04/23/24
April 27, 2004
Every game should have a winner.: Sepp Blatter wants to get rid of drawn matches. And just when the American league was going to finally allow them.
Don't worry he'll change his mind, when he finds it.
posted by Fat Buddha at 11:15 AM on April 27, 2004
I thought he was an idiot for saying that stuff about how women should wear tighter uniforms to get more people to watch. My opinion hasn't changed.
posted by blarp at 01:02 PM on April 27, 2004
"When you play cards or any other game, there's always a winner and a loser." Yeah, but who the hell would want to play cards if in order to determine a winner one had to simply flip cards to see who had the highest card? No one. Just like how penalties are a lame way of determining a winner. Keep the draws, but if one insists on deciding a winner, then do it ONLY with extra time and without a "golden goal."
posted by scully at 01:02 PM on April 27, 2004
Yeah, but who the hell would want to play cards if in order to determine a winner one had to simply flip cards to see who had the highest card? No one. Just like how penalties are a lame way of determining a winner. yes, if we are going to insist on a winner, we might as well do something fun like subtract one player from each team every 5 minutes of overtime, until it is KEEPER VS KEEPER.
posted by eckeric at 01:50 PM on April 27, 2004
And five minutes after that, eighty thousand punters staring at a ball, sitting alone at midfield. That'd be awesome. You think I'm kidding. I'm an exceedingly patient man.
posted by chicobangs at 01:55 PM on April 27, 2004
And five minutes after that, eighty thousand punters staring at a ball, sitting alone at midfield. That'd be awesome. Excellent! Psychic Soccer OT!
posted by billsaysthis at 05:16 PM on April 27, 2004
The bloke's an arse. It's as simple as that.
posted by squealy at 05:50 PM on April 27, 2004
The bloke's an arse. It's as simple as that. Never has a truer sentence (well, two) been spoken.
posted by dng at 05:52 PM on April 27, 2004
Soccer is the biggest sport on Earth... And has been played this way for well over a century... And Blatter has now decided this is a bad thing. What a dickhead. This makes about as much sense as Nascar's "playoff". I'd rather see a game end in a draw than drag on indefinitely, if for no other reason than setting my VCR to tape it won't be a problem (he said, having cut off the end of a recent Blue Jays game).
posted by Drood at 07:22 PM on April 27, 2004
... And has been played this way for well over a century... That's not entirely true, the changes to the offside rule have influenced the game in a major way over the last 100 years. Blatter is a complete muppet - why not punish diving more harshly instead? Failing that, a rule that gives AVFC a 30 point head start in the premiership would be most welcome (I'll settle for an extra 3 this season!).
posted by BigCalm at 03:51 AM on April 28, 2004
Football works as it is and people accept a draw as part of the game. Nobody outside the US is demanding an end to draws. Blatter is a fool. He wanted the game divided into quarters, he wanted to ban sliding tackles and he wanted women footballers to wear more 'feminine' outfits. Why does anyone listen to what he has to say? He might be the most powerful man in football but everyone takes what he says with a pinch of salt. Nobody ever likes a game to go to penalties, it's an unsatisfactory end to 90 minutes of play and if this was introduced it would change tactics for the worse.
posted by Pete at 05:04 AM on April 28, 2004
Blatter should run for president of the US in November - given the calibre of the recent incumbent, he'd walk it. A draw can be a beautiful thing - it's a worrying day for soccer when the head of the sport doesn't realise that. Oh my god. I called it soccer. *weeping softly*
posted by JJ at 05:32 AM on April 28, 2004
JJ, I share your pain. You're not alone in saying 'soccer'. It seems to be becoming more and more prevalent in the media (and especially on Sky). E.g. Gillette Soccer Special and Soccer AM. It's football and it should always be called football. Ask yourself this, would Bobby Moore have called it 'soccer'? Probably not.
posted by Pete at 05:47 AM on April 28, 2004
It's just wrong. George Best was a footballer - he wasn't a soccer player. Does someone know the etymology of all this "soccer" rubbish?
posted by JJ at 06:00 AM on April 28, 2004
This should answer your question.
posted by Pete at 06:12 AM on April 28, 2004
What a shame - I was hoping for a chance to lambast the Americans. Thanks for the link though.
posted by JJ at 06:47 AM on April 28, 2004
Never knew that Pete......thanks.
posted by smithers at 09:18 AM on April 28, 2004
Let me get this straight -- it was called soccer in England before they started calling it football? Well. I shall never accept anglo-snobbery without research again. Americans are even right about Soccer, eh? Hah! U-S-A! U-S-A! (*With that, Chico washes down his second supersize combo of the day with the last of his watery beer & climbs up into his humvee to drive the two blocks to the video store to return his copy of "The Best Of Jerry Springer Uncut."*)
posted by chicobangs at 09:51 AM on April 28, 2004
Chico - what did you read the definition of? If "soccer" was a bastardisation of "association football" how could it have been called soccer before it was called football?
posted by JJ at 10:17 AM on April 28, 2004
I'm just glad that you guys across the pond can't totally blame us for this. That said, Blatter is an idiot. Don't we remember MLS shootouts (the horror!).
posted by trox at 11:07 AM on April 28, 2004
Those English types who say 'soccer' tend to be the ones brought up playing rugby at public school. Which ties in with the backstory of how the rules were put in place by upper-class types who clung to the 'Greek' ideal of amateurism, even though Greek athletes were actually professionals. And even today, the FA is run by posh arseholes. And I'm so pleased that MLS has abandoned overtime, just because it gives Americans a chance to appreciate 'the great draw' -- of which there are many examples -- without having to watch Telemundo.
posted by etagloh at 02:44 AM on April 29, 2004
Speaking of great draws, how cool was it last night when the US team pulled a goal out of their arses in the last minute last night. They totally dominated that game but had no finishing, yet after all the corners and close in free kicks, they finally got pat eh keeper. So not really a great draw, but still!
posted by billsaysthis at 10:31 AM on April 29, 2004
Blatter apparently woke up yesterday and realized his name had not been in the newspaper for, what, three days and said to himself "Damn, got do something about that!"