New Wahl Column

[kal-el]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/grant_wahl/07/15/diving/index.html

USMNT-related news:

1) Main part of column is rant against diving focused on the penalty induced by Wolff Sunday.

2) PSV coach Gus Hiddink is friendly with Arena, so call-ups shouldn't be a problem if Beasley is transfered there.

3) MLS is willing to break the bank to buy out Donovan's contract.

[drew_VT_6]

Fantastic article. Great to have him back in the mix! That's the most meat we've had in a soccer column in a long time. I'd like to see more coverage on what's going to happen with the Utah Blitzz. Seems like that will develop more over the next few months.

On the Donovan topic, I wonder how much of a transfer fee BL would ask for. I wonder if MLS would be able to get that back if an EPL or La Liga team came calling in the future.

[Red Star]

Wahl is a great writer.

[JRstriker12]

Surprized to see DMB in the "divers list". I've seen him get whached pretty hard quite a few times and get right back up.

[Danks81]

"Ruiz fell to the ground just outside the penalty trap, as if his foot had been caught in a beaver box."

Fixed Wahl's post.

:)

[sch2383]

If our players were as great as our reporters, we would be world beaters.

[McGinty]

2) PSV coach Gus Hiddink is friendly with Arena, so call-ups shouldn't be a problem if Beasley is transfered there.
"I spent the morning shopping for the Korean players and coaching staff." - Bruce Arena after the final games of the group stages at the World Cup.

Seriously, thats always good to hear after the crap with Lewis at Fulham and difficulty calling in O'Brien.

[StillKickin]

Wahl is a great writer.
One thing I really like about him is that he reports the facts without being overly opinionated and inflammatory, and yet produces a good read.

[striker]

Surprized to see DMB in the "divers list". I've seen him get whached pretty hard quite a few times and get right back up.

Your emphasis is on "get right back up". Other people's emphasis may be on the act that leads to getting right back up.

[JRstriker12]

Your emphasis is on "get right back up". Other people's emphasis may be on the act that leads to getting right back up.

I Wahl putting emphasis on the wrong part of the act also? ;)

"Several coaches pointed out that Ruiz proved he can play it straight (if he wants to) with his May 8 goal against Dallas, in which he was laid out by Burn keeper Scott Garlick, only to bounce up and fire the ball into an empty net.

[kurgen99]

Your emphasis is on "get right back up". Other people's emphasis may be on the act that leads to getting right back up.

Beasley is 5'6 140!!!
That's why he's always on the ground.

[jmeissen0]

wahl is a ********ing moron

diving is part of the game... just as body armor and standing over the plate in baseball is or crying out for interference every time you don't catch a ball in football or grabbing the defensive lineman when he gets by you in football as well or faking it for a penalty in hockey or going for the foul on every shot near the basket in basketball

it's a professional sport and it wasn't meant to be fair... you win by taking advantage of everything possible... physical, mental, emotional and yes, the officiating

this ain't little league, we don't split things up fairly, we don't remember the losers, we remember the winners

you're a prick wahl, get out of Sports Illustrated... a magazine devoted to sports at the highest competitive levels and start your own magazine on "Sports for Physical Education"


winning is everything

[superdave]

Is taking steroids part of the game? Is bribing the ref? Is hiring the Mafia to kidnap the opposing team's star's family part of the game? I'm trying to figure just how absurdly far you're willing to go with this. I wanna see just how far outside the fruit family you're gonna go in your apple comparison.

[jmeissen0]

when in doubt... go farther

:rolleyes:


surely you can do better than that... ok probably not

[Turk from Pigs Eye]

Consider, though, how much of the time Twellman is injured. Maybe he wouldn't get injured so much if he dove some. MLS defenders make some pretty brutal tackles and get away with it. Look at the one Beute put on Franchino last night, and he only got a yellow.

[Unorthodox Yank]

I was editor in chief of the high school newspaper Wahl wrote for.




...albeit it was about 18 years after he left, but STILL. :)


Good read. Well done.

[GIO17]

wahl is a ********ing moron

diving is part of the game...it's a professional sport and it wasn't meant to be fair... you win by taking advantage of everything possible.

Finally A Chicago Fire fan admits it. His side is a bunch of hackers and divers. Or what's that other word?............Oh yeah GOONS!

[Eliezar]

wahl is a ********ing moron

it's a professional sport and it wasn't meant to be fair...

Yeah that is why every law that exists is to make the game fair. That's why you each attack each goal for 45 minutes, there is a ref to make sure play is fair, and so on and so forth. If there is a top 10 most absurd posts list on big soccer for 2004 that one should make it.

[superdave]

when in doubt... go farther

:rolleyes:

surely you can do better than that... ok probably not
Answer the question. I want to know how much illegality is allowed. (jm, when you whole viewpoint is summarized in a contradiction, that's a good sign you have a bad argument.)

[United20]

Go Wahl, go Wahl.