Soccer....Yeah, I Know

Snaggletiger · « **on:** June 03, 2018, 03:13:53 PM »

Don't know what the proper forum is to talk about soccer. Maybe nowhere. But I'll leave this here anyway. Hit the Merky D's Stadium again last night for Atlanta United soccer. Took mini-tall and Snagette. ATL won, mainly because Philly played a man down the whole game after a couple of their players went ballistic on the refs after a call and got tossed. Anyway, that's all I'll say about the game....other than that crazy spinning roof was open.

I said this last season after taking mini to his and my first one. Had a freaking blast. Well, Snagette loved it too. Let's just say everyone of her friends and relatives she talked to on the way home today, she couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was and the incredible atmosphere. She was looking at the schedule to see when we can plan another one. I'm telling you, you don't have to give a shift about soccer to go there, drink and have a blast.

BTW, Nook, did I see on the book faces where you were at the Timbers game yesterday? We watched a good bit of that before walking over to the stadium. So, I've found another sporting event to enjoy live. Just added to my bucket list is a Nashville Predators hockey game. I have heard from numerous people that that is one hell of a crazy atmosphere.

WiregrassTiger · « **Reply #1 on:** June 03, 2018, 03:35:22 PM »

Quote from: Snaggletiger on June 03, 2018, 03:13:53 PM

Don't know what the proper forum is to talk about soccer. Maybe nowhere.

^^This

CCTAU · « **Reply #2 on:** June 03, 2018, 11:11:33 PM »

Damn hooligan!

Snaggletiger · « **Reply #3 on:** June 03, 2018, 11:36:03 PM »

Quote from: CCTAU on June 03, 2018, 11:11:33 PM

Damn hooligan!

chinook · « **Reply #4 on:** June 04, 2018, 02:06:49 PM »

Quote from: Snaggletiger on June 03, 2018, 03:13:53 PM

Don't know what the proper forum is to talk about soccer. Maybe nowhere. But I'll leave this here anyway. Hit the Merky D's Stadium again last night for Atlanta United soccer. Took mini-tall and Snagette. ATL won, mainly because Philly played a man down the whole game after a couple of their players went ballistic on the refs after a call and got tossed. Anyway, that's all I'll say about the game....other than that crazy spinning roof was open.

I said this last season after taking mini to his and my first one. Had a freaking blast. Well, Snagette loved it too. Let's just say everyone of her friends and relatives she talked to on the way home today, she couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was and the incredible atmosphere. She was looking at the schedule to see when we can plan another one. I'm telling you, you don't have to give a shift about soccer to go there, drink and have a blast.

BTW, Nook, did I see on the book faces where you were at the Timbers game yesterday? We watched a good bit of that before walking over to the stadium. So, I've found another sporting event to enjoy live. Just added to my bucket list is a Nashville Predators hockey game. I have heard from numerous people that that is one hell of a crazy atmosphere.

Yep. The Portland Army ...best fans in MLS. Very Portlandia though.

They travel well too. Alaska Airlines [Corporate Sponsor] knocks off 50 percent of the airfare cost for fans to travel.

Snaggletiger · « **Reply #5 on:** June 13, 2018, 09:56:08 PM »

World Cup starting up. U.S.A. failed to even make the field. Oh well, we just won the bid for the WC in 2026, along with Canada and Mexico. That means that 60 matches will be played on U.S. soil, and me and mini-tall plan on being at one of them.

The 5 Stripes (ATL United) beat Columbus tonight 2-0. Best overall record in MLS at 10-3-3. Suck it, Timbers.

BTW, that's extremely weak soccer smack talk to Nookie.

chinook · « **Reply #6 on:** June 25, 2018, 11:49:41 AM »

suck- a- turd. downfall of soccer. a ~~draw~~ tie. uno - one

ATL won the game on dominance. Timber's goalie was equally as dominant.

btw...World Cup advertisers are trolling USA soccer hard.

Snaggletiger · « **Reply #7 on:** June 27, 2018, 12:36:44 PM »

Defending champ, Germany, eliminated from the World Cup.

What?

Snaggletiger · « **Reply #8 on:** June 28, 2018, 11:57:38 AM »

This qualifies as one of the dumbest things said by a sports figure. foxynewz

One reason why the U.S. menâ€™s national soccer team failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia is that soccer in America is a â€œrich white-kid sport,â€ former U.S. women's team goalie Hope Solo said Wednesday.

