Link? I'm reading now they're protesting playing this upcoming friendly on turf under any circumstances, if grass is laid on top or not. It doesn't make much difference. The foundation is still hard. And it's prone to divots. Lay grass on your carpet and see if it takes substantial pressure off joints and improves footing. Going back and looking at a little footage of the USMNT's match in Chattanooga in 2017 that I overlooked, it's an amateurish quality surface, and doesn't appear grass was laid on top. You can still faintly see the yard lines/#'s for the pigskin team.
Just my own memory and going back to look up some of the games pics. But yeah, you're right that some of those artificial surfaces are pretty ugly. The Gold Cup semis in Arlington got a lot of complaints from players as atrocious, though that wasn't USSF's doing.
Shrug. Does that really keep people from watching? Male athletes say dumb nonsense all the time, and we still watch. Would somebody really not watch a USWNT game because they think one of the athletes said something stupid? Male athletes make pollitical statements we disagree with all the time. The manager of the Red Sox refused to go to the White House to meet with Trump. He wanted to protest how the White House responded to the hurricane aftermath in Puerto Rico. His refusal to attend was a story for like two days. Now people don't care. And they went back to cheering on the Red Sox. Why? Because they love the Red Sox. If folks are going to stop rooting for teams with athletes that they disagree with politically, then nobody is going to watch sports anymore. I also detest when folks tell athletes to "shut up and dribble." As if their political opinions aren't just as valid as those of Joe Blow at the bus stop. I don't agree with Megan Rapinoe on some things. Who cares? Are we really all so insensitive that we can't handle our athletes having opinions that are different than our own? If folks don't want to watch the USWNT because of Megan Rapinoe's comments, then they weren't really fans to begin with.
When it comes to Club teams it is one thing. When it comes to National teams playing in the Olympics and World Cups it is another issue. Players should not be taking political stances (on National teams) unless they are idiots. And the reason why I say that they are idiots is because they are alienating almost half the population of the country that they want watching them and rooting for them on television.
Or perhaps they don't like having their intelligence insulted. Or they're tired of cant. Or they don't like seeing what was a diversion converted into a platform for statements of principle. Or they resent that someone justifies the crossing of the political line by regarding "the situation" as so dire. Or they're offended by the insensitivity shown to teammates with dissenting beliefs. By the way, that something was a story for two days doesn't mean that folks have forgotten. And the Red Sox? A .500 team now. True leaders are respectful of their players and teammates and understand that they may stray from what is the fashionable stance. True leaders don't introduce distractions. True leaders don't make silly noise and call atttention to themselves. The USWNT has frequently rubbed me the wrong way. So, you're right: I wasn't much of a fan to begin with. By the way, the women were right to be indignant over the turf thing, conservative political correctness also annoys me, and I don't think that the president should even invite teams to the White House.
And then there's that. An angry NFL or NBA player pouting in midseason is one thing. Michael Bradley wading into political disputes while captain of the NT is quite another.
But has she actually protested at the Olympics or World Cup yet? Or are we projecting what she think she might do? She preemptively said she wouldn't visit the White House. So what? Most of the latin and black players didn't visit the White House after the Red Sox won the World Series. People in general don't care. The USSF has made new guidelines that prevent certain political statements. Rapinoe knelt during the national anthem in a meaningless friendly against Thailand. There was swift reaction. She was LEFT OFF of the roster of the SheBelieves Cup. Most in the US Soccer community supported that decision. https://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/03/me...-protest-colin-kaepernick-national-team-uswnt If you're not supporting the USWNT because of the politics of one player................OK. That's your choice. But you'll miss out on a great thing.
Sorry G, but this is BS. Male athletes bring in politics all the time, from Cameron to Bradley to kneeling NFL to Pops postgame to you name it. The selective outrage is... interesting...
Yeah, I think people just have amnesia when it comes to political statements that male athletes make. Plenty of USMNT players have made political statements. Both in the recent and distant past. Michael Bradley made comments after the "Muslim Ban," after the Pulse night club shooting, after the issues in Charlottesville, and on and on. He was the captain of the USMNT We all criticize Michael Bradley for his play on the field, which is certainly fair game. And folks should feel free to criticize Bradley about his political statements. We just don't. Even if we're upset about it, we forget it a week later. The legs that the Megan Rapinoe outrage has had is interesting. If you don't like her, then don't root for her. But there are plenty of other women on this USWNT that you will find worth rooting for.
If I recall correctly, the lawsuit was couched in the terms of "human rights" because that is the way Canadian law refers to what we call here in the US "civil rights". They were not alleging war crimes. It was a gender discrimination lawsuit.
Agreed. I don't understand why we let politicians mooch off the popularity of sports. Such a stupid gesture.
Going into a World Cup or an Olympics the captains never tried to make the focus on protest or human rights issues or whether or not a Final was being played on the same day of another Final etc. Their main focus seemed to be on the games and the discussion was mostly about the objective at hand.
I have, After their objective of winning medals was complete they lifted up their hands in a gesture. Your point?
Absolutely. But they were two individuals running in an individual event, not captains of a team competing in a month-long tournament or struggling through a qualification odyssey.
Let's just bring this thing back to whether or not people will watch and the reasons why or why not. I don't want this thread to be locked up.
I hear you, pal. But, for me, they've made themselves unlikeable, and I will thus be less than eager to watch them. Indeed, I may have even hope them to lose. They could tone it down, and perhaps I'll tune in, become intrigued, and put my beef, as it were, aside. For now, I won't go out my way for them.
Or, maybe, those men just did not have the smarts to realize that going into a major well covered tournament was the perfect time to get publicity about what they thought was/is an important cause or issue. During World Cups and Olympics the world turns its focus on that event and people wanting exposure can and should use that platform if they have strong feelings about something. We should remember that as much as we may love a given event or sport it is just that, sports. It is correct, although sometimes unpleasant for many, to use one platform to bring attention to bigger issues. Also it is stupid to deprive one's self of an enjoyable event because of the expressed political or personal positions of a participant. If I had done that I would have missed many enjoyable movies staring actors like Charlton Heston and Tom Cruise or made by directors like Roman Polanski. My dislike of their actions or beliefs in no way should prevent me enjoying their movies. I STRONGLY believe that North Korea, Iran, Israel, Iraq, Venezuela, Chile, Russia and many other countries are havens of various forms of rights suppression and terrorism and do not really deserve to exist BUT I do enjoy watching players from there and even like watching their national teams. I am not going to deprive myself of the enjoyment just because I disagree with the politics. I will not punish myself to try to get to those that I disagree with.
Ah, the disdain for politics only applies to "the World Cup or Olympics for Teams from the USA..." (Guess you missed the whole "everyone skipped an entire Olympics" thing...)