Cynical Nation

Heck, my wife likes watching World Cup matches.

Not as much as she likes watching baseball, basketball, American football, tennis, figure skating, track and field, golf, bowling and celebrity poker, but she does like to watch it...somewhat.

I have to say, I'm a little skeptical of a game in which a second-string team can lose two players off the "pitch" in the middle of the game and still tie the team favored to win the World Cup.

I will say this for soccer, at least the game time is pretty much set. Whether or not anything happens, 90 minutes is pretty much 90 minutes.

I will say this for soccer, at least the game time is pretty much set. Whether or not anything happens, 90 minutes is pretty much 90 minutes.

Except for "extra time" two 15 minute periods after regular play to decide a tie game, followed by a period of "penalty kicks" if the game is still tied.

That, of course, doesn't count "lost time" that can be added to the game clock at the end of each period (including extra time periods) by the referee.

Overheard at work:

"Have you been watching the World Cup?"

"No, I'm circumcised."

don't they occasionally stick a thumby up someone's bum or pinch the peepee or is that some sort of dumb american latent homosexual projection?

Your reaction to soccer, BNJ, is the same as my reaction to baseball, basketball, American football, tennis, figure skating, track and field, bowling, hockey, and pretty much any televised sporting event, except golf, because I play golf and I learn a lot watching the pros do it. I used to have to go (obligations are sometimes unavoidable in order to maintain relationships) to a Super Bowl party every year and endure the mind-numbingly boring hours of sitting in front of a television while HGH and steroid lab experiments banged into each other for a few seconds, then discussed what just happened and what they ought to do next for a couple of minutes, and then did it all over again. These escapees from the Island of Lost Souls (there's a cultural reference for those who care to look it up) would be so exhausted from the roughly 6 min 15 secs of actual sports they had performed, spread over a 1 hr and 45 min period, that they had to take a 15 minute break just to recover and to discuss what had happened during those 6.25 minutes.

(The average football game contains 12.5 minutes of actual play-you know, running, throwing, that sort of thing-between the opening kickoff and the end of the game.)

....not to mention all the commercial breaks and sports wrap-up shows after the game. There's nothing more balls-to-the-wall exciting than watching old guys talk about the game.....oooooh and then interviewing the players who almost always say "yeah we played hard, could've made some better plays, etc.." ad infinitum.

...or the brilliant strategists: "I think Miami's goal in the second half will really be to get some points on the board..."

And DBK, the point of a Superbowl party is to drink beer, eat pizza and watch the commercials.

Soccer is cool. Almost as cool as raising taxes.

I have been amused about all the reports on the fans. Like the Dutch who watched the game in their underwear because they were asked to remove their orange lederhosen (complete with a lion's tail) because the lederhosen had the name of a local Dutch brewery on it and it was deemed offensive to the corporate sponsors, which what? And then the English hooligans? And how the British government refused visas to those with a history of hooliganism? All very fascinating.

Soccer has a much deeper significance to people in the European and South American countries. Most of them were at war with each other at some time or another, and nowadays this is the only "civilized" way to settle those old grudges.

Besides, it's too much of a cooperative sport for Americans to enjoy on a widespread basis. Here, we're much more straightforward about things. Grab the ball, push everyone else out of the way, and get to the objective. That's the true meaning of "football" if you're American.

And ortho, you might be thinking of Japan.

It's over...well, not really, but the U.S. team has been eliminated.

Not enough Hooliganism for me!! If there ain't two tribes kicking the shit out of each other or starting a mass fire by a lone 'fag'in the turnstiles or not enough Italians to kick the shit out of, or not enough beers to make sure that the Belgiums don't win...or that ...well, I am sooo damned proud of my britishism...I am so cool!!

I am sooo proud of my heritage that the whole world realizes that we win..always in beating the hell out of other countries...playing footie or not.

Hey? Anyone for tennis? he. My bat is not made out of lead...I pwomise.