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2010-06-20 -Short Attention Span Theater-

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Posted by tipper 2010-06-20 03:01|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 At last the Muslims do us a favor. Soccor. Sheesh. What a waste of time.

Posted by Iblis 2010-06-20 03:14|| 2010-06-20 03:14|| Front Page Top

#2 The goal probably shouldn't have been disallowed, and the decision was particularly cruel after the US team had clawed themselves back from being 2-0 down. They can still qualify for the next round if they beat Algeria on Wednesday...

Posted by Bulldog 2010-06-20 04:00|| 2010-06-20 04:00|| Front Page Top

#3 Yeah, caught that one. The guy was NOT going to let the United States win if he could help it. I bet he's welcomed as a hero wherever he's from.

Posted by gromky 2010-06-20 05:31|| 2010-06-20 05:31|| Front Page Top

#4 U.S.-Slovenia ref gets poor rating

Posted by tipper 2010-06-20 06:12|| 2010-06-20 06:12|| Front Page Top

#5 No great loss. Bad ref decisions are made and then another four years pass.
Then before you know it Maradonna is manager :/

You may not be a fan of football like iblis but soccer is cheap to participate in and is enjoyed by young people in all countries around the world. Because of that it makes the football/soccer world cup event something special; I guess this concept is little understood by material minded people though.

Posted by Foot Cheese Delivery Van 2010-06-20 06:35|| 2010-06-20 06:35|| Front Page Top

#6 It's a general problem with soccer that far too often questionable referee decisions determine the outcome of a game. It happened last night when the referee awarded a penalty and sent off Australias best player for an accidental handball.

Posted by phil_b 2010-06-20 07:01|| 2010-06-20 07:01|| Front Page Top

#7 From what I've heard, there has been a lot of bad calls during this world cup.

Posted by DarthVader 2010-06-20 08:17|| 2010-06-20 08:17|| Front Page Top

#8 I was at a bar yesterday with a bunch of English guys. They actually were sympathetic to the U.S., and to a man told me that we'd been robbed. When the red card was given to the Aussie, a near-riot almost broke out.
How is getting hit in the arm, when it's next to your body and just where the Ghana player hit it, an intentional foul? A penalty kick AND a red card? Horseshiat.
The ref is from Mali. I doubt the "Muslim" factor entered into it. This ref made a really bad call against Egypt in their continental tournament. He is, though, obviously incompetent.
But that might have been the 2nd biggest screw job of the U.S. in international sports, the 1st being the 1972 Olympics men's basketball game.
Too bad. That goal had me screaming like a wild man for about 5 seconds. It could have really ignited something for casual U.S. fans.

Posted by Mizzou Mafia 2010-06-20 08:22|| 2010-06-20 08:22|| Front Page Top

#9
...soccer is cheap to participate in and is enjoyed by young people in all countries around the world.

Fine. That does not, however, make it a good spectator sport.

Soccer sucks.

Posted by Parabellum 2010-06-20 09:42|| http://sidemeat.wordpress.com/ 2010-06-20 09:42|| Front Page Top

#10 soccer is cheap to participate in and is enjoyed by young people in all countries around the world.

Like head lice.

Posted by ed 2010-06-20 09:49|| 2010-06-20 09:49|| Front Page Top

#11 I am surprised to learn here that the refs play such an important role in soccer. Another reason to ignore it.

American boys drop it as soon as they hit puberty; testosterone and the beautiful game don't mix.

Posted by regular joe 2010-06-20 10:02|| 2010-06-20 10:02|| Front Page Top

#12 Eric Wynalda demands an investigation accuses Koman Coulibaly of taking money or being otherwise motivated to cheat the US out of a win
(flash video at Link)

Posted by logi_cal 2010-06-20 10:56|| 2010-06-20 10:56|| Front Page Top

#13 I like footie a lot, but sometimes you have to wonder how much you can trust a sport where nobody falls on a loose ball.

If this has happened to England, the UK would have nuked Mali. They still might, just on general principles.

