Keyrock Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 Wooooooooooo! I'll take it. USA! USA! USA! 4 RFK Jr 2024 "Any organization created out of fear must create fear to survive." - Bill Hicks
JadedWolf Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 Congrats. Now go beat Portugal. Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
Malcador Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 It's like the English winning, but worse. Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Hurlshort Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 You have to wonder about their fitness training. You have to remember that the US Soccer program only gets the athletes that weren't good enough for Basketball, Football, Baseball, or Hockey. 2
JadedWolf Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 You have to wonder about their fitness training. You have to remember that the US Soccer program only gets the athletes that weren't good enough for Basketball, Football, Baseball, or Hockey. Altidore earns 2,2 million pounds a year in the Premier League, I am sure he's crying all the way to the bank about not being good enough for other sports. I don't doubt their ability to perform, anyway. I just wonder if something went wrong in their fitness training, considering a lot of them looked on the verge of injury. Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
ShadySands Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 I know he was joking but I actually find it somewhat impressive if we can field a decent soccer team since it's not that major here as opposed to pretty much everywhere else in the world Anyway, go USA! I can always use another excuse to drink 1 Free games updated 3/4/21
JadedWolf Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 I know he was joking but I actually find it somewhat impressive if we can field a decent soccer team since it's not that major here as opposed to pretty much everywhere else in the world Anyway, go USA! I can always use another excuse to drink Popularity of the sport is growing, and I have no doubt that we'll see a U.S.A. team go far in the WC eventually. With a population size of just 3,3 million people Uruguay managed to make it to the semi-finals in 2010. Imagine what a country like the U.S.A. with its population size could do if it put in the effort... Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
Malcador Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 (edited) Always heard Altidore was a more useless version of Andy Carroll. I'd picked Portugal to be #2 in the group, feel they will still sneak it just by riding Ronaldo. Edited June 17, 2014 by Malcador Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Gromnir Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 (edited) You have to wonder about their fitness training. You have to remember that the US Soccer program only gets the athletes that weren't good enough for Basketball, Football, Baseball, or Hockey. Altidore earns 2,2 million pounds a year in the Premier League, I am sure he's crying all the way to the bank about not being good enough for other sports. I don't doubt their ability to perform, anyway. I just wonder if something went wrong in their fitness training, considering a lot of them looked on the verge of injury. http://www.financenews24.com/2013/08/03/the-top-25-highest-salaries-in-sports-in-2013-2014/ please also note where it speaks of endorsements. top soccer player would be #22 if adjusted for endorsements. 'course the biggest adjustment ain't covered: taxes. one possible major hurdle to nfl plans to add a london team is that higher tax rate would necessitate various and complex alterations to salaries and the salary cap. and don't buy into the popularity rising stories you see posted. every 10ish years we see such. when Gromnir were a kid in the mid 70s, soccer were becoming super popular. then it wasn't. in 1984, with US hosting olympics, Americans were told that soccer were popular, but apparently we weren't buying. same thing happened in 1994 when US hosted the world cup... and the US actual did very well that year. soccer became popular for another year or so. now it is 2014, and soccer is popular again? *sigh* sure it is. soccer is popular in the US the same way lacrosse is. you can find youth lacrosse and soccer teams everywhere in the US these days. is loads o' kids playing soccer and lacrosse. hell, we love men's lacrosse. all the stuff folks in the US complain 'bout soccer is absent from lacrosse. lacrosse is fast and physical and no game gets decided after time is ended by stoopid penalty shots. notre dame, virginia, north carolina, duke and johns hopkins will continue to field very nice college lacrosse and soccer teams, and maybe we will see the highlights o' the ncaa tourney game for either on espn. we will also be told in 2024 that soccer is sooper popular. HA! Good Fun! Edited June 17, 2014 by Gromnir 1 "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
Malcador Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 (edited) Even so, Altidore's still getting paid pretty well. Probably too much for a player of his level and for that team. I like the habit of reporting the salaries in weekly amounts, helps highlight how absurd it is Edited June 17, 2014 by Malcador Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Hurlshort Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 It's more a matter of what could the top US athletes do if they were raised on futbol. LeBron James would be a monster in any sport. Whereas Landon Donovan, probably the most recognizable US soccer player, wouldn't make it in the NBA or NFL. 1
Gromnir Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 it would be great if soccer were more popular here in the us... is a shame it ain't. pro basketball has a handful o' freaky short folks, but the average player is extreme tall, which functional excludes many potential athletes. hockey is a great freaking sport, but here in the US the only way you can practice year round is if you have enough money to buy ice time... and there aren't many rinks in the southeast and southwest. baseball is... well, for folks who love baseball, baseball is great. we enjoyed baseball as a kid, but we played catcher. top baseball players get paid very well, so some kids will continue to play. lacrosse? water polo? volley ball? water polo is probable the most physical demanding team sport we could care to mention, but in the US it is a rich kid sport and too much action happens underwater. already mentioned lacrosse... and in the US, volleyball is still a girls' sport. football, as we noted above, is dangerous. if it were up to Gromnir, we wouldn't have kids playing tackle football til they is sophomore in high school, and has cat scans and mri to rule out possible predisposition to various spinal problems. nevertheless, football is the current most popular sport. soccer is a good sport for kids and it is popular worldwide. sure, it ain't as physical as Americans like their sports but football genuine is too dangerous. is too bad that the vast majority o' our best athletes don't care 'bout soccer... and our second tier athletes is split mongst individual sports and lacrosse, water polo, volley ball and a host o' other sports. HA! Good Fun! "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
Malcador Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 It's more a matter of what could the top US athletes do if they were raised on futbol. LeBron James would be a monster in any sport. Whereas Landon Donovan, probably the most recognizable US soccer player, wouldn't make it in the NBA or NFL. Yeah, I'm not sure how good a footballer James would be, to be honest. Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
213374U Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 You think he'd be worse than Peter Crouch? - When he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.
