… like football, baseball, basketball and Ultimate Fighting!
Call me unpatriotic if you like, but part of me was hoping the US women would lose just so I wouldn’t have to endure more insufferable soccer talk for the next week. Any more soccer talk, and I think I would have plunged a pencil into my ear.
Tom Piatak said it right when he called soccer the metric system in short pants. I’m not inclined to believe conspiracy theories, but I can’t help but wonder if those forces trying to foist soccer off on us are part of some New World Order plot (which undoubtedly includes at least a few neocons).
You see, America is supposed to be a grand global nation, but the sports we care about are all so parochial and not befitting a universal nation. That just can’t be. A universal nation needs a universal sport, and The Powers That Be have decreed that soccer is that sport.
Well count me out! If feet and inches were good enough for my British Isle forebears, then they’re good enough for me. And if football was good enough for George Gipp, it it ought to be good enough for every red-blooded American. Do you think that if George Gipp had decided to kick a ball around the park trying to get it into a net, anyone would know who he is today? I think not. And he probably would have gotten punched in the teeth by the other neighborhood boys for his troubles. And if Ronald Reagan had played a guy who kicked a ball into a net, do you think he would have ever become President? Heck no!
Now can we please restore order to the universe so I can tune into ESPN without hearing about Han Solo’s daughter trying to keep a ball out of the net.
Woden on 18 Jul 2011 at 10:43 am #
I commend them.
As opposed to most sports teams today, the American Women’s Soccer team is actually overwhelmingly American (http://www.vdare.com/sailer/110717_soccer.htm).
They played hard for their country, for comparatively little pay and recognition.
Compare that team and spirit with the overrated, ignorant — and often criminal — thugs who dominate most ‘professional’ sports today in pursuit of nothing but ‘bling and bitches’.
Matt Weber on 18 Jul 2011 at 2:28 pm #
I don’t really care about any sport that I’m not watching in person. I enjoy an occasional baseball or football game…even basketball sometimes, but TV robs them of any excitement they hold. I find the obsessive following of sports seasons to be strange. Especially since most city teams have only a few players from that city. Sometimes I wonder why they even keep the pretense.
“As opposed to most sports teams today, the American Women’s Soccer team is actually overwhelmingly American”
What? Which of our basketball/football/baseball teams are full of foreigners?
Kirt Higdon on 18 Jul 2011 at 2:42 pm #
I don’t follow sports regularly, from a spectator’s point of view, other than MMA and I pay no attention to soccer except for the world cup every four years. Soccer does have the advantage of nearly continuous action, in contrast to the stop and start action of American football. It can also be played at the highest levels by people of average size in contrast to the roided behemoths of American football who have been juicing since junior high.
Basketball has the most action of the American big three although it is still less continuous than soccer. And it’s dominated by genetic freaks of height. Baseball is played mostly by people of average size, but is the only game which makes a chess tournament look fast paced and exciting by comparison. Last baseball game I went to, two or three decades ago, the “fans” were so bored they spent their time doing waves and tossing hugh balls around the stands.
As either spectator or participant, I’ll take ballroom and latin dancing to any of these sports. I’ve heard rumors that these will soon be included as sports in the Olympic games.
Matt Weber on 18 Jul 2011 at 3:23 pm #
Oh also, the metric system is horrid. I can’t fathom why anyone would use it outside of scientific endeavours. Notice that the most common measurements are the ones closest to the old ones. Meter/yard, Kg/lb, liter/quart, etc. Why would they scrap a perfectly good system that was developed over millenia of human experience for one designed in a test tube?
Soccer has always bored me, even in person. I think the main advantage of it is that it can be played anywhere there is a flat surface and requires nothing more than a ball. Baseball requires a bat and gloves, basketball a basket, and football a myriad of life-preserving equipment.
RedPhillips on 18 Jul 2011 at 4:57 pm #
I figured I could count on Kirt for some humorless contrarian reply. For the record, this post was an attempt at humor while making a semi-serious point. Paleos need to lighten up.
Woden on 18 Jul 2011 at 5:41 pm #
@Matt
Sorry, I meant in international soccer. Look at some of the teams of Western Europe for example. I was a bit shocked that every player was actually born in the US, and not Mexico or wherever. As Sailer says:
“Moreover, even though soccer is cited almost as often as ethnic restaurants as proving how crucial immigrants are to American success, every single one of the 21 players was born in the U.S.”
That being said, I fully agree with Red that women’s soccer is boring, but just what you’re into I suppose.
Julian on 18 Jul 2011 at 6:20 pm #
“Which of our basketball/football/baseball teams are full of foreigners?”
Have you looked at the rosters of most or all Major League baseball teams these days? They are loaded with ‘hispanics’ from various countries.
I’ll take hockey over any of the other team sports played in the US. It is fast and physical. Americans are a minority in the NHL, but at least the league looks like what America used to look like.
Sempronius on 18 Jul 2011 at 7:27 pm #
Now Red, why did you have to go and start this all over again…
RedPhillips on 18 Jul 2011 at 7:58 pm #
Semp, wait until you see the expanded version of this I submitted to EtherZone. Although, in my research I have discovered that neocons allegedly don’t like soccer so that little dig may be inaccurate.
Matt Weber on 18 Jul 2011 at 8:02 pm #
I forgot about hockey…soccer on ice. No thanks.
Julian on 18 Jul 2011 at 8:37 pm #
“I forgot about hockey…soccer on ice. No thanks.”
Not really.
There is more scoring in hockey and, as important, more legitimate or real scoring chances. Plus, it is a contact or physical sport, something soccer is not.
Tom Piatak on 19 Jul 2011 at 1:01 am #
Thanks for remembering my little quip, Red.
RedPhillips on 20 Jul 2011 at 12:07 am #
Tom, it was a funny and memorable quip.
My Expanded Anti-Soccer Rant | Conservative Heritage Times on 22 Jul 2011 at 1:47 pm #
[...] expanded my soccer rant below and sent it to EtherZone. It is now up. This one might make me some [...]