For those of you who don't know, I actually get paid to cover sports for a living. I know, it's a scary thought considering some of the things I've said in my brief history as a blogger/writer. Since I'm just breaking into the broadcasting field, I'm fortunate and at the same time unfortunate enough to get the opportunity to cover every "sport," and I use that term loosely, that mankind has ever created. From amateur disc golf to NCAA Division 1 Football Playoffs to Professional Bowling and everything in between, the company that I work for has covered it. It's my goal to eventually work primarily with football, preferably on live broadcasts, but in the meantime I'll continue to suck it up and act like I care about things that I don't.
On that note, tonight I was given the lovely task of covering a high school boys summer league "soccer" game. Don't get me wrong, "soccer" is ten times the sport that NASCAR, bowling and even baseball will ever be, in regards to the amount of athleticism it requires. I respect a guy or girl that can run up and down the "pitch" for 45 minutes straight and maintain a high level of foot-eye coordination (if that's even a real thing). I just feel like there are a few current rules that the sport could eliminate and one new rule that it could implement to make it much more enjoyable to watch in a country whose favorite sport, by a landslide, is real "football." And it begins right there: In America, it's called "soccer." If you want to refer to "soccer" as "football," feel free to move to Spain where the best "American football" player would get zero burn on an average American high school "football" team. Otherwise, "soccer" will maintain its current moniker until it becomes more popular than "football" or, in other words, forever.
The first thing that I can't stand to see is when a referee hands out a yellow or red card. Can you imagine a 5'5" 130 pound ref running up to Ray Lewis and waving a little colored piece of paper in his face? Dude's beak would be split before he could get the card out of his pocket. Wanna be entertained? Check out this gem of a soccer referee:
Next, what's the argument that you hear over and over again from people who don't like soccer? There aren't enough goals scored. There's one simple reason for that: The offside rule. As the rule reads, "an offside foul is called when an offensive player is passed the ball and there are not at least two opponents between him or her and the goal line." AKA no cherry picking. Can you imagine if basketball had a rule like that? No more Vince Carter 360 wind mills. If that were the case, basketball would be as entertaining as, well, soccer. Seriously, get rid of the offside rule so we don't have to sit through 90 minutes of a scoreless tie.
As far as the one new rule that would enhance the game, how about a few collisions here and there? There's nothing this country loves more than watching people smash into each other at full speed (hence the reason football is so popular). I say each team is allowed three skull-rattling hits per contest. If soccer players wanna writhe around on the ground lets at least give them a reason to. Again, let me reiterate that I do respect soccer players at the highest level as I know how much skill and conditioning the game requires. But lets be honest, it's not exactly bursting with entertainment.
I know I've been a little harsh on the sport of soccer, so instead of closing this post with a quote, I want to include a bonus video. This is one thing that I love about the sport:
-Brusk Dollas
No comments:
Post a Comment