I'm an unnamed local celebrity!

MadReferee · Feb 21, 2005

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

I referee soccer, mostly at the college Division I level and also a little at the High School varsity level. Worldwide, more people play soccer (football) than all other sports combined. That is a fact. Also according to the National Federation of High School Sports (the national sanctioning body for high school sports), soccer is the second most popular sport in high school in terms of participation after basketball.

If any of you think soccer is not a manly game or is a game for panzies, then you better go watch a high school or college or pro game. Soccer is more physically demanding than american football and hockey. Very few substitutions are allowed in college and pro soccer so most players play 90 minutes straight. No timeouts, no line changes, no resting while the offense or defense is on the field.

As for Alan L's comments regarding "feminine looking shorts and long socks", I will refrain from giving him the verbal admonishing he deserves.

Bird · Feb 21, 2005

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

I'm with you, Mad. I think soccer is much better than football for the kids, both physically and psychologically.

riptides · Feb 21, 2005

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

Too bad on the anti-soccer sticker.

I think a kid has a better chance at making a soccer team and getting into organized sports than a football team. Especially when they start getting bigger. If you look at your average NFL player (5 year career, chance of serious knee injury, weight management) verses your average US soccer player (7 year career, chance of injury, no weight management issue), I'd have to go for soccer.

I wonder how many kids are left at the HS level, college level before they get to the pros. That would be an interesting study.

Yes, football is ok. But I think any sport that can draw masses is great for youth.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

getut · Feb 21, 2005

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

Yea... and I'll bet you guys have been brainwashed into thinking its OK to help with the dishes too. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Sport vs. sport it isn't that bad. Its just that it got its foothold in America because somehow it started being bad to be aggressive in the United States and if you read between the lines it is pitched that way in many communities.

Riptides, you take me a little too literally. I am speaking of football as one of the best learning experiences for a teenage kid, not as a career.

Football is even under fire in communities because it is what brings in the money for sports. A good high school team goes to state one year, then everbody starts screaming because the soccer teams need new uniforms. Again.. pecking order. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
The football team made the money.. roll it back into the football team.

riptides · Feb 21, 2005

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

( Riptides, you take me a little too literally. I am speaking of football as one of the best learning experiences for a teenage kid, not as a career.
)

But the learning experience starts eluding kids as they get older. I see more kids progressing through soccer than I do with football.

There is nothing wrong with football, but IMHO soccer offers more to the community and to a wider participating clientel.

Anyway, as long as they are running, right? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

63DH8 · Feb 21, 2005

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

1. If soccer is a non-violent sport, then why are there more soccer fans beating each other up than football fans? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

2. If soccer moms knew the origins of soccer (origins include when the players used to kick their enemy's head from one town to another), would they still be soccer fans?

( Football - as soccer is called in Britain - was a popular sport of the masses from the 8th century onwards.

But the game at that time was a war game!

There is a story which places the first football game in the east of England - where the locals played 'football' with the severed head of a Danish Prince they had defeated in battle! ) http://worldsoccer.about.com/cs/historyandstats/a/sochistart.htm

I like my bumper sticker. It says, "Visualize World Peace THROUGH U.S. Military Superiority"
Note: My bumper sticker was not meant to offend any paticular person or group on this site.

riptides · Feb 22, 2005

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

( 1. If soccer is a non-violent sport, then why are there more soccer fans beating each other up than football fans? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

2. If soccer moms knew the origins of soccer (origins include when the players used to kick their enemy's head from one town to another), would they still be soccer fans? )

1. When your fan base is in the billions you have more violence reported, world-wide. Every been to a Philly football game? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
2. I like the origins of lacrosse. Now there is a womens sport! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif What about Polo? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

dummy · Feb 22, 2005

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

 The football team made the money.. roll it back into the football team.
 Can't agree with that statement either. Locally, high school football has grown into a "money hungry monster". It is now at the point, where they charge admission to all of the sports that use the "football field". And, ironically, the football program does not pay for field maintenance. That is provided by the local taxpayers.

Bird · Feb 22, 2005

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

I think you've got it, Dale. Football fans always like to talk about football making money, but I've yet to see one provide any evidence whatsoever that a high school football program did anything financially except cost the taxpayers enormous amounts of money. And there's ample evidence of that.

Wingnut · Feb 22, 2005

Re: I\'m an unnamed local celebrity!

Heck, I can be a lot less politically correct than you ..... it fries me every Friday night when the high school sports are profiled on the late news.
Every year I hear more and more whining about education .... every year their funding goes up ... and every year they beg for permission to go for yet another bond to build a bigger/better stadium, pool, or field/fieldhouse.
OK ... I understand that the very few people who make it professionally make big bucks ..... but whatever happened to EDUCATION. They can't repair school roofs so that the school doesn't deteriorate TOO fast ... but they can keep the bleachers in great shape.
There's little competition for the geek activities, but there's no lack of kids vying for the various sport squads or to be cheerleaders.
Sorry, but I'm squarely in the camp that says let's make extra-curricular activies EXTRA-curricular AND self-funded. When the sports are more important than the schooling, .... well ...
bah ... humbug .... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
pete