Wow - and I thought I was the only one to awaken at 5am, scramble into
the shower, head out for some fresh-baked donuts and pound on the door
of my friend, so we could watch the England vs. Argentina game on our
(basic-cable, no ESPN) spanish channel Univision!!
For a dozen donuts and two pots of coffee - the game was incredible. I
was sorely disappointed that England went to a bunker defense the second
half. It was like they played a conservative, reserved game. Beckham
managed to convert a brilliant penalty kick (straight up the middle!)
but the real beauty was watching Owen scamper about madly and almost
convert another couple of trys.
Top it off - Univision has a brilliant announcer who screams
"Gooooooooaaaaaalllllll" on every point. The games thrilling. With
only 3 substitutions, there's no "special teams" or pauses while they
swap out players and strategies. Kicking the ball back and forth, with
some amazing passing strategies, the occasional tense moment in a
one-on-one with the goalie.
Compared to what, baseball?? boring. Hit a ball with a stick, miss a
ball, wait while teams switch out.
And they only end games with a tie in the qualifiers. You'll see in the
semi's and final games when they go to overtime and penalty shoot-outs.
Infact, the World Cup for 94 was decided on penalty kicks - and that
sucked. They'd already played another match in overtime, but when you
have 11 guys running constantly for 90 minutes, plus another, um-30? for
overtime - they're pretty weary.
Hockey is kinda similar to soccer - it's a low score, challenging game.
But more violent, which actually detracts from the game play (IMHO)
Rugby vs. American Football - rugby wins hands down. Like soccer -
constantly in motion and no sissy special teams and 15 man substitutions.
Just a bunch of big, ugly guys who can run fast and tackle without pads.
Besides, have you ever seen a World Cup American Football? Superbowl's
a joke.
Wait another two years and watch for World Cup Rugby. It was incredible
in Wales, it was amazing in South Africa - you can only bet that it gets
better in 2004.
MTV has cause americans to enjoy shortened attention spans when there's
a beautiful quality and skill in the incredible matches between entire
nations, competing for 90 minutes of world-acclaim and fame. Hands
down that beats competing for yet another US title that's renown in...
only the USA.
On Wednesday, June 12, 2002, at 01:07 PM, Lou Forlini wrote:
>
> At 12:03 PM -0500 6/12/02, Stephen Jendraszak wrote:
>> Yes! Exactly! It is like hockey. There is no tension. No
>> bottom-of-the-9th, full-count, bases-loaded situations. There are the
>> players, just running around one second, and the next, the ball is the
>> goal. Who'd a thunk?
>
> Stephen,
>
> I guess it's all in how you define tension and how you like your
> sports. I thought the England/Argentina match last week was quite
> tension-filled, after England decided to try and hold on to their 1-0
> lead by playing a defensive game for most of the 2nd half. Too bad
> for Argentina their striker was better at kicking the ball over the
> goal than into it.
>
> I gave up watching football years ago, because a 60-minute game
> takes 3 hours to play, and you don't even get 60 minutes of action.
> Soccer is continuous action, substitutions are limited, and the
> players have to be in incredible shape. On the other hand, my Dad
> used to watch golf because it was "relaxing" :)
>
> Regards,
>
> - Lou Forlini
> Software Engineer
> System Support Products, Inc.
>
> --
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>
>
-- Daniel Smith dsmith_at_mac.comPhone: 512-619-5459
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