Wow. I think you are being overly sensitive and you misread my post. First, I am not a big baseball fan either. I've followed it all my life and was a huge fan when I was younger and even had partial season ticket plans 15 years ago, but I now find it boring and the games are painfully slow and long. I also can't handle how the juicing has soiled the game. Please don't attack my post by associating it with a sport I didn't mention. Second, the post expresses my opinion, which I have a right to. I never said anybody else had to share my opinion (although I am not close to being alone among American sports fans). I ended my post by acknowledging the magnitude of the World Cup and sincerely wished you and other fans to enjoy it. I was not being sarcastic. Third, I stand by my comments on offsides. If it is natural to you, please explain why, because there is no other sport that has a rule like it despite similarities with other goal scoring sports. For the record, I am a huge football fan and the pass interference rule also ranks up there as one of the dumbest in sports and by saying that I am not shitting on my favorite sport. Lastly, as to the rest of my post, you essentially agreed with me. The diving is horrible. What compounds it is the severity for a foul in the penalty area. A penalty kick, which is virtually an automatic goal, for what often is incidental contact, in the lowest scoring sport in the world taints the game. A dive leading to a penalty kick does not compare to anything else in sports because of the low scoring nature of the sport. Please don't insult our intelligence by comparing it to fouls in other sports. Two free throws in a basketball game where 200 points are scored, or a 15 yard personal foul in a football game where 40+ points are scored and 6-700 yards are gained, or a penalty in hockey where teams convert 20% of power plays and 5+ goals are scored in a game do not come close to awarding a penalty shot in soccer with a conversion rate of something like 80-90% in a sport where 1-0 and 2-1 games are the norm. I won't even get into the most absurd aspect of soccer, again in my opinion, which is deciding a championship on penalty kicks. Having said all that, my opinions should not impact your enjoyment of yours and the world's favorite sport. Please enjoy it.
JWWS, Yeah I probably overreacted, sorry. The comparison to bbal was to illustrate that enjoyment of a sport is subjective. The offside rule, like many others was developed over time. Without it soccer becomes a game of long passes because no defender would ever leave the gaol area. If they would the opponent would just post 2-3 attackers by the goal and all you'd see are long passes over the middle. The play would amount to kicking ball 60 yards back and forth. The problem with PK is not the severity itself. It's the increased flopping in the box to get the penalty. That's why I'd institute auto review of all PKs. And would card for the flop in the box.
I have been watching a bit of the world cup (including right now as I type this) but honestly don't find it all that exciting. Some of the goals and saves are amazing and I definitely appreciate the athleticism of the players. I just can't find that much excitement in a sport that might have a dozen shots on goal if that over the course of 90 minutes. The only reason I watch at all is because of the scale or it. It's like how I wouldn't normally give two shits about weightlifting or skeleton or a lot of sports in the Olympics but because it is the Olympics and the scale and magnitude of the event is so much higher it keeps my attention.
I've heard skeleton is the best sporting event to watch live. Better than hockey OR basketball. But you've touched on a pretty important facet. If you're a soccer fan, this is the Holy Grail. However if you're not a soccer fan but just a sports fan, this is a massive worldwide event that deserves some respect. I've got it on now and will probably have very game on in the background until the tourney is over but I'm probably not watching another soccer match until the Olympics or the next World Cup. Nothing wrong with that. And I'm thoroughly enjoying this event so far. _
You are right. For a non soccer fan, group stage is usually dull. The real excitement starts after the group stage though. Elimination games in World Cup are the best.
I think this is a fair assessment, I think people like me who are huge futball fans is watching the strategy of what goes into those 12 shots. The Ivory Coast game last night was fun because every time they made a run you saw how fundamentally flawed they are as a team and they won based alone on their athletic superiority over Japan. They rarely played as a team and even their veteran players outside of Drogba lacked the team mentality. Obviously we'll never know but I think had they not brought in Drogba they lose 1-0 because until he came on they were a team of individuals lacking a common goal. After they got the lead they kind of went back to that.
Just want to see if I have this right. If I'm a defender and am standing next to an attacker, I can take 2 strides forward and put that guy offsides? Note to RU: not shitting on game or the sport but do you get our frustration? Seems so arbitrary. _
Of course if the ball's already been kicked you've also put the attacker in great position to score. You have to be precise with the timing.
Yep. Especially done by defenseman right before a set pieces is kicked. Defensemen all move a step or two ahead right before the kick leaving attacking players ahead of the offside line and causing an offside.
I feel bad for Johnny D, he is a a big Ecuador fan and that loss has to rip his heart out. Throw in the Rangers losing the Cup and he's had a really shitty weekend. Hoping he has a great father's day though.
I don't agree with Keller, Pogba absolutely should have been shown a straight red. No place for that regardless of if the ref felt there was some provoking.