If this had happened to Italy, all sixty million Italians would have fallen down clutching their legs, ribs, or heads. ("Ooh, the breeze blew! I am in agony! But will feel better if you give that guy a red card!")

If this had happened to Brazil, it wouldn't have mattered because they would have been up by three goals and would have just politely suggested that the Malian ref have intercourse with a piranha.

Posted by Matt 2010-06-20 11:21|| 2010-06-20 11:21|| Front Page Top

#14 Too funny, Matt. You are right, the Italians would have taken the boats out of Venice and mounted an amphibious assault of Mali. The Irish would have swam to Mali and drowned everyone in Guinness.

Posted by anymouse 2010-06-20 12:33|| 2010-06-20 12:33|| Front Page Top

#15 True, but if it had happened to France there would be a statue of the Malian ref up on half the street corners in Dublin.

Posted by Matt 2010-06-20 13:16|| 2010-06-20 13:16|| Front Page Top

#16 Soccer is a great sport.........................for 12 year old girls.

Posted by Jefferson 2010-06-20 13:32|| 2010-06-20 13:32|| Front Page Top

#17 You are watching soccer now? Seriously?
What happened? I thought it was so boring?

Posted by European Conservative 2010-06-20 14:54|| 2010-06-20 14:54|| Front Page Top

#18 To be honest, I just tune in for the vuvuzela horns.

Posted by Matt 2010-06-20 15:16|| 2010-06-20 15:16|| Front Page Top

#19 But seriously... none of you guys has obviously played adult soccer (football in the civilizes world). Except for rugby I can't think of a tougher sport.

When I was 20 I played soccer in the highest German amateur league, and anyone who'd go home without serious bruises didn't play seriously. Getting kicked in the ankle while running full speed, getting a nasty knee kick in your upper thighs (referees usually don't see this) is painful.

Yes diving happens (and Italians are experts in studying lawns) but most of the time a player looks like he is in pain he REALLY is.

Soccer requires the best level of fitness a human can achieve.

As for rge World Cup. The first round is always tactical and not very pretty. Once the elimination rounds start things get interesting.

And soccer needs bad referees to be blamed. The guy from Mali was egregiously bad, but so was the guy from Spain who carded almost half of both teams in the match Germany vs Serbia for un-serious fouls.

Right now my bets are on Argentina. The German team is too young still. They probably make the quarter finals and then Argentina (probably) will kick them out).

The U.S. has the fighting spirit, so I'm going to watch them carefully. Quarter finals for them I guess.

Italy, France and England are horrible this year, Brazil is boring (which is a shame).

Posted by European Conservative 2010-06-20 15:26|| 2010-06-20 15:26|| Front Page Top

#20 No, I didn't play soccer, but my son has played many games in goal, and if I had a Euro for every time I saw him get kicked in the head, I'd have a lot of Euros. Not that that would do me any good.

Posted by Matt 2010-06-20 15:50|| 2010-06-20 15:50|| Front Page Top

#21 I played soccer all the way up to the university level (it was club teams at the time in the old Big Eight), and I quit after all those years. Because, like European Conservative said, getting kicked in the ankles running full speed was no fun. There were some days, even at 18, that I couldn't get out of bed the next day. I decided by degree was more important.
Kaka just got booted, which means Brazil won't have him against Portugal. It may not matter. They just hammered the Ivory Coast, which was supposed to give them a game.
The Group of Death is looking more like the Group of Disinterest.
Check out Ivory Coast's goal, though, if you have a chance. A nicer headball you'll never see.

Posted by Mizzou Mafia 2010-06-20 16:37|| 2010-06-20 16:37|| Front Page Top

#22 Second Brazilian goal should not have been allowed though (played hand two times).

Yes, injury risk is very high, and that match showed how dangerous fouls can be.

Posted by European Conservative 2010-06-20 16:40|| 2010-06-20 16:40|| Front Page Top

#23 I'm saying its likely he was just a crappy ref - the goal callback was just the final straw, there was the card for the legal header in the box and he was dealing yellows like blackjack to Slovania players leading up to the tie score.

