Deadspin.com: Virginia Man Calls Cops After "Hard Screen" In Pickup Basketball

[Destino]

14 hours ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

More scoring is usually better.  You hate college basketball right?  You hate watching 52-48 Princeton offense brickfests because you're a fan of an open and dynamic NBA playing style.  A 35-28 NFL game is more fun than a 7-0 one right?  And a 1-0 baseball game is only fun if the pitchers are doing something special.  You know that soccer would be more fun if it were more open and higher scoring.  Low scores can lead to fluky results, like Peter pointed out.

I dislike bad basketball, not low scoring basketball.  College basketball too often consists of a guard dribbling the air out of the ball followed by a very contested shot.  I will happily watch two slow-the-game-down half court offenses go at it and marvel at what I'm seeing, if they're offense is creative and well executed.  I prefer that to NBA guards over dribbling trying to draw fouls, while most of the team stands on spots waiting for a possible three point attempt.  That's boring.

 

Long story short, it's not the score that makes it great. 

 

 

Quote

Stuff is actually accomplished when the ball is in play.  You get wrecked or you advance the ball to score.  For how many of the 90 minutes in a soccer match is something interesting or threatening actually happening?  Four?  The fans in the stadium literally pass the time by chugging beers and singing.

Have you been to a football stadium?  Singing would be a huge improvement to legion of wasted fans yelling obscenities at the field and each other that characterizes the NFL fan experience.  A baseball game is basically a happy hour at a sports bar.  Some people are watching the game and if an interesting situations arises more people will stop chatting for a bit to see how it plays out.  I can't hate on hockey, going to a hockey game is a good time. 

 

Also how on earth can anyone hate on soccer fan chants?  Sure beats the great American fan traditions of color coordinated t-shirt night.

[TradeTheBeal!]

Stadium Sports ranked for boredom, least to most:

 

1. Hockey

2. Basketball

3. Football

4. Tennis

5. Soccer

6. Baseball

7. Nascar 

 

But sometimes boredom can be fun if you’re there just to drink and goof off.

 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

8 hours ago, Elessar78 said:

So are #hashtags

 

I’m pretty sure ##hashtags are #maga 

[twa]

18 hours ago, PeterMP said:

 

 

 

 

(I haven't heard anybody mention swimmers.  Those people are in crazy good shape.)

 

Oh Lord, next will be the water polo nerds 

[PeterMP]

12 hours ago, BenningRoadSkin said:

What are you writing?

 

Soccer has become a larger sport in the US and we a midtier nation.

 

The women are ahead of the men in the world is because we invest in women in sports and allowed women to play sports earlier due to title 9.

 

Also the travel team not being near you proves my point.

 

Soccer isn't as big as either of the big 4 in the US, and participation in youth soccer is actually falling, especially in the age range where kids are starting to specialize.

 

https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/76121/new-study-finds-big-drop-in-soccer-participation-i.html

 

(And it isn't happening with the girls to the same extent as the boys.)

[twa]

9 minutes ago, PeterMP said:

 

Soccer isn't as big as either of the big 4 in the US, and participation in youth soccer is actually falling, especially in the age range where kids are starting to specialize.

 

https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/76121/new-study-finds-big-drop-in-soccer-participation-i.html

 

(And it isn't happening with the girls to the same extent as the boys.)

 

Might be a regional thing, I sure don't see it declining here....just the opposite

 

the study seems to be NY and Michigan

[ixcuincle]

10 hours ago, TryTheBeal! said:

Stadium Sports ranked for boredom, least to most:

 

1. Hockey

2. Basketball

3. Football

4. Tennis

5. Soccer

6. Baseball

7. Nascar 

 

But sometimes boredom can be fun if you’re there just to drink and goof off.

 

 

Basketball is too high. 

[PeterMP]

15 hours ago, Elessar78 said:

The last 3 World Cup MVPs have been 5 foot nothings and weighed a hundred and nothing. But Keep banging that drum that it’s NFL and NBA and MLB style athletes that we need.

