Yeah, but she WANTS to play. If Foudy is that detrimental to the USWNT and there is someone else who could fill her spot and do a similar or better job, then it should be APRIL who takes Foudy off the team rather than Foudy taking herself off the team. The facts are she's a part of the team -- and based on her playing time, she is an integral part! You can't fault her for wanting to do everything under the sun and play ball. I'm sure most (if not all) posters on this board would do the same things (play and politicing) if they had the opportunity. It is not for Foudy to pull herself off the team when she WANTS to play. It is the coach's job to do that, and for whatever reasons (be it play, best friend, fitness, or choose your own) April thinks she's a large part of the team. An argument could be made that Foudy should pull herself off the team for the better of the team, but that is a matter of opinion. Plus, Foudy obviously thinks she IS a part of the team and earn a spot. And if this is the case, then why in the world would she pull herself off a team where she thinks she's earned the right to be there. Just rationalizing.
Wait...doesn't ballroom dancing require a man and a woman? So that's opportunity for men, yes. And in that 'sport', men lead. How does that compute? And, Tom, I see that you do follow the women's game. In fact I've never seen you denigrate their game itself the way some others on the boards have.
Bobby Hull wants to play too but you don't see him trying to play hockey at his age. He quit when he could not play anymore. Ms. Foudy can't play anymore. She does not belong on the team. She is on the team and gets playing time due to political considerations. It has nothing to do with her level of play. Look at the World Cup. Why did she get any playing time at all? Why did she get any of the many dubious PKs that were awarded? Why did they use one of the precious subsitutions to allow a defensive midfielder to do a split shift? It makes no sense at all from a team perspective. April does what she is told, not the other way around. Recall what Eric Wynalda said about Ms. Foudy retiring. He spoke the truth. Just my opinions.
From the Associated Press: Julie Foudy scored in the 87th minute to give the United States a 3-2 comeback victory over Mexico on Friday night in the championship of an Olympic qualifying tournament. Just the facts.
Being that I wrote a lot of words, you may have missed: "then why in the world would she [Foudy] pull herself off a team where she thinks she's earned the right to be there." This makes her different than the great Bobby Hull.
She may think she has a right to be on the team, but even her backers say she should hang it up. Who cares what she thinks about her skills unless she really is the de facto coach.
I'm beginning to think that you totally missed what I said. I was rationalizing why Foudy would likely NOT step off the team, even considering all of her extracurricular activities, if you will, and that is because she probably *thinks* she has rightfully earned a spot on the NT, and if she thinks she has rightfully earned a spot AND she wants to play, then why in the world would she take herself off a team she earned a spot on and wants to play with? If you think Foudy is not worthy, that's one thing; but to blame her for not pulling herself off the team is entirely another. It is April's job to do, and if Ape thinks Foudy shouldn't be there but doesn't nothing about it because of outside influences, then it's April's problem, not Foudy's. Just clarifying a rationalization...
Tom, Tom, Tom ... you do know someone on this board spends a lot of his professional life accumulating Olympics knowledge, right? Thankfully, Monster has already done the basic refutations. I'll add a couple of facts: 1. Many Olympic sports have more men's events or weight classes then women's events and weight classes. Track and field has 24 events for men, 22 for women. Canoe/kayak sprinting has nine for men, three for women. Track cycling has four men's-only events. Wrestling just added four women's weight classes this year. Shall I go on? Sure, synchronized swimming, softball and rhythmic gymnastics are women-only, but then there's baseball and boxing. 2. Even if the Olympics somehow hit a 50-50 ratio ... guess what? Viewers like women's Olympic sports! Female athletes like these sports. (Please don't tell me the 8-year-old boys on your school playground were planning to take up the pommel horse but decided it wouldn't be worth it because of Title IX restrictions.) We men will have to be content with the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, every major worldwide soccer league ... As far as Foudy goes -- hey, if April only wants to go with one holding midfielder type and decides on Shannon Boxx for that role, then Foudy's career as a starter will be over. Until then, April's loyalty to Foudy is no worse than Sampson's loyalty to Thomas Dooley in 1998. (And I like Thomas Dooley.)
Quote: Originally posted by Thomas Flannigan In reality, men would love to have women more interested in sports. The real opposition comes from other women. Last summer, some friends of my wife stopped by on a Saturday. There was no MLS game on so I was watching the WUSA game. They began commenting on the game and two were VERY cruel about it. Not all of the players on WUSA teams are physically attractive. Same with men’s teams. They are selected for athletic ability, not looks. Nevertheless, there was a steady stream of catty comments most of it centering on lesbianism. When there were close-ups, they made very cruel comments which I will not repeat here. Most of the opposition to the WUSA comes from other women. Congress can’t change that. Only women can change that. ------------------------------------------------- Thomas, none of us here can do anything about the kind of women your wife chooses to associate with. obviously you do not control your wife very well, You should learn how to put your foot down and stop being so Meek.
