Wednesday, August 08, 2007

As summer winds down,

....many out there are probably eager for the start of football season. So here's George Will's perspective on that sport:

"Football combines the two worst features in American life; it is violence punctuated by committee meetings."

Add "rampant crime and fathering of illegitimate children by players at all levels" and "theft of private funds for lavish temples to this idol", and yes, Will is right.

For all its faults, soccer at least gets rid of most of the violence (except by the fans) and the committee meetings.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't hate soccer. I can appreciate the skills involved. My only suggestion is this: just forget the first 90 minutes of regulation play, and go right to the shoot-outs. That seems to be how 90% of all soccer games are decided anyway; at least at the world level.

I've never quite understood how the best players in the world can never score during World Cup competition.

kingdavid

Mark said...

Unlike the God-less, Communist sport of which you're singing the praises, Bert, the God-less American sport generally involve leadership, organization, teamwork and, sometimes, even prayer meetings (Are you going to see that in the World Cup of Futbol? :^).

Bike Bubba said...

Probably not too many prayer meetings (it's Europe after all), but you'll see the rest in any soccer game. And besides, does it really honor God to have a prayer service in the temple of Ba'al? :^)

Seriously, I know there are a lot of men of good faith who love the game. They need to rescue it from the thugs, dopers, and so on, if that is possible.

But is it? Given that an actual player only moves about 5 minutes per game, if that, football uniquely rewards those with a penchant for violence and about 100 extra pounds. Overcoming this, and public funding drawing the ne'er-do-wells, won't be easy.