Your most hated sport or sports league.....

[razazteca 0]

Did'nt Maradona win the World Cup while on Crack or did the drug problems happen because he became famous and could not resist temptation?

[caboose 0]

Diego Maradona is the man who carried a very average Argentina side in 1986 to the World Cup in Mexico. The string of failed drug tests all started 4 or so years later. After Argentina lost to Germany in the 1990 World Cup final, Maradona's form and persoanl life turned to absolute shit. And his continual downward spiral was due to his over exposure to everyone in the Soccer world, and his inability to cope with failure following his previous successes.

[razazteca 0]

The sports that I dislike are the ones that appear every 4 years of so for its "god" push. To be specific it would be the Olympic Summer sports such as gymnastics, track & field, shooting. The major problem I have with gymnastics is that the competitors are little girls who project a bad image for sports in general. Gymnastics is the only sport where I have seen a person cry after performing. Track & Field is ok but the whole deal with the "who is the fastest in the world" hype gets on my nerves especially when the winner is on steroids. Don't care if its guns or bow & arrows, I just don't like it.

[caboose 0]

Athletics I have all but given up on. I watch Olypic events that aren't typically associated with Athletics, such as Soccer or Cycling, but the Track and Field/Swimming rubbish bores me to death.

 

The Winter Olympics however I love.

[Damaramu 0]

The sports that I dislike are the ones that appear every 4 years of so for its "god" push. To be specific it would be the Olympic Summer sports such as gymnastics, track & field, shooting. The major problem I have with gymnastics is that the competitors are little girls who project a bad image for sports in general. Gymnastics is the only sport where I have seen a person cry after performing. Track & Field is ok but the whole deal with the "who is the fastest in the world" hype gets on my nerves especially when the winner is on steroids. Don't care if its guns or bow & arrows, I just don't like it.

I think the reason you only hear about it in the Olympics is because their is no professional side to it. The atheletes there work to win the gold medal...it's just like wrestling.

[razazteca 0]

To make a child live in a gym from ages as early as 8 to win the gold for some political reason is not a sport. Sports are suppose to be fun not a job.

[Guest jpclemmons]

Athletics I have all but given up on. I watch Olypic events that aren't typically associated with Athletics, such as Soccer or Cycling, but the Track and Field/Swimming rubbish bores me to death.

 

The Winter Olympics however I love.

IAWTP. plus, the NBC coverage of the olympics are awful, mainly focusing on "stories" on the athletes.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Athletics I have all but given up on. I watch Olypic events that aren't typically associated with Athletics, such as Soccer or Cycling, but the Track and Field/Swimming rubbish bores me to death.

 

The Winter Olympics however I love.

IAWTP. plus, the NBC coverage of the olympics are awful, mainly focusing on "stories" on the athletes.

Thank God for CBC.

[razazteca 0]

So CBC shows Curling and Hockey instead of the WHY? WHY? WHY? figure skating of Tonya Harding and the cheating Russian judges?

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

So CBC shows Curling and Hockey instead of the WHY? WHY? WHY? figure skating of Tonya Harding and the cheating Russian judges?

Actually, they show all three. Figure skating tends not to run at the same time as everything else. It is on all day so we see almost everything.

[Anorak 0]

The U.S and Canada's disdain for soccer and the world's insane love of it should be a good indicator of why we have the two best countries and the rest of the world is pretty screwed up.

Are you being, like, totally ironic and stuff or are you just trying to flamebait? If you're not careful you can end up sounding like a real idiot.

[Insane Bump Machine 0]

I think it's too late for that.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Alot of the NBA is more boring than soccer. At least with soccer they make an attempt to score it's just not easy doing so.

[King Kamala 0]

Yeah but the reason I like the NBA 10x more then soccer is the NBA players always try to give a show. As conceded as it as and as much as a lot of people hate it, it makes the game exciting in some way.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I like the Western Conference. The East on the other hand is a different story...outside of a few teams.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Football's more of a cerebral game, though. You've got two teams of mastermind coaches trying to outwit each other, and the players have to be able to execute the plays. It's balanced like that, which is why I love it. Soccer and Rugby always struck me as being more chaotic and physical, with lots of running and kicking.

