Ha! No doubt. I don't consider MLS to be 'major league', but damn, at least it's going to be an upgrade.
lol exactly. I think the MLS will take time. I'm just hoping to be able to compete with the Mexican League, and possibly Brazilian, and Argentenian leagues in the future... But we're talking 10-15 years down the road. Baby steps is all I can hope for. And hopefully the passion that is shown in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver can help that.
One thing I like about soccer compared to other team sports is that it isn't micromanaged by anal coaches. Most team sports have near-constant interruptions that allow the coaches to try and manipulate what is going on. Excessive time management and tightwad officiating have completely put me off NBA (if anyone remembers I was pretty die hard up until about three years ago). I think this is why two halves of a soccer game are frequently so dissimilar--the coaches get a chance to change things up more so than they can by shouting from the technical area.
Oguchi Onyewu disagrees with the above statement regarding little white guys. That's also part of the draw and the detraction to soccer is that those guys look like average guys. Kids think they can be Landon Donovan as I'm sure many will be 5'8" and balding when they're 29. Of course, people who grew up on basketball and football where massive size is required don't realize that you have some of the greatest athletes in the world out there playing. As much as I'd be curious to see what would happen with LeBron James if he grew up playing soccer, I don't think he'd be anywhere near as significant as he is in the NBA. When you get to a certain size and strength, it stops being beneficial for most positions. He also wouldn't even sniff the 265, or whatever, that he weighs currently. Onyewu is easily the biggest US field player, but even he is only 6'4" and 210.
Thank god no one has to change anything just to please your asinine criteria for enjoyment. It's obnoxious and arrogant when people feel the need to post how the game should be changed to win their valuable fandom. I, for one, will be eternally happy that you're not a fan.
Great. Onyewu, Jozy Altidore, and a bunch of short white guys. There are exceptions to every stereotype. Do you disagree with my premise that our best athletes tend to gravitate to other sports? Unlike Brazil or England, as an example, where soccer is a national passion.
For those wanting to boost non MLS ratings in the US, Man Utd is on Fox Sports in a few minutes, live in HD. Inter Milan vs Tottenham on Fox Soccer Channel (HD if you're lucky) is on at the same time with FC Barcelona vs FC Copenhagen to follow. I'll have to say I'm a bit disappointing with Fox's coverage of CL. When they won the contract, I was thinking we'd get 2 games a match day on Fox Sports HD or possibly Fx HD (for some reason I thought I heard they were going to use Fx). Instead, we get 1 game on Fox Sports HD per WEEK. Tomorrow, here in San Diego, the 12 PM slot on Fox Sports is a replay of the Lakers. Awesome! ESPN's coverage was much better. 1 game live on ESPN 2 and one on tape delay on ESPN News or Classic (forget which). Every match day had the same set up. Plus, I think the non aired games were on ESPN 3, but I could be wrong about that.
On the "current squad" from the USMNT wikipedia page: Eddie Johnson Jozy Altidore Maurice Edu Tim Howard Jermaine Jones Oguchi Onyewu So that makes at least 6 players on the current team (I think it was the roster from a recent friendly) that are supposed "exceptions". I know we have a few players of Hispanic decent, so that would make nearly half the team an exception....The biggest problem soccer faces is that it is an expensive sport to play. There aren't pickup games like there are for basketball (not to the same extent at least) and to play club soccer can cost thousands of dollars per year. Between club fees, tournament fees and travel expenses, I wouldn't be surprised if my parents were spending 3-4k/year for my sister's soccer. I'm sure there were some kids on scholarship type deals, but I'm guessing the majority had to pay up.
Our "best athletes" are built for other sports. Many of our best athletes I wouldn't consider to be losses for the sport of soccer. The only ones I'd really put in the loss category are point guards, RB/CB/S, and the occasional baseball player. A LeBron James is more of a loss to rugby (I like that sport too) than soccer. Even the huge soccer players, guys like Ibrahimovic and Vieira, are small by American athletic standards. Ibrahimovic is 6'4" and can't weight more than 190 lbs, Vieira is half an inch shorter and maybe slightly heavier, if at all. Some guys, Kevin Garnett comes to mind, could have been astounding goalkeepers, but when we already have Tim Howard as one of the world's best, that's no loss. A wikipedia search of FIFA World Players of the Year shows that Marco Van Basten was the tallest winner ever and he's all of 6'2". Also consider the commonly accepted greatest players ever, Pele (5'8), Maradona (5'5), Cruyff (5'11), Best (5'9), Beckenbauer (5'11.5), Zidane (6'1), fat Ronaldo (6'0), Puskas (5'7), Eusebio (5'9.5). The real losses for soccer are the inner city kids. We just don't have any around and that's where most of the world's best players come from. The sport just doesn't exist there. A lot of those kids grow up playing basketball and end up as those 5'11-6'2 shooting guards that are astounding high school and college players but have no shot at being really significant in the NBA. Jerryd Bayless is a loss for soccer. Not LeBron James.
