Lostcap and Futbol

After finishing off a weird and slow day in which Boston saw snow and Barry hit 735, I find myself once again scratching my head at the mystery wrapped in an enigma that is Lost. Yeah there was some great girl-girl handcuff fighting in the rain, and Jack’s back, blah blah, but at some point, we are going to need some tangible answers to wtf is going on. For starters, why is Locke on crack and when is Sayid gonna get tired of all the white folks and go on a rampage. It’s not the best show to watch before going to sleep.

If you didn’t already, and you should, there’s a 109.9% chance you’ll feel bad for KG after reading this. Here we have one of the greatest power fowards ever toiling away for so many years, and it is abso-fucking-ridiculous how his team’s have been managed. Forget about teams like Atlanta and the Knicks, David Stern needs to step in and have an intervention with Kevin McHale. Just give the man a legitimate shot with anything more than Cassel and Spree. This story has been beaten to the ground so many times it’s almost as if people either don’t care or have thrown up their hands in surrendering acceptance. Unfortunately for KG, he is not white, nor from Canada, nor a point guard, so nothing will change until he swallows his enormous pride and demands a trade…or the public firing and berating of McHale.

I hope you are all psyched for the Masters. As long as Tiger is on and in competition (always) then people should be watching. Don’t try to tell me that your excuse is that Golf is not a sport and it’s too slow and yada yada yada – it won’t kill you to sit down, take a few deep breathes, and enjoy an afternoon with one of the greatest of all time, in anything.

I got into a bit of a heated debate about Soccer and since I find myself arguing about the topic so frequently, I’ll post a little of what I wrote about a month ago, with some new stuff thrown in.

First off, I love people’s defense of soccer by saying it’s the most popular sport in the world. Well that’s just all fine and dandy, but this is America, and it’s not popular here. This is the reality. Stop getting defensive about it when people say that. There are very good reasons why it is not popular here. It’s not a mystery. The truth is, soccer is popular in the rest of the world for two reasons.

1. Of all popular sports, it is the cheapest to play and practice. There are no expensive pads for poor 3rd world countries to purchase, no large fields required for batting practice, and no dimension specific hoops required. Just a ball, some kids, and any open area. A ball that can be made out of woven cornstalks or vines.

2. Compared to football and basketball, soccer is much less physique-specific, meaning you don’t have to be a 6’3″ 300 pound lineman or a 7 ft center, which is due in part because you use fewer “tools” in soccer, on a regular basis at least. Vertical leap is not nearly as important in soccer as basketball for example. Therefore, there is less specialization.

I know there are instances where things I’ve mentioned get used, but never is it to the extent of the other sports.

And one reason to consider it’s lack of popularity in America that does not get mentioned very often — it is not a true aerial sport. The ball covers different planes of field/vision much less than a football, baseball, basketball. And quite honestly, American’s love that aerial excitement, for the same reasons we love watching car crashes, it’s more explosive. This is also a reason for hockey’s struggle for viewers.

Also, it is very difficult for kids to appreciate the minute and subtle levels of advancement practicing soccer brings. In baseball, you go from teeball, to coach’s slow pitching/pitching machines, to restricted pitching, so there’s something new every year. In football, you can always tell who’s the best, and in many states you can’t even play until 7th grade, so kids look foward to it for years. In basketball you can’t even hit the rim from the 3-point line when you’re little – there’s just so many little skills and fundamentals you can feel yourself improve on. Soccer? They just throw the ball out there and every year they add more players at once until it’s a full team. Thatssssss exciting.

And the other side to point No. 1 above, is that soccer isn’t a “street” game. Yeah anybody can afford to play it in some form or another, but it’s not quite an alpha male, “Anything you can do I can do better,” type of sport. What I mean is, you can’t really embarrass someone with a soccer ball, partially because nobody cares in the first place – there’s no showmanship. Baseball you can knock the crap out of a pitch or strike the guy out. Basketball, shoot, you can dunk on them, score on them, cross them over, pickpocket them, snatch a rebound from them or swat the shot. And football, well you can basically kill the person. Soccer, um you can score on this really big goal that only one guy can use his hands to defend, or maybe you can fake somebody out. Want to slide tackle someone? You’ll likely get thrown out, and in pee-wee soccer, suspended. Thatsssss exciting.

I’m not dissing on soccer as a sport here mind you, I’m just trying to explain why it isn’t popular in America and why it really never will be. Just please, don’t get so defensive about it. It’s cool to be in the minority about sports sometimes, but you must remain realistic – anything otherwise is foolish.