When Soccer Triumps Baseball
I hated soccer once upon a time. I thought it was boring, pointless, and anything but entertaining. Watching players run back and forth across a field for 90 minutes trying to kick a ball into a fairly large net didn’t satisfy me one bit. Not only did it not satisfy me, it tired me. Bored me. The fact that the most goals I’ve seen in one game, by one team, was four. Four. The lowness of the score also bothers me. Especially when it’s 0-0 after 89 minutes and 59 seconds. And two overtimes later, it’s still scoreless. I just watched almost 120ish minutes of athletics running around not achieving anything. I bet in games like this, goalies hate their teammates. I saved all those 30+ shots but you couldn’t score just ONE? Nope.
I once thought that soccer on the field should be played like that foosball game that I was always terrible at. Players would stand in a line holding a rope and the only direction they could move was right or left. There would be no contact between teams and none of those head shots that always gave me, of all people, headaches. There would be no running around the field for 90 minutes. Instead, the first team to score a certain amount of goals would win. Meaning, more that four goals would be needed. Meaning, the game would be more exciting.
But let’s face it. Foosball is foosball and soccer is soccer.
I’m still not a huge soccer fan. You won’t see me sitting down infront of the TV in four years watching the World Cup. And in the slightest chance that I might, the volume will be muted because vuvuzelas are one of the most annoying things in the world. Right up there with those darn cowbells at Tropicana Field.
But lately, I’ve seemed to enjoy the sport a little. And there are a couple reasons why:
- Yankees are playing lousy… I can’t turn to my favorite team for some stress release because they just seem to make everything even more stressful. [See Joe Girardi.] So I have to turn to someplace else…
- High Point Panthers… the only soccer team[s] that I will actually watch.
Last night was awful. If there was any bright spot, it’s that the men’s soccer team won 4-0. The Yankees couldn’t even score four runs last night. Wimps.
I still love baseball and always will. I have a baseball blog after all. My Facebook and Twitter profile pictures are of me sitting in the Yankees’ dugout with my Phil Hughes #65 shirt on. Those aren’t going to change anytime in the near future. Trust me.
It’s just that I’ve learned to respect soccer more than I ever thought I would. That’s all.
Go Yankees and Go Panthers!
Bull Point Pen 
I always scold people when they tell me baseball is boring. I have a pretty decent retort to that now given how often I’ve to respond to such inanity.
So it’s interesting that even after watching a batch of World Cup games, soccer is still unable to capture my imagination. I admire the athleticism involved, certainly, and there’s a choreographed beauty to the game similar to baseball — though baseball, given a park’s dimensions and fewer players, is more tightly choreographed and thus more impressive (especially if you’re sitting up high). In truth, what made the World Cup an interesting watch for me was the spectacle and drama involved more than the matches themselves. And too often at the end of a match, I wasn’t convinced that the best team had necessarily won. Lots of those matches seemed sort of flukey.
I find myself easily distracted watching soccer. My wind wanders … the match become background noise. On the contrary, I find baseball to be unusually gripping. In the midst of an inning, I can’t take my eyes off it. So I don’t know if soccer will ever find its place in my heart. One thing I know, however: it’s a *lot* better than football as a sport. =)