On Preserving The Critical Space

[dubdobdee]

"Soccer is a European sport because it is all about death and despair. Americans would never invent a sport where the better you get the less you score."

Comments

t!lly's first word

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

"goal!"

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

i have read that same article by different ppl about twenty times now (there was a spate of them during the last world cup). why are the americans so obsessed with their hands?

also he shows that the one american addition to soccer, ie that draws shouldn't exist and thus loads of games go to penalties, is pointless and annoying.

also the pope likes football (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7179757.stm) so he should shut his catholic mouth ;)

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

pope = european = about death and despair QED

i got the feeling with this one that he started it out as a tease, really -- and then got increasingly overwhelmed by (very stupid) Waves of Taking his Own Points Seriously

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

Americans would never invent a sport where the better you get the less you score.

Uh I dunno. In baseball, the pitcher's task is to deny the batting team hits and in particular runs, ie to keep the opponent's score as low as possible. So far, so similar to defensive positions in other sports.

But the pitcher is also arguably the player most in focus on a baseball team, and the player designated as "winner" or "loser" of a game. Indeed, a common reason for voiding of baseball bets is that a team started with a different pitcher from the one given in advance.

[agincourtgirl.livejournal.com]

What he said!

However, it should be remembered that there are NO TIES in baseball, ie the teams play until the tie is broken, so games can last a long long time (this usually doesn't happen but it is the rule of the game).

[anatol-merklich.livejournal.com]

Well yes that is certainly a rather American sports trait. (And the probability for the dreaded tie in a given sport is obviously smaller the higher the typical scores are!)

[koganbot]

Except when defenses get better in comparison to offenses, which always happens, we either change the rules to help the offense (as in the late '70s in American football by allowing the offensive blockers to use their hands to stymie and choke the rushers) or tweak the game in some other way (as in baseball by giving all the hitters steroids making the ball livelier so that the batters can hit it farther).

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

what? but in football surely the better you get, the more goals you score?

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

yes and no. There is a lot of pleasure to be gained from 1-0s, but then again I am an Arsenal supporter and we specialized in those during the time when George Graham was our manager.