New Scaratings

I've watched many college, Olympic, and professional soccer games on TV. I think it's a good sport, but let's face it, IT's BORING...!

There is way too much just kicking the ball around to teammates without any attempt to move the ball down field to take a shot on goal in soccer. Yeah, I understand there is some strategy going on here, but that strategy seldom results in a goal. I think the game needs to be speeded up, before it will ever catch on in the United States. Watching a soccer game reminds me of Dean Smith's "four corners" boredom years ago in college basketball.

I have some suggestions to make the game of soccer much more fun and interesting to watch. All of these suggestions are taken from basketball. (The time limits I am about to suggest are open to reasonable arguments to change.)

1- After a team gets control of the ball on their side of the field, I would give them a 1 minute time limit to advance it past the midfield line. If they fail to do so, the opposing team will be awarded a free kick from the spot the ball was when time ran out.

2- Once a team advances the ball beyond the midfield line, they will be subject to basketballs' rule of over-and-back. If a team in control of the ball moves it back beyond the midfield line after crossing it, the opposing team will be awarded a free kick from the spot of the infraction.

3- Now for my "shot clock" rule. Once the team on offense moves the ball beyond the midfield line I would only allow them 2 minutes to move the ball under control into the penalty area or to take a shot on goal that transverses the penalty area. If they get the ball into the penalty area and lose it to the defending team, the clock would be reset for them, if they recover possession of the ball before it goes back across the midfield line. A violation would turn the ball over to the opposing team for a free kick from the spot the ball was when time ran out. (Yeah, I know the rules I am proposing need some tweaking, but they are a start to making soccer a much faster game than it is today.)



Not only would these new rules speed the game up, and create more scoring, they would also create a lot of new employment for people with stopwatches.

(Let's see how much trouble this gets me into with soccer aficionados.)

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"The game is afoot."

In another word: grassketball

I say they should scrap the present offside rule, and replace it with a cherry-picker rule. Something like if the ball is touched by an attacking player within the penalty area, and neither the ball or any defender (other than the keeper) was continuously present in the area since that player last entered, then a free kick is awarded to the defending team.

Far too often, good plays get flagged dead because of the current "planar" offside rule, which is too reliant on the judgment of a sideline official who may be helplessly out of position because of quick passes. Make those defenders work a little bit harder

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/°v°\ • Every time Linux boots, a penguin gets its wings
I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I won't stop until I find out what
Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?

PENGWN, I like your idea about the "Offside" rule. Get rid of it, and soccer will become a much faster game, with a lot more scoring.

p.s. Trying to explain the "Offside" rule to the kids I coached at the YMCA was most difficult.

Here is a simplified explanation of the "Offside" rule:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiwmR6CC0Bk

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"The game is afoot."

Dang, it's got late again, so I guess the time has come to say:

.......................................................

.......................................................................... Goodnight, I'm going to bed.

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"The game is afoot."

Awesome, you want to change the biggest sport in the world because many Americans think it's boring. Swell.

How about this, the other 7 billion people in the world don't give a shit what the ignorant Americans think.

BO

Why not?
They changed the rules early (north and central) Americans originally had.
I sure don't see up to 500 guys kicking toward an elevated hoop.
I say we go back to the original rules where the losing team is sacrificed while we're at it.

Ah the good ol days. Lose and lose your head.

Watching Americans play soccer is BORING watching the EUROs and the World Cup is far more entertaining. There is such a large disparity in skill level from let's say, Germans and Americans. There is something just wrong about how the Americans look when they play, they just don't flow. Go Germany!!

p.s. someone please agree, one of the best sports names ever is Bastian Schweinsteiger. It just rolls off the tongue, now use a German accent, sweet..

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Buzztime is a company full of dumbshits.

Nothing brings the world together like racial taunts, violence, and nil-nil scores.

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You can really taste the goat!

The Europeans are still pretty boring. But it is a refreshing change to see someone not scoring at a faster pace.

Bastian is nice, but he's no Pudge Heffelfinger.

Both cannot compare to Prince Gary Prink Callison. Who was part
of the 1933 snub. And we get upset about teams being left out today
of stupid little bowl games.

Only American soccer thats isn't boring was the MISL (Major Indoor Soccer League).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Soccer_League

Then the NPSL came along and give 3 pts for a goal and the points racked up.

