2014 World Cup

[Eddie Teach]

Americans don't care about track, figure skating, or swimming either, but that doesn't stop us from tuning in every 4 years.

It's a global phenomenon. Every year around this time I get into tennis for example.

Eh, I think you would definitely qualify as a tennis fan.

Anyway, silly as Coulter's statements are, the claims she's trying to counter aren't terribly convincing either. Americans who are *into* soccer will watch it regularly, not just when the WC comes around.

[Valmy]

Yeah we have a whole cult that attends all the semi-pro games in our area.  They being instruments and sing and chant the whole game.  It is why there is this big drive now to promote our club to MLS.  If this happens I dearly hope they drop their stupid nickname 'Aztex' *puke*

[alfred russel]

The actions you get a red card from are clearly defined, avoid those. There aren't any stupid actions you can get a red card from.. so I'm not sure where you're going.

And there are discouragements in the NFL at least, huge ass fines, suspensions and penalties that can have severe effect on a team. You can't compare playing at man disadvantage here because it's much more of a man vs. man sport.

Huge ass fines, suspensions, less drastic penalties, and ejection for the game (with substitution) are all things I support. It is the standard way of things in American sports.

I don't like tuning into see Portugal - Germany and watching Portugal neutered early because Pepe was a dumbass and allowed himself to be goaded into headbutting someone (which in itself was ridiculously unsporting, perhaps encouraged by the current rule structure).

[Norgy]

I'm sure there are reasonable changes that could be made for the betterment of the sport and for the spectators; such as actual playing time, rather than 25-30 % of it being spent on watching overpaid ballerinas roll around like toddlers and arguing like spoilt brats with unpaid referees.
2 x 35 minutes would be good. Clock stops when the action stops. In this particular instance, the Americans and sports like handball have it sussed.

Red cards and suspensions are far less of a problem now than before (well, aside form being more plentiful), as for instance club squads are significantly larger, mostly with cover for every position either in the first team squad or the development squad.

[Liep]

I don't like tuning into see Portugal - Germany and watching Portugal neutered early because Pepe was a dumbass and allowed himself to be goaded into headbutting someone (which in itself was ridiculously unsporting, perhaps encouraged by the current rule structure).

Okay, I don't really know how to continue this. A good player doesn't hurt his team by acting stupid. A red card doesn't mean a loss.

Referees are paid. But please, please, please, let there be a proper game clock.

[Grey Fox]

I don't like tuning into see Portugal - Germany and watching Portugal neutered early because Pepe was a dumbass and allowed himself to be goaded into headbutting someone (which in itself was ridiculously unsporting, perhaps encouraged by the current rule structure).

Okay, I don't really know how to continue this. A good player doesn't hurt his team by acting stupid. A red card doesn't mean a loss.

No it means that the game become a boring spectacle. Which, for an NA viewer, is much worse. On par with Draws.

I'll do a NHL example. In the NHL, fighting is penalized by a 5min penalty where the player is unavailable for the entirety of that time(maybe more if there is no stoppage in play). While the penalties are happening, both team play 5v5.

Here lies the problem with the average NA viewer, when you red card someone it becomes a 9vs10 defensive borefest or a uncompetitive 4-0 trudging of Portugal.

[alfred russel]

Okay, I don't really know how to continue this. A good player doesn't hurt his team by acting stupid. A red card doesn't mean a loss.

No a red card doesn't mean a loss. However, I'm guessing that between evenly matched teams a red card early in the game decreases the offending team's chance of winning by 50%, if not more.

I really think Pepe headbutting some dude is irrelevant to the game. Yeah he needs to be tossed. Suspend him too. Fine him. But let Portugal bring on a substitute.

[FunkMonk]

Another downside to ejections is it virtually forces the offending team to squat in their half.  Surely you don't need any more of that in this sport.

