Alan and I agree to disagree on soccer and scoring
Earlier today, regular WFTC contributor Alan Spoll offered this latest “Bad sports, good sports” post, which included his view on scoring – or lack thereof – in soccer matches.
Alan and I will will have to agree to disagree on this one … though I must admit, right from the start, that mine is hardly an impartial view.
You see, I am the father of a keeper. Understandably, there is nothing I would like better than to see my boy emerge from a match with a clean sheet, doing his part to allow absolutely no scores by the other squad.
That’s not to say I’m completely against all scoring … far from it. I absotively want to see our team score a goal – or, even better, just for insurance, two goals – over the other team, and come away with a win.
But then, I’m torn. I’m perfectly content with a one-point win … and the last thing I want to watch is some team running up the score on the other team – hammering the other team’s keeper, hammering some other guy’s kid – in order to accumulate those points that are oh-so-handy at the end of the season, if league officials have to go to the “goals scored” tie-breaker to determine the season’s champion.
In that repect, our squad was blessed this season, winning their league’s championship outright, based solely on their win-loss-draw record. Well done, boys!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a neophyte in learning and appreciating the world’s most popular sport. But in the learning process, I have gained a tremendous appreciation for the activity that happens between the goals, for the incredible displays of athleticism, of strength and agility, of tenacity and heart that occur in those moments outside the scores …
It truly IS ‘the beautiful game.’
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Hey Jeff – hold on a second…your headline is inaccurate. I haven’t agreed to anything. Kidding.
A 1-0 game can be exciting. ALL 1-0 games, though? Too much. Or too little. I understand your perspective, as far as your son. Kids sports are different. This is big-time sports, though. The action itself is not exciting enough to make up for a total lack of scoring. I like a low scoring football game. Not so much with soccer.
Alan, thanks for stopping-in, and for the feedback. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder … and I guess excitement is in the eye of the fan. For me, the “action itself” IS exciting enough to make up for the lack of scoring.
I have to admit, though, my appreciation for soccer is a work-in-progress, and it has affected my appreciation for other sports … for example, there are times when an American football game seems almost tedious to me, with dozens of little breaks/confereneces (the huddles) breaking up the flow of action on the field.
So is it a choice between beauty and athleticism for the discerning spectator and the players and high scores and rough and tumble for the hoi polloi? Not necessarily. Aussie Rules Football is a fast, freeflowing game that has both.
But seriously, although I can see the beauty of each, a game, like life, is (mostly) for playing, not watching, right?
Duncan, thanks for stopping in. You are spot-on in your last point … re: beauty in playing, not watching.