 

we have millions of Messi, inIesha, and modric-sized soccer players right now but most people who put their kids into soccer and their coaches don’t know how to develop a player into Messi. Heck, they can’t even develop his backup.

 

But in Barca’s famed academy there are now two American kids. One was a little Jewish kid. He is sooo good they gave him the #10 shirt. That’s a big deal. He’s there for his control of the ball and his soccer intelligence. He’s been there since he was ten years old. The other kid is another skinny white kid from Colorado. Note neither are proto-LeBrons or Saquons. Barca can recruit any player they want in the world and they picked these two.

 

Stop hammering away on these tired and facile myths. 

 

At my club me and my other coaching colleagues have gotten to coach the kids of current and former NFL players. As advertised they are fast but they are also not the ones that go the furthest in soccer.

 

A QB has 3 seconds to make his read. Every soccer player on the pitchneeds to make a read in a second or less (a good athlete can close about ten yards in one sec)-you’ll rarely get ten yards of space on the field in soccer. Conversely, there’s one ball, so you soend most of your time moving without it.  Contrary to popular belief, modern soccer, like football, runs a lot of patterns on offense and every member of the team needs to know the “play” based on their read. 

 

1.  Clearly, US trainers are doing something right with these kids that are going to Europe.  It isn't like the European teams are coming over and grabbing up 5 year olds and taking them there.  They are taking kids that are already accomplished US soccer players (the probably already have 5+ years in US soccer).

 

2.  With that said, it is very hard to produce the best if they don'rt regularly compete against the best.  No matter what type of trainers you have, you are never going to produce the best in the world unless they play against the world's best.  If our best young players leave to be trained in Europe, it is going to be that much harder to train an actual large group of really good soccer players.

 

3.  It isn't a Messi we need (now).  We need a set of good players that are good enough to actually make the World Cup.  You don't just generate the best in the world over night.  We need a competitive program where good players are competing against other good players.

 

4.  You are caught up on people that are actually playing profession NFL, NBA, and MLB.  There are whole sets of 5 foot something kids playing PG, QB, WR, RB, CB, and middle infield positions in D1, D2, (and even D3) and minor league baseball that are never going to make the NFL, NBA, and MLB that would have been very good soccer players.  

 

I've seen this kid play.  He's not 5-10.  If he were 5-10, he'd be headed to the NBA.  My wife is 5-6, and he's not taller than my wife.  He's never playing in the NBA.  He's fast, quick, tough, and competitive.

 

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2017-01-23/dii-basketball-how-isiah-thomas-allen-iverson-turned-shorters

 

If he would have played soccer and put as much into it as he did basketball, he'd be on the USMNT.  But that doesn't happen in the US.  Instead, he's a great D2 basketball player that maybe will carve out a career playing basketball overseas.

 

If he were in Europe, he absolutely would have played soccer.

 

1 hour ago, twa said:

 

Might be a regional thing, I sure don't see it declining here....just the opposite

 

the study seems to be NY and Michigan

 

It is happening nation wide (there might be areas that are growing so you might be seeing an increase in some areas, but over all it is declining).

 

All youth sports are declining some, but soccer has been hardest hit.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/sports/world-cup/soccer-youth-decline.html

 

"“It’s lost more child participants than any other sport — about 600,000 of them,” said Tom Farrey, executive director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program. As he pointed out, that’s enough to fill every stadium on any given match day during the 2026 World Cup, which the United States will host with Mexico and Canada."

[Going Commando]

12 hours ago, Destino said:

Long story short, it's not the score that makes it great. 

 

That's all good in theory, but how many 44-48 NCAA games or 67-78 NBA games have actually been enjoyable?  It almost always comes as a result of bad execution anyway.

 

Soccer is a slow hyper-defensive game where advancing the ball is an excruciating and indecisive process and the only time it gets truly exciting is in the few moments when all hell breaks lose on a counter or something like that.

[Elessar78]

5 hours ago, PeterMP said:

 

1.  Clearly, US trainers are doing something right with these kids that are going to Europe.  It isn't like the European teams are coming over and grabbing up 5 year olds and taking them there.  They are taking kids that are already accomplished US soccer players (the probably already have 5+ years in US soccer).

