I wondered what Team USA would’ve been like if Michael Vick, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Adam Archuleta, Julius Peppers, Larry Fitzgerald, etc. played soccer all their lives and developed overseas…
taller?
White guys play sports too…anyway Kobe lived a few years in Italy and speaks fluent italian, he does commercials in Italy.
[quote]Panther1015 wrote:
I wondered what Team USA would’ve been like if Michael Vick, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Adam Archuleta, Julius Peppers, Larry Fitzgerald, etc. played soccer all their lives and developed overseas…[/quote]
[quote]Sonny S wrote:
White guys play sports too…anyway Kobe lived a few years in Italy and speaks fluent italian, he does commercials in Italy.
Panther1015 wrote:
I wondered what Team USA would’ve been like if Michael Vick, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Adam Archuleta, Julius Peppers, Larry Fitzgerald, etc. played soccer all their lives and developed overseas…
[/quote]
Was going off name recognition. I did mention Archuleta. Anyway, this Forbes article explains why the US is underachieving so much in soccer:
http://www.forbes.com/business/2006/06/22/world-cup-soccer-cx_0622worldcup.html
I think the forbes article makes the assumption that the U.S. WANTS a world class soccer team.
It would be my contention, based on the WC ratings here in the states, that the U.S. doesn’t care that much about soccer to put a winner on the field.
We would rather watch American football with the violence and high scoring relative to the international version.
Americans will not shell out good money to watch a nil-nil tie.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
I think the forbes article makes the assumption that the U.S. WANTS a world class soccer team.
It would be my contention, based on the WC ratings here in the states, that the U.S. doesn’t care that much about soccer to put a winner on the field.
We would rather watch American football with the violence and high scoring relative to the international version.
Americans will not shell out good money to watch a nil-nil tie.
[/quote]
I agree with you, but it would be nice to beat the world at “their” game too. Especially since the US has the financial and athletic resources to do it.
[quote]Panther1015 wrote:
Sonny S wrote:
White guys play sports too…anyway Kobe lived a few years in Italy and speaks fluent italian, he does commercials in Italy.
Panther1015 wrote:
I wondered what Team USA would’ve been like if Michael Vick, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Adam Archuleta, Julius Peppers, Larry Fitzgerald, etc. played soccer all their lives and developed overseas…
Was going off name recognition. I did mention Archuleta. Anyway, this Forbes article explains why the US is underachieving so much in soccer:
http://www.forbes.com/business/2006/06/22/world-cup-soccer-cx_0622worldcup.html
[/quote]
We’re underachieving because we don’t care about the sport. I care far more about the Red Sox and Giants then for some fuckin soccer team…most people grew up with football or baseball, not soccer.
Kids know where the money is…and it’s in those A Rod esque $250 million contracts.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
We’re underachieving because we don’t care about the sport. I care far more about the Red Sox and Giants then for some fuckin soccer team…most people grew up with football or baseball, not soccer.
Kids know where the money is…and it’s in those A Rod esque $250 million contracts.[/quote]
You’re preaching to the chior. I posted something similar in the “hate soccer” thread a couple weeks ago. My point is even if we (Americans) don’t care about soccer, it’d still be nice to kick ass at it. You know as well as I do that we hate losing in anything competitive. As a national culture, we’re the equivalent of a hyperathletic superstar that hates to even lose a shopping cart race against a grandma.
[quote]Panther1015 wrote:
I agree with you, but it would be nice to beat the world at “their” game too. Especially since the US has the financial and athletic resources to do it.
[/quote]
Like the Dream Team beat the world at your game at the Athens Olympics.
Oh that’s right, you scraped in for a solid Bronze didn’t you?
[quote]G.O.A.T wrote:
Panther1015 wrote:
I agree with you, but it would be nice to beat the world at “their” game too. Especially since the US has the financial and athletic resources to do it.
Like the Dream Team beat the world at your game at the Athens Olympics.
Oh that’s right, you scraped in for a solid Bronze didn’t you?
[/quote]
Give me a break; that was hardly a dream team. Marbury and Iverson are two of the worst team players in the entire NBA, and the USA team had neither Shaq nor Kobe on it. Olympic basketball is primarly about team play, and not sheer athleticism. That US team was based soley on athleticism and not on teamwork. Anthony and James were also extremely inexperienced even playing in the NBA at that point, and both have shown massive improvement in the last two years. Let’s wait until 2008 and see if the US fields a squad that’s truly representative of the best players in the country.
