Golf is nothing BUT hitting the ball with a big stick.
and wearing ugly pants.
Re: DragonAsh’s suggestion for extra referees, for the Europa League Platini has introduced two additional match officials to watch for decisions in each team’s penalty area. Since winning a penalty is the most profitable use of the dive maybe we’ll see a reduction for the Europa League at least. However, Platini has also stated his opposition to using additional techonolgy (ie instant reply) to make decisions.
Oh, and don’t just watch the Coca-Cola Championship for less playacting - give the Scottish Premier League a whirl too. They don’t know how to dive… well, with the exception of Kyle Laffery, of course. 
Apologies for the hijack!
European here. I’ve never heard anybody bashing Americans for not being soccer fanatics. Some find it peculiar, IME, since “everybody else” likes it. But I have yet to meet a man who cares much about what sports Americans like and don’t like.
Psssst Celtic are a British team. 
(Now I have personally heard Europeans bash Americans for liking NASCAR over F-1.)
The topic is why do Americans get looked down upon for not liking soccer, not why they don’t like soccer. There’s a clear difference.
Understandably. 
I don’t really think the rest of the world gives much of a shit what Americans think of football, to be honest; it seems to be doing just fine without you.
The quotes in the OP are interesting, because I recognise them. I recognise them from threads where certain Americans suggest idiotic changes, like rescinding the offside rule and allowing rampant goalhanging, for a sport they barely understand. When faced with “MUUURRRR NOT ENOUGH GOALS IN SOCCER MUURRR THIS GAME’S SHIT MUUURRR”, how the hell do you expect fans of the game to react?
(I’m not even a football (soccer) fan, by the way.)
The answer to diving HAS to be video replay. Referees alone are never going to stop it, because in a game as low scoring as soccer, one penalty kick often provides the winning margin; and the field is so big, that any striker in the penalty box can reasonably assume that the ref is far enough away that he won’t know for certain if you dove or not. But suspending divers after the fact WILL work. You don’t even have to get 'em all - if you only nail the guys that you are 100% certain flopped, but you suspend them for, say, 3 games for unsportsmanlike conduct, the diving will stop. Or, at least, dramatically slow down.
The technology exists, and if it’s all done post-game at the league headquarters, it won’t slow down the pace of the game. I know there’s bee talk about it, but this really should have been done long ago.
Most times I’ve heard comments like that from Europeans et. al. it’s been a “defensive offensiveness”. They are usually only reacting to the bizarre American hatred and derision towards soccer.
I think Americans get so much shit for not being soccer fans because many Americans go to such lengths to insult the world’s game–a sport that these haters usually know little to nothing about. (I’m talking about world football here–not that “kick it as hard as you can, Johnnie!” bastardization that American kids participate in as a hobby–from preschool on up through the awful NCAA version).
Ah yes but the US never played our local girls school at rounders and netball did they?.
Those wenches would have kicked your asses good 
Because you all keep on spouting about how it should be ‘improved’ so that it fits your preconceptions of what a sport should be.
The rest of the world doesn’t actually give a shit if the USA likes football or not.
Oh you poor, deluded, non-American! The game is positively screaming out for improvements!
I’ve got it! A 24-second shot clock! Oh, and each side starts the match with 4 goals apiece (to eliminate any chance of a low-scoring outcome.)
Also, make the goals 20-feet tall and as wide as the entire goal-line; replace goalkeepers with Promisekeepers and Oathkeepers; allow everyone on the field to use their hands–including the referees; and, of course, NO DRAWS! “A tie is like kissing yer sister!!!” Duh!!!
:smack:
I decided to watch the World Cup once a while ago. They were plugging Maradonna as the best of the best at the time and I figured it would be worth watching. So, the best player in the world has no one between him and the goal keeper, a breakaway if you will. I figure now we’ll see some action as he should be able to undress the goalie pretty easily and score. Then some guy nudges him from behind. Well, I thought that a sniper had done a President Kennedy on him. He was down and crying like a little girl. As soon as I could pick my jaw up and saw that the penalty was to his benefit, I switched the channel and never turned it back.
- So the people watching the games on Spanish language TV aren’t American? Interesting
2&3) Yeah, I’m not making the absurd point that soccer is more popular than baseball. I’m a huge baseball fan myself. I also know that the 2006 series was between two small market teams. I was in college in St. Louis at the time. I also know that the World Cup is more than an “event” than a regular sporting telecast, no more so than the Olympics, the Super Bowl, or, for that matter, the World Series.
The only point I was trying to make was this: its odd, for a sport’s world championship can outdraw the friggin’ World Series in one particular year, yet the conventional wisdom is that that sport is one that “No One Likes” and “Will Never Make It In America”. It’s ridiculous. Americans like soccer.
It may not be Americans that you know, and it may not be on the lead on Sportscenter, but Americans like soccer.
I agree completely. Not just in soccer, but basketball as well - my favorite sport, but one plagued by flopping. Ironically introduced primarily from players hailing from soccer-loving countries
I’m not going to defend divers…they piss me off too. But, if a player is running at full speed while trying to control a ball with his feet, it ain’t too difficult to send them flying dramatically.
Take this goal by Lionel Messi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIep5g_GeSQ - if one defender had got a shoulder to him, he would have been knocked right off the ball.
There are institutional reasons Americans are not huge soccer fans. In my High School, as well as many others around the country I’m sure, there was no soccer team because it was too dangerous. Those so-called “soccer moms” felt there was too much potential for a dirty kick that would permanently damage someone’s (read: their kid’s) knee. Stories are told of back in the day when coaches would encourage lesser players to run up and “accidentally” miss the ball and injure the opposing team’s star player.
So… instead we have (American) football, which has sooo much less potential for injury. :rolleyes:
When you can’t play in High School, you can’t get a scholarship to play in college. And in college, soccer teams aren’t as common (Title IX maybe?), so soccer scholarships aren’t common either. Understandably, many people are hesitant to get too attached to a sport they won’t have much opportunity to actually play. As a result, soccer is often seen as a sport for preschoolers.
I have seen soccer get more popular lately, especially among young trendy types. It has a foreign vibe to it, and is liked by the same sort who prefer PBR and ironic things.
I believe they already do this. During a match a referee may show a player a red or even a yellow card and that is that, as far as that match is concerned. It is only later that league officials make decisions about further disciplinary action. Reviewing video of a match incident helps them make their decision. A player sent off during a match may later find himself suspended for 3 or 4 matches or even an entire year.
Now, we could get into the tremendous pressure on league officials to avoid suspending a Messi or a Ronaldo for an entire year, but that is a different discussion.
I think most other televised sports decide multi-game suspensions and/or fines in the same way.