Comments on: England 1, Paraguay 0

By: Fyse

Fyse — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:53:58 +0000

Well, I guess the ideal scoring rate is matter of opinion. But at least our footy doesn’t have people prancing about in helmets and padding with a silly shaped ball. *abandoning even the pretence of reasoned argument*

By: Oz

Oz — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 21:06:16 +0000

Not to keep this going ad nauseum, but I wanted to agree with you that too much scoring is just as boring as too little. That’s one of the reasons I’m not that big a fan of basketball either.

I will make a case for American football having just the right amount of scoring. An average game score (I’m guessing) is somewhere around 24-17, which translates to mean that one team scored 4 times and the other 3 times. That’s 7 scores in a 60 minute game. Just perfect. Not too easy. Not too hard.

By: Fyse

Fyse — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 19:40:33 +0000

Tsk. I did not prove your point! It’s all about the drama of the build-up play and the anticipation. None of this instant gratification. If goals go in all the time they lose all novelty value.

Unfortunately, mass popularity isn’t a guarantee that something is good (just look at the music charts), but in this case 99% of the world are right. Football is AWESOME.

By: Oz

Oz — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 19:32:29 +0000

First of all, you’ve just proven my point for me. The exciting bit was the part with the scoring!

Secondly, there is a form of American football that has a field half the size of the standard. It’s called arena football, and it has a lot more….scoring!

That all being said, I must be wrong about wanting more scoring, because every other country is the world loves soccer, so I guess it must be fine the way it is…even if it is a bit boring for 89 of 90 minutes!

By: Fyse

Fyse — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 13:43:30 +0000

No, no, no! Were you watching the same game? It was hugely exciting! They hit the bar twice in the last minute before finally scoring. And where would a pitch half the size leave Michael Ballack’s sublime long passes? It’s like saying ‘Hey, let’s make an American football pitch 10 feet long so that the quarterback can just hand the ball to people’. It would just be wrong!

By: Oz

Oz — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 12:48:52 +0000

Okay, be honest. Yesterday’s Germany/Poland game. NO SCORING for 90 minutes, zip-zip until stoppage time. Come on! That was boring! A field half the size and it would have been much more interesting.

By: Fyse

Fyse — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 15:05:52 +0000

Ugh. 6 points for a single score? How terribly uncouth. I’m afraid our brand of football is the one true faith. And yes, the USA’s ranking as 5th in the world is utterly absurd. I fear there will be a lot of rather disappointed people your side of the pond…

PS Suggesting a smaller pitch to make things more exciting is tantamount to sacrilege.

By: Oz

Oz — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:19:32 +0000

As I’m sure you know, we got our butts KICKED! Somehow, the USA was ranked 7th? Or was it 5th? Clearly a mistake. Very clearly after that 3-zip loss.

As for soccer itself, I watch a whole lot of the World Cup every four years, and I’m always left with one conclusion: the game would be much more interesting if the field was about half the size.

We like scoring here in the US. After all, in our football, one score gives you 6 points straight off!