Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[entropy]

from @FauxPelini

8 THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE WATCHING THE WORLD CUP

1. Brazil is loud and rainy

2. You would think a 0-0 tie would be boring, and it turns out it is

3. Announcers can call soccer players "Mexicans" and not get fired

4. To get your opponent a yellow card, simply press your face into the ground and scream

5. Soccer people say things like "Germany are strong" and "Brazil are fast" and that are very annoying

6. World Cup stretchers have magical healing powers

7. "Extra time" is better than having a normal clock that starts and stops, because wait no extra time is stupid

8. USA are awesome

[WM Wolverine]

Clock never stops in soccer, so when the game is stopped while someone is injured and carted off the field for a couple minutes; those 2 minutes are added as 'extra time.' No timeouts and the clock keeps running regardless. Odd...

My biggest frustration with soccer is largely the off-sides penalty, they need to be similar to something like the NHL used to have; several 'blue lines' where you can advance to each zone but not advance two zones unless your player isn't off sides...

re: flopping... Think of the NBA as a league where only dunks and lay-ups count as points along with arguably half court shots and FT shots when in the act of shooting; that's soccer. The advantages of a penalty in soccer are enormous which encourages the silly floppy as we've witnessed in the NBA the advantages are there too just the rewards for doing so are exponentially less... In Soccer, 1 red card and the game is 10-on-11, a foul inside the goalkeepers zone and it's a penalty kick which is a likely a goal in a sport where 2-0 early lead is nearly unsurmountable.

[hack]

LOL, those are great. Soccer's a good sport but when they go on about ``the beautiful game'' or the world's favorite sport they are guilty of being provincial in just the same way they accuse Americans of being. China and India don't really care all that much either, and those are the world's three most populous nations.

I like the sport but I do like being on the side of things where people are a little bit more hardy. Over here we pretend NOT to be injured, not vice-versa. And we don't freak out and get ourselves ejected from a title game if someone insults our mother. Champions keep their eyes on the prize.

[Tony G]

from @FauxPelini

8 THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE WATCHING THE WORLD CUP

1. Brazil is loud and rainy

2. You would think a 0-0 tie would be boring, and it turns out it is

3. Announcers can call soccer players "Mexicans" and not get fired

4. To get your opponent a yellow card, simply press your face into the ground and scream

5. Soccer people say things like "Germany are strong" and "Brazil are fast" and that are very annoying

6. World Cup stretchers have magical healing powers

7. "Extra time" is better than having a normal clock that starts and stops, because wait no extra time is stupid

8. USA are awesome

[UMStan White]

The craziest crowd I have ever seen was at a soccer match in Argentina. The home team is kept in the stands for a half hour after the game to let the visitors leave. the two team's fans are kept separated by stadium freestanding sections patrolled by armed guards. After the visitors left you could see several fires burning in the stands. The "half time" show was exclusviely dedicated to make a plea to "stop the violence". Didn't work. As we waited for our bus to leave under military guard, we could hear shots in the distance.

[Hannibal]

Soccer's status as the "World's most popular sport" is largely bolstered by its popularity in piss poor third world hellholes.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Soccer is for communists and little girls.

[hack]

Logical conclusion: Wiz ought to be incarcerated for raising a household full of commies.

[iam416]

Love soccer. Changing rules to accommodate American taste is ridiculous.

It is popular in shitholes because it's as inexpensive a game to play as there is. You just need a "ball" of some sort. That's also a reason why basketball is so popular in poor urban environments. If you have a hoop, just need someone with a ball.

While soccer is popular amongst poor folks, it's also massively popular amongst wealthier nations. It's clearly the runaway choice of the EU, 550M strong with, collectively, that world's largest economy. Canada and US might be the only major first world countries where soccer isn't king -- I guess Japan probably prefers baseball, too.

Soccer won't ever be massively popular in the US, but it keeps slowly gaining viewership.

[iam416]

Further on rich/poor, typically you need to be popular across the entire spectrum if you're to dominate TV ratings. The 2010 World Cup Final was watched by an estimated 700M people worldwide. There's not really a close 2nd.

[hack]

So, 10% of viewers. Without question the World Cup is the most-viewed sporting event, but at 10% of viewers, it isn't ``the world's sport'', or whatever. All that silliness is aimed at the U.S., as if Americans are somehow tasteless in this areas, but again, China and India.

Good sport. They all are. But soccer really and truly should drop its ``beautiful game'' business. Forget the inferiority complex leading to superiority assertions. It could be better and more interesting. Strategy and tactics: compared to basketball and football it's a checkers match, so to speak. So's hockey, but it's still a good sport. Again -- matter of opinon.

Looking forward to Qatar, speaking of shitholes. On a per-capita basis it is the world's wealthiest shithole. If it does manage to keep the Cup it's going to be a culture clash I'm really going to enjoy watching.

[iam416]

Well, again, I don't think "soccer" -- as if it's an actual entity -- should bend to US whims. It dominates globally. I mean, sure, you can dismiss 700M as "only" 10%, but it's factors better than second, which most likely cricket. And the 10% implies everyone on the planet has some sports interest. In reality soccer probably controls something closer to 40-50% of the viable sports audience.

The biggest US event is the Super Bowl and that usually registers somewhere around 110-120M viewers globally. The World Cup is a bit of an unfair comparison, but the Champion's League final is not. The UCL final gets 300-350M (or more -- and growing). It seems to me that soccer can call itself whatever the fuck it wants to. It rules.

Now, as for FIFA, that's an organization of unspeakable corruption. FIFA mocks Tamany Hall. FIFA mocks Detroit. FIFA even mocks the SEC!!!! God-willing they'll yank the fucking preposterous Qatar world cup. It's bad enough they were bought off by Putin over England -- you know, an easy to get to, easy to visit first world country (compare Sochi). But to pick a logistical nightmare, difficult to get to, horrible soccer country over the US was insane.

[hack]

Nobody says bend. But if you're going to go on about how it's superior, it should be superior. It's not superior. It's a good sport, just like all the others. If you like a constant flow and you appreciate the impact of endurance, it's your sport, or if it doesn't bother you that the most precise marksmen can still miss the goal by 30 feet. I like tactics and matchups and precision. I like the ``it's a game of inches'' concept.

Just matters of opinion.

[iam416]

I have zero problem with anyone who thinks soccer is dull as dishwater. There are sports that I don't like or have begun to like less and less. I used to be, e.g., a huge baseball fan. Now I rarely watch a game, including the playoffs. In that subjective regard it's difficult to say any sport is "superior."

However, in the objective "marketplace of ideas" sense, soccer is superior. It has an appeal that people are drawn to in huge numbers.

Me, I prefer basketball and football. As a pure game there's none I enjoy more than college basketball, especially amongst more "middle" tier teams. I love in-game micro-strategy. I love the overall macro-statistical-strategy. I understand the game really well and love watching little things like, e.g., off the ball movement. I love seeing how a team works to create a quality opportunity in 35 seconds (and I hate watching a team like the 2014 Buckeyes desecrate the halfcourt offense like few that have ever come before them).

CFB is still my viewing option of choice over CBB, but I like the CBB game better.

I never played soccer, so I can't appreciate the game in the same way I can CFB or CBB. I've watched gads of it and understand it a bit. I really enjoy it for a host of reasons. I'd definitely watch a BPL match over an NHL game.

So, that's my own perspective. But like I said, by at least one objective measure, soccer is a superior product.

[Optimus Prime]

Soccer is a game for homosexual peasants!