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Subject: Nasty goes to The Match

Posted by: nasty_liar
Date: Jan 15 18

This is my new blog about all things sports.

Warning to any North American readers expecting any of your sports to be featured. They will not. I do not watch Baseball, Basketball, Ice Hockey or American Football.

I am a huge sports fan though. The most important being football, or soccer to those in North America, in particular the team I have supported since I was a boy. Huddersfield Town.

702 replies. On page 4 of 36 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

nasty_liar

Excellently described Brian.

Not all traditional North American sports are complicated though. I have learnt them all over the years and I would equate Ice Hockey and Basketball to Football (that's soccer to Americans) in terms if difficulty. Ice hockey is similar too in the way that, in the main, defence dominates. I know you tend to get higher scoring games than football (soccer) but I don't honk I would be too unfair to attribute some of that to power plays.

It's interesting though to see you spell out the reason that many Americans do not care much for football (soccer). The low scoring games. I dislike basketball for precisely the opposite reason. I don't enjoy the continual scoring of baskets. The reason we (most of the whole world) enjoy football so much despite the low scoring is the huge gratification when those goals actually do come. Especially for your own team where it is an almighty outpouring of emotion. The tension building and smouldering is a huge part of the spectacle and that is not to say that high scoring games are not enjoyable either. Because they are relatively rare it makes it even more special.

The other two major American sports that I found much more complicated to learn, baseball and American Football I do find fascinating I must admit. I like all sorts of sports though.

But yeah, I don't see what is so hard to learn with football. In fact I would say that because of its simplicity mostly anyone can enjoy it on a fairly rudimentary level without even understanding the more technical rules or the tactics. As long as you can grasp the fundamentals:

They are trying to kick it into the oppositions goal, one guy can pick it up but only within the rectangular box near his own goal, nobody else can touch it deliberately with their arm or hand. It lasts 90 minutes split into two 45's, there is no official clock, the referee indicates when each half is over.

Reply #61. Jun 16 18, 3:01 PM

terraorca

But it's the calling or not calling of penalties that can be so disconcerting to us Yanks. How bad does a penalty have to be, to earn a yellow card, or even worse, how much damage has to be done to face a red card(first offense?)
The constant flopping is not a pretty sight either.

Reply #62. Jun 16 18, 5:32 PM

terraorca

In the end, any sport that can generate fan interest like football(soccer) does, can't be all bad.

Reply #63. Jun 16 18, 5:34 PM

Blackdresss

Oh, I understand "offside." I also understand "icing." I don't understand a sport that has no definite end time, and it does look to me like a bunch of guys running all over the grass for what is far longer than 90 minutes. It looks like they warm up for at least and hour.

I find it all fascinating, but I absolutely do not understand it. If it's simple, maybe it's too simple?

No one has explained the cards to me, or what they mean, or WHY seconds are added to the clock, or taken from the clock, or why the game just suddenly ends.

I do absolutely understand why the matches are low-scoring. It can't be easy not being allowed to touch that ball with any part of your hands. And I don't see a lot of embellishment, but I also don't see a lot of men lying on the grass, rolling around because they're injured, either.

I'm not convinced all those fans in the stands understand it, either. I think they're all just happy to be there with their faces painted, which is fine! It's part of what makes sports fun. I would not personally paint my face, but to each his or her own.

Mark, you just referred to you, and to me, as a "Yank." To me, that's a Very Bad Word. I loathe being called a Yank!

And we call football "football" because that's what it's called!

I am so confused...

Reply #64. Jun 17 18, 12:48 AM

Blackdresss

Wait, what is "the constant flopping?"

Reply #65. Jun 17 18, 12:48 AM

nasty_liar

Why would you not understand a sport simply because it has no clock?

It is supposed to last 90 minutes, the guy in the middle called the referee is the one that times it and you can essentially think of him personally 'stopping' his own personal clock when he wants to for some reason like a stoppage in play due to injury etc. (There is also a fourth official there to help with the time if necessary but it's easier to think of it as the referee being in charge of when each half ends). But my point is that when the game ends is quite an insignificant part of understanding and enjoying a game that really only comes into play as a consideration within the final 5 minutes or so of play and even then isn't particularly important.