If you ignore him, he has no one to argue with Why keep feeding this troll whose posts all boil down to this simple formula: TF hates title 9 + Julie Foudy defends title 9 = TF hates Julie Foudy. There were other players at the world cup who deserved to be there less than Foudy, but you don’t hear him bitching about them.
Beau, women's wrestling (what??) has been added to the Olympics and it sure looks like women's boxing and ballroom dancing are on the way, while Rogge all but said baseball will be eliminated. You don't have be a weatherman to see which way the hot air is blowing. My post criticized the Olympics as filtered through the American media machine. They are really two different things, and the abomination you see on TV is more of a radical feminist psychodrama, with males as the enemy, than a sporting event. Men's soccer will not be broadcast at all on the main network and the final moved to 1:30 A.M. US time. They are burying this event just like they buried the US-Russia hockey game in the first round of the Olympics while women's hockey, and the endless interviews, was shoved down our throat every night. Dooley played brilliantly in 1998 against Brasil and deserved to be on the Wold Cup team. Ms. Foudy played horrendously and made the team anyway. Just my opinions
I've been reading this tread quite a while without commenting. I think it's clear, barring socialist or communist societies, females have a prominent place in our sporting culture. But I'd discount the realm of PROFESSIONAL sport, the big 3....these BUSINESSES represent a totally separate matter Nations like Sweden or Norway nurture and many other european nations offer avenues for woman. The DOMINANT force in female athletics has been the COLLEGE system. A feature of this is the BIG BUSINESS of COLLEGE basketball and football, which enters the domain of PRO SPORTS which I've separated above. Clearly, the dynamics of profit govern PRO aspect of sport. Returning the the heated arguement, the big question is equality of opportunity once government dollars have entered the equation. The PRO college sports are the clear winners in all this...then comes female sports a distant 2nd...and then trail the other mens sports.... sure you can look at case by case and find examples who disprove the rule, but IN AGGREGATE, I think my ordering is correct.... I've read a lot of Thomas Flanngans posts over time.... He's travelled to many places on this planet, many people don't know exist. He's had tons of exposure to what world cultures are all about. He does have exposure to many experiences from which well formed judgements can be formed. He knows his soccer.... as to whether some coach selects a player for reasons other than talent...that's the coaches decision... As to the Olympics...I'm a huge track and field fan and follow mens and womens events avidly... It's all about HIGH level performance. Much like I'd watch WUSA because of the quality of the play, NOT because WOMEN were playing. It's all about passing the test of watchability... Track and field will be adding the womens steeplechase this summer. Let's just say this is hell for 3000 meters... Man or woman...you finish a steeplechase, and your life passes before you eyes.... why all this petty bitching..... in all this fighting everyone loses
Not in the Olympics: http://www.athens2004.com/athens200...&cid=792b470429149f00VgnVCMServer28130b0aRCRD But they probably will before too long. All of which leads me to believe that he's trolling (as defensewins suggests) or that he loves arguing things that fall outside his base of knowledge, however wide that may be. Tom, did you ever see the Kids in the Hall sketch in which Bruce insists on fighting the guy outside the bar no matter how many times he gets bloodied? That's what this thread is starting to resemble. I'll put the onus on you -- why is baseball on the verge of elimination? Do a little research and see if you can learn the answer. But thanks for the reminder. In fact, check this out: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/summer/2004-01-27-marano-10-0_x.htm Now here's a question for you. Since women's wrestling is in the Olympics, why aren't colleges adding it? Why are they cutting men's wrestling instead? I'll pose everything else as a question for you: - Why do you suppose U.S. TV isn't making much of men's soccer in Athens? How much are they planning for baseball? (Hint: The answers are related.) - How is softball faring as an Olympic sport? How about taekwondo? How about modern pentathlon? - What evidence do you have that ballroom dancing will be on the program in 2012? - How do other countries cover women's Olympic sports? How do the international federations divvy up the coverage for men and women?
Why would you want to give someone like that any credibility? I too have read alot of his posts. He has an agenda, he ignores facts, and manufactures inaccuracies out of his behind. He might know soccer, but most of us do too I would venture to say. He has no idea what he is talking about half the time, and when someone calls him on it, he proceeds with same bs. Cultural knowledge? So what? That has nothing to do with being a liar on a mission.I have seen his behind ripped in the men's forums as well. TF is a bore.
Yeah. We're retty good at it and there have been a bunch of world championships so it's a legit sport. One person said boxing might be added for 2008. I have already proved you are lying about DanceSport so just knock it off. Well, the broadcast schedule has not been released so you're making that up. But if it isn't, it will be because we didn't qualify, not because of some agencda. And there really is no "main network" because they have five or six networks who will be showing things 24/7. Do you want the GOS to pull out the posts that prove that you are a patholigical lying mysogonist or should you just slink away with yourf tail between your legs now and create some other fictional argument in another forum. Just the facts.
