World Cup Running Diary
by Kevin Sawyer on Jun 12, 2010 4:26 PM EDT
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This is a basketball blog, but soccer has a lot in common with basketball. It is played internationally. There is a ball and a net. There are flopping Europeans everywhere. Besides, American is involved, so this game actually matters.
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GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!OOOOOOO!6OOOOOOOoiOOOO!!1!OOOOAL!
Charlie V. is training with Ben Wallace. Kwame Brown trains with Robert Green.
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This game sounds as though it is being attended by a swarm of angry bees. What is that? Kazoos? Why kazoos? Soccer fans are weird.
(edit: Reader Kriz informs me that they are in fact plastic horns called "vuvuzelas". So never mind. Soccer fans are normal)
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Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren are finally teaming up again. That's not soccer related, but it is very good news for those who enjoy things ironically.
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Referring to Green's blown save (is that what you call it?), one of the announcers ominously brings up the fact that he is from a rough area, insinuating he might be at risk of personal harm. What, is he from Paraguay? Do Brits actually hurt soccer players for making bad plays? Yikes.
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I can't handle the whole not knowing precisely when the game is going to end thing. If basketball were like that, it would single-handedly make the sport unwatchable.
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When I was a kid, we used to play pickup soccer during recess. One kid named James got very angry, to the point of tears, over the lack of offside calls. We had to have a whole class meeting about it, and the teachers considered not letting us play soccer any more. We came up with some sort of compromise.
I still don't really understand what offside is, but I bet any amount of money that James is drunk out of his mind and screaming at a television somewhere.
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We need more British/Australian/Irish announcers here in the states.
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Boy, soccer players sure know how to enforce a "no layups" rule. These guys make Bruce Bowen look like a pansy.
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So, when the game gets close to ending, do soccer teams have a go-to guy. Like, to be people talk about clutch players in soccer? Are there people who study metrics, fervently disputing the notion that there is such a thing as a clutch player.
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Announcer just used the word "physiology". That doesn't happen in the NBA.
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Now they are talking about chemistry and team play. That's more like it. Can I get a "sense of urgency"?
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The fans put down their kazoos briefly for an impromptu singing of the national anthem.
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This United States goalie is tops. I believe I'll elect him man of the match.
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Why aren't there any stats? I need onscreen stats to tell me which team is playing better, since there isn't any actual scoring.
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Here's what I won't be doing tomorrow: Waking up at 6 am to watch Algeria vs. Slovenia.
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I like the "no swearing" rule. You can jab your cleats into another man's shin, but you may not say the word "ass". It's like a dark world NBA, where you can shout racial epithets to your teammates, but cannot so much as breathe on Kobe Bryant.
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So the referee just chooses how much time to put on at the end of the game? I cannot abide.
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The game ends in a satisfying tie, and the men begin taking off their shirts. I cannot believe this sport is not more popular in America.
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Statismotics
Why aren’t there any stats? I need onscreen stats to tell me which team is playing better, since there isn’t any actual scoring.
This reminds me of a doctoral thesis which compared basketball television coverage in Spain versus the US. The overwhelming finding of the thesis is that in the US, we use metrics for everything. In Spain, you get the score and little else.
Mind you, things in Spain might be different now (this thesis was about 13 years ago). However, I’d hypothesize that we have a greater emphasis on logical positivism and its offspring (ie, quantifying everything possible) in the US than other parts of the world. We like to crunch numbers. We like things boiled down to gains and losses, measurements, and statistics.
We are, in short, rather strange in this regard.
just EPINION
Agreed..
You guys are really obsessed with statistics..
I could also go on with a rant about how soccer (football really, but whatever) is impossible to boil down to statistics because it’s so much more.. But I’m gonna keep myself from doing that.
It’s hard to have statistics when you allow scores to be 0-0.
2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks! Cue "Chelsea Dagger."
by TDP on Jun 13, 2010 1:48 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
but, but hockey is faster!
and there are fights! fight!
Where in the world is Cheikh Samb?
by Kriz on Jun 13, 2010 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Well, there were...
Ten goals-plus in two Stanley Cup Final games. All but one had at least seven combined goals.
I’m not sure there have been ten goals scored through three days of the WC.
2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks! Cue "Chelsea Dagger."
What's that supposed to mean?
You can’t have statistics just because no goals are scored?
There are plenty of stats not concerning scoring, make no mistake. Ball possession, corners, offsides, yellow cards, pass percentage, distance covered.. You name it.
Stats are studied in soccer too, to a lesser extent, just not during the games.
Oh, and
HELL YES! That was an important tie.
Don’t worry – the ties only are possible in the first round. After that, it’s single elimination.
just EPINION
I still don’t really understand what offside is…
It’s about as hard to understand as 3 seconds in the lane.
just EPINION
offside is just when your player passes their last defender without the ball. It is designed to prevent people from camping out near the goal, just like 3 seconds in the lane (though that has a more specific area and is easier to officiate because of that)
by bearded thundar on Jun 12, 2010 4:49 PM EDT up reply actions
pretty much...
The rule is that you need to have two defending players (most often the goalkeeper and one defender) between yourself and the extended goal line at the moment a pass is made to you.
Except
..If the pass is made by a player ahead of you.
..if you don’t recieve the ball and not interfere with the game, leaving the ball for a teammate.