Mark, try to think of yellow cards as being the referees means of controlling a game and it is at their discretion when they are awarding them. The best referees are the ones that manage to control a flowing game whilst hardly needing to show any yellow cards. There are situations that are supposed to warrant a straight red card essentially they are for dangerous or violent play or cheating to deny a player who had a goal scoring opportunity. Again that is down to the referees judgment.

The diving around is to the consternation of most fans. It is something I would rather not see but I understand why it happens. The game moves so quickly at the highest levels that small trips or fouls can be easily missed even by experienced referees so the players found a way to make it very obvious that they have been made contact with. Unfortunately that can become more and more exaggerated to the point where referees now have to decide whether the contact actually warranted the reaction. I think you simply have to just accept that it is there and look at what it going on in isolation without thinking about other sports where big hits are part of the game.

Reply #66. Jun 17 18, 1:52 AM

terraorca

I have grown to accept the flopping, because it is rampant in basketball as well. I do find it interesting that the South American players were the first to really expand on it's use, yet the South Americans are alleged to be more macho than other men, yet they pretend that they are hurt much worse than they really are, merely to try to gain a penalty against their opponent. However, I think that the refs are getting wise to it, because I have seen yellow cards issued for obviously fake flops.

Reply #67. Jun 17 18, 2:05 AM

terraorca

Elle,

I won't refer to you as a Yank, personally, I don't mind the term.

Reply #68. Jun 17 18, 2:08 AM

terraorca

Elle,

See the No Drama Blog for a more detailed description of how the time in a soccer game works.

Reply #69. Jun 17 18, 2:11 AM

nasty_liar

Funny you mention basketball because I was going to use that as a comparison but then changed my mind!

Reply #70. Jun 17 18, 2:17 AM

Blackdresss

Baseball has no clock, either, but it really does not.

Soccer has a clock that I can see, running the wrong way, with the time changing periodically. Seconds are added, seconds are taken away. If it doesn't need a clock, why does it have one?

That's the most distracting part for me. I watch the clock because it's there. If you watch hockey, trust me, you watch that clock. Because when the time is up, depending on the score, it's over. Same with football and basketball.

But I'll continue to read and hopefully learn in here, and I'll keep watching the matches, too, because it fascinates me that there is a sport I really, really do not understand.

Reply #71. Jun 17 18, 4:01 AM

Blackdresss

So Mark, when you say "flopping," you mean "embellishment?" I don't see much of that in soccer, but it's rampant in hockey.

The yellow cards are "rewarded?" Receiving a yellow card is a good thing?

I've read the rules of futbol, but they make zero sense to me!

I'll keep reading, though.

Reply #72. Jun 17 18, 4:05 AM

Blackdresss

Whoa... sorry about the double post. That is so weird.

Reply #74. Jun 17 18, 5:04 AM

nasty_liar

There is no 'game clock' like in American football, hockey, basketball or rugby.

The clock you see on screen on tv or in the stadium is merely a running timer since kick off so that you can see how long the game has been going for and therefore know when it will end plus however long the referee chose to stop his (or her) timer for.

Reply #75. Jun 17 18, 5:18 AM

nasty_liar

But what I am saying is that that timer does not automatically end the game when it reaches 45 or 90 because the referee is keeping track of how long he or she feels the game has actually gone on for.

Reply #76. Jun 17 18, 5:19 AM

terraorca

Upset alert!

Mexico 1 Germany 0

Reply #77. Jun 17 18, 10:54 AM

terraorca

Elle,

Just as in hockey, there are penalties.
Hockey 2 minute minor
Hockey 5 minute major
Hockey game misconduct
Soccer play on, offending team loses possession
Soccer yellow card intentional foul, 2nd one out from game
Soccer red card intentional foul meant to cause harm, out from game
Questions?

Reply #78. Jun 17 18, 11:07 AM

terraorca

Flopping is when a player is fouled (or not) and tries to make it seem as if he was fouled much harder than actuality.
Happens in basketball to get a charge (offensive foul) called, as opposed to a blocking foul.

Reply #79. Jun 17 18, 11:10 AM

brm50diboll

The best way to understand the rules of any game is to watch lots of games and *pay attention*. If you have the TV on but you're talking or socializing during the game, you aren't paying attention. The announcers explain the calls when they occur and show replays. Very simple.

Reply #80. Jun 17 18, 11:47 AM

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