Solo, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was speaking at the Hashtag Sports conference in New York City. She said the sport in the U.S. is too expensive for Latino, African-American and rural kids to play -- adding that if she was a kid today her family wouldnâ€™t be able to afford to help her advance in the game.
â€œWe have alienated the Hispanic communities. We have alienated our black communities. We have alienated the underrepresented communities, even rural communities," Solo said, according to Sporting News. "So soccer in America right now is a rich white-kid sport.â€

Quote

"Soccer in America right now is a rich white kid sport" @hopesolo #HS18 pic.twitter.com/mcgQh4n3x0
â€” Hashtag Sports (@HashtagSports) June 26, 2018

â€œThen we have to ask ourselves, â€˜Well, no wonder why we are not qualifying for the World Cup, when we have alienated a huge population of really talented youth soccer players.â€™ And thatâ€™s the state of the game right now.â€
Solo helped the U.S. womenâ€™s team to a World Cup title in 2015 and later ran unsuccessfully to be president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, the body that oversees the national teams.
She has also run into trouble on and off the pitch.

In 2014, Solo was arrested on assault charges in an incident involving her nephew and half-sister, but those charges were later dismissed. U.S. Soccer terminated her contract with the team after the 2016 Rio Olympics over her comments about the Swedish national team.

Okay first off, soccer is by far the most popular sport in the world and a huge portion of the reason why is because it's the least expensive sport you can play. All you need is a ball and an open area. Let's say you're high school kid, regardless of your color, and you want to play soccer for your school. Here is your investment.

Soccer cleats. (Gotta' buy cleats for football, cleats for baseball, Air Jordans for basketball)
A Couple of pairs of knee high socks ($25.00)
Shin Guards ($15.00)
Shorts & Jersey (If the school does not provide it)

Boom, you're done. Mini-Tall has played the last 2 years. Our home games are played at the City Recreation area. There are always 3-4 games going on around us. Trust me, nobody is alienating blacks, Hispanics etc. Is it just fashionable to blame the white man for everything? U.S.A. Soccer missed the World Cup. Damn you, white man. Damn you.

CCTAU · « **Reply #9 on:** June 28, 2018, 12:24:01 PM »

She went black. She can't come back. So its all in with the victim mentality.

AUJarhead · « **Reply #10 on:** June 28, 2018, 12:58:48 PM »

Snags, to an extent, I agree with her.

It's not just the cost of equipment, it's the travel club teams you pretty much have to commit to, while in middle school. I think the local club team near us it upwards of 2000/year to play, in addition to uniforms and equipment. And that 2000 doesn't include gas/hotel/meals on the 2 or 3 tournaments they play out of town a month.

Sophia plays rec soccer, it's about 90 bucks for the season, plus equipment, so yeah, it's out there, but the talent level in her 8th grade rec league is no where near what the talent level is in the club level.

Will she play in high school? She's said he wants to. But I also know that there are about 15 girls in our town who play club soccer, and every one is better than my daughter. It's just because they play it year round. So she might make the team, but I'd be shocked if she makes it onto the pitch.

chinook · « **Reply #11 on:** June 28, 2018, 01:01:53 PM »

Quote from: Snaggletiger on June 28, 2018, 11:57:38 AM

This qualifies as one of the dumbest things said by a sports figure. foxynewz

One reason why the U.S. menâ€™s national soccer team failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia is that soccer in America is a â€œrich white-kid sport,â€ former U.S. women's team goalie Hope Solo said Wednesday.

Solo, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was speaking at the Hashtag Sports conference in New York City. She said the sport in the U.S. is too expensive for Latino, African-American and rural kids to play -- adding that if she was a kid today her family wouldnâ€™t be able to afford to help her advance in the game.
â€œWe have alienated the Hispanic communities. We have alienated our black communities. We have alienated the underrepresented communities, even rural communities," Solo said, according to Sporting News. "So soccer in America right now is a rich white-kid sport.â€
â€œThen we have to ask ourselves, â€˜Well, no wonder why we are not qualifying for the World Cup, when we have alienated a huge population of really talented youth soccer players.â€™ And thatâ€™s the state of the game right now.â€
Solo helped the U.S. womenâ€™s team to a World Cup title in 2015 and later ran unsuccessfully to be president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, the body that oversees the national teams.
She has also run into trouble on and off the pitch.

In 2014, Solo was arrested on assault charges in an incident involving her nephew and half-sister, but those charges were later dismissed. U.S. Soccer terminated her contract with the team after the 2016 Rio Olympics over her comments about the Swedish national team.

Okay first off, soccer is by far the most popular sport in the world and a huge portion of the reason why is because it's the least expensive sport you can play. All you need is a ball and an open area. Let's say you're high school kid, regardless of your color, and you want to play soccer for your school. Here is your investment.

