A sign that Americans still have a ways to go
in [World Football]
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From: RED DEVIL on 10 Jun 2010 12:49 On Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:42:27 -0400, Jack Hollis <xsleeper(a)aol.com> wrote: >On Wed, 9 Jun 2010 14:45:41 -0700 (PDT), Insane Ranter ><logwyn(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >>3. We just arent "good". Americans want to win and support a winner. >>If we won the thing then it would be a nice boost. Another thing is >>the nation leage aka MSL isn't really that good as far as talent goes >>compared to Europe or even S. American maybe even Mexico. I feel like >>I'm watching college soccer or even high school games > >All things considered, the US does pretty well in international >soccer, but certainly not up to the standards that most Americans >expect. If the US could become one of the world elite teams it would >help. If the US could even produce one world class player who would >be a big star in Europe, that would also help. With so many US players playing in Europe against good opposition the standard of the US team has really got much better. The problem remains on how to get a better quality domestic league, for me the MLS isn't any better now than when it started. All things take time I suppose. RED DEVIL
From: Manx Gunner on 10 Jun 2010 17:37 On Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:49:58 -0400, RED DEVIL wrote... > With so many US players playing in Europe against good opposition the > standard of the US team has really got much better. The problem > remains on how to get a better quality domestic league, for me the MLS > isn't any better now than when it started. All things take time I > suppose. I've explained this before but I shall be happy to do so again. Let's consider a 10-year-old athlete, gifted with the talent to become world class at whatever sport he chooses to pursue. That athlete has grown up watching LeBron James (NBA, $100M+ by 21), Steven Strasburg (MLB, $20M+ by 21), Matthew Stafford (NFL, $50M+ by 21), and Freddy Adu (MLS, $3M+ by 21). Gee, which do you think he's going to pick?
From: Mark V. on 10 Jun 2010 18:06 On Jun 10, 2:37 pm, Manx Gunner <goal(a)4thegunners!com> wrote: > > I've explained this before but I shall be happy to do so again. > > Let's consider a 10-year-old athlete, gifted with the talent to become > world class at whatever sport he chooses to pursue. That athlete has > grown up watching LeBron James (NBA, $100M+ by 21), Steven Strasburg > (MLB, $20M+ by 21), Matthew Stafford (NFL, $50M+ by 21), and Freddy Adu > (MLS, $3M+ by 21). Gee, which do you think he's going to pick? Ten year olds don't pay close attention to how much athletes make, and even those that do don't make decisions on what sport to play based on salaries. It's that many more ten year olds see James, Strasburg, and Stafford play than see Adu, Donovan, Howard et al.
From: Chagney Hunt on 10 Jun 2010 18:29 On Jun 10, 6:06 pm, "Mark V." <markvande...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > On Jun 10, 2:37 pm, Manx Gunner <goal(a)4thegunners!com> wrote: > > > > > I've explained this before but I shall be happy to do so again. > > > Let's consider a 10-year-old athlete, gifted with the talent to become > > world class at whatever sport he chooses to pursue. That athlete has > > grown up watching LeBron James (NBA, $100M+ by 21), Steven Strasburg > > (MLB, $20M+ by 21), Matthew Stafford (NFL, $50M+ by 21), and Freddy Adu > > (MLS, $3M+ by 21). Gee, which do you think he's going to pick? > > Ten year olds don't pay close attention to how much athletes make, and > even those that do don't make decisions on what sport to play based on > salaries. They don't, but they are easily influenced by the parents. The pushy parents trend has been on the up. Soccer in America also geared mainly to the middle-class kids -- you need the shoes, and the field, and some sort of organization to organize games. The breeding ground of American sporting talents -- the inner city poors and small town poors have no such facilities or organizations. It's easier for them to play pick up basketball or suit up for their highschool American football team. That doesn't apply to the Latinos but as a group they are generally less integrated into the stereotypical "American way of life" except California, larger New York area, and perhaps parts of Texas. > It's that many more ten year olds see James, Strasburg, and > Stafford play than see Adu, Donovan, Howard et al. Anyway, I'm totally unconvinced that Lebron James would have been a superstar in football had he made a different choice. The loss is in the kids who could have been great at football but chose to play basketball or gridiron.
From: Dwight Beers on 10 Jun 2010 19:48
On 06/10/2010 08:37 AM, Jack Hollis wrote: > On Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:45:17 -0700, Dwight Beers<hdbeers(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > >>> 2. In 1875, Ivy League schools, much like their upper crust >>> counterparts in England, chose to play with Rugby rules in favor of >>> soccer. Thus evolved American Football. Had the Ivy League choose to >>> keep playing soccer, American Football never would have existed and >>> soccer would have been a major sport in the US long ago. >>> >> >> Fact #2: The first Harvard-Yale football game was in 1820. > > I think you might want to check on that. The first Harvard - Yale > game in 1875 was what led to the Ivy League to adopt Rugby Football > Union rules. > <snip> And, you might want to check the newspaper accounts from Boston, Portland, New Haven, etc. from around the period 1820-1823 (I'm not 100 per cent certain of the date). |