Another sports point, I think if the NFL was disbanded tomorrow and NFL players decided to compete and train in other sports, people’s shit would get ruined. I really don’t understand why the US doesn’t start an aggressive training and recruiting program with its soccer team and take advantage of the massive amount of athleticism and size in this country. The introduction of 6’2 225+ people who can run faster and jump higher than most international soccer players right now would completely change the nature of the sport in favor of the United States. I guess we don’t give a shit, though.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Kids know where the money is…and it’s in those A Rod esque $250 million contracts.[/quote]
Really? Kids are that shallow in the US? Wouldn’t you play the sports that you love.
By the way, soccer is kind of big money in Europe. And by kind of big, I mean fucking huge.
I just did a google search and it came up with David Beckham as a higher earner than Kobe Bryant. Shaq being 2 places ahead though.
Also there are many high paying leagues. Not just 29 US teams for basketball, 28 Football (or whatever it is) and so on. There are a good 20 teams in the Premier League, Spanish League, Italian, and so on.
Soccer is where the money is and the opportunities lie.
I hate the sport though.
[quote]DemiAjax wrote:
Give me a break; that was hardly a dream team. Marbury and Iverson are two of the worst team players in the entire NBA, and the USA team had neither Shaq nor Kobe on it.
[/quote]
And you think the opposition had better than those guys? They would be walk up starters for any Country on earth.
Huh, I never thought basketball was a team sport. Who would have guessed?
That might work in the 4x100m relay but I doubt that strategy would pay off in a team sport.
I think Anthony was so poor that he actually didn’t hit a field goal for the entire tournament.
No doubt you will but the sheer arrogance of taking a 2nd rate team to Athens proved you aren’t as good as you think you are. You will win gold again though, motivated by embarrasment on the world stage. It’s a shame that is what it takes to bring your best team along.
If soccer was played in 5 second bursts with 40 seconds between plays they might well be worried. The aerobic component of it might mean your super athletes come unstuck.
Not really. The way soccer is officiated, any big guy going near some scrawny European diver would be penalised to high hell.
I think lugging that weight around for 90 minutes of highly aerobic sport would be too taxing and the scrawny guys would prevail.
That’s right. You don’t give a shit. Which is cool because your sports are national pastimes that soccer will not be able to compete with in the next 100 years.
It’s the same here in Aus. When the Cup was on, it was taking up the first 3 pages of the sports section. The second we went out it took a good 11 pages of turning to get to the soccer news. Aussie rules, both Rugby codes and etc took over again.
I’d rather play NFL or NBA than go diving in Europe if I was an American.
[quote]G.O.A.T wrote:
Panther1015 wrote:
I agree with you, but it would be nice to beat the world at “their” game too. Especially since the US has the financial and athletic resources to do it.
Like the Dream Team beat the world at your game at the Athens Olympics.
Oh that’s right, you scraped in for a solid Bronze didn’t you?
[/quote]
LMAO! You clearly don’t know your basketball, son. That team was poorly scouted and recruited. It wasn’t even close to the best the US had to offer. It was built on name recognition and not chemistry. Given the changes taking place in US Olympic basketball, the 2008 team will be a lot different and by “different” I mean able to spank foreign ass.
[quote]G.O.A.T wrote:
Really? Kids are that shallow in the US? Wouldn’t you play the sports that you love.[/quote]
Like any sport, the best talent goes where the money is. Hardly shallow. Big bucks in US Sports = Baseball, Basketball and American Football in that order.
So in two sentences, you call about 1/3of the world population (US and Europe) “shallow”. Hello pot, this is kettle…
This is common knowledge to most hardcore sports fans, which happens to be the majority of T-Nation members.
[quote]Also there are many high paying leagues. Not just 29 US teams for basketball, 28 Football (or whatever it is) and so on. There are a good 20 teams in the Premier League, Spanish League, Italian, and so on.
Soccer is where the money is and the opportunities lie.[/quote]
If you knew what the structure of American sports was like, you would see why our best athletes prefer American FB, bball and baseball above all else. We are probably the only developed nation in the world that has almost pro-level financial investment in college (“uni” for you foreigners) sports. I would compare the passion of college football to that of global soccer fans any day. Our most popular sport - American Football - capitalizes on this college sports phenomenon and uses it as a minor league system to develop top players. It’s very unique and counter-intuitive to the system used to develop soccer players in other parts of the world. Even major American pro sports that have drafted teenagers to their leagues don’t have a developmental system comparable to soccer’s.
