Righteous indignation from soccer fans? Did you not read Bucfan's post?

Sorry to be so late to the party....

You hit the nail on the head, #9. I tell my kids this all the time. Soccer is unnatural and I'm glad you brought that up. We're not meant to play with our feet, but that is the challenge. It is why soccer is low-scoring, why it's easier to hit a major league curveball than a full volley, and why the game's appeal is a mystery to most American sports fans.

As to the original poster, soccer is a wildly different game, and culture, than most American sports. American sports, if I can generalize, have two defining characteristics. They are (1) coach driven as opposed to player driven, and (2) overly controlled by referees. In regards to #1, American sports coaches are typically at the front of the game. The sports, be it baseball, football or basketball, allow timeouts, frequent substitutions and give the coach ample opportunity to confront the refs. In soccer, once the game starts, the coach is minimal. The field is too big for him to give his players much in the way of instruction and he cannot call a play for his players to enact. No huddles, no trips to the mound, certainly no 3rd base coach making the decision for the runner to hold up or go home. So, each player has to make/her own decisions. And with point #2, American sports are more regulated by the refs. In b-ball, you can't even take a free throw without the ref giving you the ball. So, there is a sense of order to the games that seems to be missing in soccer, as expressed by your rant against the timing of the game.

As for diving, well, no one likes that. It is a blight. However, I am incensed by what coaches get away in American sports. A coach coming onto the field, kicking dust on the ref. That to me is far more petty, petulant and disrespectful. And in b-ball and football, coaches are proud of how they "work" the refs. I much, much prefer soccer.

Yeah, we soccer fans have an inferiority complex, but when you grow up being told how baseball is the American pasttime, how much we're told we have to make March Madness brackets, etc, well, I think it is only natural. If ESPN is stuffing soccer down your throat, it's because they can make money doing so. Look, I hate televised poker, but it gets a lot of airtime as well. But I only see anti-soccer rants on a message board like this, not anti-poker ones.

Here's what I especially like about soccer the older I get. Most importantly, you don't have to be big to be good. Normal sized people can play soccer. The best player in the world right now is a guy who is 5'7" (and he took human growth hormones as a 10 year old to even get to that height): Leo Messi. My personal choice for best player in the world is Xavi Hernandez and he's only 5'8". Pele and Maradonna, both about 5'8". So we know when we watch pro soccer we're getting best players in the world. Who knows, maybe the best NBA player ever was a 5'8" center. Only he never got the chance.

And world soccer tournaments. Nothing like them anywhere. Look, I love March Madness. The central operating conceit is win-or-go-home. You have to be the best every time you walk on the floor. No excuses. Football is like that too. But, as you know, sometimes things happen, you get an off night. Baseball and b-ball are organized around the theory that you see greatness over time, and shouldn't even a champion get an off night. Both have their merits, but world soccer allows for both issues. In the first round, 4 teams are grouped together and they play a round robin. Top two teams advance. This means you can have the hiccup, the off night, but the talent should still rise to the top. Then, it's knockout. Win or go home. There is no tomorrow. Soccer gives you the best of both worlds.

As for penalty shoot outs. I love em. But I know that I am in the minority. It is jarring to take a sport where the ball rarely stops, the refs are absent, and then have the game stop for the excruciating shots. But, it is the purest form of pressure I know, esp in a team game. Maybe being on the 18th green having to hit a 30' putt to win it all is harder, but there's nothing in team sports. I like it.