Adam, thanks for the kind words. Defensewins, maybe I am a bore, most attorneys are not very kicky. But the threads I start seem to spark a lot of posts and debate. Beau, I can't answer all of your questions today. The reason men's soccer is getting no exposure on the network is because soccer in the U.S. is a women's game and they have to promote that agenda. The USWNT gets endless favorable publicity and the USMNT very little for the same reason. When we almost made it all the way in the World Cup (the Germany game was rigged), media moguls used it as a platform to promote the Eternals and the USWNT. Did you ever see Carlos Bocanegra got a photo op at a USWNT game? Soccer in the U.S. has a political meaning that other sports don't and that is one of thre reasons men's soccer was alocated no network time and we will have many hours of women's soccer this summer. I think they announced 8 months ago that the women's final will be televised live, perhaps in its its entirety, on the network. Men's soccer gets better ratings than women's soccer so something other than profit is behind this decision.
0-for-1 (assuming, as monster has questioned, that you have any info on this at all). Men's soccer won't feature heavily on U.S. TV because there is no U.S. team to follow. The same is true, I can tell you from not-quite-inside information, for baseball. 0-for-1. Quit while you're ahead?
Beau, you must recall the thread about TV coverage for men's soccer in Athens. I think that thread had 200 posts too and it was long before we lost to Mexico. Dick Eberhard had already announced thyat men's soccer would only be on Spanish TV. Our loss in Jalisco had nothing to do with these decisions. You ignore the big picture, which is how Olympic TV coverage is slanted towards non-sports feminist topics that eat up a big part of air time. And most of the buzz.
Fixed. Is this why the original plans included men and women both getting coverage on MSNBC? Nice cry for attention within a cry for attention. Nope. And I really don't care if he gets one. I don't worry so much what other people think of soccer. Lie. Original press release text follows - "MSNBC will also provide coverage of the opening soccer matches, featuring the USA teams." Nothing about women specifically. But I don't do this for your benefit because you already know you're a liar. Others need to be educated. Source? No schedule has been announced. In fact, your theory that women;s soccer will be the darling of NBC's coverage is not only flawed by your fear of strong women and aversion to the cooties. NBC has already picked what it will shove down our throats in the upwards of 1,000 hours of coverage on various networks. Badminton.
His name is Dick Ebersol and he never announced anything like that. Here is the only announcement and it included English-language coverage of soccer at that time. Do you hate "Spanish TV" as much as you hate women? It's an American network that broadcasts in Spanish. Turn on Dora the Explorer and get ready for the Oympics. They waqtch. They patronize advertisers. More than 1,000 hours on five networks, one of which will be showing something at all times. And you're bitching. Must be a soccer fan.
Monster's already challenged you for a source on NBC's alleged anti-soccer scheduling. But even if you could find some sort of preliminary schedule, it wouldn't matter because that schedule is so fluid. I know that baseball coverage plans changed when Mexico won that particular game. I guarantee that I've watched more Olympic TV coverage than you have in the past 10 years. I even sat across a table from Dick Ebersol, though I've never met the mysterious Dick Eberhard. I've failed to notice feminist political speeches. They know their audience. I don't agree with every TV coverage decision. Not at all. But it's hardly some feminist conspiracy.
Will you please get off that conspiracy stuff? There is no conspiracy. There is an agenda behind a lot of TV decisions and the Olympics is one of them. I apologize for misspelling Erbersol's name. I think you know who I meant. In the thread on this, even the most hostile poster did not dispute the announcement, which was provided with a link, that men's soccer in Athens would only be available on Spanish TV. Da Cfo opined that it was a good decision. I argued it was odd because it is growing in popularity and they sure seemed to be able to find tons of time for women's soccer. I have no doubt that you have watched more Olympics in the last year than I have. Men are getting turned off by this propagada and doiong somethiung else. In 2003, male network TV viewership plummeted 7 per cent! I wonder why? Now, back to our regular programming, an interview with a female shot putter who was "mentally and physically abused by her boyfriend" and later, a piece about a Symchronized Swimmer That Was Never Loved. Some "sports" broadcast insn't it?
Oh, I just LOVE this part! We have to get off the conspiracy stuff, but every one of his posts is about the conspriracy of Osama Foudy, the Eternals, feminists, the Olympic committee, ballroom dancers and anyone who might hurt the feelings of those poor, poor broken hearted college athlete boys. PUHLEESE. And he's an ATTORNEY! That will tell you everything about skewing the facts to his own advantage. And of course your posts generate lots of discussion. Everyone reads them in such disbelief that they are just compelled to respond. Unfortunately, just like trying to reason with a KKK member in the wrongness of their thinking, it's a lesson in futility with you.
TF, you are completely lying here. I'd love any woman who can point, flex and display her legs like that. She's being too picky, that's all.