Enoch Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 I'd argue that the type of athleticism required by soccer is rather different than the type required by other major sports in America. Would-be soccer stars aren't playing professional basketball, baseball, hockey, or football because those sports require excellence in upper-body strength, height, and hand-eye coordination. Guys with an elite soccer-type athletic profile (balance, foot speed, cariovascular endurance, lean musculature) aren't becoming pros in other sports-- they're becoming middle-managers who run marathons on the weekend. (Although some probably end up as American Football RBs or DBs who lack the size and strength to go pro.) LeBron James would probably be a pretty good goaltender if he grew up in a soccer-obsessed country (great reach and reflexes, but a bit too much mass to change direction quickly enough for top-level performance), but I can't see him excelling in any other role on the pitch. 1
Malcador Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 You think he'd be worse than Peter Crouch? Probably not, he's a monster just for being that ugly. Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Gromnir Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 (edited) am thinking enoch is overstating the sport-specific skill set o' soccer. the skill position players on a typical high school football team is better athletes than the guys playing soccer. with same/similar experience playing soccer, the football guys would eviscerate the soccer guys. oh sure, in some communities, particularly upper and upper middle-class neighborhoods, some better athletes gravitate towards soccer (see our comments about notre dame and duke earlier.) but most places? Gromnir were one o' those freaky athletic kids. hell, we didn't even mention above that we went to state for the 100 m dash for high school track 'cause we didn't actual run track... we honest just showed up for meets. at age 10 or 12, we were always the best at every sport we played, including soccer. am thinking we may still hold a couple under 18 distance swimming records in state X. that is typical the way it is with the superior athletic kids, yes? how many 10-year-olds has you ever seen that were super at football or hockey but bad at soccer? unless they got some specific disability, athletic kids is... athletic. short o' some weird condition, we can't recall any college level db, rb, or wr we played with who had anything other than amazing cardiovascular and am thinking you perhaps don't know how much footwork is required to be a skill position player in football, particularly corners. the genuine athletic kids grow into athletic high school kids... and some o' those kids go on to play college and pro. jim brown, hershel walker and even Gromnir (to a MUCH lesser degree) woulda' been good at any/every sport, but soccer not require us to be tall and it not require particular upper body strength. am thinking it is a more inclusive sport rather than particular exclusive, and that is a good thing. basketball, where tall has an overwhelming advantage, is bad. nevertheless, is kids or parents who choose football. with few exceptions, great skill position football players woulda' been great at soccer too. btw, every sport requires excellent balance. is one o' those under-valued attributes. even swimming is dealing with keeping self balanced although the orientation is different. name a sport that don't require great balance and we will observe that such recognition is proof that it ain't genuine a sport. nascar for instance? HA! Good Fun! ps most o' the guys we recall from cross-country in high school woulda' been pretty weak at soccer... and is the cross-country guys we knew who most frequent ended up doing marathons. cross-country guys is rare having the quick-jerk muscles we believe benefit soccer players. pps... somehow our quoted material form enoch ended up in the center o' our post, so we dumped it with edit. pardon if causes confusion Edited June 17, 2014 by Gromnir 1 "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
Humanoid Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 One thing that confuses me is why ice hockey is more popular than field hockey. It's like having table tennis being more popular than actual tennis, or beach volleyball being more popular than volleyball ....actually never mind the last one, the reason is obvious. L I E S T R O N GL I V E W R O N G
HoonDing Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 Lebron James could've been a good substitute for Emile Heskey. The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
Hurlshort Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 Ice Hockey is really only popular in a few states. It has grown tremendously over the last 20 years, but it still lags behind the big 3. Field Hockey, for whatever the reason, has gotten more of a reputation as a women's sport. But honestly Ice Hockey is way better as a spectator, so that shouldn't be surprising that it is more popular. I'd be plenty happy with my kids played soccer, as long as they can skip the horrific youth soccer phase.