Soccer cleats. (Gotta' buy cleats for football, cleats for baseball, Air Jordans for basketball)
A Couple of pairs of knee high socks ($25.00)
Shin Guards ($15.00)
Shorts & Jersey (If the school does not provide it)

Boom, you're done. Mini-Tall has played the last 2 years. Our home games are played at the City Recreation area. There are always 3-4 games going on around us. Trust me, nobody is alienating blacks, Hispanics etc. Is it just fashionable to blame the white man for everything? U.S.A. Soccer missed the World Cup. Damn you, white man. Damn you.

i disagree with her anyway. she's a product of her thoughts. the black kids are smart enough to know where the money is in sports and it's not in soccer.

it's cheap if you play park and rec and most of the Hispanic kids don't play park and rec nor do they join the "white" traveling clubs, at least in my area, they have their own "community" of teams. she's not looking hard enough. and it's not cheap for them either to play on these teams.

my daughter, BTW is white, plays on a development [traveling] team. only 2 Hispanics of the 14 players. it isn't cheap to play on development/competitive league...uniforms, cleats and all that jazz. plus the traveling to and forth. some require overnight stays. why aren't the Hispanic kids playing in our league. maybe its the Trump hat I wear? maybe we prefer flour over corn tortilla's? marching over mariachi bands?

it's a cultural division.

at the local HS i would gather to say the boys team is predominately Hispanic players not sure about the girls team but often or not the Hispanic [Mexican] folks still hold the male dominance in the ways of life and often the girls don't play sports.

Plenty of white guys on the German, English and French teams.

CCTAU · « **Reply #12 on:** June 28, 2018, 02:50:46 PM »

When I used to work in Brasil, I never noticed any travel soccer clubs. But I did see poor kids knocking a ball around all of the time.

Snaggletiger · « **Reply #13 on:** June 28, 2018, 03:01:50 PM »

I know I'm simplifying it a little with the equipment. But soccer is no different than just about any sport, in that you can choose how far you want to take it to advance and/or improve yourself. In baseball, travel ball has become the big thing in recent years. In my opinion, that does nothing more than wear kids out, but if you choose to do it, you're going to pay. The other thing that's become all the rage are these sports clinics where you can pay to be trained specifically for your sport. I did that for Mini-Tall one year in baseball. He took hitting lessons twice a week.

Same with golf. If you want to be elite, you're going to fork out the time and cash. Football? Same. Requires time, specialized training, camps etc. Translation: $$$. I just don't buy into the notion that soccer has become the "rich white guy" sport. Nook, you hit the nail on the head anyway. It's more a cultural thing than anything else. For most Hispanics here and around the world, soccer is #1 with probably baseball a distant 2nd. Soccer has really only caught on in the U.S. in recent years, relatively speaking. Is it a passion of young, blacks in America to be a soccer star? Just speaking from my short experience here locally and the teams I've seen play. There are a few blacks playing. But the sport is dominated by Hispanics and whites. There's absolutely nothing preventing black kids or anyone else from playing for their school if that's what they want to do.

WiregrassTiger · « **Reply #14 on:** June 29, 2018, 12:05:11 AM »

Quote from: Snaggletiger on June 28, 2018, 03:01:50 PM

I know I'm simplifying it a little with the equipment. But soccer is no different than just about any sport, in that you can choose how far you want to take it to advance and/or improve yourself. In baseball, travel ball has become the big thing in recent years. In my opinion, that does nothing more than wear kids out, but if you choose to do it, you're going to pay. The other thing that's become all the rage are these sports clinics where you can pay to be trained specifically for your sport. I did that for Mini-Tall one year in baseball. He took hitting lessons twice a week.

Same with golf. If you want to be elite, you're going to fork out the time and cash. Football? Same. Requires time, specialized training, camps etc. Translation: $$$. I just don't buy into the notion that soccer has become the "rich white guy" sport. Nook, you hit the nail on the head anyway. It's more a cultural thing than anything else. For most Hispanics here and around the world, soccer is #1 with probably baseball a distant 2nd. Soccer has really only caught on in the U.S. in recent years, relatively speaking. Is it a passion of young, blacks in America to be a soccer star? Just speaking from my short experience here locally and the teams I've seen play. There are a few blacks playing. But the sport is dominated by Hispanics and whites. There's absolutely nothing preventing black kids or anyone else from playing for their school if that's what they want to do.

Not sure if blacks will prove to possess the required athleticism.