Funny, I didn’t realize that individual achievement was the
definition of a “real sport”. All these
years of coaching I must have been doing it all wrong…
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Last time I checked every team has a hero on any
given day, see Maradona and his Hand of God, there are losers…see every team
that played Colombia this World Cup. There
is accountability, which is why some men have literally died when blamed for
giving up goals and on a smaller scale, why Geoff Cameron was benched against
Germany. There are MVP’s, in every level
of the game, in fact there is an award for MVP of the entire world FIFA Ballon d'Or…just like in
football, oh wait no they don’t.
Although I am not sure why this last bit is an issue to
discuss…in soccer even kids self-esteem gets bruised from time to time when
they get cut from a team, when someone megs them with the ball. There is not much more embarrassing than
that! And also when a teammate calls them out for playing poorly. Another thing I never knew was that it is more difficult to
run past a 300lb “athlete” and score a touchdown than it is to only use your feet
and score a goal in soccer? Amazing how
much I have learned from the soccer expert Ms. Ann Coulter. I really can’t
thank her enough.
With regards to soccer being the only sport that is played
co-ed at the youth level…maybe she never heard of T-ball? Mix doubles tennis? Beach
Volleyball? any swim team? Golf? The list goes on…
The only reason soccer has taken longer to “take off” in the
USA, is one of the reasons the USA is so great!! People have choices here. They can play many sports and it is a
wonderful thing…just ask Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Andrew Luck, Usain Bolt what
their favorite sport is? Yup, soccer. Luck was too slow to play…Bolt not skillful enough
(he tried out for MLS); Steve Nash has it written into his contract that he is allowed
to play soccer in the off season, and Kobe flew all the way to Brazil to watch
and support the USA! Which by the way,
whether you like soccer or not, is something that you should do!
I am at a loss for the idea of the “force-fed aspect of
soccer”. I have been around the game for
over 25 years and at no time have I tried to convince someone to love the
game. I answer questions about it when
asked, I talk about it with my friends and family, just as any diehard Packers
fan would do. And just like any typical hard-nosed
Boston sports fan would say, if you don’t like my sport, I don’t give a rats
a@@. If you don’t like it, don’t watch,
it’s that simple. I personally think
watching NBA regular season games is like watching the grass grow but I don’t
harp on my basketball loving friends for enjoying it. I just don’t watch. What a concept.
But Ms. Coulter, if you can’t understand “The Beautiful Game”
for the skill and athleticism is takes that is fine, but one thing that you can’t
overlook is what it does to the world on an actual global scale. Just like American Football, oh wait, that
never happens, ever.
* literally put a halt to a civil war- Ivory Coast
* bring joy to a country in utter despair- Japan
women’s soccer winning world cup after tsunami
* bring neighboring countries together- Ghana bought
energy from the Ivory Coast so the people could watch the games live
* brings attention to a country operating as a
slave state- Qatar
* gives a voice to the people- Brazil public
protests government spending
* gives a voice to unions- Germany asking
government to allow workers to come to work late after Germany soccer games
(airing in the middle of the night haha awesome!) and,
* brings hope to a country in ruins- Haiti women’s
national team
Just to name a few…
You should have just continued your 10 year ban on writing about soccer...