Gromnir Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 as an aside, lets look at some failed or marginal nfl quarterbacks: michael vick, tim tebow, vince young, terelle pryor, ronald curry, denard robinson, matt tuiasosopo, troy smith, jordan lynch, and kyle boller. only michael vick can be labeled as arguably other than a fail as a qb, and yet those guys were almost invariably the most athletic players every time they stepped on the gridiron. bad throwing motions. inability to read extreme complex nfl defenses. too short. small hands. too fragile. whatever. those ten guys got the kinda athleticism any soccer team in the world woulda' been hard-pressed to match... soccer kinda athleticism. if soccer were more important in the US, would those guys have gone to a sport more suited to their abilities? oh, add a super athletic te as goalkeep... perhaps aaron hernandez? too soon? HA! Good Fun! "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) "Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)
IndiraLightfoot Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 To me, the most outstanding American soccer player I can recall is this guy: Alexi Lalas What's there not to like? 1 *** "The words of someone who feels ever more the ent among saplings when playing CRPGs" ***
JadedWolf Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 (edited) http://www.financenews24.com/2013/08/03/the-top-25-highest-salaries-in-sports-in-2013-2014/ please also note where it speaks of endorsements. top soccer player would be #22 if adjusted for endorsements. 'course the biggest adjustment ain't covered: taxes. one possible major hurdle to nfl plans to add a london team is that higher tax rate would necessitate various and complex alterations to salaries and the salary cap. and don't buy into the popularity rising stories you see posted. every 10ish years we see such. when Gromnir were a kid in the mid 70s, soccer were becoming super popular. then it wasn't. in 1984, with US hosting olympics, Americans were told that soccer were popular, but apparently we weren't buying. same thing happened in 1994 when US hosted the world cup... and the US actual did very well that year. soccer became popular for another year or so. now it is 2014, and soccer is popular again? *sigh* sure it is. soccer is popular in the US the same way lacrosse is. you can find youth lacrosse and soccer teams everywhere in the US these days. is loads o' kids playing soccer and lacrosse. hell, we love men's lacrosse. all the stuff folks in the US complain 'bout soccer is absent from lacrosse. lacrosse is fast and physical and no game gets decided after time is ended by stoopid penalty shots. notre dame, virginia, north carolina, duke and johns hopkins will continue to field very nice college lacrosse and soccer teams, and maybe we will see the highlights o' the ncaa tourney game for either on espn. we will also be told in 2024 that soccer is sooper popular. HA! Good Fun! As the list you posted points out itself, that list doesn't actually add endorsement deals, which would change the picture a bit: http://www.forbes.com/athletes/list/#tab:overall. But of course, Altidore is in neither of those lists, because he's nowhere near one of the best footballers in the world. In fact he is a pretty average footballer who is playing for a pretty average club in the Premier League. I just thought it a bit silly to deride American soccer players for having chosen to play association football, when they were doing pretty well for themselves having made that choice. Anyway, it is true that for a country the size of the U.S.A. the football talent coming through is not that great, and I think that's a combination of things. A lot of sports that are more popular over there are competing for the same pool, as people on this board pointed out earlier, and I am sure that doesn't help. But I also wonder how talent scouting for football and youth academies over there compare to over here in Europe. I've never heard much about it, so I can't judge myself, but I suspect there is a lot of room for improvement. As for how specific a skillset you need for football, I guess it partly depends on what position you want to play. Some positions require you to be fast, in other positions require you to be tall, etc., but the most important skillset for football is something you can't compare. The most important skillset is the ability to read the game, to know what to do when, and to predict what the others will do. So for that reason alone already I think we can't say that athlete x from a different sport would be good at association football, because we simply don't know until we actually see him play it. There are lots of people in football who have plenty of athletic ability but who can't read the game as well as others, so they will never reach the top. And as for football being popular is just a media hype, well, I guess we will see in ten years or so if you are right. Edit: comparing the two lists, the one you give and the Forbes one, the salary and winnings don't seem to match at all - and you yourself say you have a list where the highest paid football player is #22 with endorsements added. No idea what's up with that, to be honest. Edited June 17, 2014 by JadedWolf Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
JadedWolf Posted June 17, 2014 Posted June 17, 2014 (edited) Ibra has... issues. Though to be honest, I think he is showing restraint here towards the guy with the camera. Edited June 17, 2014 by JadedWolf Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
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