Americans cannot stand a poorly officiated game. Soccer more than any other major sport is overly dependent upon the mood of the officials.

Meterball is tough. My ankles are phuged from my college level time, also reaping the rewards of that time. Some sports do not translate well through the TV, and soccer is one of them. With the camera tight there is no concept of formations, people just appear out of nowhere and passes look random. Even with the camera out the viewer only sees a small portion of the whole field and if a person does not know where players are or are not supposed to be it looks like a flail, so don't press that material minded shit on me. Simple fact is that for a lot of Americans at the age of 10 most kids either stop playing checkers or learn to play chess. For a lot of others, watching grownups run in circles is boring but every 4 years the Olympics is on.

The traditional Euro powers look like crap. Really, what the hell France? If y'all were just gonna bitch then should have let someone take their slot. I'm keeping an eye out on Uruguay, see how Mexico fares.

Posted by swksvolFF 2010-06-20 18:25|| 2010-06-20 18:25|| Front Page Top

#24 I played soccer in middle school, and in the Marine Corps as an adult. I played football at a small college. Soccer's definitely a tough sport but I also play hockey and find that even harder than any other sport I've ever done. I like to coach my kids' soccer teams and always find it funny when self-proclaimed baseball fans claim soccer is boring (I played baseball through h.s. as well).

Posted by Broadhead6 2010-06-20 19:15|| 2010-06-20 19:15|| Front Page Top

#25 BTW - if anyone's wrestled at the h.s. or college level that's a damn hard sport as well. My biggest bitch w/WC soccer (besides that lame ass gazoo vuvuzela pos) is the diving that a lot of these "grown men" do - pathetically pussy-ish. The commenators today were really lambasting the italians for it during their match w/the Kiwis.

Posted by Broadhead6 2010-06-20 19:18|| 2010-06-20 19:18|| Front Page Top

#26 U.S. World Cup Fans Take Revenge on Koman Coulibaly's Wikipedia Page
After blowing a call and robbing Team USA of a 3-2 victory over Slovenia today, Malian Referee Koman Coulibaly -- aka "Sleepy Eyes" -- has already cemented a firm place for himself as one of the great villains in American sports history.

In response, fans immediately defaced Coulibaly's Wikipedia page, AOL Fanhouse reports.

The vandalism that was posted was actually somewhat tame by previous Wikiepdia standards, limiting itself to the slew of criticism that followed from American commentators.

There were, however, several creative flourishes, such as: "Coulibaly is rumored to hate the United States of America with the burning passion of a white hot sun," and "Coulibaly's exploits have drawn comparisons to such sporting pariahs as Jim Joyce, Don Denkinger, Tom Donaghy, and even BP CEO Tony Heyward."

Wikipedia has since restored the page and locked it to prevent future changes.

Posted by tipper 2010-06-20 19:41|| 2010-06-20 19:41|| Front Page Top

#27 Ohh agreed BH6, so tough to watch a fancy man, supposedly an apex athlete, roll around on the ground making crybaby faces...then -whoop- as if a phoenix down was played they are up and hauling across the field.

Know what sport is starting to turn into that as well...NBA.

Makup calls are quick way to delegitimize any sport. Its bad enough when a ref regrets a past decision instead of focusing on the now, but then the ref has to make another judgement call exactly matching the advantage of the previous call or else ends up rocking back and forth completely out of whack. Kinda like the baseball all-star game where each team gets a representative, this region got to send a ref IIUC or else there is no other explanation on how he made it to World Cup ref level, unless he is someone's relative.

Could you imagine if during the super bowl the ref throws a flag and moves a team 15 yard penalty but does not explain the call?

Maybe we found a job the president can handle. Instead of poling MLB about how they can run their show perhaps Big O, who seems a little more of a soccer man than a baseball guy anyways, to headon out and solve this high profile international incident.

Posted by swksvolFF 2010-06-20 20:07|| 2010-06-20 20:07|| Front Page Top

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