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[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally posted by Pretty Little Flower
I do not give a shit that Americans do not like soccer except to the extent that it affects me directly - soccer games are hard to find on TV, not available for general viewing live, etc. Other than that, I do not think there is any particular sport that is more worthy of viewing than another. People like sports they are accustomed to and Americans are not accustomed to watching soccer. There is nothing wrong with that. I like watching soccer and following the Tour in large part because I like playing soccer and cycling. If I liked to play baseball, I would probably find baseball less skullfuckingly boring.

The only issue I had was when the criticism goes from "I don't like watching soccer" to "Soccer is an objectively less worthy game because of [low scoring, propensity for ties, etc,.]." Or, even more ridiculously, when the criticism takes the form of "all they do is kick the ball and run fast." At that point, it moves from an issue of preference to one of ignorance. Different team sports have different skills. If you think all you need to do to play soccer well (or even competently) is kick the ball and run fast, then it is pretty clear you have not played soccer (or at least not since you were in 4th grade).

Right. You need to be able to pretend like someone has just removed your kidneys with a spoon whenever you fall down if your opponent is standing within 500 feet of you. I forgot that part.

TM