Re: Re: "Tennis being soccerized..." I was wondering if anyone else remembered things the same way I did. Maybe someone should point out to DeFord (speak slowly, though), that it was a little-known American ... by the name of Pete Sampras ... that heralded and cemented the base-line power game in the men's game. Even Lendl and Becker had more "touch" in their game.
Frank is one big Yawn. He'll probably break into tears on friday when baseball goes on strike. This guy must really hate soccer with a passsion to bring it up in a context like this. I can't wait til he croaks.
"Small ball." It was the style of play that was identified with the National League for years and years and years. And since I grew up in a National League town (Houston), I got to see plenty of it: Get a guy on first, have him steal second or advance him on a hit-and-run, get him home on a base hit or on sacrifice play. Get a couple of runs on a couple of routine base hits and some smart base-running. Meanwhile, in the other half of the inning, you get good pitching and some good defense. Games were 3-2 or 5-3 or something sane like that and were generally over in two or two-and-a-half hours. Maybe three if there were extra innings. To me, it was a better brand of baseball than you saw in the American League, with its DH and the Earl Weaver "get a couple of guys on and have Godzilla hit a three-run homer" style of baseball. Oh sure, home runs are nice, but there seemed to be no style, no flair, no cunning to that baseball. But owners saw that "chicks dig the long ball," and started building smaller ballparks, turning a blind eye toward the steroids that allowed a guy who was hitting long sacrifice flies to become a guy who hits a three-run homer, etc. etc. Now, everybody plays the old American League style, even if they're in the NL. It's a shame.
John McEnroe played soccer. Was his play "soccerized"? Europeans have been playing soccer for over a century. Did they just now become soccerized or were they always that way. DeFord's piece on NPR was petty. His jab at soccer was baseless.
tennis - soccer - deford deford doesn't get much respect 'round these parts i know, but he does recognize the difference in sports mindsets between europe and the u.s. in this one. ... and he takes the professional approach this time by not bashing soccer but instead inserting a sliver of analysis in his comparison. anyway ... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/frank_deford/news/2002/08/28/viewpoint/
Quote: Tennis has been soccer-ized Oh Pleassssseeee!!!!!! So is he saying that any sport that isn't dominated by Americans is soccer-ized? Talk about ignorance.
I know what he's trying to say - that tennis isn't as exciting as it used to be - but for Christ's sake... Comparing tennis to a sport that he obviously doesn't understand and takes great pains to bash is a little weird, IMO. It's kind of like people who call up Howard Stern to tell him they hate him and don't listen to him, when they actually spend every waking hour logging his use of the word "penis".
Hadn't we already hashed through this topic? Does anyone actually scan existing threads before starting a new one? Will Jack and Linda get back to back together on Guiding Light, or will Ken continue blackmailing Jack with those photos of him playing soccer?
Basically the same opinion he gave on NPR a few days ago and about which there are threads around here. He isn't bashing soccer per se, but he is illustrating how little he knows about the game itself as compared to other sports. (Every time he opens his mouth on the subject he shows his ignorance.) I don't know what you mean by "mindsets" exactly, but I think he's wrong. To say football, to take one, is about the slashing, driving long bomb and not about the "trench warfare" of the lines engaging in a war of attrition is both a random subjective view and not something one unfamiliar with the game would say. To say baseball is the home run and not the grueling pitcher vs. batter duels is, again, taking one aspect of the game he likes and blowing it out of proportion. Soccer, like these, has its mundane, searching pawn-like positioning but it's all looking for a crack to exploit for its own "long bomb", "fast break" or "home run". Because he doesn't understand the game at all he only sees the build up without seeing the drama that's always on the verge of happening. What's more, he's just wrong about tennis. Americans were primarily responsible for the big serving, big racquet change of the game. Now that it's not as popular in the US as it used to be (anyone who remembers the late 70s and early 80s knows what I mean), US athletes favor it less. Now the population likes golf more and we encourage youngsters to play it (i.e., Tiger Woods). The Europeans (and South Americans and...) play it more and often train on clay courts and can use the combination of clay courts and big serves in their own way. It's not, as he thinks, about batting the ball around waiting for a dulled opponent to make a mistake, just like soccer isn't (a mistake a lot of US sports writers make about the game because they don't get it), baseball isn't, and basketball isn't.
fast break??? What decade is he living in. The 80s are over. Basketball is far more a walk-it-up, pound-it-out sport nowadays. He apparently hasn't watched basketball or soccer recently.
I agree with FleetwoodMac#1 -- why give the guy a hit? We'd all be better off if we quit hoping for validation from people who don't like soccer. Just ignore them, one day they'll die.
>>Now that men's tennis is not only dominated by non-Americans, but also played in an un-American style, you have to wonder how long the U.S. Open -- and the game itself -- can sustain popularity here. >> Typical 'Mericanism. Weird coming from a country that is so ethnically mixed. You would think that the US would enjoy "foreign" sports and "foreign" athletes, but they dont. The immigrant base is silent and or tries to blend in as much as possible "Pick an American sport and athlete and stick to him". Come to think of it are their ANY foreign atlhetes in this country that are National celebrities? I dont mean a baseball player in seattle , I mean an athlete that is recognized nationally. In other countries this is common. For example, when in 1994 F1 Legend Aryton Senna died during a race, Brazil lost a great champion. A guy that had great chances of winning a 4th World Championship. No other REAL champ prospects showed up since for Brazil but have Brazilians stopped watching F1? NO. Is Micahel Shumacker the German F1 champ many times over known in Brazil? YES. Is he widely known in Brazil. YES. Is he a legend in Brazil...YES. DO any foreigners reach that status in America...NO. If it aint "Merican", Americans dont care, only when they are forced to like in Baseball which is half foreign by now, but the Media tries so hard to keep calling it AMERICAN. Meanwhile MLS which is about 80% AMerican players the Media labels as foreign. The Media is the problem. They are the ones that tell America what to watch and what to like. DeFord is already sending the message out that to watch Tennis is no longer American or cool. Its clearly stated in his article.
1) Gridiron football is the only major American sport that doesn't prominently feature foreigners. (Not counting NASCAR...) The NBA, the NHL and MLS all prominently feature foreigners. So does Golf. And, as you note, so does baseball. 2) Deford is a tool. Don't read him