Connor - 2 very competent displays this weekend. Keeps Spurs in sight!
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"It’s always a wonder how you all are experts in everything." jimbasil 6/26/2022
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Level 1
I thought that maybe San Antonio had signed some free agents
Thought maybe you guys were jumping back aboard.
Training camps open 12/1, baby!
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Level 2
Well...not exactly. But I did like Tim Duncan & David Robinson!
(no message)"It’s always a wonder how you all are experts in everything." jimbasil 6/26/2022
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Level 1
It will be competitive to the end of the season.
Spurs are for real.
Liverpool will clearly be the team to beat, even with the injuries. So much quality depth and great manager.
Mendy as goalie has helped Chelsea. The Blues are a more balanced club vs last couple seasons. We will see. I still seem then as #3 or #4 by season's end.
The American Dream belongs to all of us. — Kamala Harris-
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Level 3
I watch and follow football, the best kind of professional football.
(no message)The American Dream belongs to all of us. — Kamala Harris-
Level 4
if you can’t hit a curveball, catch a pass across the middle or make a jump shot. People who play
soccer couldn’t play another sport which is why the US always will suck at soccer. the athlete’s aren’t as good. It’s like watching D3 football. It’s football but no one is really that good.
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Level 5
You're off base.
NDavenue 7489 postsThe reason you may not see the best athletes on the US National Team are 1) The politics of soccer in the US, 2) Some of the best athletes who play soccer as their "preferred" sport are multi-sport athletes who ultimately pursue the sport that has a more viable/lucrative career path and 3) A lot of great athletes who play/love soccer are smart and switch focus to academics in college to have a great career outside of sports.
I've mentioned this before, but on my HS team we had 2 players who ran track on the US Olympic team. Obviously, they chose to run track in college. At ND you can look at Shane Walton. He was a Freshman AA on the soccer team before switching to football his sophomore year.
In any event, you are correct in saying that the US National team doesn't get all of the best athletes in the country. However, you could tour the top Club teams and find players that are twice the athletes as the ones on the National team.
I don't believe illusions because too much is for real.-
Level 6
I was watching the PA state high school championship games on the tube yesterday.
Lots of athleticism, speed, and size. The soccer skills and technique for the most part were abysmal. Just run and kick, direct and over physical.
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Level 7
Exactly the problem with US soccer. It's child like.
NDavenue 7489 posts(no message)I don't believe illusions because too much is for real.
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Level 5
It thrives in socialist and communist countries.
They play in glorified boxer shorts and dive like they are shot.
It is not a game played by true men.
Our USA non-men’s team is not even played by true women. -
Level 5
Man you hit the nail on the head. I had to take soccer in gym at ND when I was there. I played
"fullback" a very "macho" for soccer, position they labeled it at the time. I kicked one ball from just in front of the goal I was helping defend. It got through everyone into the other goal. We won that match 1-0. A lot of skinny guys that could not play football played soccer in high school. Nice guys, very nerdy and one guy I remember in particular in high school was very non-athletic and ended up all conference in high school. He ended up working for Reagan while he was in office. Very uncoordinated guy. Very intelligent and had a very hard time chewing and walking at the same time. Of course that was over 50 years or so ago when there were maybe 20 schools and 8 with soccer teams.
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Level 6
Guessing that was a minimum of 45 years ago
I’ll just leave that right there for how absurd you look saying that.
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Level 6
The US would dominate int'l soccer if our best athletes played it instead of foot/base/basket ball.
(no message)Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good.-
Level 7
Lol. That's funny. They would still suck.
NDavenue 7489 posts(no message)I don't believe illusions because too much is for real.-
Level 8
No basis to believe that. If our best athletes played soccer from day one, we would dominate.
Think of all the greatest athletes we have...playing club soccer, footsal, etc., elementary school through high school...we would absolutely dominate international soccer. The only reason we don't, is because those athletes play other sports.
Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good.-
Level 9
I just don’t see it. There is much more to it than being a good athlete. Same in any sport.
NDavenue 7489 postsYou can’t hit a curve ball or drain a 3 point shot just because you are a great athlete. You can see it just by looking at Notre Dame football. How many “freak” athletes have we had who were busts? Plenty. Peyton Manning or Tom Brady aren’t near the athlete that Michael Vick is.
I mentioned my HS soccer team. Those Olympic track athletes (sprinting, long jump, hurdles) were not even close to being the best players on our team. We did have a couple of great players who went on to play college baseball and basketball. The track guys were the best pure athletes, but there was more to it than that.
I don't believe illusions because too much is for real.-
Level 10
Sounds like we might actually agree here.
If soccer were the number one sport in the US, not only would all the best athletes be going into soccer instead of football, basketball or baseball. The greatest minds and resources would also be going into soccer. We spend our mental and physical and athletic and wealth resources on other sports. If we focused them on soccer, we would be just like England, but with a much larger talent pool. We would dominate.
I guess I thought all of that was implied in my post. The best US athletes would not be going into soccer unless soccer was the number one sport in the US. I wasn't trying to suggest that we could just pull all our football players, and put them on a pitch, and they would outperform the world. I was just pointing out that the only reason the world has better soccer players is because they are focused on that sport, while we are focused on other sports.
Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good.-
Level 11
Ahh. Yeah, I think we agree for the most part. One other thing...
NDavenue 7489 postsis that in the US we have several popular sports that large numbers play. In the rest of the world soccer is #1 and whatever is second is a far distant second.
I don't believe illusions because too much is for real.
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Level 8
Exactly. Our team is plenty athletic. Only the African nations may be better there.
Our technique, training and culture suck.
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Level 9
I'm suggesting that we would have the technique, training and culture if soccer were our #1 sport.
Soccer is not our number one sport, so we don't.
Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good. -
Level 9
Yep. And "Best Athletes" doesn't even necessarily describe the NFL or NBA.
NDavenue 7489 postsIt sure as shit doesn't describe MLB. The most "skilled" is not the same as best athlete. You couldn't even find 11 NFL players who would have a prayer of making the US National team (not even if you gave them 10 years of training).
I don't believe illusions because too much is for real.-
Level 10
B.S. Imagine our wide receivers, cornerbacks, with serious foot skills. Again, we'd dominate.
We have a huge pool of talent. Countries like Germany and England would not be able to compete. Imagine us picking our best 11 from the total pool of US athletes, and not just from the few who go into soccer full time. But, right now, our team selects from a pool smaller than that of Germany and England.
Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good. -
Level 10
Some of them could be inside or outside backs were you need more athleticism and less skill.
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Level 11
Maybe. But, there is little substitute for soccer intelligence.
NDavenue 7489 postsAnd most of the guys on the US team have had it ingrained in them since they were 4 years old.
I don't believe illusions because too much is for real.-
Level 12
By a very small group of people who don't really know the sport.
Your average youth league coach in England knows more about soccer than many high school coaches in the US. The reverse is true for our sports. If we adopted soccer as our #1 sport, our youth training would be competitive, and the larger pool of talent would allow us to have a level of talent comparable to a European all star team.
Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good.
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End of conversation