 

2.  With that said, it is very hard to produce the best if they don'rt regularly compete against the best.  No matter what type of trainers you have, you are never going to produce the best in the world unless they play against the world's best.  If our best young players leave to be trained in Europe, it is going to be that much harder to train an actual large group of really good soccer players.

 

3.  It isn't a Messi we need (now).  We need a set of good players that are good enough to actually make the World Cup.  You don't just generate the best in the world over night.  We need a competitive program where good players are competing against other good players.

 

4.  You are caught up on people that are actually playing profession NFL, NBA, and MLB.  There are whole sets of 5 foot something kids playing PG, QB, WR, RB, CB, and middle infield positions in D1, D2, (and even D3) and minor league baseball that are never going to make the NFL, NBA, and MLB that would have been very good soccer players.  

 

I've seen this kid play.  He's not 5-10.  If he were 5-10, he'd be headed to the NBA.  My wife is 5-6, and he's not taller than my wife.  He's never playing in the NBA.  He's fast, quick, tough, and competitive.

 

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2017-01-23/dii-basketball-how-isiah-thomas-allen-iverson-turned-shorters

 

If he would have played soccer and put as much into it as he did basketball, he'd be on the USMNT.  But that doesn't happen in the US.  Instead, he's a great D2 basketball player that maybe will carve out a career playing basketball overseas.

 

If he were in Europe, he absolutely would have played soccer.

 

 

It is happening nation wide (there might be areas that are growing so you might be seeing an increase in some areas, but over all it is declining).

 

All youth sports are declining some, but soccer has been hardest hit.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/sports/world-cup/soccer-youth-decline.html

 

"“It’s lost more child participants than any other sport — about 600,000 of them,” said Tom Farrey, executive director of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program. As he pointed out, that’s enough to fill every stadium on any given match day during the 2026 World Cup, which the United States will host with Mexico and Canada."

1. Their trainers were doing something right. And that’s mostly the key. But again, seems like you’re still obsessing about that Iverson or Iverson-lite idea. Even though no one else in the soccer playing world, here or abroad agrees with that theory.

 

2. You seem to suggest that the best get that way out of the box. They don’t-raise the floor and they’ll be competing against a higher level. Again, some trainers know what to do, others don’t.

 

4. That’s your obsession. Not mine. I know and see we have the physical talent already available in spades-it’s the soccer talent that’s lacking.

 

ive read the NYT article and it makes the same wrong assumptions. We already have way more registered players than most of the World Cup teams in any year and can’t produce more than one champions league player at any given time. 

 

More numbers will just feed into the same inept inept and dysfunctional system.

 

Your anecdotes are nice though.

[Destino]

5 hours ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

Soccer is a slow hyper-defensive game where advancing the ball is an excruciating and indecisive process and the only time it gets truly exciting is in the few moments when all hell breaks lose on a counter or something like that.

We should put this discussion on hold until you actually watch a soccer game. 

[Gibbit]

8 hours ago, ixcuincle said:

 

Basketball is too high. 

college tournament basketball is up there, but it isn't enough to get the sport above football

[PeterMP]

17 hours ago, Elessar78 said:

1. Their trainers were doing something right. And that’s mostly the key. But again, seems like you’re still obsessing about that Iverson or Iverson-lite idea. Even though no one else in the soccer playing world, here or abroad agrees with that theory.

 

2. You seem to suggest that the best get that way out of the box. They don’t-raise the floor and they’ll be competing against a higher level. Again, some trainers know what to do, others don’t.

 

4. That’s your obsession. Not mine. I know and see we have the physical talent already available in spades-it’s the soccer talent that’s lacking.

 

ive read the NYT article and it makes the same wrong assumptions. We already have way more registered players than most of the World Cup teams in any year and can’t produce more than one champions league player at any given time. 

 

More numbers will just feed into the same inept inept and dysfunctional system.

 

Your anecdotes are nice though.

