Sock Her!

I don't understand soccer.

Yes, I get that the objective is to score more goals than the other team.

What I don't get is that soccer fans are never happier than when nothing is happening. If the score is 0 to 0, it's like Christmas for a soccer fan.

I admit much of my confusion regarding soccer is simply willful ignorance. I never played soccer as a child, and I've never watched a complete soccer game in my life.

In elementary school, there would be 100 kids kicking soccer balls around before school started. Invariably, it ended with me standing in the goal and blocking dodging 10 soccer balls zooming at my head at once. So I may be a bit biased.

Another thing that confuses me about soccer are the coaches. They dress in an athletic suit, as though they might have to go and spell the goalie for a bit. Has this ever happened?

Several of my friends at work are soccer fans. We get in spirited debates about which is more boring - soccer or baseball. When you're debating the virtues of boring with an accountant, you realize you have failed in life.

Although I stick by my claim that soccer is the second most boring sport. Soccer games are around 12 hours long. The only sport more boring is golf, although whether or not it's a true sport is definitely up for debate.

What sports do/don't you like?
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Comments (21)

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Here is one that always sparks a debate for reasons that I don't get, not at all. Many people consider cheerleading a "sport". Are you kidding me? Dancing around and forming pyramids while rooting for a sports team is considered a sport? Calgon, take me away.
3 replies · active 714 weeks ago
I can appreciate that it takes an athletic person to be a good cheerleader. I can't do a double�back flip, can you? The part I don't understand is how it's competitive. Sports need to be competitive, with a scoreboard. Saying "That girl had better form in her flip than that other girl" is a bit subjective.

It's kinda like ballet - it takes effort, practice and talent...but it's not a sport. I think the reason people get upset is because they think by saying it's not a sport you're degrading what they do, and that's not the intent at all.
Competitive cheer teams don't even cheer for a team -- they're standalone teams essentially cheering for themselves. That makes even less sense.
I'm with you on soccer. I'd add NASCAR to that category. It's pretty boring unless they crash.
3 replies · active 714 weeks ago
The way to watch NASCAR is the evening highlight reel.
NASCAR is boring, but I like it when they get out of their cars and fight each other. They should hold cage matches where the winner automatically gets 5th place in the race or something.
Now THAT I would watch!
Uh oh. Brace yourself for a flood of angry European soccer hooligans. Although I guess "angry hooligan" is redundant.

Since I started photographing high school soccer, I've come to appreciate the game a little bit more. Still, I don't go to a soccer game expecting excitement. If I want excitement, I go to a hockey game.
1 reply · active 714 weeks ago
I've seen one hockey game, and I enjoyed the fights. All the jokes about that were true. I had no idea what I was seeing, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

Oh, and "angry hooligan" is redundant.

But I guess you already said that.
Golf on TV *is* boring, but at least the scenery is pretty and I have enough knowledge about what's going on to understand at any given time.

Soccer seems to have rules with no apparent reason. For example, I guess when the clock stops, they're still allowed to keep playing? They can kick each other's feet sometimes, but they can't kick each other's feet other times?

Now, if you want some boring sports on TV, I remember when I was a kid that Saturday morning cartoons were followed by Putt-Putt tourneys, PBA bowling, and rodeos. That was usually the cue for me to go outside and mow the yard.
1 reply · active 714 weeks ago
I have enough knowledge about golf to know that I couldn't care less about it.

1. Overpaid Smug Dude hits the ball.
2. OSD drives pretend car to location of ball.
3. OSD hits it again. Repeat until ball is safely contained in a random hole in the yard.
4. OSD retrieves the ball, waves smugly, and hits it again.
5. Oi.
Winner determined by subjective judging = not a sport
Winner determined by objective score or time = sport
7 replies · active 714 weeks ago
Yes. Yes yes. Judged activities are exhibitions, not sports. I like watching judged ski and snowboard events for a while, but I just watch them for fun, not to enjoy competition. I much prefer ski cross and snowboard cross to half pipe or ski jumping because it's easy to understand: whoever crosses the line first wins.
What about the competitive hot dog eating contests? I heard of these yahoos referred to as athletes at times. It is a judged activity with a scoreboard and even a barf bucket.
While technically a sport, it is a very boring, pointless and stupid one.

It comes in on the list slightly below curling and nose picking.
Be careful what you say about curling -- Mandie might get all Canadian on you.

(Full disclosure: I do enjoy watching a little curling every now and again.)
Athletes? More like eathletes!
I need my sports easy to understand. I don't have the mental capacity or the attention span otherwise.

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