Running, all-purpose World Cup thread

They HAVE to reinstate the golden goal, tinker with substitution allowances accordingly. But the golden goal MUST come back.

 

world cup...more like world crap.

http://www.travisandjonathan.com/RSUworldcup.html

just kidding y'all.

 

First, it's "dirty terrorist" and now the explanation is that he was called the "son of a terrorist whore."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,28783-2263995,00.html

Fellas, it may make me a prick, but if you call my mother that, you're going to be lucky to get by just getting a headbutt. In fact, the headbutt would come after the forearm shiver to the jaw.

Enjoy getting the insult out of your mouth, fucker, because it's the last time your jaw's gonna be sans wires for about six weeks.

 

You already have that -- they're ALL like that.

You know how you can tell? There's no "Loyola Marymount" or "Air Coryell" in top-level soccer. No team storming the goal for 90 minutes, winning games 6-4.

Everyone, everywhere, plays the same way. They all think it's "the right way," but nobody ever tries anything different.

It's where basketball, and every other sport, will end up, if a group of coaches get entrenched, dig in their heels, and any proposals for any meaningful rules changes are immediately and repeatedly shot down. The sport just devolves into sludge, as the natural defensive predisposition of the coaches completely strangles the game.

 

To follow up on Starman's point, it seemed to me, more than in other years, that teams with viable offensive weapons preferred to just sit back and wait for a mistake, rather than force the action. Yeah, that's been the way for awhile, but it was out of control this time, especially in the knockout rounds.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-wcup-zidane&prov=ap&type=lgns

Honestly, if Zidane hadn't already earned a reputation for reacting violently and emotionally when provoked, I'd be up in arms too. And while it's not cool to provoke someone and say horrible things to them, it's also part of who this man Zidane is.

How many players would have just told the guy to F%$& off and walked away? And how many react the way Zidane did, no matter what was said? How much of this type of banter goes on in every single game? Be honest, now. No, it doesn't make it right. But it is part of sports, no matter what our high horses say.

"Ban materazzi for a year," indeed. Why, because he happened to say it to a guy who is a notorious hothead who failed to control himself in the latest biggest game of his life?

OnTheRiver's tough guy statement notwithstanding, I would think most people would remain aware of the stakes they are playing for, and act like adults. Zidane, a 34-year-old man, allowed himself to be provoked by some words and tough defense into one of the most bonehead plays, considering the stage and the player, that I have ever seen. Maybe the most bonehead, considering the action could never be sold as something that came about during a play in the game, as a Rooney supporter might try to sell his mistake.

 

So if Barry Bonds called a Japanese pitcher a nasty racial slur, throwing his mother into it, after being hit by a 98 mph fastball, everyone would be understanding, right?

But just because Zidane's a hothead, and because he was justly red carded, what Materazzi said to him is OK, right?

If Materazzi (and I do stress if here) said anything like what's being published right now, he needs to be banned for six to 12 months. FIFA claims they want to crack down on racism? Good chance for a bunch of talkers to do just that.

 

Hit the post.

It wasn't on goal. Period. He was inferior to the Italian.

Winners deserve the win, with very, very rare exception... and this ain't one of them.

 

It most probably did not.

 

Dr. ZZ most definitely flopped twice in the first half of the final.

 

And that is why I don't want you on a team in a competition.

You shank him after the game. Period.

 

Puhhhhlease.


Worse shit than that gets said in American pro sports multiple times during any game.