickup soccer game you'd get the crap beat out of you just for being a weirdo. Kickball, on the other hand, was ok.

[froot loops]

We would play soccer at recess, but nobody knew what they were doing. It would nearly always morph into kill the kid with the ball.

[Marko69]

Yeah we played baseball and basketball all the time.

Being only a short arse 5'8", even nowadays basketball hoops look like they are in the sky!

[Marko69]

Open fields were for Soccer, Kill the guy with the ball, football games, baseball games, and just general horseplay. If you found a building you took chalk and drew a box, got a bat and ball and had at it. The power lines across the local intersection were the perfect goal post. Got tired of baseball for a little bit at the ballfield, pull out a rubber kickball and change things up.

There were few places that we didn't play or even invent something to do - because the LAST thing you wanted to do was be in or around the house.

TBH, we played more soccer at the High School tennis courts than we did in the fields. Playing doubles with a soccer ball.

Chalk and drawing boxes either on a wall for goals or on the ground for the 18 yard box........ yep, done all that stuff.

[Marko69]

And then in Geelong, played pickup Aussie Rules up at Bell Park playing fields. Used to get my fkn head kicked in. The Australians are tough to a whole other level. Remember this dude called Deon......, 12 year old brick shitehouse. Scared the hell outta me...... when I saw him running at me, little bit pee would come out due to the fear!