I believe i asked the same question last WC and got an answer, but I still don't get the rationale for off sides.  It seems to me that no matter how far an offensive player goes down the pitch, the defender can just follow him.

It's so a team doesn't just stick all their attackers at the mouth of the goal and lump it up from their own half.

Iirc soccer originally was predominantly a dribbling game where passing the ball was either not allowed or looked down upon. Making it illegal to move the ball toward your player closer to the goal than you codified that. Of course the laws of the game, the offside rule, and playing conventions have gone through a lot of iterations since then..

[Grey Fox]

It's true for all British related sports, when they were invented there was no forward passes.

Not in Hockey, not in any of the football games.

[frunk]

4th in the 1st stage. Acceptable.

Code Select Expand

1 frunk          28 28 20 58.33% 8
2 Maladict 27 27 21 56.25% 35
3 Dorsey4Heisman 26 26 22 54.17% 14
4 Liep         26 26 22 54.17% 48
5 Viking      26 26 22 54.17% 52
6 Duque de Bra 26 26 22 54.17% 136
7 Norgy      25 25 23 52.08% 105
8 Josephus 24 24 24 50.00% 20
9 dps          23 23 25 47.92% 37
10 funkmonk 23 23 25 47.92% 91
11 Pedrito    23 23 25 47.92% 136
12 Tamas      23 23 25 47.92% 136
13 Agelastus 21 21 27 43.75% 20
14 josquius 21 21 27 43.75% 92
15 Syt          20 20 28 41.67% 84
16 celedhring 0 0 48 0.00% 136

Grats to the clear winner, frunk. Even best at the tie breaker.

Shocking, considering how little thought I gave to my picks other than intentionally not picking ties.

[Liep]

Okay, I don't really know how to continue this. A good player doesn't hurt his team by acting stupid. A red card doesn't mean a loss.

No a red card doesn't mean a loss. However, I'm guessing that between evenly matched teams a red card early in the game decreases the offending team's chance of winning by 50%, if not more.

I really think Pepe headbutting some dude is irrelevant to the game. Yeah he needs to be tossed. Suspend him too. Fine him. But let Portugal bring on a substitute.

It's very relevant to the game because the rules state that you're booted for doing so intentionally. And yes, an early red card is very tough on a team which is why they shouldn't break the rules.

Changing the rules regarding the red card would be difficult though, FIFA is very much into fair play these days and will generally stop at nothing (except income) to punish breaking the fair play. Becoming more lenient then on misconduct doesn't really seem to be likely, even if it might improve the game. Which I don't think it will.

EDIT: The FIFA fair play thing is probably why we tend to see many red cards during the WC which is FIFA's show window.

[alfred russel]

It's very relevant to the game because the rules state that you're booted for doing so intentionally. And yes, an early red card is very tough on a team which is why they shouldn't break the rules.

Changing the rules regarding the red card would be difficult though, FIFA is very much into fair play these days and will generally stop at nothing (except income) to punish breaking the fair play. Becoming more lenient then on misconduct doesn't really seem to be likely, even if it might improve the game. Which I don't think it will.

You've created a bit of a tautology--these things are relevant to the game because they are in the rules which say you are booted if you break them.

If you want to really enforce fair play, then Mueller should also have been sent off for goading Pepe into doing what he did. Mueller was clearly not displaying much sportsmanship.

[Liep]

I completely agree with that. Also, learn to quote!

[Liep]

Oh, perhaps sending a player off for faking is too much, but a yellow definitely. And it is already in the rulebook, a ref can caution a player for it, but I think it only applies if you're trying to fake your way to a penalty.

[FunkMonk]

Yeah, simulation is a cardable offense. It's entirely up to the referee though, so there's a lot of variation in actual calls.

Honestly, soccer is the "least fair" major sport, yet I still enjoy it far more than football or basketball. I'm also the type of guy who defended Suarez's handball-preventing-goal against Ghana in 2010. I would have done the same thing 100 times out of 100.