Soccer (I hate to call it that, but this is a Mostly American board), can be just as cerebral as you put it.

 

Example, Leicester City played Middlesborough in the League Cup Final a few years back, I think it was 1997. Middlesborough's side was full of highly paid and just as highly talented international stars. Leicester however was mostly a team made off hardworking journeyman. However Leicester had one ace in their pack, Sweden's national captain, Pontus Kaamark. Leicester's coach, Martin O'Neill told Kaamark to track Middlesborough's best player, Juninho, up and down the pitch without mercy and basically suffocate him out of the game. Kaamark managed to keep Juninho quiet two games running and with Middlesborough's best player effectively cancelled out, Leicester scraped home the cup in perhaps their greatest moment.

See, that's still different than what I was referring to. That's more of a basketball-type double coverage sort of deal.

 

What I mean was, that soccer doesn't really have "plays" of sorts, and if they do, they're so indistinct that I can't differentiate. With football, there's such a huge array of what a team can do to try to score. With soccer, it seems like it's always "Drive down the field and kick a goal." Unless we're talking clock management, and playing defensively...general things like that. Football's more specific and specialized, that's why I like it more.

 

ALSO, the argument against football that irritates me the most is the "They're pussies because they wear pads" argument. Wearing pads and helmets allows them to hit each other MUCH harder than they would if they were totally unprotected. Even with all the protective gear they wear, the average lifespan of an NFL running back is 2.6 seasons. A little over two and a half seasons is only 40 games...40 games before the sport deteriorates them so badly that they cannot continue playing. Offensive linemen also average something like half a dozen knee surgeries throughout their careers. Even WITH specially-designed helmets, guys like Steve Young get knocked out of the sport with violent concussions. The sheer physics of an open-field football tackle are insane. Two 240ish lb. balls of muscle running full-tilt boogie, and colliding head on. These guys also run 40 meters well inside of 5 seconds for the most part, too. That's a LOT of force. I'd like to see a soccer player take that kind of punishment.

[Guest Redhawk]

I hate "sports" that aren't sports that get coverage on ESPN: poker, golf, auto racing, etc.

 

And.....if......the....baseball.....season.....wasn't......so.....loooooong.......I might like it more.

[Insane Bump Machine 0]

See, that's still different than what I was referring to. That's more of a basketball-type double coverage sort of deal.

 

What I mean was, that soccer doesn't really have "plays" of sorts, and if they do, they're so indistinct that I can't differentiate. With football, there's such a huge array of what a team can do to try to score. With soccer, it seems like it's always "Drive down the field and kick a goal." Unless we're talking clock management, and playing defensively...general things like that. Football's more specific and specialized, that's why I like it more.

OK, there are set plays in soccer every time there's a free kick or a corner. These situations are even called 'set plays'. The coaches develop specific tactics for these situations, with specific spots for all the players involved.

There's also plenty of ways the coaches and players can modify their tactic, to try different things in order to get a goal. Wether it's putting on an additional offensive midfielder to put more pressure on the other team's central defense, having players switch sides to throw their opponents off, pull a defensive player more into the midfield in order to win the numbers game in there etc etc. They are not 'set plays' because these changes have to be made on the fly while the game is still going and everything kinda flows together, that's probably why it's hard to grasp for someone who grew up watching Basketball/Football, where the game is interrupted every few seconds/minutes.

[Anorak 0]

ALSO, the argument against football that irritates me the most is the "They're pussies because they wear pads" argument. Wearing pads and helmets allows them to hit each other MUCH harder than they would if they were totally unprotected. Even with all the protective gear they wear, the average lifespan of an NFL running back is 2.6 seasons. A little over two and a half seasons is only 40 games...40 games before the sport deteriorates them so badly that they cannot continue playing. Offensive linemen also average something like half a dozen knee surgeries throughout their careers. Even WITH specially-designed helmets, guys like Steve Young get knocked out of the sport with violent concussions. The sheer physics of an open-field football tackle are insane. Two 240ish lb. balls of muscle running full-tilt boogie, and colliding head on. These guys also run 40 meters well inside of 5 seconds for the most part, too. That's a LOT of force. I'd like to see a soccer player take that kind of punishment.

