"Part of the joy of soccer, to me at least, is the uncertainty - it ain't over til it's over'

And, good lord, how it takes so, so long to get over!

guys, please.

"And, good lord, how it takes so, so long to get over! "

? 90 minutes plus (sometimes) 30 minutes of overtime plus (sometimes) rigori (what are those called in English? - the sudden death deciding kicks). Very little advertising, only about ten minutes at halftime. Last night's Mexico-Argentina game only seemed long because I was almost as tired as the players (though for different reasons).

I dunno, how long is the typical American football or baseball game? Seems to me the Super Bowl runs a lot longer with LOTS of advertising.

best regards,
Deirdré Straughan

beginningwithi.com

Back to my question? Do you think some of the best soccer players could play in the NFL?>>>>>>

No and vice versa - too many years of specialist training that isn't transferable.

However if the best of both had trained in the other code since childhood, they'd probably manage.

Although, having said that, the Swiss are quite certain that Rothlisberger would be an excellent Swiss Schwinger (wrestler).

>Italy, on the other hand, is far less mature as a multicultural society, and you can see this reflected in its World Cup team - every player is ethnically Italian,...<

What an odd idea; A national team composed of nationals rather than a group of highly paid professional hired guns.

Is winning a sports prize that important?

((I))

As posted by <b>ira</b>,

<i>It is rather sad that there are so many people in the world whose lives are so confined, squalid and repressed that they believe that if their national team wins a sports award that their nation, and they themselves, are somehow enhanced.</i>

it's funny that you mentioned that the lives of people after winning the World Cup are somehow enhanced.

In fact they are. Economist did a study and found that after winning the cup, the nation's GNP has grown ~3% the year after, whereas the loosing nation's GNP drops ~1%, and that's been true for the last 5 World Cups, so the last 20 years. :-D

Hi AA,

That's interesting.

Thanks.

((I))

Regarding the soccer/American football question, I have serious doubts that those big American football players could take the pain and the stress of a rugby game. Rugby can be extremely violent and is played without all of the American padding. But then again, I think that the detail that would make Americans the most upset is the fact that in rugby, you can only pass backwards and never forwards. Goals are scored through pure physical strength.

To get back to the World Cup, I have noticed that the Francophobe element of the English population has named the French team &quot;Team Africa.&quot; I guess they have never seen American football teams either.

PS,

According to The Telegraph
(http://tinyurl.com/jvsle)

&quot;Unfortunately the winner-takes-all model is flawed. In 1974 and 1978 the victories of Germany and Argentina were followed by sharp economic downturns&quot;.

Maybe we need a longer time line. :)

((I))

I think almost all the kickers in American football come from a socker background, but they are viewed as wimps because they don't participate in the more violently physical part of the game.

Don't belittle badminton. When I was in the service, one of my students aspired to the olympic badminton team, and asked me to come to the gym to play. I don't think I hit anything, except my serves. It is a far faster and skilled game at that level than the one we play at picnics.

I think Americans are vocal about soccer now because this tournament is taking up a lot of valuable TV time and we miss our celebrity poker, pool, and bull riding. We are not this vocal when the soccer is relegated to one of the nationality channels that we don't watch.

To all Americans:

You should be here in Germany and enjoy the atmosphere! Virtually in every town, not just in the 12 cities where the arenas are located, you will meet crowds of cheerful, happy people, colorfully dressed and masked - people from all over the world.

If you board a train you may encounter a group of Japanese supporters and a party of Australian fans, both riding to the common match.

And after the match, the people from the defeated nation applause to the winner - it is just fantastic.

Soccer makes people cheerful - there is no other sport in the world which has a similar magic. Come here and see!

I heard quite a few of those &quot;cheerful, happy people&quot; got a little ugly and had a messy brawl yesterday. So very uneuropean-like!

Yes I was curious as to why those mean English soccer fans picked fights with the German soccer fans? :-&quot;

&gt;&gt;&gt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;I think Americans are vocal about soccer now because this tournament is taking up a lot of valuable TV time and we miss our celebrity poker, pool, and bull riding. We are not this vocal when the soccer is relegated to one of the nationality channels that we don't watch.&lt;&lt;&lt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

Yeah, they prempted a Gilligan's Island marathon on one channel. #-o:D

American football players would die playing Rugby League or Union !! No padding, no helmets to use as weapons and you have to exert yourself for more than 12 seconds at a time. And yes your opposition is 6'6&quot; and can run 40 in 4 !! and he does it for 40 minutes straight. The players of American Football at the top level bear to resemblance to the rest of humanity !! They are selected , culled, pumped up, drugged , operated on, driven by pschologists, until they are caricatures of humans.

The purest and best form of team sport is one that has no money involved and is played for the sheer joy of competeing.

I meant to say no resemblance ! ;)
My soapbox must have slipped !

&quot; heard quite a few of those &quot;cheerful, happy people&quot; got a little ugly and had a messy brawl yesterday. So very uneuropean-like!&quot;

If there are several hundred thousands of people there is a chance to have a few among them who do not behave themselves. The general picture is overwhelmingly peaceful.

To get back to the World Cup, I have noticed that the Francophobe element of the English population has named the French team &quot;Team Africa.&quot;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

The francophobe element of the English population (in a football context) is the entire English population! As a member of that group I can tell you that I have never heard the French team referred to as “team Africa”. I’ve heard them called a fair bit, but never that.

I agree with David, it is not a term I have heard about the French (Possible the only team left in the World cup that looks more shambolic than England).

To put this into perspective, my home town is a tad francophobe - to the extent that a recent survey asked people all around the UK what they feared about the future. Most answers were things like Global warming, Bird Flu, Terrorist attacks etc, but the thing to get concerned about in Portsmouth was &quot;The French&quot; - as it has been for 800 years.