I totally diasagree. However, part of the problem is that most players in the NFL and NBA speak in their second language.
Are US jornalists STILL bashing soccer? I mean I would hopw that since 94 the bashing has decreased..I wish there were a way to verify this. I rem lots of Bashing in 98...again in 98...a little less in 02....what about in 06...are these idiots still out there?
BEWARE OF THE SOCCER HATERS: http://www.blackathlete.net/artman/publish/article_01797.shtml The World Cup Cometh: Beware The Soccer Haters by Andrew Dixon, III, GolNoir@Golnoir.net published on Apr 22, 2006 MIAMI -- The World's Biggest Sporting Event kicks off in about a month and half. World Cup hosts Germany will open up the 2006 World Cup against Costa Rica on June 9th in Munich. This is the party that soccer fans around the world wait four years for. The Haters are another story. You know who they are. The sports writers, columnists and talk show hosts who use this time to tell us why soccer is stupid and why no one should care about the World Cup. You know, the Romes, the Kornheisers, the LeBatards,the DeFords, the Chads and the Lupicas for whom disliking soccer isn't enough. continued at link.
Very appropriate name for him too. He works for some paper in Miami and is frequently a guest host on PTI.
Invading Iraq is Fascism by any definition. Since the majority of Americans advocated this invasion, therefore most Americans are essentially Fascist. This is part of our cultural heritage. We have invaded many countries; Iraq is definitely not the first.
And here I thought someone would've posted a link to DeFord's NPR commentary this morning. Basically, he argued that lacrosse is going to be the next big sport in America because it has more scoring than soccer or hockey.
The Lake Forest set already can enjoy nonstop golf coverage, and frigging half of the SI issues. Now they're getting their lacrosse, too? Lovely. No doubt field hockey and horse jumping will be next. When the dark people and foreigners take over lacrosse, the Lake Foresters will move onto another sport.
You mean this? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5363527 Not only more scoring but... "Its manual dexterity makes it more appealing to American audiences than soccer..." also making it better than soccer: "2points for a long goal and a possession clock." I'm not dissing lacrosse (I used to play it), but Frank Deford is hilarious! He'd be even funnier if he would dress like a confederate general, or Colonel Sanders at least. He's a dead ringer for either.
He was a bit off on some of the attendance things, too. I mean, if you're going to count all the games of the NCAA finals, Omaha does pretty well with the College World Series, and from what I could tell, the attendance he was referring to in colorado was based on two matches. I doubt if the MLL team will crank out five figure attendances out there through a season. Personally, I prefer to watch the college finals to any of the pro leagues, largely because of gimmicks like the two point goal. in the pros.
He has a new article on CNNSI (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/frank_deford/04/26/lacrosse/index.html) advocating Lacrosse as the new American sport, ahead of soccer. Surely, this should be NPR's, CNN's, and Bryant Gumbel's signal to dump him. The guy is all hot air. Here are a few quotes: "It's difficult for a sport to find a larger place in the crowded American sports calendar. Despite all the money thrown at soccer, it remains on the second tier. But while lacrosse has come under a dark cloud because of the scandal involving the Duke men's team, the sport itself -- the oldest game in North America -- is the new hot game." "like soccer, it's obviously good exercise for kids." Why doesn't he ever focus on things like: 1) The World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world, or: 2) Soccer is more physically demanding cardiovascularly and acrobatically than Football and Baseball, and more democratic than basketball, which rewards freaks of nature, and hockey, which demands that you have access to a skating rink.
What a dinosaur that DeFord....he says its all about the Manual dexterity...is he insinuating Americans enjoy a "jerk" more than foreigners...what have we come to!??! Whats next? DeFord: "The fine art of Wacking Off is a true American talent. We as Americans have crafted the finer details through our manual abilities. We play Sports that make use of our hands...foreigners use their feet. When I was a Child I use to combine the American pastime of Baseball and images of "The Mick". As The Mick held his stick...I would hold mine...as the Mick went deep...so would I. Soccer is bad for America, it untrains the hand. What will happen to our youth when they hit puberty and their hand skills have been ignored?"
Man EVERY new article he writes shows increasing desparation about where soccer is growing. He, as much as it pains him he admits to the amount of money being put into soccer in this article and now he is pushing lacrosse. I am loving every one of his articles. I can't wait to read his next one!
Andrew Dixon III - aka MyHouse! on big soccer (remember the exclamation point) wrote the article. Check out his previous stuff. He takes the bullshit we write on big soccer and better articulates it for the masses. We need more people like that. Hey Myhouse!, if you are reading this, there must be some way you can get beaseley, pope, GAM, freddy, marvell, gibbs all at once on one of the black entertainment television (BET) talk shows you wrote about. It would be cool to get that exposure.
seriously. this is so odd, just because it's so unnecessary. i mean, for a mainstream sports guy (and he is the definition of mainstream), the guy seems to think about SOCCER an awful lot. there's got to be more than this than meets the eye -- soccer has got to be a metaphor for something else in his life (that he is uneasy about). that's the only thing that could explain this. because if it was just the sport alone that leaves him feeling compelled to publicly trash it every few months .... well, he would be the biggest douchebag of the century. milennium, actually. both millenia.
DeFord et al are dinosaurs. They are certainly patronized by MLB, NFL. Basically they are hired by MLB and the NFL. Media is bought and paid for because it is very valuable; Americans respond to marketing more so than any other people. There will be a tidal wave of this kind of mentality in the next few months. Furthermore, American business has become pro soccer so far as they perceive it to be a way to generate awareness for their products. There have been innumerable articles in the Wall Street J. denoting the investments in the WC in order to reach AMERICAN people.
As far as his obsession goes...I'm always amazed at people like him or that clown on the soccernet board (ErieVern or something?) spend as much time as I do, if not more, thinking about soccer. I mean, I don't like stock car racing, but I can't imagine seeking out Bignascar.com just to point out the deficiencies I see in that sport. As to what it is that makes him uneasy... interesting topic: maybe since DeFord is big on seeing sports as metaphors for life, the fact that he can't think of one for soccer is what he doesn't like. Or maybe he's just a dickbag, who knows?