Taibbi got it more or less right on David Beckham and the pointless and uninspired World Cup mascots, but the rest of his “points” are scarcely worth going into.

I could never understand the viewpoint of the typical American meathead, who appears to measure a sport’s worth by the number of injuries its players sustain. Apparently, a 300 lb steroid monster stampeding into an opposition player and snapping his leg like a twig is somehow felt to be evidence of American football’s superiority to less overtly physical sports. Skill and technique – soccer’s defining characteristics – are not even considerations.

Perhaps it comes down to good old fashioned American hubris. Bigger + Louder = Better. On the subject of soccer at least, Taibbi is sadly as obnoxious and ignorant as the American moron majority he lampoons so frequently in his other, more astute articles.

I do enjoy all those other sports, basketball, football, baseball, etc. I love playing pick up games. But, the professional level ruins the game, that’s all it is, is a game. The overpaid, criminals, that are getting away with too much, ruin the sport. You get a DUI, you should get fired. I know it is a stricter standard to hold someone to than any other job in this country, but that is the point, we hold them in higher regard, so let’s make sure they reflect the values we should be observing.

I hate to say but, you can take the baller out of the ghetto, you cannot take the ghetto out of the baller. I hope someday we can find a way to make athletes respectable again. If not, I’ll be keeping my kids watching college level only(even there we have a hard time keeping them all out of prison, which shouldn’t even be a remote issue.)

We passed it back and forth and by the time she was wiping away the tears streaming down her face, her torso racking with stifles, I was seriously afraid we’d be ejected, as most of the chairs were populated with less amused readers. Warning: Don’t read this in public.

Thank you!!

Watch this video and learn something about Soccer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tqmaJXdtr4

People like you make Anti-Americanism growing around the world … And then you ask your self “Why you can’t wear US flag outside US”

LoL

Remind me of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1plIgEbggSs

How ever, NO COMMENT … You SUCK big time … LoL

ps, i no like repugs, dumbocraps, etc, but this article sucks most of all. wahhhahaha i no like soccer me americano

1: Wearing a flag around your neck is not that much like a cape. A twat who was into Dungeons and Dragons like yourself must have seen far more sinister wardrobe malfuntions in your day.
2: What happens after every bloody touchdown in a college football game? A song is played by a band who usurp half the seats in the stadium, and sung by most of the people in the stands. Where do you even think marching bands come from? A few blokes with drums singing for their team at a football match.
3: Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocincos celebrations are far more pompous than most goal celebrations Ive seen in my life. Which makes very little sense, seeing a score a goal is not only less common, but much more difficult than catching a touchdown pass. Plus, now you get booked for taking your shirt off, so its become quite rare.
4: Im assuming youve never played football, so allow me to explain some things to you:
Referees have for ages been slow to blow the whistle for a foul. For most of the games history, only obscene and violent fouls were called. To this day, even if youre fouled badly, you might not get the call. So over the past two decades, offensive players have become more “light on their feet”, originally to rightly get a foul called. Then someone (who was probably from Italy…) decided that they could just fall over and lay down, even with no contact. Diving was invented, and the referees have yet to uniformly fight the problem.
Yes, there are Ronaldo type players that will dive anyways. But Ive seen players run through a tackle in one game, and flail about screaming in another. Its all about how the official controls the game. If hes quick to call fouls and give cards, the attackers are quick to dive, the defenders get more brutal and it becomes a vicous cycle. If the ref wont acknowledge divers, they all shut up and play. Ive seen it time and time again.
Bottom line, the flailers are bad, but if you never fall, itll never get called.
5: Have you ever read a history book or been to London? The British Empire was the largest the world has ever seen. And sure, you beat us once. While we were also fighting the French, Austrians and Dutch at the same time. And it wasnt that big of a deal to lose what were at the time, our most useless set of colonies. Poor bastards. Really. London is one of the biggest cities in the world. And Im sure you think everyone only wants to come to America for a better life, but asks the Turks in my neighborhood back home how much becoming British citizens has improved their lives. And have you wondered why you got Becks at all? Because hes shit. As an Arsenal fan, Ive always hated that inbred Yorkshire scumbag. Unless the ball is sitting still, hes crap. We all knew it, maybe if you payed attention, you could have your 250 million back. By the way he came to LA from Real Madrid. Which is in Spain. Get a map and lay off the British.
6: Have you seen the bratwurst races in Milwaulkee? Fuck off.

PS: if I see you in the streets I’m gonna slide tackle the shit out of you to see if you go down cuz it hurt or you stay standing and don’t “Flop” like we all soccer players do!

http://www.theonion.com/video/soccer-officially-announces-it-is-gay,17603/

http://www.deluxe-date.com

You idiots got played.

Well done Taibbi.

To wit… Sarkozy has demanded answers for the French comedy show; Germany-England brings out every fucking WW2 you have ever imagined; Italian rage at their team has to be heard to be believed… basically, football is taken by pretty much every country in the world to be an extension of their national character, and that’s the sort of threater the World Cup and what makes it so addictive. I think it was Landon Donovan who even said something along these lines about America after the Algeria win.

You know what? All this nationalistic projection IS ridiculous. Really, it is. But it is great, unscripted theater, and it is also basically harmless too. It is much ado about nothing – like all sports, dare I say – but it operates on a global plane, and it is compelling viewing.

The diving and play acting sucks balls, the goal-celebrations are sometimes crazy, but come on, did the NFL do themselves any favors by banning Ochocinco, Owens etc from mad TD antics? Don’t tell me you don’t miss some of that.

As for the singing, well I dunno, the chanting is sometimes pretty funny and it beats the crap out of the millions of silly commercial breaks that break up the flow and enjoyment of sports here in America. Baseball especially, come on, I do enjoy baseball but they do tool around way too much not playing the game.