Not sure if I saw this anywhere... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vi.../24/100624.reggie-miller-on-soccer/index.html Amazing the level of attention this is getting around the sporting world...
"We don't have our best athletes playing the sport." I'm so sick of this argument. Landon Donovan is more of an athlete than 99% of the NBA, NFL, MLB. Just because he isn't 6 foot 4 doesn't mean he isn't an athlete.
I hate the way it's phrased. It's incredibly condescending to players like Dempsey, Bradley and Donovan. Could our player pool be much deeper if we had more athletes playing soccer? Absolutely. Would we be able to develop a great left back (no offense, Bornstein, you played great last game) if our best athletes played soccer? Yes. A pure, world-class, goal-scoring striker? Probably. Only an idiot would dispute this. But to suggest that Landon and our other great players aren't among our "best athletes" in America is insulting and shows how Americans truly don't understand the sport. American columnists have stereotyped "athletes" as black males, 6'6" and 230-250 pounds. I'm not sure when they will realize that this particular demographic (except for race of course) doesn't really excel at the sport.
Miller is completely soccer ignorant, he shouldnt even be talking about about a sport he doesnt understand....even if we had ''our best athletes'' on the USMNT, they all still lack the actual experience of playing the game...seriously, i dont see a reggie bush or kobe bryant handleling the mental pressure on a world cup stage.
This is UTTER Bullcrap. Who made NFL/Baseball/Basketball players "the best athletes". I think there is a strong case for SOCCER players being better athletes. This statement is a sort of "Plan B" for soccer haters that are forced to try a new tactic since "boring" doesnt work anymore. And it comes from the same family of pretentious statements such as "Baseball WORLD CHAMPS" or "Basketball WORLD Champs". This is them just trying to grasp whatever they can! PS: SO IF BRAZILIAN SOCCER PLAYERS PLAYED BASKETBALL would Brazil Dominate in Basketball or be better in Basketball???????????? Since THEORETICALLY Brazilian Soccer players are Brazils BEST ATHLETES. Of course not! Brazilian Soccer players pick SOCCER because its the game that best fits them! Same wioth Baseball , Basketball and NFL...99% of those guys play those games because its the game that matches their personal skills and abilities!
This is a pretty bad threadjack, but whatever: I think Bush and Kobe have shown they handle pressure pretty well (Bush's hilarious lateral in the 2006 Rose Bowl notwithstanding). Why do you think they couldn't mentally handle the World Cup?
Reggie repeated it....he said "After the Donovan goal maybe we will get better athletes" His statement was EVEN WORSE!
I'm believe that different sports take different types of athletes. How many Landon Donovans or Clint Dempseys spend all their time trying to play football only to fall short? On the flip side, how many NFL, NBA, NHL or MLB type players spent their time trying to play soccer? It is apparent, like Reggie pointed out about basketball, that once the sport gains some traction in popularity, the different athlete types have an easier time finding their niche.
but what if those players chose soccer as their sport? you still dont think they would have the experience?
Look we've got some very very talented athletes on our Soccer team. But be honest. Don't you wish we had a little more depth? Don't you wish that a few positions we had better athletes? I do.
The whole "our best athletes" arguments is bullshit. Lebron James, Kobe, etc. wouldn't be world class soccer players. We don't have the developmental infrastructure.
Yup. The problem with the whole debate is that the statement shouldn't be: "our best athletes don't player soccer." It should be: "not enough of our best athletes play soccer."
The 'better athletes' debate is also in no way definitive. You can't run science experiments with 2 5 year old Kobe Bryant's and make one a basketball player and the other a soccer player. I think Donovan and Tim Howard are most definitely one of the 'better athletes' in the country that have succeeded in soccer. Better athletes will play soccer in the US when the $$$ is just as good for the NFL etc...right now that isn't the case.
I think the contention is what is this magical athlete that we're talking about. Different positions take different skill sets and different sports require different skill sets. US soccer players ARE some of the best athletes in country. Fact. anyway, sorry for the threadjack.
well if they chose soccer as their sport thats something we'll never know, maybe they would be good at it, maybe not. Im talking about the whole idea of having our ''best athletes'' playing for the USMNT right now....seriously, are starting line up would be: Donovan (he can stay, he's a phenomenon now), A-Rod, Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps, Kobey Bryant, Reggie Bush...etc .....it would be crazy, insane, stupid. Soccer just doesnt work that way.
No, but some point guard playing for some mid-major school, or a centerfielder wallowing in the minor leagues might have developed into a world class soccer player had he been exposed to the game. Only maybe one or two professional athletes in several generations would probably be capable of being world class athletes in multiple sports (Bo Jackson/Deion Sanders type freaks), so no, in many cases the great pros in the Big 3 sports would only have made it in those sports. However, if you took a big chunk of everyone in the country who plays little league baseball, peewee football, AAU basketball etc and threw them all on soccer fields instead, then a huge chunk of the best players in the world would be Americans. Sheer wealth and population size of the country would almost guarantee it.
From Reggies lips to gods ears! (About there being some young kids out there who might choose soccer over other sports now cause they want to be like Landycakes.) Pretty interesting thought on the inverse relationship between dominance of US basketball and the rise of soccer as well.
Guys - this is a great interview. Reggie is clearly a fan. Focus on the half full glass, eh? I think the points here are these: - You have one of the all-time great shooters in NBA history talking about "The Donovan Goal" on mainstream media - not only does he know about the play, he knows the player by name - It's clear he likes the team, admires what they've done, and would never denigrate the level of athleticism of our national team members, in particular, the guy he's lauding (Landon) - He sure sounds like he wants the US to be competitive win the world cup, not just make a strong run at the quarters or whatever... - You can sure as hell bet that if Reggie Miller is talking about it, the media/social/cultural reach of this team is far greater than it was in 2002 when Landon made some pretty important shots or even in 2006, when he didn't - With a wider reach, and greater appeal, Miller is right - maybe that kid who wouldn't have considered soccer, as he'd never really seen players get national accolades the way he sees other sports stars, might join a soccer league; maybe the 5' 7" multisport star gets inspired and sticks with soccer instead of hoops, football, or basketball - are you really arguing against having a larger playing pool? - And, sorry, the stats are there - the larger the player pool, the greater the number of better athletes, and until you get most of the "better" athletes, you're not getting the "best" athletes, and I think it's still safe to say that other sports (baseball, football, basketball) are at least getting the best athletes who are 5'11" or taller - maybe we could score a few more nats out of that lot and add many more in the shorter category with all this added exposure - who knows? Who knows, maybe in 2010, he'll be on the DP show again saying something like, "You know, it's clear that we *are* getting the best athletes to play soccer - it wasn't as obvious 4 years ago, but the more I learn, the more I realize that what we need more than better athletes is a better developmental program..."
If you are complaining about Reggie then you lack comprehension on what he's saying. He is clearly a supporter and trying to point out to Dan that people can really be affected by things like this. He sounded excited to me and sort of defensive, like he really backed the U.S. and our development as a soccer nation. Good for him.
And really, it DOES NOT mean that soccer, football, basketball, and baseball have to suffer or succeed at the expense of each other sport on the player development level (they all obviously compete for money on the business side to compete for fans) A very large chunk of pro athletes played multiple sports as kids. We just need more kids to play "soccer and football" or "soccer and baseball" or "soccer and basketball." LeBron James would still end up in the NBA, Peyton Manning would stil end up in the NFL, but maybe that point guard and centerfielder who never made it would find their way to Manchester United or AC Milan (Or Red Bull, Houston or LA even?)