4 ms·

I'm not a particularly big fan of football, but even so it's glaringly obvious to me when I read articles by certain people (let's just say it's those who call

I'm not a particularly big fan of football, but even so it's glaringly obvious to me when I read articles by certain people (let's just say it's those who call it soccer) that they.. just don't get it. This isn't just random bloggers, I've read articles in big papers like the NY Times, and as much as they want and try to, they don't really understand it. It's not "inside" them like it is for me (involuntarily) and billions of others.

megablast 16y ago
So you don't care about the blatant cheating that can completely change the course of a game? Well, lots of people do not like cheating, do not like deliberate diving. For me, this completely ruins the game of soccer, and I will never take it seriously as a sport. I don't tune in to see which side can game the system the best.
- lutorm 16y ago
  Would you be happier if the rules said "the player who most convincingly acts will win the call"? Then it wouldn't be cheating, but part of the game... I don't think it's nearly as bad as the American incarnation of hockey, where fistfights are tolerated with a slap on the wrist. Talk about encouraging unsportsmanlike behavior. If you tried that in soccer, you'd at the very least get a red card, if not more.
  - starkfist 16y ago
    Fistfights aren't just tolerated in hockey, they are half the reason anyone watches the game...
    - philwelch 16y ago
      And the fistfights, from what I gather, are quite well refereed--the gloves come off, one player wins, the referee referees the fight, and then you go back to hockey.
    - lutorm 16y ago
      That's my point. So who are Americans to come and complain about unsportsmanlike behavior in soccer??
      - mkramlich 16y ago
        We complain because the NHL is the extreme exception among US sports, rather than the rule. A lot of Americans don't like the fighting in the NHL either.
- philwelch 16y ago
  I think it's a lot worse in the NBA, where deliberate fouling (either to stop the clock late in the game or to Hack-A-Shaq) is "a part of the game" and so is diving (or "flopping" as basketballers call it). Diving isn't even a foul in basketball. You can't convince me that a grown man can be thrown to the floor as easily as these NBA players are. Incidentally, if you hate diving, just watch the leagues where diving isn't tolerated, like the English Premier League.

megablast 16y ago

So you don't care about the blatant cheating that can completely change the course of a game? Well, lots of people do not like cheating, do not like deliberate diving. For me, this completely ruins the game of soccer, and I will never take it seriously as a sport. I don't tune in to see which side can game the system the best.

lutorm 16y ago
Would you be happier if the rules said "the player who most convincingly acts will win the call"? Then it wouldn't be cheating, but part of the game... I don't think it's nearly as bad as the American incarnation of hockey, where fistfights are tolerated with a slap on the wrist. Talk about encouraging unsportsmanlike behavior. If you tried that in soccer, you'd at the very least get a red card, if not more.
- starkfist 16y ago
  Fistfights aren't just tolerated in hockey, they are half the reason anyone watches the game...
  - philwelch 16y ago
    And the fistfights, from what I gather, are quite well refereed--the gloves come off, one player wins, the referee referees the fight, and then you go back to hockey.
  - lutorm 16y ago
    That's my point. So who are Americans to come and complain about unsportsmanlike behavior in soccer??
    - mkramlich 16y ago
      We complain because the NHL is the extreme exception among US sports, rather than the rule. A lot of Americans don't like the fighting in the NHL either.
philwelch 16y ago
I think it's a lot worse in the NBA, where deliberate fouling (either to stop the clock late in the game or to Hack-A-Shaq) is "a part of the game" and so is diving (or "flopping" as basketballers call it). Diving isn't even a foul in basketball. You can't convince me that a grown man can be thrown to the floor as easily as these NBA players are. Incidentally, if you hate diving, just watch the leagues where diving isn't tolerated, like the English Premier League.