ASTROHEADER » Soccer Hate

Finally, a High Score

Gabe — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:47:47 +0000

First, click the image. It’s a comment (and reply) posted on Grant Wahl’s inquiring blog post about the low scores of the opening World Cup round. The comment is common, prejudiced, red-blooded, base-circling, upright-splitting drivel, but the reply is oh so, “WIN,” as they say on the internet.

The American Stereotype

Gabe — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:59:49 +0000

Johnette Howard seems like a competent sports writer. I mean, she authors books and gets paid by NBC for her opinion. So, why does her recent MSNBC World Cup primer read as shallow and smug? Did she actually skip the 1. Research step, or is she pandering to the anti-soccer American stereotype?

Some issues I have with her piece:

The proposition that one can enjoy the World Cup in spite of soccer. Would you date someone just because they wore cool shoes? To ignore the fundamental aspect of the event is to belittle it. So, if you are considering Howard’s advice to watch the Cup for inane or ironic reasons, save yourself the afternoon. You’re doing no one a favor by tuning in. Except maybe ABC (gasp!).

The characterization of “Euro-snobs.” “…more sophisticated than us,” she projects? Soccer is the working-man-and-woman’s sport around the world. Its popularity is—no hyperbole—without parallel. Elitism is intrinsically exclusive, and there is no activity more inclusive in Europe than soccer. In fact, I would argue that the most abrasive snobbery over soccer exists in countries where the sport’s popularity is small enough to exist as a minority—like the USA.

The perpetuated injury myth. Yes, sometimes soccer players dive and feign injury. Like it or not, it is a strategy with real, game-changing potential. But, players also actually get hurt. Players who often make as much or more money than the biggest American football or baseball stars, for whom physical condition is the difference between the good life and early retirement. With soccer’s minimal padding, flowing play, and delicate fouling rules, personal safety is often one’s own responsibility.

The denigration of foreign names. This is silly, and in my opinion, unprofessional.

I would bet Johnette could write an amazing piece highlighting the FIFA World Cup as a respectable and exciting event. Such an article would at least help to counteract this one.

DROGBA A DIVER?

tyler ransburgh — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:30:40 +0000

Calling Didier Drogba a diver would be polite. For years Drogba has driven me up the wall with the diving and using his hands (successfully) to take advantage of the game.

Inter Milan coach (and former Chelsea and Drogba coach) Jose Mourinho told feelfootball.com: ”I am no longer Chelsea coach, and I do not have to defend them any more, but I think it is correct if I say Drogba is a diver.

”Drogba, Ronaldo, Torres and Van Persie are the divers. Who dives more? Who has won more penalties in recent years? But English football is the one that criticises the divers the most.”

So Mourinho bascially called four of the best players in the Prem divers. Maybe that is the trick to be good in the EPL?

TV STORE THINKS LIKE 11TH GRADER

Gabe — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:41:26 +0000

There’s a new HH Gregg TV spot in which Peyton Manning and a few other people are giving a mock press conference… to encourage a customer to buy Sony HD TVs because they are the best for watching American football.

The customer asks, “When you say football, do you mean soccer?”

And the press conference panel just cracks up! Fade to black.

It’s not far-fetched for me to imagine a high school English class assignment in which students are asked to write a script for a TV advertisement. I calculate the odds of any given American football player conceiving of this idea and turning it in for a C at 40%. Yes, two of every five 17 year old Friday night lighters crave a big flat screen Sony TV and think soccer is gay. Is it a coincidence then that the EXACT SAME proportion of high school football players become dickhead HH Gregg salesmen?

And what brand of big flat screen TV do I own, you ask?