There is more to it, but this covers most of it.
How is that as simple as the three second rule?
by Kevin Sawyer on Jun 12, 2010 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I didn't say it was "as simple" as the 3 second rule
But I did say it was as easy to understand, giving you the benefit of the doubt. It’s not quantum physics or information theory.
But, continue to play the part of the ignorant American when millions of Americans are watching and the sport is drawing world-record crowds in US stadiums.
just EPINION
Well, a comment about the rule elicited ten comments of clarification.
I find ridiculous this notion that appreciation for soccer is, somehow, a measure of one’s intellect or cultural savvy. This is a sport where teams have their own gangs devoted to brawling in the stands on their behalf.
I do enjoy the idea of Americans beating the world at its own game, even if doing so will mean a few dead Slovenians.
by Kevin Sawyer on Jun 13, 2010 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Almost forgot...
It’s also not offside if a defender is the last one to touch the ball before you get it, even if you are in an offside position.
this is almost true. Offside is only called when a player is seeking to gain an advantage by being in an offside position (past the 2nd to last defender before the ball is kicked), offside is still called if the ball simply touches an opponent on its way to an attacker in an offside position.
you are correct though, in that if the defender has a controlled touch, the attacker in an offside position can chase down the ball without offside being called.
by the89oracle on Jun 13, 2010 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions
and by “before the ball is kicked” i mean “when the ball is kicked.”
by the89oracle on Jun 13, 2010 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions
You are correct
I should have expressed that more carefully
The easiest analogy...
NO cherry pickin’.
2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks! Cue "Chelsea Dagger."
Rec for finding that.
Ouch. Some South American player was, literally, killed after an “auto goal” some years ago.
Nothing to do with this game but..
As long as we are on football, my absolute favorite subject in the world ever, here is one commentator who takes the passion of the game to a different level
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wwINjKMfNA
Whenever I watch soccer...
…I imagine what it would be like if our best athletes played the sport. And picture a team with Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Thurman Thomas, Eric Metcalf, etc…
They wouldn't last half a game...
it’s not like gridiron. There are no breaks between downs so they can catch their breath. There are no stops in play so sponsors can run TV commercials. It is 90 minutes of continual movement, unlike gridiron where an hour of playing time is spread out over 3 hours.
If they're playing it their whole lives...
…they’ll have the conditioning.
But, I’d have to think their speed, strength, balance and agility would make them a nightmare to deal with.
by Quick Darshan on Jun 13, 2010 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions
Its ironic,
because a guy named “rooneymac” is suggesting big strong guys wouldn’t have the conditioning to play soccer.
by Roll The Dyess on Jun 13, 2010 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions
I LOVE THE WORLD CUP!!!
NOTHING HAPPENS AND THEN NO ONE WINS!!!
THIS IS AWESOME!
2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks! Cue "Chelsea Dagger."
by TDP on Jun 13, 2010 1:37 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
says the
hockey fan.
just EPINION
by real Rob G on Jun 13, 2010 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Lord Stanley’s Cup > World Cup
2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks! Cue "Chelsea Dagger."
by TDP on Jun 13, 2010 5:33 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
SOCCEROOOOOOOOOS!
Attack everything!
Well, there was the bit that you missed where I distracted him with the cuddly monkey then I said "play time's over" and I hit him in the head with the peace lily.
They tried so hard
to upset their fans, bless their hearts.
/rocking gently
/hugging knees
Well, there was the bit that you missed where I distracted him with the cuddly monkey then I said "play time's over" and I hit him in the head with the peace lily.
what??
I do not know what to say. Screw soccer . I am jonesin’ for draft stuff. Write something on how much of ass lebron is or what the hell is wrong is with the stupid free agent summit ………………..SOCCER?? I JUST MIGHT NOT READ THIS PAGE A PETITION FOR THE NEED FOR SHEED TO BE ON YAHOO SPORTS. Give me the PISTONS please
there is literally no new news. check pistons.com and mlive if you want to rehash the same 40 rumors/analysis that have been going around for the last month.
by the89oracle on Jun 13, 2010 11:45 AM EDT up reply actions
maybe you should consider
tossing your computer in the bath tub.
Uh, me, new?
by Mike Payne on Jun 13, 2010 12:20 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Im pretty sure this post was about watching soccer from a basketball fan’s prospective with limited soccer knowledge noting the differences and similarities, thus making it relevant to a basketball blog.
by Roll The Dyess on Jun 13, 2010 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions
need4sheed hasn't been updated since May 23
Which is kind of ironic, since ’Sheed himself is still actually playing ball.
by Kevin Sawyer on Jun 13, 2010 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions
I like the World Cup fine, but
If you want an interesting basketball link, basketbawful has a video about the ‘Sheed – Gasol matchup that’s worth watching.
by Toledo Joe on Jun 13, 2010 3:07 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
doldrums
m.live is good, true blue pistons..and from the bleachers are good too..just raising some cain about need for sheed..she change to need for sweed anyway….that video of sheed fouling gasol was a david stern call if I ever seen one….i can’t stand to hear about chuckie v. training with ben..argh..and august will be when the tigers start their run to oust the twinkies and finally izzo would be a fool to coach lebrick..he is the kid on the block no one wants to play with…cheers
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