Brandon Tucker - Latest Comments on Watching Champions League Final from Manchester: Soccer (football) is just as boring as ever

Footballer [Visitor] in response to: Watching Champions League Final from Manchester: Soccer (football) is just as boring as ever

Footballer [Visitor] — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 05:39:55 +0000

The name of the sport is football. Get it right.

Ron Mon [Member] in response to: Watching Champions League Final from Manchester: Soccer (football) is just as boring as ever

Ron Mon [Member] — Sun, 25 May 2008 03:09:46 +0000

Soccer is fun to play, and if you're in the right mood, fun to watch. Reading Chris Papadopolous is not fun. He writes a lot. He writes more than most of us write. He gets angry. I want to watch Truth or Dare on television, live, right after four square and duck-duck-goose:extreme. Holy crap, it's like someone called soccer a whore or something. Get over it already. It's a great game that can bore when played poorly. What game isn't prone to such lapses in viewability? I made that word up, right after I invented the terms "soccer" and "Al Gore."

Brandon Tucker [Member] in response to: Watching Champions League Final from Manchester: Soccer (football) is just as boring as ever

Brandon Tucker [Member] — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:06:46 +0000

There were fights on the streets of Moscow, I'm sure they were Italians...

My message to you Chris is this: you take informal blog posts entirely too seriously, especially given the fact this is a golf & travel site. My perspective in this blog comes as a traveler in a foreign country, trying to figure out what the fuss is all about and determining I just don't get it.

Chris Papadopoulos [Visitor] in response to: Watching Champions League Final from Manchester: Soccer (football) is just as boring as ever

Chris Papadopoulos [Visitor] — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:49:33 +0000

Brandon,
I don't know where you get your ideas about football, I really don't. To imply that English people can't wear a sports jersey in an English street without the fear of getting beaten up is taking your absurdity to a new low. This is simply untrue and I *plead* with you to do your research properly before stating such a thing. This is like me saying "that at least in England I can walk down a working-class street without getting someone having a gun in their pocket".
This would of course be an inflammatory statement based on zero evidence and lay stereotypical beliefs. So you tell me - are your purposively trying to, as Shanks put it, set back foreign relations by 100 years?

As for "riots and fan deaths in football consistently happening" - this is unfortunately again a simplistic and over-generalisation statement that serves to fit your stereotypes. Riots in England and most of modern-Europe is a thing of the past when the game was more passionate within working-class communities that unfortunately are generally more prone to alcoholism and petty violence. Today in English and most of Western countries, football is an affluent, middle-class game in which money dominates both on and off the field. All stadiums are now fully seated as 99% of professional clubs can now afford better facilities, including security and better stewarding. The only fan violence now unfortunately only occurs in Italy, where there is a large mafia, criminal culture connected to some parts of football. But even such occurrences are exceedingly low compared to what the media would have you believe. Therefore Brandon, before wholly concluding that fan violence and deaths are consistent in football, I suggest you take a closer look at the real facts, before you continuously apply your stereotypical beliefs based on anecdotal evidence that fit your pre-conceived ideas.
Another point: if I'm not mistaken, my main criticism of your article was not centered on this point anyway, so why you are referring specifically to this point strikes me a bit strange. My criticism actually focussed on your over-simplified and wholly subjective analysis that football is boring because there are not enough goals and your incorrect claim that the Man Utd-Chelsea game is being dubbed as a classic (which it is not) because it went to penalties. This is again a shameful example of somebody selectively taking information that slots into your pre-conceived stereotypes, even if the information is not entirely accurate.
My message to you Brandon is simple: You are a professional, yet you have analyzed football in extremely lay terms. If you're going to evaluate something, do it intelligently. Weigh up different facets of the game, look deeper into the meaning of things you 'hear', use facts, avoid stereotypes, and make some sort of intelligent, informed conclusion. If after you've weighed up everything, and you can provide compelling and thought-provoking analysis, while stating that you still think that football is not your thing, then fair enough.

Brandon Tucker [Member] in response to: Watching Champions League Final from Manchester: Soccer (football) is just as boring as ever

Brandon Tucker [Member] — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:05:42 +0000

Hey Kiel, to be fair, the point you mention about soccer being played in the States I hit when I said most kids' first sport is soccer. If I'm not mistaken, there are more kids playing soccer in the US than any other sport. Also, the only time I can ever tolerate baseball is if my hometown is playing - and it probably has to be late in the season or the post season for me to care. So my dislike of soccer doesn't stem from my pig-headed American-ness.

And Chris, as far as being "insulting and untrue" about fans getting drunk and rioting, when is the last time the president of the US came out and condemned sports fans actions like Brown just did with Manchester? There are riots in the stands and fan deaths consistently in soccer. That cannot be disputed. I also heard Man. U and Chelsea fans were blocked off from one another in the Moscow stadium and were even escorted out at separate times and entrances.

Believe it or not in this 'joke of a country' called America, we can wear a jersey to a sports game without fear of getting beat up (though, to be fair, a drunk baseball fan did just fall 150 feet to his death...but that's rare :-).

And Baldwin, hilarious comment about four square!!!

Chris Papadopoulos [Visitor] in response to: Watching Champions League Final from Manchester: Soccer (football) is just as boring as ever

Chris Papadopoulos [Visitor] — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:51:28 +0000

Thanks Shanks - will try not to!

Shanks [Member] in response to: Watching Champions League Final from Manchester: Soccer (football) is just as boring as ever

Shanks [Member] — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:43:59 +0000

Chris Papa, I'm no fan of soccer either, but please don't take any of Baldy's comments as representative of the average American. Not only would that be untrue, tt would set back foreign relations 100 years!

Chris Papadopoulos [Visitor] in response to: Watching Champions League Final from Manchester: Soccer (football) is just as boring as ever

Chris Papadopoulos [Visitor] — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:26:17 +0000

Kiel - unfortunately Chris Baldwin's comments substantiate what I was saying - that Americans are a bit of a joke in Europe. What you are saying Chris B. is meaningless nonsense. Maybe you are 5 years old - that would explain what you write and the way that you write. Otherwise, I worry for you! Oh, and "whining Soccer losers"? Erm, mate, read Brandon's article and you decide who's doing the whiny moaning!