The scene at 9 this morning outside the Grafton on First Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... where the faithful were on-hand six hours before the Champions League final pitting Liverpool vs. Tottenham (and three hours before the pub opened).
The Reds were rewarded in the end, as Liverpool, with its attacking trio of Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, prevailed 2-0. (I actually cut-n-paste that from somewhere else.)
Photo by Derek Berg.
Soccer is actually only interesting to watch if you have a rooting, nationalistic interest in the team that’s playing. Otherwise almost every other sport, including darts, curling, billiards, badminton and table tennis, are far more interesting as a spectator sport, even if you have no idea who the players are or what countries they come from. And yet “Football” is the most popular sport worldwide, mostly due to foreign governments and media endlessly promoting it as part of their national pride.
ReplyDeleteTo the extent that soccer has replaced wars between European and Latin American countries thats a good thing, but it really is quite boring overall. A few years ago I was in Europe for a World Cup, and every country came to a complete standstill whenever their team was playing. When The Netherlands lost, the next day in Amsterdam was like a day of national morning, and I have never seen so many depressed people in one place.
Well... as long as everyone had fun in the end. That's all that matters.
ReplyDeleteI've been puzzled by sports fan most of my life, I figure it has something to do with be part of a clan, you often get to drink and freely scream at the top of your lungs in public with everyone else. I suppose it does something to the fan's brain, sets off some electrical connections or whatever. Just glad I don't live next to a sport bar.
ReplyDeleteI have no nationalistic interest in soccer yet I enjoy a good football match more than baseball, basketball, hockey, concussion ball, darts, billiards, curling, etc. There's a reason they call it the Beautiful Game. Liverpool v. Tottenham was dull, but Tottenham's comeback against Ajax was a thriller, even for this spotty watcher.
ReplyDeleteThe media cannot create enthusiasm, it can only fan the flames. Billsville's comment boils down to "I find soccer dull." It is a matter of taste, and perhaps you'll learn to like its poetry if you don't fixate on the triablistic components, which are unavoidable but are only part of the story.
I was among one of those in line. It was a such a cool time to be with other dudes who like this sport. Male bonding with the TV and beers. Nothing better.
ReplyDelete“The Beautiful Game” is great marketing spin for a game that cannot be otherwise described in words. In almost every other major sport, baseball, football, basketball etc. each game, season and series has a distinct storyline, which can easily be summed up in words, and with plays that you have never seen before, like the time Mookie Wilson hit the ball up the 1st base line and it went in between Bill Buckner’s legs, eventually leading to the Mets World Series win against the Red Sox. \
ReplyDeleteIn soccer, somebody kicked a ball to someone else, then to someone else, and eventually it ended up in the net. But more often, it did I not.
In most other major sports, you can listen to them on the radio and see in you mind exactly whats happening on the field. Not so in soccer, which has many games ending in a tie, or worse, Nil-Nil. What kind of respectable sport allows games to end in a tie or without a single scoring play? None.
Most of the storylines in soccer involve a bad call by a ref or how this is a grudge match for a game that was played back in 1956. Having played soccer in school I can attest it isn't much more interesting on the field, as most of your time is spent running back and forth and hoping that someone, anyone, kicks the damn ball in the goal. It is the most boring of all major sports with the exception of Cricket.
I admit that few of the World Cup games in recent years have been pretty good, more due to fan enthusiasm and beer than the games themselves, but overall the vast majority of matches are utter borefests that leave most fans sad and crying in their beer at the end,
I have tried to understand what the point of watching soccer is many times, without success. I was at bar Felix in Soho when the Italian team lost, and at Petit Ablelle in Stuy Town when Belgium lost. I was in a bar Amsterdam when The Netherlands lost, and another bar in Paris when France lost, and the only memorable thing that happened in all cases was seeing how fast everyone cleared out the moment their team lost, and how angry and sad they were. As any good Met fan knows, you never take losing personally.
Hopefully you don’t have to comment soccer/soccer games for a living 😴😴😴
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