I appreciate the need for protection in American Football with the insane bumps players take and agree it can be pretty fun to see somebody nearly decapitate another player with a well timed clothesline. Even so, its a poor substitute compared to Rugby where proper tackling takes place, where its an actual defensive skill where it takes both strength, timing and technique to stop an opponent, any 300+ pound idiot can whack somebody in the neck or head. When you've grown up watching Rugby it looks silly to see an American Football clip where somebody runs 90 yards to score without having to evade any meaningful attempt at a proper tackle because everybody else is involved in what looks like a wrestling tie up.

 

You're right no soccer player could take the punishment dished out to American Football players but then again there's no similarity between the games anyway, you actually have to be useful with your feet to play our version of football

[Vern Gagne 0]

My viewing of soccer is pretty much only the world cup, and the olympics. Is the occurance of players selling injuries like they've been shot as prevelant as it seems in those events.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

You're right no soccer player could take the punishment dished out to American Football players but then again there's no similarity between the games anyway, you actually have to be useful with your feet to play our version of football

 

Whaaaaaaat? Footwork is just about the single most important thing for a wide receiver, other than hands. It's a battle to get a step on a defender, and that takes uncanny balance and timing. All while using one's hands at the same time.

 

But you're absolutely right, there's is NO similarity between soccer and Football.

 

As far as tackling goes, it is indeed an art in football as well. The "wrestling tie ups" as you put it are the ballcarrier's blockers doing everything they can to keep the defensivemen from tackling him. All of those long-yardage sprints begin with good blocking.

[Guest MikeSC]

I appreciate the need for protection in American Football with the insane bumps players take and agree it can be pretty fun to see somebody nearly decapitate another player with a well timed clothesline. Even so, its a poor substitute compared to Rugby where proper  tackling takes place, where its an actual defensive skill where it takes both strength, timing and technique to stop an opponent, any 300+ pound idiot can whack somebody in the neck or head.

Yet, amazingly, bad tackling technique in football doesn't tend to drop many players. RB's plow through arm tackles without too much of a problem.

When you've grown up watching Rugby it looks silly to see an American Football clip where somebody runs 90 yards to score without having to evade any meaningful attempt at a proper tackle because everybody else is involved in what looks like a wrestling tie up.

Umm, isn't rugby basically a long wrestling tie-up?

You're right no soccer player could take the punishment dished out to American Football players but then again there's no similarity between the games anyway, you actually have to be useful with your feet to play our version of football 

Well, a player has to have an IQ above room temperature to understand football strategy, so I guess it all balances out.

-=Mikr

[Anorak 0]

You're right no soccer player could take the punishment dished out to American Football players but then again there's no similarity between the games anyway, you actually have to be useful with your feet to play our version of football

 

Whaaaaaaat? Footwork is just about the single most important thing for a wide receiver, other than hands. It's a battle to get a step on a defender, and that takes uncanny balance and timing. All while using one's hand at the same time.

Nearly every sport requires good footwork to some degree, thats just stating the obvious really. I wasn't actually claiming American Football players didn't have that skill or weren't very good at it, I was just joking (I even put a yellow smilie!) about how 90% of your 'foot'-'ball' game doesn't actually involve the need to kick the ball with your feet . Apart from the punts and Field Goals (I used to play John Madden!) I can't think of when else the game requires any need for players to have good ability at striking the ball with their feet.

[Anorak 0]

You're right no soccer player could take the punishment dished out to American Football players but then again there's no similarity between the games anyway, you actually have to be useful with your feet to play our version of football  

Well, a player has to have an IQ above room temperature to understand football strategy, so I guess it all balances out.

-=Mikr

Trust me, nobody ever said soccer players were the brightest bunch around in general terms but when they're on the field they can adopt a natural grace which is seldom seen in any other team sport. Somebody as daft as Paul Gascoinge was transformed into an intelligent (tactically aware) and skilful (flair, technique and creativity) individual with his own distinct personality to his play because of pure natural talent. I've always found American Football to be a bit overstuffed with strategy, tactics and statistics to the point where it lacks any diverse spontinaiety (you know the word!), that surprise spark/thrill of the unexpected. On the flip side I know some people love the fact that each play contested comes down to a basic battle of wits of both a physical and mental nature.