From: deemsbill on
On Jun 21, 4:53 pm, Peter Lawrence <hummb...(a)aol.com> wrote:
> On 6/21/10 12:29 PM, stephenj wrote:
>
> > Jefferson N. Glapski wrote:
>
> >> Tiebreakers in a game consist of playing until someone wins.
>
> >> Reason #2132 why football, hockey, baseball or basketball is a sport,
> >> while soccer isn't.
>
> > well, they do that in the knockout rounds. Except unlike in our football
> > or basketball or baseball, they resort to the bogus hockey method of a
> > penalty shootout as a last resort. Sad ...
>
> Except that in NHL playoffs they don't use shootouts, they play overtime
> periods until one team scores the tie-breaking goal.  (The NHL only use
> shootouts during the regular season, whereas soccer is more than happy
> to end a regular season game in a draw.)
>
> - Peter

To be fair, soccer games could last FOREVER if they played until
someone scored.
From: deemsbill on
On Jun 21, 7:47 pm, Peter Lawrence <hummb...(a)aol.com> wrote:
> On 6/21/10 3:44 PM, Antonio Veranos wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:41:11 +0000 (UTC), Daniel Edwards wrote...
>
> >> How much more interesting than soccer is the following sequence:
>
> >> Extra point
> >> Commercial break
> >> Kickoff
> >> Commercial break
> >> 3 and out
> >> Punt
> >> Commercial break
>
> >> While I also prefer the NFL and college football to soccer, a soccer
> >> game is over in 2 hours.  An SEC college football game, with 60 minutes
> >> of official clock time, takes 4 hours.
>
> > I'm always amused by those who think they have to pick one or the other,
> > as if liking one makes liking the other impossible.  It may for certain
> > simpletons (with some loud examples on RSFC), but for the rest of us
> > there's no reason to live in such a limited sports world.
>
> > There's a ton of variety out there, and an appreciation of a wide
> > spectrum of it can only do any sports fan good.
>
> I actually like watching soccer when it's played in an entertaining
> manner like how the Brazilians play the game.  And even the English
> style of play can be fun to watch too (when the Brits actually play well
> - which they haven't done so far during this World Cup).
>
> OTOH, I hate how the Italians play the game, or how many teams just play
> so conservatively and defensively.  It's like watching a college
> basketball game (before they adopted the shot clock) when an inferior
> team would go into a four corner stall against a superior opponent, or
> how the Baltimore Ravens generally play in the NFL.
>
> Unfortunately, so far and in most part, the play during this World Cup
> has been nothing to write home about.  It's been quite embarrassingly
> bad to tell you the truth.
>
> - Peter-

What I was told by those who know soccer much better than I is that
a team only has a 10% chance of advancing if they lose their opening
match (it grows to 30% if they tie). That means everyone plays super
conservative for the first, and sometimes second, match. Once they
advance, they start playing more aggressively. That being said, they
all agreed that the first games of this WC were awful.
From: Antonio Veranos on
On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:26:53 -0700 (PDT), deemsbill(a)aol.com wrote...

> To be fair, soccer games could last FOREVER if they played until
> someone scored.

....particularly considering that after 90 minutes, the average player on
the pitch has run over 10 kilometres.

--
A. Veranos

What color does a smurf go when you choke it?
From: Chris Bellomy on
Antonio Veranos wrote, On 6/21/10 7:48 PM:
> On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:26:53 -0700 (PDT), deemsbill(a)aol.com wrote...
>
>> To be fair, soccer games could last FOREVER if they played until
>> someone scored.
>
> ...particularly considering that after 90 minutes, the average player on
> the pitch has run over 10 kilometres.

Yeah, but that's what in English, about 45 yards?

cb
From: deemsbill on
On Jun 21, 8:48 pm, Antonio Veranos <summerstorm0...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:26:53 -0700 (PDT), deemsb...(a)aol.com wrote...
> >     To be fair, soccer games could last FOREVER if they played until
> > someone scored.
>
> ...particularly considering that after 90 minutes, the average player on
> the pitch has run over 10 kilometres.

But they haven't been pounded into the ground a dozen or more
times...which is quite wearing. Seriously, I'm not one who will argue
that soccer players aren't athletic.