You mean soccer? I don’t care enough about the sport to feel either way about it. I don’t really follow MLS (which is the FIFA equivalent of the Sun Belt Conference in NCAA Football, IMO) and they don’t televise the top foreign leagues like the EPL around here. I do love watching the World Cup though.
[quote]Panther1015 wrote:
Like any sport, the best talent goes where the money is. Hardly shallow. Big bucks in US Sports = Baseball, Basketball and American Football in that order.
[/quote]
The talent is a little different to ‘the kids’.
Nah, I was just saying that if kids want money, like you say they do, they don’t just have to play your typical American sports. Soccer is a big money gig too.
It had nothing to do with shallow and I never said that. Initially I said that I didn’t think kids would be shallow as I think they generally play the sports they enjoy. Read my initial post a little better.
How many 10 year olds play golf because that is where the money is? Fuck all really. They all want to play action sports like football, basketball and so on because they are fun sports.
Sorry I didn’t realise there was more!
[quote]Panther1015 wrote:
If you knew what the structure of American sports was like, you would see why our best athletes prefer American FB, bball and baseball above all else. We are probably the only developed nation in the world that has almost pro-level financial investment in college (“uni” for you foreigners) sports. I would compare the passion of college football to that of global soccer fans any day. Our most popular sport - American Football - capitalizes on this college sports phenomenon and uses it as a minor league system to develop top players. It’s very unique and counter-intuitive to the system used to develop soccer players in other parts of the world. Even major American pro sports that have drafted teenagers to their leagues don’t have a developmental system comparable to soccer’s.
[/quote]
Yeah I went to USC v UCLA on 2003 and that was an intense match. The atmosphere was great and it is something special you have there.
Yep. I mean soccer. One month every four years is all I can stomach. IT’s good because it really is the world game. I am pissed that the world didn’t pick a better game though!
MLS is about as good as our A League in Australia. It is the most fucked up boring league that is truly pissing in the wind.
Europe is where the good players go and I’m happy to let them go. We’ll stick to watching sports like Aussie rules and Rugby on a national level as you can with NFL, NBA and so on. Leave the soccer to the Europeans and don’t try and hold back players careers by putting them in a league that nobody rates!
You Aussies seem to have a pretty decent talent base to put together a good American FB team. This leads me to another thought…maybe American FB isn’t taking off as well across the world as soccer because of the types of athletes required to excel in it. Obviously culture and infrastructure have a lot to do with it too, but think about it. How many other sports require such a broad range of body and skill types as FB? You’ve got massive powerlifter types all the way down to some skinny little speedsters that wouldn’t look out of place on a soccer field. I don’t think many nations have the diversity or depth of talent to compete in American FB. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy (a stretch), Turkey, Iran, Greece, Russia and maybe some of the smaller Eastern Bloc nations. That’s it.
[quote]Panther1015 wrote:
G.O.A.T wrote:
Panther1015 wrote:
I agree with you, but it would be nice to beat the world at “their” game too. Especially since the US has the financial and athletic resources to do it.
Like the Dream Team beat the world at your game at the Athens Olympics.
Oh that’s right, you scraped in for a solid Bronze didn’t you?
LMAO! You clearly don’t know your basketball, son. That team was poorly scouted and recruited. It wasn’t even close to the best the US had to offer. It was built on name recognition and not chemistry. Given the changes taking place in US Olympic basketball, the 2008 team will be a lot different and by “different” I mean able to spank foreign ass.
[/quote]
That team sucked. Everyone knew they would suck going into the games.
All they were talking about on sports radio was how USA did not have any shooters on the team and you caan’t win international bball without shooters.
There were many that predicted the USA would not even medal.
Panther is 100% right on this.
[quote]G.O.A.T wrote:
How many 10 year olds play golf because that is where the money is? Fuck all really. They all want to play action sports like football, basketball and so on because they are fun sports. [/quote]
You would be amazed how early the kids get pushed into sport camps by their parents.
I do not mean the local camps but the ones down in Florida run by the sports agents with top level coaches.
Some of these sport camps are year round and include academic schools and tutors.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
You would be amazed how early the kids get pushed into sport camps by their parents.
I do not mean the local camps but the ones down in Florida run by the sports agents with top level coaches.
Some of these sport camps are year round and include academic schools and tutors.
[/quote]
Yeah I saw it on Oprah once. It’s similar here but, bit quite to the extent you guys do it. Parents living their dreams through their kids.