Love the St Louis Ambush and Cleveland Crunch rivalry....Its less boring for sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_P ... %932001%29

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Mitch (MTCHWF/WLFFLY)

Co-Home Bar: Buffalo Wild Wings Edwardsville, IL and Time Out in St Louis, MO

It is boring... It's like watching a chess match, with the exception that chess matches have a timer for players to make a move. I actually think that those 7 billion people would enjoy soccer more, if the game was speeded up and there was more scoring. Perhaps a faster game with more scoring would reduce the frustration those 7 billion people feel rooting for their team with nothing happening. Perhaps a reduction in frustration would reduce riots and fights that break out in the crowd at soccer games.

Seventy-four killed...

http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationwor ... killed-74/

The 74 soccer fans killed at a soccer game is just the tip of the iceberg. There are the British hooligans, who tear down fences to attack fans rooting for the other team, and many more incidents of fans killing other fans at soccer games. There may be more, but I am aware of instances where soccer fans have stormed the field and killed the referee in both Africa and South America.

Why do soccer fans do things like this...? I have a guess. Going back to gladiator battles in the Roman Colosseum, people, who showed up, came to see blood. Today, sports fans might not want to see blood, but they want to see scoring. As a soccer game progresses with little or no scoring, the fans' testoserone and built up adrenalin have to be vented. This often results in violence. Basically, soccer doesn't give them many opportunities to let their steam off during the game.

Speeding the sport of soccer up with more scoring could save lives.

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"The game is afoot."

YOU think it's boring, and I could see how those who have no understanding of the sport would think that.

I also enjoy watching chess matches, because I understand a lot of the nuances of the game. Heck, replaying Morphy's multiple sacrifice game from over 100 years ago is chilling.

Nothing wrong with a subjective opinion of something, but don't think billions of people who actually understand the game would approve of change.

BO

Of course you are right. The game will never change. It is too intrenched. However, if the rest of the world is open minded, they might want to try a couple exhibition games using PENGWN's and my alterations to the game's rules.

p.s. I know that you couldn't have know this, but you replied to my post, while I was still correcting misspelled words, sentence structure, and rethinking what I wanted to say.

p.p.s It is hard to debate someone, who enjoys watching chess matches. Obviously, they are much more intelligent than I could ever hope to be.

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"The game is afoot."

Shoot... That's not even the best college football name from 1933.
I present Pitt standout Muggsy Skladany.

I would like to hear what you guys think about PENGWN's and my suggestions to speed the game of soccer up. Specifically, what is wrong with our suggestions, and how you might suggest to improve them.

I know that this question might be hard for some of you to address, because our suggestions violate the sacred rules of soccer. However, be open minded for a moment, and pretend that FIFA is about to enact these new rules. What do you like or dislike about them, and why? Again, pretending that they are about to be forced on the game by FIFA, how would you tweak or alter them?

I really don't want to hear from people, who say that any change to soccer rules is unacceptable.

p.s. How do you think baseball would be doing today, if the rules of the game were never changed since the 1800's...?

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"The game is afoot."

It doesn't matter what you do with the rules for soccer, Cloudy.
The game is inherently flawed.
And I've got millions of years of evolution that went into forming the sheer awesomeness of the human hand backing me up on this.

SPOTES, you are a brave man for the post you just made. For your safety, I hope no British soccer hooligans are monitoring this site.

Anyway the hour has become late, so:



............... "Goodnight, I'm going to bed."

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"The game is afoot."

I don't think soccer is boring. The only thing the game needs, in my opinion, is a better tiebreaker than penalty kicks. Other than that, the game is fine as is.

-- RWM

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"...It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED...."

I am sure that Tiefly would agree to this statement. Anything from Pittsburgh doesn't count.

Bollywood movies are boring too. There should be more action, more naked people, and more English-speaking.

I just asked the manager @ the BWW I'm playing at to put soccer on. It's the start of my vacation and I like the idle time between action.

Indoor soccer? Rather watch an ant farm at work.

[quote="tiefly"]I just asked the manager @ the BWW I'm playing at to put soccer on. It's the start of my vacation and I like the idle time between action.

Indoor soccer? Rather watch an ant farm at work.[/quote
Finally comments on Indoor Soccer. Ah ok....lol

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Mitch (MTCHWF/WLFFLY)

Co-Home Bar: Buffalo Wild Wings Edwardsville, IL and Time Out in St Louis, MO

What??? Tiefly has a 1000 posts and no badge??? Time to form a hanging
party for Dante.