 

It is about pulling more people into the talent pool where they are focusing on soccer and not some other sport, especially among populations that are more likely to go onto play a sport professionally.  There are plenty of people and stories that talk about the problem with US soccer being the size of the talent pool, especially into more urban environments.

 

http://theconversation.com/until-youth-soccer-is-fixed-us-mens-national-team-is-destined-to-fail-85585

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/may/21/why-the-us-men-will-never-win-the-world-cup-and-thats-ok

 

"Fixing things is indeed easy. All we have to do is make up for generations of cultural antipathy, incentivize people who are currently staying out of soccer to put their money and children into it, ensure the vast expenditures of those who’ve paid to be part of MLS’ effort to accelerate the USA’s pro and youth growth, get kids to put down their video games and get out on a neighborhood futsal court, get the powers that be to check their egos and lawyers at the door, and perhaps build a time machine. Maybe that could happen. Or maybe the Yellowstone supervolcano could render much of the United States uninhabitable."

 

It is going to be very hard to have just an elite World Cup team without having a broad support of good athletes behind them to pull from and to challenge them.  In theory, there might be enough of the very top level of athletes in US soccer to make an elite team, but I don't think that's ever going to work.  You need the larger (and better) pool.

 

The fact that you have outstanding D1 and D2 5 foot somethings that would make very good soccer players, but are never going to make the NBA playing college basketball is an indication of the larger problem.  (and same for football and the NFL).

[twa]

Or we could annex Mexico.

[Going Commando]

5 hours ago, Destino said:

We should put this discussion on hold until you actually watch a soccer game. 

 

This is a BS response and you know it.  You know that soccer is slow and indecisive.

 

The place that soccer is at right now is what football would look like if the MLB was the most impactful position on the field by a huge margin, and the majority of games ended 10-7.  It's boring.

Except you know what?  Even that would be more interesting because, unlike in soccer, football tackling is actually interesting to watch.

[Going Commando]

Soccer <<<<< rugby << football.  American Football is the height of the form.  It's the single biggest reason why Americans don't care about soccer.

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

This thread is on drugs.

[Warhead36]

The biggest myth in sports is that more scoring = more entertainment.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

For me soccer was a great sport to play growing up, but after I got into High School, it was no longer fun or even interesting for me.  I believe it's a great sport to start kids on because even at 3-5 years old it's easy to pick up.  I know the rules/formations/etc. are different as you progress (high school, travel team, leagues, etc.)  but the sport itself, talking basic rules and coordination wise, is a lot easier to start young children on than any of the American big four (football, basketball, baseball, hockey), imo.  

 

But again, for me, I loved playing it until 9th grade.  I've never liked watching it live or on TV, because I don't find it very exciting outside of scoring plays or actual real attempts/threats to score which to me, seem rare.  Nothing outside those is exciting to me, where in other sports, there can be exciting plays away from the action or scoring.  

 

In football, there are sacks, fumbles, interceptions, incredible passes, catches, runs, etc.  stuff that not only changes the game, but is exciting even when it does not involve one team scoring.  In basketball (NBA) it's fast paced, so you get fast breaks, crazy dunks, incredible shots, blocks, etc.  Hockey, while games are not always high scoring, you get the fastest paced game, with incredible saves and checking and fights.  

 

I think it's cool that there are die hard fans that love it and find everything about it fun and exciting.  Me personally, it just doesn't really do it for me.  

 

 

[Corcaigh]

Like talking with the taxman about poetry.

[Going Commando]

32 minutes ago, Corcaigh said:

Like talking with the taxman about poetry.

 

When you have to get poetic to mount a defense, you've lost the argument on points.

 

But I get it.  Soccer fans have to get creative to defend their sport in comparison to the great American sports.  The truth is they love soccer the most because they don't have high quality competitive pro and amateur leagues in our best sports and so they don't have better choices.  The barriers for entry for competing with American leagues in those sports are way too high.  We have amateur football stadiums in third rate cities and college towns in the Deep South that put the majority of Premier League venues to shame.